2013 Game Hint!

[hunterteam3476]

Originally Posted by Shifter

Three minute match duration per Rick Astley still photo.
At the centerline of the field there are eight duelling tree targets (something like this: http://www.kisstactical.com/catalog_...oduct_id=11725). On every tree each of the eight individual targets has a different color on opposing sides (red, blue, yellow).
Prior to the match, the red alliance secretly pre-stages colors on targets on four of the eight trees (north side of the field). Blue does the same for the four other trees (south side). Alliances can divulge the target color pattern to the opposing alliance prior to the match or not (aka rick-roll).
The hybrid portion of the match starts when the tarp (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh....php?p=1192364) is pulled back revealing the trees and target color combinations.
Two of the three alliance partner robots begin the match tethered together (explains the reference to a number of "couplers" in FIRST Choice).
During the 45 second hybrid mode, robots attempt to create columns of targets facing them that match their alliance's color (like the game Connect Four) by selectively shooting targets on the trees. Less advanced teams use the IR remote while more advanced teams use the Kinect to steer, detect color and aim.
A sub-total score is captured automatically at the end of hybrid.
Similar play continues in tele-op.
At the end of the match, Connect Four type scores are tallied. Alliances get bonus points for maintaining their two-robot tether (www.andymark.com/FIRST-Choice-p/fc13-009.htm) throughout the entire match. Extra bonus points are awarded to both alliances if, at the end buzzer, one robot from the red alliance is tethered to one robot from the blue alliance.

Either that or a robot tug of war.

I think you should be apart of game Design

[451roan]

Originally Posted by Mike Rizzo

Sorry I try not to post unless the info might be useful but is it just me of does the bottom left tack look like a thumbtack(flat) and the others look like pushpins?

I see a bit of shadow under it, so I think it just looks that way because you are seeing it head on.

[Tetraman]

Welcome to the 2013 FIRST robotics competition and this year's game, Eye Spy. Eye Spy is played on a 27x54 foot field. Two alliances of three teams each stand on opposite sides of the field.

Each team will receive in the kit of parts a "Target Board". Surrounded by 3/4" PVC is a 1 foot hard corrugated board with a Sight Target on it, similar to that of the 2010 target, however one side confirms a Red Alliance and the other confirms a Blue Alliance. A Robot must have the Target Board on their robot for each match - it my be placed anywhere on the robot and maneuvered in any way, but can not extend outside the frame perimeter. A robot that plays a match will need the Target Board to be set at the side with their alliance color.

The field contains a number of EYE TOWERS. An Eye Tower is made up of a short-range optical sensor and two LED light bulbs - one Red and one Blue. When the Target Board of an alliance robot is aligned at least 1' away from the optical sensor, the sensor recognizes the target and lights up the bulb of the corresponding alliance color. There is one Eye Tower in front of each Human Player Station, and there are three at various heights on the long sides of the field.

During a 15 second autonomous mode, robots use pre-programed instructions to "capture" as many of the Eye Towers for their alliance as possible. Kinect Drivers can also be used to control the robots at this time. At the end of the PreGame Mode, the alliance that captured the most eye towers gains a 1 point bonus.

During the remaining 2 minutes of the match, alliance robots will do what they can to capture eye towers. Not only can Eye Towers be captured, but also converted from one alliance color to the other. Red alliance will try to convert blue towers into red, and vice versa.

Also during the match, robots will have the option of controlling one of three BASES. These are large octagonal shapes, similar to that of the Zone Zeal goals without the PVC pipes. The Bases are not used until the final 30 seconds of the match, in which robots are able to climb up onto the Bases to score additional points. (The Bases are 2 feet high, and on casters) Additional CoOp points will be scored if two robots of opposing alliances are on top of a single Base.

No rules against pinning in this game, similar to that of 2009.

1 Point is scored for each Eye Tower an alliance has captured AT THE END OF THE MATCH.
1 Point is scored for being the alliance who captured the most Eye Towers in the PreGame Mode. (1 Point for both if both alliances tied)
1 Point for each Robot on the top of a Base at the end of the match.

In Elimination Matches, one of the three Bases will be removed from the field, and one Base will be marked for only the Red Alliance and the other for only the Blue Alliance.

[JOEL340]

I completely agree on the 3 min rounds but the 3 alliances is not plausible. I don't think the game design committee would make that happen if it has been 2 alliances for the longest time.

On what i think about the game i think that for the end game the robots will have to lift each other up because in the song he says "never gonna give you up never gonna let you down and hurt you" which means you will be lifting robots up and if you let the robot down you might hurt the robot.

Also when does another game hint usually come out because the suspense is killing me!!!

[dellagd]

I don't think the game design committee would make that happen if it has been 2 alliances for the longest time

Bottom line the game design committe likes to impress. They want the game to be fun to play and fun to watch. They want there to be suspense, anticipation, and excitement. While, yes, using the same alliance setup as last year is easy, what happened in past years doesnt mean certain things cant change. If I was on the GDC, I would love to suprise the heck out of everyone (and rick roll you all). While logistics and practicality may stop me from doing so, Id still like to do it. Plus it would make for some interesting strategy.

While I agree that I think we will have 2 alliances in 2013, anything is possible.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Welcome to the 2013 FIRST robotics competition and this year's game, Eye Spy. Eye Spy is played on a 27x54 foot field. Two alliances of three teams each stand on opposite sides of the field.

Each team will receive in the kit of parts a "Target Board". Surrounded by 3/4" PVC is a 1 foot hard corrugated board with a Sight Target on it, similar to that of the 2010 target, however one side confirms a Red Alliance and the other confirms a Blue Alliance. A Robot must have the Target Board on their robot for each match - it my be placed anywhere on the robot and maneuvered in any way, but can not extend outside the frame perimeter. A robot that plays a match will need the Target Board to be set at the side with their alliance color.

The field contains a number of EYE TOWERS. An Eye Tower is made up of a short-range optical sensor and two LED light bulbs - one Red and one Blue. When the Target Board of an alliance robot is aligned at least 1' away from the optical sensor, the sensor recognizes the target and lights up the bulb of the corresponding alliance color. There is one Eye Tower in front of each Human Player Station, and there are three at various heights on the long sides of the field.

During a 15 second autonomous mode, robots use pre-programed instructions to "capture" as many of the Eye Towers for their alliance as possible. Kinect Drivers can also be used to control the robots at this time. At the end of the PreGame Mode, the alliance that captured the most eye towers gains a 1 point bonus.

During the remaining 2 minutes of the match, alliance robots will do what they can to capture eye towers. Not only can Eye Towers be captured, but also converted from one alliance color to the other. Red alliance will try to convert blue towers into red, and vice versa.

Also during the match, robots will have the option of controlling one of three BASES. These are large octagonal shapes, similar to that of the Zone Zeal goals without the PVC pipes. The Bases are not used until the final 30 seconds of the match, in which robots are able to climb up onto the Bases to score additional points. (The Bases are 2 feet high, and on casters) Additional CoOp points will be scored if two robots of opposing alliances are on top of a single Base.

No rules against pinning in this game, similar to that of 2009.

1 Point is scored for each Eye Tower an alliance has captured AT THE END OF THE MATCH.
1 Point is scored for being the alliance who captured the most Eye Towers in the PreGame Mode. (1 Point for both if both alliances tied)
1 Point for each Robot on the top of a Base at the end of the match.

In Elimination Matches, one of the three Bases will be removed from the field, and one Base will be marked for only the Red Alliance and the other for only the Blue Alliance.

*claps*. Heard it in Dave Lavery's voice.

[swwrobotics]

Our team thinks that because of the song is titled, "Never Going to Give You Up," we are going to have to hold onto some ball or item and "never give it up," or never let go of it, sort of like keepaway.

[kylie.student.9]

Is there really a 3v3v3? That would be very interesting to watch but also complicated! i am new to this and am wondering....What are the hints? What are they leading to? Is it a hint on how to program a robot? Or is it a hint to the theme of the game next season....that would make sense because water could be a theme, but I'm still confused about the 3v3v3

v v

[Whippet]

Dear Lavery Claus, I have been a very good boy this year. Since it's that time of year again, and we've all been good here this year, I would like to request that, if you're planning to say something that sounds even remotely game hint-like, that you would please do so now. My family wants to see me for at least an hour this year.

Sincerely,

The CD community.

P.S. A water game would be great, too.

[Tetraman]

There will not be a Three Alliance game in FIRST. We already have some teams on alliances that fudge their scores so a top seed doesn't remain so. A Three Alliance match will eventually lead to two alliances ganging up on the other for the mutual benefit in the long term. If they do anything, it will be a return to 2001 where everyone on an alliance works together to reach a mutual goal. And going back to that is a long shot.

Three minute matches are possible, especially if there is an element of "keep away" to the game. Such as, one robot has to make sure they don't give up a Golden Ball because it's worth 30 points at the end of the match and the other normal balls are worth 2. However, I am unsure if going to 3 minutes is a good idea from now on. Consider if every game designed thus far was given an extra 1 minute to play. Logomotion would have the entire racks filled, Rebound Rumble would make bridge scoring either worthless or too important depending on the match, Aim High would have longer periods of play, and Zone Zeal and/or Stack Attack would be that much more boring to watch an extra minute of nothing happening.

there would have to be a good reason to change to 3 minutes, and that would be "because the game as it is designed requires it". I'm going to then guess that if we are headed to 3 minutes, then it will only be for this year and not for future years. (or be an every 4 years thing)

The real question is this: What kind of game can't be played in just two minutes?

[dellagd]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

There will not be a Three Alliance game in FIRST. We already have some teams on alliances that fudge their scores so a top seed doesn't remain so. A Three Alliance match will eventually lead to two alliances ganging up on the other for the mutual benefit in the long term. If they do anything, it will be a return to 2001 where everyone on an alliance works together to reach a mutual goal. And going back to that is a long shot.

Three minute matches are possible, especially if there is an element of "keep away" to the game. Such as, one robot has to make sure they don't give up a Golden Ball because it's worth 30 points at the end of the match and the other normal balls are worth 2. However, I am unsure if going to 3 minutes is a good idea from now on. Consider if every game designed thus far was given an extra 1 minute to play. Logomotion would have the entire racks filled, Rebound Rumble would make bridge scoring either worthless or too important depending on the match, Aim High would have longer periods of play, and Zone Zeal and/or Stack Attack would be that much more boring to watch an extra minute of nothing happening.

there would have to be a good reason to change to 3 minutes, and that would be "because the game as it is designed requires it". I'm going to then guess that if we are headed to 3 minutes, then it will only be for this year and not for future years. (or be an every 4 years thing)

The real question is this: What kind of game can't be played in just two minutes?

I was thinking that because of the increased interest in the Kinect, and how almost nobody used it last year, they would use the extra time for an increased Hybrid period.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by dellagd

I was thinking that because of the increased interest in the Kinect, and how almost nobody used it last year, they would use the extra time for an increased Hybrid period.

That still leads to more watching carpet collect dust. They'd have to make a pretty darned good incentive to get some teams to try it. We had our Kinect working for control, but then deemed it unnecessary as 15 seconds is not much time to do things, as we were able to do everything via autonomous that we would have wanted out of hybrid.

[ttldomination]

Aside from all the spurious guessing, I'd like to take a moment to thank the GDC for waiting to release an official game hint until finals are over. Not sure if that's on purpose, but it ends up working on my end.

- Sunny G.

[dellagd]

Originally Posted by CalTran

That still leads to more watching carpet collect dust. They'd have to make a pretty darned good incentive to get some teams to try it. We had our Kinect working for control, but then deemed it unnecessary as 15 seconds is not much time to do things, as we were able to do everything via autonomous that we would have wanted out of hybrid.

That was my point, having an increased amount of hybrid time means that you have to do something in that time. And a whole minute or so of a robot that can only get info from a kinect means that you are probably gonna want to use the kinect. Id probably want to tell my robot something over the course of a minute. How else do they get people too use a game element? They make it more necessary to succeed.

Though, Im biased, as I am a programmer at heart and would probably rather the whole time be autonomous anyway...

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by dellagd

That was my point, having an increased amount of hybrid time means that you have to do something in that time. And a whole minute or so of a robot that can only get info from a kinect means that you are probably gonna want to use the kinect. Id probably want to tell my robot something over the course of a minute. How else do they get people too use a game element? They make it more necessary to succeed.

Though, Im biased, as I am a programmer at heart and would probably rather the whole time be autonomous anyway...

Perhaps there won't be a rule limiting you to one or the other. Completes autonomous task and then activates Kinect.

Even without that, you can still simulate one by linking a command group to a kinect "button"