off-season idea *mini game release*

[Sparkyshires]

Hey guys!

So I've been thinking about an off-season idea for my team. We've come to the standard ideas of a swerve drive train, t-shirt cannon, etc., but something i realized is none of these things are really as helpful as they could be in preparing for a new game. For example, if you just try and make a new drive train, that isn't very complicated for the programmers. And most programming exercises the drive team won't get very much out of it. And if you run two projects, then you don't get the integral communication between all sections of the team, which in my opinion is one of the most critical aspects of a successful off-season.

So while I was thinking about this, I came upon a thread about new game ideas. and some of them were really good! One post even had a rough outline of a game manual for a hockey game.

So what about for an off-season idea we run through a whole new mini-season? After competition is over and done with (and maybe even before) some senior members and mentors of the team will start writing up a game manual, and them after the competition and maybe a week of cool-down time, the team will try and build a robot to fit the challenge. We could modify the time-frame, and make it more lax than build-season is, so that you don't have any seriously late nights. It would also allow for much more teaching than build-season does, and it would run every section of team through what they would be experiencing during build season.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions, criticisms, or other thoughts?

[JohnSchneider]

3847 typically releases a game that fits your criteria in the summer. Actually I think they actually came up with an ultimate frisbee game before this year.

But theyve been teasing a new game on their blog so I assume theyre doing it again this summer.

[bardd]

You should check out OCCRA or Project Falafel. They both try and aim at the build season expereince (as far as I know, being in Israel my team only participated in Project Falafel, though I believe OCCRA has the same purpose). Those two events can serve you as inspiration for your project if you choose to do it, or, if you don't want to do all the GDC stuff yourself, you can participate in OCCRA (you're also welcome to come to Israel to compete in Project Falafel, but if you're going to come to israel you might as well want to come to our regional...)
If you have any questions about Project Falafel I'd gladly answer.

[Mr V]

The Flaming Chickens FRC 1540 hold a Bunny Bots game every year. Some details can be found here. http://www.team1540.org/bunnybots They also hold a Girl's Generation event every year which uses the game and robot from the previous season. Info on it can be found here. http://www.team1540.org/girlsgeneration I am certain that if you contact them they would gladly give you more information.

After attending their GG event in 2011 our team, FRC 2046, decided that we needed a GG event in our state. We teamed up with FRC 1540 to bring an official FRC field to the NW for both of our GG events and to use the event as training for volunteers in preperation for the likely move to the district model in the NW for the 2014 season.

[ElvisMom]

Winnovation FIRST Team 1625 hosts a "minibot" game every year. The goal is for returning team members to work with new and younger team members on the six-week project cycle - all phases start to finish. We invite teams from our area to join for a competition which coincides with a pancake breakfast and basket raffle (fundraising). We hold the event the first weekend in December, pending availability of the school cafetorium.

You can see last year's details here: http://team1625.blogspot.com/2012/11...challenge.html

As an extra challenge this year our "League of Mothers" built and entered a robot too. (The kids thought we were kidding until we set that pink feathered robot on the field and it won a match or two!)

Great way to introduce the older kids to the challenges of game design too, as a couple of our seniors typically handle that element of the event.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by animenerdjohn

3847 typically releases a game that fits your criteria in the summer. Actually I think they actually came up with an ultimate frisbee game before this year.

But theyve been teasing a new game on their blog so I assume theyre doing it again this summer.

We are releasing an off-season game this year. Last year we kept the game internal to the team but thought we would step it up this year and publish it. We finished the CAD of the field and game manual this weekend. We are working on putting it up on our website and proofing everything. It should be done either tonight or tomorrow.

Here is the post I put up last week about it. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=116377

[Dale]

The Flaming Chickens FRC 1540 hold a Bunny Bots game every year. Some details can be found here. http://www.team1540.org/bunnybots They also hold a Girl's Generation event every year which uses the game and robot from the previous season. Info on it can be found here. http://www.team1540.org/girlsgeneration I am certain that if you contact them they would gladly give you more information.

1540 mentors and alumni will indeed be creating another BunnyBots game set for release Sept 1st, 2013. You can see a short video of last year's game here. Search Youtube for "BunnyBots" and you'll see other seasons and team videos.

We've found no better way to get new members up to speed and hook them. Others seem to think so too. Last year 24 FRC-class robots took part in the Oregon BunnyBots.

We design these games to be easy to host so that teams in other areas can stage them with minimal fuss. The field is never complicated to build and scorekeeping is easy. PM me if you'd like to explore starting BunnyBots in your area. We talked to many teams at Championships about doing just this so you'll likely see these popping up in various places.

[AllenGregoryIV]

We have just released our game for this summer and fall.

http://3847.blogspot.com/2013/04/201...-pipefall.html

The full manual and CAD of the field can be found on our website.
http://www.spectrum3847.org/PIPEFALL