[FRC Blog] Stop Build Day When?

[HelloRobot]

Inspired by the hashtag #BoringVideoGames, I feel it is my duty to say that a possible title could be, (ahem),
Tote Simulator
I have little to do until school starts.

But in all seriousness, hopefully we won't have to suffer through the Snowpocalypse again. We seriously lost two weeks of school to snow, including bag-and-tag. (But we don't work out of the school, and the main roads were safe to drive that day) Granted, the snow days after gave us much needed rest but still.

[MikLast]

Originally Posted by HelloRobot

Tote Simulator

Will be released before 2016, mark my words.
Oh wait, someone already has.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

A return in WLT is a big hint in and of itself, if that's true. At the least it means every match will have a direct competition between the entities on the field, rather than a race against every team at the event or directly against the clock.

If we can't win matches in quals in 2016, I'm not even gonna participate in 2016.
This year, 5254 had a "record" of 1-4, because the only time we could win or lose matches was in finals.
20 had a "record" of 2-3.
I want big numbers in those records again (hopefully more on the left).

[topgun]

Why are they pushing the start date back a week? (January 9th)

[thatprogrammer]

Originally Posted by topgun

Why are they pushing the start date back a week? (January 9th)

The 2nd was too close to New Year's Day.

[Maximillian]

Originally Posted by topgun

Why are they pushing the start date back a week? (January 9th)

The first Saturday of January is the 2nd, because that is so close to new years day FIRST decided to push kick off back a week to accommodate people traveling for the holidays.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by topgun

Why are they pushing the start date back a week? (January 9th)

There are issues with KOP Transportation and storage when the first weekend in January gets to close to new years - between holiday and weekend schedules, kits would have to be shipped much earlier, with local storage options identified and paid for. Keep in mind that many kickoff locations are at Schools, which are effectively shut down between Christmas and New year's! Generally, that means kickoff is never earlier than Jan 3.

[Nate Laverdure]

This was not a 'change' to the calendar. The 2016 calendar has looked like this since at least early May:

Originally Posted by EricH

Kickoff: Always the first Saturday in January, unless it's deemed too close to New Year's--which happens to be the case for 2016. January 9th it is. (Source: FRC official calendar)

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

This was not a 'change' to the calendar. The 2016 calendar has looked like this since at least early May:

For those of you that like to plan ahead, in 2021, kickoff should be Sat 9 January. Unless FIRST decides to give up on all that "Build in the Winter" stuff and go to Kickoff the second Saturday in June (*)

(*) Which would work. (**) It has the semi-champs done by Labor day, does not interfere with school testing, allows more people to attend as spectators since they don't need to take students out of school. Only downside is IRI would move into October, but Indiana is really nice in the fall.

(**) But we've beaten the "move the FRC season" to death in other threads....

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Foster

For those of you that like to plan ahead, in 2021, kickoff should be Sat 9 January. Unless FIRST decides to give up on all that "Build in the Winter" stuff and go to Kickoff the second Saturday in June (*)

(*) Which would work. (**) It has the semi-champs done by Labor day, does not interfere with school testing, allows more people to attend as spectators since they don't need to take students out of school. Only downside is IRI would move into October, but Indiana is really nice in the fall.

(**) But we've beaten the "move the FRC season" to death in other threads....

Going back in history, the 2010 kickoff was also January 9th.

Perhaps FIRST should codify Kickoff like US general election dates (Tuesday after the first Monday in November). Henceforth, Kickoff will be the Saturday following the first Thursday of January.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Foster

For those of you that like to plan ahead, in 2021, kickoff should be Sat 9 January. Unless FIRST decides to give up on all that "Build in the Winter" stuff and go to Kickoff the second Saturday in June (*)

(*) Which would work. (**) It has the semi-champs done by Labor day, does not interfere with school testing, allows more people to attend as spectators since they don't need to take students out of school. Only downside is IRI would move into October, but Indiana is really nice in the fall.

(**) But we've beaten the "move the FRC season" to death in other threads....

Pretty sure by that point we'll have to make more radical changes to deal with having #4champs.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Pretty sure by that point we'll have to make more radical changes to deal with having #4champs.

[pabeekm]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

I know... good news, right? On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a solid 5.2!


...sorry, it just had to be said.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Maximillian

The first Saturday of January is the 2nd, because that is so close to new years day FIRST decided to push kick off back a week to accommodate people traveling for the holidays.

More likely, because the kickoff event sites wouldn't be available on Jan 1 to get kits set up for distribution.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by tindleroot

Therefore, they are planning well in advance compared to last year's (seemingly) last-minute game choice. FIRST GDC already knows what they are going to do for next year, so I really hope they understand the negative feedback they received for this year's game and know how to fix it for next year.

The last minute game design seems the only reasonable explanation for the 2015 game.. And more seriously, I hope they took into account the feedback over the last 3 games, both negative and positive.