[FRC Blog] When is a Game Hint not a Game Hint?

[Justin Montois]

This is going to be very.........interesting.

I would be curious to see if anyone with some time on their hands to make a trailer using any prior years game that wouldn't give away 90% of the game.

I feel like this is going to create a situation regarding teams prototyping based on this trailer, especially seeing as though it will be "ready"(Released?) in just a couple weeks.

Over 2 months before kickoff seems like a lot.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

I would be curious to see if anyone with some time on their hands to make a trailer using any prior years game that wouldn't give away 90% of the game.

What do you mean? The game reveal videos don't give away 90% of the game; probably more like to 30-50%. Just looking at Recycle Rush, the game reveal video gave no clues about problems and activities that were crucial to many teams' success or failure:

• How much litter got in the way of driving and scoring (and occasionally got caught inside a lift or other mechanism).
• Tetherbots, whether active stackers or passive ramps (or butlers or nets).
• Pre-capping stacks, or even scoring pre-built stacks.
• Can Burglaring, much less can battles
• Noodling cans over the wall.
• How small, cluttered, and messy the field would be.

And things people thought about or were explicitly shown in the video, but were not useful strategies:

• Robots throwing things across the step
• Vortex cannons
• Noodle Nets
• Really tall stacks (more than 6 totes)
• Noodle cones
• Robots manipulating noodles

[PayneTrain]

No one's talking about the big story = the vanilla version of the game was developed before November.

[Basel A]

I honestly don't see any way this turns out well. If they reveal very little of the game, it's just more fodder for the game hint-crazed crowd (which I once found interesting, but not in the past 4 or 5 years). If they reveal some of the game, it gets into a "longer build season" situation, because if I think I know what the game piece, I'm going to start working on how to manipulate it. And you probably will too.

[asid61]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is at least 24 pictures per second,
CD is going to explode into a 2,000 page thread come December.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

No one's talking about the big story = the vanilla version of the game was developed before November.

I seriously expect that this is the case most years. Some of the more credible rumors indicate that games are at least rough-planned three or four years in advance. They just keep it under wraps until the last minute. Sometimes, the small size of the "need to know" group shows, as with the noodle agreement last year.

And as far as useless game hints are concerned, the 2009 video cited above gave no useful clues at all about the game or game pieces until the final still, when the empty cells and super cells were shown (without any sense of scale).

[pandamonium]

Releasing a video in October lends even more credibility to the football theory. FIRST wants to create hype about the football game through out the football season. We still will not know what type of football game piece is used or how big the scoring target is.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

Releasing a video in October lends even more credibility to the football theory. FIRST wants to create hype about the football game through out the football season. We still will not know what type of football game piece is used or how big the scoring target is.

If by rumors you mean FIRST literally saying that they develop the games 3 years in advance then yes that is true.

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

If by rumors you mean FIRST literally saying that they develop the games 3 years in advance then yes that is true.

I have only been able to find this mention of the GDC trying to design future games for more than one season in advance. http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/nljun11/frchighlights

I believe it may be more of a goal than a reality...

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by mwmac

I have only been able to find this mention of the GDC trying to design future games for more than one season in advance. http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/nljun11/frchighlights

I believe it may be more of a goal than a reality...

A more recent reference: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...idays-11112013

[dellagd]

Originally Posted by mwmac

I have only been able to find this mention of the GDC trying to design future games for more than one season in advance.

I believe it may be more of a goal than a reality...

I cant remember the source, but I remember watching a video of Frank discussing how they called in a bunch of FIRST veterans to discuss ideas for the 2015 game pretty shortly after 2014 concluded. I don't think they operate that far in the future, but I do believe they got ahead one year, so now they have a "backup" on standby in case of crippling issues.

Regardless, I see no indication of massive changes to the game this year. Frank has been pretty forthright so far, even just straight up telling us that bumpers will be back. Frank speaks pretty simply in this post telling us that they want to do it for promotional reasons, so I see no reason not to just trust him.

However, I sincerely hope they don't give away things such as game pieces in this trailer. Once you know the game piece, you can pretty effectively begin prototyping for manipulating it. Personally, I can't do a two-month-long "Week 1" starting in late October, so yeah, please be careful about it. With very little definitive info, the season pretty much starts early.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

Releasing a video in October lends even more credibility to the football theory. FIRST wants to create hype about the football game through out the football season. We still will not know what type of football game piece is used or how big the scoring target is.

What football theory? FIRST has never hinted at footballs.

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

What football theory? FIRST has never hinted at footballs.

I don't think you "get" FRC hint theory. lol

FIRST doesn't have to ever hint at anything for us to generate theories (e.g., water game).

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

I seriously expect that this is the case most years. Some of the more credible rumors indicate that games are at least rough-planned three or four years in advance. They just keep it under wraps until the last minute. Sometimes, the small size of the "need to know" group shows, as with the noodle agreement last year.

And as far as useless game hints are concerned, the 2009 video cited above gave no useful clues at all about the game or game pieces until the final still, when the empty cells and super cells were shown (without any sense of scale).

I'm keenly aware that this is almost always the case.

[mom1155]

'inside the tent' makes me think of mergers & acquisitions. Maybe a new model for alliances?