[FRC Blog] Kickoff!

[MooreteP]

A train on rails has been discussed in past game designs ideas.
Makes sense with Steam Engines.
Getting on board?
Loading a coal car?

Moving a train up an inclined rail track for the endgame would be an engaging spectacle for spectators.

Oh gravity.

[mwmac]

End game with elevating alliance partners as in 2007?

[ctt956]

I saw "BREAK AWAY" in the test video...So will there be a similarity to 2010?

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by Hadi379

Trains = Pulling Trailers

I'm thinking a 2009 + 2011 type of game with drones as minibots...

This would combine everyone's favorite game aspects! Lunacy with minibots, what's not to love?

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by tjf

My only point of contention is that quite a few schools block TwitchTV. Simulcasting to YouTube and Twitch may have been a better way to go.

At least the game reveal video is on YouTube regardless

This is my concern as well. I'm an avid Twitch user, but most web services will label it as "video games" and thus block it.

Originally Posted by Billfred

ChiefDelphi was blocked when I started with 1618 back in 2006. The teacher went to the district IT people, stated the case, and it was unblocked.

The last two years when I was the Kickoff coordinator for South Carolina, we got streaming information well in advance with opportunities to test it with a dummy video and make any needed adjustments with the IT staff (if only for the weekend).

I'm not a Kickoff coordinator this year, so I don't know when the email went out to coordinators. But this isn't their first time at the rodeo.

Not every team send their students to a kickoff location. Some just send a few representatives to pick up their kit of parts. While I was with 116, we always watched the kickoff together from our build site. Those teams now only have a few days to get Twitch unblocked by their school IT.

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Not every team send their students to a kickoff location. Some just send a few representatives to pick up their kit of parts. While I was with 116, we always watched the kickoff together from our build site. Those teams now only have a few days to get Twitch unblocked by their school IT.

Same situation for us... I think I can bypass our filter with my one teacher computer, but we were planning on streaming it to three rooms at our school, since we will have 3 teams coming over to watch it with us. With school out until Monday, chances are small I can get our IT folks to fix it by Sat. Gee thanks for the heads up FIRST... Argghhh... I don't mind the change, but seriously, why do you wait until the last second to announce these changes!!

[Thayer McCollum]

Please tell me that I'm not the only one disappointed by the fact that they didn't release the encrypted game manual in this post. I saw that Frank made a post about kickoff and I was sure it would have the manual in it. But alas, no. Having it would give me some piece of mind. But oh well I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Billfred

ChiefDelphi was blocked when I started with 1618 back in 2006. The teacher went to the district IT people, stated the case, and it was unblocked.

The last two years when I was the Kickoff coordinator for South Carolina, we got streaming information well in advance with opportunities to test it with a dummy video and make any needed adjustments with the IT staff (if only for the weekend).

I'm not a Kickoff coordinator this year, so I don't know when the email went out to coordinators. But this isn't their first time at the rodeo.

We draw straws* and send 4 unlucky** guests to the local official kickoff to do the song and dance while we settle in a mile away at the school. While some of us have school networks we can poke through or flexible and communicative IT directors, some of us don't, and getting such short notice to rectify the issue is a bit of a bummer.

*I pick people if we don't get volunteers
**unlucky in the sense that we have a much better breakfast at the school than at the local kickoff, eat your heart out VCU

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by tjf

My only point of contention is that quite a few schools block TwitchTV. Simulcasting to YouTube and Twitch may have been a better way to go.

At least the game reveal video is on YouTube regardless

I don't remember if it was in a blog post, email blast, or Twitter, but I've known they were broadcasting through twitch for most of the past month. We cleared it through the school's IT staff before the Christmas holidays.

Some schools block YouTube. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Schools block all sorts of sites. The best they can do is announce ahead of time and let teams manage access themselves.

Edit: found a CD post from 12/23 referencing Twitter as a source for the original twitch announcement: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/s...66&postcount=9

[ABreyen]

I was watching the stream, because who needs homework, and was wondering if anyone knows if the Competition Video that they are playing is available anyhwhere. It has a good beat for videos, and itd be good promo! thanks

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Thayer McCollum

Please tell me that I'm not the only one disappointed by the fact that they didn't release the encrypted game manual in this post. I saw that Frank made a post about kickoff and I was sure it would have the manual in it. But alas, no. Having it would give me some piece of mind. But oh well I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree.
It would be nice to put it all on our laptops/desktops while we are trying to prep for build season which is just several days from now.

[snoman]

The banana is just for scale upon request. Frank seems like a great guy and our teams are happy to be recognized by "the big wigs" at FIRST!!
Good luck to all teams. Can hardly wait for kickoff.

[bobbysq]

Originally Posted by ctt956

I saw "BREAK AWAY" in the test video...So will there be a similarity to 2010?

Take flight... FRC Rocket League?

[ollien]

Originally Posted by Billfred

ChiefDelphi was blocked when I started with 1618 back in 2006. The teacher went to the district IT people, stated the case, and it was unblocked.

The last two years when I was the Kickoff coordinator for South Carolina, we got streaming information well in advance with opportunities to test it with a dummy video and make any needed adjustments with the IT staff (if only for the weekend).

I'm not a Kickoff coordinator this year, so I don't know when the email went out to coordinators. But this isn't their first time at the rodeo.

From what I hear, the video test link was sent out about a month ago. Even so, the joys of bureaucracy have prevented us from hearing anything back from our school about unblocking it. Argh. It might be time for some fancy* workarounds.

*By fancy I mean a phone tether and a really long HDMI cord...

[Jaci]

I'm calling it now, the kickoff stream is going to be raided by some game streamer.