[Official 2006 Game Design] Game Elements and Subtasks

[dhitchco]

I liked the "ups and downs" of scoring in the TriplePlay where rows were formed, and de-formed, and tetras were capped and de-capped. That's better than one "chreshendo" ending task that scores big points.

Having only ONE game element (the tetra) in 2005 was good; lots of different tasks to do with one element. Some robots could carry more than one element which was good for design theory. Having to do tasks with lots of different elements tends to "water-down" the design process.

Tasks in autonomous period should be DIFFERENT than in driver period. This year's triple play was good given the "magnetic hanging tetras" and green-stripe tetras were used in autonomous mode and/or scored differently.

So, keep the "cargo" simple, but do multiple tasks. Assign some tasks for the robot by itself with no "cargo" ala hanging, climbing, going through a tunnel, etc.

I'd also like to see the ability for one robot to AID AND UPRIGHT a fellow alliance robot that has tipped over; what are friends for anyways?