2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

while it's an interesting connection, i don't think that FIRST will do that...watching a robot sit somewhere isn't very exciting...

I'm not so sure.

Imagine that next year's game is a glorified game of Capture The Flag. (This wouldn't happen, as the FPS gamers would all travel to Virginia to praise and thank and maybe even worship Dave for bringing CTF to FIRST, meaning we'd all really be up the creek for manpower.) Suppose further that whichever robot had the flag received a bonus for however long it could stay on a particular patch of field without being moved off or having the flag taken away by another robot. Granted, defending the aforementioned flag isn't particularly relaxing, but it'd still be sitting there.

[amos229]

billfred has a point. and how do we know what dave listens to. for all we know he has listened to the majority of music websites on those late nights rendering fake game animation to through us off. i just got thinking. is it me or is it that as we develop more and more of a game dave posts more pictures. to throw us off maybe?-=------------ does anyone have last years clue, i have an idea------ we haqve reached 22000 views either this is sad or dedication but i wonder if we can reach 40000 or even better 50000

[Joe J.]

Originally Posted by amos229

does anyone have last years clue, i have an idea

2005 Official 2005 Clue Thread

Looking Back: 2005 Game Hint

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm not so sure.

Imagine that next year's game is a glorified game of Capture The Flag. (This wouldn't happen, as the FPS gamers would all travel to Virginia to praise and thank and maybe even worship Dave for bringing CTF to FIRST, meaning we'd all really be up the creek for manpower.) Suppose further that whichever robot had the flag received a bonus for however long it could stay on a particular patch of field without being moved off or having the flag taken away by another robot. Granted, defending the aforementioned flag isn't particularly relaxing, but it'd still be sitting there.

I'd like to build on this a bit and connect it back to some other ideas.

Billfred makes some great points: think about CTF. It's a lot of teamwork. Each alliance would need a very good idea of their game plan, and assign individuals to protecting the flag, capturing the flag, and doing whatever other stuff needs to be done.

Personally, I don't believe that this is the only element of the game. However, I remember in 2003 you got more points for having the movable goal on your side, correct? So maybe they are bringing back something like this, except with more value.

In either case, this makes me think of swimming pool noodles. If it's a relatively large game piece, it would be easily visible by the audience. If anybody has other leads, add on! Woo for speculation! And only a few more days now!

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

However, I remember in 2003 you got more points for having the movable goal on your side, correct?

that was 2002 and you got 10 points for the goal being in your zone and 1 point for each ball in the goal

4.5 more days

[Bemis]

I've no idea if this was said, since I really havn't the time to read thirty-five pages of posts, but heres my idea.

Noodles is foam packing noodles. You have to shovel them into a bucket or other container above the ground. Scoring would be based on how much was put in the bucket, with multipliers for filling them higher. Obviously, each team would have their own buckets, to keep scores seperate. As for the five 'bots thing, I've no idea.

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by Bemis

I've no idea if this was said, since I really havn't the time to read thirty-five pages of posts, but heres my idea.

Noodles is foam packing noodles. You have to shovel them into a bucket or other container above the ground. Scoring would be based on how much was put in the bucket, with multipliers for filling them higher. Obviously, each team would have their own buckets, to keep scores seperate. As for the five 'bots thing, I've no idea.

if you're talking about those packing peanuts little syrofoam things, then those would be a pain in the you know what for the field reset clue to clean up. im thinking more towards the ball crawl balls, pool noodles(more unlikely) or pvc pipes/cylinders.

[MikeDubreuil]

five 'bots tangling with pasta
a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show
and seeing Montana's green heights

After reading most of the thread I am prepared to give an update on my ideas for 2006's game...

My guess is this year's game will involve a large central island. The island is on wheels and movable. The island is shaped like a truncated pyramid. There is enough room for 5 robots to drive on it and park. Above the pyrimid is a large bowl. The bowl is used as a goal for scoring elements. This year's scoring elements will be pool noodles and ball crawl balls.

The ball crawl balls will be dumped onto the field similar to the balls in 2004. Human players will have pool noodles. They will be handed off to a robot similar to how tetras were handed off in 2005. The goal of the game is to score the most noodles and balls into the pasta bowl. At the conclusion of the match a robot must be parked on the pyramid to score extra points. If the island is on your side of the field at the end of the game additional points are scored.

[I'mwithstupid^]

totally knew it would have something to do with cylinders this year! man i'm good.

[amos229]

i dont think the human player will have the noodles. after my experience as hp last year handling the tetras without hitting someone was hard enough, a pool noodle it wouldnt heart but yud get hit alot, i like the idea of pool balls what a drivingchallenge, especially if they were to just spread them around the feild

[Henry_Mareck]

My ideas follow Mike's very closely, and I am gonna do my own summary.
Though it is possible that auto is at the end, i think auto will be at the beginning as usual. I think that there will be TWO scoring options in auto. One that is easy, and one that is more difficult, so that new teams can do something besides sit there, and experienced teams can still have a high goal to shoot for. I also think the truncated pyramid will appear, and i think the top will be worth more points. I like the moving goals. I think they make the game interesting. But where did the ball crawl balls come from? And where did the footballs go to? My theory: replace the ball crawl balls with footballs. And i dont know about the pool noodles, but they are pasta-like, and can be different colors. But if they ARE a game piece, then i get the feeling there are going to be pieces of pool noodle all over the field(s).

EDIT: we used ball crawl balls in a competition called B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering Science + Technology). This comptition is on a smaller scale: 24"x24"x24" foot robots, 24 pound weight limit. ball crawl balls seem to be too small a scale to me, compared with tetras and four square balls, etc. but the shovel picking up small stuff makes sense. hmmmmmm . . . .

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by Henry_Mareck

But where did the ball crawl balls come from?

I guess this was kind of my own invention because I wanted ball crawl balls more than it made sense

What made me think of small balls was the clue about the game piece obsessed with a shovel's show. A shovel picks up many small things and dump them together. However, there are clues to support a football themed game piece- Montana and the shovel pass.

In retrospect I would leave everything the same except change ball crawl balls to footballs.

EDIT: There is another reason I didn't want to include footballs. Teams have been asking for footballs for a long time. Every year it was thought, "this is the year, we'll have footballs." Then we get something like a tetra

[Alex Burman]

only about 399600 seconds to go until kick off

whos gunna be right?

[petek]

Here's a shovel show I haven't seen mentioned: Shovel Racing

Could this be how the human players play? Gotta admire his form...

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by petek

Here's a shovel show I haven't seen mentioned: Shovel Racing

Could this be how the human players play? Gotta admire his form...

yeah but if there's a branch just low enough....ouch