[Official 2008 Game Design] Game Elements and Subtasks

[kawelch]

Originally Posted by Kelly

The last several games have been focused on putting game pieces places, while the game pieces themselves were generally easy to obtain. I think it would be neat to have a game where you are trying to get and keep either a lot of little pieces or one big piece.

I keep saying pick-up sticks. Different points for different color sticks. Penalty points for getting your opponents color. Blue and red, of course, yellow for anyone and green that is worth big points if scored in autonomous. A a few black ones that let you carry more than one at a time if you get it and keep it...

and nothing goes back onto the field once scored.

[Molten]

What about a new kind of ball? I know that there have been a good number of games with balls, but what I am talking about is completely different. I want to think more like a 'football' (or some other misshapen sphere). A football would be easily obtained and a game could be easily found. It would create a difficult dilemma of how to grab/ how to throw/ or whatever else you can think to have them do with a football. Also, I would like to see weights some how involved this year. Perhaps have medicine balls or something where the robot is more about endurance. Something like Atlas Stones from the World's Strongest Man Competition. It would make it really hard to be too aggressive and would allow for maximum GP.

Another idea I had was for the alliance making format. The way it has been is a lot like elementary -turn-based- selection. Instead, I suggest we do it more like the way they do in industry. Make the alliance off the field. Make appointments to meet with prospective partners, discuss the stipulations for which the alliance would exist (i.e. we will be your partner if you focus on defense), and then announce together all at once the alliance that has been made. This seems to me to be a lot more industry based and appropriate for such an important decision.

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by Ryan Foley

5) make the autonomous target a MOVING target (catch a roomba?). Kind of goes with the idea from the post above.

That would be so much fun to watch!

How about boxes of different sizes and colors, but rather than stacking make them nesting so you would get different credits for making a partial or complete set? They could be arranged with openings in all different orientations (up, down, side) and there would be some strategy in placing a block in a box to prevent a complete nested set from being made. Some of the boxes could be at fixed locations on the field and some movable.

[raymaniac]

Originally Posted by kawelch

Why make them all empty. make some solid concrete, some empty, and some half full of sand.

Sand could be a problem if the bottle got a hole in it.

[Kris Verdeyen]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The time for medicine balls is here. They're widely available, a challenge to maniupulate, durable, and useful for post season workouts.

What they aren't is cheap, but I'm sure a reasonably priced source could be found.

http://www.shapeupshop.com/bands_bal...lls/rubber.htm (Thanks Kelly)

[=Martin=Taylor=]

What about feed tubs for livestock?



Stack them...
Fill them with balls...
Cap them with medicine balls for bonus...

The possibilities are endless.

Oh yes! and they come in red, blue, and black
http://www.bigdweb.com/FEED_TUB_MINI_P1700.cfm

[Cooley744]

Maybe a concept where there is an alliance made of three teams. Each team on the alliance is given a section of the field to work in. They are also given a section of the feild they are allowed to play defense on the other alliance in. Making sence? Each team must activate their side/part of the field in order for the game to work.

I have no specifics, just ideas on the technical aspects.

[Herodotus]

This is just a suggestion for any future game, specifically the end game. How about have a ramp you drive up at the end of the match, but to make it a bit more challenging you make it so you can either just drive up the ramp and park for a small amount of points (maybe 5 or so) or you can then proceed to cross a gap that is wider then the starting position of a robot for that year, so you have to develop a way to go over a gap that is larger then your robot.

[SteveJanesch]

I had a general idea for a game piece which requires two or more 'bots working cooperatively to score it. I was originally thinking of something like a long bar that had to be lifted or pushed to have its ends supported by two narrow platforms or posts or something. The bar would be structured and the size of the 'bot restricted that it would be nearly impossible for a single team to score the piece. (I'm thinking as I type here, so forgive me as I bounce around.) Maybe something like a sealed length of PVC pipe with weighted balls inside, so the center of gravity changes wildly as you handle it - if you grab one end and lift it, the balls roll away from you. Limiting the width of the gripper/mechanism on the robots could ensure that you'd need a 'bot at each end to manipulate the thing.

After reading the other posts here, it struck me that another possibility is that a bar (no longer loaded with weights, necessarily) could be assembled first and then placed in scoring position, with scores increasing with the length of the bar - maybe up to four or five segments - and/or the height of placement.

Another scenario is to use a flexible game piece, like a rope or hose, having to be supported in multiple places (got this idea from the post with light ropes). This could be multiple robots or a single one doing a segment at a time. Points could be scored for number of places suspended, height, or floor area enclosed; penalties for interfering with the opponents rope. That'd benefit a short 'bot which could still travel beneath the ropes.

- Steve

[Tetraman]

How about a large portions of the floor are missing, like a puzzle, and you have to fill in the floor with your alliance color peice...than you score more points by putting things on top of the floor part(s) you control.

[Joe G.]

How about PVC "nunchucks" as a gamepiece, made of two 6 inch lengths of 2" - 3" PVC, attatched together by about a foot of some kind of cord or light chain. They could be placed in a bin for some points, and hung on a bar by the cord for more points. Also, I would love to see something like the bridge from 2001, maybe as an endgame task.

[Tetraman]

Right now...I'm sitting in an office chair, and that office chair is on a thick plastic covering for the carpet. And this covering is pretty slick. *Hint Hint*

[WCarvalho]

Something that is more of a race would move the game away from the blocking and shoving defense mode. Alliances could have to deal with different obstacles to retrieve game pieces. One might be a tunnel or low bar that would require a robot to contend with size constraints. Another might require climbing ability. Wasn't a seesaw used once? Robots could be designed to handle one specific obstacle and be designated by the alliance to go after one game piece, or they could be more versatile. Perhaps pieces could be passed from one robot to another. The autonomous period could be structured to result in an alliance having a "head start" in the game. Robots on one alliance could block robots from the other alliance that are returning to their homebase with game pieces or they could concentrate on getting their own game pieces to their homebase.

[AndyB]

I like the idea of robots almost transforming, like putting objects up high and then having to fit underneath a platform or soemthing to get end game points.

[AndyB]

I like MVL's game this year hahah. A ramp, not necessary rotational like in MVL, but still, extra points for when the ramp is titled towards or away from your side. It would make for a great battle depending on the bonus value. The ramp would start balanced and you could go from there. It would have to be large enough for robots to drive on it. It is similar to 2001, but instead you could go around the ramp. Maybe making it a little wider would be cool too. Like Karthik mentioned, keep the bonuses, but please don't make them so valuable that a team can stick a couple of flaps on the kitbot and call it a ramp-bot.

MVL Ramp: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/29188