GDC you have failed us.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by swamp_child

I keep hearing people say that the GDC has leveled the playing field this year, however I feel this is simply not true. While it is true that we are playing on a totally different surface, there are still many, many aspects a rookie team will not be able to over come.
As wildstang demonstrates in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS_I0cRmGIE) there is still going to be a huge advantage to anyone who has a crab drive system, perhaps this year more than ever (as discussed in another thread simple tank drive is going to have tons of problems this year). Additionally we are starting with a whole new programming platform, however this platform was beta tested by many teams, all of which are many year veteran teams.
I could rant on for quite a while about this, and if anyone wants me to expand upon any of my points, go ahead and ask, and I'll do my best to explain. But come on people this game isn't leveling anything, if anything it's just broadening the gulf between the vets and rookies.

I do have to ask: why are you so convinced that the GDC was attempting to "level the playing field"? (insert obvious joke about the Regolith being a largely level surface here). I do not recall any statement uttered during the kick-off broadcast or written anywhere in the rules that made that claim. All those that are so critical of the "Lunacy" game just 96 hours after it was unveiled seem to be making some rather large assumptions about the explicit and implicit intent behind the game design. I can tell you that some of those publicly stated assumptions (including those concerning the rationale behind Rule <G14>) are just flat out wrong. Perhaps there were reasons other than "leveling the playing field" (insert second obvious joke about the Regolith being a largely level surface here) that might have affected the design of the game? Maybe the obvious interpretation is not the only interpretation. Or even a correct one.

And in that same period - a period in which NO ONE has actually built their competition robot, in which NO ONE has characterized the actual performance of their competition robot, in which NO ONE has played even one actual competition match - those same people are able to make deterministic statements about the overall quality of the game and how "good" it is.

Perhaps rather than an open ended rant based on incomplete information and unfounded speculation, what is really needed here is for everyone to just relax for a moment. Take a deep breath and ponder the possibility "hmmmm.... I wonder if there might be OTHER reasons that could explain why the game is designed the way it is? Perhaps the obvious inferences are not the only ones? Maybe I better think about this a little more...." Or, if you don't want to do that, maybe just forget about the "why" for a while, and just focus on designing and building a kick-bot robot to play the game and having some fun. Relax. Take a deep breath. Have fun. Go build something. Inspire us.

Just a thought....

-dave



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