anyone have any ideas about next years game?

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Zach O

Mini waffles MAY be used, but only if they follow the same toasting guidelines as regular waffles, which may result in burns.

Yes, the first one will be supplied in the Kit of Parts, but any additional Mr. Fusions can be purchased at AndyMark, along with Eggo waffles and instant Jell-O packets. Note, the use of plutonium is NOT allowed, and any robots using plutonium to power their flux capacitor will not pass inspection. (There goes FIRST, going green again!)

Dear sir, do you have confirmation on this? Q&A, or it's not legit.

[bassoondude]

Originally Posted by Karibou

Dear sir, do you have confirmation on this? Q&A, or it's not legit.

I'm pretty sure this is a joke, considering the mention of a flux capacitor, plutonium, and the fact they are trying to use waffles as wheels.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by bassoondude

I'm pretty sure this is a joke, considering the mention of a flux capacitor, plutonium, and the fact they are trying to use waffles as wheels.

It's legit, please see Team Update 17.


On a slightly more realistic note (this is a "next year's game" thread after all), I could actually see a capture the flag-type game. In fact, it might be a good non-violent allusion to the Civil War, if we're going that route. Maybe a little less complicated though, with bigger "flags" for audience viewing.

Originally Posted by Bjenks548

...[snipped for space] It was really fun to play with breakaway with people and we got some good strategies out of it.

I love this idea. We're considering playing mini matches with VEX (and hopefully still will), but this would be a great addition, both for strategy and understanding the quirks of the field.

[Jeremy Germita]

I had a dream about the 2011 kickoff last night.
The game was similar to Aim High(2006) as you had to shoot balls(similar to poof balls) into a high goal. But it was more like a game of golf(more or less), as the goal moves with every scored ball.

Thinking of anniversaries,
2011 is the:
5th anniversary of Aim High
10th anniversary of Diabolical Dynamics
15th anniversary of Hexagon Havoc

I also agree that swappable bumpers will return. They seem too audience friendly to abandon.
Vision targets probably will return, too.



Personally, I'd like to see a return of the IR beacon and Hybrid period of Overdrive. I thought this was an interesting element of the game.

[Vermeulen]

GDC post

The GDC has posted:

The Game Design Committee spent the weekend on the first floor here at 200 Bedford Street. We waded our way through your suggestions and have narrowed the field down to four game concepts, each with their own diabolical twist. We discussed the Coast Guard’s robotic water games with Vince Wilczynski and wondered what we could do to make this year’s game the biggest and the best in order to celebrate FIRST’s 20th anniversary.

Woodie was away on vacation, Aiden was unable to attend and Dean couldn’t join us until Sunday due to other commitments. But, Paul Lazarus brought his filming equipment and FRC staff fueled the GDC with snicker doodles, blueberry pie and the ever present Haagen-Dazs, so by Sunday we were able to build a few prototypes and begin trying out ideas. We are far from finished, but each member of the GDC walked away with something to think about before our next teleconference and we're planning for another onsite soon.

Today Dean is at the JCPenny store managers’ meeting in Texas where eight local FRC teams are introducing senior staff to the excitement of FIRST by playing a mini Breakaway tournament. I wish them all the best of luck. I’m back in my office, planning for the future and finishing up the leftover fruit and bacon.

208 days to Kickoff
See you then!

I've bolded the suspicious-sounding parts.

I think that the water game part, the waded part, and the GDC food part were red herrings, but the bacon part... Why would there be any bacon left over? That doesn't make sense... The first floor part seems unnecessary to me, maybe it's hinting at a multi-storied game?

[Jeremy Germita]

I had another idea...

A FARM-type/theme game!

GDC quote from above:

I’m back in my office, planning for the future and finishing up the leftover fruit and bacon.

They say that it is the 20th anniversary of FIRST. FIRST's First Game was MAIZE Craze.

Corn? Bacon(pigs)?

Maybe you have to harvest some game peice?
Or herd lambs?

Just my thoughts...

[PAR_WIG1350]

Diabolical is probably referring to 2001, where there was one alliance of 4 competing against the clock.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by jeremypg399

I had another idea...

A FARM-type/theme game!

GDC quote from above:


They say that it is the 20th anniversary of FIRST. FIRST's First Game was MAIZE Craze.

Corn? Bacon(pigs)?

Maybe you have to harvest some game peice?
Or herd lambs?

Just my thoughts...

I was going to say "Pigs? In FIRST? When pigs fly...", but...yeah. Hey Andy Baker, will the pigs be available from AndyMark?

Words that seem hint-esque to me are "twist", "first floor", and "leftover". Maybe we'll have a game that involves us going up something similar to a spiral staircase to place "leftovers" in the "fridge." (can you tell that I'm thinking about dinner?)

Also, they mentioned a lot of sugary foods this time around.

[delsaner]

We were talking about this topic at a robotics meeting today (just a cleanup session) towards the end of the meeting. We all said, since this'll be the 20th anniversary, that all FIRST games will me mashed together. Here were our ideas...

Small tetras can be stacked on top of plastic tubs or shot through goals at the top of the driver station, which will then be given to the human players to shoot into the trailers behind each robot. For the bonus points, robots can hang on a spider rack, and other robots can suspend from already hung robots.
(we like to be creative with things...)

As for the reality, I would love to see a game piece that is not a ball, but balls are easy to use and we have used up all other shapes in previous years. Cylinders may be a possibility, I cant think of any items that would be large enough and sturdy enough for robots to handle. I am imagining baseballs or basketballs. I cant relate to bacon however (I looked up bacon history, saw that Europe was mentioned, looked up popular sports in Europe, and soccer came up, and I doubt its soccer next year, so yea... no luck there ).

My thoughts.

[MWB]

Originally Posted by delsaner

As for the reality, I would love to see a game piece that is not a ball, but balls are easy to use and we have used up all other shapes in previous years. Cylinders may be a possibility, I cant think of any items that would be large enough and sturdy enough for robots to handle. I am imagining baseballs or basketballs. I cant relate to bacon however (I looked up bacon history, saw that Europe was mentioned, looked up popular sports in Europe, and soccer came up, and I doubt its soccer next year, so yea... no luck there ).

My thoughts.

What if they used a non-rigid shape... like a soft thick ball filled with a type of gel.

[bam-bam]

one of the posts says pig-tail (for Ethernet)...

This is probably a common term amongst the programmers, but since the "bacon", I'd thought I should bring it up...

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by delsaner

As for the reality, I would love to see a game piece that is not a ball, but balls are easy to use and we have used up all other shapes in previous years. Cylinders may be a possibility, I cant think of any items that would be large enough and sturdy enough for robots to handle. I am imagining baseballs or basketballs. I cant relate to bacon however (I looked up bacon history, saw that Europe was mentioned, looked up popular sports in Europe, and soccer came up, and I doubt its soccer next year, so yea... no luck there ).

My thoughts.

I've been saying it for years; Footballs. Probably no more expensive than the soccer balls this year. Probably just as tough. And it is a really hard shape to manipulate. They don't roll straight and they bounce erratically. Couple this with another game piece (maybe softballs) and you will have teams thinking more strategically since all but a few teams will not be able to manipulate both balls.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I've been saying it for years; Footballs. Probably no more expensive than the soccer balls this year. Probably just as tough. And it is a really hard shape to manipulate. They don't roll straight and they bounce erratically. Couple this with another game piece (maybe softballs) and you will have teams thinking more strategically since all but a few teams will not be able to manipulate both balls.

Two Words: Clean Sweep.

- Sunny

[Mr. Tech Vike]

i have a feeling it might revolve around current events. but what i really hope for is a multi-platform feild, something like king of the hill see what robot stays on the longest.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Mr. Tech Vike

but what i really hope for is a multi-platform feild, something like king of the hill see what robot stays on the longest.

2003, Stack Attack. After you got done attacking the stacks and sending them to the ground, you headed for the top of the hill to see how your traction on flat HDPE compared to your opponent's traction on angled copper mesh. Some folks figured out that you could lock in around the edges of the HDPE, so teams had a hard time getting up where they were...