2012 Lessons Learned :The Positive

[Jin Hayashi]

There were many things that I liked about this year's game:

I liked that real time score during matches didn't make us wait until after the end of a match to know the winner.

Penalties points added to the other alliance score helped eliminated many of the 0-0 matches.

Coopertition bridge really changed the game by making working with other teams extremely important during matches.

[hiyou102]

What I liked about this year is the quality of the events. Although I have never attended events prior to this year, the events seem to look better than previous years judging by videos of past years. It seem that everything from the scoring system, to the commentating, to the camerawork seems to be better this year.

[Scott Bahl]

I thought the GDC nailed the bridge dimensions.

The length of the bridge was such that a triple balance was difficult but not unreasonable

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Scott Bahl

I thought the GDC nailed the bridge dimensions.

The length of the bridge was such that a triple balance was difficult but not unreasonable

That's a really good point. They must have looked at quite a bit to calculate out that length to make it something you had to really design for.

[pfreivald]

For that matter the barrier was a great touch. They essentially eliminated the brick bot from contention -- to be useful, you had to be able to do *something* more than drive, whether it's manipulate the bridge or go over the barrier.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

To be useful, you had to be able to do *something* more than drive, whether it's manipulate the bridge or go over the barrier.

Or shoot. You didn't necessarily have to cross the center.

[Solidstate89]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Or shoot. You didn't necessarily have to cross the center.

I think he was referring specifically to the "Rookie" brick-bots that are just basic KoP robots meant to play defense. You definitely couldn't just do that this year because than you'd be stuck in your own end. You either had to manipulate the bridge, or find a way to cross the center to be a useful defensive robot.

I of course use the term "Rookie" loosely as there were some incredible rookie teams this year.

[Koko Ed]

Time for my contribution:

1. Best. Game. EVER!!!
2. I love that the District championships were on a stand alone week seven.
3. Much easier to deal with game pieces that didn't die within seconds of use.
4. Great volunteer food.


FOR WEEK 1 ALAMO:
San Antonio is very nice.
I am a big fan of convention center setups
The Time Warner and military personnel volunteers proved very useful.
Jon, Bharat and Joe. They kept the whole ship afloat.

FOR WEEK 2 FLR:
My favorite venue still.
My awesome veteran que team was on their game as usual.

FOR WEEK 3 MONTREAL:
The setup surpassed some concerts.
The coat check was a nice touch
The energy level was AMAZING!
The MC. Dan is a star in the making.
Kate. Without her the event never gets off the ground.

FOR WEEK 4 BOSTON:
Best field crew all year.
Angry Eric.
The JefFTA!

FOR WEEK 5 DC:
Liz and Cowboy Jesus!
The Americorps volunteers (a very awesome bunch of kids indeed)
Our lead que Patrick Fee
Great venue

FOR WEEK 6 QUEEN CITY:
Gorgeous venue
Best level of competition at a pure regional this season.
My Wisconsin based Que Crew
Paul ran a tight ship on the field making things go smoothly.


FOR WEEK 7 MSC:
Highest level of competition I've seen this yer.
Highly professional teams that qued themselves. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with them.
Terrific field team that kept everything rolling seamlessly.

FOR THE CHAMPS:
Great to have all the fields back in the dome.
Terrific all star que and field team led by Liz, Cowboy Jesus and Jesse.
The volunteer lounge (though I didn't find much time to spend in it)
The afterparty was MUCH better than last year. The food variety was much appreciated!

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

...4. Great volunteer food...

Echoed

Also:
- Epic game. No, I mean really, really great. Playing, watching, explaining, scoring, strategizing, everything.
- Coopertition (Bridge). It's not a perfected concept yet, but it's got a lot going for it.
- Real time scoring
- The fields are in the Dome!
- 1114 rocks ok ok, not strictly a 2012 lesson...
- District Model = awesome
- Did I mention I seriously liked this game?

[Akash Rastogi]

I have to echo all the positive comments about the district system. I love it!

This year was also the most I've had the chance to work with many different teams on robot design and just becoming better friends.

[Peyton Yeung]

I liked the real time scoring and having the fields back in the dome. I also liked the co-op bridge because it was the reason we made the 8th alliance captain in Queen City (and later went on to win the entire event).