I’ve had an idea to do this for quite some time now, but have never had a very good means to do thism, until I came to the realization to make this a mod.
I have always thought it would be cool to have a FIRST robotics simulator that you could actaully have your robot on the computer and test it out with out actaully having it completed (which is generally not the case until ship date :p) this would include testing out code. I have begun making modifications for the game Half-Life 2, which has one of the most in-depth and complex physics engine. So what I am proposing is that, as a community, we create a mod of Half-Life 2 that will allow for the testing of code and design without the usual physical and practical restraints that accompany the building of a robot for FIRST.
There was a map for CS 1.5 that someone made for StackAttack that was pretty cool. As for a full mod? I havn’t played CS:Source (as I’ve quit gaming) so I don’t know how adaptable the new engine is to things such as robot code. Unless it can import the actual code and run it in real-world circumstances, I don’t think such a mod would be worthwhile to have as a means of troubleshooting the real bot. Sure it’d be fun to play with, but as a “tool”, it’d have to be just about perfect so that a programmer could import the code, play the “game” then alter the code until it works just right.
But yeah, it would definately a total conversion, and would end up including a C intreperter right in the code. I understand the complexity of this project, I was mainly trying to see if there would any support for this progject. By the way the Source engine offers one of the most robust physics engines in gaming.
CS:S’s engine is a bit rickety when it comes to flying/moving objects (just try playing one of the “vehicle” maps if you’re not convinced.) I played HL2’s demo, and maybe it may work. Just… how are you going to move the bot’s design from a drafted format to the next? Inventor mods?
Remember the vehicle mods?
Vehicle mod with deaccel high, plus very “large” gun turrets/appendages controlled by human CTs inside the “Bot”. It won’t be very scale, but…