Robot Build Fight! by Finn Stokes

[raw]
made by Finn Stokes for LD24 (COMPO)
Robot Build Fight
=================

Asynchronous multiplayer robot programming game based on wireworld (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireworld). To understand the dynamics of the simulation, see the wikipedia page.

When you run a battle, your circuit is uploaded to the server and another player's circuit is downloaded to act as you opponent. The idea is that a metagame will develop, with circuits in some sense evolving through natural selection as better robots are copied and improved upon. In practice this may not turn out so well as many supporting features were not completed in time and there is unlikely to be a large enough layer base.

Controls
--------
* Left mouse: place/remove wire or paste selection
* Right mouse: select/cut area
* Ctrl+Left mouse: Cycle wire/electron head/electron tail
* L: load last opponent's circuit
* Ctrl+z: undo last change to circuit
* Space: begin battle

Inputs
------
On the left of the circuit are three inputs - three different distance sensors that insert electrons when the robots are a given distance apart (as a percentage of the arena width).

Outputs
-------
There are five outputs on the right hand side of the circuit that are continuously activated by receiving at least one electron every eight steps - three weapons and two movement controls. The three weapons are the Laser (which does the least damage), the Rocket (which also damages you if the opponent is too close) and the Claw (which can only attack at close range). If two weapons are active at the same time, each deals one half of its usual damage (one third if three are active). The remaining two outputs move your robot forward and back (for your robot, left and right on the battle display respectively).

Battle display
--------------
The number in the top right represents your health and the top left your opponent's. The two boxes in the middle represent the relative spacing of the robots.


If you are on windows you can run the windows executable version. Otherwise (on OS/X, Linux or Windows) you need love2d (https://love2d.org/) to run the love file.

Ratings

Coolness 66% 3
Overall 3.34 187
Fun 3.20 173
Graphics 2.29 600
Humor 1.77 488
Innovation 4.26 3
Mood 2.56 409
Theme 3.32 209

Feedback

Citiral
26. Aug 2012 路 19:55 UTC
Really nice, I love cellular automata, like wireworld. The idea of two of these robots fighting against each other is awesome. But some more feedback on the weapons would have been nice.
馃帳 Finn Stokes
27. Aug 2012 路 01:37 UTC
Yeah, I would have loved to add a lot more feedback on a range of things but I spent way too long playing with wireworld and the editing interface and ran out of time for such things.
Rellikiox
29. Aug 2012 路 11:39 UTC
Really really cool game. I got hooked as soon as I understood what I was doing. But, as Citiral pointed out, a little more feedback would be good.
Gidaio
30. Aug 2012 路 05:11 UTC
Sounds like a good idea, but honestly, I don't really want Love2D on my computer. Build a Windows binary and I'll check back.
馃帳 Finn Stokes
30. Aug 2012 路 11:34 UTC
Windows executable added. Sorry it took so long, I kind of forgot.
jprogman
31. Aug 2012 路 04:35 UTC
Cool idea. It's just that it's confusing and it could have been better represented. I keep on forgetting what's input/output and which robot is me. :/
mes
31. Aug 2012 路 08:09 UTC
Had a blast with this trying out different robot variations. I think the idea is solid as it is, but as others have commented more feedback on weapons (i.e. registering hits, hits received, etc..) could be interesting.

Cool game.
Khayet
31. Aug 2012 路 13:55 UTC
Took a long time for me to understand it, it's a really different kind of concept. Once it's understood it's a really cool game though. As mentioned: You should add a little feedback. And maybe a bit sound and graphics :)
Kayelgee
31. Aug 2012 路 14:33 UTC
Please make a post compo version of this. :D
馃帳 Finn Stokes
31. Aug 2012 路 14:39 UTC
I will release a post compo version some time after judging is complete (since the multiplayer makes two competing versions undesirable) that will include pretty much everything that has been requested and more.
Skulls
02. Sep 2012 路 08:04 UTC
I had a lot of fun playing this entry. I liked that you could see what your enemy had built it. Sometimes I'd just straight up copy them and sometimes I'd make changes myself.
Ragzouken
02. Sep 2012 路 08:27 UTC
Really neat idea :) Could do with either a built in tutorial on Wireworld, and maybe a clipboard of gate patterns for people who don't know them. Spamming the rocket exclusively seemed to work well, so some kind of counter would probably be a good idea!
Milo
03. Sep 2012 路 15:12 UTC
I liked the idea, but I couldn't figure out how to get very far, especially given that I didn't know how I could get logic gates to work (especially given that I didn't know when pulses from the inputs would be coming).
馃帳 Finn Stokes
04. Sep 2012 路 01:47 UTC
Ragzouken: I am hoping to add both a tutorial and a clipboard with both prebuilt gates and any structures the player wishes to add. In theory, moving up close and using the claw should beat the rocket, while using just the laser should beat the claw and just the rocket should beat the laser.
Milo: Yeah, that was a big problem that I missed while rushing to get everyone done. In the current development version input pulses are all synchronised with predictable timing and the electron positions reset after each battle so that clocks remain synchronised with the inputs.
someone
05. Sep 2012 路 12:54 UTC
Ok, This was awesome once I finally figured out what was happening. There definitely needs to be more feedback.
Cell
11. Sep 2012 路 13:33 UTC
i love it
galman
16. Sep 2012 路 09:45 UTC
Nice idea.. With some more feedback(more graphics) from the game it could be really awesome!
DaviDeMo
16. Sep 2012 路 10:32 UTC
strange game O.o very fun =D
RawBits
17. Sep 2012 路 01:10 UTC
Very good and nicely done. But it needs more explanation IMHO. I was loosing and loading up the opponents circuits to find out how this whole stuff working but there are circuits that are not making any sense and they are winner ones too.