Since you''re reading this, you''ve probably heard of the show on Comedy Central. In it, people spend months building radio-control robots... then, the bots are put in an arena and they''re given about 3 minutes to destroy each other. I''ve been thinking about doing a game with a similar theme. Specifically, players will build a robot with the editor tool, then they''ll launch into one of various scenarios: deathmatch, capture the flag, racing, problem-solving tasks, etc. Robots will be controlled via keys/joystick. Also, I just wanna stress that the building process will be very flexible... the physics simulation I''ve planned will allow arbitary placement/connection of motors, axles, wheels, structural supports, etc. Anyway, to the point: As a lone designer/programmer, I cannot possibly create enough content (scenarios, opponents, etc.) for a commercial single-player game. How can I get the players to create their own content? Btw, I say "single-player" because I doubt my player base would ever be large enough to support ongoing online multiplayer matches. One possibility is to let players optionally write AI for their bots, a la MindRover. Players could then share their bots (via web, email, etc.) and have an endless supply of new opponents.

I''ve actually had an idea for a similar game based on Battlebots, but if anything you should take the idea to the creators to avoid copyright... stuff... Write a letter or something, I don''t know.

Had simular ideas - in the UK it''s known as "Robot Wars" on BBC TV, and is better than the USA version - honest.

I did a small amount of digging and found that the BBC license that already gone so somebody to make an Edutainment title - DOH! What a waste.

It would make a really cool bloody and guts(*) video game - the UK version organises players into a tournament, two lots of 3 or 4 players vs each other, semi-finals, and then a head to head of the best two robots.

(*) If not blood and guts, maybe hydraulic fluid and electronics

The USA version tends to be more everybody in the ring at the same time for maximum carnage and destruction.

Completely pointless fact coming up...

One of the judges on Robot Wars (Myra Wilson) is actually the head of AI and Robotics at my Uni! (Aberystwyth), and she taught the AI modules i took in the 1st year.
Impressive heh?? no didn''t think so either.

Ford! theres an infinate amount of monkeys outside wanting to talk to you about a script of Hamlet they created!

---

www.mikeditum.co.uk

---

quote:

---

Original post by Beelzebub

The USA version tends to be more everybody in the ring at the same time for maximum carnage and destruction.

---

I find nothing wrong with that.

Sure the first episodes in America were kinda corny, but as time moved on, so did the show. They used less and less bad puns (still do, but what the hey?), and the bots got more and more menacing.

"Season 2.0," as they called it, kicked tiny shiney bootey!!! I was just watching the other day and they had some newcomer called El Diablo. He''s got to be one of my favorites now: well-designed, drives well, good pit crew, and, well, it looks cool. It''s not just a remote-controlled race car with a shell and a hammer like many out there.

It seems, though, that a lot of the most interesting of all the BattleBots are the ones that lose the most. Some don''t even make it past one fight. Take Snake for instance. Rather than being walking or wheel-driven, this bot slithered. It was the most intriguing I''d seen in the whole tournament. Didn''t make it past the first fight.