Arena Blueprint Contest

[Trovaner]

For the anniversary, I was going to add another tutorial to the wiki explaining how to make arenas. I managed to get all the basic stuff written up for a bare-bones arena but I couldn't settle on a final design. Since I'm running into a bit of a road block for ideas, I think its time for another contest.

CAPABILITIES
Basically, I'm looking for an arena idea that demonstrates some but not all of the following:

• Custom AI Navigation/Targeting: These are hard to do (hopefully not to hard for a beginner's tutorial) and I'm the only one that has released something like this. (like a race track or how the AI won't attack the caged bots in the Robo Zone Arena)
• Identical objects that can shifted or rotated to serve as two objects instead of just one (like one wall that can be rotated to make up the other ones).
• Hinges: These are the things that rotate with or without limits (like spinners, flippers, etc.).
• Prismatics: These are the things that move linearly with or without limits (like pistons or other pneumatic devices).
• Object Spawning: These are objects that get added to the arena after it is created (like the barrels in the practice arena).
• Gravity or some other force that acts on a bot: These are linear forces that act on bots or objects within the arena.
• Fire: The color and dimensions of these can't be changed but they are relatively easy to do.
• Smoke: The color and dimensions of these can't be changed but they are relatively easy to do.
• Lightning: Not the prettiest thing but still fun to do. The color and width of the bolts can not be changed.
• Text Overlays: These are under utilized but some people find them to be distracting so it is best to keep them to a minimum unless there is useful information on them (like the one used by the Epic Showdown Arena when SFTW taunts you but serving a different purpose)

LIMITATIONS
Things I do not want to explain quite yet (due to complexity):

• Camera Stuff
• Creating Entirely New Objects
• Tracking GMF Objects

RULES

• Deadline: April 15, 2013, 11:59:00 PM (Expired...)
• Scoring: A poll of the accepted entries will take place on 4/17/13 and last a week.
• Eligibility
  
  • An image and optional description must be posted in this thread before the deadline. Please put the image in a spoiler tag.
  • Images may not exceed 800x600 (WIDTHxHEIGHT) and must be less than 100KB (100000 bytes). Using less gradients and more continuous colors will reduce your file size when it is saved as a PNG file. If you keep it simple, you will never hit this limit. This is to prevent people from over beautifying their entries (like BOTM entries). Try to limit yourself when it comes to beautifying your entries. 
  • If an idea is too complicated/difficult/impractical, I will warn you of this and you will have 24 hours after my post to submit a new entry. This only applies to entries posted before the deadline but the 24 hour extension may go past it. If a new entry is not posted, I will use your most recent valid entry.
  • There will only be one entry per member but you can replace your entry as many times as you want before the deadline.
  • To give yourself adequate time, please get your entries in ASAP. The previous rule will allow you to change your entry later anyways and your ideas may inspire others.
  • You may borrow some ideas from other entries but please try to make your entries as different as possible. Your entry will be invalid if it is too close to someone else's entry.
  • You may still enter even if you already have one of the prizes.
• Prize
  
  • You will receive my Action Cam.
  • It is also likely that your arena will be made and it will become part of a tutorial that others may follow.

ENTRIES

Designer	Arena	Evaluation
Conraaa	Airlock Arena	Valid (no problems)
Venko	Godzilla's Avenue	Valid (no problems)
70 CUDA	The Gauntlet	Valid (no problems)
ianh05	Tag Team Wrestling Arena	Valid (will be simplified to reduce complexity)
Kossokei	Bruniikkaal Arena	Valid (no problems)
Lightning S.	Ring of Fire	Valid (no problems)
TheRoyalBadger	Industrial Zone	Valid (no problems)
Mr. AwesumSauce	The Sawmill	Valid (no problems)

Congratulations to Lightning S. for winning with the Ring of Fire arena.

[Venko]

This is stuff exactly for me...
  I have some crazy (but possible) ideas even from 2008...
 

  ...800x600 and must be less than 0.50KB (64MB)...
 

  Wait a... WHAT?

[ianh05]

Could you explain Identical objects that can be repeated (rotation is fine), hinges and Prismatics a little more for us? I have an idea for an arena using most the other stuff.

[RedSawn]

I believe what he means by identical objects is copy and pasting stuff for the arena you've already made and putting it elsewhere in the arena to save time just typing out every part of it again.

Hinges are the axles for arena flippers and hammers.

I don't know what Prismatics are. But I do know I'm interested in this contest.

[Trovaner]

I added descriptions to everything and corrected the math error that Venko pointed out.

[Jack Daniels]

Oh good.  This will be a nice mental distraction at work.  Better bring my sketchpad.

[Trovaner]

Signups are now open and they will be closing on 4/15/13.

[ianh05]

I'm terrible at illustrations    not sure if I should enter, already had one arena made for me.

[Trovaner]

I say go for it. You don't have the guaranteed prize (the action cam) and it would encourage others to participate.

[Jack Daniels]

Rock on. Expect something from me within a week or so.

[Wolfsbane]

I know i'll sound like a noob by asking this, but what's an Action Cam? Some camera you use IRL?

[ianh05]

I believe it's a camera angle in the game that follows the action by itself without needing to be moved around by the mouse.

[Trovaner]

Roughly a week left before this contest ends. Now would be a good time to get your entries in if you are unsure if they are doable. It has been open for nearly a month so there will be no extensions of the deadline.

Everyone is eligible to participate even people that know how to make their own arenas (since there is a prize for the winner).

Since I'm posting anyways, here is the description of the Action Cam that I gave in another contest:

As far as what the action cam is, it is basically an autonomous camera that views all active bots from the side. It will also rotate to the other side if a wall gets in the way so you will almost always have the optimal viewing angle.

To expound upon this, it is a camera that is enabled by pressing the F3 and F4 buttons at once. It supports having any number of bots in the arena and works just as well for human vs AI scenarios as it does for AI vs AI scenarios.

[Venko]

Images may not exceed 800x600 (WIDTHxHEIGHT) and must be less than 100MB (12500KB). Using less gradients and more continuous colors will reduce your file size when it is saved as a PNG file. If you keep it simple, you will never hit this limit. This is to prevent people from over beautifying their entries (like BOTM entries).

I still can't get how an 800x600 image can be bigger than 1 920 056 bytes.
(800x600 32 (24 + alpha) bits per color bmp;tga = ~ 2 MB), what with the 100 Mega Bytes limit anyway?...
Did You mean 100 Kilobytes?

[Conraaa]

Excuse my god awful picture, but I hope the description should make up for it.

This is the Airlock Arena, a square arena with reasonably low edges to allow for OOTA's. It has small fences then external walls, fencing the arena in from the rest of the world. This arena's party piece however, is that near the end of the match (Say, 2 minutes in in a 3 minute match) each airlock (There are 2 located on opposite sides of the arena) opens a small amont and the gravity of the arena changes for about 8 seconds, thrusting the robots to that side, and possibly out of the arena if they happen to be airborne. This then alternates by door every 20 seconds until the end of the match.

Every time an airlock is about to open, 4 smoke vents, one in each corner, start pouring out smoke until the airlock is closed again. And if you wanted real fun. There could be a stack of barrels at one end, which would be thrown across the arena the first time an airlock opens.

[Venko]

This is my entry :

Some info :
Please excuse me for my bad drawing, this is a rough sketch I made in 10 mins.
Basically, this map is the opposite of "Honey, I shrunk the bots".
The bots here are giants that cause havoc in a city.
Everything is "sealed", there is no OOTA.
The floor texture is a street texture with walkways, sidewalks and stuff.
The sky is full with flying UFO SFTWs.
The background would be a wrecked city.
1 are the bots start locations, they are equally distant from each other, and don't have a direct visual contact between any of them.
2 is a shallow or deep hole in the ground.
3 is a chopper that can move or not, but surely do a damage when it's touched.
4 UFO SFTW abduction, which triggers from time to time if You are under the beam, this can be done with a negative gravity in this area, then SFTW do some damage with his spinner and release You.
5 is a small tank that can't move but can shoot at any bot in his sight for an about ~100 damage.
6 King Kong sprite, that can throw rocks at the bots.
7 some of the buildings could be on fire.
8 all "exits" are blocked by a debris textures.
9 some bricks can be textured as a different cars, so they can be moved around or be even destroyed.
These are the most important for the arena, so I would like to have many of them all over the arena.
10 these buildings can be destructible, or not, or semi destructible.
And I think, that most of the things can be done with just a simple shapes and textures, so no laggy arena at all.
If some stuff can't be done, it will just not be included, I will not redo my pic, if something has to be corrected.
The picture :

[Trovaner]

Images may not exceed 800x600 (WIDTHxHEIGHT) and must be less than 100MB (12500KB). Using less gradients and more continuous colors will reduce your file size when it is saved as a PNG file. If you keep it simple, you will never hit this limit. This is to prevent people from over beautifying their entries (like BOTM entries).

I still can't get how an 800x600 image can be bigger than 1 920 056 bytes.
(800x600 32 (24 + alpha) bits per color bmp;tga = ~ 2 MB), what with the 100 Mega Bytes limit anyway?...
Did You mean 100 Kilobytes?

Yeah I meant Kilobytes but whatever... Since I've already stated that the rules won't change, people should have no issues keeping it under the limit that I listed but I would still recommend keeping it relatively low to avoid cluttering up your splash (Conraaa made exactly what I was thinking people would do in the version of his arena that I quoted).

(Image removed from quote.)

Excuse my god awful picture, but I hope the description should make up for it.

This is the Airlock Arena, a square arena with reasonably low edges to allow for OOTA's. It has small fences then external walls, fencing the arena in from the rest of the world. This arena's party piece however, is that near the end of the match (Say, 2 minutes in in a 3 minute match) each airlock (There are 2 located on opposite sides of the arena) opens a small amont and the gravity of the arena changes for about 8 seconds, thrusting the robots to that side, and possibly out of the arena if they happen to be airborne. This then alternates by door every 20 seconds until the end of the match.

Every time an airlock is about to open, 4 smoke vents, one in each corner, start pouring out smoke until the airlock is closed again. And if you wanted real fun. There could be a stack of barrels at one end, which would be thrown across the arena the first time an airlock opens.

Congratulations on becoming the first valid entry. The arena would be well-suited for a beginners tutorial and the overall concept of it seems pretty cool IMO.

This is my entry :

Some info :
Please excuse me for my bad drawing, this is a rough sketch I made in 10 mins.
Basically, this map is the opposite of "Honey, I shrunk the bots".
The bots here are giants that cause havoc in a city.
Everything is "sealed", there is no OOTA.
The floor texture is a street texture with walkways, sidewalks and stuff.
The sky is full with flying UFO SFTWs.
The background would be a wrecked city.
1 are the bots start locations, they are equally distant from each other, and don't have a direct visual contact between any of them.
2 is a shallow or deep hole in the ground.
3 is a chopper that can move or not, but surely do a damage when it's touched.
4 UFO SFTW abduction, which triggers from time to time if You are under the beam, this can be done with a negative gravity in this area, then SFTW do some damage with his spinner and release You.
5 is a small tank that can't move but can shoot at any bot in his sight for an about ~100 damage.
6 King Kong sprite, that can throw rocks at the bots.
7 some of the buildings could be on fire.
8 all "exits" are blocked by a debris textures.
9 some bricks can be textured as a different cars, so they can be moved around or be even destroyed.
These are the most important for the arena, so I would like to have many of them all over the arena.
10 these buildings can be destructible, or not, or semi destructible.
And I think, that most of the things can be done with just a simple shapes and textures, so no laggy arena at all.
If some stuff can't be done, it will just not be included, I will not redo my pic, if something has to be corrected.
The picture :

Its seems kind of busy for a beginners tutorial but most of it is doable. The only issue that I have with it is that the hole in the ground and on the buildings. It is hard to make something look crumbed and be just a texture. Although this arena is a bit of a stretch, I'll still allow consider it a valid entry due to the lack of entries that we have ATM.

[70 CUDA]

been up all day so this is a crap mock up.   I give the GAUNTLET!!!!
here is the thought. It is a 2 bot arena with three things to get past or through. a slalom that you have 10 sec to get past or a fridge will drop on your bot or in front of it, making it hard to get past. a wall of cinder blocks, just bash it. and a ramp up over the top of arena walls, these will rise after the bot crosses over so the bots cant get back to the course. the arena has a fire and smoke running across it until both bots get in. I would love to see 2 drum hazards that have a floor section covering them. if a bot sit on it for 2 sec the floor shoots back and a 55 gal drum thing with spikes rises out of the floor and tosses the bot to the wall or beyond.

[ianh05]

You could also make the ring have an easily changed (modded) logo for wrestling/MMA/Boxing fans. Also forgot to add that the bots bounce off the ring ropes (just like in wrestling).

EDIT:

It seems doable but I have a few questions. If you make the walls bouncy and they are low enough for bots to hit them then how are they suppose to get into the arena? It wouldn't be too difficult to make the walls unsubstantial but did you want it done differently? Also by "ring apron" do you mean the ledge between the ropes and the steps? If so, you're likely to have problems with bots falling off or partially off the ledge. As far as weapon spawning goes, the best I can really do is toss an object into the arena from the sidelines. Bots can not pick up objects or have them attached during a match. Edit your post with the answers to these questions and I'll put you down as a valid entry (you'll be labeled as being an invalid entry until then).

1. Perhaps they can teleport in (create same bot in another location and remove original)?
2. By ring apron I mean the area on the ring that is outside of the ropes, I'd just say make the area large enough to hold a HW on there or have a low invisible wall to prevent robots falling off.
3. For the weapon I'd like them to spawn upright in the neutral corners and setup so that when a robot makes contact with it the object breaks and that robot takes damage.

EDIT #2:

1. Unfortunately, neither teleporting nor respawning are possible in RA2. I can blink the lights and launch the bots into the arena using a force command but it wouldn't give you the results that you are looking for.
2. Making an invisible wall would be fine but it would look kind of wonky when the second bot tried to get onto the ledge (assuming that both bots on a team are entering the arena from off stage). I was already thinking that we could make the collision mesh for the stairs into a ramp but to give wide bots the ability to turn without touching the ropes, the ramp would need to end quite a bit sooner than the display mesh which would make it look pretty bad whenever something drove on top of it.
3. That would work.

1. Force command thing sounds alright, we just need them to get in and out of the ring anyway possible.
2. An invisible collision mesh all around the ring with a gap for the ring ramp sounds like a good idea. You could make the ramp larger and put it near one of the neutral corners.
3. Would it be possible for the table to break and have parts of the table possibly land on the bot? The ladder could just fall on top of the bot and cause damage.

[Trovaner]

been up all day so this is a crap mock up.   I give the GAUNTLET!!!!
here is the thought. It is a 2 bot arena with three things to get past or through. a slalom that you have 10 sec to get past or a fridge will drop on your bot or in front of it, making it hard to get past. a wall of cinder blocks, just bash it. and a ramp up over the top of arena walls, these will rise after the bot crosses over so the bots cant get back to the course. the arena has a fire and smoke running across it until both bots get in. I would love to see 2 drum hazards that have a floor section covering them. if a bot sit on it for 2 sec the floor shoots back and a 55 gal drum thing with spikes rises out of the floor and tosses the bot to the wall or beyond.
(Image removed from quote.)

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by slalom but I'm guessing it has something to do with a slippery surface. Regardless, it seems doable and it seems to be at the right difficulty for a beginners tutorial. On a side note, it kind of reminds me of Lu-Tze's obstacle course arena (which is perfectly fine) and I like the spinning drums idea.

(Image removed from quote.)

You could also make the ring have an easily changed (modded) logo for wrestling/MMA/Boxing fans. Also forgot to add that the bots bounce off the ring ropes (just like in wrestling.

It seems doable but I have a few questions. If you make the walls bouncy and they are low enough for bots to hit them then how are the bots suppose to get into the arena? It wouldn't be too difficult to make the walls unsubstantial but did you want it done differently? Also by "ring apron" do you mean the ledge between the ropes and the steps? If so, you're likely to have problems with bots falling off or partially off the ledge. As far as weapon spawning goes, the best I can really do is toss an object into the arena from the sidelines. Bots can not pick up objects or have them attached during a match. Please edit your post with the answers to these questions (I'll put you down as valid but it will be tentatively depending on your answers). On another side note, JoeBlo made a wrestling arena for Backlash but it never got released...