Poll

What do you like doing most in RA2/RA3/robot combat games?

Building robots
Local single player battles with manually-controlled robots
Local multiplayer battles  with manually-controlled robots (PvP with controllers or a shared keyboard)
AI-only tournament battles
Other?  Please comment below.

Author Topic: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development  (Read 187437 times)

Offline pokebro14

  • Your mother
  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 1091
  • Rep: 3
  • Interior crocodile alligator 🤔
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #180 on: March 28, 2018, 10:57:57 AM »
Cant wait for the new build! any pics of the flail bot
Achievements and tournament placings

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #181 on: March 28, 2018, 11:17:17 AM »
Looking very interesting! Any tweaks to weaponry (Eruption's flipper power, carbide's spinner speed etc)?

Eruption - The flipper is 4 times more powerful than before.  It is maybe a tad too overpowered, but it is more fun now. :)

Carbide - The spinner has always rotated way faster than the Nyquist frequency of the screen (nominally 60 Hz).  I spent a lot of time trying to deal with this by adding things like motion blur and adjusting the visual representation of the spinner vs the physical simulation, but in the end, I think the solution is simple: sparks.  With sparks you know when the spinner hits.

Note that we will most likely be removing Eruption, Carbide, and Original Sin from the game, as they all have restrictive licensing agreements.  D.B. ad D.B. Mk II are both based on student work, and @AnarchyFox is currently modeling "Ballerina", a drumbot that was fairly successful in our student competition last year.  Ballerina won't make it into this build, but should be available in the next one.




Offline Squirrel_Monkey

  • Squirrel_Monkeyweight
  • *
  • Posts: 7587
  • Rep: 7
  • [Insert clever and witty comment here]
    • 0SquirrelMonkey0
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #182 on: March 28, 2018, 11:22:45 AM »
Note that we will most likely be removing Eruption, Carbide, and Original Sin from the game, as they all have restrictive licensing agreements.
What's the chance you can leave in "Generic Bar Spinner", "Generic UK style Flipper" and "Generic 4WD Wedge bot"?
Better than GK since 2009.
I think SM is a pretty cool guy, eh builds unicycle-bots and doesn't afraid of anything

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #183 on: March 28, 2018, 11:34:46 AM »
Cant wait for the new build! any pics of the flail bot

Here's a low-res shot of D.B. Mk II vs Original Sin.  D.B. Mk II resulted when my students attached a flail to D.B..  It ended up working out really well in real life.  Its simulated version is, unfortunately, not as effective.


Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #184 on: March 28, 2018, 11:39:30 AM »
Note that we will most likely be removing Eruption, Carbide, and Original Sin from the game, as they all have restrictive licensing agreements.
What's the chance you can leave in "Generic Bar Spinner", "Generic UK style Flipper" and "Generic 4WD Wedge bot"?

We are looking to create a bunch of all-new robot designs that don't infringe upon any existing IPs.  If anyone has any of their own IRL robots that they would be willing to send photos of, we might just be able to put them in the game.

Aside from that, once the BotLab is working, we are hoping that you guys go nuts with your own designs. :)

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #185 on: March 28, 2018, 12:17:35 PM »
The new build is now available for download:

https://robot-rumble.itch.io/builds

Offline Gulden

  • Am I still considered active?
  • Posts: 1330
  • Rep: 7
  • Currently trying to make a Riff in Time and Space.
    • https://www.youtube.com/c
  • Awards Donated money for site hosting 2019 BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Discord: Gulden#1901
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #186 on: March 28, 2018, 02:36:06 PM »
Eruption - The flipper is 4 times more powerful than before.  It is maybe a tad too overpowered, but it is more fun now. :)
You'll regret that.
This isn't supposed to happen.gif
I have several opinions.

Offline Badger

  • Permanent Artifact
  • Giga Heavyweight
  • Posts: 6318
  • Rep: 3
  • I wish to be with my people
  • Awards BOTM Winner Donated money for site hosting 2019
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #187 on: March 28, 2018, 04:01:02 PM »
I feel like the force curve on Eruption's flipper is a bit off, I think maybe either the force is applied over too long a period, or maybe the force doesn't peak quickly enough (awful pic below to explain what I mean), both leading the flipper to feel a bit unsatisfying and unrealistic. That and Eruption's flipper is very inconsistent; sometimes feeling barely less anaemic than before and other times exploding like the gif Guldenflame posted above, or sometimes behaving in a way anywhere between those two extremes. I personally think it would be a good use of time to polish the feel of eruption's flipper and iron out the explosion bug, even if Eruption is not long for this game, as I'm sure it would serve you well if you chose to create another AI flipper or a component that allows the user to create flippers in the botlab.

Awful pic:
force.png
also lol at most toxic guy around calling others out on this sh**
Google Drive with my newer bots

Offline Badnik96

  • tired of your shit
  • *
  • Posts: 17537
  • Rep: 3
    • Badnik96GTM
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • BattleBots Wiki
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Skype: Badnik96
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #188 on: March 28, 2018, 06:24:40 PM »
the flail on db2 is pretty buggy, i've gotten it to glitch out of the warehouse map quite a few times

the ai on eruption doesn't seem to want to self-right until the countdown timer starts which is pretty easily abusable

other than that, big fan of this so far :) can't wait to see where it goes in the future

Offline TheRoboteer

  • Mr Big Blue Flipper
  • *
  • Posts: 1587
  • Rep: 9
  • "I HATE SEBASTIAN COE!"
  • Awards Donated money for site hosting 2021
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • Discord: TheRoboteer#8784
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #189 on: March 28, 2018, 06:28:26 PM »
In addition to the glitches that Badnik mentioned there's also some kind of glitch with Eruption's self righting when controlled by a player. It tends to glitch out and launch the bot around and usually out of the arena even from the opposite side of the ring.

Gonna echo Badnik's praise though. This is the first build I've played of the game and the combat is already fun and addictive as hell. The botlab looks incredibly promising too. Will be watching how things develop extremely eagerly  :thumbup
Notable Tournament Performances:
The Beginner's Guide to IRL:
https://gametechmods.com/forums/tutorials-and-tips/irl-a-beginner's-guide

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #190 on: March 28, 2018, 08:09:09 PM »
I feel like the force curve on Eruption's flipper is a bit off, I think maybe either the force is applied over too long a period, or maybe the force doesn't peak quickly enough (awful pic below to explain what I mean), both leading the flipper to feel a bit unsatisfying and unrealistic. That and Eruption's flipper is very inconsistent; sometimes feeling barely less anaemic than before and other times exploding like the gif Guldenflame posted above, or sometimes behaving in a way anywhere between those two extremes. I personally think it would be a good use of time to polish the feel of eruption's flipper and iron out the explosion bug, even if Eruption is not long for this game, as I'm sure it would serve you well if you chose to create another AI flipper or a component that allows the user to create flippers in the botlab.

Awful pic:
 [ Quoting of attachment images from other messages is not allowed ]

Right now the pressure in the pneumatic cylinder is computed based on the Ideal Gas law, using the volume in the gas lines, buffer tank volume, and volume in the cylinder.  The pressure starts at a maximum value and then drops inversely proportional to the increase in volume as the piston slides out of the cylinder:


// currentPressure is measured in PSI
currentPressure = massRatio * Mathf.Max (minimumOperatingPressure, operatingPressure * (volumeInGasLines + bufferVolume) / (volumeInGasLines + bufferVolume + crossSectionalArea * strokeLength));

I think the erratic behavior might be due to the fact that the piston was set to "discrete" collisions, rather than "continuous dynamic".  I'll switch this and see if it affects anything.  Although I like the idea of the Ideal Gas model, I have a lot of room to cheat the system to get it feeling better.  In the end the most important thing is that it feels right, so I will keep working on it.

Offline Badnik96

  • tired of your shit
  • *
  • Posts: 17537
  • Rep: 3
    • Badnik96GTM
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • BattleBots Wiki
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Skype: Badnik96
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #191 on: March 29, 2018, 01:41:23 AM »
threw the link over to my buds at ARC and one of them discovered that if you have a bot on the very top of Eruption's flipper and fire it, Eruption will explode. he was able to reproduce it pretty consistently.

Offline pokebro14

  • Your mother
  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 1091
  • Rep: 3
  • Interior crocodile alligator 🤔
  • Awards BOTM Winner
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #192 on: March 29, 2018, 01:41:48 AM »
Ok imma egnore or the glitches and buggyness and say that this is very impressive. With things to add to the next update there a few things I think should be added. More bot types e.g thwak bot, axe, drum, etc.
I would also add an arena that dos'nt make eruption win each fight e.g the battlebots and combat arena
Achievements and tournament placings

Offline Olister92

  • Heavyweight
  • Posts: 652
  • Rep: 0
  • Trust no one, suspect everyone
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Discord: Olister92#9751
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #193 on: March 29, 2018, 06:27:37 AM »
I downloaded this yesterday, but couldn't get it run properly. It's fine in the menus but when I enter a battle I get huge amounts of lag (like 2 seconds after I press a button) is there a simple fix for this?
What I did manage to play I thought it was pretty fun and the physics were pretty realistic and I'd love to see this continue in future

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #194 on: March 29, 2018, 09:00:55 AM »
I downloaded this yesterday, but couldn't get it run properly. It's fine in the menus but when I enter a battle I get huge amounts of lag (like 2 seconds after I press a button) is there a simple fix for this?
What I did manage to play I thought it was pretty fun and the physics were pretty realistic and I'd love to see this continue in future

Thanks for the feedback!  I am curious as to your system specs.  I have been tuning combat to run between 30-60 fps on a 2013 Macbook Air laptop with 8 GB of RAM.  The game is CPU-limited on my laptop, with physics taking the vast majority of the CPU time.

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #195 on: March 29, 2018, 09:01:34 AM »
threw the link over to my buds at ARC and one of them discovered that if you have a bot on the very top of Eruption's flipper and fire it, Eruption will explode. he was able to reproduce it pretty consistently.

Nice catch!  I will definitely take a look at this.
« Last Edit: March 29, 2018, 01:15:11 PM by cjbruce »

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #196 on: March 29, 2018, 09:04:00 AM »
In addition to the glitches that Badnik mentioned there's also some kind of glitch with Eruption's self righting when controlled by a player. It tends to glitch out and launch the bot around and usually out of the arena even from the opposite side of the ring.

Gonna echo Badnik's praise though. This is the first build I've played of the game and the combat is already fun and addictive as hell. The botlab looks incredibly promising too. Will be watching how things develop extremely eagerly  :thumbup

This has been sitting on the list of stuff to fix for a while, but got buried when I was working on the new immobility timer.  I am thinking a 1-second delay before self-righting should work...

Offline Olister92

  • Heavyweight
  • Posts: 652
  • Rep: 0
  • Trust no one, suspect everyone
    • View Profile
    • Awards
  • See profile for gamer tags: Yes
  • Discord: Olister92#9751
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #197 on: March 29, 2018, 10:50:05 AM »
I downloaded this yesterday, but couldn't get it run properly. It's fine in the menus but when I enter a battle I get huge amounts of lag (like 2 seconds after I press a button) is there a simple fix for this?
What I did manage to play I thought it was pretty fun and the physics were pretty realistic and I'd love to see this continue in future

Thanks for the feedback!  I am curious as to your system specs.  I have been tuning combat to run between 30-60 fps on a 2013 Macbook Air laptop with 8 GB of RAM.  The game is CPU-limited on my laptop, with physics taking the vast majority of the CPU time.

It's an Acer Aspire ES1-512 (2015 or 2016) with 4 GB of RAM
The processor is an Intel Celeron N2840 if any of this helps

Offline Badger

  • Permanent Artifact
  • Giga Heavyweight
  • Posts: 6318
  • Rep: 3
  • I wish to be with my people
  • Awards BOTM Winner Donated money for site hosting 2019
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #198 on: March 29, 2018, 10:55:04 AM »
I downloaded this yesterday, but couldn't get it run properly. It's fine in the menus but when I enter a battle I get huge amounts of lag (like 2 seconds after I press a button) is there a simple fix for this?
What I did manage to play I thought it was pretty fun and the physics were pretty realistic and I'd love to see this continue in future

Thanks for the feedback!  I am curious as to your system specs.  I have been tuning combat to run between 30-60 fps on a 2013 Macbook Air laptop with 8 GB of RAM.  The game is CPU-limited on my laptop, with physics taking the vast majority of the CPU time.

It's an Acer Aspire ES1-512 (2015 or 2016) with 4 GB of RAM
The processor is an Intel Celeron N2840 if any of this helps
Yeah well there's your problem. You can't expect a 3 year old celeron (with no dGPU) that was weak when it was released to play basically any 3-D game released in the past decade or more. Not an issue with the game I'm afraid. Try it on a desktop if you have access to one.
also lol at most toxic guy around calling others out on this sh**
Google Drive with my newer bots

Offline cjbruce

  • Super Heavyweight
  • Posts: 963
  • Rep: 11
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #199 on: March 29, 2018, 12:00:53 PM »
I downloaded this yesterday, but couldn't get it run properly. It's fine in the menus but when I enter a battle I get huge amounts of lag (like 2 seconds after I press a button) is there a simple fix for this?
What I did manage to play I thought it was pretty fun and the physics were pretty realistic and I'd love to see this continue in future

Thanks for the feedback!  I am curious as to your system specs.  I have been tuning combat to run between 30-60 fps on a 2013 Macbook Air laptop with 8 GB of RAM.  The game is CPU-limited on my laptop, with physics taking the vast majority of the CPU time.

It's an Acer Aspire ES1-512 (2015 or 2016) with 4 GB of RAM
The processor is an Intel Celeron N2840 if any of this helps
Yeah well there's your problem. You can't expect a 3 year old celeron (with no dGPU) that was weak when it was released to play basically any 3-D game released in the past decade or more. Not an issue with the game I'm afraid. Try it on a desktop if you have access to one.

It is good to know though.  @Olister92, thank you for sharing!

I am toying with the idea of supporting really old hardware.  This comes with other advantages, like being able to throw unlimited numbers of robots in the ring together.  Right now I am tweaking everything for two robots, and am pushing physics to the maximum.

If we were willing to give up a bunch of physics fidelity by going to a "magic mobility" system where the forces on an object are drastically simplified like in RA2, we could get by on RA2-like hardware.  I'm not convinced that it would be worth it though.  The current high-fidelity physics should be able to handle arbitrary shapes created in the BotLab.  If you want a pneumatics system, you build it from scratch.  All of the hinges and sliding joints are modeled individually.  You couldn't do this in RA2, where everything was made of prebuilt components.