Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development

[cjbruce]

Also, on the topic of modding: 
2. We also could really use an open source arena builder tool.

Im pretty sure you might be able to inject arenas into the game via mod. Or alternatively, an arena builder just like how bot builder works
I could make a mock up

I was thinking something more official.  Like using Unity to create arena AssetBundles that you can load from a directory.

Idk how friendly would that be to inexperienced people.

But it would give unlimited creative freedom.  You could make literally anything that you could make in Unity.

[kix]

Also, on the topic of modding: 
2. We also could really use an open source arena builder tool.

Im pretty sure you might be able to inject arenas into the game via mod. Or alternatively, an arena builder just like how bot builder works
I could make a mock up

I was thinking something more official.  Like using Unity to create arena AssetBundles that you can load from a directory.

Idk how friendly would that be to inexperienced people.

But it would give unlimited creative freedom.  You could make literally anything that you could make in Unity.

It would, but again, with no proper tutorial, most people wont use it

[cjbruce]

Building a bespoke arena builder would be quite a bit more work.  We played around with the idea a bit initially, but didn’t have enough developer time to do it.  It really needs a dedicated person working on it.

[kix]

Building a bespoke arena builder would be quite a bit more work.  We played around with the idea a bit initially, but didn’t have enough developer time to do it.  It really needs a dedicated person working on it.

I wonder if it would be easy to just copy everything from bot builder, just as a test
No mechanics, just simple geometries like the shapes section in bot builder.

Idk how hard is it for me to do it

[cjbruce]

I wonder if there is a runtime scene builder on the Unity asset store that we could use...

Edit:  Sorry, forgot to answer your question!  The botlab stuff is pretty robot-specific.  We would have to add quite a bit to make it useful as an arena tool.

[kix]

I wonder if there is a runtime scene builder on the Unity asset store that we could use...

Let me see what i can find

The botlab stuff is pretty robot-specific.  We would have to add quite a bit to make it useful as an arena tool.

EDIT: Maybe it should just be like early bot builder. It works, but its not functional as it doesnt save

[WhamettNuht]

What version of Unity is being used to build the game? (If at all relevant).

I might have a go at seeing how easy it would be for a beginner to create something for the game potentially.

[cjbruce]

What version of Unity is being used to build the game? (If at all relevant).

I might have a go at seeing how easy it would be for a beginner to create something for the game potentially.

We are going to be switching to the latest 2018.4 version here in the next week.

[KupaTec]

Also, on the topic of modding: 

1.We still have the RR2 Component Modding Tool project on the back burner.  The idea is to make all of the in-game components using the tool.

2. We also could really use an open source arena builder tool.

Both of these have languished in the vaporware stage because we are down just @tashic and me for development.  Would you be interested in picking up one (or both) of these projects?  I would like to put them up on github when they are ready.

I mean if you have the start of the projects and can put up with me asking technical questions/asking for access to parts of the source of RR2 I'd be more than happy to take on these in my spare time.

Funnily enough my next question was going to be about implementing arenas as dynamically loaded AssetBundles so this is exactly what I had in mind for the future.

[kix]

Also, on the topic of modding: 

1.We still have the RR2 Component Modding Tool project on the back burner.  The idea is to make all of the in-game components using the tool.

2. We also could really use an open source arena builder tool.

Both of these have languished in the vaporware stage because we are down just @tashic and me for development.  Would you be interested in picking up one (or both) of these projects?  I would like to put them up on github when they are ready.

I mean if you have the start of the projects and can put up with me asking technical questions/asking for access to parts of the source of RR2 I'd be more than happy to take on these in my spare time.

Funnily enough my next question was going to be about implementing arenas as dynamically loaded AssetBundles so this is exactly what I had in mind for the future.

I kinda want to ask for that to see if i can do some stuff, but i dont think i want

[BATTLEMASTER]

Some more thoughts regarding damage, chassis hitpoints, and breaking apart components with reference to my previous post about disintegrating robots:

-Currently, the game mechanics are similar to Robot Arena 2, where players design a chassis that is most like a solid body onto which components are attached.

-In real life combat robot design, the chassis is not a solid block, but panels and components attached to a frame or unibody construction of some sort, covering other panels, components, and mounts for those components.  During combat, these panels and components are deformed and/or forcibly removed from the frame (also known as damage to the robot).

-The creative freedom currently allowed in Robot Rumble 2 allows for robots to be built out of custom parts much like they are in real life.  The only weird part about this is the base "chassis", which seems to have the robot's hit points for judging a KO.

As an experiment, I created a sort of egg beater-style vertical spinner robot that actually has a base chassis that makes up for a small part of the center of the robot.  The rest of the robot is composed of re-scaled shapes that are formed into body panels that cover the front, sides, and rear.  These are attached to base body panels which are themselves attached to the small chassis piece. 

While this method of construction is time-consuming and pretty KO-proof compared to what we're used to experiencing in RA2, I find the combat this creates a lot more satisfying.  For an example, I pitted my Tombstonesque horizontal bar-spinning robot against my beater-spinning robot created in this way and the destruction is just awesome!  I easily pick apart the wheels, the frame surrounding the spinner, then whoops the spinner breaks off!  Then repeated hits to the top and rear body panels just send them flying away, exposing the poor robots guts!

Am I the only one who's going to be building robots in this way from now on?  Because it's just fun being able to tear these things apart piece by piece!

One thing I don't quite understand is how the damage is working.  How does the material thickness slider affect the damage a panel or weapon takes?  What about the physical size of the panel or weapon, or its material?  I know the system is totally a WIP, though.

[kix]

Some more thoughts regarding damage, chassis hitpoints, and breaking apart components with reference to my previous post about disintegrating robots:

-Currently, the game mechanics are similar to Robot Arena 2, where players design a chassis that is most like a solid body onto which components are attached.

-In real life combat robot design, the chassis is not a solid block, but panels and components attached to a frame or unibody construction of some sort, covering other panels, components, and mounts for those components.  During combat, these panels and components are deformed and/or forcibly removed from the frame (also known as damage to the robot).

-The creative freedom currently allowed in Robot Rumble 2 allows for robots to be built out of custom parts much like they are in real life.  The only weird part about this is the base "chassis", which seems to have the robot's hit points for judging a KO.

As an experiment, I created a sort of egg beater-style vertical spinner robot that actually has a base chassis that makes up for a small part of the center of the robot.  The rest of the robot is composed of re-scaled shapes that are formed into body panels that cover the front, sides, and rear.  These are attached to base body panels which are themselves attached to the small chassis piece. 

While this method of construction is time-consuming and pretty KO-proof compared to what we're used to experiencing in RA2, I find the combat this creates a lot more satisfying.  For an example, I pitted my Tombstonesque horizontal bar-spinning robot against my beater-spinning robot created in this way and the destruction is just awesome!  I easily pick apart the wheels, the frame surrounding the spinner, then whoops the spinner breaks off!  Then repeated hits to the top and rear body panels just send them flying away, exposing the poor robots guts!

Am I the only one who's going to be building robots in this way from now on?  Because it's just fun being able to tear these things apart piece by piece!

One thing I don't quite understand is how the damage is working.  How does the material thickness slider affect the damage a panel or weapon takes?  What about the physical size of the panel or weapon, or its material?  I know the system is totally a WIP, though.

They are fully redoing the damage, and in future, you might be able to slit open a chassis, for now it is as it is. Now the method of construction you are using, is very popular in ra2 and it is known as extednderbot building.

The damage, is a mixed bag, slider is self explanitory, i guess the hp is calculated by this formula: material thickmess*material itslef*component cubed size=HP. Idk if this is true, but im speculating that it is built like that

[CodeSilver23]

I noticed that when you break a spinner, the physics get all screwy.

[BATTLEMASTER]

They are fully redoing the damage, and in future, you might be able to slit open a chassis, for now it is as it is. Now the method of construction you are using, is very popular in ra2 and it is known as extednderbot building.

The damage, is a mixed bag, slider is self explanitory, i guess the hp is calculated by this formula: material thickmess*material itslef*component cubed size=HP. Idk if this is true, but im speculating that it is built like that

I've been around this scene for so long yet I'm still a newb and not hip with how people are building their stuff.  Thank you for confirming that    I'm glad I'm not the only one who's thinking about bot building like this!  I'm going to redo all my bots in this fashion.  I just wish the "house" bots were built like this.  I just like metal carnage (metalnage?).

Can components mounted directly to the chassis be broken off, or are they invincible like in RA2?

[kix]

Can components mounted directly to the chassis be broken off, or are they invincible like in RA2?

They can be broken off, unless they are motors for some reason

[CodeSilver23]

I’ve had motors break before, but it’s glitchy af

[CyarSkirata]

The problems in my existing bots are only getting more numerous as I keep testing.
It's impossible to make Panic Attack capable of steering fast enough to rotate 360 degrees inside 10 seconds, S3 is under reversed gravity on one side so it balances on the weapon and the other wheel at all times, and my shell-drum bot is incapable of rotating horizontally at all once it starts its weapon, and the weapon can never be stopped - even once it gets broken off completely the effect remains.

I haven't worked on any other broken bot besides Panic Attack yet, because it ideally needs to be present to defend the Parsec Rumble title, but this particular issue with Panic itself just isn't effected by anything.

I've tried different gearing, lifting the forks and skirts off the floor, replacing the back wheels with low friction alternatives, removing the back wheels entirely, removing the entire paint job to simplify the physics. No effect from any of those.

[CodeSilver23]

I just noticed that any pieces broken off of a wheel don't have that moon gravity/item drop effect.

[cjbruce]

Need to look at the broken off stuff again when I have some time this week.  I thought I had everything working properly in the 20December build.  So sorry about this guys!

[cjbruce]

The problems in my existing bots are only getting more numerous as I keep testing.
It's impossible to make Panic Attack capable of steering fast enough to rotate 360 degrees inside 10 seconds, S3 is under reversed gravity on one side so it balances on the weapon and the other wheel at all times, and my shell-drum bot is incapable of rotating horizontally at all once it starts its weapon, and the weapon can never be stopped - even once it gets broken off completely the effect remains.

I haven't worked on any other broken bot besides Panic Attack yet, because it ideally needs to be present to defend the Parsec Rumble title, but this particular issue with Panic itself just isn't effected by anything.

I've tried different gearing, lifting the forks and skirts off the floor, replacing the back wheels with low friction alternatives, removing the back wheels entirely, removing the entire paint job to simplify the physics. No effect from any of those.

By any chance do you still have the old version of Panic Attack to compare?  I am curious to see how much things slow compared to the newer, decorated version.  I suspect that all of the bits and pieces are adding up to significant CPU load.

I have a very rough idea on how to go about “flattening” the decorations at runtime.  I’m not sure if it will work, but it might help...