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 187640 times)

Offline F1Krazy

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #60 on: August 27, 2017, 07:53:30 PM »
Good news!

We are thrilled to announce that we have put together the core team for "Robot Rumble 2.0".  tashic, tomgsx, and I will be working together on the project, and have set a launch date target of mid-2019.  Starcore has graciously offered his guidance in the development of AI, and we are hoping to make this a big part of the game at launch.

Thank you for all of your kind words of support, and we hope to make this game something that we can all be proud of and enjoy for years to come.

-The Robot Rumble 2.0 Core Development Team
Nice! I look forward to following the game's development!
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Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #61 on: September 06, 2017, 01:21:45 PM »
Howdy all,

We just wanted to let you know that work is continuing.  @tomgsx is in the process of building out the menu system and combat dynamics.  @tashic has taken on the significant project of creating the BotLab.  He has some pretty cool ideas about new ways to build robots from smaller pieces.  We don't know what is going to work and be robust enough to ship yet, but hopefully some of them work well.

Meanwhile, we have a website and the beginnings of a logo:

http://robot-rumble.com



The T-square and the welding torch were chosen to represent an emphasis on building.  We are hoping to make a great robot building experience, where players can test their creations in combat, rather than focusing only on the combat.

Offline Badger

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #62 on: September 06, 2017, 01:31:01 PM »
Thanks for the update, the logo looks good. Glad to hear that you're tackling this in a modular manner

Can you comment on if you're taking moddability into account during development? One of this things that has kept RA2 relevant for so long is how much of the game can be modified without touching the actual source code, or in other words how little of the game is hardcoded.
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Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #63 on: September 06, 2017, 02:31:52 PM »
Thanks for the update, the logo looks good. Glad to hear that you're tackling this in a modular manner

Can you comment on if you're taking moddability into account during development? One of this things that has kept RA2 relevant for so long is how much of the game can be modified without touching the actual source code, or in other words how little of the game is hardcoded.

We are hoping to make a system that is inherently flexible enough that modding isn't really necessary.  Here are a few of the things we are exploring:

Creating Custom Meshes
@tashic is attempting to make a mesh builder that allows you to "cut out parts" on a virtual bandsaw and weld them together to make whatever you want.  In theory it should be doable, but there are lots of gotchas along the way that could cause a lot of performance problems if we aren't careful.  We haven't gotten to custom texturing yet, and frankly, we still have a lot to learn about texturing and decals in Unity.

User-Built AI Code
My other goal is to study @starcore's AI work to see if we can pull out the basic logic and expose it to the user in a much more flexible way.  The vision is to have a system where players could program their robot AI, much in the same way our high school students do with their robotics kits (VEX and Lego Minstorms).  To be honest, we haven't started on this yet, and I envision that it will take a significant amount of work to do.  I have the basics of a system in mind for AI steering and attacking, and a conceptual framework for handling AI task priority (do I attack? run away? help my teammate? etc.), but I still have a lot more basic research to do before this begins to come together.  If we can't get this working, then maybe we can make the AI modding experience similar enough to RA2 + DSL that existing players will know what to do.

Whatever we can't build in, we are hoping to expose to the modding community, though it is almost as difficult to do this well as it is to build it right into the game.

First things first though -- we are getting close to an updated version of @tashic's original version.  I was hoping to test it with my robotics students sometime in the next two weeks, then publish it here for everyone else to try.

Offline Badnik96

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #64 on: September 06, 2017, 02:49:05 PM »
@tashic is attempting to make a mesh builder that allows you to "cut out parts" on a virtual bandsaw and weld them together to make whatever you want.

this would be amazing if you get it to work. looking forward to seeing what comes together further down the line.

Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #65 on: September 07, 2017, 02:50:26 PM »
New logo.  This version is cleaner:


Offline Philippa

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #66 on: September 07, 2017, 02:51:46 PM »
The other one looked a million times better, but okay.

Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #67 on: September 07, 2017, 03:10:47 PM »
The other one looked a million times better, but okay.

I appreciate the honesty!  What was it you liked about the first logo that is missing from the new one?

Offline TheRoboteer

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #68 on: September 07, 2017, 03:13:08 PM »
The other one looked a million times better, but okay.

I appreciate the honesty!  What was it you liked about the first logo that is missing from the new one?
New one is just some text on a black background. The other one had some character to it. It actually looked like a logo rather than something kinda generic.
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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #69 on: September 07, 2017, 03:21:47 PM »
I feel like the old one was a little more childish than this new one (Probably because of the pickaxe.  What does that have to do with robots?).   But I do agree it's much less interesting.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2017, 03:51:20 PM by Guldenflame »
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Offline Philippa

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #70 on: September 07, 2017, 03:34:41 PM »
The other one looked a million times better, but okay.

I appreciate the honesty!  What was it you liked about the first logo that is missing from the new one?
New one is just some text on a black background. The other one had some character to it. It actually looked like a logo rather than something kinda generic.
Pretty much this. The other one could be an icon for the game as well as the logo so it's got a better branding rather than just some text that you don't instantly see is textured, rather than just plain grey.

Offline dragonsteincole

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #71 on: September 07, 2017, 03:42:23 PM »
I think a good idea for the logo would be to incorporate a shape or logo that is the essence of the game boiled down into 1 image, like a lot of the RW/Battlebots branding revolves around gears or hex bolts that give off a mechanical vibe. The idea for this game would be as a building tool or mechnaism for people to learn how it's put together, so incorproating a wrench or a spanner into the logo would give a little more visual excitement, whilst not being an overly complicated logo either.

Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #72 on: September 07, 2017, 03:45:51 PM »
The other one looked a million times better, but okay.

I appreciate the honesty!  What was it you liked about the first logo that is missing from the new one?
New one is just some text on a black background. The other one had some character to it. It actually looked like a logo rather than something kinda generic.
Pretty much this. The other one could be an icon for the game as well as the logo so it's got a better branding rather than just some text that you don't instantly see is textured, rather than just plain grey.

Fair enough.  My eye tends toward minimalism, but the broader community's opinion is the one that counts.

Thanks again for the feedback, and I'll keep working on it.

Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #73 on: September 27, 2017, 02:55:48 PM »
My apologies for the length of time between updates.  We have been working on all sorts of odds and ends.  @tashic is busy with the BotLab, @tomgsx is working on combat, and we might be bringing a new team member on board.

Hopefully the next update will come soon, but for now, here is an animated version of the logo:


Offline Hoppin

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #74 on: September 27, 2017, 03:00:17 PM »
Seems like it'd be a good loading bar as well. Though I think having the laser cut out the name would be cooler, though I understand that's more complicated
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Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #75 on: September 27, 2017, 06:01:37 PM »
Seems like it'd be a good loading bar as well. Though I think having the laser cut out the name would be cooler, though I understand that's more complicated

Oh... great idea!  I like it!

This one was done in After Effects, but I'm thinking it might be cool to recreate it in Unity to give in-game control of the animation.  The straight path of the laser does seem a natural fit for a loading bar.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2017, 08:48:13 PM by cjbruce »

Offline toAst

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #76 on: October 02, 2017, 12:30:11 AM »
i dont care what anyone else says, i actually really ****ing love the first logo. i think it's close to perfect.

and on the topic of multiplayer: yes, this. please.
the reason there isn't an active multiplayer community for this game is because the multiplayer, according to many (excluding my easy-to-please self... let's ****in' battle, yall!) was awful. i personally crave the ability to DRIVE my robot against another human-piloted bot. that's where half the fun is! maybe your bot is designed better, or has superior weaponry, or what-have-you. but i've outwitted and manouvered you, and now you have to suck sparks, loser! that's entirely my sh**.

so please, please do that.

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #77 on: October 02, 2017, 12:39:30 AM »
oh-- and do keep in mind with your question: this is a community built around a game where the most functional part of it's playability is the customization and building, so that's what your answer is going to be. i'm kind of a unicorn here in this sense because i'm more about competition than idle tinkering, and that not being the strong point of the game this commuinity is built around means that people like me (who do exist and likely don't post here because of the lack of mano y mano combat as a strength of the game) could absolutely be a target market of sorts for your game has it the technical capability to implement a solid online battle system. do keep in mind that you can certainly expand your target market outside of the average ra2 player if you pay enough mind to improve on the things where ra2 was weak, rather than just building a stronger ra2 (which limits your community to those of us who are already here, and god forbid that's all!)

makes sense?  :approve:
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Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #78 on: October 02, 2017, 06:09:17 AM »
oh-- and do keep in mind with your question: this is a community built around a game where the most functional part of it's playability is the customization and building, so that's what your answer is going to be. i'm kind of a unicorn here in this sense because i'm more about competition than idle tinkering, and that not being the strong point of the game this commuinity is built around means that people like me (who do exist and likely don't post here because of the lack of mano y mano combat as a strength of the game) could absolutely be a target market of sorts for your game has it the technical capability to implement a solid online battle system. do keep in mind that you can certainly expand your target market outside of the average ra2 player if you pay enough mind to improve on the things where ra2 was weak, rather than just building a stronger ra2 (which limits your community to those of us who are already here, and god forbid that's all!)

makes sense?  :approve:

Absolutely, and I totally appreciate where you are coming from.  I thought about this a lot when I found out about the RA2 community a few months ago.  The first version of "Robot Rumble" was extremely basic (it only had one robot + 3 powerups), included no robot building at all, and was "couch multiplayer" only.  But I think it was actually fun.

Couch multiplayer is pretty easy to build, and is absolutely something we intend to do with this version.  In addition to making a really beautiful version for Steam, I'm trying to figure out how to get Unity WebGL to behave well enough to make an AirConsole version like the original so that up to 8 people can play against each other locally on their smartphones.  I'm even considering porting a WebGL version in something other than Unity just because I like AirConsole a lot, and think it has potential for a game like this.

I am really looking forward to a game where I have 4 people with PS4-style controllers sitting in a room together playing against each other with robots that they have built.

Offline cjbruce

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Re: Robot Rumble 2.0 - Robot Combat Simulator - Under Development
« Reply #79 on: October 02, 2017, 12:46:50 PM »
It has been a while since any of us has released a build to the public, so I figure it is about time to share the love.  We are playing around with a lot of things at the moment, so this version is pretty incomplete.  If you are curious, here are a few things we are trying:

1. Post-processing effects: If you select a 1-player battle, the effects are enabled.  If you select a 2-player battle, the effects are not enabled.  Otherwise, they are essentially the same screen.  Please let comment below if the post-processing effects are causing problems!

2. The BotLab exists, but @tashic is still at the very early stages of working out the mesh builder.

3. I am just starting to work on sounds now.  The only things that have sounds attached are the menu selections.

Windows: http://nerdislandstudios.com/robotrumble/windows/RobotRumbleWindowsBuild9-30-17.zip

Mac OS: http://nerdislandstudios.com/robotrumble/macos/builds-OSX9-30-17.app.zip

Linux: We don't have a Linux build, but please let us know if this is something that would appeal to you, and we will make one!

Screenshot: