Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (March 2008)
This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy is a computer game developed by Gabriel Interactive. It is the sequel to Robot Arena. It has many new features, such as the Havok physics engine, fully 3-D environments (This includes being able to flip over other robots), and total customization of your robot. This includes chassis design, weapon placement, mechanics, and even paint. The "cheatbot" code from the original returns, this time offering a Hovercraft Engine, a Magnet, a Flamethrower, and a Cannon (Though an upgrade patch is required for the cheat to take effect). Weapons are completely customizable, including things such as mounting weapons on various attachments, such as poles, disks, and tri-bars. Although the original was not received well by players, this game has a very small (but dedicated) fanbase and small communities for the game are still active today.

Contents

[edit] The Community

For a sequel to a game that received low ratings, Robot Arena 2 had a massive community and following. Although the original "pioneers" of Robot Arena 2 have long since moved on and the websites have gone offline or stagnant, their works are still shared among users in the communities new and old alike.

[edit] AceUplink

The original AI of Robot Arena 2 was less than impressive (Although arguably better than the original's), save for the exception of one Heavyweight: The dreaded flipper EMERGENCY. This led many members of AceUplink, a popular site and heaven for many Robot Arena 2 fans, to create a special AI pack featuring some famous robots from BattleBots to increase the challenge. Over a period of months, some of the more industrious AceUplink members created custom components, weapons, motors, and chassis that, in the end, looked stunningly like their real-life counterparts. Some of the robots featured included Nightmare, Warhead, Minion, Son of Whyachi, Killerhurtz, Ziggo, Mechavore, Diesector, Hazard, Toro, Mauler 5150, Atomic Wedgie, and M.O.E., among others. The pack of robots was extremely difficult, many could not even be harmed save for a tiny chassis housing the Robot Control Board, which was nearly completely encompassed by very durable parts. Nevertheless, the pack livened up the game considerably. AceUplink no longer exists now, and a copy of the pack would most likely have to be found through various fansites.

[edit] RFSHQ

"Radio F Software", an ex-AceUpink staff user (see above), claimed that he could out-perform AceUplink with his own website. The first version of his website, "RFSHQ", launched on February 12th, 2004 (February 12th was the date that AceUplink's domain was purchased) and was used as a place to host the various modifications and upgrades coded by Radio F Software. The "RFS AI Pack" was included in this collection, which was an influential piece of coding because it expanded the limits of the game to allow more features and competitors, something which had never been done before. After the release of the RFS AI Pack the code was disassembled and other users began to use the expansion code.

Using his notoriety, website traffic was successfully diverted to RFSHQ. In the early months of the website's development, articles were written that highlighted "frauds" done by AceUplink staff members. When the community began to pick up, Radio F Software hired a staff comprised entirely of previously banned or disgruntled AceUplink users and began to abuse loopholes in AceUplink's administration system to cause trouble. In 2005 AceUplink tanked, not because of the quiet attacks from RFSHQ, but because of a hosting contract expiration. Because of its size, RFSHQ kept afloat by assimilating smaller websites on the verge of closing. One such site was Robot Arena Reborn which hosted a database full of every modification to date for Robot Arena 2. Once the files traded hands this database became the main attraction of RFSHQ.

RFSHQ is one of the last Robot Arena 2 communities that is still active today, although it has shifted to a comedy website similar to Something Awful.

[edit] Versions of the RFS AI Pack

Each version of the RFS AI Pack modified a specific part of the game code for AI teams, and each version built upon the previous installment:

  • Version 1.0: The original version featured 45 replacement robots (15 teams, 3 robots per team) and did not expand any game boundaries.
  • Version 1.2: The follow up version built on the existing teams, allowing six robots per team instead of three, which doubled the count of available computer controlled opponents.
  • Version 1.5: The third installment included entirely new teams, bringing the total count to 30 teams of 6 robots for a total of 180 robots.
  • Version 1.7: v1.7 was announced, but by this time there was nothing left to expand upon. Four of the fifteen announced teams were created, but later parted off to third party developers for cameo use.
  • Version 1.0DSL: A special AI pack created for the DSL Total Conversion modification, this included just 45 robots and future versions were planned but never developed.

[edit] GAMETECHMODS.COM

gametechmods.com is a fairly new space that has emerged in the Robot Arena 2 community. gametechmods.com is the home of DSL-TC total comversion mod, and is the new home of the unofficial "robot exchange" where builders can upload and share their robot designs with other players. The official exchange hosted on the Robot Arena 2 website was taken down, which leaves gametechmods.com as a replacement. While the site does not contain the old robots that the previous exchange held, it has amassed a substantial amount of contributors and is still growing. gametechmods.com is host to several game modders.

The famous mod by DarkRat, Starcore and Lu-Tze

Noted for their work in DSL v2.0 patch and the BBEANS tournaments

One of the first to release a components pack

Starcore AI pack V1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 are some of the best AI made

And other modders who use the official forum to link their work.

[edit] Online Tournaments

Several websites mentioned in the Communities section also ran tournaments of their own that would be played online betwween two or more users. Lag or latency in connections frequently posed problems, along with various connection issues that would prevent users from battling each other, but the majority of these negatives did not stop players from simply enjoying the spirit of the sport.

[edit] Official Robot Arena 2 Tournaments - RA2T#1 + RA2T#2

A tournament was started by Jimxorb on the official Robot Arena 2 message board with approval from staff, making it the first official tournament. There have been 2 Middle Weight tournaments set up by Jimxorb (Who had previous tournament arranging experience from his Bots4Battle days) on the official website, many people entered and the robot that won the first tournament was a robot designed by Jimxorb and Be0t, using a popup spike inside a wedge design capable of 1-3 hit KOs, power that was at the time unheard of, it was called Death Port 2.

For the second and final tournament Lu-Tze made a new arena that Jimxorb designed, it had corner grinders and low walls, to allow pushers and flippers a chance of success against spinners and axe robots. The well-built arena is still the favourite arena of many players even to this day, it also had an image of Be0t's winning robot printed on the floor of the arena (Part of the prize in the original official tournament.) RA2T#2 was won by Be0t again, this time with Death Port 3 who was solely made and designed by Jimxorb this time to fit Be0t's driving style, although the robot was well built and very powerful it was now a common design. No more tournaments after the second one were ever

[edit] AceUplink Onslaught

AceUplink was the home of arguably some of the most successful tournaments in terms of registration numbers. Because of their links with the official Robot Arena 2 website, AceUplink had their foot in the door early on in the life of the game. The first three tournaments were held to a single weight class, but Tournament Four included tournaments for three weight classes, including the custom "Antweight" class created by member "MiniDJBeirne". The fifth tournament which was redubbed "The Onslaught", the first tournament to use a custom arena; a feature later copied in the community. A second Onslaught tournament was organized, but did not last long as interest in the game started fading. The meticulous organization of AceUplink's rules and brackets would later end up being a centerpiece of future tournaments from many other websites. Site staffer "Omega" later contributed rankings based on the results of all completed tournaments. At the time of AceUplink's closing, Omega was #1 ranked with 43 wins and 17 losses.

  • Tournament #1 - Lightweight Combat, Best 2 out of 3
    • Winner: Ronin2k3 (8-0 Record)
  • Tournament #2 - Middleweight Clawtop, Best 3 out of 5
    • Winner: AW (12-1 Record)
  • Tournament #3 - Middleweight Combat, Best 3 out of 5
    • Winner: TeamMaceCo (13-2 Record)
  • Tournament #4 - All Weight Combat, Best 3 out of 5, Round-robin prelim
    • Antweight Winner: MiniDJBeirne (12-2 Record, 4 ringouts)
    • Lightweight Winner: CARP 104 (12-2 Record, 6 ringouts)
    • Middleweight Winner: Omegaforce (12-1 Record, 3 KOs, 9 ringouts)
  • Tournament #5 - Onslaught (Custom Arena), Best 3 out of 5
    • Lightweight Winner: Omega (12-1 Record, 11 KOs, 1 ringout)
    • Middleweight Winner: CARP 104 (12-3 Record, 6 KOs, 3 ringouts)

[edit] Other AceUplink Tournaments

"AW", an Administrator from AceUplink, was in the middle of trying to create unique arenas to inspire the building of robots that would perform other functions besides fighting. One such arena that was being developed was similar to many FIRST Robotics events where robots would pick up coloured balls and put them into baskets. In theory, successfully putting a ball in a basket would grant you points in the game and the ball(s) would respawn.

[edit] DSL Mod Tournaments

The DSL Mod included several strange arenas in its upgrade. One such arena was built on the AceUplink ball idea; a soccer arena. The idea of the arena was similar. Robots would try and push a single soccer ball into either the Red or Blue goal to score 2000 points. Points for damage were disabled in this arena, and attacking your opponents was discouraged, and subject to disqualification. Unlike the AceUplink arena, the DSL arena was completed with minimal programming bugs. The soccer ball would respawn in the middle of the arena after a goal was scored. Entrants for the first and only soccer tournament were required to follow a strict "No Weapons" policy and instead used various sheet metal plates to design their own kickers or punters for their robots.

[edit] AON & BBEANS

AON (managed by "Alphasim") and BBEANS (managed by Clickbeetle) are two unique forms of tournaments that the creators claim "eliminates lag". This is accomplished by giving AI code to every robot that is entered and running the fights on the "official" computer. Fights are then taped and displayed online for the contenders to see how their autonomous creations did in combat. Most fights are done in a "best 2 out of 3" format in the event of an accident caused due to the various physics problems in the game. With a lack of online human players in recent months, the majority of tournaments now have shifted to this simpler form of fighting as there is no need to set up convenient times for each player.

[edit] Robots

The default robots are as follows. Many of the robots have real-life counterparts, usually BattleBots and Robot Wars. These are listed in parentheses.

  • Red Zone
    • Lightweight: Scout (Hexy Jr.)
    • Middleweight: ALARM (None)
    • Heavyweight: Sentinel (Vlad the Impaler, Panic Attack)
  • PREHISTORIC
    • Lightweight: Roly Poly (None)
    • Middleweight: SaberTooth (Jaws of Death, Kan Opener, Big Nipper)
    • Heavyweight: Grog, the Warrior (Terrorhurtz, Beta)
  • The Good Ol' Boys
    • Lightweight: Catfish (None)
    • Middleweight: Mud Runner (None)
    • Heavyweight: BEAR (None)
  • Team Dragon
    • Lightweight: Ninja (None)
    • Middleweight: Bushido (None)
    • Heavyweight: Ronin (Alien 2)
  • BLACK STORM
    • Lightweight: BOT-204 (Ankle Biter)
    • Middleweight: Devil (Timmy)
    • Heavyweight: Coal Miner (Flash Foward)
  • Team SPARK
    • Lightweight: JACKPOT! (None)
    • Middleweight: The Boxer (Cassius Chrome)
    • Heavyweight: EMERGENCY (Vlad the Impaler, Chaos 2)
  • SpikeHeads
    • Lightweight: M.A.D. (None)
    • Middleweight: Dementia (None)
    • Heavyweight: Little Metal Friend (Jaws of Death, Kan Opener, Big Nipper)
  • North Polers
    • Lightweight: MiniBerg (Hammertime)
    • Middleweight: Iceberg (Hammertime)
    • Heavyweight: SnowJob (Frostbite, IceBerg)
  • HIGH VOLTAGE
    • Lightweight: Flapjack (Hexy Jr.)
    • Middleweight: BackSlash (Biohazard)
    • Heavyweight: Wide Load (None)
  • Team HEX
    • Lightweight: Flame Chopper (Shrike, Killerhurtz)
    • Middleweight: LugNut (Jack Rabbit)
    • Heavyweight: Hanky Panky (Bacchus)
  • Team Z
    • Lightweight: Berserker (Ziggo, Son of Whyachi)
    • Middleweight: Razor (None)
    • Heavyweight: Eye Poker (Monster, Tornado, Rammstein)
  • SteelYard Dog
    • Lightweight: Lil' Dog (Double Agent, The Crusher)
    • Middleweight: Da Dog (Punjar, La Machine)
    • Heavyweight: Big Dog (Punjar, Doom Of Babylon, La Machine)
  • RIOT
    • Lightweight: Civil Disobedience (None)
    • Middleweight: REVENGE (M.O.E., Fluffy)
    • Heavyweight: Raptor (Terrorhurtz, Beta)
  • MEGATON
    • Lightweight: Stinger (None)
    • Middleweight: Tornado (Mauler 51-50, Son of Whyachi)
    • Heavyweight: DEADBEAT (Terrorhurtz, Beta)
  • The Scrappers
    • Lightweight: Arc Pounder (Herr Gepounden, Stinger)
    • Middleweight: Ripblade (Backlash, Nightmare)
    • Heavyweight: Backyard Ripper (Afterthought, Bender)

There are also six example robots for the player to experiment with when they start the game:

  • The Rookies
    • Middleweight: C.R.U.S.H. (Beta, Killerhurtz)
    • Lightweight: Sting Ray (Horrifica)
    • Middleweight: BOT-CHOY (None)
    • Middleweight: Forkie (Robot Wars' Dreadnaught)
    • Middleweight: Atom Smasher (Kan Opener, Big Nipper, Jaws of Death)
    • Heavyweight: Walrus (None)

There are also three "secret" example bots that can only be seen with the "Import Robot" command.

  • Team n/a
    • Heavyweight: BarberShop Chop (Heavy Metal Noise)
    • Middleweight: Spin Bonker (Ziggo, Son of Whyachi)
    • Middleweight: Tailwhip (Blade Runner, Gold Digger)

[edit] Havoc Explosions and Glitches

One of the main reasons behind the game's relative commercial failure was the relative instability of the Havoc physics engine. Several glitches were discovered revolving around the physics engine, and various others happened randomly. The inevitable result were "Havoc Explosions", which often sent robots flying, and would often cause a robot to land upside down (Usually immobilising it) or into arena hazards, sometimes resulting in an unfair victory of the other robot. Additionally, several glitches in the game itself decreased the accuracy of the game. Examples of these glitches included "overlapping", which allowed several components on a robot to take up the same space, and "the chicken glitch", which allowed extremely rapid rotation of an object. These glitches allowed complicated and powerful robots to be made, and quickly became a staple of the community. Additionally, the advent of AAM (advanced attaching method) allowed for even more complex robots. AAM is a technique in which the .gmf file of one component temporarily replaces that of another component. The other component is then placed on a robot, and the .gmf files are returned to normal. The net effect of this is that the builder can place components where it would not normally be possible due to space restrictions. This is normally frowned on by the community, as it creates unbalanced robots and is normally considered "cheating".

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Robot Arena