Programming Games

[Binky]

How about a game where you programme tanks (everyone loves tanks, right?) fitted with radio transceivers with limited range so that you have to include code for dealing with things like relaying messages to tanks a long way from the base (or storing them until those tanks are in range, etc)

What if you could do over-the-air software updates but had to include elementary encryption/error correction to avoid the enemy messing with your code?

 

[Binky]

One point to add:

I have occasionally played programming games with completely linear/non-branching code.

These are no fun!

All programming games should have conditional logic - even if it only be "forward until you hit an obstacle" or "if tank is within range...."

 

[iprice]

Anyone remember BigTrak? That's what this thread reminds me of, what with programmable tanks etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak

 

[Fzero]

Yeah I had Bigtrak, was great toy back in the day, had a bit of a resurgence too with a remake recently.

I like the sound of these type games being mentioned too, more so the ones with the use of code snippets, as else I'm thinking I'd need to know how to code fairly well to enjoy playing

 

[pmprog]

I always found CoreWars to be quite awkward. I couldn't discern what makes a good warrior.

Anyone remember BigTrak? That's what this thread reminds me of, what with programmable tanks etc.

We had one as children, and my sister has one for her children too. You can also buy a missile launcher to attach on (though if you have the "larger" version of BigTrak, it comes with some connector which I assume you'll have to drill in or something)

Looking at the poll results, I'm actually surprised that "native" languages have scored so highly, but then I guess if you're already familiar with a language, that's one less thing to learn.

Also, I was also surprised about the amount of votes "squad based" got/is getting, maybe because this is relatively uncommon in programming games?

 

[levi]

I voted for squad based, amongst other options.  I thought it might be interesting, as it could be a useful learning exercise for people learning about threading and SMP, it might be interesting to me for similar reasons, and yes, because it's not been done before AFAIK.  Agents would have to have more intelligence to avoid damaging their teammates for starters.

I also voted for native language, but then I voted for domain specific language and visual languages too, as I can see benefits either way.  Visual languages could be a gentle introduction for people not used to procedural languages, domain specific languages could be less limited than visual ones, but easier to learn than learning C++ would be, for example, and a native language option could result in a game that gives me transferrable skills.

 

[skeezix]

How about a game where you programme tanks (everyone loves tanks, right?) fitted with radio transceivers with limited range so that you have to include code for dealing with things like relaying messages to tanks a long way from the base (or storing them until those tanks are in range, etc)

What if you could do over-the-air software updates but had to include elementary encryption/error correction to avoid the enemy messing with your code?

FWIW, Omega back in the 80s/early-90s there had relaying; you could run 2 (or more?) tanks, and one could relay visibilty to the other; ie: you could have a sacrificial seeing-eye buddy, or perhaps a fast moving scanner with a non-moving heavy bomber or something. So yeah, interesting options, and its been done since day 2

(that said, Omega had bugs in the relay logic, so no one used it much

jeff

 

[pmprog]

I did a search for Omega - which led me back to RobotWar. I didn't realise how similar RobotWar and CombatZone were. Basically CombatZone is an updated version, where he gave them shields and had the possibility of "arenas"

The annoying thing with CombatZone (and possibly RobotWar) is that you put an angle in the Radar, and it gives you an object and a distance, but for moving, your tank is wider than the radar, and if your radar just misses another tank, you can end up driving in to each other. But then I suppose that's part of the game

 

[PokeParadox]

Reading this thread I feel kind of alienated... programming games?

I never new stuff like this exists... I'm mean I played about with logo with the turtle drawing shapes at school but games... where to play you have to write code... :huh:

What's the best example for me to look into to try and understand what's the deal here?

 

[Ziz]

I played this game: http://www.hares.net/bot.htm much on my Palm OS handheld with friends.

As you can see your "AI" (written in a simple BASIC) controls a little bot, which is "blind", but you can look, whether another bot is inside a specific angle (seen as triangle in the screenshot) and you can shot to a specific angle. Every calls costs time. If you make fewer look up calls, you can move faster, but however have a badder orientation. Was a great game for boring lectures.

 

[pmprog]

Reading this thread I feel kind of alienated... programming games?

I never new stuff like this exists... I'm mean I played about with logo with the turtle drawing shapes at school but games... where to play you have to write code... :huh:

What's the best example for me to look into to try and understand what's the deal here?

Take a look at the Combat Zone manual I attached in the first post. That was my first introduction to programming games, and (a fact I didn't know) just look likes a modern(er) rebuild of RobotWar.
Or if you want a version that's free and runs on a modern system, check out RoboCode. It requires Java (or .NET too apparently... hmmmmm, I might pick this back up), but it's pretty nice

http://robocode.sourceforge.net/

Edit: Awww, you still need java with RoboCode, even if you develop in .NET