Robot Game: Programming Battle League!

[Coppanuva]

http://robotgame.org

RobotGame is a competitive programming game. You make a robot AI and it interacts with other copies of your AI to beat the opponent's. Rules are explained on the website in more detail.

First things first, who's interested?
Our format isn't determined yet, but we have a few major decisions: Do we want cooperative or competitive? We could all work on a bot together via github and implement a really strong one, or we could all make our own/multiple teams to fight and have an ongoing league.

So who's interested and what format is preferred?




Resources:
http://learnpythonthehardway.org - Tutorial recommended by FlyingMongoose. Teaches some of the basics of python for those who aren't familiar with it/programming. Since Robot Battle League uses Python, head here to get a good bit of knowledge.
http://robotgame.org - Robot Game's website with rules.




Roster So far (will be updated with teams when they come out):
People interested so far:
Coppanuva
TronPaul
GreatBacon
NitrousOxide
StolenToast

People who've expressed interest but in a conceptual way:
WhoaItsChooly
K0ala
FlyingMongoose

[TronPaul]

This sounds really cool. I'd be up for either, but I think it'd be really awesome to build a bot together. Actually I think it'd be really hilarious to build a "troll" bot that made decisions based on the weather in New Zealand, or the color composition from a random image on imgur. Call it: PLACEBO BOT.

[Greatbacon]

I'm in.

I think just starting out with some friendly scrimmages would be a good way to ease into things and give everyone a chance to figure out the api and get used to working with Python if they aren't already.

[Coppanuva]

I'm in.

I think just starting out with some friendly scrimmages would be a good way to ease into things and give everyone a chance to figure out the api and get used to working with Python if they aren't already.

That's what I was thinking. Also give us a good base to build off of, and see what strategies might be viable if we cooperate on one.

[k0ala]

I've been telling everyone in irc I suck at programming but I can spot grammar errors at 500 yards, perhaps I can use that detail-oriented part of me to spot code flaws

[FlyingMongoose]

I've been telling everyone in irc I suck at programming but I can spot grammar errors at 500 yards, perhaps I can use that detail-oriented part of me to spot code flaws

You can actually, as long as you know the syntax of the language.

[Coppanuva]

I've been telling everyone in irc I suck at programming but I can spot grammar errors at 500 yards, perhaps I can use that detail-oriented part of me to spot code flaws

Yeah you could. Also Python is pretty easy to pick up (compared to some other languages) since the syntax is a lot less rigid than others and is more like english.

[Chooly]

I'd love to join in, but I wouldn't be able to help with much more than conceptual stuff
I understand code and syntax but I have little practical programming experience..
But I'd love to learn, so this could be good
(Unless team sizes are limited, in which case I'd just be dead weight)

[Coppanuva]

I'd love to join in, but I wouldn't be able to help with much more than conceptual stuff
I understand code and syntax but I have little practical programming experience..
But I'd love to learn, so this could be good
(Unless team sizes are limited, in which case I'd just be dead weight)

Nah, I don't think we'd want a limit. Maybe if there's enough people interested who don't have much experience we could do a few teams with more experienced leads to help people learn who haven't much experience?

[Duck, Duck, Goose]

Oh hell yes, I've wanted to learn Python for quite the time now, just never had any motivation to do so. Count me in. I really like the idea of us building a community bot, but getting some practice first to familiarize ourselves with the language.

[StolenToast]

I'm in, and I warn you:  I am armed with the most advanced python technology money can buy!

[FlyingMongoose]

I'm in on a "help where I can" basis, I don't know python very well, but I'm good at spotting mistakes and complex problem solving.

Is there a team limit?

[Coppanuva]

I'm in on a "help where I can" basis, I don't know python very well, but I'm good at spotting mistakes and complex problem solving.

Is there a team limit?

Nope, I have a count up on the top and it looks like we have 6 people who're interested in it from a coding standpoint, and 2 who are interested but not as code heavy. So I think if we did teams, we could do either 4 teams of 2 each, or 3 teams with 2 of them having 3 (or 3 of 3 once we get more). Or 2 teams of 4. I'm good with whatever, I guess if we want to just do it all casual like there's not really a team limit, just some fun matches at first. How long do people think we'd need before the first match? I know lots of us work, so would something around Christmas be too early/late for a first match between people?

[Chooly]

You forgot about meeeeeeeeeee :/

[Coppanuva]

You forgot about meeeeeeeeeee :/

Sorry! I must've scrolled past when I was making the list. You've been added, also that means we have 9 now. We could probably do 3 teams of 3 pretty well?

[at0m]

Sounds a lot like RoboCode, which is how I taught myself Java

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[spm201]

I'm interested if anyone wants to teach this poor fool how to code in python.

[FlyingMongoose]

Best programming series I've ever read.
http://learnpythonthehardway.org

Free online or $30 book.

If you use it do ALL of the exercises.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Coppanuva]

So, with spm looks like we have 9 people. I'd like to say our first official match is sometime around Christmas (so a month). I'd like to try to get something like 3 or so teams, so maximum size is 3 people per team for the first match, but no limit on the amount of robots you can enter. The idea behind this is that we can use this matchup as a practice and get more people to try multiple ideas this first week. Do we have anybody who want to be a team lead (basically you get to draft your teammates)?

I'm ok being one if we don't have 3, but if 3 other people would like to, feel free to offer up.

[FlyingMongoose]

Go ahead and post the learn code the hard way link on the first post, I think it'll be useful for those who don't know python.