Jimmy Maher

Hello!

I write a blog called The Digital Antiquarian (http://www.filfre.net),
a slowly unfolding history of adventure games and what I call ludic
narratives. I've been writing about the Apple II quite a lot in recent
months, as I judge it the best overall platform for that kind of
gaming in the early 1980s. (I'm currently mired in 1981.) I've
recently had occasion to write a bit about Silas Warner, Muse
Software, and Robot War (http://www.filfre.net/tag/muse). The latter
is a bit outside of my usual fare, but just so interesting and
historically significant that I couldn't resist.

As the most recent article in that series attests, I would love to
hold a Robot War tournament of the sort that Computer Gaming World
sponsored back in the day, only (thanks to modern technology) better
and more interactive. See the post in question for my complete vision
of how such a tournament could work.

The response has not, alas, been overwhelming so far. I've got 4 firm
commitments and a few ditherers, which is not enough to make the
project worthwhile in my view. I probably shouldn't be too surprised,
as my blog's normal readership is very adventure game-focused.

So, if you're interested in taking part, please let me know. I figure
we need at least ten commits to make it worthwhile. I've already
agreed with Ken Gagne of Juiced.GS magazine to write up the tournament
as a feature article in the magazine's June issue, assuming of course
that we get enough participation to bring it off.

Thanks!
Jimmy

BLuRry

Looks neat! If you offer different variants you may get a bigger response. Are there any hacker spaces in the area? Also, post to hackaday.com and you'll broaden the audience. :-)

http://robocode.sourceforge.net/

magnusfalkirk

On Feb 6, 7:51*am, Jimmy Maher <ma...@filfre.net> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I write a blog called The Digital Antiquarian (http://www.filfre.net),
> a slowly unfolding history of adventure games and what I call ludic
> narratives. I've been writing about the Apple II quite a lot in recent
> months, as I judge it the best overall platform for that kind of
> gaming in the early 1980s. (I'm currently mired in 1981.) I've
> recently had occasion to write a bit about Silas Warner, Muse
> Software, and Robot War (http://www.filfre.net/tag/muse). The latter
> is a bit outside of my usual fare, but just so interesting and
> historically significant that I couldn't resist.
>
> As the most recent article in that series attests, I would love to
> hold a Robot War tournament of the sort that Computer Gaming World
> sponsored back in the day, only (thanks to modern technology) better
> and more interactive. See the post in question for my complete vision
> of how such a tournament could work.
>
> The response has not, alas, been overwhelming so far. I've got 4 firm
> commitments and a few ditherers, which is not enough to make the
> project worthwhile in my view. I probably shouldn't be too surprised,
> as my blog's normal readership is very adventure game-focused.
>
> So, if you're interested in taking part, please let me know. I figure
> we need at least ten commits to make it worthwhile. I've already
> agreed with Ken Gagne of Juiced.GS magazine to write up the tournament
> as a feature article in the magazine's June issue, assuming of course
> that we get enough participation to bring it off.
>
> Thanks!
> Jimmy

How long have we got to decide if we'd like to commit a robot to the
tournament? I downloaded the game via your link and am looking it and
the docs over but I would really like to know what the deadline is.

Dean

maher@filfre.net

Everything right now really depends on how many people I can find to participate. I collected a couple more today, but still need a few more to make it really viable as a competition.

If I can get to a number that will work, I'll email everyone who's said they will/might participate to get a final tally. Assuming that looks good, I'll make the competition an official go. At that point we can decide together what an appropriate starting date would be. I'm thinking one month from whenever we make it official.

magnusfalkirk

On Feb 6, 2:47*pm, ma...@filfre.net wrote:
> Everything right now really depends on how many people I can find to participate. I collected a couple more today, but still need a few more to makeit really viable as a competition.
>
> If I can get to a number that will work, I'll email everyone who's said they will/might participate to get a final tally. Assuming that looks good, I'll make the competition an official go. At that point we can decide together what an appropriate starting date would be. I'm thinking one month fromwhenever we make it official.

Okay, count me as a probable. I've got the game and the docs and I'll
be reading through them to understand how to program the robot, as I
never haed this back in the day so it's brand new to me.

Dean

Kevin Dady

> On Feb 6, 10:02*am, BLuRry <brendan.rob...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Also, post to hackaday.com and you'll broaden the audience. *:-)

hm hackaday.com haven't heard of that one =) it is possible that
someone there could post a picture and a paragraph or two about it,
though finding those people is difficult

N.N. Thayer

On Feb 6, 2:47*pm, ma...@filfre.net wrote:
> Everything right now really depends on how many people I can find to participate. I collected a couple more today, but still need a few more to makeit really viable as a competition.
>
> If I can get to a number that will work, I'll email everyone who's said they will/might participate to get a final tally. Assuming that looks good, I'll make the competition an official go. At that point we can decide together what an appropriate starting date would be. I'm thinking one month fromwhenever we make it official.

It may take a while to meet your minimum number, but I'd bet it could
be done, given time. And wider exposure outside the retrocomputing/
retrogaming bubbles would certainly help - Reddit, Slashdot, etc.