Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy
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Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy is a computer game made by Infogrames. 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.
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[edit] Official Patches
Developers Infogrames and Gabriel Interactive have released a total of two official upgrades for the Robot Arena 2 game. These patches offered upgrades ranging from simple AI fixes to new components.
[edit] Version 1.2
The official upgrade to Version 1.2 was released in March 2003, and was a "required" upgrade as online play between 1.0 and 1.2 games would not work. Version 1.2 featured minor fixes to several AI controlled robots (most notably EMERGENCY) along with adding four secret weapons to the game. These weapons, the Cannon, Flamethrower, Hover Pad, and Magnet, could be unlocked by entering "cheatbot2" as your robot's name and pressing Enter (an evil laugh would signal the trick worked).
[edit] Version 1.3
On October 29th, 2006 a mysterious release for the game surfaced on the official website as "Version 1.3". Several veteran players analyzed the patch only to be confused by the contents of it. Version 1.3 updated the executable game launcher, and also some seemingly random images in the UI folders. Further exploration reveals that the patch fixes the "nVidia glitch", a problem on newer nVidia cards which garbles the UI. It also removes the CD check. During gameplay, pressing the F9 key will open up what is referred to as "AI Helper," which displays information such as frame rate. The program also features a mysterious built in text box feature, but it serves no purpose during gameplay. In the Credits screen of the game, "Version 1.20" is still displayed.
[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 haven 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 robot's 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] Advanced Robot Combat
Around the same time Aceuplink came around to host Robot Arena tournaments,a smaller group of people from http://www.advancedrobotcombat.com came around and started hosting tournaments.Among those entering these tournaments were ARC verterns and AU veterns.Of course this caused massive tension between the two groups and it basically sparked a war between the two,lasting about 1 1/2 years.ARC is also known for making the massively popular Battlebots Replica packs that were amazingly detailed replications of Battlebots.ARC no longer exists today,but several members have found a home at http://www.drowningcity.com where they continue to do their Fantasy Robot Combat RPGS
[edit] RA-Reborn
A group of banned users from AceUplink ("HackerX" and "grawss") banded together to create a Robot Arena 2 fansite where all upgrades and mods could be found. The RA-Reborn site was very successful but was notorious for its harsh and unforgiving staff, who constantly gave novelty ranks and insulting titles/avatars to problem users and forum newbies.
The host of RA-Reborn was its downfall, though. When the site's host fouled up and went offline, RA-Reborn went with it. The host did not restore the files to the server, and the staff was incredibly busy at the time. Even with its huge assortment of mods available (even the mods that no one liked), RA-Reborn closed its doors forever in 2005. Their domain has since be taken up by domain sharks.
[edit] Bots4Battle
Formed by Jimxorb along with other game modders, Bots4Battle (aka B4B), was a predecessor to the RA-Reborn website. Bots4Battle attempted to compile a list of every single mod and patch released for the game, they also created many of their own, some of which were never released fully. For the most part the website succeeded in keeping up with the released upgrades, but the website was notoriously unorganized using only basic HTML to form the download page.
Bots4Battle was a popular website in its time and had its own forum community and hosted its own Robot Arena 2 tournament which was won by a member called 'Disem', the community suffered due to friction between various moderators and members and after many rules were broken Jimxorb had had enough and closed the forum with hope of one day re-opening it, this was never to be. With the opening of RA-Reborn's much more organized database and new community run by some of the other ex B4B members/staff, Bots4Battle faded into obscurity.
[edit] DSL
The DSL Mod is what is considered a "total conversion" for Robot Arena 2. It has since knocked the RFS AI Pack off of the list of most downloads according to download counts on the DSL and RA-Reborn websites. "DSL" is an abbreviation for the three main programmers of the mod, not DSL internet. The three top programmers were "DarkRat", "Starcore", and the late "Lu-Tze". Other notable users in the DSL Team were "Vincent", "Rejected, "goose", "ACAMS", "Clickbeetle", and "Firebeetle".
DSL includes an entire set of new AI and also uses a modified version of a file from the RFS AI Pack to add a sixteenth team onto the mod. DSL features over 300 new parts to the game (most for replica use) and replicas of popular robots from BattleBots and Robot Wars. Aside from AI upgrades, DSL added in many new areas including an Obstacle Course, a Monopoly gameboard, a Robot Wars arena complete with all of the hazards, and a redone Practice Arena that offers many ways to test the durability of your robots.
DSL 2.0, the long awaited update, was recently released as a total overhaul to the older v1.2. During the development process, a light-hearted "April Fools" joke on the front page spooked many users, but when they realized the date it gave them hope that the team at work. DSL 2.0 adds several new components, 3 new arenas, brand new AI, and completely refurbishes the GUI.
[edit] Game Tech Mods
Game Tech Mods is a fairly new and small space that has emerged in the Robot Arena 2 community. While not being large or offering ground-breaking modifications to the game, Game Tech Mods is the new home of the unofficial "robot exchange" where builders can upload and share their robot designs with other players. The official exchange that was hosted on the Robot Arena 2 website were taken down, which leaves Game Tech Mods 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.
[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] Advanced Robot Combat Robot Arena Tournaments - Seasons 1 & 2 + Replica Tournament
ARC started a Robot Arena 2 Tournament shortly after AU completed their first tournament.Though it did not last as long as the AU tournaments,it was known to bring much tougher competition than most tournaments online at the time.
Season 1 - Middleweight - Combat Arena - Best 2 out of 3
Winner - Omegaforce(Iced Out 2) 2nd Place - Foolish Evil(Digital Acolyte)
Season 2 - Middleweight and Lightweight - Combat Arena - Best 2 out of 3 Lightweight
Winner - Ernie(Side Effect) 2nd Place - AndyS(Catapult)
Middleweight
Winner - Be0t(Death Port 2) 2nd Place - Andrew(Afterlife)
Replica Tournament - Middleweight - Combat Arena - Best 2 out of 3
Winner - AndyS(Slap 'Em Silly) 2nd Place - G-Force(Mauler 5150)
[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 made.
[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 off of 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 the Beetle Brothers) 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 (But not always) BattleBots. These are listed in (parenthesis).
- Team Red Zone
- Lightweight: Scout (None)
- Middleweight: ALARM (None)
- Heavyweight: Sentinel (Vlad the Impaler)
- Team PREHISTORIC
- Lightweight: Roly Poly (None)
- Middleweight: SaberTooth (None)
- Heavyweight: Grog, the Warrior (None)
- Team 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)
- Team BLACK STORM
- Lightweight: BOT-204 (Ankle Biter)
- Middleweight: Devil (Timmy)
- Heavyweight: Coal Miner (BOB)
- Team SPARK
- Lightweight: JACKPOT! (None)
- Middleweight: The Boxer (Cassius Chrome)
- Heavyweight: EMERGENCY (Vlad the Impaler)
- Team SpikeHeads
- Lightweight: M.A.D. (None)
- Middleweight: Dementia (None)
- Heavyweight: Little Metal Friend (Jaws Of Death)
- Team North Polers
- Lightweight: MiniBerg (Hammertime)
- Middleweight: IceBerg (Hammertime)
- Heavyweight: Snowjob (Frostbite)
- Team HIGH VOLTAGE
- Lightweight: Flapjack (Hexy Jr)
- Middleweight: BackSlash (Biohazard)
- Heavyweight: Wide Load (None)
- Team HEX
- Lightweight: Flame Chopper (Shrike)
- Middleweight: LugNut (Jack Rabbit)
- Hanky Panky (Bacchus)
- Team Z
- Lightweight: Berserker (Ziggo)
- Middleweight: Razor (None)
- Heavyweight: Eye Poker (Monster)
- Team SteelYard Dog
- Lightweight: Lil' Dog (Double Agent)
- Middleweight: Da Dog (None)
- Heavyweight: Big Dog (Doom Of Babylon)
- Team RIOT
- Lightweight: Civil Disobedience (None)
- Middleweight: REVENGE (M.O.E.)
- Heavyweight: Raptor (None)
- Team MEGATON
- Lightweight: Stinger (None)
- Middleweight: Tornado (Mauler)
- Heavyweight: DEADBEAT (None)
- Team The Scrappers
- Lightweight: Arc Pounder (Herr Gepounden)
- Middleweight: Ripblade (Backlash & Nightmare)
- Heavyweight: Backyard Ripper (Afterthought)
There are also six example robots for the player to experiment with when they start the game:
- Team Rookies
- Middleweight: C.R.U.S.H. (None)
- Lightweight: Sting Ray (None)
- Middleweight: BOT-CHOY (Diesector)
- Middleweight: Forkie (None)
- Middleweight: Atom Smasher (None)
- 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)
- Middleweight: Tailwhip (Blade Runner)
[edit] "Havok Explosions"
Due to Havok's random probability factor, there are several glitches in the physics engine (Called Havok Explosions), most famously the Mines. A Mine occurs when an external motor or piston is knocked off, and sometimes when a flipper is. A Mine works basically like the opposite of a Black Hole. It is completely invisible and creates a tremendous force around it that fires anything that comes near it away. There are also many other Havok Explosions in the game, such as the (in)famous piston glitch that occurs when a great number of pistons are placed on one robot (The result is a seizure-like flailing of the chassis). Another one, perhaps the least known, is dubbed Project Trinity Effect. To activate it, one must mount a disc on a powerful motor [Most likely the Z-Tek (HP) motor], mount four burst pistons on the disc, and mount a heavy object such as a sledge hammer on each piston. When the disc is activated and spinning at top speed, if one were to fire the pistons, an effect not unlike the piston Glitch will occur, only that Project Trinity Effect wears off after about a minute, where as the Piston Glitch continues until the fight ends. It should be noted that it is very possible for a Piston-Glitch to actually cause the robot to kill itself by ramming into walls continuously or falling into pits. Project Trinity Effect generally only causes the latter, as it takes an amount of time greater than that of PTE, though activating it multiple times may cause self-destruction. The heavy objects on Project Trinity Effect may get randomly disconnected and fly at tremendous speeds capable of killing (Or at least doing massive damage to) any robot.
[edit] External links
- Official Robot Arena 2 Website
- DSL Total Conversion Mod Website
- gametechmods.com Home Page (with bot exchange)
- BBEANS Tournament
- Dis's RA2 Site
