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You've been one of the more successful competitors since the early Beta days, have you always had an interest in Robotics? I've always had an interest in programmable toys (computers are my life), the AI part in RoboForge is really what drew me into it, the great construction part just made me like the game even more. Never really had any experience with real world Robotics, just computer simulations. Like many others I played PRobots and CRobots many years ago and have been waiting for RoboForge since then ;). You are, as far as I know, the only competitor from Portugal, what is the Robotics scene like in your country? Non existent, as far as I know... (just did a quick web search) there are some small events organized by universities, but nothing major. What I like about your Bots is that not only are they deadly and smart (they dodge and weave and attack from all different angles) but often they have great attention to detail shown on them, for example the water filling The Silver Grail. How much time would you spend, after a Bot is functionally complete, painting, texturing and tweaking it to get the look you're after? Glad you like them :). Yes, I spend some time trying to make my bots look good, sometimes I even sacrifice some functionality for the sake of good looks... I would say I spend too much time on each bot ;). But after I get the look I'm after there is the never-ending AI tweaking time. The Silver Grail's AI, for example, took me forever to finish, even though when I look at it now it seems quite simple (I know a bit more about RoboForge's AI system now ;)) Do you have a large library of generic AI blocks for reuse in a new Bot, or do you build AI from scratch to fit each Bot? If I have a bot with similar attack/defense strategy I start from there, I've got a few very simple blocks for the other cases. Most of the times I reuse the chassis moves logic, and start the attack/defense/zones from scratch. I believe it's never a waste of time to rewrite everything from scratch, it will get better every time. Who are the other designers you most fear and/or are inspired by? Too many to mention, here are some names (in alphabetical order :)) that I think guarantee a good battle in a tournament (some of them disappeared after the beta ended, unfortunately): AmbushBug, Captain Action, Dorphen, Jenna Jameson, LAB, Megadrew (Justdrew), OldeDevil, Phoenix, Power Grid, Rev. Benny Hinn, Satori, Sord, and many others I forget now... One thing I miss is the "art" bots we used to see in the beta, there where some great designers making crazy bot's just for fun. What other games are you currently playing? None, RoboForge takes up all my gaming time ;). I really don't remember playing any other game exclusively for so long... One game I still play sometimes is Yahoo Towers, a great multiplayer tetris-like Java web game ;). Finally any words of wisdom for those just starting with RoboForge? If you are like me then RoboForge is the game you've been waiting for, and then some more. Just have some patience (it still has some bugs ;)) and take your time learning the different parts of the game, I assure you it will give you great moments of gaming bliss :). Watch the tournaments closely, learn from other designer's bots and be creative. PREVIOUS FEATURED DESIGNER Click on the links below to read about our previous Featured Designers - "ABC" "DORPHEN" TOM ELLIS AKA "OCC" ANDREW LINDSEY AKA "JUSTDREW" |
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