DESIGNER NAME:  TOM ELLIS AKA "OCC" COUNTRY:  USA DATE OF INTERVIEW:  JULY 8 2001 DAILY GRIND:   My 'day job' is managing a network and systems consulting practice. It keeps me fairly busy, but the nice part is working out of my home office. I only have to leave when I have meetings or customer calls, a few times a week. That way I can get my work done and still have time for home, family, and myself. I manage to squeeze in a few games of Q3A and Baldur's Gate II when I'm not playing RoboForge. You must have an extremely busy life, running the café (www.overclockedcafe.com), holding down a day job and being one of the most active members of the RoboForge community, how do you find time to make such great Bots like Phoenix (winner of the last Professional Tournament)? I actually don't RUN the 'cafe. I am the Senior Editor and resident Geek of all Trades (aka GoaT). My good friend Mark runs the site, with the help of his talented wife Jen. I do the weekend news and write/edit content. Finding time is the key. I have only just now started working on my entry for the next Pro Tourney. It actually doesn't take me much time to get a design down, it is the programming of the moves and the subtle changes in AI that need to me made that sometimes take the majority of my tweaking time. I seriously need to spend more time designing and less time in the challenge rooms. Having only come on board in the last few weeks of the RoboForge public Beta, and in light of your meteoritic rise up the ranks (currently first in the professional rankings and 6th in the amateur rankings), do you consider yourself a RoboForge natural? I don't know about 'natural', but I found that the game came fairly easy to me. Growing up I loved legos and erector sets, what kid didn't? I do find that a basic intuitive grasp of engineering and physics helps a little. Keeping an open mind helps too; many a great bot out there was built based on ideas first seen in others' designs. What do you spend the most time on, AI or Design? Do you make use of the AI blocks to import existing strategies into new Bots? Excellent question. As I alluded to above, I probably spend more actual time on AI and moves (snapshots). However, I feel that the design is far more important. Once I get a design done, the moves and AI seem to stem naturally from that design and it's capabilities. Getting the basic moves and AI doesn't take too much of my time, less than designing the bot does to begin with. It is the sometimes endless cycle of tweaking the AI and the moves that takes most of my bot-building time. I do use AI blocks. Why reinvent the wheel each time? I have some basic blocks for navigation, combat, etc. These get incorporated into new designs, then tweaked as needed. On that subject, I'd like to thank fellow player and former beta tester Satori. Back when I started out, and was struggling with some AI concepts, Satori gave me some examples to work from, and was in general quite helpful. The other guys were too, don't get me wrong. He just went above and beyond to help me out. What do you like most about RoboForge? Do I really have to pick one thing that I like the most? If I absolutely had to I'd say it is the freedom that it gives the designer. Each robot is a reflection of it's creator, almost like works of art. Moving, deadly works of art with pointy bits and sharp edges everywhere ;) I also love the online play. We have a great time in the challenge rooms, and on the forum. I was just observing last night how this has turned into such a polite sport. Virtually everyone is eager to help each other out, and in general people are courteous and polite. What inspires your Bot design? I'm sorry, that is classified information. Let us just say that it involves ancient rituals and certain psychotropic fungi. Just kidding! Seriously, many things can inspire me. Phoenix, for example, is a derivative of a design that I did that was inspired by a bot from the beta named Raven (by Jenna). It's creator, in turn, got her idea from a bot named Wu-Tang. Some of my designs are inspired out of the blue; I just get an idea and drop what I'm doing (if I can) to start building. There really aren't any 'original' ideas. There are just new combinations and permutations of existing ideas and design methodologies. How often do you start a new Bot from scratch versus evolving a current one? I'd say it is about 50-50 most of the time. Some of my successful designs have evolved into 'family lines' of bots that all share the same basic design. Other fairly successful ones were brand new. Out of all the Bots you've seen, what are your favorites? Oh, there are so many great ones. Two of my old time favorite designs are Ground Maintenance (designed by Sord), and Tenderizer (designed by Captain Action). That is really just off the top of my head, there are SO many great designs out there to choose from. Finally any tips for people starting out with RoboForge? First, don't give up. This game has a relatively steep learning curve. Some of us love that, others seem to be daunted by it. Most people find that if they work at it they get the hang of things after a week or two. Second, be open minded. Listen to more experienced players when they offer advice. Play in the challenge rooms often, against many different designs. Finally, just have fun with it. It's a game, that's what its for! 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"