73
Backers
$1,902
pledged of $10,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on July 10, 2012.
Funding period
May 26, 2012 -
Jul 10, 2012
(45 days)
- First created · 5 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: MACRObots.net
Pledge $5 or more
2 backers
You get your name, hometown, and profile or avatar picture in the online credits for MACRObots as a KickStarter supporter!
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $10 or more
25 backers
Get a FREE copy of MACRObots once it is released, and the above gift as well!
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $17 or more
23 backers
This pledge makes you eligible for all Stretch Goals offered. See the Stretch Goals section on the left for more info. Get an early release of the code editor and game simulator. Start to design the Artificial Intelligence you will use to compete against your friends and in the online tournaments. Plus all of the gifts above!
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $25 or more
4 backers
A chance to be a legend within the community! You will get an early heads-up about the exact conditions the AI will be subjected to for the very first online open tournament. This will allow you a little more time to optimize your strategy for the particular settings encountered. The designer of the AI to win that first tournament will get permanent, special recognition on a Hall of Fame section of the leaderboards on the MACRObot.net community website. All gifts above included!
Estimated delivery: Aug 2013Pledge $34 or more
3 backers
Be part of the game! Using your early release of the code editor, design a built-in AI code for shipping with the final game! People will be able to compete against your AI code immediately upon purchase of the game, and the code can be named as you see fit. JohnSmithAI.mb for instance. Perhaps you can create a bot that is infamous among your fellow players? A truly unique little piece of immortality! You get all the above gifts as well.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $50 or more
3 backers
Be a bigger part of the game! Help us design a new pixel art robot body and base station to be available for selection in the final release of the game. The name of the robot chassis can be selected by you and we will give you artistic credits in game. (Subject to approval and modification to match styles). The more unique robot body designs we can get, the better! You also get all of the above gifts.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $75 or more
0 backers
3.5" Floppy Copy. You read it right. You get a copy of MACRObots with a special unlockable feature on a set of floppy disks in the mail. All the above gifts are still yours, which includes that digital copy of the game... just in case you can't find or get all the dust off an old drive.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $88 or more
0 backers
You will get a CD with the official MACRObot soundtrack AND a printed and bound copy the instruction manual for MACRObots signed by the creators. It will be a great on-the-go reference for thinking about your code! Yes, everything above is yours too.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $100 or more
3 backers
It seems you are as excited about this game genre as we are! We would love for you to help us out with debugging and offering suggestions for game improvements. We will get you Alpha versions of the game before anyone else is playing, and exclusive access to the Developer's Board on the website forums to hear your feedback and give your suggestions additional weight. All of the above gifts are yours, in-game credits as a game tester, and also hopefully some excitement for helping to be part of a future video game! Thank you so much.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $101 or more
0 backers
Including all of the gifts above, your version of the game will replace all binary number "1's" with the letter "L" and all binary number "0's" with the letter "O." Toggleable. Probably. LOL.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013Pledge $150 or more
2 backers
Your version of the full game is a very special Enthusiast’s Edition. It will include many of the bot code algorithms that the built-in bots use. This is an invaluable place for the enthusiast to start deriving his or her own improved bot AIs. Yes, you get ALL the above gifts as well! That is a lot of rewards.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2013
Creator Ygg on June 23, 2012
I love this idea but I think the presentation should be a bit slicker (more appealing pictures, easier UI). I wish you all the good luck, just don't give up if your first kickstarter fails.
Creator Lucas Will on June 12, 2012
Thanks everyone for the positive comments! It is GREAT to see there are other people out there who find enjoyment in the game concept behind MACRObots. "Fun and addicting," "Tweaking logic until it works beautifully" and "having multiple bots work together" are exactly the reasons that Cyrus and I have been interested in creating this project! It really is a unique gaming experience that catches the imagination of a different type of gaming audience... just like you and us. And hopefully will continue to catch interest with a lot more people just curious to try it out and give it a chance. It can really be an addicting and educational experience! Thanks for the continued support - 28 days to go, please help us get the message out! Thank you!
Creator Matthew Pilz on June 11, 2012
I worked briefly with Lucas many years ago on a few assorted game projects and am glad to see that his passion for game making has continued. I'm intrigued by this concept and can see MACRObots being very fun and addicting; if I had the time I'd love to help out with such a project. I've doubled my contribution. Good luck!
Creator Nathan Sanzone-Mcdowell on June 11, 2012
I remember, back in the days of by-the-hour AOL, there was this bot-battling game, where you'd program a bot and upload it into arena tournaments. I never actually figured out how to play it, though…there was really no good environment to test your bots, and it was all too confusing.
MACRObots seems very similar, in some ways, and I really like the idea of single-player/local multi-player/online multi-player. Having multiple bots that can work together is also a very appealing idea.
Creator Trevor Peterson on June 9, 2012
Another game that has a similar concept is Mindrover. You put modular parts on a body and then "wire" them together along with some pre-defined logic circuits. So for example, you could put a sensor on the right side of the car and then wire it to the steering wheel. If the sensor activates, the car turns. They had challenge types like destroy all the other bots, drag race another bot down a straight track but stop before you hit the hazard at the end, race through a room while hitting checkpoints in a certain order, etc. It looks like MACRObots will provide me the same joy of tweaking my logic until it works beautifully.
Creator John on June 9, 2012
Looks to be an absolutely fantastic project and I absolutely cannot wait for the game to come out. :)
Creator Bryan Cook on June 1, 2012
Heh, yeah I've yet to actually meet someone offline that has heard of it, so you're definitely not alone. Your game looks awesome! I look forward to spending long nights perfecting my AIs. I wish you guys the best of luck and I'm very excited for MACRObots' release. Keep up the awesome work! Pledge upped!
Creator Lucas Will on June 1, 2012
Bryan,
Wow! You may not believe us, but no, we've never heard of this game... but as soon as I read your post I went to check it out, and it looks sweet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnage_Heart
And you are right, it is very similar to the style of gameplay we are hoping to achieve with MACRObots. Infact, since we've launched this game, I've heard other people mention games called RoboCode or CoreWars which they say are similar as well but I must admit I've never played. So, it does appear there are some people out there who have realized the entertainment value in battling AI against AI! And that's exactly the genre and type of people we are hoping will find interest in our game.
Infact, one design option for the AI coding for our game was to make it more building-block-like, and perhaps less intimidating for novice programmers. It looks like Carnage Heart took that route as well with the deck of cards. We are for sure going to check it out - and would love to play a game against you some day!
Thanks for the comment, always great to learn about new games out there... please help pass the word about MACRObots to all your friends who enjoy Carnage Heart. Thanks for the support. Later!
Creator Bryan Cook on May 31, 2012
Have you ever played Carnage Heart? It came out on the original PlayStation back in the early 90s. They made a couple of sequels, but nothing that made it out of Japan. I still play it today on my PS3- it is that amazing.
Instead of writing text/code, players would select a predefined chip and place it on a board much like a flow chart. Each chip had a unique action like fire weapon, move forward, scan for obstacles, etc. The bots were then sent out into the world for 3 on 3 battles. They even had a pretty sweet tournament mode where a friend could bring his creations and your bots could duke it out to find out who was the best 'programmer'. I loved it.
If you tell me Carnage Heart is in some part inspiration for MACRObots, I may have to up my pledge. If it's not, well it should be!
Creator Lucas Will on May 30, 2012
Nameless - glad we struck a game genre that you were looking for! It's a type of game that is a lot of fun, but I think big-name companies are still afraid to push it main stream. Hopefully our version of a game of AI coding vs. AI coding is a perfect blend for intro players and advanced players.
As far as "destroying" each other - we haven't completely ruled that out yet. We've considered giving robots the ability to construct and deconstruct other robots to add even more elements to the gameplay. For this version of the game, we are trying to keep away from weapons or robot wars - since the educational and non-violent aspect is appealing. But, if this game takes-off, perhaps it will have a successor with a lot more combat features included in the game intent.
Thanks to both of you for the comments so far! Hope to hear from more supporters as the days continue!
Creator nameless on May 29, 2012
I was looking for a game like this and this one seems great. However, some more polished graphics would be nice. Also, it would be interesting if robots could destroy each other.
Creator Brandon Sivret on May 27, 2012
I am a HUGE fan of anything indie and especially a huge fan of anything that can bring about an educational element to it. I think the premise behind the game is fantastic. Not only is it about PvP at its core, but it also teaches people about programming logic and rudimentary syntax. This is one of the most unique concepts I have come across and smells of something akin to Minecraft. I say that because it gives the user dynamic and greater control over their content relying more on the creativity of the player as the central element to their gameplay rather than looking through the window at something the developer created. Looking forward to playing the game!
Creator Lucas Will on May 27, 2012
Cyrus and I appreciate all of the early support! Thank you to everyone who donated in the first few days! It is awesome to find others who are interested in this new type of video game of AI vs AI duels.
We can't wait to compete against your dreamed up AI MACRObot code in the future! Please leave any comments you have about the project. We especially want to hear what makes people excited the most about this project and why you selected to donate!
And to those who already donated above the tiers of helping out with game design, we are looking forward to getting your input in the forums and robot pixel design ideas once we can reach our goal! Thanks again to everyone... keep spreading the word!