Mind Rover from CogniToy
Stan Trevena
few weeks back and saw a little blurb for a game called Mind Rover. I
followed the link and checked out the site. Let me preface this message
with a disclaimer. I love building games, and have always liked the "robot
programming" games (like cbots, pbots, robot wars and Omega to name a few).
Anyone remember these? CogniToys is selling this game via the web only.
Their hook is to give you a discount for email addresses you give them for
others who may like the game. The game is listed at $45, but by giving them
a few email addresses of your friends you can get the price down to $15
(until the end of the month then the lowest will be $20). A creative
pricing structure for sure.
So what the heck is this game anyway? The best description would be a
virtual robot workshop complete with various competition areas to pit your
robots against others (either those supplied, or ones you get from others).
The scenarios are Tutorials, Races, Sports, Misc. and Battles. There are
several areas in each category to compete in. When you build your bots you
select from set vehicle styles and components. You put the desired
components on the vehicle, then wire them together. The wiring is the
"programming". Each component and wire can have various attributes set to
make it behave in a specific way. Hard to explain, check out the graphics
on the website for the wiring. I've spent a few hours messing around with
it and have been very impressed with what I've seen so far. The website
promises more components and stuff coming for download.
No I don't work for the company, and I already got my copy so I'm not
looking for email addresses<g>. Just wanted to point out this new game and
website for anyone who longs for the old robot programming type games with a
radically updated look and feel. The game requires a 3D card. One thing
that is missing is true multiplayer. You can email your robot to a friend
so they can pit it against their bots, but then you are giving up your
design. It would be better to have a website to go to compete, or direct
TCP/IP linkups for battles. At least give the ability to lock your robot's
source so others can't view it. But I am not all the way through the 252
page manual (ring bound, very nice), so that may be an option. Check it out
at http://www.cognitoy.com/
Just thought I would pass along the info since the game looks like it
deserves some attention and may not be getting the word of mouth it
deserves.
- Stan Trevena
Istvan
Stan Trevena wrote:
> others who may like the game. The game is listed at $45, but by giving them
> a few email addresses of your friends you can get the price down to $15
> (until the end of the month then the lowest will be $20). A creative
I like building stuff, when I was younger I used to build miniature
boats and ships, I've almost forgotten those times.
Hey anyone ever seen a Yamato class battleship model? And I don't mean
this cheap plastic molded kit. Real stuff, everything done by hand...
No I haven't built it, but I've seen one at a model building competition.
Anyways I'm holding out for the MindRover demo. I want to see what is up exactly
with this Cognitoy game.
Istvan.
Robear
Stan Trevena wrote:
>
> Anyone hear of this game? That's what I thought. I was reading GoneGold a
> few weeks back and saw a little blurb for a game called Mind Rover. I
> followed the link and checked out the site. Let me preface this message
> with a disclaimer. I love building games, and have always liked the "robot
> programming" games (like cbots, pbots, robot wars and Omega to name a few).
> Anyone remember these? CogniToys is selling this game via the web only.
> Their hook is to give you a discount for email addresses you give them for
> others who may like the game. The game is listed at $45, but by giving them
> a few email addresses of your friends you can get the price down to $15
> (until the end of the month then the lowest will be $20). A creative
One cool thing about it is that you can send just the binary of a design to
a friend, so they can't steal your design/programming. The source can indeed
be locked.
I have to agree, this is like Omega, only much, much better. a very cool game
for anyone who enjoys or wants to learn basic programming methods. It's more
OO than cascade style, too, so it won't mess with you when it's time to learn
Java.
--
David Pipes
-----------------
ICQ 23347222
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Robear
Istvan wrote:
>
> Stan Trevena wrote:
>
> > others who may like the game. The game is listed at $45, but by giving them
> > a few email addresses of your friends you can get the price down to $15
> > (until the end of the month then the lowest will be $20). A creative
>
> I like building stuff, when I was younger I used to build miniature
> boats and ships, I've almost forgotten those times.
>
> Hey anyone ever seen a Yamato class battleship model? And I don't mean
> this cheap plastic molded kit. Real stuff, everything done by hand...
> No I haven't built it, but I've seen one at a model building competition.
>
> Anyways I'm holding out for the MindRover demo. I want to see what is up exactly
> with this Cognitoy game.
>
> Istvan.
I'm trying to get enough time in with it to get a review; here's a short
description.
The game is a 3d rendered vehicle building and programming game, very much
in the style of the old Origin Systems' Omega game. There are a number of
scenarios, falling into several different categories - races, battles,
object recovery, like that.
After you pick a scenario, you choose a vehicle. Vehicles and components
may be limited by the scenario. Vehicles are hovercraft, treaded or wheeled
vehicles. Components are engines, steering units, sensors of various types,
weapons, grapplers, all sorts of things.
After you place them on the chassis (limited by available building points,
weight, size and type :-), you go to the programming screen. This uses
a basic OO methodology with a visual interface. Components are objects
with a starting state or states, and these can then be varied as needed.
You can connect two components by dragging one over the other. So, if
you wanted to control a unit's heading, you could buy a sensor to detect
something - a track, obstacles, waypoints - and connect it to the steering
component. As the sensor's state changes, the steering unit will react in
the way you instructed it to. The speed of the reaction is fixed, so the
inertia and speed of the unit can affect the reaction, perhaps by carrying
the vehicle past the obstacle entirely before the reaction occurs. This
means that more than just programming is needed to control the vehicles;
you have to envision sudden, unexpected state changes that could put your
vehicle in an unanticipated area of the map.
If you need more than just a simple reaction to a state change, you can
connect objects to logical operators or software components like timers.
So you have AND, OR, and other operators that can combine inputs and
discriminate in more complicated ways. Objects can be linked several
times as needed to set up relationships.
You can also set up entirely different behaviors for the objects and
put them in their own seperate "mode". For example, if you have a
track-following robot, you could make the first mode optimized for
following the track when on it, and then program a second set of
relationships to get back on the track when off of it. I think you
can have 7 or 8 different modes, and there is a switch that can be
told to change the modes when an event or events occur.
After assembly and programming, you go into the scenario and try things
out. It's easy to bop back and forth between programming and testing,
to tweak and debug. There are tools to help you debug, like lights and
sounds that indicate when an event is triggered.
I have not played with weapons yet, but that will add a whole new
level to the game.
It's a very good game, the first in the genre for a long time, and the
quality is very high. I am really enjoying it. Now all we need to do
is talk them into updating Rocky's Boots, and I can relive my introduction
to computers. :-)
Istvan
Robear wrote:
> I'm trying to get enough time in with it to get a review; here's a short
> description.
<snip>
thanks for short review Robear, let us know how does it hold
up with time.
Istvan.
Josh Boardman
> It's a very good game, the first in the genre for a long time, and the
> quality is very high. I am really enjoying it. Now all we need to do
> is talk them into updating Rocky's Boots, and I can relive my introduction
> to computers. :-)
LOL! Was that the old Apple II education game where you built basic electronic
circuits with Boolean Gates and flip-flops and all sorts of other crazy stuff? I
loved that. I think I've still got it somewhere, but now I haven't got a computer to
play it on. I've never forgiven myself for selling that old Apple.
---------------
Old Wolf
Robear
That was it. I ran into it in college, when all I knew was APL and Lisp. It
helped me with very basic electronics. Cool game. :-)
Stan Trevena
"Bebop Bytes Back: An Unconventional Guide to Computers". Authors: Clive
"Max" Maxfield and Alvin Brown. Here's a link to it at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0965193403/o/qid=943632071/sr=8-3/102
-9727916-1496831 complete with many reviews. It's a 5 star book (top rating
on Amazon). Read the reviews to see what others have thought. It's Rocky's
Boot's on steroids. Here's a link to the author's website
http://www.maxmon.com/default.htm. It looks like he's released a few more
books since Bebop Bytes Back. Check it out, it's a book that did not get
the exposure it should have. I remember when I went hunting for it a few
years back and nobody carried it. I had to special order it from a local
store. Thanks to the Internet, it's a slam dunk to get these hard to find
books now. Enjoy!
- Stan Trevena
