Today, I am starting a tournament of Redstone Wars. If you are unaware of what Redstone Wars is, allow me to explain. Redstone Wars is essentially a competition in which two participants engage in a timed building contest to create a machine that accomplishes a certain task, following certain limitations and/or specifications.
Rules and Gameplay
Gameplay is relatively simple. There will be several matches of two people, in a flowchart, Superbowl-style. The two contestants in each match will be given a theme and an objective, and they will have 3 days to individually complete their machines and submit them.
The theme is what you're supposed to make. An example of a theme would be, "A fully-automatic sugarcane farm that delivers the harvest to a chest 50 blocks away." The theme might have limitations put on it, such as, "You may not use comparators in your design."
The objective is a specific trait that the players have to focus on or maximize in their design. Some objectives might be, "Make your design as small as possible," or, "Make your design as resource-light as possible."
When you are building your machine, keep these basic rules in mind:
1) Your entire machine must be completely visible from above ground. If your machine is underground, dig a hole around it to show everything. If your machine has multiple components that are connected wirelessly, all components must be a reasonable and visible distance from each other. This ensures that the judges can easily see ALL of your machine, without going to the effort of digging to find it.
2) You may use ANY means necessary to construct your machine, as long as the machine functions in vanilla 1.7.4 minecraft in the way it was originally intended. You may use McEdit, singleplayer commands, bugs, or anything else as a means to create it, but in the end, your machine has to work in vanilla 1.7.4.
3) Please try to keep your machine lag-free, if possible. This is probably inevitable for people with crappy computers (such as myself), but please to try to minimize the lag created by your machine. This makes it a lot easier to judge.
4) Have fun and keep the competition friendly. Be nice to your opponents. Friendly competition is perfectly fine, and in fact, encouraged, but please don't trash talk, bully, or threaten other contestants. If you lose, be a good sport about it, and congratulate your opponent. And if you win, don't rub it in their face. Redstone Wars is purely for fun, and there's no prize involved, so there is really no reason to be a bad sport.
Once your machine is complete, upload your world file to a media site, such as DropBox.com, or MediaFire.com. <---that's what I use Then, send a download link to the judges, via either email or private message.
DO NOT post a download link to your world publicly on this topic. If you do so, then you might allow your opponent to see your construction and steal your ideas.
Once the three day time limit is up, the judges will download your worlds and individually judge your creations. They will then vote on a single winner between the two contestants, and the winner will proceed to the next round.
The final winner of the entire tournament will not receive a prize, unfortunately. This game is simply for fun, and also as a way to show off your redstone prowess and test your skills against those of other minecrafters.
BRACKET:
Signup(CLOSED)
If you wish to sign up, either as a contestant, or as a judge, simply make a post below that states the following:
- Your exact IGN(in-game name, or minecraft username)
- The position you're signing up for(either judge or contestant)
- if you're applying to be a judge, you MUST provide an email address.
OPTIONAL:
- The server you're from, with an IP address
- First name (don't give out your last name)
- email address (if you're not signing up to be a judge)
I will be accepting only the first four judges to apply, because only five are needed, including myself. (there has to be an odd number of judges, for obvious reasons)
As for contestants, everyone who applies will be allowed in. The more, the better. If necessary, we can do a match with three people instead of two.
IMPORTANT!!!After you sign up, PLEASE follow this topic, and check it as often as possible. If you're a judge, check your email every day. This topic is where all updates and game info will be posted, and timing is very important for this to work. All contestants and judges must be active and ready to receive new updates ASAP, so that the tournament flows smoothly and without interruption. If you do not have reliable, 24/7 internet access, then please don't sign up.
Note: This used to be a post for a judge application, but I figured I needed a place to do stuff and get all the links to the problems, so as the co-runner of redstone wars, I have added the problems to this post.
IGN: fz0718
Position: judge
Server: fz0718.zapto.org (whitelisted, don't ask to be)
First name: Eric
Email: PM'd
3 days... To complete something like a sugar farm? It seems like the competition would be better if it was something such as: You have 2 hours to build so and so.. This would ensure that it is more action packed (the judges could watch the building in real time, think Master Chef xD). Also, this would improve reliability because you can keep tabs on contestants more easily.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
@implementation NSObject: CollaborateQuestion
UILabel *question = [UILabel setText: @"Anyone want to collaborate on an iOS app?"];
if (yourResponse == YES){
UIImageView *myFace= [UIImage setImage: @"Happy Face! :D.png"] };
3 days... To complete something like a sugar farm? It seems like the competition would be better if it was something such as: You have 2 hours to build so and so.. This would ensure that it is more action packed (the judges could watch the building in real time, think Master Chef xD). Also, this would improve reliability because you can keep tabs on contestants more easily.
That wouldn't work. It would require precise timing, in terms of mere minutes, between participants all over the world. Coordinating it would be a pain. Also, the contestants would either have to be geniuses, or they would have to receive the theme beforehand, in which case there's no way to prevent cheating.
If the contestants have days to complete their design, they have time to think about it, to prototype, and to make last-minute tweaks. Also, not all players will be able to be online at precisely the moment the announcement is made, so they have a lot of time to actually see the post.
IGN: FromTheEdge
Position: Judge
Server: I own a privately hosted server on which are the majority of my school's players.
First Name: Casey
Email: I'll PM you.
I have to agree with both of you. Having a 2 or 3 hour limit would be ideal. But unfortunately, that would be nearly impossible to accomplish seamlessly.
Think about it. How would we coordinate a specific time on a specific day between players all over the world? Most people have variable schedules, and can't specify a time when they can certainly be online. Skype might be of use, to sync everybody together for start and end times, but what if somebody doesn't have a Skype account? What if they don't have a microphone? What if somebody has to go afk or leave while the clock is ticking? Would we stop the time for them? If we did, how could we prevent the other player from working on his/her build while the time is stopped? Also, at the end of the time limit, how could we be even remotely sure that the players actually stopped building? They could keep going for a few more minutes if they wanted to, then upload their world.
I know what you're thinking. What if we held the competition on a whitelisted server? That way, we can sync the players, and also prevent a contestant from building if the other has to go afk. It would solve all of our problems. Except, it opens up the possibility of sabotage or other interference. It would also limit the players' abilities, because they wouldn't be able to use McEdit or worldedit. In addition, the server could lag quite a bit, making it difficult for everybody.
Trust me, I've thought all of this through. Having a time limit in terms of days is the simplest solution. True, a player could use google or get external help through tutorials, but ultimately, they have to create the machine themselves, because the theme would be very specific.
As long as the builds aren't things like sugar cane farms, I doubt that we should make the time limit two hours. People are from all over the world too; it's hard to coordinate.
Of course, the first few rounds should be simple things (not sugar cane farms) to let some of the less skilled redstoners not feel completely hopeless (that's bad), but it'll get harder as the competition passes on.
Ok, I agree that it would be a downside to not have MCEdit (even though I never use it in any of my builds) but I know for a fact that some servers (specifically the one I play on) can solve two of the problems you have listed.
Interference: most creative servers have the /plotme plugin, which means that un-invited guests cannot build/ destroy.
World edit: the server I play on (and many others) offer world edit to visitors as long as it is on their plot.
As far as timing, maybe create a free website using Google's Sites, and list competition times there? That way Skype would be unnecessary. This would also give players time to prototype/ think about their builds before the competition occurred, or if you are concerned about cheating, you could simply announce the theme via server chat before the build off begins.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
@implementation NSObject: CollaborateQuestion
UILabel *question = [UILabel setText: @"Anyone want to collaborate on an iOS app?"];
if (yourResponse == YES){
UIImageView *myFace= [UIImage setImage: @"Happy Face! :D.png"] };
If we can decide for sure on how this is being done, I'm in (even if I don't get very far :P).
IGN: jmal116
Contestant
Personally I don't really mind the 2-3 day format, especially because my schedule changes so much that there isn't really a good time I can consistently be on, but if we could come up with something else, I would probably be able to work with it. Perhaps we could schedule different times for individual pairs of contestants, so that we could enforce a shorter time limit?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I like to do redstone builds on my channel, and I can probably help you with your in game troubles.
In the real community, do you have to make creations in 3 hours? I think researching is just fine anyways. In the real redstone world, you can research all you want. However, I think asking other people for help is prohibited. besides, with 3 hours, you can still search things up... don't worry; these problems won't be just like "search up the problem and get it right."
I see what you are saying about researching, but the whole competition would be more fun, reliable, and action packed if the competition took place in real time, and other people could spectate the build. Again, think "Master Chef".
In all reality, as a potential player, I would much rather participate in a shorter yet more difficult competition where you can talk to others throughout the competition, rather than a boring, drawn out build all by your lonesome. I also predict that player participation would greatly increase by following my plan, because of more "action".
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
@implementation NSObject: CollaborateQuestion
UILabel *question = [UILabel setText: @"Anyone want to collaborate on an iOS app?"];
if (yourResponse == YES){
UIImageView *myFace= [UIImage setImage: @"Happy Face! :D.png"] };
Also, if you are concerned about not having enough time for something like a calculator, maybe the timing could be altered. For example, the schedule could be two 2 hour segments of building time, separated by a 1 hour break, etc. Because of how the competitor activity can be monitored on a server, the players could be prevented from building in that 1 hour or something.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
@implementation NSObject: CollaborateQuestion
UILabel *question = [UILabel setText: @"Anyone want to collaborate on an iOS app?"];
if (yourResponse == YES){
UIImageView *myFace= [UIImage setImage: @"Happy Face! :D.png"] };
I see what you are saying about researching, but the whole competition would be more fun, reliable, and action packed if the competition took place in real time, and other people could spectate the build. Again, think "Master Chef".
Reliable? I just argued against that, and you had nothing to say. Sir, you should think "USAMTS."
Yes, more people would be willing to join. But less people who don't know a single thing about redstone would be willing to join, and more time allows for harder problems.
Plus, some people have fluctuating schedules which may make them have to leave.
Also, if you are concerned about not having enough time for something like a calculator, maybe the timing could be altered. For example, the schedule could be two 2 hour segments of building time, separated by a 1 hour break, etc. Because of how the competitor activity can be monitored on a server, the players could be prevented from building in that 1 hour or something.
Again, note my fluctuating schedules comment. Still, competitors would have to take 4 hours of their time. Some people can't afford that long...
@fz0718
My plan would be more reliable because of time frame and how players can be easily monitored on multiplayer servers. On single player, it is very difficult to monitor players' progress.
To address fluctuating schedules, I'm willing to adapt my plan. The competition could stretch over multiple days, as originally intended, but only be for 1-2 hours on each day. This would be very forgiving for people with tight schedules, and allow for great flexibility in the scheduling of the event by the games master.
Edit: I made my post very light on explanation for reliability, because I have to hope that you can think of different ways to monitor players without me stating them.
Depending on how the creator of this thread wants it, only certain people could be allowed to spectate, ie. judges. Also, in my opinion, having other people watching is better than being totally alone. That's just an opinion though, but I have a feeling that many other people feel similarly, supporting my point about player participation.
Sandsalamander, you're making this unnecessarily complicated, and it's not really worth the effort. I'm sure that we COULD do your idea if we really really wanted to, but it would be so much unnecessary work to go around every possible problem. Having a 3-day limit only poses one problem, and it's not even that much of a problem.
Ask yourself this: Which is more important, simplicity and continuity, or having the game be more "action-packed like Top Chef?"
By the way, happy early new year, guys. ;)Honestly, I wish we COULD do that. It would be much more interesting. However, as more and more problems and loopholes arise, it becomes ridiculously impractical.
Just trust me. As said before, I thought all of this through beforehand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, I am starting a tournament of Redstone Wars. If you are unaware of what Redstone Wars is, allow me to explain. Redstone Wars is essentially a competition in which two participants engage in a timed building contest to create a machine that accomplishes a certain task, following certain limitations and/or specifications.
Rules and Gameplay
Gameplay is relatively simple. There will be several matches of two people, in a flowchart, Superbowl-style. The two contestants in each match will be given a theme and an objective, and they will have 3 days to individually complete their machines and submit them.
The theme is what you're supposed to make. An example of a theme would be, "A fully-automatic sugarcane farm that delivers the harvest to a chest 50 blocks away." The theme might have limitations put on it, such as, "You may not use comparators in your design."
The objective is a specific trait that the players have to focus on or maximize in their design. Some objectives might be, "Make your design as small as possible," or, "Make your design as resource-light as possible."
When you are building your machine, keep these basic rules in mind:
1) Your entire machine must be completely visible from above ground. If your machine is underground, dig a hole around it to show everything. If your machine has multiple components that are connected wirelessly, all components must be a reasonable and visible distance from each other. This ensures that the judges can easily see ALL of your machine, without going to the effort of digging to find it.
2) You may use ANY means necessary to construct your machine, as long as the machine functions in vanilla 1.7.4 minecraft in the way it was originally intended. You may use McEdit, singleplayer commands, bugs, or anything else as a means to create it, but in the end, your machine has to work in vanilla 1.7.4.
3) Please try to keep your machine lag-free, if possible. This is probably inevitable for people with crappy computers (such as myself), but please to try to minimize the lag created by your machine. This makes it a lot easier to judge.
4) Have fun and keep the competition friendly. Be nice to your opponents. Friendly competition is perfectly fine, and in fact, encouraged, but please don't trash talk, bully, or threaten other contestants. If you lose, be a good sport about it, and congratulate your opponent. And if you win, don't rub it in their face. Redstone Wars is purely for fun, and there's no prize involved, so there is really no reason to be a bad sport.
Once your machine is complete, upload your world file to a media site, such as DropBox.com, or MediaFire.com. <---that's what I use Then, send a download link to the judges, via either email or private message.
DO NOT post a download link to your world publicly on this topic. If you do so, then you might allow your opponent to see your construction and steal your ideas.
Once the three day time limit is up, the judges will download your worlds and individually judge your creations. They will then vote on a single winner between the two contestants, and the winner will proceed to the next round.
The final winner of the entire tournament will not receive a prize, unfortunately. This game is simply for fun, and also as a way to show off your redstone prowess and test your skills against those of other minecrafters.
BRACKET:
Signup(CLOSED)
If you wish to sign up, either as a contestant, or as a judge, simply make a post below that states the following:
- Your exact IGN (in-game name, or minecraft username)
- The position you're signing up for (either judge or contestant)
- if you're applying to be a judge, you MUST provide an email address.
OPTIONAL:
- The server you're from, with an IP address
- First name (don't give out your last name)
- email address (if you're not signing up to be a judge)
I will be accepting only the first four judges to apply, because only five are needed, including myself. (there has to be an odd number of judges, for obvious reasons)
As for contestants, everyone who applies will be allowed in. The more, the better. If necessary, we can do a match with three people instead of two.
IMPORTANT!!! After you sign up, PLEASE follow this topic, and check it as often as possible. If you're a judge, check your email every day. This topic is where all updates and game info will be posted, and timing is very important for this to work. All contestants and judges must be active and ready to receive new updates ASAP, so that the tournament flows smoothly and without interruption. If you do not have reliable, 24/7 internet access, then please don't sign up.
=============================================================
RESULTS (ended March 14, 2014)
=============================================================
SEEDING #1 - Take Down the Ladders
jmal116 - 9.50
Koala_Steamed - 7.50
nico1207 - 6.00
steved - 5.50
Chibill - 9.00
MrPeanut403 - 7.00
rtm55982468 - 2.50
NerdCrafterMC - 6.00
vija02 - 3.00
Mr_Parchy - 4.00
SEEDING #2 - Rube It In
jmal116 - 9.00
Koala_Steamed - 6.67
nico1207 - 9.67 <---Mind blowing. Download this one. It's really cool.
steved - 6.50
Chibill - 2.50
MrPeanut403 - 1.33
rtm55982468 - 1.00
NerdCrafterMC - 0.00
vija02 - 3.67
Mr_Parchy - 0.00
SEEDING #3 - Hot Shower, Cold Shower
jmal116 - 9.00
Koala_Steamed - 9.50
nico1207 - 7.33
steved - 7.50
Chibill - 3.00
MrPeanut403 - 1.67
rtm55982468 - 5.33
NerdCrafterMC - 1.00
vija02 - 0.00
Mr_Parchy - 0.00
Final Preliminary Scores:
jmal116 - 27.50
Koala_Steamed - 23.67
nico1207 - 23.00
steved - 19.50
Chibill - 14.50
MrPeanut403 - 10.00
rtm55982468 - 8.83
NerdCrafterMC - 7.00
vija02 - 6.67
Mr_Parchy - 4.00
Bolded links indicate the winner of the round. If any links don't work, please inform me and I'll take care of it.
1A - Light It Up
Nerdcrafter
Vija02
1B - Blow Away the Competition
rtm55982468
Mr_Parchy
1C - Infestation
Jmal116
NerdCrafterMC
1D - Lamp Lightshow
steved
Chibill
1E - Kitchen Conundrum
Koala_Steamed
rtm55982468
1F - What Time Is It?
nico1207
MrPeanut403
1G - 2 Signals, 1 Wire
jmal116
steved
1H - Candy Bar
Koala_Steamed
nico1207
1I - Paint the World (SEMIFINALS)
jmal116
Koala_Steamed
1J - Hungry for Action (FINALS)
> Koala_Steamed
vija02
2M - Traffic Light
Chibill
Mr_Parchy
2N - The Enigma Machine
rtm55982468
vija02
2O - Before XP Bars Were Invented...
NerdCrafterMC
Chibill
2P - Writer's Block
steved
vija02
2R - Nim
vija02
nico1207
2S - Scantron
jmal116
vija02
Click here to see the thread for Redstone Wars II!
Ways to contact me:
[email protected]
dubfl0w (on this server: sky.ozonecraft.com)
comment on this topic
send me a pm
Problems
==========================================================
Note: This used to be a post for a judge application, but I figured I needed a place to do stuff and get all the links to the problems, so as the co-runner of redstone wars, I have added the problems to this post.
IGN: fz0718
Position: judge
Server: fz0718.zapto.org (whitelisted, don't ask to be)
First name: Eric
Email: PM'd
That wouldn't work. It would require precise timing, in terms of mere minutes, between participants all over the world. Coordinating it would be a pain. Also, the contestants would either have to be geniuses, or they would have to receive the theme beforehand, in which case there's no way to prevent cheating.
If the contestants have days to complete their design, they have time to think about it, to prototype, and to make last-minute tweaks. Also, not all players will be able to be online at precisely the moment the announcement is made, so they have a lot of time to actually see the post.
Position: Judge
Server: I own a privately hosted server on which are the majority of my school's players.
First Name: Casey
Email: I'll PM you.
Think about it. How would we coordinate a specific time on a specific day between players all over the world? Most people have variable schedules, and can't specify a time when they can certainly be online. Skype might be of use, to sync everybody together for start and end times, but what if somebody doesn't have a Skype account? What if they don't have a microphone? What if somebody has to go afk or leave while the clock is ticking? Would we stop the time for them? If we did, how could we prevent the other player from working on his/her build while the time is stopped? Also, at the end of the time limit, how could we be even remotely sure that the players actually stopped building? They could keep going for a few more minutes if they wanted to, then upload their world.
I know what you're thinking. What if we held the competition on a whitelisted server? That way, we can sync the players, and also prevent a contestant from building if the other has to go afk. It would solve all of our problems. Except, it opens up the possibility of sabotage or other interference. It would also limit the players' abilities, because they wouldn't be able to use McEdit or worldedit. In addition, the server could lag quite a bit, making it difficult for everybody.
Trust me, I've thought all of this through. Having a time limit in terms of days is the simplest solution. True, a player could use google or get external help through tutorials, but ultimately, they have to create the machine themselves, because the theme would be very specific.
Of course, the first few rounds should be simple things (not sugar cane farms) to let some of the less skilled redstoners not feel completely hopeless (that's bad), but it'll get harder as the competition passes on.
EDIT: What about a double elimination format?
Interference: most creative servers have the /plotme plugin, which means that un-invited guests cannot build/ destroy.
World edit: the server I play on (and many others) offer world edit to visitors as long as it is on their plot.
As far as timing, maybe create a free website using Google's Sites, and list competition times there? That way Skype would be unnecessary. This would also give players time to prototype/ think about their builds before the competition occurred, or if you are concerned about cheating, you could simply announce the theme via server chat before the build off begins.
IGN: LPG100
Position: Contestant
Server: ORE @ mc.minecraftore.org
IGN: jmal116
Contestant
Personally I don't really mind the 2-3 day format, especially because my schedule changes so much that there isn't really a good time I can consistently be on, but if we could come up with something else, I would probably be able to work with it. Perhaps we could schedule different times for individual pairs of contestants, so that we could enforce a shorter time limit?
I like to do redstone builds on my channel, and I can probably help you with your in game troubles.
That's what my plan already was. The individual pairing times would be posted on the web site or some other form of social media.
In all reality, as a potential player, I would much rather participate in a shorter yet more difficult competition where you can talk to others throughout the competition, rather than a boring, drawn out build all by your lonesome. I also predict that player participation would greatly increase by following my plan, because of more "action".
Position: Contestant
Please change it to 1 day as I don't have time for a contest the could go on for a month.
Yes, more people would be willing to join. But less people who don't know a single thing about redstone would be willing to join, and more time allows for harder problems.
Plus, some people have fluctuating schedules which may make them have to leave.
Again, note my fluctuating schedules comment. Still, competitors would have to take 4 hours of their time. Some people can't afford that long...
Maybe.... but we'll probably not have that many people, so a month is unlikely.
My plan would be more reliable because of time frame and how players can be easily monitored on multiplayer servers. On single player, it is very difficult to monitor players' progress.
To address fluctuating schedules, I'm willing to adapt my plan. The competition could stretch over multiple days, as originally intended, but only be for 1-2 hours on each day. This would be very forgiving for people with tight schedules, and allow for great flexibility in the scheduling of the event by the games master.
Edit: I made my post very light on explanation for reliability, because I have to hope that you can think of different ways to monitor players without me stating them.
Ask yourself this: Which is more important, simplicity and continuity, or having the game be more "action-packed like Top Chef?"
By the way, happy early new year, guys. ;)Honestly, I wish we COULD do that. It would be much more interesting. However, as more and more problems and loopholes arise, it becomes ridiculously impractical.
Just trust me. As said before, I thought all of this through beforehand.