RobotWar: an Apple II tournament of programming. Interested?

[Streck]

In the rarified world of programming games, Silas Warner's RobotWar is a classic. Using a stripped-down language, you constructed primitive AIs to battle other primitive AIs. Computer Gaming World sponsored tournaments where readers would submit their creations to the arena.

 

One fellow is interested in kicking off another tournament right now! I know there are at least a few programmers among AtariAge's community of retrocomputing enthusiasts, so I thought I would relay his message from comp.sys.apple2:

 

Hello!

 

I write a blog called The Digital Antiquarian (http://www.filfre.net), a slowly unfolding history of adventure games and what I call ludic narratives. I've been writing about the Apple II quite a lot in recent months, as I judge it the best overall platform for that kind of gaming in the early 1980s. (I'm currently mired in 1981.) I've recently had occasion to write a bit about Silas Warner, Muse Software, and Robot War (http://www.filfre.net/tag/muse). The latter is a bit outside of my usual fare, but just so interesting and historically significant that I couldn't resist.

 

As the most recent article in that series attests, I would love to hold a Robot War tournament of the sort that Computer Gaming World sponsored back in the day, only (thanks to modern technology) better and more interactive. See the post in question for my complete vision of how such a tournament could work.

 

The response has not, alas, been overwhelming so far. I've got 4 firm commitments and a few ditherers, which is not enough to make the project worthwhile in my view. I probably shouldn't be too surprised, as my blog's normal readership is very adventure game-focused.

 

So, if you're interested in taking part, please let me know. I figure we need at least ten commits to make it worthwhile. I've already agreed with Ken Gagne of Juiced.GS magazine to write up the tournament as a feature article in the magazine's June issue, assuming of course that we get enough participation to bring it off.

 

Thanks!

Jimmy

 

I'd love to see something like this happen.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Streck