Robocraft

Robocraft
Developer(s)	Freejam Games
Designer(s)	Mark Simmons
Programmer(s)	Edward Fowler, Brian O’Connor, Sebastiano Mandala
Artist(s)	Richard Turner
Engine	Unity 5
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
Genre(s)	Vehicular combat, physics-based simulation, third-person shooter, strategy
Mode(s)	Singleplayer, Multiplayer

Robocraft is an online third-person vehicle combat game set in fictional areas of different planets where players construct robots to fight with others in battles. It is currently an open-alpha game, and is being developed and published by the indie video game developer Freejam Games based in the United Kingdom. The game features contained garages in which players can build various functional vehicles with basic block-based parts (such as cubes and wheels) along with weapons that can be used for combat. The initial alpha build was released in March 2013, featuring a single-player building and test mode. In April 2013, Freejam Games released multiplayer combat, which is now the core content of the game. Content updates and bug fixes for the game are released a few times each month. On April 14, 2014, the company revealed that Robocraft had gained over 300,000 players in a few months; the game continues to attract many players, notably, international players from non-English speaking countries.^[1][2] It is also available as a Steam platform release.^[3]

Gameplay

Robocraft is a "build, drive, fight"^[4] game where players build their robots from scratch and engage in online battles in order to gain in-game currency and experience.

Currency and Experience

The currency in this game are "Robits". Robits are used to forge parts. Robits are earned when a player recycles parts using the "Omnicycler". To get parts to recycle, players must enter gamemodes, which, at the end, give them 'crates' with items. The type of items found in a crate depend on how well the player did in battle. These crates range from a "Rusted" crate to a "Protonium" crate. "Protonium" is a reference to the popular forum-based universe, and also a reference to the material on the in-game "Fusion Towers" and "Protonium Reactors". Experience is also earned when the player finishes a battle. Once enough experience is gained, the player levels up, resulting in a higher CPU limit, allowing the user to place more cubes on their Robot.

Building a Robot

Players are given the freedom to build and customize their robots in any way they like, as long as it does not exceed their in-game CPU limit. The player's CPU limit does not increase as they level up. At level 10000, the maximum CPU limit is 2000 pFLOPS, like level 1. (the unit of measurement for CPU) Different chassis and hardware blocks consume different amounts of CPU. A robot is ranked for battle match-making based on the amount of CPU their robot uses.

The game features a part-based damage model. To destroy a robot, 75% of the robot's total CPU must be destroyed. The damage model permits creativity and complex engineering in the areas of damage distribution and redirection, commonly referred to as "triforcing," due to the shape that it often makes resembling the Triforce from the game series "The Legend of Zelda". All robots have an automatic regeneration ability that slowly repairs itself after not being damaged for 10 seconds. If a robot is damaged while auto-repairing, the 10-second timer is reset and auto-reparation stops.

Game modes

Robocraft has seven game modes: Test, AI Bots Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Elimination, The Pit, Battle Arena, and League Arena. Players can earn experience in all game modes except Test.

Test

The Test game mode is a dominantly white simulation map with rugged terrain and flat platforms. The purpose of this game mode is for players to test their robots in the absence of other robots and objectives. No crates or experience is earned.

AI Bots Deathmatch

AI Bots Deathmatch is the same as Team Deathmatch but all the other robots in your team and the robots in the other team are AI controlled. Crates contain one item + one premium item.

Elimination

In Elimination, two teams of ten robots compete. To win, a team must either destroy all enemy robots or capture the enemy base. Robots do not respawn after they are destroyed, so building a survivable robot is especially important in this game mode. To capture the enemy base, at least one robot must be present on the enemy's base and avoid being damaged while on it. While a base is being captured, a meter in the color of the team being captured slowly fills four segments, or checkpoints. If a robot gets damaged while capturing the enemy base, the meter is reset to the last segment, or checkpoint. Once all four segments of the capture meter are filled, the match is won. Crates (each with two items, +2 premium items) and experience are earned. This mode used to be called "Team deathmatch" but it was replaced in the Battle for Earth update.

The Pit

In The Pit, 15 robots compete to be the first to earn 20 points by destroying each other. Extra points are awarded to those who destroy the current board leader. A golden glowing effect, along with a golden trail, appear on the leading robot to mark it as the leader, and likely to encourage its destruction. Once a player reaches 20 points, that player wins. Decent Crates (3 items each, + 3 premium items) and experience (XP) are earned.

Battle Arena

In Battle Arena, gameplay is much more complex. Robots respawn after being destroyed. Each time a robot is destroyed, the time it takes to respawn increases based on deaths and overclocking level. Overclocking is the process in which robots level up within a match (exclusive to Battle arena and League arena) to become faster, stronger, and more powerful. Robots gain "clock cycles," which enhances robot ability (like damage and movement speed), automatically and when performing tasks during a match. There are 15 overclocking levels.

Each team's base has a "Protonium Reactor", which is a large cluster of destructible crystals. A match is won when the crystals on a team's reactor are completely destroyed. The reactor is protected by a "Fusion Shield". Players are healed by the fusion shield at their own base, which is impenetrable by enemy fire from the outside and inside. Throughout the map, there are three "Fusion Towers." The Fusion Towers are similar to Protonium Reactors in that they are collections of destructible crystals. They have an "umbrella" protecting most of the top, except for the center where the crystals are.

At the start of the match, the three Fusion Towers are neutral. They have purple crystals and do not provide benefits to either team. When all of a Tower's crystals on the two connection points are destroyed, ownership of that Tower is transferred to the team which captured it, and new crystals appear in that team's color. A team must have at least one Tower to maintain their Fusion Shield, so neither team has a Fusion Shield at the start of the match until they acquire a Tower. If a team has two Towers, they activate their "Clock Cycle Booster," which quickens the overclocking process. If a team has all three Towers, they deactivate the enemy's Fusion Shield, exposing their Protonium Reactor. The longer the match goes on, the more "Protonivity" each team will get. This value is the damage dealt to protonium. Having more fusion towers also multiplies the Protonivity by the number of towers. Once all of a Reactor's crystals on its four connection points are destroyed, the match is won. When 20 minutes is reached, "sudden death mode" activates, and both teams' Fusion Shields are de-activated. Towers are able to be captured at this point, but they provide no advantage other than clock cycle booster and More Protonivity. Crates (with four items each, + 4 premium items) and Substantial experience is earned, but matches in this game mode can last much longer than Team Deathmatch matches, sometimes in excess of 20 minutes.^[5]

League Arena

League Arena is the same as Battle Arena, except it is limited to robots with a CPU with 1000+ pFLOPS (CPU), and players earn ranks that display in matches. The ranks, from lowest to highest, are Bronze (B-X), Silver (S-X), Gold (G-X), Diamond (D-X), and Protonium (P-X), with the X being a number of stars between 0 and 5. Players in this mode get matched against players of similar league ranks if possible, but if a lower ranked player wins against a higher ranked player, they rank up significantly more. Cosmetic "League Badges" are unlocked by achieving the corresponding League. These badges are Bronze, Gold, Silver, Diamond, and Protonium. This awards the same crates and XP as Battle Arena.

Team deathmatch

The newest game mode, taking the place of the old team death match which was renamed to "Elimination". In this mode, two teams of 5 players fight in symmetrical maps, with 5 second re-spawn times and a frag limit. The frag limit varies depending on the CPU of the players; at 1750 CPU it takes 20 kills to win, and at 1000 CPU or below, it takes 30 kills. The game has a 10-minute timer, and if this time runs out, the team with the highest score wins. If both teams have the same score, it goes into "Sudden death mode", where the team who destroys the next robot wins. This is considered the most competitive gamemode in Robocraft, as each team consists of five players, and so does the maximum amount of members in a platoon, meaning you can assemble your own team. As of release, the only map in this mode is "Birmingham power station", based in Birmingham on Earth. This mode awards crates (with 3 items + 3 premium items) and XP.^[6]

Weapons

There are several different weapons. These are (listed in the order they appear in the inventory in-game): Laser (a machine-gun-like weapon) Plasma (fires a plasma grenade with an arc that explodes on impact) Rail (A sniper-like weapon, fires a single high-damage shot with a very low rate of fire) Nano (a lock-on healing gun with a short range) Aeroflak (fires a single large projectile that explodes near flying bots with a slow rate of fire) Proto-seeker (fires many small, seeking projectiles that lock onto enemies at short range at a very high rate of fire) Lock-on Missile Launcher (after spending 3 seconds locking on, fires seeking missiles that explode on impact) Ion Destabilizer/Distorter (a shotgun-like cannon) Chain Shredder (a Gatling gun like weapon, takes 3 seconds to spin up and then has a very high rate of fire) all weapons except the proto-seeker, lock-on missile launcher, and chain shredder have multiple levels(2-6) with each higher tier meaning more damage, more health, more CPU load, and sometimes larger area of effect. notably, with some, the rate of fire goes down with higher tiers.

( There are also modules (Disc Shield Module, Blink Module, Power Module, EMP Module and the Ghost Module). A robot can have mixed movement systems and five slots for storing different weapons and modules. Hybrid robots are common, such as mixed-movement walker-flyers and mixed weapon laser-teslas. Ammunition is achieved with universal energy used for all weapons and modules. If a robot's energy is depleted, the robot can't use any weapons or modules, but it can still use its movement parts like wheels and thrusters. Energy automatically regenerates over time, taking ten seconds to fully regenerate from zero (if the robot has a Power Module, however, this takes only eight seconds). Weapons also have cooldown. So if you use any weapon/module, you can't use it for a certain amount of time. This can range from almost instantaneous (Lasers) to over 15 seconds (Modules).

As well as Enemy Radars, the game features a "spotting" mechanic to locate enemies, allowing players to press a button (Q by default) to highlight a specific enemy in sight and alert their teammates about the enemy's presence. When an enemy is spotted, the team who spotted the robot hears, "spotted", a hexagon blip on the minimap follows the robot, and a username and avatar overlay appears above the player, even through obstacles. A player who has been spotted hears a siren and has a red exclamation mark appear on their screen that fades over time until they are no longer spotted.

Social

Players can friend other players or add up to 5 other players to their platoon (regardless if they have premium or not) in order to play on the same team in the same match together. Players can also join Clans, a group of players with a maximum of 50, wherein players can cooperatively earn SXP (Season Experience) awarded at the end of a match which will then be converted into Robits at the end of the Clan Season. The Robits accumulated from the clan's TXP (Total Experience) will be distributed equally to clan members,albeit those who do not contribute in it in any way wouldn't receive any amount of Robits.

Forums

Many forums are available for players such as the Steam forums, Robocraft forums and Tieba, a Chinese forum with approx. 5000 players. The main forum is the Robocraft forums on the website.

Development

Robocraft uses the Unity 5 engine and Yahoo Games Network.

A November 2014 update added EasyAntiCheat (EAC) software to the game's client, in order to counter various hacks such as zero reload time. Freejam has stated that the EAC team will focus on anti-cheating, allowing them to focus on new features. A major game update was released on December 9, 2014, adding Tank Tracks and Tesla Blades, a unique melee weapon, alongside several new features.

On February 18, 2015, the "Dawn of the Megabots" update was released.^[7] This features a wide array of updates including new matching systems. "Megaboss" and "Challenge Mode", and rotor blades were introduced to let players construct "New helicopter style Copter Class Robots." These were all introduced alongside many new updates.

On April 30, 2015, "Respawned and Overclocked" was another large update,^[8] which completely changed the core gameplay. The robot-building remained unchanged, but the battles were given new mechanics, such as Protonium Crystals that must be destroyed instead of the previous goal of capturing the enemy base. Also added were Fusion Shields, SCU's, Fusion Towers, and Overclocking, as well as other changes such as rebalancing armor and healing.^[9]

On June 24, 2015, the controversial update "Team Orders"^[10] was released. Most restrictions found in this update were later removed in Robocraft: Unleashed due to a heated response from the player community. A new ping system was added that allowed players to send messages to teammates on the map including: "On My Way", "Danger", and "Go Here". The current Surrender Vote, Leaver Penalty, and Battle Stats Screen were first implemented in this update. This update also reduced the number of towers in Battle Arena mode from 4 to 3, to "Give one team a constant advantage".

On July 28, 2015, Robocraft: Unleashed^[11] was released. This update removed a variety of build and combat restrictions implemented in the Team Orders update.

On August 27, 2015, Legends of the Pit^[12] became live. This update introduced the long anticipated game mode "The Pit".

On September 24, 2015, the update Share, Drive, Fight^[13] became available to all players. This update included the Community Robot Factory, a place to buy, rent, and sell robots designed by users. A Single Player Mode was also introduced featuring AI enemy combatants.

On December 17, 2015, the update Full Spectrum Combat^[14] was released. This was the first update to implement The Vision^[15] proposed by FreeJam on their forums. This updated included an update to the Unity 5 game engine, the ability to paint cubes, and the collapse of all armor cubes to one type. However, a variety of new armor cube shapes were introduced. In addition, up to 25 garage slots are now free for all users. Hotly debated^[16] on the forums was the removal of the Pilot seat, a notable design feature since the early days of Robocraft.

On March 3, 2016 "Maximum Loadout" was released after being delayed for a week due to bug testing. The update introduces the ability to use multiple weapon types to be used on a single robot. In addition to this, the maximum pFLOP was increased to 1750 at Level 150. Firing weapons drain the power of your bot, which then regenerates over time, though it is possible to get a power module which reduces this cooldown from 10 seconds to 8. In addition to this, two new modules have been added to the game. The DSM or Disc Shield Module deploys a stationary shield, which can be fired through only by the team of the player that deployed it and has a long cooldown. In addition to this, the BLM, or Blink Module, will allow robots to warp forward a relatively long distance, at the expense of massive power consumption with short cooldown.

On April 13, 2016 the update "Ghosts in the Machine" added the Ion Distorter, a futuristic shotgun, and the Ghost Module which allows invisibility at the expense of your power meter.

On April 28, 2016 an update named "Epic Loot" switched currency and got rid of the tech tree, allowing players to buy any parts without needing to level up. The currency RP was switched to "Robits". This update also removed cube depots and introduced crates as one of the only two sources of parts in-game, the only other way to recycle weapons or other items into "Robits" and forge new weapons or items in the "cube forge".

On June 1, 2016 "Battle for Earth" was released, adding a new map based in Birmingham, Earth. This map is based on a power station, which was "New and hi tec, yet old and abandoned", with a cooling tower in ruins in the centre. This map was exclusive to a new mode called "Team deathmatch", which replaced the old Team deathmatch, renamed to "Elimination".^[17]

On June 26, 2016 "Aeroflak sentinel & power update" was released, adding a smaller version of the aeroflak, named the "Aeroflak Sentinel" and changes were made to power usage.

On July 14, 2016 "Enter the shredzone update" was released, adding a new mini-gun named "Chain Shredder" and a new module called "EMP Module" which disabled the enemy robots in a certain radius, when hit you can't move or shoot you weapons and the screen becomes less colorful. The effect lasts for 3 seconds. Diagonal rods, a new game mode called "AI Bots Deathmatch" and a Tutorial were also added in this update.

On August 4, 2016 "Strut Your Stuff" was released, adding Struts, better protected aerorods, and a center of mass feature.

Monetization

Robocraft is a free-to-play game where players can get to the end game "without even paying a cent".^[18] FreeJam operates on a "Pay To Progress Faster" model where in "Premium" memberships can be purchased which doubles the rate XP is earned and the number of parts in crates. Even without premium membership, the premium slots would show the player what they were missing out on, to "Tease you" into buying a membership. Many people said the premium item slots are rigged with a higher chance of better items, but the developers have repeatedly promised that this isn't the case. The developers often partner up with certain charities or companies to release "Bundles", which often come with crates, cosmetics, and the promoted company's logo on a "Holo flag". These bundles often come at a significant discount from how much it would cost to normally purchase the items. The addition of painting cubes has been controversial, as the colors available for free players are extremely limited (Only being white, gray, light blue, and orange) while other colors, previously available for free as tiered armor cubes, are now exclusive to Premium players.

Critical reception

Rock Paper Shotgun described the game as "good for a few hours of light and casual fun".^[19]

In December 2014, Robocraft was voted, by users of the IndieDB website, the number one independent game of 2014; earning the prestigious accolade "Indie Game of the Year".^[20]

After EasyAntiCheat was added to the game's client, there was discussion within the Robocraft community about the spyware-like qualities of EAC. Some players even requested EAC to be removed from Robocraft entirely in fear of having their computer scanned and screenshotted. Robocraft responded by explaining in full detail what information Roboshield/EAC captures, what that information is used for and with whom it is shared. The short list consists of username, IP address, HardwareID and executable code memory.^[21]

In November 2015, Robocraft:Unleashed was honored by TIGA as the Best Debut Game for 2015.^[22]

As of the epic loot update, many players have become angry with the game developers, and have been asking them to revert the game back. This is because it is "More difficult to progress, with various sources claiming anywhere from 20% to 50% loss in actual currency from games, and the game's RNG (Random number generator) based economy makes the game "Luck based" according to some players.^[23]

References

External links

• Game Website
• French Game Website
• vkontakte