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. It is also available as a Steam platform release.

Gameplay

Robocraft is a "build, drive, fight" 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 finishes a battle or when parts are recycled. Experience is also earned when players finishes a battle. Once the optimal amount is acquired the player levels up resulting in higher max pFLOPS.

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 increases as the player levels up, and it restricts the player from adding too much complexity to their vehicle. At level 150, the maximum CPU limit is 1750 pFLOPS (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 Robot Ranking Points of all of the components of a Robot. More powerful components have more Robot Ranking Points.

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 six game modes: Test, Single Player, Team Deathmatch, The Pit, Battle Arena, and League Arena. Players can earn RP and 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 RP or experience is earned.

Single Player

The Single Player mode is set in the Hellion Crater map. The purpose of this game mode is for players to test their robots with hostile AI robots before playing in Team Deathmatch, The Pit, Battle Arena, or League Arena. Very small amounts of RP are earned, however it yields debatably the most Experience.

Team Deathmatch

In Team Deathmatch, 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. RP and experience are earned.

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 it's destruction. Once a player reaches 20 points, that player wins. Decent RP and experience 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 (except for Test and Team Deathmatch) to become faster, stronger, and more powerful. Robots gain "clock cycles," which is like experience, 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. 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 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. Once all of a Reactor's crystals are destroyed, the match is won. Substantial RP and experience are earned, but matches in this game mode can last much longer than Team Deathmatch matches, sometimes in excess of 20 minutes, which, beyond this point, both teams' Fusion Shields are automatically deactivated until the end of the match.

League Arena

League Arena is the same as Battle Arena, except it is limited to robots with maximum Robot Rank (25k), 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 1 and 5, with the exception of Bronze, which is between 0 and 5. Cosmetic "League Badges" are unlocked by achieving the corresponding League. These badges are Bronze, Gold, Silver, Diamond, Protonium, and Protonium 5.

Weapons

There are several different weapons (). There are also modules (Disc Shield Module, Blink Module, Power 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 depleated, the robot can't use any weapons or modules, but it can still use it's 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).

As well as Enemy Radars, the game features a "spotting" mechanic to locate enemies, allowing players to press a button 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 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 3 other players to their platoon (4 others with a premium subscription) in order to play on the same team in the same match together. There is also a "Clans" button in the menu, however the feature has not yet been released into the game.

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. 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, the game received another large update, 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.

On June 24, 2015, the controversial update Team Orders 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.

On July 28, 2015, Robocraft: Unleashed 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 became live. This update introduced the long anticipated game mode "The Pit".

On September 24, 2015, the update Share, Drive, Fight 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 was released. This was the first update to implement The Vision 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 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 requirement is rumored to be increased. Firing weapons drain the power of your bot, which will then regenerate over time. 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.

Monetization

Robocraft is a free-to-play game where players can get to the end game "without even paying a cent". FreeJam operates on a "Pay To Progress Faster" model where in "Premium" memberships can be purchased which double the rate at which RP and XP are earned, and also provide a 5% RP boost to everyone in battle regardless to whether they are a member or not. This can be stacked to a maximum of 200% providing everyone in a lobby has premium. Some components in the game can only be purchased with GC (Galaxy Cash). All GC only items are cosmetic, and Freejam has expressed that all GC only items will remain purely cosmetic. Among the cosmetic cubes are country "Holo-flags", masks, vapor trails, speedometer, altimeter, and cosmetic variants of some old Mk10 components. Pre-built vehicles can be purchased, which will unlock all the corresponding cubes and level up the player to the corresponding level immediately. Recently, 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".

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".

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.

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

External links

• Game Website
• French Game Website