evaders's Introduction

Evaders (Coding challenge idea)

Evaders is a game completely made for and played by bots. The author of the best bot (on the day the challenge ends) is the winner.

Basically:

Shoot projectiles
Dodge enemy projectiles
Collect resources while doing so
Spawn or upgrade units

How will this work with bots?

Apart from the math needed to dodge (multiple) enemy projectiles, lots of decision-making is needed:

Should I get hit on purpose to collect a resource?
How should I shoot to make the enemy run into it / waste time dodging it?
Should a unit "buddyblock" for another unit?
Can I shoot with multiple units to create a "wall" of projectiles (that the enemy cannot dodge)?

Other game mechanics:

No collision. Moving all units as one may be strong but you won't be able to collect ressources as fast
Create units with collected resources
Exchange stats with resources (e.g. Health <=> Projectile speed)
Collect healing orbs
Going out of the map damages units

Who wins?

I have a few ideas regarding this:

Queue into competitors / standard bot (ranked, simple ELO system)
Submit executable (run in non-network VM) to simulate many matches
Normal competition at the end

Development

Can be done however you want. You get the packet specification (mostly JSON) and maybe a library for a few select languages. You also get:

A spectator client (to spectate own / other matches)
(A local server)

Please join the discussion in the issues!

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evaders's Issues

Ideas

Ideas in the form of mix and match. Not all ideas must be used but some depend on each other. Comments/discussion appreciated.

Collision: There is team collision in order to prevent a turtle scheme where all units are essentially on the same position. Collision with enemy units deal melee damage to both units and deal more damage to units who fired a shot in the last second or so.
RNG: Units have all the same stats when starting out but can upgrade stats in a pro-von way (more mov speed but less atk speed)
Map: The map is still a circle but it is no fixed boundary. You can move out of the map although you receive damage when doing so.
Spawning units: Instead of buying upgrades points can be invested to spawn a new unit. It has the same stats as the default unit and can be spawned in a radius around the target ally unit.
Shooting: Shooting has a cool down and after firing a shot you get a small slow in order to discourage move and shoot.
Resources: There are not only money orbs shattered around the stadium but also healing orb which heal the collector over time. This effect is removed when hit.
Dodge: In order to dodge shots which are unavoidable there is the ability to quickly move into a direction and dodges all hitting missiles. After dodging there are two negative effects: You can not collect orbs and when you get hit you get an enormous slow. This effect wears off after some time.
Networking: Packers are transmitted as JSON in a simple binary packet format. For example: 2 bytes packet length; x bytes JSON data. By using JSON instead of raw binary format languages which do not provide simple binary reading capabilities can also be used with ease.

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