optimuscoprime / battlecode

Battlecode 2013

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Battlecode

NOTE: Our final submitted AI is in the team219 directory (it is bbSwarmImproved2)

Drop Bears (#219)

Official Documentation

• Rules
• Javadoc
• Software/Testing (lists keyboard shortcuts)

Random collection of links

• https://www.battlecode.org/contestants/calendar/
• http://cory.li/battlecode-intro/
• http://video.mit.edu/watch/6370-battlecode-jan-9-8877/
• More videos here: http://video.mit.edu/search/?q=6.370
• http://stevearc.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/battlecode-postmortem-2011.html?m=1
• http://www.battlecode.org/info/vanqeri/

Setup

• Download and run the installer
• (On OSX) Type: cd /Applications/Battlecode2013/
• The above directory contains a folder called 'teams'. The repo you are about to clone contains the contents of a teams looking directory, so remove the original directory...
• rm teams, and then type
• git clone [e-mail]:optimuscoprime/battlecode.git teams

Folder layout

• I've put different robot players into different folders (so they show up as different teams when placed in the teams directory of the application installation). In each folder is a 'RobotPlayer.java' and a 'desc.txt', which provides notes on the properties of that RobotPlayer.
• Each RobotPlayer you make will have to have a different package name set at the top of the file to make 'ant build' (see below) work successfully. Use the folder name as the package name to conform with Java packaging rules (eg a RobotPlayer in folder 'sc0001' should be in package 'sc0001'.

Testing

• (On OSX): Type cd /Applications/Battlecode2013
• Run: ant build (I am using genuine Java 1.6, java -version "1.6.0_29", I also set JAVA_HOME="")
• You might want to set bc.client.sound-on=false in your bc.conf at this point
• Run: ant run, set Team A and Team B to teams you have copied into the teams directory, and tick "Compute and view match synchronously" (remember to select a map)
• "Right-clicking on an open square in the map brings up a menu that lets you add new units to the map. Right-clicking on an existing unit allows you to set its control bits, which the robot's player can query and react to. You can also drag-and-drop units on the map." (need to pause first)

Submitting

• Copy one of the players into the directory teams/team219 (and make sure the package name is changed to team219)
• Type ant build and ant run etc. to test the new team219
• In the Battlecode2013 directory, type: ant -Dteam=team219 jar and it will create a submission.jar file that you can submit on the website
• Go to the "Upload Player" page and upload it
• Go to the "Matches" page and click "Search" (empty search)
• Click a bunch of checkboxes using tab and space, or paste this into the Chrome developer console (Command-Option-J): $("form#challenge input[type='checkbox'][name='teams']").attr("checked", true)
• Run some ranked and unranked games (unranked games will usually autoaccept, but good players will usually not play unranked games)

Git

If you change something, type:

• git add .
• git commit -a
• git push (maybe also git pull before pushing to get the latest changes from others)