Hello, Robot Arena III fans!

Sorry it has been so long since our last Q&A post. We’ve been extremely busy getting the game finished and exhibiting at shows like PAX East, Vex Worlds, Wizard World and MSP ComiCon. There’s still a lot to do before release, but we’ve managed to find some time to answer another round of questions. We hope to continue to put out another post like this weekly up to and beyond release.

With that, on with the questions!

>Can you tell me more about judges scoring? Will it be like the TV show, or will it be like RA2? I feel like the RA2 scoring is unfair to flip bots and wedges that do not score damage like a spinner for example

The scoring will be similar to how it was done in RA2, and will be primarily based on damage. Bots such as flippers or wedges should rely on other scoring/victory possibilities, such as immobilizing their opponent’s robot, or using the arena’s hazards (spikes, saws, pits, flames, grinders, etc.) in combination with their fighting style to inflict maximum damage on their opponents or to quickly eliminate their opponent from the match. Wedge bots, spinners and flipper bots can cause damage based upon impact just like other bots.

>Will we finally be able to add fur to our robots?

Why the heck do robots need fur? Do they get a chill in the middle of winter? Right now we aren’t anticipating Fur covered robots, though we should consider some Robot Arena 3 Snuggies for human players, so they can feel warm and snuggly while they sit by the fire, drinking their warm cocoa and playing a rousing game of RA3. But seriously, fur might be considered as a post release item, perhaps as part of an animal-themed expansion pack.
By the way, that’s not confirmation of DLC, we’re just thinking out loud!

>Will this game support Linux?

Not at launch, but we may add a Linux version at some point. The game is built in Unity, so it should be doable.

>I'd like to ask about the framerate of the game, if it will be locked and what kinda of hardware the game is designed to run to an acceptable level on.

The framerate is not locked. The game should run well on modest hardware, but some arenas are more detailed than others. We aspire to the highest possible interactive frame rates on the lowest common denominator hardware that supports the bare minimum game requirements. This is typically at least 30 frames/second and ideally we want to achieve 60 fps.

> I'd also like to ask if any modding tools will be supplied by Octopus Tree

Not at initial release. Between us, Unity games are HIGHLY MODDABLE without any support required on the Dev side. Clever folks can actually hook right into the C# mono code.

> What would everyone think to such of an idea of an official Tournament by Octopus Tree?

It’s a great idea. It may require specialized backend support. We’ve done products with prize giveaways before and it can really encourage play. It’s not a trivial task to include an automated system, but we’re looking into backend providers.

> I've had this thought since MP is going to be a real thing this time and not laggy as hell Gamespy crap, anyway a spectator mode for people doing online MP events. Also a Record your battle option so you can easily edit it on WMM, Sony Vegas or whichever video software you may use.

Right now we’ve yet to be able to control Internet latency as much as we’d like to. We’ve worked to make the online multiplayer experience as robust as possible, however poor latency, as with all games, result in a less than optimal player experience. There isn’t a spectator mode supported as of yet thought that could be considered as one of the prioritized post release features. As for recording, that should be doable at release thanks to third-party tools.

> My two wishes for this game is the following: A boxed version, and that, if possible, somebody makes the house robots (all 8, excluding Refbot, and maybe Shove) for the game. If not, maybe I could somehow get my not-yet-existing models into the game, once they're modeled to 100% of course

As for boxed copies, we can say “maybe.” As everyone probably knows, the market for boxed retail PC software is very small in most countries these days. But we are exploring partnerships with distributers around the world, some of which are in territories that still have decent retail sales. So a boxed version is possible, but perhaps not where you live.

As for uploading your own models, the Steam Workshop capability in RA3 should allow for players to upload their own bot creations for each other’s use.

> Another question I don't remember I have seen answered: will the robots have self-collision? (meaning we cannot overlay components anymore)

We hope to prevent people from overlaying components of the same type on top of one another to prohibit that type of “cheating”.

That’s it for now! We’ll see you back here for another Q&A post in a week – hopefully! ; )