Russian AI Cup 2018: CodeBall. Spectacular 3D competition

Since 2012, the Russian AI Cup competition has been held annually to write artificial intelligence and bots, who are fighting fiercely in the virtual world instead of their owners. For all past championships on the platform, more than 20,000 users registered, who sent us more than 150,000 different solutions. Each new championship is a new game task with its own rules, laws and mechanics. We try to constantly introduce new ideas and features so that the games from year to year become even more interesting and entertaining, developing our engine under the hood of the project and doing everything to the glory of our community.

This year is no exception. Mail.Ru Group in collaboration with Codeforces.com officially announce the dates of the Russian AI Cup 2018 Championship, called CodeBall.

So, let's go!

Task

Traditionally, before the championship announcement, we try to keep the community in the dark. We were tortured, scolded, but we, as partisans, did not disclose the secret data of the championship, instead warming everyone up with images and our thoughts. On an unofficial channel, competitions created a poll where participants tried to guess from the tips of the organizers of the new RAIC 2018.



Many guys were close, some guessed (but they were not told about this). Now all the cards on the table, it's time to open.

The task is dedicated to football . We really didn't want to repeat the 2014 CodeHockey game . We were inspired by the dynamic game of the Rocket League, as well as the last World Cup.

This time they decided to make the game not in 2D, but really in 3D (using 3D models).



In Telegram, we posted this screenshot, after which everyone experienced heavy feelings from quaternions. In fact, nothing to fear. They will be in the logs, but this is used exclusively for visualization. There are no turns in the game model, everything is quite simple.

First, as before, you will have a documented API and rules, and on the day of the start of the beta test, we will publish another article with a detailed description of all this and a quest. You can write in your favorite language the strategy of the behavior of your robot soccer players in the game world. Two strategies of different participants are launched in one world and fight with each other. Whoever wins - plays further with other players, and who loses - improves his strategy and waits for a rematch.

Secondly, quickstart. We will describe everything in as much detail as possible and share with you. In this championship entry threshold will be lower. We tried to take into account the wishes of the community.

Improved the platform and infrastructure. Now the engine is running from Docker. This allowed us to place our instances in the Mail.Ru Cloud Solutions cloud.. Now all solutions will be calculated on modern hardware, namely on 200 Intel Xeon E5-2660 v4 cores. Having worked with them through the MCS interface, we felt the full power of this platform, so there should be no lags, and the speed of calculating solutions will be higher than before.



So, what kind of football and why robots ?

The game world is in space, on an asteroid plying the galaxy. It has a stadium and a field on which robots run and kick the ball. The goal is to win the match, i.e. to score the most goals for N ticks (a unit of time in the game world).





A robot, being on an asteroid, can set itself an acceleration in any direction (objects have no turns in the model, only visually). The robots in the model are balls of a smaller radius than the ball, so you can beat with a canopy :) Just like in real football.



They did it especially for you: you can play football right in the browser.





The championship consists of two rounds and a final.

In the first round, each player will receive the same number of players. The amount until we say.



In the second round, players will be able to use boost (nitro) with a limited supply of fuel, which can be replenished by collecting "tanks" on the field. Boost appears at fixed points and respawn after a while.



In the third round (final)each player will have more players. How much - now, too, do not say.

The result of the game does not depend on random factors. We did not add the shaking of the asteroid, although I wanted to :)

Taking this opportunity, I want to thank Vitaly Kudasov ( @kuviman ), Mikhail Mirzayanov ( @MikeMirzayanov ) and the entire championship team for the game created.

schedule

1. Sandbox: December 17 - January 5;
2. First round: January 5 - 6;
3. Second round: January 19–20;
4. Final: January 26.

At the beginning of any Russian AI Cup competition begins in beta mode. During this time, possible changes in balance, the elimination of errors, optimization of infrastructure. In addition, before the finals (for a week), changes to the rules may also appear.

Nothing has changed in the principles of the selection of strategies in the first round. From December 17 to January 5, there is a sandbox, from which will be selected by rating strategies for the first round. In case of victory, the rating grows, in case of loss, it decreases.

In the first round, the best rated strategies go to the second round, and from the second to the final. In addition, both the second round and the final get the best strategies from the sandbox, which means there is always a chance! According to the results of the final, we find out who is the best, and give them prizes.

Presents

Compared to last year, nothing has changed, only now it will be possible to replace the gift with an equivalent in value. All winners of the final will receive:

• 1st place - MacBook Pro.
• 2nd place - MacBook Air.
• 3rd place - Apple iPad.
• 4th place - Samsung Gear S3.
• 5th place - WD My Cloud 6 TB.
• 6th place - WD My Passport Ultra 4TB.

For the top 6 winners of the sandbox, we have WD My Passport Ultra 2TB (but they can also be replaced).

All participants of the second round will get T-shirts, and participants of the final - sweatshirts.

Join the community

Now is the time to go and subscribe to the announcement. We will definitely remind you about the start of the championship.

We are waiting for everyone in the Telegram-chat , Telegram-channel and group in VK . Welcome to the ranks!