Robot gallery

For reference information on how these robots work, see the Programming Robots section.

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--
-- OrbitBot, a simple robot that finds the nearest TestItem and orbits it
-- Note that this relies on line-of-sight navigation, so only good for open levels
--
-- !!! WILL ONLY WORK WITH RELEASE VERSION OF BITFIGHTER 011 AND ABOVE !!!
--
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-- This is called by the robot's idle routine each tick.
-- This function must be present for the robot to work!

function getMove()

    if(targetItem == nil) then
        targetItem = findClosest(bot:findGlobalItems(TestItemType))
    end

    if(targetItem == nil) then return end


    local botLoc = bot:getLoc()
    local itemLoc = targetItem:getLoc()

    local dist = botLoc:distanceTo( itemLoc )

    -- Here we use the getTime() function to make the motion look smooth.
    -- If we just advanced orbitAng by a fixed amount each frame, it would
    -- appear jerky, as each frame is a slightly different length.

    -- .0015 determined experimentally
    orbitAng = orbitAng + .0015 * bot:getTime()


    local dest

    if( dist <= orbitRadius * 1.1 ) then    -- Close enough to enter orbit
        dest = itemLoc
        dest:setxy( itemLoc:x() + orbitRadius * math.cos (orbitAng),
                    itemLoc:y() + orbitRadius * math.sin (orbitAng)  )
        if( not isInOrbit ) then
            orbitAng = botLoc:angleTo( dest ) - math.pi / 2
        end    
        
        isInOrbit = true
                    
    else                                    -- Travel directly toward object
        dest = itemLoc
        orbitAng = botLoc:angleTo( dest )
        isInOrbit = false
    end

    bot:setThrustToPt( dest )                  -- Travel towards calculated point
    bot:setAngle( botLoc:angleTo( itemLoc ) )  -- Aim ship that way too
end

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-- This function is called once and should return the robot's name

function getName()
    return( "OrbitBot" )
end

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-- Setup code here: this is run once when the robot is initialized, and
-- any variables set here will persist throughout the robot's life.  These
-- variables can be accessed from various functions defined in this file.
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-- Global variables must be declared here before they can be used elsewhere
orbitAng = 0
orbitRadius = 300
isInOrbit = false
targetItem = nil

You can use the above bot with the following level file. Copy the robot code into a file called "orbitbot.bot" in your robots folder, then copy the following code into a file called "orbitbotdemo.level" in your levels file. The Robot line in the level file tells Bitfighter to load a robot called orbitbot.bot from the robots folder, and assign it to Team 1.

When you play the level, you should see a functional orbitbot!

GameType 10 10
LevelName OrbitBot Home
LevelDescription Robot demo level
LevelCredits
Robot 1 orbitbot.bot
GridSize 255
MinPlayers 0
MaxPlayers 0
Team Blue 0 0 1
Team Red 1 0 0
BarrierMaker 50 1 -2  1 6  9 6  9 -2  1 -2 
Spawn 0 3 2 
Spawn 1 7 2 
TestItem 5 2