This information is for the 1995 MechMania contest.
Check out the MechMania HomePage for more recent stuff.

MECH MANIA - "It's Stompin' Time"

Sponsored by O'Reilly & Associates

Overview:

Programming contest teams will write C++ code to control their army of mechs in a futuristic game of 'capture the flag'. Actually capturing the flag is not a requirement -- simply blowing your opponents base to dust will suffice. After a day of coding and debugging, teams will compete in an elimination tournament shown on a wall-sized projection screen.

What you need to know:

C++ programming experience is expected. All C++ classes and game engine code will be provided -- your team must code the methods that handle resource allocation at the start of the game and the operation of the mechs during the game. One or two complete sample clients will be provided.

What you don't need to know:

Graphics or Network programming -- the Client/Server game engine and complete documentation is provided.

Some Specifics:

Teams:

up to twelve teams of 3 people student, professional, or mixed teams accepted

Time Limit:

you have 12.5 hours to write and debug your code

Resources:

we provide two HP workstations, GNU C++ and the GNU debugger, emacs and vi, and complete specs on the game API

More Resources:

you may bring any textual references you like -
C++ books, Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", whatever.

Food:

Pizza and Pop provided twice during the day
Sub Sandwiches provided the next day

Break:

Keynote Speaker, Steve Wozniak will be talking in the early afternoon.

Prizes:

• First, second, and third place teams will receive plaques.
• The first place team will also receive an awesome stack of X Window System Books from O'Reilly & Associates (including vols 0, 1, 2, 4M, 5, 6A, 6B, 6C, and the R6 update)

Cost:

• Conference Attendee fee required: $35 for students and $45 for professionals
• Conference fee covers food and allows team members to attend any other conference events if they need a break from coding.

Location & Schedule (exact times may change slightly):

  o University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Digital Computer Laboratory,  
    1304 West Springfield, Urbana IL

  o Friday,   Nov 3rd:  
      6:00pm - 9:00pm   Registration

  o Saturday, Nov 4th:  
      8:00am - 9:00am   Registration / Check In
      9:00am - 9:30am   Intro / Q&A Session
      9:30am - noon     Lab Time (2.5 hours)
        noon - 12:30pm  Pizza & Pop
      1:00pm - 2:30pm   Steve Wozniak
      3:00pm - 1:00am   Lab Time (10 hours)
     ~7:00pm            More Pizza & Pop

  o Sunday,   Nov 5th:  
      9:00am - 2:00pm   Elimination Matches, Lunch, & Awards