This would be a great time to get a new skill mastered. CAD, Programming, Tai-Chi for stress reduction and better balance, baking so you can make great snacks instead of Pop-tarts, typing and language skills, maybe researching on what the perfect format for writing in an engineering notebook is, creation of custom electronics for when you get to VEXU, learning how to program smaller processors like Arduino or ESP8266.
This is a golden time to do skill building, get tasks done that have been pushed aside all build season, etc. I’m looking forward to having Robot Lab time to re-sort and put away the hodge podge of parts, cables, and who knows what into their proper location.
And maybe, just maybe, reach out to those around you. Hey can I help “undusting” the house? “I have a spare 30 mins, can I clean the bathroom”? “Hey, all those sticks that are in the yard, can I pick them up for the trash?”
Have fun!
( We read Amelia Bedelia here, why anyone would put dusting powder around the house is funny, so we 'undust" here! )
Ah, yes. Good old Amelia Bedilia. But yeah, get off your butt and help around the house! Your parents’ job is not to clean up after you, it’s yours. You live there. If you ain’t paying rent, the house cleaning should be your responsibility. Most productive use of free time, and they notice.
Oh yeah no I get that. I’m used to building during all of my free time at school and occasionally on weekends when my parents would let me bring home my bot (they’re not the most supportive of robotics so getting a few weekends was a win for me). Now I’m stuck at home without a bot or any parts for the next 2+ weeks because the state shut down all schools and I didn’t bring my bot home this weekend. However, that’s not the point. I do get where everyone is coming from with not wanting to waste time on a finished season or whatever, but it’s typically the people that qualified for worlds that are pestering everyone about getting the game released early. Any teams that don’t qualify for worlds have this issue every year of not having an active season challenge to work on. This year is no different apart from the fact that it’s affecting the teams that would usually be working on their worlds bot and this is therefore their first time with having some extra time post-season. The games weren’t released early for teams that didn’t go to worlds any of the past years, why should we be pressuring everyone to release the game early this year just because more teams have this free time? Just be patient for a month and use your time in a productive manner to prepare you for next season. Yes, you’d rather be working on the new game, I get that. I’d love to be working on it too. I just don’t see enough benefits of releasing it early besides calming down a bunch of impatient teenagers.
A big part of this forum is about expressing your views, and ideas. If people think REC should release the game early, this is the place to voice that opinion. Hearing the pros and cons might be useful. We were asked to express our ideas and concerns.
I totally agree. I mean, I hope to work at NASA in the future as an aerodynamicist, and although I have tried multiple relationships, I find that long distance has worked the best for me. Now let’s stop talking about this so this page doesn’t get locked.
I’m in my first year of teaching all of this, and almost missed this season because I didn’t realize the timings, etc. - I was under the impression that nothing really started until after Christmas, so we only made it to one VEX tournament this year. I’ve since learned that the next season game reveal happens sometime in the spring, but not exactly sure of when that is normally done. How does one go about getting on some sort of notification list, etc. to know when the big reveal is going to happen?
VEX usually live-streamed it when it happened at Worlds. But as for this year, we don’t know when it is going to be released. So we’ll have to just wait and see until they tell us a date
The thing is, even if we can’t get the physical components yet, we’d all like something to do. This quarantine is the perfect opportunity to give teams a new game to work on. From what I understand, games are designed years in advance, so if there’s nothing preventing it from being released, I think we’d all greatly appreciate if it was sooner rather than later.
That’s not really accurate. The major parts of the game (like the game elements and general gameplay) are finalized well in advance to allow time for manufacturing of the parts etc. However, some of the finer details of the game (as an example, the exact point values assigned to each scoring opportunity, or some of the other game-specific rules) can still be in flux at this point in the season. Put another way, the game manual is not sitting around in a completely finalized state months prior to the game’s release. It’s a lot of work for a relatively small group of people to try to think through all the loopholes that 1000s of teenagers will come up with upon releasing the game and make sure they’re addressed, and I think the GDC keeps working on that right up until Worlds.
Furthermore, I imagine since Worlds isn’t happening, VEX/RECF would like to make some sort of a big show of releasing the new game to take the place of a Worlds unveil. That certainly takes some planning that no one had anticipated. That’s on top of all the work involved with actually cancelling Worlds - it may just be a simple announcement here, but the RECF probably had many days or weeks of work just to cancel everything (hotels, vendors, shipping, etc.).
And then of course there’s the fact that VEX/RECF are people too, and all of their lives have been turned upside down by this virus thing just like everyone else. They’re likely trying to figure out how to still do their jobs while working remotely, where to get their next roll of , dealing with school-age kids who are now at home, and generally trying to make sense of all this - just like we all are. They’re probably also dealing with major supply chain disruptions for their products and all the business fallout associated with that. Grant has mentioned it before I believe, but as far as I know no one on the GDC does it as their full-time job.
They’ll release the games when everything is ready. Until then sit tight. They’re not withholding the new games from you just to torture you.
I mean, I’ve recently made it my goal to finish The Lord Of The Rings before I go back(if I go back), to school. I’m about halfway there and I started, say, three hours ago, and I don’t find fantasy books interesting.
Check the forum around April 24th until may 1st. It is very easy to see when it is revealed. And don’t make the mistake of confusing this for an FRC type season (a lot of people do their first year) go to robotevents.com, enter your region, and check for events. If you see an event that is in June, then you can begin your season in June
, dealing with school-age kids who are now at home, and generally trying to make sense of all this - just like we all are. They’re probably also dealing with major supply chain disruptions for their products and all the business fallout associated with that. Grant has mentioned it before I believe, but as far as I know no one on the GDC does it as their full-time job.