The Botball Game

What is BotBall?

Botball is a massive multiplayer online sports game where you build a team of customized robots, and play with that team on live internet matches against other players.

Botball is a PVP Game. Its main functions depend on the live interaction of two or more human players; there may be tutorials and “test matches” against a computer AI, but the core game is mainly played online, and mainly against other people.

Botball is free to play. Anyone can access the full experience of Botball, and even earn money for playing it (see below), without ever spending a cent. Like other free online games, Botball gives special bonuses and incentives to paying users, but even these ‘extras’ are freely available to other players – if they show the right dedication, commitment and skill.

The Game

Botball is much like football, soccer and other team sports: There’s a ball, a playing field, and two opposing teams that must try to take the ball to the other’s goal. Matches are timed, and the team with most goals at the end wins the match. Contrary to most real-life sports, however, Botball players are robots, each of them designed by a living human player; they are also heavily armed, and may attack and try to incapacitate the opposing team’s players as part of the rules.  In Botball, scoring a kill is often easier than scoring a goal, and almost as important to win.

The Bots

Each Botball team is made up of five robot (“Bot”) players, each with a specific combination of traits and skills that help it focus on certain strategic areas of the game. For example, a bot designed for goal scoring requires high accuracy and speed, while a defensive bot should have higher endurance and armor, and so on. These traits are linked to the five pieces (“modules”) that make up each bot; to build or customize a bot, you must choose its five modules according to the traits and specialties you want the bot to have. Bot modules are ranked via a point-buy system; modules with higher traits cost more points, while inferior modules are cheaper. A good botball player should choose her bots’ combination of modules wisely, finding a balance between effectiveness and cost.

The Objective

By winning Botball matches, you can climb the ranks in the online community, earning respect, popularity, special in-game gifts, and eventually, if your skills are up to it, actual money. Thus Botball, just like real-life sports, allows exceptional players to become paid game professionals, and perhaps, in a few cases, even make a living off the game.

SOUNDS FUN? START PLAYING NOW!

For further details on how Botball works, check out the Rules section, which delves into game aspects such as bot stats, building points and so on. To learn how to start playing at once, check the Getting Started section, or skip to the good stuff already and jump right into the game itself (link available soon).