Write the brains. Build the machine. Beat everyone else's.
thebotslam is a programming game for fun, whether you're writing your first loop or your ten-thousandth. Write code that makes your robots smarter, and win games of capture the flag, infiltrate, hide and seek and last one standing.
Use sensors, lasers, tunnelers, mortars, landmines, bug trackers, cloaking devices, rockets and more to gain an advantage. Pick the right mix of tracked, wheeled, flying and walking robots to conquer the terrain.
Last one standing: the last team with a bot running wins.
Infiltrate: be first to land a bot in the enemy's circle.
Capture the flag: bring the enemy's conch home to your circle. Every bot has a conch-cage to carry one.
Hide and seekcoming soon
Gear that changes the game
Scanners, rangefinders, GPS and radios are your team's real-time field intel.
Lasers, lobbed rockets and smart bombs to make it count.
Damage localizers that say which way a hit came from, and proximity sensors to drop behind you.
Machines for every terrain... and the sky
Tracked: tough and steady.
Wheeled: twice as fast, half the load.
On foot: bipeds and quadrupeds pick their way over boulder fields.
Flying: drones that scout, and a gunship (be careful with fuel usage!)
Your language, your pace
Assembly for the bare metal, or C++, BASIC, Python, JavaScript, Lua, Java, C# and Blocks. Every bot runs on the same small CPU, so smart code beats big code. Test it in Brain code, then put it on the rated ladder.
Dozens of short, commented samples, each in Python, JavaScript, Lua, C++, Java, C#, BASIC and assembly: drive and steer, sweep a scanner, aim a laser, lob a mortar, talk to your team, fly a drone.
Each one does one thing well, so you can see exactly how a part works.
Each comes with ideas for making it smarter, for when you're ready for more.
Free: your account, building bots in the Factory, coding them in any language, every test match, and ladder and friendly matches against other builders.
Tournaments: $5 a team. The winner takes 80% of the entry fees. If fewer than two teams enter, it's called off and every fee is refunded in full. You pay on Stripe's checkout page.
Design machines in the Factory and save them here; build bots from them, or put one back on the platform to change it.
Bots
Each bot is built from one of your designs. Load one of its programs into it, or open it in Brain code to work on it on its machine.
Code a bot's brain
· channels and performance
Channels connect each part on its channel
Performance
Your blocks as Python: the same program, as the Python league writes itGenerated assemblyReference: registers, instructions, standard library
This program is written in imperial units, so values below are in feet (the game gives it feet). Examples are written in metric: their numbers are metres.
API stubs for your own editor
An IDE (a code editor such as VS Code, PyCharm or IntelliJ) has many useful features: autocomplete, the docs for whatever's under your cursor, and mistakes underlined as you type. If you'd like to use your favorite IDE instead of thebotslam's code window, you'll need the API stubs: they tell your IDE about every part of your bot. Download the ones you need here:
Pythonbot.pyi for VS Code (Pylance) and PyCharmDownload
JavaScriptbot.d.ts and jsconfig.json for VS Code and WebStormDownload
Luaannotations for VS Code's Lua extension and other LuaLS editorsDownload
C++ (Arduino)Bot.h for VS Code, CLion and the Arduino IDEDownload
Javathe bot package for IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code and EclipseDownload
C#BotArena.cs and a project for Visual Studio, Rider and VS CodeDownload
Assemblyevery part's include file, and std.s and notepad.sDownload
BASICthe reference (BASIC has no classes to stub)Download
Each download has a README.md saying how to set it up, and REFERENCE.md, the whole API (the same as the Reference under the code). When your code's ready, open it here with Open file… in the Code tab to test it. In Chrome and Edge, it reloads by itself when you change it in your IDE and come back.
The game's languages are subsets made for a small bot CPU, so code your IDE is happy with can still be turned down here: the Code tab says why. The stubs follow the current API, so download them again after updates. More in the FAQ.
All designs
Only superusers manage house bots.
New house bot
House bots
New team
Copy to a player
Gives a player two Capture the flag teams from each weight class: the bots, their designs, and their house programs (as files of theirs). Teams they already have are skipped.
Teams
Team
Drag bots here from Search
Recent matches house teams, 4 bots a side, Capture the flag
Your team
You
Ladder one ladder per game and language · Glicko-2; the server plays rated series within each ladder
Rated series
Live now public matches play in real time; watch with a 3 s delay
Friendly matches challenges are unrated · challenge a player from the Ladder · everyone can watch every match; nobody sees anyone else's code
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Bot logs what each bot's program logs, and the damage it takes; the border matches the hexagon around it
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