coding world cup

Write AIs to play football

This project is maintained by richard shepherd nick pollard

API reference

All communication between the game-engine and AIs is done by sending and receiving JSON messages via stdin and stdout.

Events and Requests

There are two types of message: events and requests. Events pass information to AIs and do not need a response. Requests may optionally contain information, and always require a response.

Events are messages containing the fields "messageType":"EVENT" and "eventType":[type]. Each event also has a payload specific to the event.

Requests are messages containing the fields "messageType":"REQUEST" and "requestType":[type]. Some may also have some payload data, others do not.

Players and player-numbers

The game is played between two teams of six players. Each team has one goalkeeper and five other players.

The goalkeeper is not allowed out of its goal area, which is a semi-circle around the goal. Other players are not allowed in the goal areas. (The dimensions of the goal-area and the rest of the pitch are provided by one of the events.)

Each player has a player number. These are provided to you in an event towards the start of the game. Whenever you move a player or make it perform any action, you specify the player using its player-number.

Similarly, each team has a team-number which is used when communicating information.

Coordinates and directions

The pitch dimensions are in metres. Coordinates start at (0.0, 0.0) at the top-left of the screen. Players face a direction specified in degrees, where 0.0 is facing straight up and 90.0 is facing right.

When you tell a player to move, it first turns in the direction to move. This is done automatically but will take longer depending on how far it has to turn. When you tell a player to kick the ball, this will be less accurate the further the angle to kick is away from straight ahead for the player. You can improve accuracy by first turning to face the desired direction.

Time

The game is played in 'turns' where each turn is a time-slice of 100ms. At the start of each turn, both AIs are given the current game-state, including the position of the ball and of all the players. They then respond with actions for each player to perform.

The game-engine itself runs ten times faster than the turns as seen by the AIs, in order to be more accurate about distance-critical events such as tackling.

Events

GAME_START

Sent at the start of a new game. Holds information about the dimensions of the pitch and the length of the game. 

{"eventType":"GAME_START","pitch":{"width":100,"height":50,"goalCentre":25,"goalY1":21,"goalY2":29,"centreSpot":{"x":50,"y":25},"centreCircleRadius":10,"goalAreaRadius":15},"gameLengthSeconds":1800,"messageType":"EVENT"}

TEAM_INFO

Sent after the GAME_START event. Tells your AI which team-number it is and the player-numbers of the players in your team. For each player, the "playerType" field indicates whether it is a player ("P") or the goalkeeper ("G"). 

{"eventType":"TEAM_INFO","teamNumber":1,"players":[{"playerNumber":0,"playerType":"P"},{"playerNumber":1,"playerType":"P"},{"playerNumber":2,"playerType":"P"},{"playerNumber":3,"playerType":"P"},{"playerNumber":4,"playerType":"P"},{"playerNumber":5,"playerType":"G"}],"messageType":"EVENT"}

KICKOFF

Sent shortly before each kickoff. Gives the current score and the direction each team is playing, as well as saying which team will be kicking off. 

{"eventType":"KICKOFF","team1":{"name":"","score":0,"direction":"RIGHT"},"team2":{"name":"","score":0,"direction":"LEFT"},"teamKickingOff":1,"messageType":"EVENT"}

START_OF_TURN

Sent at the start of each turn with the current game state, including the position of the ball, and the positions of all players in both teams. 

{"game":{"currentTimeSeconds":7.2},"ball":{"position":{"x":52.239,"y":19.314},"vector":{"x":-0.915,"y":-0.403},"speed":14,"controllingPlayerNumber":-1},"team1":{"team":{"name":"","score":0,"direction":"RIGHT"},"players":[{"staticState":{"playerNumber":0,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":25,"y":10},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":270}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":1,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":25,"y":25},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":270}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":2,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":25,"y":40},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":270}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":3,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":73.068,"y":30.268},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":298.001}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":4,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":72.957,"y":31.666},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":301.252}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":5,"playerType":"G","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":4.977,"y":24.526},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":354.952}}]},"team2":{"team":{"name":"","score":0,"direction":"LEFT"},"players":[{"staticState":{"playerNumber":6,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":81.198,"y":33.952},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":296.958}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":7,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":78.653,"y":32.417},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":296.521}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":8,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":76.46,"y":29.984},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":293.775}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":9,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":25,"y":35},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":270}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":10,"playerType":"P","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":25,"y":15},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":270}},{"staticState":{"playerNumber":11,"playerType":"G","kickingAbility":66.667,"runningAbility":66.667,"ballControlAbility":66.667,"tacklingAbility":66.667},"dynamicState":{"position":{"x":95.03,"y":24.454},"hasBall":false,"energy":100,"direction":5.975}}]},"eventType":"START_OF_TURN","messageType":"EVENT"}

GOAL

Called when a goal is scored, with the new score. 

{"eventType":"GOAL","team1":{"name":"","score":2,"direction":"LEFT"},"team2":{"name":"","score":7,"direction":"RIGHT"},"messageType":"EVENT"}

HALF_TIME

Called at half-time. A kickoff occurs immediately after this, with teams changing direction. 

{"eventType":"HALF_TIME","messageType":"EVENT"}

Requests

Responses to request must include the "requestType":[type] field to match the field int the request message, as well as the response itself.

CONFIGURE_ABILITIES

Sent after the TEAM_INFO event. You choose the level of ability each of your players has in a number of categories: kickingAbility, runningAbility, ballControlAbility and tacklingAbility. Abilities are numbers between 0 - 100, where 100 is the maximum level. However, you are given a maximum allowance for the whole team which does not allow you to assign 100% ability in each category to each player.

Request: 

{"requestType":"CONFIGURE_ABILITIES","totalKickingAbility":400,"totalRunningAbility":400,"totalBallControlAbility":400,"totalTacklingAbility":400,"messageType":"REQUEST"}

Response: 

{"requestType":"CONFIGURE_ABILITIES","players":[{"playerNumber":6,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667},{"playerNumber":7,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667},{"playerNumber":8,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667},{"playerNumber":9,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667},{"playerNumber":10,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667},{"playerNumber":11,"kickingAbility":66.6667,"runningAbility":66.6667,"ballControlAbility":66.6667,"tacklingAbility":66.6667}]}

KICKOFF

Requests positions and directions for kickoff. Players must be in their own half. Only players in the team kicking off are allowed in the centre circle. Only two players from the team kicking off are allowed in the centre circle. The player nearest to the centre spot will be placed on the centre spot and will be given the ball.

Request: 

{"requestType":"KICKOFF","messageType":"REQUEST"}

Response: 

{"requestType":"KICKOFF","players":[{"playerNumber":6,"position":{"x":75,"y":40},"direction":270},{"playerNumber":7,"position":{"x":75,"y":25},"direction":270},{"playerNumber":8,"position":{"x":75,"y":10},"direction":270},{"playerNumber":9,"position":{"x":51,"y":36},"direction":270},{"playerNumber":10,"position":{"x":51,"y":14},"direction":270}]}

PLAY

Called after the START_OF_TURN event. You return an array of "actions", one for each player in the team. You do not have to pass an action for each player: any left out will retain the action they had in the previous turn. You can return an empty array to leave the whole team as it was in the previous turn.

Request: 

{"requestType":"PLAY","messageType":"REQUEST"}

Response: (see the section on 'Actions' below) 

{"requestType":"PLAY","actions":[{"playerNumber":0,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":25,"y":10},"speed":100},{"playerNumber":1,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":25,"y":25},"speed":100},{"playerNumber":2,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":25,"y":40},"speed":100},{"playerNumber":3,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":52.239,"y":19.314},"speed":100},{"playerNumber":4,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":52.239,"y":19.314},"speed":100},{"playerNumber":5,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":4.9706420413880341,"y":24.458966085734176},"speed":100}]}

Actions

You provide an action for each player in response to the PLAY request. Each action specifies the player-number, the action and other data specific to the action.

MOVE

{"playerNumber":0,"action":"MOVE","destination":{"x":75,"y":40}}

TURN

{"playerNumber":0,"action":"TURN","direction":270}

TAKE_POSSESSION

Note: Taking possession can only be done when you are within 5m of the ball. If you set this action when you are further away than this, the action will be automatically cancelled. 

{"playerNumber":7,"action":"TAKE_POSSESSION"}

KICK

Note: When passing to another player in your own team, it may be good to set the strength lower than 100, to allow them to take possession of the ball more easily. 

{"action":"KICK","playerNumber":6,"destination":{"x":25,"y":15},"speed":100}