History
A little walk through the past
BotBattle 2024 - Custom programming language
The second edition of the BotBattle introduced a new hexagonal game and custom programming language. To make it easier for participants to get started, an online code editor was added to the website. Users could program their bot and test them out, all from their browser, without having to install anything on their systems.
Participants had to write their bot in a custom programming language specifically designed for the BotBattle, called Bonkbly. This programming language was inspired on Assembly and featured a minimalistic instruction set. More complex instruction would take more time to execute, so participants were encouraged to make their code as efficient as possible. This added a whole new aspect to the competition.
This year's game Bonk featured a hexagonal playing field, where bots had to bump into other players while avoiding walls. From September 30 until November 5, participants competed for the top of the leaderboard or one of the 3 special prize categories. A livestream of the battles was available on the BotBattle's website.
This second edition of the BotBattle was even more popular than the first. More than 300 students followed the competition online, and about 100 actively participated. We're very grateful with this spectacular growth in popularity and will continue improving the competition to make it even more engaging.
DSAward Achievement of the Year 2023-2024
Following the highly successful first BotBattle in 2023, Ghent University honored CenEka with the DSAward for Achievement of the Year 2023-2024. This annual award recognizes the student association that has organized the most impressive activity or initiative attracting a broad and diverse audience.
We are proud that BotBattle earned this university recognition. It's an affirmation that the event resonated strongly with students and made a meaningful social impact. This award underscores BotBattle's appeal and its potential to engage and inspire the wider campus community.
We wish to thank CenEka and everyone who helped bring this initiative to life, and the Ghent University for acknowledging the event with this award.
BotBattle 2023 - Pyro Party
The very first edition of the BotBattle took place in 2023. CenEka's new Web&ICT responsible, Thomas Van Acker, wanted to attract more computer science engineering students to the association. He came up with the idea to organise an online programming competition specifically for these students. Together with the help of Wannes Sys, they developed the competition's webportal and custom arcade game from scratch over the course of the summer vacation.
Participants had to write a small Python program for a bot to play the game Pyro Party. This multiplayer arcade game was inspired by the popular game Bomberman. Over the course of 7 weeks, participants competed for the top of the leaderboard or one of the 10 special prize categories. A livestream of the battles was available on Twitch. On the 29th of November, the first edition officially came to a close on the Closing Ceremony where all participants could meet eachother and the winners were announced.
The event was well received by both students and the university. More than 150 students followed the competition online, and about 40 actively participated. This
