Okay, so, “odb wrestler,” huh? Let me tell you, this was a weekend project that kinda spiraled out of control – in a good way, I think.
It all started with a dumb idea. I was messing around with this old object database thing – you know, the kind that’s supposed to be super efficient for storing and retrieving objects? Anyway, I got this image of wrestlers popping into my head. Like, what if each wrestler was an object? And what if their moves, their stats, everything was just properties of that object? Seemed funny, so I went with it.
First, I had to choose the wrestlers. I didn’t want to get sued, so I avoided using real names. I decided to make up my own. Then i came up with some ridiculous names and backstories. “The Algorithm,” a wrestler who uses complex math to predict his opponent’s moves (or so he claims). “Kernel Panic,” a glitchy wrestler who can temporarily freeze his opponent. I know, super lame, but hey, it’s my project.
Then came the coding. I fired up my IDE and started defining the wrestler objects. Each object had properties like name, weight, strength, agility, special moves, taunt, etc. I populated some of the data with random values. I had to build a move engine. It was basically a system that would randomly pick moves from their list and simulate the match, factoring in the wrestler’s stats. I know, it’s not like I’m building some AAA wrestling game, but it had to be somewhat believable.
I actually got stuck on the UI for a bit. I am really bad at UI. I don’t have the patience. I wrestled with it. After an hour or two I gave up and just hacked together something basic that could display the match log and wrestler stats. Looked terrible, but it worked.
Next, the “AI.” I put AI in quotes because it was just a bunch of if/else statements determining what move each wrestler would use next. If opponent is stunned, use a power move. If low on health, use a defensive move. Nothing fancy, but surprisingly effective at creating some dramatic matches.
I ran a bunch of simulations. The Algorithm vs. Kernel Panic? Total chaos. One match ended in a draw because both wrestlers glitched out simultaneously. “The Spreadsheet” vs. “The Stack Overflow?” “The Stack Overflow” constantly spammed the same move, because I forgot to add move variety and quickly lost. The Spreadsheet, was really good at calculating and getting him in holds. I actually started getting into the matches. I felt like I should make little animations or something. I did not. It was not that serious.
The object database part? I basically just used it to store and retrieve the wrestler objects. It was probably overkill, but it was a good excuse to play around with it. Plus, I could quickly swap out wrestlers, update their stats, and run new simulations without restarting the whole thing. Which helped a lot.
The final result? A buggy, ridiculous, but strangely addictive “wrestling simulator” powered by an object database. It’s not going to win any awards, but it was a fun way to spend a weekend and learn a few things.
Lessons learned? Don’t be afraid to start with a dumb idea. You never know where it might lead. And sometimes, the most fun projects are the ones that are just a little bit crazy.
So yeah, that’s the story of odb wrestler. Maybe I’ll open source it someday. Or maybe I’ll just let it rot on my hard drive. Who knows?
