Heroscape.org - New Software Support for Heroscape

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

For the maps page, my map "25 Years Later" has a broken display image. This is probably because I updated the map, and deleted the previous display image. I would like that to be fixed. I realize that you are 1 person, and there's already 50+ maps, and that number will only grow as you add more maps to the list, and as more people start using the site. Would it be possible for map creators to add their own map listings, and upload their own preview images? I have no idea how plausible that is, but perhaps if we could somehow verify our heroscapers.com account on our heroscape.org account, and then be able to edit the map pages for our own uploaded maps. Would also be useful for tournament organizers to be able to create map listings for their tournaments. It would be very convenient if there was a way for us to do that, so that we don't need to contact you every time we want a new map added to the site.

There's some good points in this idea.

Let me think about this for a bit and I'll get back to you on it.

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

There's some good points in this idea.

Let me think about this for a bit and I'll get back to you on it.

Ok, I made a few structural changes to user account permissions and extended that to creating and/or editing maps.

User accounts can now be (optionally) marked as 'verified' and/or 'site admin'. Both are manual settings that I have to change directly in the database. This is designed to prevent bots from getting fully verified accounts. Note that this 'verified' is entirely separate from the email verification that you need to do when creating a new account; that email verification is to allow you to do things like join tournaments or create tournaments. This manual 'verified' is going to be for higher permission levels (i.e. adding maps).

In regards to maps, verified means that you can create maps with the author name as your user name and edit maps that have the author name as your user name. Site admin means you can create a map with any author name and edit any map. If you are verified (but not an admin) and your try to create a map with a different author name than your own, it will automatically change the author name to be your username on heroscape.org.

The URL where you can edit maps is:
https://heroscape.org/map/edit/
If you have either permission, you will see some edit features. If not, you will see all of the map data, but not be able to edit any of it.
Yes, this page is not good looking. That's ok. It was very quick for me to create with this particular layout. It also might not be very navigable on mobile. Just a heads up.

To add a new map, click 'Add New Heroscape Map' on the top of the page. This will bring up a form with some fields (fill in whatever data you know, fields without a red asterisk are optional). Click the down arrow next to 'Sets' or 'Tags' to expand those sections, and then you can add Sets or Tags as needed. Sets are for terrain requirements. Click 'Save' (right of the fields at the top) when done.

To edit a map, click on the red pencil icon to the right of the map name. Adjust any fields as desired, then click 'Save'.

These permission levels may eventually include other aspects of site permissions as well. This is not meant to be restrictive to maps, but rather the only instance I have extended them to so far.

@Foudzing volunteered to enter various map data, so I marked that user account as 'site admin' for now.

@Leaf_It I went ahead and marked your account 'verified', so you should be able to edit your own maps.

Let me know if that works (or if it doesn't) as this is a new thing for the site.

For anyone else who either wants to add/update their own maps, or if you want to add more maps to the repository beyond your own, let me know and I can share the appropriate permission with your account on heroscape.org.

[Sir Heroscape]

I'd like a verified permission to add my maps! Thanks!

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

No offense taken. Cosmetics were not a focus during development, nor am I anywhere near a visual design expert.

That being said...there's not much I can do with this level of feedback. To be blunt, I have no idea how to code "a little more 'sexy'".

Do you have any more specific feedback / thoughts? I.e. a page that you find hard to navigate, something that doesn't work well on mobile, suggestions for color / layout changes, etc. I'm happy to take (and eventually make changes based on) visual feedback suggestions. But I need them to be fairly explicit in order for me to really do anything concrete.

Fair point. I'll have to think on it.

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by Sir Heroscape

I'd like a verified permission to add my maps! Thanks!

Done.

Let me know if you run into any issues with it.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

Done.

Let me know if you run into any issues with it.

Thanks! I’ll have to mess around with it

[Leaf_It]

2 features that would be nice to have for hosting tournaments.

• Private tournaments. It will not show up on the tournament's page list, and only those with a direct link can see it's page, or sign up to it. Ideally you could change a tournament to be public after setting it up, so that you can set it up, share it with fellow organizers to make sure everything is good to go, and then go public.
• Cancel a tournament, which would notify those who have signed up that it has been canceled, along with an explanation for why, such as a conflicting event, or a start/end date change.

[caps]

How does one create a League?

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

2 features that would be nice to have for hosting tournaments.

• Private tournaments. It will not show up on the tournament's page list, and only those with a direct link can see it's page, or sign up to it. Ideally you could change a tournament to be public after setting it up, so that you can set it up, share it with fellow organizers to make sure everything is good to go, and then go public.
• Cancel a tournament, which would notify those who have signed up that it has been canceled, along with an explanation for why, such as a conflicting event, or a start/end date change.

Interesting ideas.

I've added them to the 'enhancement' list of things to consider for now.

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by caps

How does one create a League?

You ask me to do it, and I do it manually.

There's no public way to do that at this point.

What would you like the league (& current season) to be called?

[caps]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

You ask me to do it, and I do it manually.

There's no public way to do that at this point.

What would you like the league (& current season) to be called?

Hmm, I'll have to look at Leagues vs Seasons and think about it some more.

Is it possible to add an existing tournament to a Season/League?

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by caps

Hmm, I'll have to look at Leagues vs Seasons and think about it some more.

Is it possible to add an existing tournament to a Season/League?

Same answer; I can, but there's no public interface to do it. I can link any tournament (past / present / future) to any season. And I'm happy to make any such linkage whenever someone asks me for now (might take a day, but it's trivial for me to do whenever I'm at my computer).

Seasons are then associated with leagues. For example, the "Mass Championship Series" league is currently in "MCS 22-23".