Heroscape.org - New Software Support for Heroscape

[caps]

Our event yesterday used this software to mostly great results, but I'm here to report a few hiccups.


When I would pull the tab up after some break and the tried to report a game I got a dialog box about an error. It said it was probably the Peoria error. This happened 4 or 5 times. A simple page refresh let me submit results.


I could not drag any names to change pairings from Firefox on my phone. Luckily the store had a computer I could use, because if they hadn't then pairings would have really went off the rails after I swapped who got the bye and then started people playing before getting the system to match my change. I think you need an additional interface for changing pairings.


Finally, it would be nice if the main tournament page would periodically auto-refresh results and standings. I had to walk over to the store computer to manually refresh the big screen they were letting us use to display matchups and standings.


My other suggestion would be to have a way to assign tags to map instances. The game store had little numbered stands that I put by each map, but then I had to put the number from the stand in the map name. That works okay when you have multiple copies of the same map, except that it bypasses the logic that would try to avoid pairing people on maps they've already played. Some kind of system that would at least display any tags for the map (if not tell players they're at a specific tagged map) would be useful there.


That was a lot of feedback, but overall the software is great and I'm really pleased to be able to use it!

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by caps

Our event yesterday used this software to mostly great results, but I'm here to report a few hiccups.

Glad to hear it (mostly) worked; and thanks for the feedback.

Some individual responses below.

Originally Posted by caps

When I would pull the tab up after some break and the tried to report a game I got a dialog box about an error. It said it was probably the Peoria error. This happened 4 or 5 times. A simple page refresh let me submit results.

Yes, this is a known error. I'm trying to fix it. I haven't been able to yet. Really nothing else to say at this point.

Originally Posted by caps

I could not drag any names to change pairings from Firefox on my phone. Luckily the store had a computer I could use, because if they hadn't then pairings would have really went off the rails after I swapped who got the bye and then started people playing before getting the system to match my change. I think you need an additional interface for changing pairings.

I've never tried adjusting pairings from mobile before; it makes sense that it wouldn't work well (or at all).

I'll have to consider some options for that one.

Originally Posted by caps

Finally, it would be nice if the main tournament page would periodically auto-refresh results and standings. I had to walk over to the store computer to manually refresh the big screen they were letting us use to display matchups and standings.

Hmm. Most of the data is supposed to refresh automatically on the main page. At which points was the page not displaying updated data? During a round as results came in? After a round was completed and when the next round was paired? Something else?

Originally Posted by caps

My other suggestion would be to have a way to assign tags to map instances. The game store had little numbered stands that I put by each map, but then I had to put the number from the stand in the map name. That works okay when you have multiple copies of the same map, except that it bypasses the logic that would try to avoid pairing people on maps they've already played. Some kind of system that would at least display any tags for the map (if not tell players they're at a specific tagged map) would be useful there.

If I understand what you're saying correctly, this is already implemented.

When you enter a map as a TD, you can enter 2 fields:
1) Name - this should match the name of the map exactly (no numbers added) to allow the system to include map images in the auto-generated match emails and avoid map re-matches (as you mentioned).
2) Number - this should be what you called a 'tag' to identify individual map instances whenever you have multiple copies of a map or have numbered spots at the tables (which it seems is what you had).

From looking at the data from your event, it looks like you put both fields into the 'Name' space. If you separate those out for future events, it should do what you want (assuming I'm understanding correctly). Although I don't fully understand the data I'm seeing; for example, I'm not sure why "19/20 Lush Dark" has 2 numbers instead of 1 while "19 Bloody March" only has 1, so it's possible I'm mis-understanding.

[caps]

I had some confusion initially about which maps were which.

I thought "number" was how many copies of the map there were...

[boromir96]

Fwiw I had no trouble adjusting matchups on mobile using Safari, although it did take me a minute to figure out the drag and drop, as there were no instructions on how adjusting matchups worked, just that it was possible.

[MegaSilver]

Originally Posted by caps

I had some confusion initially about which maps were which.

I thought "number" was how many copies of the map there were...

Yeah, number should probably say "table number" instead.

[Chris Perkins]

Follow-up on an earlier post about 'online' tournaments.

OST Season 1 Round 3 just tested out being an 'online' tournament last night, and it seems to have worked as expected (auto-generated a link for each game based on the map and put those links in the pairing emails).

So I'm pretty comfortable with the stability / functionality of this new feature now, so feel free to use it at this point if anyone else wants to use this software for an online tourney.

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

Yeah, number should probably say "table number" instead.

With both of you having made the same assumption, I'm pretty convinced the label needs to change.

But...I'm not sure "table number" is the best option. I still feel like that's a little ambiguous, because some tables hold multiple maps, and I don't really mean the literal "table" in this case.

Here's a few options, let me know what you think about these (or any other suggestions):
- Unique Identifier Number
- ID
- Table Slot Number
- Location Number

For a bit of reference, I designed it so that either giving each map a totally different number would work or just giving each duplicate map a unique number would work. I.e. You can have 2 maps both with the "number" 1 and it will work fine as long as those 2 maps don't have the same name. Essentially "name" + "number" was meant to be a unique tuple together. So I don't really love 'Unique' either, because it's not necessarily a unique number by itself in that it can be shared by multiple different map names and still work.

Thoughts?

[caps]

I think "Location Number" or "Table Slot Number" get the idea across the best.

Maybe the drag-and-drop would work better on Chrome? Still, I'd advocate for a Firefox-friendly UI.
@boromir96 the instructions for changing matchups were in the help, I believe.

[boromir96]

Originally Posted by caps

I think "Location Number" or "Table Slot Number" get the idea across the best.

Maybe the drag-and-drop would work better on Chrome? Still, I'd advocate for a Firefox-friendly UI.
@boromir96 the instructions for changing matchups were in the help, I believe.

That’s good, I had asked Chris to add that after last month’s tournament, haven’t looked at it since.

[Grison]

+1 for “location number” — that seems really flexible and clear.

Originally Posted by caps

I think "Location Number" or "Table Slot Number" get the idea across the best.

Maybe the drag-and-drop would work better on Chrome? Still, I'd advocate for a Firefox-friendly UI.
@boromir96 the instructions for changing matchups were in the help, I believe.

[Chris Perkins]

"Location Number" seems to be a pretty popular choice (also had 1 person reach out to me separately from this thread), and I think that makes sense, so I've changed that field's label to it.

Should be updated on the site already.

Thanks all for the feedback on it; I think this is a much clearer label than it was.

[Dissolutio]

This website is super cool Chris, love to see it!