pre-arranged match?

[Rich]

would people who still play be interested in arranging a match on a weekend? if people could post their timezones and availability, it would be much easier to arrange this kinda thing. personally, best for me is a sunday, after 7pm GMT

[K9]

Hello.. I've been out of touch for quite awhile, but I hope this forum can help reconnect me with current players.
I'm Eastern U.S. timezone and I'm making an effort to get back online more often now so your Sunday time may be good, but I have to figure out what 7GMT is to EST.

Definitely agree - arranged matches are the way to go with everyone's busy schedule.

Thank you!

[Stephen]

For my part I can probably do Sundays around 7.30 or 8pm GMT.

I believe 7pm GMT is 2pm EST by the way.

[K9]

That's fantastic.. I will make 'every' effort including a phone reminder for myself to be on Knights Game Lobby by 2:00pm EST Sunday October 16th (and probably every Sunday same time if everyone's 'game' for it), which should coordinate with you & Rich (if he gets this post in time).

I've been thinking about the server list screen, and perhaps this is common sense, but I just figured out its fallacy. 
For lack of better term, I'll call it an "endless loop".  I haven't caught up on all the forum posts, so hopefully I'm not repeating anyone else, but let's say people are watching that server list which only shows active Games where someone is 'playing' or in the lobby, while the fact is nobody is playing or in the lobby because they do not see anyone on the server list, so they don't bother to get into the game.  The conundrum exists - nobody sees a game, nobody joins a game, no game exists - around & around. 

Please consider adding a 'calendar' option or simple 'weekly/monthly' list at the active server page level, that makes it fast & easy for everyone to propose a time slot and drop their votes (no need for complexity of actual player names). 

For example, a calendar widget lets me pick a date and time frame that I'm available (other players do the same), or if agreed upon, players simply click their 'vote' button and as the tally grows, it will be obvious what date & time and how many people are 'anticipating' the game.  I'm trying to keep the concept extremely simple so coding is a 30 minute job.  After each event, wipe it from list (or get complex if you want and show 'real' final tally for stats) (allow up to 1 month list forward at a time, purge as you see fit for cleanliness).  Do you think it's something worthwhile?

I do like the forum, but I think many short attention span players don't have time to post forum notes and hope for a reply.
The Single Source game match associated with the server list page seems like the best solution to increase activity.

This is for the sake of growing players and fun around all your great Knights programming.  Please consider something along these lines as a high priority.  Thank you

[Stephen]

I agree there is a problem -- everyone waits for someone else to go online first, so no-one ends up going online.

Your calendar idea sounds like a good solution though, and should hopefully be quite quick to implement. I'll consider it.

We need some sort of specification though, something like this maybe: (first draft)

* Users can "propose" a time for a game of Knights, this would involve filling in a form with something like:
** Proposed date and time for game
** Name of proposer
** Any additional comments (optional)

* Users can view a list of game proposals. Each item in the list shows all of the above fields, plus a "number of votes" field, and a "Vote" button.

* Clicking the Vote button increments the "number of votes" by 1. It also disables the "Vote" button for that user (i.e. a given user cannot vote more than once for a single game -- although they can vote for more than one game, if they wish).

* Once you click "Vote", it turns into an "Unvote" button so that you can withdraw your vote if you need to. (Not sure if this is strictly required, but it would be useful if you accidentally vote for the wrong game, or maybe your plans have changed and you find you are no longer available at a particular time.)

* Once the start time of a game has passed, it is deleted from the list. (Actually, we might want to leave it for a short period after the start time, so that any latecomers can still see the game in the list.)

I haven't said anything about implementation -- the above is just a list of requirements, really. Will have to flesh this out a bit more later.

[K9]

Very nice, your requirements layout does cover the essential concept I had in mind - and wow, "The Unvote" button, I thought of that a little later after my post, but wasn't sure it would work without having the 'vote tied to a user' - we are definitely on the same page though, and I appreciate your interest in it.

It's too bad this type of scheduling system is a requirement.  But for the current fan base of Knights (it's not like thousands of active players are on at any give time),  but I believe there could be in the hundred range and growing, more active players with some sort of method like this to easily link up despite our busy schedules.

I have a feeling that many people are interested to play but just never seem to hit the right time to jump on and eventually interest wanes, especially if they only check the 'active server list' and always see 0.  While the calendar design you clarified will be short & sweet visibility to really connect.

If it's on that 'quick access' web page (with an instant view of the proposed events), anyone can use their phone on the web any time to propose times and vote for others for guaranteed link-ups.  If login is required for your user-specific plans, please make sure it is 'storable' so we can just go to a page, get the schedules, quickly set or vote, and not think about logging in every time.  Simplicity will win! Plus I didn't want this to be a chore of coding for you, so easier to code the better it is to use most likely. 

Thank you for laying out the details and at least your consideration for it.

[K9]

For all of you still keeping posted with Knights..
Stephen & I were able to sync-up online today as noted above.

I had a hilarious blast of a good time and definitely enjoyed the challenging Knights quests together.

Rich, sorry I didn't see your original posts back in May, but I'm making an effort to be around much more often and hopefully we'll see some more activity and other fans join in as games start picking up.  Meanwhile, we can use this forum to connect per your example (unless Stephen has time to implement some type of calendar approach with the server list page that I believe will make the game & player times awareness issues go away).

I will continue an 'open invitation' every Sunday 2pm-4pm EST (7pm-9pm GMT).  Please join in if you can, or post some other times that I may be able to adapt.  My hope is to get at least a few of my family members back online during the Sunday time as well to enhance the multi-player fun, even if it takes a little while to get all the global fans back into action.

[Stephen]

Regarding the voting system, I have set up a test page at http://www.knightsgame.org.uk/server_list_test.php. So far, the vote/unvote buttons have been implemented but there is no "propose new game" feature yet.

The page uses cookies so the first time you visit the page, a unique ID is generated and saved to your computer in a cookie. When you return, the cookie is sent back to the server so we can tell whether you have voted before. This prevents people voting twice (and allows an "unvote" button), without requiring logins.

Unfortunately, it is fairly easy to circumvent the system: you just have to delete cookies from your browser and you would get another vote. To prevent this I could add IP address checking (i.e. prevent multiple votes from the same IP address) but for now it is only using the cookies.

K9, would you be able to give the above page a quick test and see if it works from your computer and/or phone?

[K9]

Thank you for the schedule page and voting set up.. I gave it a quick test from a pc browser - count me in next Sunday.

Stephen, my deep apologies for earlier today, while I had an unexpected situation pull me from the house and I ended up away longer than I wanted to be.  I just didn't have time to drop you a note via email.  Of similar fashion another one of my family members was attending a funeral out of town and unable to join.  My brother didn't make it because I couldn't call to remind him.

Next Sunday as per my vote on your test link, I do expect to be available (with family) and I tested the cell browser too to determine if I can add/remove my vote, working as expected - nice system so far.

That schedule/vote page is a great way to connect or disconnect from the game time almost anywhere 'in the event' someone (like me today) can't make the appointed time.  Quick & Easy..

Once again, I'm sorry family & I stood you up today without notice...  :-[




Attention Knights Fans..., last Sunday 10/22, we had 5 players online for a particular time, along with enjoying some games with Stephen, the day was fantastic to play Knights with incredible smoothness and great fun.  Please join in as we're trying for a 'sure multi-player connection' every Sunday afternoon (EST-US)/ Evening (GMT). 

Thank you.

[Stephen]

K9,

Don't worry too much about Sunday, these things happen.

Glad to hear the test page was working. I'll try and get that finished off and "live" as soon as I get some free time (maybe this coming weekend). I'll announce it on the Knights blog too, we might reach a couple more players that way...

P.S. I heard there was some bad weather in your part of the world; I hope you didn't get caught up in that.

[Stephen]

I have now completed the work on the "Proposed Games" listing and have moved this to the live Server List page.

One thing that's missing is there is no way to delete a game from the list (except by allowing it to expire), so if you propose a new game, but you accidentally entered the wrong time, you are stuck. Maybe I should add a "delete game" button, but it only appears for the person who originally proposed the game?

[K9]

K9,

Don't worry too much about Sunday, these things happen.

Glad to hear the test page was working.  :)I'll try and get that finished off and "live" as soon as I get some free time (maybe this coming weekend). I'll announce it on the Knights blog too, we might reach a couple more players that way...

P.S. I heard there was some bad weather in your part of the world; I hope you didn't get caught up in that.

Thank you for understanding.  Good idea about the blog, as mentioned during game chat I will also try to get around to some related links and external forums to bring in few more players where possible.

Oh, about the weather, fortunately didn't affect me or family in our regions.  But true some cities are hit very bad by surprisingly early winter.

[K9]

I have now completed the work on the "Proposed Games" listing and have moved this to the live Server List page.

One thing that's missing is there is no way to delete a game from the list (except by allowing it to expire), so if you propose a new game, but you accidentally entered the wrong time, you are stuck. Maybe I should add a "delete game" button, but it only appears for the person who originally proposed the game?

Very cool calendar popup feature!  Only one glitch, please check, after submit game have server page not avail error, although it saved data, I think it is trying to find the test page after post.

I agree with you about delete game button when you have time, but otherwise it is functionally designed for now and has great potential once the word gets out to original crowd from last year or a new round of enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, I have to say, I am glad nothing kept us from Knights this past Sunday, definitely made up for previous missed Sunday! 

My family and I were "in stitches" laughing so hard even long after our games. 

For everyone elses benefit and reading entertainment, the brain bashing and zombifications were brought to a whole new level during our last Sunday "comedy-fight-fest".  We had 5 players at peak, including 2 pairs of die-hard competitive brothers.

When we put Stephen's new game mode "Team Duel to the Death" in action, we discovered a slew of new side-splitting, gut wrenching, crack your funny bone moments!

I would love to explain them all here, but some things you just have to be 'there', so the open invitation still stands, be 'there' in the game lobby per schedules shown on Stephen's new server list and calendar page.

The more the merrier, true, but it only takes 2 or more to have a great time.