Darkwaltz4
Former Developer
Here are the details on how I am implementing/planning current features to work. This will probably morph into the user guide later.
If you want clarification, ask in this thread. If you have suggestions/alterations to discuss, start a new thread on it.
Tournaments
These are created on a dedicated admincp page under the vBArcade menu, in standard vBArcade style. You can set a title and description, and select any game that supports local scoring. If a timestamp is chosen in the future, a countdown to it will be displayed everywhere that tournament is. Tournaments can automatically be deleted if they don't get enough players to begin after a certain time. Setting it to recurring will recreate the tournament at the completion of the current one, optionally rematching the same players. You can select the number of knockout tiers or group mode, which is detailed below. You can select the usergroups that can publicly join the tournament, or invite specific users. Invited users can be alerted (email/pm) and then get notifications to either confirm or deny. Confirmed players can quit until the tournament begins. Admin can auto-confirm all players and start the tournament immediately if desired. Tournaments marked as private will not show up in public lists unless a player is a part of it.
Once created, admincp tournament pages will track the players and matches with all status information. The management page can be used to search, clone, delete, etc. On the forum side, latest tournaments can be shown in a forum block, appear on the portal, and appear in the Challenge tab on games that have them. There is a dedicated page which lists the tournaments a player is a part of at the top, with action links. Ths also lists the personal and forumwide tournament statistics, and can compare with other players. Games can be blocked/redirected for players in a tournament for them to prevent practicing. When playing, tournaments look just like the game screen with a dedicated tournament tab at the bottom that tracks progress and status. Replays for different attempts and matches happens with AJAX automatically like normally, allowing for rapid participation without page reloading.
Knockout
Standard tournament format from previous arcades. Each round pairs up active players into matches, and the winner of each match moves onto the next round, until only one player remains. While unlimited rounds are supported, it is currently capped at 6 for sanity's sake - see below for corresponding player and match counts per round. These tournaments begin automatically once enough players have joined/confirmed required by the number of rounds selected. When playing, players who have qualified into a round but have not yet been paired with an opponent, can play their match attempts early.
1 Round, 2 Players, 1 Match
2 Rounds, 4 Players, 3 Matches
3 Rounds, 8 Players, 7 Matches
4 Rounds, 16 Players, 15 Matches
5 Rounds, 32 Players, 31 Matches
6 Rounds, 64 Players, 63 Matches
etc
(2^(rounds) = players, and (players - 1) = matches)
Friendly Challenges
For games that support local scoring and are designated as allowed, will include on the Challenge tab a small form to put the name of another player. This sends out the usual invites and notifications, and created an automatic 1-round tournament between the user and the person they submitted. These tournaments have automatic titles, descriptions, attempts, and privacy settings. If either player cancels the challenge before the challenged player accepts it, it will be deleted.
Group
New exclusively to vBArcade (pro), this mode is similar to a round-robin style tournament. Here all players play one match each with every other player, and the player with the best win record at the end is the winner. This mode supports any amount of players, including odd. Group tournaments begin at the specified timestamp if enough players have joined over the admin-specified minimum. Players are initially paired seqentially, and upon completion of a match are paired randomly with someone they haven't played yet. They can move onto the next match before current ones are decided, allowing for quick participation.
2 Players, 1 Match
3 Players, 3 Matches
4 Players, 6 Matches
5 Players, 10 Matches
6 Players, 15 Matches
7 Players, 21 Matches
8 Players, 28 Matches
9 Players, 36 Matches
10 Players, 45 Matches
11 Players, 55 Matches
etc
(anything over 2 = players, and (players + matches of previous row) = matches for a row)
Matches
The active match is highlighted in the tournament window and includes the status of the player and the opponent. This can be hidden until the match is decided in your settings. This information reloads and the match changes with ajax, making things quick. A status message at the top makes the user's status to the tournament obvious and in view at all times (whether there is a tournament winner, the user is just a spectator, the player is waiting for an opponent, or the player has an active match to attend to).
Each tournament sets the number of attempts allowed per match. When playing, the player gets a live countdown of time remaining, with the option to forfeit/commit manually, which saves time. You can choose whether the best, latest, or average of the attempts is the score used in the match, which makes ending early also favorable in some cases, while cutting down on the effect of "bad plays". You can also specify whether tournament matches count towards the regular leaderboard.
In all cases, players are paired up for a match according to the time that they finish their previous match. For knockout tournaments, that means there aren't set tiers that players belong to, simply that they qualify into the next round, and the next person to do the same will be paired with them regardless of previous tier position. This ensures that players fall into groupings with similar playing speeds, which shouldn't slow down the whole tournament.
Those attempts must be completed within the number of hours that you choose in the settings (default 12, which is long enough to compensate for sleep/work in all timezones, with enough time to play, while not agonizingly long), or the forfeit/commit happens automatically. This timer starts immediately upon two people being paired in a match. This serves to guarantee the completion of a tournament with a determined winner within a guaranteed time period. You can optionally send a reminder alert at a designated time before time runs out if the player hasn't made any plays for their match.
Ties are strictly not allowed. If the final match score is identical to the final match score of your opponent, the first person who got that score gets the win. If one person forfeit, the second player automatically gets the win - even if they also forfeit. This is to both preserve the integrity of the tournament trees, as well as clear up complicated conditions to have to manage. Ties in Group mode are handled by the person who got the first highest score out of tied players.
Finally, Cost-to-play wagers and jackpot prizes will be handled by the jackpot addon.
If you want clarification, ask in this thread. If you have suggestions/alterations to discuss, start a new thread on it.
Tournaments
These are created on a dedicated admincp page under the vBArcade menu, in standard vBArcade style. You can set a title and description, and select any game that supports local scoring. If a timestamp is chosen in the future, a countdown to it will be displayed everywhere that tournament is. Tournaments can automatically be deleted if they don't get enough players to begin after a certain time. Setting it to recurring will recreate the tournament at the completion of the current one, optionally rematching the same players. You can select the number of knockout tiers or group mode, which is detailed below. You can select the usergroups that can publicly join the tournament, or invite specific users. Invited users can be alerted (email/pm) and then get notifications to either confirm or deny. Confirmed players can quit until the tournament begins. Admin can auto-confirm all players and start the tournament immediately if desired. Tournaments marked as private will not show up in public lists unless a player is a part of it.
Once created, admincp tournament pages will track the players and matches with all status information. The management page can be used to search, clone, delete, etc. On the forum side, latest tournaments can be shown in a forum block, appear on the portal, and appear in the Challenge tab on games that have them. There is a dedicated page which lists the tournaments a player is a part of at the top, with action links. Ths also lists the personal and forumwide tournament statistics, and can compare with other players. Games can be blocked/redirected for players in a tournament for them to prevent practicing. When playing, tournaments look just like the game screen with a dedicated tournament tab at the bottom that tracks progress and status. Replays for different attempts and matches happens with AJAX automatically like normally, allowing for rapid participation without page reloading.
Knockout
Standard tournament format from previous arcades. Each round pairs up active players into matches, and the winner of each match moves onto the next round, until only one player remains. While unlimited rounds are supported, it is currently capped at 6 for sanity's sake - see below for corresponding player and match counts per round. These tournaments begin automatically once enough players have joined/confirmed required by the number of rounds selected. When playing, players who have qualified into a round but have not yet been paired with an opponent, can play their match attempts early.
1 Round, 2 Players, 1 Match
2 Rounds, 4 Players, 3 Matches
3 Rounds, 8 Players, 7 Matches
4 Rounds, 16 Players, 15 Matches
5 Rounds, 32 Players, 31 Matches
6 Rounds, 64 Players, 63 Matches
etc
(2^(rounds) = players, and (players - 1) = matches)
Friendly Challenges
For games that support local scoring and are designated as allowed, will include on the Challenge tab a small form to put the name of another player. This sends out the usual invites and notifications, and created an automatic 1-round tournament between the user and the person they submitted. These tournaments have automatic titles, descriptions, attempts, and privacy settings. If either player cancels the challenge before the challenged player accepts it, it will be deleted.
Group
New exclusively to vBArcade (pro), this mode is similar to a round-robin style tournament. Here all players play one match each with every other player, and the player with the best win record at the end is the winner. This mode supports any amount of players, including odd. Group tournaments begin at the specified timestamp if enough players have joined over the admin-specified minimum. Players are initially paired seqentially, and upon completion of a match are paired randomly with someone they haven't played yet. They can move onto the next match before current ones are decided, allowing for quick participation.
2 Players, 1 Match
3 Players, 3 Matches
4 Players, 6 Matches
5 Players, 10 Matches
6 Players, 15 Matches
7 Players, 21 Matches
8 Players, 28 Matches
9 Players, 36 Matches
10 Players, 45 Matches
11 Players, 55 Matches
etc
(anything over 2 = players, and (players + matches of previous row) = matches for a row)
Matches
The active match is highlighted in the tournament window and includes the status of the player and the opponent. This can be hidden until the match is decided in your settings. This information reloads and the match changes with ajax, making things quick. A status message at the top makes the user's status to the tournament obvious and in view at all times (whether there is a tournament winner, the user is just a spectator, the player is waiting for an opponent, or the player has an active match to attend to).
Each tournament sets the number of attempts allowed per match. When playing, the player gets a live countdown of time remaining, with the option to forfeit/commit manually, which saves time. You can choose whether the best, latest, or average of the attempts is the score used in the match, which makes ending early also favorable in some cases, while cutting down on the effect of "bad plays". You can also specify whether tournament matches count towards the regular leaderboard.
In all cases, players are paired up for a match according to the time that they finish their previous match. For knockout tournaments, that means there aren't set tiers that players belong to, simply that they qualify into the next round, and the next person to do the same will be paired with them regardless of previous tier position. This ensures that players fall into groupings with similar playing speeds, which shouldn't slow down the whole tournament.
Those attempts must be completed within the number of hours that you choose in the settings (default 12, which is long enough to compensate for sleep/work in all timezones, with enough time to play, while not agonizingly long), or the forfeit/commit happens automatically. This timer starts immediately upon two people being paired in a match. This serves to guarantee the completion of a tournament with a determined winner within a guaranteed time period. You can optionally send a reminder alert at a designated time before time runs out if the player hasn't made any plays for their match.
Ties are strictly not allowed. If the final match score is identical to the final match score of your opponent, the first person who got that score gets the win. If one person forfeit, the second player automatically gets the win - even if they also forfeit. This is to both preserve the integrity of the tournament trees, as well as clear up complicated conditions to have to manage. Ties in Group mode are handled by the person who got the first highest score out of tied players.
Finally, Cost-to-play wagers and jackpot prizes will be handled by the jackpot addon.
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