"ASKS" - Web Based Arcade ScoreKeeping System - Suggestions Wanted!

msignor

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"ASKS" - Web Based Arcade ScoreKeeping System - Suggestions Wanted!

Hi Guys,

I feel this may be a little premature of a post, however I wanted to try and get some other ideas from people before I started getting too crazy with more involved development. Where I am out now is very basic, but depending on what feedback I get it would be better to make big modifications now vs. later.

Background: I am in IT and for a while have been heavily involved in implementation / project management. I have never been much of a "coder" but I decided that I wanted to get into it for the sake of my resume. I wanted to do a project that would utilize basic PHP with a MySQL database so I could learn the "textbook" programming style.

The Idea: After some searching I wasn't able to find a system that would manage the Hi-Score tracking for my small basement arcade. I didn't really want to use a whiteboard. The boards with the small lil letters or resrtaunt signs are cool but I don't really have the wallspace for something, nor a bar for it to be hung over. I also wanted something that could be filled up with people who come and go from parties at the house etc. Not just the "ultimate top score". Hence I figured I could put together the high-score tracking system.

Initial Core Features:
- Support for Multiple Players *DONE*
- Support for Multiple Games (add and remove) *DONE*
- Support for Multiple Scores / Game / Player *DONE*
- Add Scores through any PC or Device *DONE*
- Email Notification when scores are beaten
- Variety of Reports: Highscores last 10 days, last 10 players, etc. etc. etc. *50% done*
- Web Accessable: PC / Mobile Device *DONE*
- Automatically Refeshing Topscore page for display on a PC or TV
- Independent Modular layout for adding features

"Cool" Features (That I have not even thought on implementing yet)
- Ability to auto generate reports that export or save as a an image for use with digital picture frames.
- Android App for administration
- Separate player login for ability to check in or add their scores and current score status (topscore or no) *DONE*
- Ability to add movie or pictures with a particular highscore being achieved
- Installer script for other people to install on their own

Current requirements
- Web Server ( Linux or Windows ) with PHP
- MySQL 5.0 or greater.

Other Thoughts There are a bunch of small low cost hardware devices like RasberryPi or the USB-Pc that can be had for under $50 and could be a dedicated score display plugged into a tv or LCD monitor.
- http://liliputing.com/2012/07/rikomagic-mk802-ii-to-sport-3-usb-ports-full-sized-hdmi.html
- http://liliputing.com/2012/03/mele-a1000-is-a-70-hackable-linux-friendly-arm-based-pc.html

Current Version This is hosted on my home webserver for easy development and changes while I am at work and home. It's slow sometimes and I make no guarantee about the quality of the link. I will probably get an official site up or something like that if there is enough interest in the idea / application. For now you can get a live demo from below.

Admin: admin / admin
Player: test / test

http://home.dipswitch.com:82/vweb/web/scorekeeper/

08/13/12 - Made significant improvements, added user authentication system, bug tests.

07/16/12 - Initial base build with VERY limited functionality is complete. Basic, generic tracking is in place. I would not be surprised I rewrite some of these pages behind the scenes for maximum effeciency but for now it does work.

Anyone really interested in trying it on your own or would like to possibly help in my effort, send me a PM and I will send a link to the latest build.

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What do you guys think?

Would any of you guys see using something like this?

Some of the ideas actually were based around the fact that I know some people have 20+ games and actually cycle them through etc.

Any other features that people think would be cool to have!?

All input is welcome. Just remember, this is really a learning experience for me and if it actually works out then I would want to make it available for everyone to use under the GPL. I am completely aware this is primitive and clunky and I hope that as I add components it will get cleaner and fancier.
 
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If I could get a Rasberry Pi, a wifi card, and plug this into a wall mounted LCD that would rock. Then, add scores via local IP from a computer? I'm in!
 
You just saved me a TON of work! I was just starting to build something like this for my gameroom since I have a projector waiting to get a bulb in the mail and then it is going to be hung for high score board. My only feature request is that next to the "scrolling" highscores I was going to run various videos of old arcade footage and such using http://jplayer.org/ as the movie viewer.
 
some thoughts of what I think would be cool

allow it to input certain details for specific games like how many lives per credit, difficulty , fast/slow version and such. Basically allow an arcade to create the list of their games and game settings, who holds the high score on each game and alerts all people with who have access when a score gets beat.

Not only make it work so it can be used to view the high score at a particular arcade but also allow a function where multiple arcades can link their info and view how they compare to all others on a specific game. This way you would not only be able to track who is the best in one arcade but who is the best in the network on a particular game. Of course this would send auto alerts as well letting people know that the network high score has just been broken or whatever.

You'd probably want to add another line other than players name that would denote location where the player is located as well as name of the arcade they are playing the game at. Possibly even somewhere to denote if home arcade or commercial arcade.
 
some thoughts of what I think would be cool

allow it to input certain details for specific games like how many lives per credit, difficulty , fast/slow version and such. Basically allow an arcade to create the list of their games and game settings, who holds the high score on each game and alerts all people with who have access when a score gets beat.

Not only make it work so it can be used to view the high score at a particular arcade but also allow a function where multiple arcades can link their info and view how they compare to all others on a specific game. This way you would not only be able to track who is the best in one arcade but who is the best in the network on a particular game. Of course this would send auto alerts as well letting people know that the network high score has just been broken or whatever.

You'd probably want to add another line other than players name that would denote location where the player is located as well as name of the arcade they are playing the game at. Possibly even somewhere to denote if home arcade or commercial arcade.

A very cool idea! I would probably have to immediately make the site dynamic into the point where you register your arcade and then each person who registers can have their own "page" of stats. I would envision a social networking type site really to accomplish this.

My application as of now is designed to be more of a standalone app which someone could put on their own website or host inhouse.

If there is enough interest in this at the end of the day - I certainly would be willing to work through the prototype and I actually have some friends of mine who could assist in making a true arcade scoring social network.

Regarding the game information, I will add those fields like lives per credit and difficulty etc this afternoon when I post the "add game" section. The application is very much in development so I can add stuff on the fly.

Thanks!
 
A very cool idea! I would probably have to immediately make the site dynamic into the point where you register your arcade and then each person who registers can have their own "page" of stats. I would envision a social networking type site really to accomplish this.

My application as of now is designed to be more of a standalone app which someone could put on their own website or host inhouse.

If there is enough interest in this at the end of the day - I certainly would be willing to work through the prototype and I actually have some friends of mine who could assist in making a true arcade scoring social network.

Regarding the game information, I will add those fields like lives per credit and difficulty etc this afternoon when I post the "add game" section. The application is very much in development so I can add stuff on the fly.

Thanks!

Please don't do the social networking piece and kill the standalone aspect. My arcade has no internet in it and I had intentions of hosting inhouse to run this. So if you wanna do the social networking stuff, at least finish the standalone :)
 
Please don't do the social networking piece and kill the standalone aspect. My arcade has no internet in it and I had intentions of hosting inhouse to run this. So if you wanna do the social networking stuff, at least finish the standalone :)

no worries - if you would like the source upto now, shoot me a PM and i'll send ya a zip file as well as the SQL tables.

any collaboration and enhancements would be welcome :)
 
Just an update - I have Version 0.0.1 avaialable for download if anyone if intersted. Please send me a PM if you would like a copy.

Pinball Wizard received the first copy and mentioned he was at least going to go through the inital version and I await his feedback regarding stablilty as well as quirks with the initial "base" build.
 
Just posting an update. Made some significant improvements, and it is a completely functional beta / alpha version.

However, with this being my first project ever - I already have thought about a complete re-code with much better PHP programming techniques. As it is now, it just is a little "clunky" but definately works.

- Added Admin / Player "rights" and login system. (passwords are stored in plain text for now). Admin's can modify scores, players, etc. Players can just add and view.

- Added ability to upload a custom logo, planned for the ability to adjust themes, just have not gotten to it yet.

TO DO:

- Installer System

- Email Notifications

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If anyone has any additional input or suggestions, please let me know. I plan on getting the re-code done by this weeekend and will be re-creating all of the existing core features and funcationality. I would however, like to plan ahead if necessary, if any new features are suggested.
 
Just an idea, but I think what you have done is a great backend thing for managing HighScores. Now you should finalize the spec for getting the data and maybe an example of how to get the data. Then others or yourself can work on a frontend or viewer of the scores.

I can imagine several FE's that just view the data. Like a scoreboard that list the games and the scores, or one that just cycles through the different games listing the HS plus a pics related to the game, etc. These FE's can be webbased or stand alone apps. The point would be that each user can view how they want to, but have the same centralized backend. If you mix the two together IMO, it always turns into a mess.
 
Just an idea, but I think what you have done is a great backend thing for managing HighScores. Now you should finalize the spec for getting the data and maybe an example of how to get the data. Then others or yourself can work on a frontend or viewer of the scores.

I can imagine several FE's that just view the data. Like a scoreboard that list the games and the scores, or one that just cycles through the different games listing the HS plus a pics related to the game, etc. These FE's can be webbased or stand alone apps. The point would be that each user can view how they want to, but have the same centralized backend. If you mix the two together IMO, it always turns into a mess.

Been a while and little progress has been made unfortunately.. just been pre-occupied with the puppy and workkk..

However - I have built some triggers which will produce just text outputs when you query the script. IE: http://www.com/api.php?showgames will list all the games, and then you can just run a report directly though something like .com/api.php?game=stargate&name=MAS will show all the scores MAS has for Stargate.

Not in production yet - but at least some kind of framework is there.

Fortunately but Unfortunately - I need to rewrite a bunch of this so it's a bit more normal in terms of functionality and code structure.
 
Just bumping this up -

Been making alot of progress recently.

I have another KLOV member assisting with the project and we plan to deliver a fully working 1.0 by the middle of December.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated. We are in a feature freeze for version 1.0, but take a look at our roadmap for what we would want to do in the future.

Take a look at the ever developing google code page: http://code.google.com/p/asks/
 
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It is coming along nicely, I'm the other developer on this. Between coding and the decisions we have been making lately, this is really shaping up to be a great project. I can't wait to showcase it at V 1.0. We currently label it as 0.5 to give you an idea of where we are at. The time schedule for working on this is all over the place, but I am happy with progress.
 
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