Thursday, March 26, 2009

Bracket: Another $25

I posted another bracket (2009) onto Kongregate. 250+ players this time. The changes I made after last season to get the scoring data from the results xml file has made the management side of things much easier. Essentially setup requires that I have to update the teams, copy the database table, and turn it on. Then add games to the results xml with a date/time (add as you go or all at once). And then once the tournament begins, lock out new players with a switch. After each game (block of games) I update the score/winner/loser values and run a script that updates the scores.

Fixes I made this year:

  • Don't accept Kongregate guests
  • NoCache code for the results and score data
  • show date of the game until current day - then show time. Or score if it exists


The next big change will be to automate the results; I imagine I can find a sports page someplace that I can get the scores/winners.

And if I run it again, I need to figure out a way to get 100x the users. That will reveal another set of bugs to fix.

I'll likely want to rewrite the client too. I no realize the value of some fancy tweens to make the app seem cool. People love effects.

And now the bad news: $5. That's the current total I made. spider solitaire is starting to bring in that much per week (with I think mostly spider traffic and not real players). The source for all of this is still out there so if you are interested, search for it.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Remembering

Test first. Automated builds. Regression tests. Load tests. Release procedures. Bug tracking. Simplest solution. No crunch... remembering.