game creation needs a better method for selecting buttons

[cgolubi1]

Button selection uses a dropdown of all buttons in the game. This is unwieldy. Allow selection by button set, or some other mechanism, to make it easier.

[blackshadowshade]

This is a non blocking enhancement, so I have shifted it to the Open Beta milestone.

[ManvilleFog]

tags official, unofficial, cheapass, origins, convention, 1999, 2000, 2001, secondary sets (O Lass and Brigid were originally released as XXXenphile, for example), and if tags are implemented and it becomes easier to add them here than parse the database, primary sets, TL or not, and die skills used (for example, if you don't really care what buttons are being used but don't like Speed Dice).

[ManvilleFog]

As a quick fix, how difficult would it be to add a blank or dashed line between sets. It will provide a visual reference to make it easier to find the button we're looking for rather than having to pick it out of one huge list.

[cgolubi1]

Redoing the game creation screen to resolve this issue of the button list being too unwieldy is actually the next thing on my agenda. (I thought i had already moved this ticket to the milestone i created for that activity, but i must have imagined it.)

[yawetag]

Can I give my two cents on how I'd like to see the game-creation screen look, especially dealing with selecting buttonmen? Great.

I don't know if any of you have ever played Fantasy Baseball or Football (or even Basketball or Hockey) on Yahoo! If you have, then you've seen the pre-draft ranking system and how it works. If not, here's a picture:

I vision our system looking a bit the same. I know it would be a lot of work, and maybe even something that can be designed for version 1.1.

In the top section, you can have "Sort Buttons by:" with drop-down options of Set, Alphabetical, Win %, Lose %, # Games. You could even include personalized sorting, such as My Win %, My Lose &, My # Games. Next to the drop-down, have a checkbox titled "Reversed" so someone can view the list in descending order. For "Show" have a drop-down with Top 25, Top 50, Top 100 and All, with All being the default.

Now, the selection part will be drastically different. The left box would have multiple ways to filter the list of ButtonMen. To start: All, Tournament Legal, Non-Tournament Legal, and each set. It would also be nice if players could have another area where they can build custom lists and save them; these lists would be there as well. Additionally, if a player's profile allows them to pick favorite ButtonMen, have a selection titled My Favorite. By highlighting and unhighlighting from this list, then clicking a "View Filtered List" button below this list (just above "Player Stats"), the middle section will update to only show buttons that match the left section and are ordered by the top section.

This brings me to the middle section. With the criteria in the left section and sort method by the criteria in the top section (making sure to not show any buttons that are in the right section), a list is generated. The list should have the rank number, but based on if the full list from the left and top criteria were used; for example, if the list is sorted by win % and the player has already added her first- and third-ranked buttons, the list would have 2. and 4. as the first two, as they are the second and fourth of the complete list. After the rank number should be the name of the button, followed by the set in parentheses.

In this middle section, players can highlight and unhighlight the buttons they wish to include in the game, then click the right arrow between the middle and right section (there will be no arrows from the left to middle section). This will move the selected buttons from the middle section to the right section.

The right section will have the list of buttons the player has selected for the game. The player can highlight and unhighlight buttons, then click the left arrow between the middle and right section to move the highlighted buttons back to the middle section, effectively removing them as an option for the game. Below this section will be a "Start Game" button.

The bottom section will include stats of the currently-selected button from the middle or right section. The image of the button will be on the left with different statistics about the button listed across the bottom, maybe including your win % and # Games, as well as your opponent's win % and # Games (assuming you've selected an opponent).

The one downside is that this cumbersome list will have to be done twice, one for your selection and one for your opponent. Another option is to split the right section into a top and bottom selection box, one for you and one for your opponent. You could then have a left/right button set for both of these boxes, one near the top of the middle section and one near the bottom.

If needed, I might be able to throw together a mock-up. It won't be pretty, but it will give a visual idea of what I see.

[cgolubi1]

Yawetag: thanks for the input, and i'll keep it in mind. I think i'm going to build what i have in mind for the first attempt at this, then see where we get --- i definitely, absolutely, want selectors based on various criteria (not just button set), random button, etc. I'll think about the "select multiple" idea, which is basically what you're showing there that can't be done with sliders.

But, basically, i have some ideas, and i'm going to build to the ideas i have first, and then see where we are.

[yawetag]

Not a problem. Work with your vision. I'm certainly not suggesting my idea is the only way that would work.

Andrew Senger asenger@gmail.com

On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 11:02 AM, cgolubi1 notifications@github.com wrote:

Yawetag: thanks for the input, and i'll keep it in mind. I think i'm going to build what i have in mind for the first attempt at this, then see where we get --- i definitely, absolutely, want selectors based on various criteria (not just button set), random button, etc. I'll think about the "select multiple" idea, which is basically what you're showing there that can't be done with sliders.

But, basically, i have some ideas, and i'm going to build to the ideas i have first, and then see where we are.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/buttonmen-dev/buttonmen/issues/109#issuecomment-37729567 .

[cgolubi1]

Thanks --- i do like the idea of some kind of select-multiple display, and will think about whether i can work that in this time around, or have to wait until next time. What i'm most keen to get done this time around is:

• Let people limit buttons by some criteria (button set, TL, and presence of certain skills, are the ones i have in mind at the moment) while looking at buttons to choose
• Allow random button selection for player and/or opponent within the selected buttons

[AdmiralJota]

Is allowing the opponent to choose a button from within the specified limits going to be part of this stage? (I.e., I want my opponent and myself to each get to pick a button from Brawl.)

[cgolubi1]

Probably not, but i'll see. Basically, i think there are two pieces of new functionality that are needed:

• Get (and use) more information from the backend than just button names and recipes --- this is what i'm definitely planning to do, and is low-hanging fruit that will make game creation much more tractable
• Add more logical game states between initial proposal of a new game, and the beginning of game play --- this is needed to allow the opponent to pick a button, and is also needed for open games, allowing the opponent to accept or reject a game, and a bunch of other desirable things. But it's more complicated