Improved Game Calendar and Matchmaking?

[Answulf]

Hi Doug, just curious - with all the great changes you are making around here, how high is an improved game calendar/matchmaking system on your list?

The current one leaves a lot to be desired, and some of the most common posts on the boards are potential customers worried about whether or not they can get a game before they buy the software. I would think a greatly improved matchmaking system would go a long way in boosting sales.

At the very least, the game calendar should have a column that shows the ruleset being used. If you are a new guy looking at the game calendar, it doesn't tell you much. Not to mention that it's not really used effectively/consistently, because of it's current state I think.

On a somewhat related note, have you given any thought to trying to build some kind of relationship with Obsidian Portal?

I'm not sure what that would look like exactly, but it may be a good site to advertise on and if there was a way on their site to indicate you were using FG2 or something... who knows. It just seems like there is some potential there to drive business this way and there might be some matchmaking synergy there, too. Like what if Fantasy Grounds didn't have a calendar but used/linked to Obsidian Portal instead... something like that. I'm not saying that is the right solution, but it may be worth thinking about.

[drahkar]

I would love the chance to help with the rebuilding of that system. I have a lot of experience in PHP and Web development. It'd be fun.

As to Obsidian Portal, I was just looking over the site and I think they would really classify as a competitor.

[Answulf]

As to Obsidian Portal, I was just looking over the site and I think they would really classify as a competitor.

Not at all, they are very much complimentary. FG2 is how you play, OP is your campaign website. It's mostly just an advanced campaign wiki service. I use OP for my campaign and know others do as well. Mine is private but here is an old one I found:

https://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/scalesofwar

Here is the White Haired Man campaign:

https://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/kith-takaros-north

It doesn't say if they are using FG2 for that particular campaign, but the campaign setting is available for FG2.

I think the majority of OP's customers are face-to-face gamers, but I'd be curious to know how many of them were running campaigns online.

[ddavison]

It is on my list of tasks after we get the new storefront up and running (or maybe as a part of it.) I was planning to write it in .NET since that is my framework of preference.

[cpbs]

I also had a idea come into my head for the website for the GM in being able to find people to play. Currently a roll call is done in the forums, where the GM will post, saying that his game is open to a couple of people. He will typically post a link to visit the calender for them to sign up.

What I was thinking would be to allow people opt into a list, in which the list consists of all the people on forum that are able to play. There would be an option to set what rulesets the current players knows or are willing to play. As well as their timezone with available times in which to play. Possibly add a section to type a small bio about the person, so that he can market his gaming skills, so the GM knows who he is asking to join his campaign. Then all the GM would have to do is go down the list, check the players he thinks would best match his campaign. Send them a PM or email, requesting them to decided if they want to join the GM campaign or not.

This would cut down a little bit of the confusion for first time posters on the forum and speed up the ability to find players if someone is GMing a game. Just an idea.

cpbs

[ddavison]

Those are good ideas. I was looking at www.penandpapergames.com recently and they seem to have a lot of matchmaking features on their site.

[drahkar]

Is it just me, or can anyone else get to www.penandpagergames.com?

[ddavison]

Is it just me, or can anyone else get to www.penandpagergames.com?

That would be because I put pager instead of paper. Fixed the URL.

[drahkar]

That would be because I put pager instead of paper. Fixed the URL.

I lay the blame on it being Friday of this week. Its just been one of those weeks.

[ddavison]

I lay the blame on it being Friday of this week. Its just been one of those weeks.

Okay, a couple revisions and thoughts on the game calendar.

Revisions:

Added column for Last GM Activity
This value updates when a campaign is entered or edited by a GM, if a new session is scheduled or if there is a GM announcement
re-formatted table slightly to put line breaks and improve readability
changed default sort to "Last GM Activity" desc, then open slots then name


I was planning to put in a filter with a dropdown of available rulesets and one for genre as well but when I looked at all the distinct values used for the existing campaigns there were too many variations. There are probably 50 or 60 different ways of saying 3.5 and there is almost always a bunch of other text included as well.

I was thinking of maybe updating the insert and edit screens to show a dropdown with all the official rulesets, plus an option for "other" and then the GM would have to put in extra details in the GM Announcements area if they wanted to. The problem is this would cover 95% of the campaign there so far.

[drahkar]

I was planning to put in a filter with a dropdown of available rulesets and one for genre as well but when I looked at all the distinct values used for the existing campaigns there were too many variations. There are probably 50 or 60 different ways of saying 3.5 and there is almost always a bunch of other text included as well.

I was thinking of maybe updating the insert and edit screens to show a dropdown with all the official rulesets, plus an option for "other" and then the GM would have to put in extra details in the GM Announcements area if they wanted to. The problem is this would cover 95% of the campaign there so far.

I still think this is reasonable though. That added with the ability to sort based on GM activity should give people a lot more functional control over the display. And help people looking for games within the official rulesets a quick way to get a listing of them.

[Answulf]

Another thing that would be helpful: it's kind of hard to find if you don't know where to look. The navigation menu at the top of the website only has a link to it on the home page - none of the other pages.

The old brown icon at the bottom of some pages is hard to find, and usually off-screen depending on resolution.

The new rotating screenshots on the home page look great, btw!

[ddavison]

Thanks for the feedback. My plan is to include the menu link on all the pages. I also thought the front page could use a bit of sprucing up. The next plan is to do a little re-work on the store page. We were planning on migrating to a completely new web site and a new framework (the .NET platform), but we are leaning back towards just updating the existing site.

[Spyke]

I'm very fond of the existing site. It responds quickly and it's well laid out. Please don't make it grind to a halt with social networking features (or whatever) when a few tweaks to existing functionality might be all it needs. :)

Spyke

[drahkar]

I actually was looking at what they had with the new layout. A lot of the features they had on it were really nice, especially when it came to navigating the store.

Perhaps you could incorporate the new storefront while leaving a lot of the other site areas the same? Just something to consider.

[ddavison]

We are trying to find the right blend. We are collecting more and more data on the site's current usage and what works and what doesn't. The store is the one area that still needs a major overhaul in my opinion. Our catalog is continuing to grow and the store needs to be able to support that. It worked well for 20 or so products but we are closing in on 100 products and we will probably exceed that number before too long.

[ddavison]

I had a bug on the page that would only show the last GM activity on the main calendar page for the owner of the campaign. This has been fixed and it should now show up for all campaigns.

[BruntFCA]

HI,

I just made a post on the same topic in another board. The calendar is missing a time zone function. Make it so that you can't submit unless you enter one; it's a major hassle.

Also, the Calendar in *only* linked from the home-page. Paradoxically, once you buy the product and go to the forums or "Community" areas of the site, the link to the Calendar on the top right disappears!

Hope this helps.