Building a TeamTracker website

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:19 am

I'm building an online version of the TeamTracker spreadsheet, and I'm going to expand it for league support too. Ultimately, I'd like to make it possible for commissioners to create leagues on it and customize just about every aspect of the player/team databases. In addition to web access, I plan to support WAP and create some Windows applications to do fancy stuff like imports of player information, etc.

I don't know whether this will be free or commercial, or whether I may just keep it for my own use. Half of my motivation is to learn new technologies, and half is that I want to use it for my own league.

I will probably be looking for a couple of volunteers to test it eventually, but right now I'd mainly like to see what other coaches might want in an online league/team/player tracking system. Basically, everything that's in TeamTracker now, I plan to duplicate, but I'm not sure what else to put in besides that.

I'd love it if people would just throw some ideas out there. What have you seen on other websites/programs that would be useful? What have you not seen but would like to? Just brainstorm and throw any old idea out there.

Milo

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:35 am

Milo, you should really approach Vomit Lickspittle as he has the same attitude as you do for creating sonmething useful for the community

it is very good to see you back by the way

Darkson · Post by **Darkson** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:15 am

I love the stats generated by the Halfling Scribe spreadsheet (most TDs team, most TDs players, etc), so it should do something like that.

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:53 pm

voyagers_uk wrote:Milo, you should really approach Vomit Lickspittle as he has the same attitude as you do for creating sonmething useful for the community

Well, I always start off making something useful for myself, and then wind up adapting it so everyone else can use it. This time I'm just planning ahead from the start.

voyagers_uk wrote:it is very good to see you back by the way

Thanks! I wasn't sure if anyone would even remember me anymore.

hoomin_erra · Post by **hoomin_erra** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:23 pm

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:08 pm

Milo wrote:
voyagers_uk wrote:it is very good to see you back by the way
Thanks! I wasn't sure if anyone would even remember me anymore.

I think I even phoned you once with a question..... back in the day

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:48 pm

Really? I hope I gave you the right one.

To be honest, I'm not the most reliable rules answerer anymore. When I was part of the BBRC, we discussed so many options and in such detail that I sometimes forget now which one we finally voted for. =) I could tell you lots of the pros and cons, though, since we debated them to death.

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:00 pm

Here's the basic rundown of features I've thought of so far:

Fully customizable leagues
- Each league can have it's own DB of positions and races
- Each league can customize the SPP values associated with PC, TD, INT, CAS, Kills, MVPs and three other SPP categories
- Leagues can be split into subgroups to represent conferences/divisions
- Leagues can select manual team tracking or automatically assign SPPs based on game results input
- League trivia/statistics pages
- ESPN-style "bottom line" for up-to-the-minute league news and trivia
- Password-protected online signup for new coaches/teams
- Limit of active teams for a coach, unlimited retired/inactive teams for historical data
- Printable league reference sheets, to match whatever customized rules the league is set up with

Coaches
- Online signup
- Can manage multiple teams in multiple leagues
- Worldwide unified rating, adjusted for cumulative racial win/loss results (i.e. you get points for being above average compared to all other games played by whatever race you're playing, regardless of whether or not that is above .500 record)

Team Tracking
- Each team will have Team Roster, Game Record, Hall of Shame, Statistical Breakdowns against coaches/races/teams/handicap differences
- SPPs and TR will be calculated automatically based on league settings
- Team purchases/player retirements can all be handled online
- For leagues with automatic team tracking, coaches can roll for and select new skills online
- Team Trivia section will include user-editable details (team colors, mascot, etc.) as well as automatically generated tidbits (Most X in a Game, Team Records, etc.)
- Teams will allow uploadable logos/team photos as well as customizable CSS to change the look and feel of the page
- Each team will have a Blog/SmackTalk section for coaches to post on
- Printable rosters

Player Tracking
- Will allow for player photos to be uploaded
- Allows you to specify gender for players, with positional defaults
- Tracks individual outstanding performances, injury history, favorite receivers (if coaches elect to enter this information)
- Each player gets individual page
- Worldwide Hall of Fame voting?

Game Results
- Records starting TR for each team for statistical purposes
- Allows coaches to specify any number of configurable "Game Events", representing TDs, INTs, PCs, Casualties, Kills, Niggling Injuries acting up, MVP awards, Ejections and other possibilities
- Can be set to several approval possibilities:
password entry (each coach enters a unique password to confirm review and approval of results)
double-approval (one coach submits, other coach must approve or make his own changes, which must then be approved by the submitting coach)
automatic (submitted and instantly approved)
commissioner's approval (must be approved by the commish of the league)
- Upon approval, teams and players will be updated, enabling coaches to select skills, purchase new players, etc.
- Printable game record sheets for noting game events during the match

Website
- Will collate and display statistics worldwide
- Will allow for webmasters to include content from the site into their own web pages
- Will include commissioner tools which may function in a disconnected mode, enabling import/export of teams in XML format, tournament management, etc.
- Will support WAP for mobile phones/handhelds

Feel free to voice support for any of the features, or give me your own thoughts of what I should build in. Particularly, I want this system to be flexible enough to handle lots of house rules, so let me know if your league plays something that needs special attention.

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:26 pm

Wow, two of the elusive original BBRC posting here on the same day. Giants once againt stride the land!

kadu-c · Post by **kadu-c** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:35 am

Wow it looks ambitious !
And it's really a good idea for coaches whose league doesn't have a place and so have to play at home. It would be easier to keep us informed.

DesTroy · Post by **DesTroy** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:36 pm

GORBLIMEY...not too ambitious these days eh Milo?

Seriously, though, that sort of thing would be perfect...one other thing you might want to factor in is leagues that play a set schedule of fixtures, rather than open play (ie you play whom you're scheduled against rather than just playing anyone anytime).

Good luck! Hopefully you won't be working till 2010 to get it done...

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:39 am

DesTroy, great idea! I totally forgot about those. I wonder if I can build an automatic schedule randomizer and/or tourney bracket manager.

Shouldn't take me until 2010. I'll have most of it done before Christmas, I think.

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:00 am

welcome back man. i know i've spoken with you tons of times as well, originally back on the old blood bowl e-mailing list. remember that thing? my email box used to get spammed with over 100 emails a day about blood bowl, and about 1/4 of it was actually worth reading! you still in alaska? don't ask how in the hell i remember that, i don't honestly know either... went to university of alaska-fairbanks right?

anyway, the ideas you've put forth look outstanding, i would very much be willing to help test beta versions and such on my league that is actually restarting next week if you'd like.

Milo · Post by **Milo** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:02 am

Wow, yeah, that's me. I *did* go to University of Alaska Fairbanks, but I've been down in North Carolina since '98.

I do remember the BBOWL-L list fondly, even the times when it may as well have been the "Douggie and Chettie Show".

Milo

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:08 am

Milo wrote:Wow, yeah, that's me. I *did* go to University of Alaska Fairbanks, but I've been down in North Carolina since '98.

Now that you mention it, I remember when you moved as well. You were online less after that. That is scary. You probably think I've been stalking you all this time now or something, but I just remember stuff like that. I forget where I left my keys the day before, but I remember stuff like that...

Milo wrote:I do remember the BBOWL-L list fondly, even the times when it may as well have been the "Douggie and Chettie Show".

Milo

i think that's where the "about 1/4 of it was actually worth reading" came into play.