Suggestion/Request for Android/iOS Swiss tournament organiser.

[Evilmerlin]

So far, we're seen battletimers and hit chance calculators for Android and a tournament manager for the PC which have served to help out our games tremendously. So how about a tournament manager for the Android or iOS platforms? With the introduction of many tablets and high powered, large screen phones running these OSs, it would mean that the TO would not have not lug around his laptop when he is running a tournament plus, these devices tend to last a whole lot longer under battery. I've done a search around and there hasn't been anything of this sort available yet. Heck, make it generic or easily customisable for different game systems and I'll happily pay for it!

So any takers? I know there are some very competent programmers out there judging from the quality of the apps like iBodger, Battletimers and Tournament organiser!

[PG_Tilaurin]

I'll second this, considering the amount of knockout and round robin apps on iTunes, there must be a market for this. I'd happily pay for such an app that did swiss, double so if I could add fields to track additional info like CP etc.

[Programmer]

Hey Folks,

I am currently developing an Android App for Swiss Tournaments. My personal motivation is to have a handy tool to organize Magic: The Gathering tournaments but I want to make the app as generic as possible to support various games like chess or warmachine.

As you were requesting such an app in this thread, I would appreciate it if you would share with me which features are needed to support warmachine tournaments or other wishes you have for such an app. In return, I`ll do my best to deliver an suitable app for your needs and you will be the first to try it.

[Evilmerlin]

Great! I will speak to the various tournament organisers in my LGS and see what input they have.

Hmm, the only specific feature I can think of right now is the option to key in Control Points earned during the games and the ability to set the tie breakers according to Strength of Schedule and Control Points. I think that's pretty much it for running Steamroller tournaments.

[altbrian]

I would be more than happy to pay if you make an app that
1) I can enter any number of players up to 128
2) I can enter any number of BYE's and DROP's during any round
3) I can enter match W-L-D results
4) Will accurately calculate standings at the end of a round and set the next rounds pairings according to DCI swiss format calculations

Honestly, I would pay up to $10, but I'm dumb that way.



[QUOTE=Programmer;1008884]Hey Folks,

I am currently developing an Android App for Swiss Tournaments. My personal motivation is to have a handy tool to organize Magic: The Gathering tournaments.

[Programmer]

Hey,

first of all, I want to apologize for responding late and thank you for your feedback!

After some hours and spending 25$ fee, i was able to release the first beta version of Swiss System Tournament to the android market. So far the App:
- supports an unlimited number of players
- automatically adds BYE`s if necessary
- automatically determinates pairings in swiss-style, according to their cumulative scores
- calculates standings at the end of a round

Of course, it still lacks of some basic features:
- no support for DROP`s so far
- Parings just according to the cumulative scores (missing tie breakers like in DCI and other modes)

It is available for free in the android market: https://market.android.com/details?id=de.hintzeit.swiss

I really would appreciate your feedback on this app. Keep in mind that it is an early beta version. Don`t expect it to be complete and perfect. But i will happily discuss improvements and features for upcoming versions with you.

[PG_bnf]

Your program doesn't work for me, crashes whenever I try to add a player. Android 3.2, Acer Iconia Tab A500.

[Programmer]

Your program doesn't work for me, crashes whenever I try to add a player. Android 3.2, Acer Iconia Tab A500.

Sorry for the inconvenience! I`ll get this fixed ASAP!

[Evilmerlin]

Just downloaded it and it's also force closing on my Asus Transformer running 3.2 when I try to add a player. It works on my Galaxy S2 running 2.3.3 though.

I understand that this is your initial release and have a few comments about it.
1a. Have a "Add player" button directly on the Players tab.
1b. Have a "create new round" button directly on the Rounds tab. It'll be more direct that way and saves me a few key taps.
2a. A spot for faction/club/group when entering player details.
2b. When creating pairings, you can then have the option to avoid pairing same faction/groups/clubs together for the first round.
3. An option to let me select a player that gets the bye instead of it being randomly selected. Also the option to select whether the bye counts as a loss or a win. This is so I can give players that turn up late a bye but it counts as a loss instead.
4. An option to export results as a text file perhaps?

It's a great start though! I'm super happy that you've published such an app and will be looking forward to testing it out more extensively. In fact I've got a tournament for a CCG (legend of the 5 rings) coming on in 2 weeks which I will use this app for the organisation. I will let you know if I can think of anything else as I use it more.

[Programmer]

Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it!

I will try to figure out why my app refuses to work on Android > 3.0. I've already got an idea, but it`s kind of hard to debug without appropriated hardware because the tablet-emulator is hardly usable. But I`am working on it..

1a and 1b: Of course useful and easy to implement, will be included in the next release.
2a and 2b: Sounds useful and not hard to implement. I will approach this within the next days.
3. If players turn up late, do you need the ability to add players to an running tournament (i.e. after the first round has been created)?
4. Useful feature, will be included in a near future release.

I`am happy that you guys are testing my app and that it therefore might be of use some day. Unfortunately I am short on free time for the next days as I am relocate, so don`t be disappointed if it takes some time to release new versions. Nevertheless, I am highly motivated (thanks to you) and planing to release the first small update tomorrow.

[PG_bnf]

Sorry for the inconvenience! I`ll get this fixed ASAP!

Hey, no worries, I'm very happy somebody is working on a program like this for Android. I will provide more feedback once I'm able to use the program.

[Evilmerlin]

Adding a new player would be useful too. Also, you're going to need an option to drop players for those times when a player has to leave half way through a tournament.

Looking forward to the next update!

[PG_Duckboy]

Looks awesome keep up the good work. I will be using this in the near future for tournaments, easier than carrying a laptop around.

[Programmer]

As promised, I`ve just published a first small update on the market. Changes are:
- Reduced API-Requirement from 2.2 to 2.1
- Changed default language from German to English
- Restructured the menus
- Enabled adding players late (though there is a bug that may lead to having two BYE`s simultaneously)
- Fixed bug that leads to crashes (this might have been the reason for the crashed on Android 3.2 Tabs. Could you check whether the crash still occurs on your tabs?) .
- Points per win/draw/loss are configurable now

So far for now - no big improvements but some quick wins.
I will approach some of the real features quickly after my relocation.

[Evilmerlin]

It doesn't crash when adding new players but it crashes when I tap on the compute next round and after I tap "ok" during the results entry. That's for 3.2. Works well in 2.3.
So far from my initial testing, I've not encountered the double byes yet but it did give the "BYE" a higher standing than an actual player though and I found that incredibly funny!

Couple more suggestions. Most of these are merely cosmetic.
1. During results entry, It is currently just the points listed. Could you have W/L/D beside the scores too?
So instead of seeing just
0
1
3
It would look like
L: 0
D: 1
W: 3
Just the addition of the letters. And to me it is more intuitive to have the sequence flip to W/D/L instead of L/D/W but this is just a nitpick.

2. Ability to key in a fixed number of rounds. Once the last result entry for the last round is entered, the app will automatically show the final standings.

3. Bigger "OK" buttons? LOL, it's kinda small right now.

Looking better and better!

[Evilmerlin]

Ok, I've just tried to use it in an event and encountered a rather serious issue. Because the "bye" is a player to the program, it paired the "bye" against a player who won the previous round and shouldn't be getting a bye. I think using the "bye" as a player doesn't work unless you code in the e clause that it is always paired against the the worst performing player otherwise you will be running into issues like what I just encountered. One more suggestion, how about manual pairings?

[Programmer]

Sorry for that! I hope, it didn`t totally screw up your event. I admit that simulating a BYE with an ordinary was more of a quick hack than clever design decision. I will address this issue as soon as my internet connection is setup at my new place, what unfortunately will not be until 2th November :-(. But after that I`ll do my best to realize your suggestions and issues fast and together we will make this app both usable and useful.

[Evilmerlin]

No problems. It occured only on the 2nd round and it was simply a quick switch to the old pen and paper method. No harm done.

[altbrian]

I was so happy to find your app on the market.
Unfortunately I have the Droid X2 with version 2.3.4.
The app force closes immediately when I try to open it.
I would love to be able to test this and give you some feedback.
thank you for working on this project.

[Programmer]

Thanx for your patience and feedback! My relocation is now complete and I am back online :-)
Unfortunately I have to move to Munich for the next week to take part in an large programmer conference, so I have to ask for another few days of patience. But on the other hand I might be able to deepen my Android programming knowledge to make my app work with Android > 2.2. So stay tuned, I`ll work on an update asap.

[Programmer]

Sorry that it took me so long, but to make the app work with Android 3 I had to basically rewrite nearly everything.

I just published an new version to the market. I expect it to still be far from bug-free, so use it with caution!

@altbrian: I fixed a bug that forced the app to close immediately. I am quite sure that this was the bug you encountered, so please give it another try

I did my best to make the app compatible with Android 3. I successfully run it on an emulator with Android 3.0 and 3.2, so please give it another try on your tablets out there. So far the app runs on tablets just like on phones so you benefit just little from the larger screen. I will include an tablet-friendly design later on.

@Evilmerlin: The result-list now contains the W/L/D-stats. I also added basic fraction support. So far it does nothing more than displaying the fraction under the players name. To mind fractions within the initial pairing is on my todo-list. I also widened the OK-buttons :-).

I reworked the BYE-algorithem. The BYE is not longer a faked player and always given to the worst performing player. Still not perfect but better then before.

The last new feature is the ability to drop players during the tournament.

The app is still far from finished and I got a lot of improvements and possible error in mind but I wanted to show some progress and let you participate in what was done so far. As always I appreciate any feedback you have!

[Evilmerlin]

Awesome, just got the update. Will give it a run through.

[Evilmerlin]

I had a quick trial run with the app on my tablet and it works nicely.
The Bye system works fine as far as I can tell.

Have encountered one instance of a force close so far on both phone and tablet. It occurs during results entry if you leave one of the results box empty and tap "Ok". It will force close.

[Programmer]

Thanks for your feedback! Good to know that it finally runs on tablets. I think I to get one too, just for developing purposes :-).

I'll get the bug your encountered fixed. There are currently some more i.e. when you try to delete an player after the tournament has started it will crash. I`ll address these issues in the update and than going to work on manual pairing for the first round.

[Evilmerlin]

I've not encountered any app stopping issues so far. I think when you publish your next update, you might want to consider posting it up in the General Discussion forum to get more testers as I think it's about ready for a larger user base.

[Programmer]

Thanks for your feedback. I will give it some more polishing and than post it in the general discussion forum.

As a little outlook, a friend of mine and I currently think on how to enhance the app with a kind of client/server mode in which clients can connect to the game master and can view their current standings and next pairings and so on. So far not more than some ideas but I`m interested in whether you can see any usecase for such an feature?

[Evilmerlin]

Hmm, I can see some uses for that in very large events but it's going to be logistically difficult as who or what will be the server? And the other issue being that not everybody will have a smart phone.

[PG_Lurch]

I downloaded it on my samsung, and it works great so far. I would request maybe a table generator for which pairs go where, and maybe faction decals.

[Programmer]

@Evilmerlin: My idea is to have an client-view-mode as an additional feature - the main focus will still be an offline-app. But if you have an internet connection than the app could sync the tournament, rankings, pairings an seatings to an internet-server. The server could than assign a random tournament id that the game master could publish to the players. With this id the players could sync their app with the current tournament status (of course just as a View-Client). I totally agree that using the app should never require an internet connection or having players other than the game master to have access to it. But the Magic:The Gathering events I participate in usually consist of 50 - 100 players and you get virtually no information other than a single paper each round listing the pairings and you have 100 people fighting to get a closer look on this peace of paper because the clock for the new round is already ticking. In this situation it came to my mind that I would prefer to get the pairing and seating information pushed on my smartphone. But I have to admit that such an feature in an tournament with just a small number of players is kind of overkill :-)

@PG_Lurch: Thanks for your feedback. I will include a simple table assignment in the next update. Could you explain what you mean by fraction decals? An please keep in mind that I have no clue about how warmachines is player. But if I can I will happily include such an feature.

[PG_Lurch]

Decals aren't that big of deal besides how it looks. Instead of typing the faction that a player plays, you could pick the emblem of that faction. Like I said before this is more for appearances than function. Overall this has worked great. Also another suggestion would be maybe a results page.

[Evilmerlin]

@Programmer, that would work. How are you planning to push the information out without a connection? An AdHoc network?

@Lurch, the faction symbols would indeed be very nifty to have but would probably make the app too warmachine/hordes centric. Not that it has stopped me from using the organiser posted here for my L5R events but making it generic would reach out to a wider audience.

Actually, perhaps you could make it customisable but by the user? Maybe have the user supply his/her own faction logos/decals and have the app read the required data off a text file and in a specific folder? For example, I have a text file called PPgames.txt and in it you'll have the faction names. To make it simpler, all logos/decals MUST have the same file name as that referenced in the text file.

Oh and one more thing, have implemented a second tie breaker option yet? For Privateerpress Steamroller events, the control points earned in a scenario is often used as the second tie breaker. Definitely make this optional as I think other game systems only used strength of schedule as a tie breaker.

Also, how about a "End Tournament" button? Tap that and it automatically spits out the final standings and maybe give the option to save the results as a text file or share it via email/facebook/etc etc?

[Programmer]

I wouldn`t ship the app with fraction symbols. On the one hand I agree with Evilmerlin and prefer to keep it generic. On the other hand I cannot risk to have some intellectual property owner sue me for using their trademarks. But I can think of a persistent list of fractions (so you don`t have to enter them every tournament) that you can choose symbols for from disc or by entering an URL. When you add a new player, you could assign a fraction to him. To read fractions and symbols from files is of course much simpler to develop but requires the user to read and understand some kind of manual. On the other hand it is much more practical if you have dozens of fractions. I`ll give it a try.

@Evilmerlin An AdHoc network is - as far as my experience goes - not very practical (as far as I know Android doesn`t support adhoc networks at all). This might change with appearance of Wi-Fi Direct able phones, but this is in the future. This means, if you have no internet connection, there will be no syncing with the server (this goes for client and game master). But I think I can make it a real SYNC, so whenever the game master has connection (which might change during the tournament) the app could try to push all updates to the server. The client would check periodically for new updates. Of course, building an proper syncing mechanism isn`t that easy, so don`t expect it in the near future. But I like to discuss that topic with you in front because it might influence my programming decisions now to adequate support this feature later.

So far their is no tie breaking other than by random (i.e. if > 2 player have the same matchpoints they are paired randomly). I plan on coding tiebreakers for specific games and let you choose them in the preferences. To support tie breaking by control points I assume one needs an possibility to enter them per pairing and player?

The "End tournament" button with the final standings leads in the same direction as what Lurch suggested with the result page. What additional information other than those shown on the players overview would you like to see in the final results? I also like the idea of sharing them per file/mail/etc. !

[Evilmerlin]

Yup, you'll need an entry for keying in the number of control points earned per match and it will have to store it somewhere for tie breakers.

As to what else to see when you tap "end tournament" perhaps the tie breaker results as well? So you'll have W/D/L/SoS/2nd tie break (if present). It's just a nice way to formally end the tournament and reset the app to start a new tournament again instead of it being persistent as it is now.

[Mookiefer]

This program is very nice and much needed, thank you!

I understand you may not be a native English speaker but I have one correction. "Fraction" should be "Faction".

I also second the need to enter tie breaker points and have them used for pairing the future rounds.

[Programmer]

Thank you for your feedback. It makes me happy to read that my app is useful to you.

I`ll correct the spelling mistake and will than have a look on how to implement tie breaker points. I was quite busy during the last weeks due to class exercises but I'll should find some time within the next days.

[Evilmerlin]

Tried it out again for another tournament. Works well but could you add the ability to correct wrong results and then re-pair for the next round? So say I keyed in a wrong result, I should be able to go back to the first result entry, correct it and then re-pair the players for the next round.

Also how about manual pairings or being able to change the pairings around after the app has done it?

[Programmer]

Happy that you use the app in the field. I see the need for correcting and re-pairing the rounds. Shouldn't be hard to implement. I also got the manual pairing topic on my to-do-list. I will address both things with high priority.

I apologize for the slow progress in extending the app but I currently lack of free time doing my degree and having two jobs at the same time. Nevertheless I already coded some new features which I hope being able to deploy within the next weekend(s):
- having multiple tournaments (event at the same time, requested by folks playing chess tournaments over several weeks)
- having a list of previous players to choose from for a new tournament
- selection players from the phones contacts
- tie-breaks by control points earned

Once this is ready for production I'll let you know.

[Evilmerlin]

No worries! I'm just happy that somebody is doing this!

[valarin]

Any update on the tiebreaker functionality? That is the last thing I need to start using the app

[Programmer]

The very moment you are posting this I am working on exactly that feature :-) It might take some additional days but I do my best to be able to deliver an update by this weekend.