Online play by mail alternative

Layout question: One option is to retain JOL's very simple layout, which has it's won set of pros and cons, the other option is to use images instead.

My current thinking is keep the current layout, but use a tooltip popoup with images linked. Users could download the card list images if they want imagery, it would then need some kind of install app, but would allow them to have the images locally, reducing loads and increasing speed. I would prefer NOT to have this from the site, as this will increase the bandwidth requirements overall quite dramatically.

Second option, and imho the better one, is to have the cards on the site, and have the text for the card as a tooltip popup

stinky_nerd wrote:

One of the best things you can offer, that JOL can't, is a good public API. With that you or anybody else can create all kinds of crazy ways to play the game, including but not limited to:

• App alternatives for every device, in-case the browser version isn't good enough for them.
• Play-by-email - send commands via email, receive board state via email. Good for those wanting to play at work, but have restricted access to sites, but not email.
• A Google Excel sheet that updates with the game, so you can play inconspicuously at work.
• ...

Sounds great, don't know if i have the chops for that, but my Db and web guy certainly does

stinky_nerd wrote:

Blooded wrote:

This will make things much more complex, as you will not be able to simply import the card .csv, but will have to then manually flag each card for having a sudden type effect.

I understand there's thousands of V:TES cards, but what if you were to out-source the importing to the users?
You start off with simply importing the card, but you also create a page where a user gets a random card displayed to them, and they have to fill out the extra flags for it correctly.
Then if X other users review the submission and approve it, the extra flags get automatically added to the database.

Not a bad solution. Keep going, and you are going to be working on the project. Due and fair warning given....

stinky_nerd wrote:

sor_garcya wrote:

Maybe you can create an "open source" project, using any of the collaborative plattforms available. Lot of JOL players have a professional technical-background and that would help a lot not only in the development phase but also in the testing phase

+1 from me. Even if nobody collaborate/creates any pull requests, at least you know the developer doesn't have any shoddy coding to hide, before asking for donations.

True. yet people have and do donate to JOL, and, well......
Also it means i can't hide my shoddy coding. Oh wait

One of the main problems with JOL is having to deal with non-responsive players.
especially when it is their turn, and they dont show up for weeks,..you can't end their turn for them.

ideas to work around:
1) someone is ousted once not present for period x. Some way to implement vacations.
2) if someone does not act/block/react after period x, action is over and concluded.

Another problem is people not wanting to hear other peoples politics/foulmouthing. A simple "mute player x" would suffice? so that you only see their actual plays and not the words.


Not sure what the plans are exactly...i read something about "click card, do x" etc. Is the software then going to ask "do you block? yes/no" "do you bounce" "do you modify?" "do you play adds"
It will be a lot of work i guess, but it is also a good way to avoid arguments over "you said you leave me at 0 blood" "yes, but i didnt mean ce"

Yuo could then maybe implement something that you can set to "if at stealth, nb" for a turn, or for always etc...to minimize th waitings.

Blooded wrote:

Not a bad solution. Keep going, and you are going to be working on the project. Due and fair warning given....

Wouldn't mind helping out here and there, provided there's a git repository to use. Whether it's public or not.

Bitbucket offers a free private repo for up to 5 people, Gitlab has unlimited, afaik.

Blooded wrote:

True. yet people have and do donate to JOL, and, well...... Also it means i can't hide my shoddy coding. Oh wait

I was speaking in general. If I was in your shoes I'd do the same. Taking care of the maintenance costs is the least the users can do for the amount of work ahead of you!

I would prefer NOT to have this from the site, as this will increase the bandwidth requirements overall quite dramatically.

Might be a way around this, possibly cheekily keeping the cards on a different host (github?) and loading them from there? Or storing them in localStorage? Or making a CSS file that points to "C:/VTES/Images/..." and have the users download a zip file from somewhere and extract them there?

Wild Suggestion:
A queue system, where a player queues up his commands (they get verified and previewed to him by the server), then he marks all the points where a block may occur.

Then once the queue is verified and submitted it plays out until the block points. If the blocks are declined, the queue forwards ahead to the next block point. If the block is attempted the queue is cleared and the players resolve the blocks as normal.

Quick suggestion: Along with the *-flag JOL has, maybe also a sound notification that you can enable?

/Edit:
Some sites also allow for custom CSS files to be manually pasted in by the user. Might be helpful for those who wish the site to look a certain way, and also offers another solution to the image conundrum.

Cooper wrote:

One of the main problems with JOL is having to deal with non-responsive players.
especially when it is their turn, and they dont show up for weeks,..you can't end their turn for them.

ideas to work around:
1) someone is ousted once not present for period x. Some way to implement vacations.
2) if someone does not act/block/react after period x, action is over and concluded.

A "force action" button for the game creator and maybe some power users who can admin a game when the game creator isn't online?

Another problem is people not wanting to hear other peoples politics/foulmouthing. A simple "mute player x" would suffice? so that you only see their actual plays and not the words.

Sounds like you could have a 'game info' channel and a 'chatter' channel. Just block the chatter channel.

I really like the idea of an alternate Jol/Lackey, cheers to Blooded Sand and the input players are giving towards this possible alternate vtes format.

I'd hope that this would be optimised to work on multiple platforms (pc,android/iphone, ipad/tablet ect) With a possible option of graphic card images or text only.

Hell I'd be happy with just "card images" with just a few "right click" options (tap, untap, attached card, remove pool ect )and a room chat. A much more simplified version of Lackey without 1000s of commands, also the option to save games is paramount, while waiting for others who may be offline to declare actions/reactions ect. And of course it is crucial that this is playable on multiple platforms unlike LACKEY.

make it So number one