Carcassonne Diary started May 21, 2014

[Paul]

Yesterday I started my online Carcassonne Diary!

Log file: http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/index.htm
EDIT: Removed a link to an obsolete page

Each day, I will randomly draw a tile and add it to the online board which is held on my server. Thought it would be interesting to see it developing slowly. This is just a basic thing at the moment but I hope to add more fun stuff to make it more lively. Updates will be posted on this thread.

1. The draw pile is randomly pre-generated via php script using the real tile set from (at the moment only) the base game.
2. When the pile is emptied, a new tile heap will be randomly generated adding to the already existing board.
3. You can point on any tile on the board for a popup description to find out for example which day this tile was placed.

Future plans:
1. Adding expansions. The idea here is, whenever a draw pile become empty a new pile will be randomly generated with the expansion(s). For example: If I add Traders and Builders, it will be in the new draw pile when the old pile is emptied.

Feel free to comment your thoughts and ideas!

 

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=797.0

[danisthirty]

What a cool idea! Looking forward to seeing how it develops...

[Paul]

Update 1

1. Added a third tile.
2. Added a zoom script. Point at any tile and use the mouse wheel to zoom out and in.

The script itself is just a hasty made but I am already working on improving it more professionally.

Any thoughts you guys have so far? I am eager to build a huge board already but I will keep it at one each day for now.

 

[Fritz_Spinne]

Do you look at the upcoming tiles to place the tiles optimally?

[Paul]

Do you look at the upcoming tiles to place the tiles optimally?

The php script randomly creates a tile list order and displays them all on one page, so kind of a yes, though I don't look at all the tiles on the screen. Just the ones placed earlier and the upcoming one the day.

[Paul]

Update 2:

Did a huge rewrite for the diary site!

Amongst a few things, I've set the next random generated draw pile with an expansion or two (available in 4 days).
  Unfortunately, the layout of the board will look wrong on certain browsers, depending on screen resolution. I tried everything, even those that should work but nothing. I will have to re-work this again. 

Here is the new main page: http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/index.htm
And here is the board after 9 days (six players): http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/games/board_game1_day9.htm

 

[MrNumbers]

Yes, zooming the page ruins all the layout! (on 100% - OK)

[Fritz_Spinne]

And here is the board after 9 days (six players): http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/games/board_game1_day9.htm

I see some errors in placing the tiles - city edges at fields, also roads and fields together. I think the errors begin at day 6, some tiles change.

[Paul]

And here is the board after 9 days (six players): http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/games/board_game1_day9.htm

I see some errors in placing the tiles - city edges at fields, also roads and fields together. I think the errors begin at day 6, some tiles change.

Yes. Most likely due to different screen resolution. I have 1366x768 pixels laptop. Anything smaller or bigger will cause tiles to be shifted. Sadly only noticed this at the very end, after hours of prepping the scripts.

Already working on a new much more reliable script using tables and then things should go smoothly. 

[Paul]

Update 3:

Third time's the charm. I hope! New script and much cleaner outcome webcode that should support all browsers.

Check out day 10: http://www.sydby.com/carcassonne/diary/games/board_game1_day10.htm

 

[Fritz_Spinne]

I think now it runs in the right way.

Do you think this would be an alternative for some players to play it on the web? 6 players running through the time zones everyday and all could watch them.

[Paul]

I think now it runs in the right way.

Do you think this would be an alternative for some players to play it on the web? 6 players running through the time zones everyday and all could watch them.

That is an interesting idea. At the moment it's all script and manual input and there will be a lot of fun surprises coming up. 

Would it be of interest if I set up an E-mail so those that play can mail in their coordinates and then I update the board accordingly? Sort of an ongoing game taking days maybe week to finish when players gets free time to do their move.
  I can monitor the E-mail and updating the board usually only takes a few seconds if I am near my laptop.

Rundown of the idea:
1. Script randomly generates a draw pile.
2. Choosing player turn order.
3. I mail each player their tile.
4. Players look at the board (which will have coordinates) and mail in their move.

Keep posting ideas and possible solutions. I appreciate this. 

 

[danisthirty]

@Yellow - you are very talented!

I love the idea of being able to play Carcassonne by email. As well as passing back the co-ordinates for tile placement though, you'd also have to allow for tile rotation and the ability to place meeples on specific (unclaimed) features. I'm sure you've already thought of this but it hasn't been mentioned thus far so I thought I'd bring it up.

How about some sort of messages section so onlookers can comment as each tile goes down: "Oooh! Wouldn't have placed that one there..."

Keep up the great work!

[Paul]

 

I wouldn't say talented, rather it's a hobby!

And indeed you are correct. I've everything set up for the tile rotation and such.
  1 is North (which will always be the rotation mailed to the players)
  2 rotates 90 degree CW (CounterWise / right)
  3 is 180 and 4 is of course 270 degree

As for the placement of a follower, I still have not come up with a good way to handle this. Usually not a problem until tiles such as two separate city segments comes into play.
  Any thoughts on this?

An interactive chat or message board is a great idea. I'll have a look at that as well! We all love spectators. 

 

[danisthirty]

If you're good at what you enjoy then you'll go far!

Getting your meeple onto the right feature could be tricky, since most tiles probably have at least three or more features that could be claimed (including all distinct farms). The widest choice of features will be on the rrrr tile which has a maximum of 8 possible places to deploy a meeple as there are 4 roads and 4 farms. These won't all necessary always be available but there's always the chance that they could be in any particular game.

This brings you on to the next point though, which is how you will check whether certain features are available to be claimed. It might not to be too tricky for cities/ roads and you won't have to worry about cloisters at all, but I can well imagine that tracking farms could get complicated.

Alternatively you could opt to keep it simple and not restrict meeple placement at all in favour of relying on people knowing the game well enough not to do anything that they wouldn't be allowed to. Could save a lot of time and effort, but I guess that would be up to you in deciding what direction you want your project to be heading in...