BlahCade Podcast #14 - #Continbute

[shutyertrap]

It's a new year, and a new BlahCade podcast!

This go around Shutyertrap, Jaredmorgs, and Jeff Strong do a very free form pod, because holidays. There is a list of SYT's favorite and least favorite movies he saw in 2014. Also we introduce a new word that needs to start trending now, 'continbute'. And on a side note, there is a brief discussion of DX 11 that is a little less relevant now that new info has come out since this was recorded. Enjoy our inane meanderings, and start up a conversation with us!

You can find the download for the podcast here.

If you would like the RSS feed, find it here.

Lastly, for all the Apple junkies, the iTunes version can be found here.

Be social with us!

On Twitter...

• @BlahCade
• @shutyertraps
• @jaredmorgs
• @drecksclown

On Google+

BlahCade Podcast

Via Email

BlahBlahBlahCade@gmail.com

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Listening now

 

[Canadian365]

Tell me what time stamp to start listening too, past all the usually meaningless dribble, and get to the good stuff...lol

 

[Jeff Strong]

Tell me what time stamp to start listening too, past all the usually meaningless dribble, and get to the good stuff...lol

Umm, you probably shouldn't bother then.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Umm, you probably shouldn't bother then.

60 SECONDS OF RAGE!!!

But yeah, PC version needs much updating. Where are the tournaments? (Then again, we have Mr. [MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION] and his Table of the Week idea; thanks again!)

 

[Jeff Strong]

60 SECONDS OF RAGE!!!

But yeah, PC version needs much updating. Where are the tournaments? (Then again, we have Mr. [MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION] and his Table of the Week idea; thanks again!)

 

[pm1109]

Will listen tonight when I come home.

 

[Fungi]

Sorry, I'm not changing my avatar black. It's not as if someone died.

 

[shutyertrap]

Sorry, I'm not changing my avatar black. It's not as if someone died.

We'll just pretend the black background in you current avatar is in support!

 

[Extork]

Whoops. I think I listened to the wrong one #13, not sure how that happened lol. Lotsa talk about MM, which was pretty cool because I've never thought about building the hurry-up value. And I'm all for getting Heretic to talk about food!

 

[WhiteChocolate]

never fails to be fun to listen to guys! i'll take the movie recommends/avoids list with several tablespoons of salt though; i'm afraid i'm the kind of person that can go for those artsier films that "don't seem to do/say anything"! it's a film school thing.

well somewhere along the line in your podcast - i dunno remember where/when/what it was that made me think of it, but along the lines of the "table of the week" idea... i suddenly wondered, from what i'd recently discovered about looking at the "leadership" boards in my TPA PS3 list - can i record a list of my standings? (of course i can... BY HAND!) so, out of the choice of "this week", or "this month", of course i have to go for "all-time"... and i was surprised by the results!

JUNK YARD 1209 119,755,000
BLACK KNIGHT 2000 1938 7.742,000
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 2559 3,103,000
DR. DUDE 2603 22,275,000
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON 4846 585,109,000
RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT 6559 77,771,910
VICTORY 7222 3,690,000
TAXI 13302 5,271,000
(SCORES -AND- RANKINGS A BIT APPROXIMATE, as i only have an old tube CRT tv to run my ps3 on, and the text is rather tough to read sometimes! best guesses/round-offs when applicable)

and to compile by hand the initial list of -all- released ps3 tables, took probably 45+ minutes (i listened to blahcade 14 the whole time of it, plus cooked some dinner in the middle of it!) big PITA... then the above top-eight was quick enough to figure out.

but, point being... in the endless debate over a better frontend GUI for TPA... wouldn't it be nice to sort the tables by your RANK? all-time, this month, this week, local high scores??? would probably have to be cached at regular intervals, so it doesn't hold things up at each board call-up...

but how absolultely rockin' would it be for you to log into TPA and be able to see the list of tables IN ORDER of your all-time rank (or other order, "this month/this week/local high scores")?? wouldn't -that- be a big kick-in-the-pants to play certain tables more, see if you can get your rank better? some tables maybe that would surprise you that you did so well at, or find that others aren't competing at too much, because -they- don't know how shallow the pool for that table is... do you know whutta mean? and see what i'm drivin' at? draw attention to player's own top ranks on each table, like it's the first thing they see when they scroll a table, like overprinted on the picture of the table! i suppose whether they prefer to see "all-time", "this month" or "this week", or "local high scores" could be a (app) preference (i don't see too much point making that an individual table pref.)

p.s. yahhh there was no proper "anger management" segment lol! except for schoolin' the "pre-1980" heads, good one!

 

[Dedpop]

 

[WhiteChocolate]

lol! "NOT PAID ENOUGH FOR AS MUCH AS I THINK"

 

[Dedpop]

I'm sure you are.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Thanks for the feedback, extork and whitechocolate!

 

[Extork]

I did get around to listening to the right one. Just a couple things, first off, Her was creepy as hell. Yeah, maybe because they made it seem so real. But it's really really weird and depressing. Kinda wished you talked more about Days of future past. But it kinda didn't need it because it was agreed that it was great. Haven't seen ANY of the other movies mentioned. Time to get out and actually rent some movies. Jeff, you really gotta brew up some anger before the podcast, and just unleash it lol. Hard to do, but I still did get a chuckle out of the fact that they kept pushing you to get mad. That's probably the point? Haha, well, keep it up guys. I really think these are worth a listen

 

[WhiteChocolate]

gahhh i never get out to the movies anymore... but i've got all my old favorites at home, and have my time otherwise occupied trying to learn the new code. last flick i saw was 'gravity'; i'm more interested in 3d anymore it seems than the actual movie itself!

well k, at the risk of being that annoying nerd in the room who can't stop babbling... ;0 but if it's okay, i'll continue to 'continbute'!! i know everyone can be susceptible to thinking their own idea is the greatest idea ever - and i sure can fall prey to that! but i'm jazzed a bit over the simplicity of this one; i couldn't stop thinking about it again while playing today... i think it has a lot of built-in 'wins' to it already:

- the leaderboard/rankings system is already in house and online (and presumably that was the 'hard' part!); it just needs to be brought to the foreground of TPA a bit more, instead of continuing to reside almost hidden and underutilized in the background (having to laod a table to access it)...

- using the leaderboard ranking to provide a simple additional display option for the order of the table scroll list, with just two (or maybe even just one in some cases? read p.s.) additional buttons...

- incentivize the desire to play more ('oh really, i'm that good on that table? i should play it more!')...

- much more immediate feedback and 'instant gratification' from seeing your ranks display/order in your table list... i just jumped my phantom all-time by about half this afternoon; it'd be fun to see that 'instantly' reflected in my table list! ('instantly' being how long it takes for the big board to update - how well that would work with the 'few minutes to add to leaderboard' post-game might be a bit iffy, but it'd beat having to go back into the middle of a big list board just to see the result - that's not nearly as gratifying! plus it's much, -much- quicker than doing that by hand - making my own all-time list of all my tables took a good 30-45 minutes to do! plus more time to hand-sort best to worst, and only just piecemeal at that...)

- and in the end, hopefully more naturally building base of 'friendly competition' from use... having your rank number right up front (and with a bit handier access to the online leaderboard via a button upfront - read on for the details), you'd be able to see who keeps knockin' your best scores down lower, and get into a more 'hey i plan on kicking your high score this weekend; wanna try to beat it' spirit!

here's the details then...

it all should work smoothly when offline, of course, and use whatever last saved list the app has from the network leaderboard cache... i believe the game already taps the leaderboards when starting up and networked; if it isn't already doing so, it should grab an updated USER-ONLY rank list (all time, monthly, and weekly) for all the player's owned tables. NOT THE COMPLETE ALL-PLAYERS lists; just the user's scores/ranks on each table! (by each startup/leaderboard call, how long would this take? if prohibitively long, can it be backgrounded while the main display comes up? thinking ahead about also grabbing 'this month/week' and more ranks, can it be sql'd or something into one pass? -DO NOT- want to save -complete- leaderboards for local offline use; keep space/needs conservative and just focused on the individual user's ranks local/offline!) point being, the starting point here is having a locally saved/offline-usable list of the user's rankings...

so then, in the MY TABLES 'scrolling tables list' UI, there's already the 'hall of fame' (in iOS; i don't see it on the ps3 screen) and 'table/wizard goals' buttons (along with 'start' of course)... enough space to add a third button that switches its caption to match the display mode option - 'list alphabetically' (default), and toggles to 'list by all-time rank'; just touch to switch to a different display/order mode - with possibilities for even more display opts to be added in the future. (as an aside, since the current table scroll simply loops, i wonder if some thin line/graphic separator might be inserted to mark the dividing line? just something to deliniate the end/beginning of the list - '^^VV^^' - do keep it a loop as it is now though; a top-bottom-stopping display would be annoying with an already long list of tables that keeps growing!)

the table scroll list then changes to the order of the selected mode - say with 'all-time rank', they are then displayed in order of the player's all-time rank, top to bottom! (again, this is where it might be helpful to have a list dividing line, just to help!) as each table displays, the player's all-time rank on that table then displays in a larger button near the table's main graphic, somewhere above the 'goals/start' buttons, reading "ALL TIME RANK: #xxx + score"! (should be nice and big, larger text than much of the other buttons/text!) any tables with null rankings would finish off the list below them, ideally alphabetically instead of random, just for predictable look/use... essentially the loop defaults alphabetical, but if another display option is selected, then that runs first, and the remainder runs alphabetical eh?

a fresh install could kick out -NO- cached/saved rankings, all nulls, so that bit of listloop should be ready for that possibility. and, if that all works properly and smoothly, then it should be no-brainer to extend the UI button options to include 'list by monthly rank/weekly rank'! with those two obviously more likely to return some, or even all, null ranks (the rank display button should display something appropriate like "you are not yet ranked for this week/month/ever" or something like that then!)

additionally, let's give the 'all-time rank #xxx' button a clickable usage too - it can call up the online leaderbaords; no more having to 'load a table+three-four clicks' to get to them! (the button display of the user's rank of course should work both off and online; if the user if offline the either block the user click, or feedback 'must be online etc' for that.)

and it makes me wonder (cue jimmy page!) if there's some way to geek up some 'most popular tables' ranking from an average of the top all-times?? instead of (or rather, UNTIL) individual user get five-to-no-star ratings added... this could be a more protected way of doing something helpful to display crowd favorites from the cached end, something generated daily/weekly. if maybe just from the top 1000 (or 10k, or 10%?) of players, highest minus lowest scores maybe to start with might help drop out the lesser-played, lesser-liked tables. (if there is a 'total plays' count saved out with our scores though, that'd make it much easier to figure out! i don't know if total plays can be calced per table; i have 'goin' nuts' at #10 in my all-time, but hardly ever play it or a few others that rank high for me! certainly not my "favorites" or most-played; just ones i randomly ranked well ok with...)

initially i thought of having the 'all-time rank #xxx' button always being displayed regardless of selected list mode - however a point could be made that not everyone wants to see (might be discouraged by!) seeing their ranks. so perhaps it should only display when an appropriate 'display ranking' mode is selected. in regard to that, in order, no-rank display modes should come first, then rank-by-alltime/month/week... so that's maybe so far a total of five possible UI display modes: 'list alphabetically,' 'list most popular' (potentially in the future), 'list by RANK all-time', 'list by RANK month', 'list by RANK week'! two buttons, using already-online utilities; shakes up the UI a bit; adds features... whaddaya think??

p.s. here's one for a poll: "hall of fame score" button (in the TPA iOS UI), useful or useless?? i wonder about replacing that with the 'list by' button instead; i hardly ever look at that!

p.p.s. as an aside, i wonder if it'd be possible on some platforms to be able to save/export a list of rankings, along the lines what i've done by hand so far - but thing is, if what i've proposed is implemented some day in some form/fashion, in theory one wouldn't want or much need to save lists on their own. it should all be in the UI! but export or some web-accessible lists would be interesting for those tallying/watching the big boards.

k now i'm gonna go play some more!!!!!! i gotta crack the top #1000 somehow in somethin'...

p.p.p.effin'-ess!! that extra space to the left of the table scroll list, over the 'back' button?? with rank display modes, -also- show a short list, just of '#xx \n #xxx \n #xxx \n etc' of rank scores, a very short but succinctly 'complete' list, kind of like how ps3 creates faded 'before/after this immediately selected item' lists... also not unlike the current scroll list that shows tables before/after the one currently selected in the foreground. a quick 'crib sheet' for the user to see their top rankings! it's already cached, right? so show it! just a guide, containing more info than can be displayed immediately to the right as the table faces scroll up/down the table list, that one also scrolls up and down; they don't use it to directly select with; just for reference.

yeah. that's it!

 

[Dedpop]

 

[WhiteChocolate]

and not even done... bygod if there -are- total play counts being recorded (and i hope they are!)... -that- should be its own display mode too!!! that's almost like 'automatic favorites', also maybe a bit of cue off of ps3's menu system... whatever was last played, rises to the top of the list (or does as its 'total complete play' count rises...) so, display mode #6!! in-system what-you-last-played-by-date goodness! it doesn't hurt, if it can be just made a by-app preference/save/backupable. that 'by-total-play count' would be an interesting stat to show, if it's not recorded already... i dunno, that might be contractually hidden!

if not, then maybe more like display mode #6 -and= #7... 'user most played' and 'network most played'! instant recommendations!

another few potential assets i didn't get onto the previous message, with all its verbiage...

- at least ranked scores are saved 'in the cloud' - so if you accidentally wipe out your locals, those'll always be available/reloadable! something i found out with mah ps3 this past year lol... so you'd always have some sort of backsave to rely upon!

- as the user tries to advance their rank/s, it'll 'broaden their horizons,' table-wise! i would've never guessed my top-five ranks to be what they were (maybe would have guess junk yard top ten, but not top five, let alone my current number one! and phantom and black knight 2k, i never -ever- would've guessed finished my top three, let alone top 20)... now i'm gunning for them a bit more, just to try them! i just know i can get somewhere eventually with dr. dude lol! just gonna take a bit of luck... but especially with that 'short-space' index list left of the table scroll list, it would really push players to explore tables they wouldn't otherwise spend much time with. (that's what the 'favorites/most played' list would be for!)

 

[Kolchak357]

The last 30 minutes of this podcast was the best 30 minutes yet. Nice work guys.