I have always wanted an NCAA Hockey Tournament pick'em on GPL that was unique to GPL and is meant for the 16 team format we are all used too. But there is just NOTHING out there are all for Wordpress plugins that do this at all. So many things take you outside resource to make this happen. And most software is all about basketball and not like the NCAA Hockey Tournament. If it is hockey, it is band aided together.
With my recent success using AI to scripts to grab NCAA stats and put them together got me thinking that AI could create a plugin exclusively for what WE need it to do. So that is what I have been doing most of the day today. I have created a Tournament Bracket Pick'em on the GPL staging site that links with the Sportpress plugin that I have been using for years to build games, schedules, teams and a all that stuff! By linking it do data already available, I do not need to create teams or logos. It just pulls that data already used on GPL from that Sportpress plugin.
ANYWAY...
I have something built that I could use more data entered in order to do more testing. So I have created a bracket based on last years tournament. I need some of you to go over to the staging site, login using you exact credentials you use here, and create a bracket with your picks. Put in what your picks may have been last season during the tournament or something goofy picks. It really doesn't matter. We already know what the results will be, but I just need more participants other than myself. Once we get a few of you to create your bracket, I can do more testing on how all of this will work in the end.
When you pick a team in the bracket, it will ask you to enter a score. This is how bonus points will be earned in the bracket. Just make sure if you pick team 1 to win and you put your score in as if team 2 won, it will let you know that you need to make a correction. It should also not allow you to enter a tie score either.
The interface will be different on desktop vs mobile. Desktop will be a more tradition looking bracket. Mobile it will be a stacked interface. So it will ask you to pick each of the regional round games. Below that will be all of the regional final games. Then the semi final games and so on. I hope that makes sense.
On the test page you just click to create you picks and save when you are done. You can go back later and change your picks up until the bracket closes. Right now that date is 2/1, but I just used that date for testing. I can change that date to simulate that the bracket is closed. Once the bracket is closed, you can only view you bracket, you cannot make changes.
For testing, the points are 1pt for round 1, 2pts for round 2 and so on. The points are earned for each correct pick for a given round. The bonus for a correct score is 5pts. I can change all of this later, just testing with basic number now. So that is how the points work.
You will also notice on the main page is a leaderboard button that will show all the participants and what their point totals are as well as how many correct picks they have. I thought it would be fun to track more than just points. In that leaderboard you SHOULD be able to click other users to see what their picks are, but this is something I need to test. Another reason why I need more test participants.
So can we get a group of you to go over to the staging site and create a bracket? This could be a fun add to GPL that is just for registered users. So I just need more people to get some data in there.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Done.
I tried to enter one team to win entered a score which had the other team winning. But you sucked the fun out because the system would not let me. 🤣
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@greyeagle is the first person to try it!!!
THANKS!
Now I can go to the leaderboard and view your bracket just by clicking your name. Of course I can only view it and not edit it. But I was only able to see my own picks which was automatically the edit screen for myself.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
OMG. I love this idea. I used to run a spreadsheet at my office for this. It was a PIA to edit each year and to keep updates going out.
Thanks Jup!
Done.
I tried to enter one team to win entered a score which had the other team winning. But you sucked the fun out because the system would not let me. 🤣
I tried one and thought I was getting away with the same thing. When I tried to save the bracket it gave me the error. Maybe have an error right after you enter the score?
Also, Gophers got revenge for ‘23 by the tune of 30-0 in my bracket. That felt good.
I entered several lovsers with higher scores and it processed them one by one. Eventually it got them all. I wish it highlighted the bad entry but I get it and it isn't a big deal.
This will be fun for the playoffs! It seems like someone should get a board special status for winning and hold it all year.
When I do it, it will highlight some of the losing teams as the winner and move them to the next bracket and keeps changing things if I enter more scores because of course it doesn’t match the previous picks.
When I do it, it will highlight some of the losing teams as the winner and move them to the next bracket and keeps changing things if I enter more scores because of course it doesn’t match the previous picks.
You need to select the winner, then enter the score. If you click another winner it will change your pick.
FYI... I am testing some other block on that page off and on. So it will break the page at times. So if you see "Critical Error", just know I am testing something and it will get fixed in a few minutes.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
@cowgirl Did you even save your picks? I am not even seeing you on the leaderboard. You need to save before some of the logic is even used. Have problems? Click the "Clear Bracket" button and start over.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
@cowgirl Did you even save your picks? I am not even seeing you on the leaderboard. You need to save before some of the logic is even used. Have problems? Click the "Clear Bracket" button and start over.
Okay I see now how it works. Whichever team you click on it thinks is the winner; regardless of what the number says - so if you go back to a bracket to change a number and click on the other team, it changes that one to the winner. I saved it this time!
Okay I see now how it works. Whichever team you click on it thinks is the winner; regardless of what the number says - so if you go back to a bracket to change a number and click on the other team, it changes that one to the winner. I saved it this time!
Yep!!!
This is my first plugin and it is not exactly something simple, so I am vetting out the interface and how it all works. Obviously the interface is pretty good on desktop, but the mobile format is about the best it can be right now. BUt I will keep tweaking it in coming weeks.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Thanks to @greyeagle @snowcool08 @gopheritall @gator @cowgirl @j22 and @frozen4champs for creating a bracket!
I want to start tweaking a few things. I do like the ability to be able to view anyones bracket in the leaderboard area. But I thought that should only be available to do once the bracket has closed. So if you go to the leaderboard, you will only be able to click to your own picks. I thought that doing this would at least prevent others from copying each other if they wanted too.
Can you guys verify that you can no longer click and view other users picks? It is working for me, but I am an admin and behavior could be different compared to a user.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Thanks to @greyeagle @snowcool08 @gopheritall @gator @cowgirl @j22 and @frozen4champs for creating a bracket!
I want to start tweaking a few things. I do like the ability to be able to view anyones bracket in the leaderboard area. But I thought that should only be available to do once the bracket has closed. So if you go to the leaderboard, you will only be able to click to your own picks. I thought that doing this would at least prevent others from copying each other if they wanted too.
Can you guys verify that you can no longer click and view other users picks? It is working for me, but I am an admin and behavior could be different compared to a user.
I can only view my picks now.
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
I can only view my picks now.
That's perfect! Thanks!
I have now CLOSED the tournament. You should now be able to click a user in the leaderboard to view their picks. You will also see a new button bring the user to a stats page. This page will show how many users picked a particular team to win the tournament and the percentages. Looks like Minnesota is gonna win!
But now that it is closed, lets check and see if you are now locked out of making any changes.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Thanks to @greyeagle @snowcool08 @gopheritall @gator @cowgirl @j22 and @frozen4champs for creating a bracket!
I want to start tweaking a few things. I do like the ability to be able to view anyones bracket in the leaderboard area. But I thought that should only be available to do once the bracket has closed. So if you go to the leaderboard, you will only be able to click to your own picks. I thought that doing this would at least prevent others from copying each other if they wanted too.
Can you guys verify that you can no longer click and view other users picks? It is working for me, but I am an admin and behavior could be different compared to a user.
Apparently I have super powers.....
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I must have logged in after you made the "Closed" change.
I could not change my bracket.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dumb question - besides clicking the link above, where is this in the main menu? I’m sure it’s obvious and I just can’t find it. 😂
Also, I can’t believe a couple of you didn’t pick Minnesota to win in our fantasy world. 🤨😁
There is no main menu, just the tournament page. If you are in your picks page, you will see a "Tournament Bracket" button at the top as well as the Leaderboard and now Stats since I closed the picks. Saving your picks or clearing out your picks button will always be at the bottom. (They are gone now since I closed the tournament)
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Also, I can’t believe a couple of you didn’t pick Minnesota to win in our fantasy world. 🤨😁
Guilty!
I figured all of you homers 😆 would pick MN and for testing I assumed Jup wanted a variety of choices. So there! '
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I already had the capability to have game dat/date/time in the brackets. But I added fake times for the first 2 rounds so you can see what it will look like on the main page or within your picks.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
There is no main menu, just the tournament page. If you are in your picks page, you will see a "Tournament Bracket" button at the top as well as the Leaderboard and now Stats since I closed the picks. Saving your picks or clearing out your picks button will always be at the bottom. (They are gone now since I closed the tournament)
Where can we find it besides scrolling back up to the top of this thread each time to find the link?
you scroll to the top.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
I have added the 1-4 seed info for each team to be displayed.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
So I change the main highlight color of the picks from green to gold. That is also the main tourney page to highlight the winners. But on your own picks page. Picks with no results will be gold. Once results come in they will turn red or green to highlight if you got the pick right or wrong.
I have filled in result through the regional finals. Head on over and check out your results. See how you are doing so far.
It's kind of cool how it shows the real score next to the score you entered. In the lower corner it shows the points earned in the game.
I need to add some logic to show what the point worth is for each round of picks and the bonus for picking the correct score.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
I like the changes that have been applied especially the seeding. I am dumb and don't always remember who is ranked where.
Some things I noticed. None are a big deal.
- For brackets where I picked the wrong winner it doesn't make it obvious I had the wrong team advance. It turns red if I puck them to win and not sure how I would change that.
- I can still get the score bonus for a game even if I didn't pick the right teams to advance. Interesting byproduct.
- It feels like the score bonus outweighs the right winner scores. The bonus is larger than any actual winner points. That feels unfair that someone could pick the actual winner and I would beat them with by randomly getting the final score right. Perhaps double the points gained by picking a winner at each level (1,2,4,8). Just an idea.
I am very excited to use this this year!
Yeah...
- I am looking at your Maine pick in the regional final and the background should be green on that. I need to have it verify and recheck the logic.
- Interesting on the score bonus. I kinda like that even if one of the teams is wrong, if you get the pick correct AND have the correct score, I think it is worth a bonus. But if you have both teams wrong and still got the score correct, that should not work. I will work on that logic.
- Remember, I am just testing right now. I just put 1,2,3,4 for the games and 5 for the scores. I just added a new bonus if a participant get BOTH teams correct in the final game. But we can make these numbers whatever we wish. They are all things I can change in the admin.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
@gopheritall I think I have the logic fixed.
You were getting points for that Maine/Quinnipiac pick because score of that game kind of matched up. Now you need to have at least picked the correct team to win to earn the score bonus. If you would have had Penn State in that game instead of Maine AND you would have picked Penn State to win the game with the score you had.... Even though the opponent was incorrect, you would still get the bonus.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
I have added a print bracket button when on desktop. Added some interesting stats. Cleaned up the logic.
What else do we need for this? I could add a tiebreaker function. But that logic is already there a bit. It there is a tie in points, it puts the person with more correct picks ahead to break the tie. If still tied, it checks to see who has more bonuses. (the number of bonuses, not the total points of the bonuses).
What else should I look to add?
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Option to check a box for the game going to OT for bonus points??
I am just putting this here because I thought of it but haven't thought it through. But...what if there was a Gopher rival bonus where we played certain teams (Michigan, Wisconsin, UND) where that game got bonus points. I can't imagine the logic it would take to implement.
Or if any Gopher game was worth 1 extra point. That would put more weight on our games.
Do expect either? No. Just fun to throw it out there.
I can still see others picks.
You are supposed to. When the tournament is still "open" to make picks you will not be able to view other users picks. But once the tournament "close" time has passed like i have set it, you will then be able to view what others have picked. Notice it now says "Tournament Locked"?
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
So CC beat the Fighting Whioux last night 😎
Aloha!
So CC beat the Fighting Whioux last night 😎
What does that have to do with the Pick'em we are testing?
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Okay gang... Time to start thinking about our new Tournament Pick'em game and how we should tally up the points. In our test we built points for each round. So basically 1pt for Rd 1. 2pts for round 2 and so on up to 4.
But here on the points and what not in my admin. I am thinking 1-4 for the main picks. What should we make the individual game score bonus be? 2pts, 3pts? How about the Title bonus? The title bonus is meant for those that pick the correct 2 teams in the title game. I figure if you can do that, another bonus should be available. Need your input, gotta get this up and running next Sunday!
Points per Correct Pick:
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃