Feature requests

[Gavin Chipper]

Yes, I have been meaning to implement this since at least July. I will eventually figure out a nice way of doing it.

Could it be like the conundrum with the patience bar for each letter?

Also, how about the Countdown music so that those who write stuff down and aren't looking at the screen know when the time is running out?

[Charlie Reams]

Also, how about the Countdown music so that those who write stuff down and aren't looking at the screen know when the time is running out?

I've jumped through a lot of hoops to avoid being sued by Channel 4, I think that would be a pretty stupid hurdle to fall at...

[Gavin Chipper]

Also, how about the Countdown music so that those who write stuff down and aren't looking at the screen know when the time is running out?

I've jumped through a lot of hoops to avoid being sued by Channel 4, I think that would be a pretty stupid hurdle to fall at...

But some sort of noise though?

[Ben Wilson]

What could be cool is a sort-of 'score challenge' or duplicate mode where you're scored on your own game but still competitively, like the Goatdown challenges at COLIN. Maybe even more than 2 players to a match?

[Gavin Chipper]

Is there a reason why the recap can't give numbers solutions?

[Charlie Reams]

Is there a reason why the recap can't give numbers solutions?

Hold your mouse over the target and the solution pops up.

[Gavin Chipper]

A list of players and their rankings and stats that's available when they aren't online - one that includes everyone. A bit like the forum member list.

A slightly ruder bot that throws insults and threats at every opportunity. He could even respond to what you say with certin stock phrases that don't have to be relevant. "You what? Say that again and I'll twat you one/come round you house and kill you." And it would launch into a massive rant if it lost and accuse you of cheating.

[Gavin Chipper]

Like the classic games, but an option to replay old games on Apterous. I think it would be a useful tool as people could play their old games to see if they've learnt anything.

[JimBentley]

A slightly ruder bot that throws insults and threats at every opportunity. He could even respond to what you say with certin stock phrases that don't have to be relevant. "You what? Say that again and I'll twat you one/come round you house and kill you." And it would launch into a massive rant if it lost and accuse you of cheating.

^^ This!

[Kirk Bevins]

Like the classic games, but an option to reply old games on Apterous. I think it would be a useful tool as people could play their old games to see if they've learnt anything.

I like this too! It shows whether you paid attention to DC.

[Charlie Reams]

Lots of good suggestions lately. Sorry I don't have the time to do them all justice. But rest assured that anything good still goes into my giant To-Do list somewhere.

[Gavin Chipper]

With the in-game chat thing, I'm not sure if it tells you when the other person has left at the end of the game, which would be helpful. Also there doesn't seem to be a proper way out of the game section back to the main Apterous site without clicking on "Back".

[Dinos Sfyris]

A slightly ruder bot that throws insults and threats at every opportunity. He could even respond to what you say with certin stock phrases that don't have to be relevant. "You what? Say that again and I'll twat you one/come round you house and kill you." And it would launch into a massive rant if it lost and accuse you of cheating.

There already is an option for this. Just play Corby

[Charlie Reams]

A slightly ruder bot that throws insults and threats at every opportunity. He could even respond to what you say with certin stock phrases that don't have to be relevant. "You what? Say that again and I'll twat you one/come round you house and kill you." And it would launch into a massive rant if it lost and accuse you of cheating.

There already is an option for this. Just play Corby

Corby could be accused of many things but he's certainly a gracious loser.

On second thoughts, I'm not sure the word "gracious" was necessary.

[Jon Corby]

lol.

The bots already accuse you of cheating though, don't they?

[Martin Gardner]

If the bots chose their letters a bit more slowly it would give me more time to construct words. Normally I try and add ever new letter to the longest word I've got but the bots select the letters so quickly, I can't do that.

[Julie T]

I know you've mentioned that inputting a new bot is very time-consuming.
However, can I put in a request that, the next time you create a new one, that its rating is between prune and plum, please?

My ability means that apterous plum always seems to thrash me in rated games, when it seems to up its game from the practice games.
I do like a challenge, but it would be great to win sometimes, especially in a computer prog.
It's not much of a morale booster to win against prune, although it sometimes surprises with a good word.
I have noticed, when on apterous, that I'm not alone in having a rating in the low 400s, so this may help a few others too.

[Charlie Reams]

I know you've mentioned that inputting a new bot is very time-consuming.
However, can I put in a request that, the next time you create a new one, that its rating is between prune and plum, please?

I don't remember saying that, maybe I was unclear. It's not difficult per se to add new bots. It is tricky to tweak them to the desired difficulty level, but it's easy enough to just interpolate between the stats of two existing bots.

My ability means that apterous plum always seems to thrash me in rated games, when it seems to up its game from the practice games.
I do like a challenge, but it would be great to win sometimes, especially in a computer prog.
It's not much of a morale booster to win against prune, although it sometimes surprises with a good word.
I have noticed, when on apterous, that I'm not alone in having a rating in the low 400s, so this may help a few others too.

Yep, fair enough.

[Gavin Chipper]

If the bots chose their letters a bit more slowly it would give me more time to construct words. Normally I try and add ever new letter to the longest word I've got but the bots select the letters so quickly, I can't do that.

I agree with this. It makes it more like real Countdown with proper time gaps. I said before as well that I think there should be a minimum time gap when a player is choosing.

[Julie T]

I know you've mentioned that inputting a new bot is very time-consuming.
However, can I put in a request that, the next time you create a new one, that its rating is between prune and plum, please?

I don't remember saying that, maybe I was unclear. It's not difficult per se to add new bots. It is tricky to tweak them to the desired difficulty level, but it's easy enough to just interpolate between the stats of two existing bots.

My ability means that apterous plum always seems to thrash me in rated games, when it seems to up its game from the practice games.
I do like a challenge, but it would be great to win sometimes, especially in a computer prog.
It's not much of a morale booster to win against prune, although it sometimes surprises with a good word.
I have noticed, when on apterous, that I'm not alone in having a rating in the low 400s, so this may help a few others too.

Yep, fair enough.

Thanks for listening, Charlie. Glad I was mistaken about the difficulty of adding in new bots.

[Julie T]

Thanks for apterous Waldorf, Charlie. Much more my level - thanks!

[Joseph Bolas]

Thanks for apterous Waldorf, Charlie. Much more my level - thanks!

Same here Charlie. I had well beaten Prune, but wasn't confident enough to take on Plum, but now that there is Waldorf in between, I can get even better before taking on Plum

[Gavin Chipper]

I agree with this. It makes it more like real Countdown with proper time gaps. I said before as well that I think there should be a minimum time gap when a player is choosing.

Further to this, there's no point in annoying people by making them pick slowly if they're playing a bot, but I think in other cases, a case could be made for it. Maybe more options but that's complicating things.

[Martin Gardner]

A "no challenges" mode when you just want to log on and talk shit but not play.

[Jon O'Neill]

Good human players on sticks.

[Gavin Chipper]

Has anyone suggested 3+ player games? If not, then that is my suggestion.

[David O'Donnell]

Has anyone suggested 3+ player games? If not, then that is my suggestion.

I was thinking about this as well so I second your motion(s).

[Ian Volante]

I used to play along with the telly as a three-player game, once winning the series final, must have been low quality, some time early to mid nineties! Good idea )

[Joseph Bolas]

I used to play along with the telly as a three-player game, once winning the series final, must have been low quality, some time early to mid nineties! Good idea )

It's a pity you couldn't have interactive thing, where as the game is being played on TV, you can also play the game online at Apterous against everyone else.

[Dinos Sfyris]

Some amusingly named bots, eg Apterous Nude so it would say stuff like: Myleene Klass is playing Apterous Nude

[Gavin Chipper]

Maybe in custom games have a choice of how to resolve a tie, so not just a conundrum. So you could select normal letters or numbers, and it would just keep going until the tie was resolved.

[Joseph Bolas]

Maybe in custom games have a choice of how to resolve a tie, so not just a conundrum. So you could select normal letters or numbers, and it would just keep going until the tie was resolved.

Nah. I think the best way to solve a tie is to have a conundrum, just as long as its not an -ING ending word

[Gavin Chipper]

Maybe in custom games have a choice of how to resolve a tie, so not just a conundrum. So you could select normal letters or numbers, and it would just keep going until the tie was resolved.

Nah. I think the best way to solve a tie is to have a conundrum, just as long as its not an -ING ending word

But in a custom game, I think it would be good to have the choice. You would never have to choose anything other than a conundrum yourself.

Edit - I also think it's strange to finish something like a numbers attack on a conundrum so think maybe the default for an x attack should be an x tie-break.

[Gavin Chipper]

Edit - I also think it's strange to finish something like a numbers attack on a conundrum so think maybe the default for an x attack should be an x tie-break.

Maybe this bit wouldn't work actually. I don't think I've ever seen Apterous Rex score anything less than a maximum, so without a crucial conundrum it might be literally impossible to beat him.

[Julian Fell]

Although they're somewhat larger projects than the ones mentioned recently, I do think there should be a 'consensual overrule decision' and 'consensual replay round' option for Apterous tournament games. It's a bit rough if both players agree the computer's ruling on whether a word is or isn't allowed is wrong, but you can't challenge it. I know there are very few definite errors in Jim's wordlist, but still... and of course with the mass-nouns rule there's always room for debate.

For me the big advantages MSN has over Apterous are that you can challenge disallowed words if you know they're good (or vice versa) and can have a conundrum set which won't be too easy for the latter stages of a tournament.

[Gavin Chipper]

How about an option to save custom game preferences?

[Gavin Chipper]

Maybe an option to type your numbers declaration after the time, with a patience bar thing. I tend to just click on the target right at the start in case I forget later. Then I try and work it out but if I fail I have to change the answer which reduces the amount of time I actually have to do the working out.

[Gavin Chipper]

Is there a reason why the recap can't give numbers solutions?

Hold your mouse over the target and the solution pops up.

I don't know if it's just me but it seems to come up with question marks and stuff and generally not very well formed.

[Gavin Chipper]

Is there any need to say how many letters the other person has declared while you decide? I know it's more "realistic"

You answered your own question there mate The tactics of declaring first and second are important to learn, so it's worth reproducing.

This could be taken further. In real life if you declare first and go for a 7 and you opponent does too, I think your opponent would be asked what his word is first. So perhaps when declaring first you could have it so the words you have entered are put into length groups and you just select one of these groups and then select the actual word out if these when your opponent has declared.

[Gavin Chipper]

The problem with both of those is that they're a massive encouragement to people to, if not exactly cheat, then certainly exploit the system (maybe akin to Jeffrey's buzz-then-solve approach.) If anyone has a suggestion that can allow a little more flexibility without encouraging sneakiness then I'd love to hear it.

Edit: Okay, I came up with a way of doing it for the conundrum. Numbers still unsolved.

Could you have a thing that enables you to cancel the last button pressed but where it still works on the time used on the previous patience bar? This way you can't buy any more time by deleting.

[Charlie Reams]

That's how it works now. Or at least, how it's supposed to work. But you still can't delete the first character, which is by design.

[Gavin Chipper]

That's how it works now. Or at least, how it's supposed to work. But you still can't delete the first character, which is by design.

Oh sorry, I meant with the numbers.

[Charlie Reams]

Hmm. Yes, I guess that could be done. I'm a bit demotivated about programming new stuff at the moment (since I spent my entire working day programming too) but I'll maybe took a look over the weekend.

[Kirk Bevins]

This might have been mentioned before but how about making a mark by people's names (or indeed highlighting them) if they are already playing a game. Currently I go to games currently being played, write the names down of who is busy then look in the main window to check them off against those in the room and hence challenge the few not in games currently. Highlighting those currently playing would be much easier and I'm sure it takes seconds to program, since you're a whizzkid!

[Martin Gardner]

I think a pretty obvious one is to allow you to select a declaration after the time, especially if you're declaring second. It's similar to 'position' in poker where the person who bets second already knows was the first person has done. I admit this is difficult because it allows extra time for working out, so you'd need a patience bar to stop any abuse. But anyway, you're a smart lad I'll leave you to think about it.

[Charlie Reams]

I think a pretty obvious one is to allow you to select a declaration after the time, especially if you're declaring second. It's similar to 'position' in poker where the person who bets second already knows was the first person has done. I admit this is difficult because it allows extra time for working out, so you'd need a patience bar to stop any abuse. But anyway, you're a smart lad I'll leave you to think about it.

On the numbers you mean?

[Martin Gardner]

I think a pretty obvious one is to allow you to select a declaration after the time, especially if you're declaring second. It's similar to 'position' in poker where the person who bets second already knows was the first person has done. I admit this is difficult because it allows extra time for working out, so you'd need a patience bar to stop any abuse. But anyway, you're a smart lad I'll leave you to think about it.

On the numbers you mean?

Oh bollocks yes, did I forget to say that?

[Jon Corby]

Oh bollocks yes, did I forget to say that?

I'm not sure it's really relevant tbh - I suspect Charlie may have already mulled this one over and come to the same conclusion. There's a difference between having a word which you're not sure is valid, and having a numbers declaration which you can't actually calculate. In the one case, you're not sure if it is a genuine word, but in the other you're blatantly trying to do calculations out of the time, which, strictly speaking, shouldn't be valid. In the vast majority of cases this would only be open to abuse by people attempting to wing it.

That said, I do regularly get caught out late on the numbers; I miss far more numbers declarations than I do letters ones (I habitually click the correct solution straight away and then amend it if necessary) I blame myself for that though, rather than the application, I should "give up" earlier, and work out what I have actually got, rather than still trying to get the target.

[Charlie Reams]

What Corby said.

[Martin Gardner]

What Corby said.

I think you've got this one right, actually.

[Matt Coates]

I am not sure if this has been requested but it could be cool to have a 'Career Mode'.

you can pick a series and a player and play their octochamp run and then their QF, SF and final if you get that far.

i was thinking about this when i played the rest of my games. Had i beat my 4th opponent, i would have completed my run quite comfortably.

just a suggestion Charlie

PS well done on your run, you are doing brill

[Charlie Reams]

I am not sure if this has been requested but it could be cool to have a 'Career Mode'.

you can pick a series and a player and play their octochamp run and then their QF, SF and final if you get that far.

i was thinking about this when i played the rest of my games. Had i beat my 4th opponent, i would have completed my run quite comfortably.

just a suggestion Charlie

PS well done on your run, you are doing brill

Humm, it's annoying when I come up with some cool feature and then someone else posts the exact same idea before I have time to implement. I was even planning to call it Career Mode. Well, something along those lines will definitely be happening at some point, but I'm not sure when.

[Martin Gardner]

I am not sure if this has been requested but it could be cool to have a 'Career Mode'.

you can pick a series and a player and play their octochamp run and then their QF, SF and final if you get that far.

i was thinking about this when i played the rest of my games. Had i beat my 4th opponent, i would have completed my run quite comfortably.

just a suggestion Charlie

PS well done on your run, you are doing brill

Humm, it's annoying when I come up with some cool feature and then someone else posts the exact same idea before I have time to implement. I was even planning to call it Career Mode. Well, something along those lines will definitely be happening at some point, but I'm not sure when.

In fairness you could just do this manually by playing the games individually, no?

[Charlie Reams]

In fairness you could just do this manually by playing the games individually, no?

Career Mode could be a lot more interesting than that. For example, it could simulate the finals and even CoC. Okay, you could do all that yourself too, but who would bother?

[Paul Howe]

How about a challenge where the round composition, normal/goat, round time and so on are picked by apterous at random and unknown to the participants before the game starts?

[Gavin Chipper]

Hmm. Yes, I guess that could be done. I'm a bit demotivated about programming new stuff at the moment (since I spent my entire working day programming too) but I'll maybe took a look over the weekend.

I'm sure everyone would agree that what you've done so far is brilliant anyway, even if you don't do anything else new. As long as you don't mind as posting our ideas anyway, and they'll always be here in case you evere are motivated again!

[Matt Coates]

ditto, it's a brilliant site Charlie, can you not plug Apterous in the finals?

[Kirk Bevins]

On the recap/review pages such as:

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=7555

it would be nice to state what dictionary they are using. I saw this game of Ben's and thought "wow, can't believe I've never come across AZOTISED". Good job I checked it as it's not in ODE2r so I guess Ben was using some kind of scrabble dictionary. I should have known really.

[Mikey Lear]

I think dictionary corner should list all the words which are longer than the one you got, not just all the maxima. Probably most people don't care about that because they always get the max or one below, but I quite often get a 5 when there's an 8 available and I kind of want to know if there were any 6s or 7s as well. And I guess that would be an easy tweak, if it's not asking too much?

[Joseph Bolas]

I think dictionary corner should list all the words which are longer than the one you got, not just all the maxima. Probably most people don't care about that because they always get the max or one below, but I quite often get a 5 when there's an 8 available and I kind of want to know if there were any 6s or 7s as well. And I guess that would be an easy tweak, if it's not asking too much?

I agree with you on this, because going by your example above, the 6's or 7's you are not told about could be very obscure words, that would make for great spots in a poor-selection round .