ShotCounter - Most Useless BZFlag Project Ever

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:01 am

ShotCounter is my latest project which counts your shots on certain servers and sends the data over to a web server, which parses that data and creates a signature image with your recorded shots.

It is beta... written in PHP with the use of BZFlag_Info (PHP version by AAA) and FFDB (Flat File Database, my own creation).

I plan to make it open-source so that other people may run their own ShotCounter bot on servers that aren't already monitored. However, this may take a while, as I have to make sure that there should only be one bot per server.

Currently hosted by Tanner at: http://labs.tssoftware.net/shotcounter/

meeba · Post by **meeba** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:09 am

You should make it track your hit/fired ratio. Kind of like pressing the Home key.

There are all sorts of ideas for it. Like tracking your high scores, low scores, etc.

But nice work!

Spazzy McGee · Post by **Spazzy McGee** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:54 am

I think it could be really popular, if you make little signatures that people can just add underneath thier own, like a userber sized affair.

A Vicious Muffin · Post by **A Vicious Muffin** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:50 pm

Then people will be bragging about how many shots they have....

"I had 1000.582 shots on mofo!"

"So what? I had 21029.91 on viper!"

..........................

Tanner · Post by **Tanner** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:51 pm

/me is very happy he isn't hosting the bot part.....

Oi! I made the little signature background image. Bonus points for whoever can guess where it is at.... >_>

BZFlag_Info is very cool.

-Tanner

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:53 am

TangenT wrote:You should make it track your hit/fired ratio. Kind of like pressing the Home key.

Possible. I was thinking about that when I wrote the bot... there's an unused function called when someone makes a kill. Which means it's probably only possible to get a hit/kill ratio.

Spazzy McGee wrote:I think it could be really popular, if you make little signatures that people can just add underneath thier own, like a userber sized affair.

A userber sized affair?

Tanner wrote:Oi! I made the little signature background image.

Yes, I forgot about that...

Tanner wrote:BZFlag_Info is very cool.

Except for a few things here and there...

the obvious trap · Post by **the obvious trap** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:09 am

wow, when will theme run out of ideas?

never

Spazzy McGee · Post by **Spazzy McGee** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 2:50 pm

Theme wrote:A userber sized affair?

What i mean is, all that information on the sig could be squashed down into maybe a strip big enough for two lines of text. That way people yould just add it to the bottom of the sig without having to delete any current image(s).

My stance is, if you make a smaller version, lots of people are going to use it (including me, probably), but as it is, I doubt you'll get much use.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea. It's just the image is too big.

Hannibal · Post by **Hannibal** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:51 pm

Last I checked, a hit/kill ratio would be 1:1, no?
So you could do a fired/kill ratio, but not a hit/fired?

I'm with spaz, its just too big.

The image..Planet MoFo or Boxy War.

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:35 pm

I am open-sourcing it soon... just need to put the finishing touch on a few features and I'm ready to post a link.

It requires a key to submit data, preventing false shots from being reported (assuming keys are given to trustworthy people).

If you plan on running it, you will need PHP 5 and a good reputation.

Spazzy Mcgee wrote:What i mean is, all that information on the sig could be squashed down into maybe a strip big enough for two lines of text.

All? There are 46 flags in the game, which makes a total of 47 possible shot types. I can't fit that.

But I didn't shrink it from 500x100 to 300x60. Shows the 8 flags with the most shots.

Hannibal wrote:Last I checked, a hit/kill ratio would be 1:1, no?
So you could do a fired/kill ratio, but not a hit/fired?

Ahh... no. You could hit a person who has Shield. More hits than kills.
But apparently I wasn't thinking when I wrote that...

I *could*. But only if enough of you guys start whining for it.

Hannibal · Post by **Hannibal** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:28 pm

On the size:
Could you put percentages on the shots per flag, instead of just the number of shots. That would be easier, I think, to read then just numbers. And anything below say, 5% of all the shots would be lumped into a 'other' category. Or just left off altogether.

On Ratio:
I thought of the SH deal the minute I closed Firefox. I hoped nobody would notice...

Da Best · Post by **Da Best** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:33 am

You could make it scrollable? then you technically could do it ?

CannonBallGuy · Post by **CannonBallGuy** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:21 pm

The image in use now is pretty small, it's not exactly overbearing.
I would have to say that the text could be a lot smaller though.
I don't have great eyesight but I can read size 7 Verdana.
I should think 9pt Verdana is much smaller than the text used currently, and would allow either more info on the same image, or the same info on a smaller image.
Perhaps you could give people that choice?

Zelgadis · Post by **Zelgadis** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:22 pm

Why is it useless???

I think its a very good idea

gj

Da Best · Post by **Da Best** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:38 pm

BTW, What Servers are being monitored ATM?

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:12 pm

Da Best wrote:You could make it scrollable? then you technically could do it ?

Scrollable images? Dream on.

CannonBallGuy wrote:The image in use now is pretty small, it's not exactly overbearing.
I would have to say that the text could be a lot smaller though.
I don't have great eyesight but I can read size 7 Verdana.
I should think 9pt Verdana is much smaller than the text used currently, and would allow either more info on the same image, or the same info on a smaller image.
Perhaps you could give people that choice?

I don't know, GD has some weird font settings... it's currently set to "4" and the outer text is "3".

1st Consul wrote:Why is it useless???

As Tanner said, "its not useless, its just not interesting to some people".

But as I think, "what the heck are you gonna do knowing that you've fired <x> shots".

Da Best wrote:BTW, What Servers are being monitored ATM?

Have you actually clicked the link and looked at what's on the page?

Right above "All Users" is "Watched Servers", along with each server that's being monitored and the bot that is monitoring, as well as the amount of time since that bot has last reported.

knoxkorner · Post by **knoxkorner** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:57 am

i have a question theme, sense you put it in you sig, would it be updated every time you shot

Davy Jones · Post by **Davy Jones** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:10 am

I would guess not, i think it only shows what it was on the date generated.

A Meteorite · Post by **A Meteorite** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:26 am

anti-spam wrote:i have a question theme, sense you put it in you sig, would it be updated every time you shot

It's updated whenever ShotCounter receives data on you (I believe that each ShotCounter server bot reports every 30 or 60 seconds).

knoxkorner · Post by **knoxkorner** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:59 am

Hey, this isnt useless.....

Davy Jones · Post by **Davy Jones** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:59 pm

Is there a set time when servers are watched, mostly there are no bots when i play, and i would like a sig for that =)

Bobert · Post by **Bobert** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:57 pm

so uve got to always update it

ducktape · Post by **ducktape** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:19 am

it says i only have like 23 shots. idk why.

Tanner · Post by **Tanner** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:41 am

Servers are watched only when they are assigned by a person who knows the page and password to that page (both of which I don't know - sorta sad as I host it).

-Tanner

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:23 am

And the bots are no longer being hosted.

They may one day, but I'm too busy with other projects (right, Tanner?) to continue this.

It was pretty useless.