(Topic ID: 191134)

My Custom Gameroom High Score App

By pezpunk

6 years ago


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  • 397 posts
  • 79 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Tsskinne
  • Topic is favorited by 107 Pinsiders

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    There are 397 posts in this topic. You are on page 3 of 8.
    #101 6 years ago
    Quoted from Marcdaddy:

    Pezpunk so what would be the best setup running it off of a larger touch screen thays wall mounted? I'll most likely have it setup on a ipad2, does it screen mirror to the larger touch screen?

    Ideally, the bigger the better, in my opinion.

    While an iPad2 by itself should work, Apple does not allow external touchscreen control of its devices. You can use a dongle to mirror the iPad to a larger display, but the larger display's touchscreen will not be able to control the iPad. Just mirror it.

    My setup right now is a 24" touchscreen i bought off Amazon for about $250, and i'm using it in portrait mode. If you have more than 4 games, you might want landscape mode instead. I'm using an old laptop to run it.

    It also works flawlessly on my Surface Pro.

    Part of the beta process will be figuring out what the cheapest possible configuration is that can run the thing.

    #102 6 years ago

    Looks awesome, great idea, I'm in!

    #103 6 years ago

    Theoretically, could you set up the games to include arcade titles as well, say Pac-Man for example?

    #104 6 years ago
    Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

    Theoretically, could you set up the games to include arcade titles as well, say Pac-Man for example?

    +10

    #105 6 years ago

    Maybe I missed this?; can custom games and art for those custom games be added?

    That would fix the whole "adding arcade titles" to the mix.

    I have several arcade games that would benefit from this as well

    #106 6 years ago
    Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

    Theoretically, could you set up the games to include arcade titles as well, say Pac-Man for example?

    yes! You can name a column whatever you want.

    Quoted from Chosen_S:

    Maybe I missed this?; can custom games and art for those custom games be added?
    That would fix the whole "adding arcade titles" to the mix.
    I have several arcade games that would benefit from this as well

    Yes! You can add whatever background and header art you want to each column. If you know CSS, you can change the fonts too, or pick from a large set of pre-made "styles" that i'm creating.

    Speaking of these style presets i'm making -- many games will automatically apply a style when you type them in -- so if you create a column for "Twilight Zone" or "Medieval Madness" it will automatically be styled for that game (minus the header image -- I don't think I can legally supply copyrighted translite images -- you will simply have to add your own). I can't do an automatic style for EVERY pinball machine, but I'm targeting the most popular and most common titles for these pre-made styles.

    #107 6 years ago

    Oh and I'm happy to announce I'll be starting the BETA TEST within a week. If anyone would like to volunteer to help test it out, please PM me, and i'll keep you in mind. Thanks!

    #108 6 years ago

    Glad to see this moving along. This is such an incredible idea and very glad you are doing this and going to make this available for us. This is such an amazing thing to have to complete any gameroom small or large. Possible with larger collections you could have multiple screens to cover a collection. Thank you again for making this possible.

    #109 6 years ago

    Weekend bump for a great guy doing an awesome thing.

    #110 6 years ago

    oh man i am so excited ... the beta test is going to start Saturday ... i can't wait for other people to get to try it out for the first time! i've put a lot of work into this and there are several features and easter eggs that haven't been shown yet.

    If you volunteered for the beta test and did not receive an email from me, please check your spam folder and then let me know. thank you!!

    #111 6 years ago

    Woot!

    #112 6 years ago
    Quoted from pezpunk:

    i can't wait for other people to get to try it out for the first time!

    I'm planning to have a few neighbors over to play tomorrow, and I'm going to try to get them to break iScored. Actually, I'm curious about how it will work out. A question that I thought of this morning; Are there any options to block certain actions? Say, anyone can add a score to an existing game, but require password entry to delete a score, delete a game, or add a new game.

    #113 6 years ago
    Quoted from herg:

    I'm planning to have a few neighbors over to play tomorrow, and I'm going to try to get them to break iScored. Actually, I'm curious about how it will work out. A question that I thought of this morning; Are there any options to block certain actions? Say, anyone can add a score to an existing game, but require password entry to delete a score, delete a game, or add a new game.

    Score entry is not password protected. the settings screen (where you can add or delete games or mess with config) is going to be "lockable" by the owner. When setting up the app, you may be switching often between the settings screen and the main page. But once you're done, you can click a lock icon and then it requires your password to get back to settings again.

    #114 6 years ago

    I thought of a question on the way to work too. Is there a way to temporarily hide a game? For example, let's say you have a game in iScored and then sell the game. Two weeks later you realize you made a huge mistake and buy the game back. Is there a way to hide your high scores for that game and then unhide them once the game is back in your basement?

    #115 6 years ago
    Quoted from Fifty:

    I thought of a question on the way to work too. Is there a way to temporarily hide a game? For example, let's say you have a game in iScored and then sell the game. Two weeks later you realize you made a huge mistake and buy the game back. Is there a way to hide your high scores for that game and then unhide them once the game is back in your basement?

    That's a feature that's already on the list for version 2.0, but it won't make it into this version.

    #116 6 years ago
    Quoted from pezpunk:

    it just runs through the browser in full-screen mode, so any device with a browser and internet can run it, even one of those $100 stick PCs.

    First, kudos on this one. I'm thinking 24" touchscreen with RPi or similar. That will allow me to build a nice thin mahogany box to house both the PC and the screen. Then I can either hang it on the wall or simply set it on the counter of the bar. I'm anxious to see how this progresses.

    #117 6 years ago

    This looks like a fantastic app. You can run it on an iPad and use air-play to mirror it to a large wall mounted TV during game nights/parties. It sounds like a neat setup. Thanks for creating this Pezpunk. Well done!

    #118 6 years ago
    Quoted from Oldgoat:

    First, kudos on this one. I'm thinking 24" touchscreen with RPi or similar. That will allow me to build a nice thin mahogany box to house both the PC and the screen. Then I can either hang it on the wall or simply set it on the counter of the bar. I'm anxious to see how this progresses.

    It will be interesting to see if a Raspberry Pi is powerful enough. There's a fair amount of JavaScript behind the scenes of the site. I know web browsing in general is one of the things RPi struggles with.

    #119 6 years ago

    Hmmm... If a Pi (specifically a Pi3) won't handle it, I'd say a lot a tablets won't either. I don't expect it to be a problem, though. I use a Pi3 to host a web interface that controls my 3D printer, including video from a USB camera attached to it.

    Edit: Granted I'm talking server side, but I have also used the browser on the same Pi3 to connect to it.

    #120 6 years ago

    Guess we'll know tomorrow!

    #121 6 years ago

    Looking forward to it!

    #122 6 years ago

    Alright, the beta test has officially begun! If I PM'd you saying you were in the beta, but you haven't received an email from [email protected] with your credentials, let me know. have fun!

    #123 6 years ago

    I'll be traveling tomorrow possibly, but I'll jack in as soon as I get to my permanent residence

    #124 6 years ago

    Using mostly default styles, with only a few edits, here's a sample of what mine looks like.

    Fullscreen capture 8262017 111106 AM (resized).jpgFullscreen capture 8262017 111106 AM (resized).jpg

    #125 6 years ago

    Got it. I'll put it through it's paces tonight!

    #126 6 years ago

    Have it running on an Ipad gen 1.

    #127 6 years ago

    I think I just crashed the website. I clicked on Game Room and the screen went white. Then the Game Room screen came up but all the games I had entered were gone. A refresh didn't recover anything.

    I had 4 games set up with 1 score inputted on each game.

    Sorry!!!

    One comment, improvement I'd like to see is a set amount of space reserved for the title of the game. The scores don't line up and that drives my OCD crazy. I'm inputting spaces just to keep things aligned.

    I would also like to suggest allowing users to upload different styles for the entire community to use. I would put a bunch of time into designing a style for myself and for others to share if I had the game. Not so much for a game I don't own though.

    #128 6 years ago

    The email was not specific. Do you want our findings on this open forum or through email?

    #129 6 years ago

    I'm happy to see traction on this.

    #130 6 years ago
    Quoted from Fifty:

    I think I just crashed the website. I clicked on Game Room and the screen went white. Then the Game Room screen came up but all the games I had entered were gone. A refresh didn't recover anything.
    I had 4 games set up with 1 score inputted on each game.
    Sorry!!!

    fifty (resized).pngfifty (resized).png

    Your account seems to be working okay to me. Maybe it was a temporary network glitch. I've noticed the web host i'm using has had occasional moments of extreme lag unrelated to my code. I have a ticket open.

    Quoted from Fifty:

    One comment, improvement I'd like to see is a set amount of space reserved for the title of the game. The scores don't line up and that drives my OCD crazy. I'm inputting spaces just to keep things aligned.

    This is a great suggestion. Lining up the bottom margin of the game titles is something that bothers me too! I will see if i can come up with something.

    Quoted from Fifty:

    I would also like to suggest allowing users to upload different styles for the entire community to use. I would put a bunch of time into designing a style for myself and for others to share if I had the game. Not so much for a game I don't own though.

    Yeah, When I put all these customization features in, I didn't know if they'd be worth the programming effort, but it looks like a lot of people are having fun messing around with the styles, so I am going to make that aspect more robust in the future -- coming soon will be a help popup that among other things lists all the valid fonts you can use. As for community-generated styles, hell yeah, great idea. I can't get that into the initial release but it's definitely something I want to develop.

    Quoted from Lonzo:

    The email was not specific. Do you want our findings on this open forum or through email?

    Good question. Either is fine. I'm consolidating things into various lists for myself behind the scenes anyway. If you have a serious concern or security flaw or something like that, email might be more appropriate. Otherwise I'm happy to chat here.

    #131 6 years ago

    I have started playing around with using images for the game headers. Do you know if it's possible to use transparency? I know there were some concerns about copyright on images, but a database of title images would be awesome.

    Edit: Nevermind. I just answered my own question. I used GIMP to erase the background of my AFM image and saved it as a PNG with transparency. I still need to clean up the edges, but...

    Fullscreen capture 8272017 73458 AM (resized).jpgFullscreen capture 8272017 73458 AM (resized).jpg

    It sure would be nice if we could share the work of image editing, though.

    #132 6 years ago

    Transparency works (either GIF or PNG).

    As for a database of pinball title images, that would be super useful and save everyone a lot of time messing with fonts and CSS, and it looks way better! (and would save people time messing around with image editors)

    My gut feeling, though, is that there's a possibility the IP owners of these backglass images and logos might object to me hosting a database of them. The images are only 250px wide, which is pretty tiny resolution, if that makes any difference. Any lawyers or IP experts out there want to weigh in?

    #133 6 years ago

    I am not an IP expert by any means, but I'm sure certain people wouldn't allow it without a fight. Maybe we can talk to Spooky to get permission, then the other will follow suit when they see how shitty their titles look compared to the Spooky ones.

    Using the images and picking a consistent resolution also works as a way to line up the top edges. I'm using 250x100 pixels in these three. I'm already tired of image editing, though.

    Fullscreen capture 8272017 90422 AM (resized).jpgFullscreen capture 8272017 90422 AM (resized).jpg

    #134 6 years ago

    The thing is, maybe, that there is no money involved, so I think this would be fair use? Once you start charging for the site, maybe not.

    #135 6 years ago
    Quoted from aobrien5:

    The thing is, maybe, that there is no money involved, so I think this would be fair use? Once you start charging for the site, maybe not.

    This.

    If this is a free piece of software then the images are fair game. Once the images are edited properly they just have to be uploaded to a file sharing program and then they are on the internet forever. As long as you are able to use a search engine properly you'll find them.

    Of course it may just be better to get permission. As herg stated they don't want their images looking like shit beside other prestine ones.

    Oh, and pezpunk looks like there needs to be a default font size or default size reserved for scores as well. The scores in herg image are misaligned as well even though the title spacing is identical.

    Quoted from pezpunk:

    Y
    Yeah, When I put all these customization features in, I didn't know if they'd be worth the programming effort, but it looks like a lot of people are having fun messing around with the styles, so I am going to make that aspect more robust in the future -- coming soon will be a help popup that among other things lists all the valid fonts you can use. As for community-generated styles, hell yeah, great idea. I can't get that into the initial release but it's definitely something I want to develop.

    Hell yeah, add the feature and then let the users do the work! There are always nutcases out there that will spend hours designing something!

    #136 6 years ago
    Quoted from aobrien5:

    The thing is, maybe, that there is no money involved, so I think this would be fair use? Once you start charging for the site, maybe not.

    Well, I guess I should clarify so that there's no confusion -- I do intend to charge something for it once it's ready for prime time. Don't worry, I don't want to do any kind of subscription-based crap. Just a one-time fee for lifetime access. Not trying to get rich -- I simply hope to at least cover my web hosting costs.

    Quoted from Fifty:

    Oh, and pezpunk looks like there needs to be a default font size or default size reserved for scores as well. The scores in herg image are misaligned as well even though the title spacing is identical.

    if you're talking about the scoreboxes in different columns being different sizes .. that's more or less by design. they're going to have different fonts and font sizes, and i'd rather have the score boxes grow and shrink to fit those fonts rather than risk the text not fitting in them. you could actually change that by editing the css for the scorebox yourself, and applying max-height and min-height values. something like: max-height: 120px ; min-height: 120px;

    Quoted from Fifty:

    Hell yeah, add the feature and then let the users do the work! There are always nutcases out there that will spend hours designing something!

    i am a nutcase who has spent hundreds of hours designing this, so yes i agree.

    #137 6 years ago

    would something like one of these chinese x96 stream boxes work? They are cheap.

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/X96-Android-6-0-TV-Box-Amlogic-S905X-Max-2GB-RAM-16GB-ROM-Quad-Core-WIFI/32721280050.html

    I have one on my work shop's tv and it works pretty well. It is basically just an android box with HDMI out and lots of other ports. A non portable tablet that plugs into the tv sort of. I use it to access my Serviio DLNA media library via Kodi and watch Sling TV. It has a functional web browser in it. I think it supports a touch screen too. I have plugged a few USB things into it that work, like a keypad with touch pad area like laptops have.

    #138 6 years ago
    Quoted from barakandl:

    would something like one of these chinese x96 stream boxes work? They are cheap.
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/X96-Android-6-0-TV-Box-Amlogic-S905X-Max-2GB-RAM-16GB-ROM-Quad-Core-WIFI/32721280050.html
    I have one on my work shop's tv and it works pretty well. It is basically just an android box with HDMI out and lots of other ports. A non portable tablet that plugs into the tv sort of. I use it to access my Serviio DLNA media library via Kodi and watch Sling TV. It has a functional web browser in it. I think it supports a touch screen too. I have plugged a few USB things into it that work, like a keypad with touch pad area like laptops have.

    I think so. I have testers who have now reported it works on a first-generation iPad and on an Amazon Fire 7 tablet, as well as several other Android devices. It looks like the X96 has Chrome as its default browser. That should work fine.

    #139 6 years ago
    Quoted from pezpunk:

    I think so. I have testers who have now reported it works on a first-generation iPad and on an Amazon Fire 7 tablet, as well as several other Android devices. It looks like the X96 has Chrome as its default browser. That should work fine.

    ok cool. I can test it on the x96 hardware if you like.

    #140 6 years ago

    Bumping so I can follow progress. This will work great at the cafe! Plus save me labour costs on doing the chalk boards!

    #141 6 years ago

    The Impact font does not appear the same on my Android devices as on Windows. I'm guessing it's not installed and I'm seeing a default substitute. Problem is, I really like the font. Do any Android gurus know if there is a way too add it?

    #142 6 years ago

    That's my bad, referencing a Windows-specific font instead of the web fonts installed on the server...

    #143 6 years ago

    Watching for sure, always thought an idea like this mounted to the wall, would encourage more people to play. Plus, I think it would look really cool too.

    #144 6 years ago

    First of all, looking great so far. Most of the things I list are minor. I plan on hooking to an external screen this evening and do some more testing.

    1. When you are setting up the game. There needs to be a "none" selection for the style. If you select a style and you decide that none of them fit, you cannot go back to none.

    2. I think that there should be an "Add Game" button when you are adding a game. So nothing is saved when you are setting up a game until you hit the button. So you go through and customize your game and then when you are done, you hit the ADD button and it adds it to your list. When you add a custom game, the dropdown list of games shows it as a blank. The button could maybe help with that. The first time I added a custom game I had no idea if it was working because of the blank name in the list. When I hit Add New Game and looked at the list, the previous game was finally listed by name.

    3. I think there needs to be color options for the Name Text, scores, boxes also. Not just the background. If you select a style, you can only change the background color and then the rest may not fit the game.

    4. I am not sure what the purpose of the dropdown list for the games is, if the only thing it does is load the name. That is easy enough to do by typing it in. I understand the IP issues as discussed earlier in this thread but it would be so nice to have at least the backglass for each game but if it cant be done, it cant be done. I love the way your pictures look of your setup so when I set my first game up, I was a little disappointed that I would have to make all that myself. I think that maybe all games on starting with solid State should be included in the list. Of my 13 games, Only three were on the list and only 1 had a style.

    5. In the score box, on some styles, the scores have too many numbers and do not fit in the box. If they are too big it goes off the right side of the box.

    6. I have tested it on a windows computer and iPad Mini. With the computer, I had to use the arrow keys to scroll left and right through the list. I would like to see an arrows on the screen somewhere.

    7. The green score on the I500 style is a little hard to read on the iPad Mini but looks fine on the computer.

    8. The toggle full screen button works fine with the computer but doesn't seem to do anything on the iPad Mini. I always have the top headers showing.

    Keep up the good work and this will be a great addition to every gameroom.

    #145 6 years ago

    The site seems to be running slower today than last night, but I have not been able to isolate if it is on my end or the site.

    I'm not sure if this is even possible but I just thought of something that in my case would be great. Is there a way that the website could be "live"? And what I mean by that is could you have one computer running it on a big screen and then be able to enter the scores on an ipad and the big screen would immediately refresh. You can do it right now but you have to go to the other computer and refresh it to make it change. For me, that would be a perfect setup as I have a 55 inch screen hanging on the wall that I could power by a laptop. I could then have the ipad on the counter that could be used for the entries. Like I said, not sure if this could even be done.

    #146 6 years ago
    Quoted from Lonzo:

    one computer running it on a big screen and then be able to enter the scores on an ipad and the big screen would immediately refresh

    Wouldnt this be possible with an iPad and an Apple TV. Set the iPad to airplay on the tv and it would mirror the display.

    I can't wait for a final version, this looks cool. Great work

    #147 6 years ago

    I am getting inconsistent results on the mobile scaling factor on my ipad mini. I started at 0 and went to 1 in .1 increments. At 0 I showed 2 games. As I got to .3 each increment would make more visible. Then .4 .5 and .6 were all the same. Then above .6 it started to zoom in again. Nothing changed above 1.0

    I did the same test again and I did not get the same results. It almost seems like the settings are not always being used.

    The way I did the test was to change it on my laptop and then refresh my laptop to see the change.

    #148 6 years ago
    Quoted from Luckydogg420:

    Wouldnt this be possible with an iPad and an Apple TV. Set the iPad to airplay on the tv and it would mirror the display.
    I can't wait for a final version, this looks cool. Great work

    It probably would. I do not have an airplay system at this time to test.

    #149 6 years ago

    Gents, there's a ton of work already done on the image front... Visual Pinball enthusiasts have been hard at work for quite a while

    http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showcat=27

    theres also more places to get these images from as well, just google "pinball name" "wheel" or "logo"

    #150 6 years ago
    Quoted from Lonzo:

    2. I think that there should be an "Add Game" button when you are adding a game. So nothing is saved when you are setting up a game until you hit the button. So you go through and customize your game and then when you are done, you hit the ADD button and it adds it to your list. When you add a custom game, the dropdown list of games shows it as a blank. The button could maybe help with that. The first time I added a custom game I had no idea if it was working because of the blank name in the list. When I hit Add New Game and looked at the list, the previous game was finally listed by name.

    I agree with this one. I had the same difficulty and didn't even realize what was happening until it was done.

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