Welcome to Codex
posted by Breadmower on Sun 6th May, 07 at 00:00:00
If you're feeling particularly observant, you might have noticed a few changes to Mastermind - most notably that it's not called Mastermind any more!
Yes, the big update has finally happened, and in addition to a lot of cosmetic changes, we're now sporting a new name: Codex. Don't worry - despite the new look and new moniker, it's still the same game: find the coloured code in as few guesses as possible.
New features include:
- Get to know your opponents - their req.co.uk profiles and avatars are displayed on their Codex pages
- Track your friends - see them highlighted on the leaderboard, or use your personalised leaderboard to check if you're winning
- Expanded statistics let you follow the race for the top of the leaderboard
- A new tutorial and FAQ will help you learn how to play
What are you waiting for? Play some Codex!
It looks beautiful! I can see why it has taken you so long :-) - there is so much in there now. Haven't got used to all the new features and layouts yet - but it looks great so far! Haven't found any problems yet - but I'll keep looking! Heehee.
Woo! Yay! Go codex :D its cool when you dont get lost hehe
It look wonderful the site is great when you can find your way round.
Thanksposted by Breadmower on Sun 6th May, 07 at 21:56:49Thank you very much Bunnery, Sarah and Sharon - it's good to hear that you all like it :-)
I don't like the triangles. The rest is pretty cool though!
Trianglesposted by Breadmower on Sun 6th May, 07 at 21:52:24Ah - those triangles! They happened by accident, anyway :-) I've fixed that now too. Anything else?
Oh, and it still says Mastermind, on the Register page, at the bottom, where it says "if another user challenges you to a game of Mastermind" or something. Just thought you'd like to know!
Mastermind -> Codexposted by Breadmower on Sun 6th May, 07 at 21:44:30Well spotted - I've changed that now. Thanks :-)
Hey Bread.
On the personal stats page can we have a similar breakdown of the week's games but on an individual basis.
so I too can have a fancy spikey graph?
Hey Bread,
In addition to the request for a personal graph on our Codex pages showing our weekly average game score and its peaks and troughs I have another.
When the Leaderboard RSS is sent can it state whether the player increased or decreased their weekly average, please? I can see the data is available (probabaly not derived.... but stored against the game?). Cheers, its just I'm trying to hold DOM off at the moment!
Cheers again.
Yes, yesposted by Breadmower on Fri 22nd Jun, 07 at 22:10:48I am reading them, don't worry - your first suggestion is on the list for this week (hopefully). As for the second one, do you mean increased/decreased relative to the previous week, or shorter term than that?
I knew you were!posted by bin1 on Sat 23rd Jun, 07 at 09:38:32The shorter term option.
I'm sitting at work (not working) my RSS subscription updates and tells me that DOM is now 2nd with 2.4. I know he was 2nd earlier today but can't remember his score, or whether he was on 2.41 or 2.39 and its been rounded). The RSS still says I'm 1st with 2.3.... what do I do? Down tools and login to play Codex.... or hang on 'til evening.
Alternatively I could wake up and GAFL.
Honestly, I'm only looking for increasingly difficult improvements to achieve perfect Codex.
I'd prefer the personal graph if its a choice. We can't all be in the top 5.... I'm 6th now, darn it.
Personal graphsposted by Breadmower on Sat 23rd Jun, 07 at 10:21:08Morning,
I put together a quick personal trend graph last night - it shows you and the other top four players on your personal leaderboard. That work for you? Oh, and at some point I'll redo the graphs so that they look a little less ugly (and maybe even have a scale, so that they mean something).
As for the leaderboard RSS, yeah, that's a good idea, but I need to ponder how to implement it for a while. At the moment, the RSS feed is updated every time someone plays a game, rather than on a regular basis, so it's difficult to do it since the last update (as you probably weren't looking at it last time it was updated, if that makes sense). Perhaps something like "DOM 2.4 [+0.1 in last hour]" would work. Maybe even "[+0.1 today]".
*DOM blushes*posted by bin1 on Sat 23rd Jun, 07 at 20:25:14I hope DOM realises the reverence we all have for him and his epic game play. His average over so many games speaks volumes.
Sounds great, Bread.
Love the new personal graph, better than I asked for with the other players also shown. Now I have an incentive to play every day, even if I do have work commitments (as if I ever had any commitment!)
Cheers.
RSS changeposted by Breadmower on Mon 25th Jun, 07 at 17:53:39OK, how's that for you? It's currently set to show the delta for the last hour, but I might change it to something a bit larger (6 hours?), as it doesn't tend to show much at the moment.
Small things...posted by Breadmower on Tue 26th Jun, 07 at 13:03:42Bin1, that RSS idea's great! Funny how something small can be so cool, eh? (BTW, "last hour" wasn't very interesting, so it's now "last six hours")
You're rightposted by bin1 on Tue 26th Jun, 07 at 16:15:53Nice. Highly motivating and informative. Sounds like you.
.... minor upgrade to whole login is my next suggestion.
"Login to reply to this comment"..... should take me to login screen, once verified I should return to the page I initially clicked from to login. I know how I would do it but not sure with your fancy clean urls.
Enjoy.
On the listposted by Breadmower on Tue 26th Jun, 07 at 19:55:26That's actually on the list already - I've been testing it on the sly in a few areas of the site, and it seems to work OK. It'll be properly implemented when the non-Codex parts of the site get their upgrade, which will be, ohhh, maybe some time in the next six weeks or so... possibly... but don't quote me on that...
Actually, one of the other useful things in the upgrade is that your user page will show when people reply to your posts/comments, so you don't need to keep checking everything (or subscribe to every RSS comment feed). It's very handy :-)
... Is this a problem?
Possibly from the RSS score update (I had increased my average over the last 6 hours) the averages seem wrong in game (might be me being stupid).
I completed a game in a truely unmagnificent 5... but the page tells me:
"This game increased your average number of guesses for the week to 5.3191, putting you in 7th place on the weekly leaderboard."
Technically impossible (or am I tired). I was already at 5.3something so it should have been a decrease as 5 is less than 5.something
Game number 16651. Cheers!
update.posted by bin1 on Thu 28th Jun, 07 at 16:40:16Game 16652: message correct. Raised average.
Too busy and tired to try and lower it... maybe later.
There appears a problemposted by bin1 on Thu 28th Jun, 07 at 17:19:37Played again (just can't stop playing)... and produced a game lower than my current average.
Again, I was told I'd increased my average. Viewed the game using the [show last 10 completed games all users] option.... now it tells me (correctly) that I decreased my average.
Seems the game's immediate message is wrong....
Will investigateposted by Breadmower on Thu 28th Jun, 07 at 20:18:29Hmmm... interesting - I'll take a look at it, but might not be able to get a fix done before Saturday. I've been contemplating recoding that announcement, anyway - someone commented a while ago that it's not immediately obvious that the details there are point-in-time, so I might change the wording, check the calculation, and put in the oft requested "play your next waiting game" link.
Possibly fixedposted by Breadmower on Sat 30th Jun, 07 at 17:40:42I've just had a quick look through the code, and might have spotted the problem - I think it's to do with the timestamps that are used for calculating your old and new average (basically, when you first complete the game, the value for the calculation is off by a few milliseconds, but when you look at the page again later, it uses the correct value).
Hopefully it should be sorted now - I've had a quick look, and it seems OK, but just shout if it's still happening.
..... I'm sure you're modularising your code... can we have the "most improved" "lost the knack" type of stats on our personal stats page, please? Something live "current weeks vs overall progress"
Cheers.
PS I wore your work badge today, while you're away.
It'll be hard to demonstrate (unless you logon as me, I'm sure you remember my password):
Added DOM as friend (so I can monitor his progress against mine this week!),went to my personal stats page and he's played 324 games..... not 162 as it shows on leaderboard or on his own stat page. At the time of writing 324 is suspiciously close to 162 + 163 (his and mine added).
Boring, I know.
In addition, his personal page said he had a game waiting, but once I'd visited his page to see he hadn't (I'm that competitive!) returning his personal page then correctly said he had none waiting.
Even more boring.... I know.
Don't think the above was a caching issue, as I can't remember visiting DOM's personal page before....
Cheers =)
Sortedposted by Breadmower on Sat 4th Aug, 07 at 19:37:41Mmm... nicely spotted, though you weren't quite right with the diagnosis: 324 = 162 +162. Somehow you'd managed to add him as a friend twice (I must be missing a check somewhere), and so it counted his games twice on your personal leaderboard.
As for the number of games waiting, I'm not sure - will have to have a look at that. He did have one expire at 18:42, so depending on when you were looking, it might be that it expired between you looking at his personal page and looking at his games.
We can see you....posted by bin1 on Sun 5th Aug, 07 at 09:29:23Cool. But found another.
5 August, 8.52 new Four black Pegs blog post shown on blog listing... but open up the blog and I'm guessing its still in a draft form. Quick fix and you can even add it to this week's development!
DOMs missing game: expired game is possible, I only checked time/date for game last played.
Cheers
Ghost postsposted by Breadmower on Sun 5th Aug, 07 at 12:02:52Well spotted, but I'm afraid that Smonkey gets the credit, as she mentioned it last week, though I haven't got around to fixing it (it'll be included in The Big Non-Codex Req.co.uk Update, when that eventually happens).
Looking at your personal stats... I can't make 4.4 from your last 5 games.... 5.2
What am I missing?
Ummmposted by Breadmower on Sun 19th Aug, 07 at 14:51:01You know, that is a very good point. Hmmm...
Ah [bleep]posted by Breadmower on Sun 19th Aug, 07 at 15:00:12Yeah, I introduced a bug earlier where it's recording one less than the correct number of guesses for games. I've fixed it, but just need to recalculate the incorrect data. Give me a few minutes...
Sortedposted by Breadmower on Sun 19th Aug, 07 at 15:26:50Right, fixed it all now - well spotted, and sorry for confusing everyone :-)
Super coolposted by bin1 on Sun 19th Aug, 07 at 17:00:57Titles says it all.
.... number 52 was meant to be a milestone. Instead its haunting me. I can't see it... only a draft. Is this the threat from #51? We have to write our own newsletter, not just cut and paste.
I've had a go at the draft, apologies but I didn't know if I should, but after a day of worrying I felt everything depended on me! I've kind of finished, but its a pale comparrison to yours (Bread/Bunnery....)
Is this some kind of test, who's going to publish the draft first? Do we all have individual versions of the draft, to see who buckles first and publishes theirs?
I'm buckling.... where's newletter #52. I'm missing an important part of my week. I'm feeling terribly vunerable and alone.
Seem odd
??posted by Breadmower on Sun 10th Feb, 08 at 08:43:42Mmmm?