Those of us in the new Developers Depot section on Smashboards have been hard at work at changing the way we do tournaments here on Smashboards, and are ready to unveil our new work!
First off, User Blogs is now fixed and fully working again! (and hopefully this time permanently...) Feel free to post!
http://www.smashboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=198
Also, clicking on "New Topic" in User Blogs will bring you straight to the "Submit Blog entry" page, no need to go through Smash News to do it!
As for our tournament system, currently tournaments are posted in both Regional Zones and Tournament Listings, but plenty of questions arise... Which forum should I post my tournament in? I can't search by date... There is no easy way for me to see all upcoming events to make sure the one I schedule doesn't conflict with others! Well, we have an answer to all of that.
#1. Tournaments are to no longer be posted in Regional Zones, we will only use Tournament Listings.
#2. Tournament Listings is now "linked" to a calendar we call *drum roll* the Tournament Calendar.
To access the Tournament Calendar, you can find a link for it in the Smash Tournaments section.
With the exception of all tournaments currently made in Tournament Listings, the Tournament Calendar will be in sync with the Tournament Listings forum. If you make a tournament via a calendar entry, a thread will automatically be created for you, and if you make a thread for a tournament a calendar entry will be automatically made for you! Furthermore, since both are in sync, if you edit your Tournament Listings thread, your calendar entry will be updated, and if you edit your calendar entry thread, your Tournament Listings thread will be updated!
#3. Post events with the new system.
As mentioned in the last paragraph, you can enter events in one of two ways, from the Tournament Listings forum or by making a new calendar entry.
Click Ranged Event under Add New Event on the Tournament Calendar.
Click New Post in the Tournament Listings forum.
Both methods of entry use the same form and bring you to the same page. This new page offers a lot more information than how users previously made threads.
Title: The title of your tournament. Example: "Smashboards Tournament"
Start and End Dates: When your tournament starts and ends. For a single day tournament, make them as the same date.
Start and End Times: Post the approximate time your tournament will start and end. This helps with the reminder system, and it is important information for attendees to know. You can be more descriptive in your event description. Either use the set time drop down box OR input it manually in the same fashion, such as "4:45 pm"
Time Zone: So people can see the time correctly and set reminders properly, be sure to enter the time zone your tournament is hosted in. By default this is set to the same time zone you specified in your personal preferences.
Region: This is where your tournament will be hosted. We have all of the main regions of the US, along with other territories tournaments are held in such as Australia, Mexico, Europe, and Canada.
Games: Enter what games will be at your tournament. We have plenty of drop down options pre-set for you, or you can enter in your own games and combinations.
Location: Enter the location of your tournament, example: Philadelphia, PA
Event Information: The thread of your tournament. Everything else goes here and will show up as the thread in Tournament Listings and as the event information in the calendar.
Once you create an event two things happen:
1. A calendar entry is made on the date(s) you created your tournament on. Basic information will be seen and you can click on it for more details.
2. A thread will be made in Tournament Listings. A prefix based on what region it is hosted in will be made on it, and the title of the thread will be in the following format:
/Region/: /Game/: /Title/ /Date/ /Location/
#4. Add your current events to the new system.
Say you already have a Tournament Listings thread you want to work with the new system, we have a solution for you!
Step 1. Make sure you have both a Tournament Listings thread and a calendar entry that you wish to sync together for your tournament. If you do not have one of these, create it first.
Step 2. Visit this page here: http://www.smashboards.com/misc.php?do=page&template=eventforum
Enter the URL of the thread and calendar entry you wish to merge and it will now work in our new system as explained above.
#5. How to find tournaments.
Users now have a plethora of options they can use for finding tournaments. They are mainly accessible through two main methods, Tournament Listings and the Tournament Calendar.
Tournament Listings:
When you visit Tournament Listings you will see every thread for every tournament. Important events will be stickied at the top (the prime way for finding giant National and International events), though you can use prefixes to find the events that mean the most to you.
At the bottom you can select which prefixes you want to view. Since every region is a prefix, you can view only events from a certain region if you want to.
Threads will still be ordered by recent posts by default, so you can check out which events are getting the most attention. If you are looking for a specific game, just scan down the threads and look for the colored titles of Melee, Brawl, etc - they are really easy to find in the list!
Tournament Calendar:
From the calendar you have a bunch of different options for viewing tournaments, specifically tailored to a specific date or time you wish to look for. From the calendar you can click on specific days to see every event being hosted on that day, switch to different months, or even switch to different calendar views, including Weekly View, Monthly View, and Yearly View.
When looking at a list of events on a specific day, you see basic information such as the title, location, game(s), and region, but you can also get a look at the entire description!
What if I want to find a tournament in my region?
On the top of Tournament Listings and every thread in Tournament Listings, there will be a helpful notice on the top you can click to sort tournaments by region!
Once again special thanks to everyone in the Developers Depot for this (especially Bionic who was the main coder in this project) and the rest of the staff for help with testing. If you encounter any problems with the new system or need assistance in using it, please do not hesitate to contact either Bionic or vVv ChiboSempai via PM. (thanks to vVv ChiboSempai for the write-up!)
Discuss!
First off, User Blogs is now fixed and fully working again! (and hopefully this time permanently...) Feel free to post!
http://www.smashboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=198
Also, clicking on "New Topic" in User Blogs will bring you straight to the "Submit Blog entry" page, no need to go through Smash News to do it!
As for our tournament system, currently tournaments are posted in both Regional Zones and Tournament Listings, but plenty of questions arise... Which forum should I post my tournament in? I can't search by date... There is no easy way for me to see all upcoming events to make sure the one I schedule doesn't conflict with others! Well, we have an answer to all of that.
#1. Tournaments are to no longer be posted in Regional Zones, we will only use Tournament Listings.
#2. Tournament Listings is now "linked" to a calendar we call *drum roll* the Tournament Calendar.
To access the Tournament Calendar, you can find a link for it in the Smash Tournaments section.
With the exception of all tournaments currently made in Tournament Listings, the Tournament Calendar will be in sync with the Tournament Listings forum. If you make a tournament via a calendar entry, a thread will automatically be created for you, and if you make a thread for a tournament a calendar entry will be automatically made for you! Furthermore, since both are in sync, if you edit your Tournament Listings thread, your calendar entry will be updated, and if you edit your calendar entry thread, your Tournament Listings thread will be updated!
#3. Post events with the new system.
As mentioned in the last paragraph, you can enter events in one of two ways, from the Tournament Listings forum or by making a new calendar entry.
Click Ranged Event under Add New Event on the Tournament Calendar.
Click New Post in the Tournament Listings forum.
Both methods of entry use the same form and bring you to the same page. This new page offers a lot more information than how users previously made threads.
Title: The title of your tournament. Example: "Smashboards Tournament"
Start and End Dates: When your tournament starts and ends. For a single day tournament, make them as the same date.
Start and End Times: Post the approximate time your tournament will start and end. This helps with the reminder system, and it is important information for attendees to know. You can be more descriptive in your event description. Either use the set time drop down box OR input it manually in the same fashion, such as "4:45 pm"
Time Zone: So people can see the time correctly and set reminders properly, be sure to enter the time zone your tournament is hosted in. By default this is set to the same time zone you specified in your personal preferences.
Region: This is where your tournament will be hosted. We have all of the main regions of the US, along with other territories tournaments are held in such as Australia, Mexico, Europe, and Canada.
Games: Enter what games will be at your tournament. We have plenty of drop down options pre-set for you, or you can enter in your own games and combinations.
Location: Enter the location of your tournament, example: Philadelphia, PA
Event Information: The thread of your tournament. Everything else goes here and will show up as the thread in Tournament Listings and as the event information in the calendar.
Once you create an event two things happen:
1. A calendar entry is made on the date(s) you created your tournament on. Basic information will be seen and you can click on it for more details.
2. A thread will be made in Tournament Listings. A prefix based on what region it is hosted in will be made on it, and the title of the thread will be in the following format:
/Region/: /Game/: /Title/ /Date/ /Location/
#4. Add your current events to the new system.
Say you already have a Tournament Listings thread you want to work with the new system, we have a solution for you!
Step 1. Make sure you have both a Tournament Listings thread and a calendar entry that you wish to sync together for your tournament. If you do not have one of these, create it first.
Step 2. Visit this page here: http://www.smashboards.com/misc.php?do=page&template=eventforum
Enter the URL of the thread and calendar entry you wish to merge and it will now work in our new system as explained above.
#5. How to find tournaments.
Users now have a plethora of options they can use for finding tournaments. They are mainly accessible through two main methods, Tournament Listings and the Tournament Calendar.
Tournament Listings:
When you visit Tournament Listings you will see every thread for every tournament. Important events will be stickied at the top (the prime way for finding giant National and International events), though you can use prefixes to find the events that mean the most to you.
At the bottom you can select which prefixes you want to view. Since every region is a prefix, you can view only events from a certain region if you want to.
Threads will still be ordered by recent posts by default, so you can check out which events are getting the most attention. If you are looking for a specific game, just scan down the threads and look for the colored titles of Melee, Brawl, etc - they are really easy to find in the list!
Tournament Calendar:
From the calendar you have a bunch of different options for viewing tournaments, specifically tailored to a specific date or time you wish to look for. From the calendar you can click on specific days to see every event being hosted on that day, switch to different months, or even switch to different calendar views, including Weekly View, Monthly View, and Yearly View.
When looking at a list of events on a specific day, you see basic information such as the title, location, game(s), and region, but you can also get a look at the entire description!
What if I want to find a tournament in my region?
On the top of Tournament Listings and every thread in Tournament Listings, there will be a helpful notice on the top you can click to sort tournaments by region!
Once again special thanks to everyone in the Developers Depot for this (especially Bionic who was the main coder in this project) and the rest of the staff for help with testing. If you encounter any problems with the new system or need assistance in using it, please do not hesitate to contact either Bionic or vVv ChiboSempai via PM. (thanks to vVv ChiboSempai for the write-up!)
Discuss!
