Silent Matt

Wow, we passed 200,000 Yahtzee games today with a combined 48,534,544 points! And if you’re curious, there are over 1,100 active (played at least one game) registered users.

So I was going to take a break from working on Yahtzee and actually play Yahtzee, but I didn’t. Too bad.

There will be a one-hour maintenance period starting at around 8pm Eastern today (midnight UTC). Single player games should still work, but you won’t be able to save your scores or create a profile if you don’t already have one. Multiplayer games will not work.

If you’d like to continue keeping track of your scores during the partial downtime, you can leave the page open and click the “retry” link on the error messages once everything is back to normal.

Multiplayer is still in beta, but I’ve moved it to the main site, so everyone gets the other improvements. I think I’m pretty close to removing the “beta” label, but I want to get some more games in just to make sure everything works correctly. So find some friends to play with! As always, I welcome any feedback, criticism, questions, ideas, etc.

Here are some of the improvements since last time:

• Retry score submissions. Once in awhile, checking for a high score or submitting your score (to the high score list or just for statistical purposes) will fail. Now, instead of just losing that game to the ether, you can retry it!
• Multiplayer games should work for more than two hours. The connection between you and the other players expires after awhile so it doesn’t tie up server resources forever. When it expires the game should reconnect automatically.
• Minor bug fixes. Along the way, some of the changes broke some features of the mobile version. It should be back to normal now. There was also a bug where the game would never end if the last player left the game on their turn.

There have been lots of changes so far for multiplayer games. Besides various minor bug fixes and improvements, I’ve implemented several new features:

1. Chat – I just added that today, so there are likely to be issues. For now, the chat log isn’t saved, so if you refresh the page, you won’t be able to see any old messages. Eventually I’ll keep the last 10 or so messages available so you can see what you missed.
2. Email invitations – Put in your friend’s email address and send them the link (and password) to join your game.
3. Joining a game should be much easier if you’re not already signed in – After you sign in, you should be taken back to the “join game” page. If you haven’t created a profile yet, you’ll have to do that first.
4. New option to disable the random.org extension – It doesn’t actually run on the multiplayer version yet, but once it’s out of beta, you’ll be able to disable the extension. About a week ago, random.org was down and it broke the game for people using the extension. I fixed the bug that kept it from working at all, but you’ll still have a delay if there’s a problem. Now you can disable the extension from the options panel if there’s a problem.

The most commonly requested feature for Yahtzee is multiplayer support (seriously, like… three people have asked for it). Being the accommodating guy that I am, I’ve been slaving away at working on it once in awhile for the last week or so, and it’s about ready to be released as a beta.

Before I get into what’s new and what’s coming, here’s the link: http://multiplayer.silent-matt.appspot.com/multiplayer/create.

Remember this is still a beta, so you’ll probably find bugs, and it may change often or completely disappear.

It should be pretty simple to get started. If it’s confusing, please let me know so I can improve the process for other people. The link above, should take you directly to a page where you can choose a password, or just click “Create Game” to let the game pick one for you. If you’re not logged in (you won’t be the first time) you will need to sign in with your normal Google account or OpenID (you need a profile for multiplayer… see below).

Once you choose a password and click “Create Game”, you’ll see a page with a link to share with whoever you wan to play with and a reminder of your password. For now, you’ll need to send it via email, IM, carrier pigeon, etc. When your friend goes to the link (and signs in), they will see a page similar to yours, and they’ll show up in the player list. Once enough people have joined the game, click “Start Game”. Only the player who created the game can start it.

After you start the game, you’ll see the normal Yahtzee page, plus a list of players and scores across the top. The player whose turn it is should be highlighted. You can hover your mouse over a player’s name to see their score card at any time. That will also show a popup where you can go to their profile page or (after around 30 seconds with no activity) nudge them to get them going. Be nice though, because if they still don’t do anything, they’ll be kicked out of the game so you can continue without them.

What’s New

• Multiplayer! (duh)
• Private games (require a password). If you don’t pick one, it’ll generate a random one for you.
• Games are saved as you play. This is actually pretty nice even if you’re playing by yourself, because you can leave a game and come back to it even if you close the window or go somewhere else. Just remember (or bookmark) the URL. I’m planning on adding support for saving single player games eventually.
• Nudge slow players. They’ll have about 30 seconds to do something before being kicked out of the game. This feature may be adjusted/tweaked, so any feedback is appreciated.
• General improvements. I’ve made a few minor changes that also affect single player games, like less intrusive error handling. No more annoying “Error loading high scores” popup when you leave too quickly!

What’s Coming

• Messaging/chat. For now, you’ll have to use your favorite IM client :)
• Invite players. Automatically spam email the URL/password to your friends.
• High Scores. At least while it’s in beta, your scores won’t be submitted, so you can’t get on the high score list from the multiplayer game. This also means they won’t affect your average score or other statistics (and, considering you may have different strategies when you’re playing against an opponent, I might keep it that way).
• Public games.
• Anonymous play. Right now you need to be signed in to play in a multiplayer game. Eventually I’d like to remove that requirement, but it’s a little tricky, and it’s not a priority).
• Game Archives. Your games should stay around (but don’t count on it during the beta) but there’s no easy way to find them.
• Limited number of players. I haven’t decided what the limit will be yet, so for now as many players can join a game as you can find. The interface only practically supports a few players though, so I can’t really say how it will work for you.
• Mobile support. For now, it’s desktop only (of course, you can try using the desktop interface on your phone if you want).
• Fixes and enhancements. I appreciate any feedback/suggestions/insults/questions you can think of. As always, there’s a feedback link at the bottom of the game, or you could leave a comment on this page.

I’ve had a lot of fun working on the new Yahtzee version, and it’s finally at a point where I feel like it’s ready to leave the beta stage and completely replace the old one. If you haven’t paid attention to the blog (let’s be honest here; you haven’t), here’s what’s new:

• New design. Since it’s running on a different subdomain (and completely different back end… see below) and the old version never really looked right stuffed into my website’s layout, I decided to start over with a new look. To me at least, it looks much nicer.
• Personal statistics. I’ve been keeping track of (almost) every game played in the current version and generating charts and averages, but I’ve always wondered how I compared to everyone else. If you have too, you can now sign in with either a Google account or OpenID. You’ll be able to see your own average score and histograms.
• Bug fixes. I’ve finally fixed some small bugs and annoyances that have been bugging me for awhile and I’ve been meaning to get around to.
• Completely new back-end code. I’ve completely rewritten the server-side part of the game on Google’s App Engine in JavaScript (yes, you read that right). Specifically, I’m using the RingoJS framework and AppengineJS running on Rhino. Why? The whole reason for writing the game in the first place was the play around with JavaScript, so I decided to extend that to the server-side portion of the code, and so far it’s been a lot of fun.

Just because it’s not in beta anymore, doesn’t mean there won’t still be issues, so if you find anything, be sure to let me know (there’s a feedback link at the bottom of the page). I’m also still working on some new features and improvements for the future.

As promised, I’m getting ready to launch a new version of Yahtzee with personalized statistics and a new design. I’m still working on some new features and I haven’t tested it well in anything other than Google Chrome (my preferred browser and by far the most popular in this case), so I’m sure there are still issues, so I’m calling it a public beta right now.

You can check it out at yahtzee.silentmatt.com/yahtzee. Let me know if you run into any problems (be sure to let me know what browser version you’re using) or have any ideas for improvements. You can play “anonymously” but if you want to keep track of your own statistics, click the “sign in” link to create an account. You can sign in with a Google account or OpenID.

Note that any games you play in the current version are automatically imported into the new version, but they won’t be counted toward your personal statistics. Also, games played in the new version don’t get counted in the old one. The mobile version doesn’t let you sign in or view your stats yet (or any stats for that matter), but if you are signed in from the “full version”, the games will still be associated with your account.

So the 20,000th Yahtzee score was submitted today. What’s interesting is that the I’ve been keeping statistics for the last four years, but 10% of those are from this week. That means it took over four years to get to 18,000, and one week to get another 2,000!

So what made the difference? I’m glad you asked. About a week ago Google launched the Chrome Web Store where, just for fun, I added a Yahtzee “app” for Google Chrome. Here’s a graph of the number of games played per day for the last month:

I have no idea if the current level of traffic will continue, or if it will go back down to normal, but it’s been interesting to see the short-term effect at least.

New Features

Just before the Web Store launch, I added a few new features. Most significantly, there’s the new mobile version (really only tested on Android).

There’s also an “undo” button so if you click on the wrong spot by mistake, you’re not stuck with it. You can’t undo once you roll though, so be careful.

A small change that had been bugging me is the animated dice when you roll. The biggest reason for that (other than because it looks cool) is to prevent accidental double-rolls. Another reason is that once in a while when you roll, it looks like nothing changes because you rolled the same dice. Now it’s obvious that you really did click (or tap) roll.

There were also lots of changes “under the hood” to support the mobile interface and undo, as well as just generally making it more “elegant”. The code is looking less and less like I threw it together in a couple nights.

What’s Next?

I’ve been planning on adding personalized statistics, so you can log in and keep track of your personal best scores, averages, etc. I don’t have a timetable for when that will be ready, because I’m experimenting with some different technologies.

I may add a multiplayer option, but I haven’t decided how that would work yet. Multiplayer Yahtzee is still (mostly) a solitaire game where the players take turns rolling, but it could still be fun to set up a game and see who gets the highest score.