New version of tournament maker software

LightningStorm

First let me start off by saying that this is not a Tournament Announcement, sorry if that annoys anyone, but I decided posting here would be the best area to get the attention of those who'd care about this.

Some of you may remember from about two to three years ago, I posted a thread because I had written a Tournament Maker application to ease the lives of Tournament Directors everywhere. At some point in the past that thread is long since gone away, but the Tournament Maker has not.

I know some people here use it and have kept up with it and even kept in touch with me with various suggestions, comments, bugs etc. Well, I'm posting now because I've finally updated the Tournament Maker with almost all of the suggestions I've received, and a ton of features and enhancements that should make your lives easier.

Some things the application has and can do:

• Single and Double Elimination Brackets.
• Customizable Game List.
• Stored Player List.
• Manage Entry Fees and Prizes.
• Automatically Seed and appropriately place Byes
• SIX different seeding methods.
• Customizable Results Output for easy copy and pasting.
• Copy bracket image to clipboard.
• Filter large lists of participant names.
• Easily add and remove participants from brackets.
• Easy to use help file to guide you through every feature and option.
• And much much more.

Some things that the Tournament Maker does not do, but I have plans to add at a future time.

• Other Tournament Styles like Round Robin
• Score keeping per match
• Exporting bracket to HTML format

To download it go here:

http://www.adrianljones.com/software.htm

I genuinely believe that you all will like this application quite a bit. And I'm definitely open to suggestions, questions, comments, and bug reports. I want to make this application the best (if for some reason it isn't already) Tournament Making application that exists, free or otherwise.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing your comments on it.

ps. Mods, by all means, if you feel this thread is misplaced in this forum feel free to move it to the appropriate place.

DaDesiCanadian

Fuckin sticky this thread.

PozerWolf

DaDesiCanadian, post: 1386338 wrote:

Fuckin sticky this thread.

I 2nd that, this is a great software.

Superking

This is awesome software.

Mizuki

DaDesiCanadian, post: 1386338 wrote:

Fuckin sticky this thread.

QFT


Thank you! I need this so badly for tournaments at my school's video game club since I'm tournament director!

LightningStorm

Glad everyone's liking it, be sure to let me know how it works out for you.

If anything seems a bit strange or unnecessarily difficult, and definitely if there are any bugs or crashes.

metrock1

Oh hell yes iuse this proggy when ever I can. i thought I lost my disc I had backed it up on so I was sad when I couldnt find your site. I eventually did find my disc but know ur back. This program is top notch.

One Question, after the bracket has been made and ur on say the 3rd round, can u switch players around so they dont have to play who they are automatically assigned to play?

LightningStorm

metrock1, post: 1386343 wrote:

One Question, after the bracket has been made and ur on say the 3rd round, can u switch players around so they dont have to play who they are automatically assigned to play?

No, not at this time. The various seeding methods combined with the "bracket style" should assist in preventing two people who shouldn't face each other too early from doing so.

I know, from when I ran tournaments, that Video Game tournaments like those we use around here; the best seeding method is usually "By Location/Skill" (which is new in this version). Try that out and see if it works well enough such that you won't need to move people around later. More info on the various seeding methods and what the "Bracket Style" option is can be found in the included help file under "Seeding Participants" and "Bracket Styles" respectively.

metrock1

Actually what happend was I ran a tourny without ur proggy. Later I found it so I ran the names thru in your program cuz ilove the copy bracket to clipboard feature. I wanted to print out the brackets with it but there was 2 matches that didnt macth up. I dont think Ill run into this prob again tho.

Unknown

Dude, this new version pwnz hard. Thank you very much, this program has assisted me through my last two tournaments. Great contribution!

jugoso

somebody sticky this!!

Unknown

a god amongst men

LightningStorm

In an effort to keep this thread near the top, and doing so without bumping or spamming, I think I'll post an occasional "Tip of the day" or "Did you know?" type thing regarding the Tournament Maker.

The first one:

Did you know:

...that you can filter the participant list using wildcards to get to exactly which name or name-group you wish?

To do this go to the participants screen and click on the icon next to the name field and select "Filter Mode." Now enter the string matching the names, nicknames, or locations you are seeking. For example to find all participants with "John" in their name enter *john* into the Name field.

To find all participants who's name ends in "Brown" but not with last name "Browning" enter *brown~ into the Name Field.

To find all participants listed with a location of "New York" select or type New York into the Location field.


The wildcards are: * means any characters. ? means any single character. ~ means "ends with."

More info can be found in the help file under "Participant Management."

albert_c

Round Robin would be sick!

LightningStorm

Whoops, I let the thread fall off of the first page. Time for another Tip!


Did you know that you can take your Tournament Maker database from one computer to another and not have to reenter all of your customized settings, participants and games? The "TournamentData.tmd" file in the application directory is the only file you need to copy and place in the application folder on that computer.

Unknown

Nice post. Im definately downloading this for future tourneys.

RagingKeela

daaaaamn, man - this is some REALLY good stuff! Thank you thank you thank you. Mad respect for your programming skillz!

0746

Its not bad...not bad at all.
Just a thing or 2 from my first impression. Don't think them as criticisms. Thats not my intension.
1. There is not really anything (I don't think) there in that installation that requires the computer to restart.
2. I thought the program icon looks a bit out of place.
3. I think there is something wrong with your installation executable...how come its so big? I mean 11 mb executable for less than 5 mb program?

Its all good =) Keep developing it...Its gona be great :D

LightningStorm

0746, post: 1386354 wrote:

Its not bad...not bad at all.
Just a thing or 2 from my first impression. Don't think them as criticisms. Thats not my intension.
1. There is not really anything (I don't think) there in that installation that requires the computer to restart.
2. I thought the program icon looks a bit out of place.
3. I think there is something wrong with your installation executable...how come its so big? I mean 11 mb executable for less than 5 mb program?

Its all good =) Keep developing it...Its gona be great :D

I accept and want constructive criticisms so it's all good.

1. Technically, no there isn't, however I do install several DLLs that could potentially be locked upon installation and this would require a restart. I fought with whether or not to have the reboot prompt in there at all. I decided to leave it because it really is only a one-time hassle and it's one that Windows' users are used to anyway.

2. I do agree with you here. However, for all my programming abilities, I am pretty terrible at graphic design so I just grabbed one that came with Visual Studio that seemed to fit the best.

3. The install executable is so big primarily because also included in it is a required component called Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) which is a 6MB installation file. There are also some DLLs that get installed that are not placed in the Application directory. Those are placed in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\ALJ Software" although those are fairly small. More info on what and why the MDAC is can be found in the included help file under "About the Database" and "FAQs" and from FAQs go down to the installation section. And of course more can be read about it from microsoft.com

LightningStorm

Time for another Tip. PLUS... an announcement.

First the Announcement:

I have finally put the Tournament Maker up for wide-spread download on http://www.download.com its page is here.

If you like the app please leave a quick review of the software on that site so that others will know what they're getting into.

Now the Tip:

Did you know that you can run the entire bracket without ever looking at the bracket image?

To do so create the bracket as you normally would using the participants, Entry fees and seeding screens. Then instead of using "The Bracket" click on "Current Matches." Start the bracket using the button on this screen. The list is then populated with all of the current active matches. Uncheck the "Show Unfinished Matches Only" option to display all matches that have taken place in the event. For more information on this see "Understanding the Current Matches Screen" or "Working with Very Large Brackets" in the included help file.

LightningStorm

Alright, I think 10 days is sufficient time for another Tip.


Did you know that you can modify a group of participants' locations all at once?

To do so go to the participants screen, select all of the names you wish to modify, enter the new location into the location/organization field at the top, right click on the selected names and select "Change Location." This can be done in Filter and Update modes as well as Add mode. For more information see the "Participant Management" section of the included help file.

Jack

Hello and thank you for the software it was really helpful :)

Two suggestions:
1. Result list by nicknames (currently on Full/Real names)
2. Characters used in matches

Thank you again.

VR-Fist

My first impressions are awesome. This is a really nice tool, I'll check it in a run and let you know if I have anything to suggest.

blitzfu

I didn't know the programmer was on SRK. Good software dude. Works like a charm. Would be nice to convert the bracket file to HTML or .txt format. Thanks!!

LightningStorm

Sweet! Good to see this revived after so long.

For the record I am still supporting this software and taking suggestions, I however am ridiculously busy so that's why there have been no updates in a while.

Jack, post: 1386358 wrote:

Hello and thank you for the software it was really helpful :)

Two suggestions:
1. Result list by nicknames (currently on Full/Real names)
2. Characters used in matches

Thank you again.

Glad you like it. As for suggestion #1, if you are using the latest version of the application (v2.1) then you can currently do this. You can change this by going to Tools->Bracket Options then selecting the "Format Results" tab. On this tab you can fully customize exactly how and what the results list looks like. For detailed information on how to use that tab simply hit F1 when on that tab and help will display giving you the info you need.

Suggestion #2, I have thought about adding this and definitely plan to do so in future releases. But as I said above, I'm pretty busy, so I have no estimates as to when that will be.

VR-Fist, post: 1386359 wrote:

My first impressions are awesome. This is a really nice tool, I'll check it in a run and let you know if I have anything to suggest.

Thanks! And please do, I'm definitely open to suggestions to making this better. Indeed many of the features it has now were from suggestions made right here on SRK.

blitzfu, post: 1386360 wrote:

I didn't know the programmer was on SRK. Good software dude. Works like a charm. Would be nice to convert the bracket file to HTML or .txt format. Thanks!!

I am indeed here on SRK, The Tournament Maker was in fact conceived originally for video game tournaments and contains the support for formatting results in the old SRK Apex system. Also for the HTML or Text support, I have plans to make the application more internet friendly as well. That is in fact the number one thing that is suggested to me by users.

For those interested in how the Tournament Maker came to be and a shout out to SRK, that too is in the help file. If you go to the Index and search for History, then select the "History of the Tournament Maker" item.

deadfrog

It's really awesome and nice of you to have made this for the community. I know a lot of people think it but I rarely see anyone post it.

VR-Fist

What I think is that it could be connected to a website (if the tournament organiser has one) and send in the results - for SQL or into an XML file, whatever, so just that people not attending can see "LIVE" what's happening. It would take someone to implement it with SQL and PHP. I am able to skin it and make it a valid easily-customisable document. Whatever, it's just an idea, don't know how much may this feature be desired in future.

LightningStorm

I can say that XML will definitely be supported in the next version (whenever that ends up being). There will be a way to import participants via XML, to setup and save the entire event in XML, the results of the event/game in XML as well as an XML version of the bracket itself.

As for SQL or PHP, I'd have to look further into those so those wouldn't be in the very next version, but could potentially be in a later one.

VR-Fist

Once I see the XML file, I can make a script so it puts the results from xml to (x)html (if the software doesn't do it by itself as an option, yet).

RockCzar

Haha! Sticky this thread!

This software is going to make my life soooo much easier to manage SF (and NHL) tourney's with my friends, locally. Thanks!

fluxcore

Amazing software, used it for a recent tournament and it exceeded all expectations.

It can pretty much run your tournament for you - organise brackets, deal with seedings, entry fees, winner's prize money, which matches are in progress, the whole works.

Couldn't recommend more highly, thanks so much for it!

Jack

I have been using your program more and more and I havent stop over few months!

I would like to request a features is that it has the ability to swap a players bracket position on request. This will greatly help:
1. generate initial bracket easier as many time you just want to swap two players around.
2. Double jeopardy or when two interstate player meets early in the bracket if this happens.

Thanks for his awesome problem. We all love it!

Tuna Fish Riot

Thanks for posting this. I definitely try it out.

LightningStorm

Jack, post: 1386368 wrote:

I have been using your program more and more and I havent stop over few months!

I would like to request a features is that it has the ability to swap a players bracket position on request. This will greatly help:
1. generate initial bracket easier as many time you just want to swap two players around.
2. Double jeopardy or when two interstate player meets early in the bracket if this happens.

Thanks for his awesome problem. We all love it!

I'm glad you like it!

Fortunately you can swap two players currently in the bracket after it has been made. Though only in the first round. You do this by dragging and dropping one name on top of another in the first round, that will switch those two players' place. This cannot be done, however, in later rounds due to the nature of the bracket and how names and ranks are managed. My recommendation here is to use the Location or Location/Skill seeding method which will ensure as best it can that players from the same location will not meet before it's absolutely necessary.

That said, I do consider all suggestions and will thus look into possibly making this be easily swappable in later rounds too. Given the complexity of it however, I can make no promises, but I will definitely consider it whenever I get back to this application.

Tuna Fish Riot, post: 1386369 wrote:

Thanks for posting this. I definitely try it out.

Cool! Let me know how you like it and any suggestions you have.

Unknown

Nice software and very useful.

Raikanami

is there one for Mac?

blueNINE

Still the best.

Unknown

LightningStorm, post: 1386364 wrote:

I can say that XML will definitely be supported in the next version (whenever that ends up being). There will be a way to import participants via XML, to setup and save the entire event in XML, the results of the event/game in XML as well as an XML version of the bracket itself.

As for SQL or PHP, I'd have to look further into those so those wouldn't be in the very next version, but could potentially be in a later one.

I can help if you need, i recently added a tournament creator/editor to my website.
Don't have the time right now(still have to finish it/add options like team tags, but in a month or two np.

papasi

Hi,

I used tournament maker in the last NCR for a ST side tourney and it worked very well.

However I have to bring my laptop along and a lot of the participants want to see the bracket but there is no easy way to show my tiny laptop screen (and you need to scroll to see the whole thing).

I noticed that in some official tourney the TO usually prints the bracket using tournament maker output to something like 40"x30" size paper.

But that is not possible for side tourney as you probably wont get all the names in advance.

Also not everyone have easy access to printer that can print that large.

So I use tournament maker to create empty 8/16/32/64 double elimination brackets, and use photoshop to balance it out so it will print nicely.

Also included are images split into multiple letter-size or ledger-size pages.

If you only have access to printer that can do 8.5"x11" or 11"x17", you can print a configuration of 2x2 8.5"x11" and tape them together in a white board or something.

The bracket are labeled with numbers (1 being #1 seed and so on) so you can just sort your entrants from strongest to weakest and put them from #1 to #16 for example. Or you can rearrange them as needed.

Without tournament maker's real time help to tell you what matches are up next, you can use tiny post-it notes to keep track of what matches are on going, what matches are available, etc.

Anyway, you can download all the images here


8 ~ 64 double elimination bracket images
128 double elimination bracket images


Here's an example of a 16 man bracket with 3x2 11"x17" layout. It's large enough that people can view it clearly from 3~4 feet away.





Hope this helps.

blueNINE

papasi, your post is very interesting and I think a lot of people might find it useful. I think it deserves its own thread, really.

Steven Ross

This was a good thread. Learned some things. I actually use Tournament bracket maker to make and print my brackets. It is pretty easy to use and you can name your tournament, and print tournament brackets that you make. You can make tournament draws from 2 teams up to 64 teams.

Tournament-bracket-maker.com

Steve

Yannick

:eek: I still use Tournament Maker unless I absolutely need to use Challonge and this thing still kicks infinite ass.

If you've got a simple tournament that you need to get up and running without the fluff, this is what you need.

iminthenet2

That tournament maker software is amazing! I'm thinking about setting up my own tournament thanks to you showing us that software. How many participants can you add to the tournament on this software?

EDIT: Oh, never mind that question I just found out.