[Toad-announce] TOAD project to create free software for game tournaments

[Ben Finney]

Howdy all,

I've started the TOAD project, for the purpose of developing free
software to assist in the running of game tournaments.

I have a set of goals for TOAD.

Implementation:

  - Licensed as free software (free as in freedom) under the GNU GPL.
    Implement using only free software, and requiring only free software
    to run.

  - Allow portability to different operating systems

Flexibility:

  - Capable of handling different types of games (board games, sports,
    computer games, etc.) and extensible to allow new game types to be
    added

  - Capable of handling different tournament structures (elimination,
    Swiss, round-robin, etc.) and extensible to allow new tournament
    structures to be added

  - Allow for various real-world interruptions or deviations from
    "ideal" tournament procedure, where feasible without losing data or
    disrupting the tournament flow

Functionality:

  - Maintain a player registry that can be re-used in different
    tournaments

  - Automatic match pairing, capable of handling different match pairing
    algorithms and extensible with new algorithms, and with algorithm
    parameters adjustable by the user

  - Manual match pairings, to override the automatic pairings

  - Record and output tournament information for distribution before,
    during and after the tournament

  - Import/export tournament data to/from other programs to the extent
    possible

Design:

  - Create a re-usable library of tournament functionality, so other
    free software can benefit

  - Separation of UI from functionality, to allow interfaces to be
    created or modified without changing underlying functions (and vice
    versa, where possible)

  - Seek input and feedback from users (i.e. tournament directors) at
    every point, to improve the functionality and interface


This is an ambitious set of goals, but I believe that the project can
create useful software long before all these goals are met; indeed, I
think it is desirable to start with the smallest possible useful
functionality so that a user community can form, and then improve from
there.

The project will require a lot of assistance to meet these goals.  I
invite other developers, or those who have an opinion on how such
software should operate, to join in if this project sounds interesting;
please join the discussions on the toad-devel list (an archive of past
discussions is also available):

  <http://mail.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/toad-devel>

If you wish to be informed of future milestones or other announcements
from the project, please join the (very low-traffic) toad-announce list:

  <http://mail.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/toad-announce>

TOAD is currently being hosted at:

  <http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/toad/>

Thanks very much for your interest!

-- 
 \      "For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here's a tip: why |
  `\    not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?"  -- Jack |
_o__)                                                           Handey |
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