Which features does Kaya need most?

Xa17u · Post by **Xa17u** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:14 pm

I see a lot of people expressing doubts about whether or not conanbatt/dp are making the right choices for the general playing environment of kaya (No negotiation, time settings, etc). While I have no qualms whatsoever with the way they're running things, my concern lies in the priority for which every feature gets added, as it plays a major role over the number of people who decide to ignore the server, play casually, or stay on it at all times.

As someone else said, this server already has a lot going for it that other servers don't have, but also has crucial gaps that people overlook because they're taken for granted. Please vote for what you believe are those gaps in this poll; the crucial features that need adressing NOW, in order to get a community going.

Some details : broadcast recordings are being able to replay a broadcast from the beginning. That is to say the board, video, and chat alike.
UI revamping is about having a prettier and more functional design, specifically the game page so you could have the board take the entire page height, include command buttons, etc.
"Sandboxes" are equal to reviews and variation showing in general. There's already a review system in place, but it doesn't have all the features of kgs.
Likewise, you can use the current sgf editor to load a game in sandbox, but not create your own from scratch.
Deferred games is the name of future asynchronous/turn-based/correspondence games on kaya.

And this isn't about whether or not they will be implemented. As far as I know, all of these will, some soon, some later.

cdybeijing · Post by **cdybeijing** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:23 pm

I really don't think Kaya needs features at this moment, I think it needs streamlining and consolidation.

Xa17u · Post by **Xa17u** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:27 pm

cdybeijing wrote:I think it needs streamlining and consolidation.

What does that mean, in practice? What needs change?

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:33 pm

Xa17u wrote:
cdybeijing wrote:I think it needs streamlining and consolidation.

What does that mean, in practice? What needs change?

My guess is merely improving the functionality of current features, and making it easier and more intuitive for the user.

Annihilist · Post by **Annihilist** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:01 pm

I'd also like to see the ability to put descriptions in games, i.e. specifications about rank or whatever.

sefo · Post by **sefo** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:52 am

Tournaments would be awesome!
Besides, that would probably boost the traffic as well. (which is very much needed)

Online chess websites have implemented that and it generates lots of activity.
They're usually blitz tournaments but we can try with longer settings.

-Players with X karma can create free tournaments.
-Players with Y karma can create rated tournaments.
-Tournament creation: specify number of players, type, time settings.
When the tournament is full it starts automatically.
-winner gets karma or a badge or something

Any feature that won't attract more players is not needed.

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:44 am

Adding audio/video to sandboxes for teaching
Advanced marking for sandboxes
Record broadcasts
Betting/guessing on moves
Audio smackdowns
UI revamp
Fully-fledged sgf editor
Automatic tournament system
Custom channels/rooms
Deffered games
Native mobile clients

I am not sure what most of those mean. What the hell is a deffered game and a smackdown and what, exactly, do you mean by revamping the U.I?

Poll fail.

Phelan · Post by **Phelan** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:55 am

Charlie wrote:
Adding audio/video to sandboxes for teaching
Advanced marking for sandboxes
Record broadcasts
Betting/guessing on moves
Audio smackdowns
UI revamp
Fully-fledged sgf editor
Automatic tournament system
Custom channels/rooms
Deffered games
Native mobile clients

I am not sure what most of those mean. What the hell is a deffered game and a smackdown and what, exactly, do you mean by revamping the U.I?

Poll fail.

Xa17u wrote:Some details : broadcast recordings are being able to replay a broadcast from the beginning. That is to say the board, video, and chat alike.
UI revamping is about having a prettier and more functional design, specifically the game page so you could have the board take the entire page height, include command buttons, etc.
"Sandboxes" are equal to reviews and variation showing in general. There's already a review system in place, but it doesn't have all the features of kgs.
Likewise, you can use the current sgf editor to load a game in sandbox, but not create your own from scratch.
Deferred games is the name of future asynchronous/turn-based/correspondence games on kaya.

And this isn't about whether or not they will be implemented. As far as I know, all of these will, some soon, some later.

Reading fail? :razz:

I voted in the poll, but I mostly agree with cdybeijing: What is most needed is to fix problems, and improve the playing experience.

Also, there's already a forum where you can vote on what you want next for Kaya: https://kaya.uservoice.com/forums/13047 ... s-for-kaya

dfunkt · Post by **dfunkt** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:39 am

Annihilist wrote:
Xa17u wrote:
cdybeijing wrote:I think it needs streamlining and consolidation.

What does that mean, in practice? What needs change?
My guess is merely improving the functionality of current features, and making it easier and more intuitive for the user.

How much easier can it get? It's already easier to make a new game than KGS or IGS by far. People are just so used to things being convoluted and difficult that they can't see how easy Kaya is to use.

Bantari · Post by **Bantari** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:43 pm

I have not logged in to Kaya for a while, but from memory, here is what I mostly found missing. All of the below points are very basic and almost trivial to code. It is pretty much the same list I have suggested to be implemented on KGS some time before. I think KGS would have avoided some issues and unhappiness if some if it was implemented.

1.
Solid sorting/filtering options for lists. For example the list of active games. Can you sort it or filter it? Its not yet a problem when you have like 2 or 3 active games at any given time, but will become CRUCIAL later on. If Kaya grows.

2.
Solid filtering for chat areas. This has proven to be a problem on IGS (it finally disallowed public chat) and on KGS (the EGR/ECR fisco.) Cool options like 'show only pro comments' or 'no profanity' or 'only friends' or 'mute all', whatever... sky is the limit!

3.
Same as the above but applied to kibitz.

4.
Color coding. For chat, kibitz, player list, games list, whatever.... like - all friends in blue, all pros in red, and so on.

5.
Make the filters and colors configurable - so the user basically can define groups or players (by rank and/or by relationship) and then assign status (visible invisible) and color to them. Each group can be 'visible' or 'ignored' - so the user really has control over what shows on his/her screen.

6.
Design the interface slightly more efficient - right now I have the feeling that there is too much white space, in the players list, chat, and games list areas. Other than this - the interface is graphically gorgeous, I think, just make it slightly more efficient or compact so more stuff can be visible at a time. Again - this might not matter when you have 20 users logged in, but if the server grows it will become more important.

7.
Speaking of interface - I am not sure I like the layout of the game board interface. I don't have the problem, like some others, with the size of this or that... but the layout. The clocks seems awkwardly placed, as is the komi, move, captures information. I am sure I will get used to the way it is now, just mentioning it since this was something that I noticed and found strange.

8.
A clear and visible announcements area - like What's new in this upgrade, for now. Later on - this can grow into a full-fledged club/tournament/whatever info tab(s) system.

This in addition to what some others have already said - like better way of getting games, more control over setting and adjusting game parameters, more rulesets, solid teaching and review tools, and so on... If any of that has already been implemented, great!

PS>

In principle - I think you should learn from other servers. Start with implementing that other servers already successfully do (while rejecting unsuccessful features.) Once you get THAT tested and solid, you start adding the features which make you different from the rest. You might not have a lot of trafic in the initial stage (since you not offering anything new, yet) but it is a necessary stage to make the engine solid, I think.

From my perspective, Kaya is being developed slightly different. Start with the minimum of necessary features, then put all the non-essential pretty things that makes you different (like Karma and stuff) and THEN, MAYBE, think about fleshing out the actual server core (more rulesets and so on.) It is a very interesting approach, I hope it works well.

oren · Post by **oren** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:03 pm

It needs one thing immediately... remove the facebook button from the games!

Loons · Post by **Loons** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:04 pm

oren wrote:It needs one thing immediately... remove the facebook button from the games!

I thought about this and oren is really right. The feature is doubtless good for facebook users but facebook should not be getting advertised (on every game) at people who are not interested.

oren · Post by **oren** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:05 pm

And to add one more thing, I don't mind if it's default on for all new users, so they can see it. I just want a way to disable it myself.

OtakuViking · Post by **OtakuViking** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 2:22 pm

Something unique that other servers don't really have. Like One colour go and sunjang baduk.

luigi · Post by **luigi** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 2:16 am

Area scoring.

Life In 19x19