Re: [Rails-devel] using dropbox

[Jim B. <jim...@ya...>]

Erik,

 > I'm willing to consider a feature request to add such an option

However!  While I have your ear, I did want to mention the 1-2  
features that we would most want-   %-)

a) hex-edge boundaries displayed on the map

Eg, around Erie in 1830- none of these edges show on the rails map,  
although rails enforces them in track-tile play.

This is a fairly big deal, as we have to use a separate jpg of the  
static game map, to actually see the boundaries- in 1830 and 18AL (I  
think there's only 1 impassable hex-edge in 18AL).

b) rollover city names more consistent

Eg- in 18AL, Nashville isn't identified as Nashville- just A3 or  
whatever.  (I think it's Nashville, but anyway there's numerous  
examples- lots of 1830 cities like baltimore, etc.)

In hot-seat play, it might not matter- but, when using rails as a pbem  
console, this makes it substantially more awkward to verify or  
summarize route and track coordinates in email.

Finally- is this list a reasonable place for comments like this, or  
should I strictly file these on the rails project page, or your team  
to review at your leisure, and not clutter this list with this kind of  
discussion?

regards,
-  jim


On Nov 4, 2009, at 12:30 PM, Erik Vos wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> Good to hear that Internet play can so easily be accomodated with  
> Rails!
>
> Some news for you and everyone: in the past year I have been working  
> on
> 1856,
> and it has recently been finished.
> The source code is available in the current code base.
> In my opinion, a new release (1.0.7) can be prepared pretty soon.
>
> Before that, I will have another look at the bugs list and see what  
> can be
> done about it.
> A while ago I already reported that I couldn't reproduce some of the  
> bug
> reports from early this year.
>
> I have noticed some new ones, including your report on 1830 brown  
> shares.
> I can already say, that AFAIK there is a consensus that multiple brown
> shares
> can only be bought from the Pool, not from IPO.
> So that's why it is as it is.
>
> To play otherwise would require a new selectable game option.
> I'm willing to consider a feature request to add such an option,
> but it wouldn't be a high priority item.
>
> Best regards,
> Erik.
>
>> I've been playing 18xx pbem using rails and and a dropbox, with the
>> person who posted on BGG.
>>
>> Here's a quick overview of what dropbox does for us, in tandem with
>> rails-
>>
>> First, dropbox essentially it gives you a shared folder 'in the
>> cloud'- it looks like a local/desktop folder, but gets automatically
>> sync'd across everyone.  (www.getdropbox.com)
>>
>> No saving attachments and forwarding along- we save directly to the
>> dropbox, from rails.  (As I mentioned, it looks like a local drive.)
>>
>> We see a shared record of the game.
>>
>> We use a java runtime option to coerce timestamps into UTC
>> format, so
>> the default Rails filenames all sequence properly across timezones.
>>
>> Also, dropbox supports notifications- I see popup
>> notifications on my
>> mac, via growl- so, we don't even really need to email each
>> other when
>> we move (though we typically do).  Instead, we use a reserved/
>> placeholder file in a game folder (a 'token'), that we update
>> to name
>> the next player.
>>
>> It works quite well- I get notifications of someone's move from
>> dropbox, long before I usually get the email.  I quickly notice any
>> game activity, and immediately can see if it's my move in any
>> current
>> game(s)- it's also easy to review the 'current player' across
>> a bunch
>> of games simultaneously.  And, of course, I get a lot less
>> unnecessary
>> email noise and corrections, from the pbem.
>>
>> Rails has been working well!  We've stumbled into some bugs
>> (which we
>> filed), but overall it's very simple and easy to use.
>>
>> - jim
>
>
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