Clue Editor

[Joe Lourenco]

WesternEstates said:

Are there any books or websites you can recommend imparticular?

I have a book called "Visual Basic 6: Weekend Crash Course", by Richard Mansfield, which I've not read much of, but it teaches the fundamentals.

For free VB code, try:

www.freevbcode.com

That's where I got the code to translate regular text to the URL code that Pyramid uses.

Joe

[eaglebtc]

This app definitely rocks. Thanks Joe!

[Chris Lemon]

Joe said:

I ACCIDENTALLY OVERWROTE THE PYRAMID EDITOR FORM WHEN I WROTE THE FAMILY FEUD EDITOR!!!!

Unless a miracle occurs (i.e., I become less stupid), I may not update the Pyramid Editor for a while.

Well, I hope you do, because the one we have now is kinda broken.

Is there a problem with loading game sets when a category has quotes around it? That seems to be what I'm experiencing. I have a known full game, minus tiebreakers, and it will only load categories and tell me it's incomplete.

Also, with respect to JeffP, there is no reason to include the "Describe to your partner these things that are Etruscan" in the editor, since that material is not used in the software itself. The one place something like that should be included is in the tiebreakers, since Todd said he had plans to add the tiebreaker info inplace of "Tiebreaker 1" and "Tiebreaker 2" when choosing them.

Overall I have found that the game editor is not very tolerant at all of reloading incomplete games, and some complete ones.

[Joe Lourenco]

Chris, I see what you mean about problems loading clues. I'll try to recreate the Pyramid Editor in the next week or so and really iron out the bugs. I'll also make sure that categories with quotes are not a problem (I didn't notice that either!).

I understand there's no reason for questions in the editor for gameplay, but if I add a "cheat sheet" function to the new editor, as I did with the Family Feud editor, it would benefit the host greatly.

Thanks for bringing up the bugs, Chris.

Joe

[Chris Lemon]

Joe said:

I understand there's no reason for questions in the editor for gameplay, but if I add a "cheat sheet" function to the new editor, as I did with the Family Feud editor, it would benefit the host greatly.

Totally! We may be on the same wave length here: What I have been doing is watching the daily Pyramid on GSN, and transcribing the show into game files, filling in items where necessary. (Do you know what a PITA it is to have to think up tournament-caliber $300 boxes when they don't get to them?) So what I do is keep a seperate NOTES.TXT file in the root game folder (the one that the game1 and game2 folders is in) that has the categories and what they are, so when I make up my little cards for showtime, I have the info handy. So if that's what you are thinking of doing, then by all means!

Thanks for your hard work again, Joe

[hotchocolate]

Hi Joe How long will take you create the pyramid editor from scratch.

[Joe Lourenco]

hotchocolate said:

Hi Joe How long will take you create the pyramid editor from scratch.

Probably a few days. I just need to find a chunk of time to sit down and do it. (Spring has finally sprung, so I've been spending lots of free time with the family!)

I expect to release an updated editor very soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

Joe

[Joe Lourenco]

The Pyramid Clue Editor v3 is ready for download:

home.comcast.net/~jlourenco1/pyramid/Pyramid_Clue_Editor_v3.zip

Here is a screenshot:



Changes:
* Added "cheat sheet" option that creates a printable "cheatsheet.txt" file for the host/operator to use during gameplay
* Added "Association" fields for clues that can be used to describe the association of the clues in each category. Example: "Words that begin with the letter T". Saves to "assoc.txt" file in the "game1/2" folder
* When loading existing txt files, it will ignore any files that do not exist in the "game1/2" folder

Chris, you mentioned problems with quotation marks in the previous version. I still don't know what the problem is, so please post if you find that (or any!) problem with this version.

Oh, and I managed not to overwrite the Family Feud code when I re-wrote this Pyramid editor!

Please enjoy--and complain about any bugs you find!

Joe

[WesternEstates]

So far this is great! A real time saver especially the refference only areas.

[Chris Lemon]

Joe said:

Chris, you mentioned problems with quotation marks in the previous version. I still don't know what the problem is, so please post if you find that (or any!) problem with this version.

It's entirely possible that that may have been evaluator error , and the error I was getting was tied to loading incomplete games as opposed to an error with quotes. Near as I can tell, this one seems to work even if the game is not complete. Good stuff!

The only addition I would suggest (and I wish I had thought of this before you coded this new version), would be the addition (and default selection of) a "No 7-11/Mystery 7" button, for when you want your game to be a Tournament format game, with no bonuses. As a result of the "incomplete" problem with the earlier builds, I found I was forced to pick a box for the bonus in order to get it to reload at all. I realize this is the default state, but if you click it by accident (or had to assign one) it's far more elegant to have an option in the GUI rather than have to hack the files themeselves, which is the whole point of a GUI, yes?

[Chris Lemon]

Eep! Bug!

I've been transcribing episodes of the show to game files for use when I host this with the software at my game night. That's the test bed I'm using.

Sometimes, if I've let shows get backed up, I'll just Tivo through and only transcribe the Winner's Circles, since those are the hardest things to write yourself, and since I have boatloads of front game material from the MB versions of the box game I picked up on Ebay.

So I have discovered that, when it is building game files from scratch (e.g. there are no files in a directory and you save your work), and you JUST put in a Winner's Circle and leave the rest blank for later filling in, that it's not saving...a bonus.txt is nowhere to be found.

Nor does it save if you make a bonus.txt file to work with. Didja just forget one?

Good. Now you have something genuine to fix when you put in the 7/11 null thing.

[Joe Lourenco]

Chris, thanks for keeping me on my toes. I'll take care of those issues. If anyone finds anything else, please let me know. I'd like to incorporate as many fixes/changes as possible in the next version.

And Todd, thanks again for accepting my editor and giving me something to hone my programming skills. Maybe someday I'll take on a home-grown classic game show game of my own!

Joe

[Todd Robinson]

Joe said:

And Todd, thanks again for accepting my editor and giving me something to hone my programming skills. Maybe someday I'll take on a home-grown classic game show game of my own!
Joe

Thanks for saying that. You're very welcome.

If you ever do come up with your own game show software, you have my full support.

[hotchocolate]

Hi Joe
Download third pyramid clue editor last night
Really well done the amazing app you made for Todd Robinson presentation
You really smart programming the software visual basic I think your talent in
Programming software this app is amazing and work really good thank you
For your hard work Joe.
;D

[Joe Lourenco]

Thanks for the kind words, hotchocolate!

OK, Chris, I changed the editor per your orders and saved it to the same zip file I posted earlier. Since no other bugs were reported, I'm still calling this one v3, until a major overhaul comes along.

So everyone feel free to re-download my Pyramid editor. Then pelt me with more bug reports! ;D

Joe