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First off, thank you to TheCotMan for getting our DC20 forum up and running. Having this up early should really help to make this year's tournament a huge success. There is a lot to prepare for so I really appreciate having a head start.
For those of you who have no idea what the contest is, The Schemaverse is a tournament played out completely inside a PostgreSQL database. It is a space battle game played using SQL commands or the interface of your choice. The best introduction to the game is to watch my DC19 talk "When Space Elephants Attack: A DEFCON Challenge for Database Geeks". It will give you a good idea on the gameplay mechanics, basic functions and overall goals (although if all goes to plan, the gameplay will differ slightly next year to make things more interesting).
Some important links for the game include:
The Projects Homepage: https://schemaverse.com
The Projects GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Abstrct/Schemaverse/
The Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/schemaverse
and of course, our outdated wiki (learning it is half the fun right?): https://github.com/Abstrct/Schemaverse/wiki
Myself and a couple other players also sit on irc.freenode.net in #Schemaverse. Everybody is more than welcome to come join us and ask as many questions as you like. Forcing me to repeat answers will just help motivate me to fix the wiki.
Last year our tournament went really well (especially considering it was our first year). We had over a hundred people sign up to play and, although first place was won by a bit of a landslide, there was actually some fun competition that took place and some really neat hacks that were discovered. Since our DEFCON debut, the project certainly hasn't been sitting still. Our community has grown to over a thousand players, we have killed some rough bugs (and found new ones) and gameplay is continuously being tweaked to make it more interesting.
Enough about the past though, now it's time to get down to business and discuss the DC20 Schemaverse Tournament. Here is what is going through my mind right now. Regardless of if you competed last year, take a read and let me know what you think. Everything below is open to suggestions and/or ridicule.
DC20 Tournament Format - Classic
The basic format of the competition is that you have from Thursday to Sunday morning to compete in the one ~72 hour round of Schemaverse. Registration happens at the Contest desk. I am open to the thought of pre-registration but not sold on it yet for the classic format.
At the point of the round's end on Sunday, the player awarded the most trophy points takes the prize. Like last year, other prizes may be awarded for the most clever hack or best custom interface too.
DC20 Tournament Format - AI Only
Last year I had a great suggestion to have an AI only tournament going on side-by-side to the regular tournament. If you are not aware, in The Schemaverse, you can write "Fleet Scripts" using pl/pgsql to command your space ships on your behalf. Unlike the regular format where players can connect directly to the database and issue commands, the AI only tournament would require that you submit a script before hand and only your script would play for you. You would have no ability to manually interact with the database or alter your script once the round has begun.
This obviously requires a bit of interest in the game long before DEFCON is upon us as players would need to understand the game enough to write a successful script. If we can get this interest, I think it would make for a really neat comparison to the classic tournament taking place along side it.
If we can not get enough interest solely from the DEFCON community, I think it might be a good idea to open the AI only competition to outside contestants as well. I need input from the DEFCON organizers to find out if this is an acceptable option though.
Prizes
Last year our supporters gave us some great prizes to give away and I will certainly be in contact with them again. This included some PostgreSQL swag, Navicat software license, admission to the conference pgWest 2011 and finally some cash. If you have any suggestions for prizes that would motivate you to compete or if you know anybody looking to support a fun database oriented contest please, please, please let me know!
The Contest Booth
Last year was the first time I ran a contest, well, anywhere so putting a booth together was a bit of a new experience. I like to think I know where I can improve but you might have some additional suggestions for me. Here is what I will try to do better for next year:
Business Cards - How I forgot this last year I'm not sure.
One page sheet with:
Projector! - This year I am going to request to have a projector in place at the booth to rotate between current standings and a visualizer showing the actual space battle taking place. Standings will be simple to pull off but a visualizer is going to take some effort. I think having people walking by and actually seeing the space battle taking place will make the SQL game happening underneath seem a lot more appealing.
Manuals - If I can get some not horrible documentation written up I think having a couple manuals printed at the booth might help too. Would you sit around and flip through one?
More chairs? More Power? Am I missing anything?
Swag
Last year we gave out buttons to new registrants that I felt were quite stylish. Did you like the button? Do you often find yourself wishing you had more to place them on items all around your house or person? From a purely selfish standpoint, seeing people wear my dumb buttons around the con gave me a huge amount of pride so I really don't mind tossing some money at the contest to make it happen again. But, if there is other small swag you would be more interested in, I am completely open to suggestions! (Sorry, I can't make a badge that runs psql though)
Another Talk
Obviously, just like this contest itself, I cannot even say for sure such a talk would be accepted but considering the level of complexity involved with entering the contest, would you like to see me write up another CFP for an updated talk regarding the game? Topics in the talk would likely include gameplay basics again (and what has changed) as well as some more details on hack attempts (successful and not) and "fun" things discovered about PostgreSQL throughout the development of the game.
This pretty much sums up what is on my mind for now. Personally, I learned quite a bit about running a competition at DEFCON last year and I plan to put it all to good use to make this year way better. That certainly doesn't make me an expert at this so I really appreciate any input others may have.
-Abstrct
For those of you who have no idea what the contest is, The Schemaverse is a tournament played out completely inside a PostgreSQL database. It is a space battle game played using SQL commands or the interface of your choice. The best introduction to the game is to watch my DC19 talk "When Space Elephants Attack: A DEFCON Challenge for Database Geeks". It will give you a good idea on the gameplay mechanics, basic functions and overall goals (although if all goes to plan, the gameplay will differ slightly next year to make things more interesting).
Some important links for the game include:
The Projects Homepage: https://schemaverse.com
The Projects GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Abstrct/Schemaverse/
The Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/schemaverse
and of course, our outdated wiki (learning it is half the fun right?): https://github.com/Abstrct/Schemaverse/wiki
Myself and a couple other players also sit on irc.freenode.net in #Schemaverse. Everybody is more than welcome to come join us and ask as many questions as you like. Forcing me to repeat answers will just help motivate me to fix the wiki.
Last year our tournament went really well (especially considering it was our first year). We had over a hundred people sign up to play and, although first place was won by a bit of a landslide, there was actually some fun competition that took place and some really neat hacks that were discovered. Since our DEFCON debut, the project certainly hasn't been sitting still. Our community has grown to over a thousand players, we have killed some rough bugs (and found new ones) and gameplay is continuously being tweaked to make it more interesting.
Enough about the past though, now it's time to get down to business and discuss the DC20 Schemaverse Tournament. Here is what is going through my mind right now. Regardless of if you competed last year, take a read and let me know what you think. Everything below is open to suggestions and/or ridicule.
DC20 Tournament Format - Classic
The basic format of the competition is that you have from Thursday to Sunday morning to compete in the one ~72 hour round of Schemaverse. Registration happens at the Contest desk. I am open to the thought of pre-registration but not sold on it yet for the classic format.
At the point of the round's end on Sunday, the player awarded the most trophy points takes the prize. Like last year, other prizes may be awarded for the most clever hack or best custom interface too.
DC20 Tournament Format - AI Only
Last year I had a great suggestion to have an AI only tournament going on side-by-side to the regular tournament. If you are not aware, in The Schemaverse, you can write "Fleet Scripts" using pl/pgsql to command your space ships on your behalf. Unlike the regular format where players can connect directly to the database and issue commands, the AI only tournament would require that you submit a script before hand and only your script would play for you. You would have no ability to manually interact with the database or alter your script once the round has begun.
This obviously requires a bit of interest in the game long before DEFCON is upon us as players would need to understand the game enough to write a successful script. If we can get this interest, I think it would make for a really neat comparison to the classic tournament taking place along side it.
If we can not get enough interest solely from the DEFCON community, I think it might be a good idea to open the AI only competition to outside contestants as well. I need input from the DEFCON organizers to find out if this is an acceptable option though.
Prizes
Last year our supporters gave us some great prizes to give away and I will certainly be in contact with them again. This included some PostgreSQL swag, Navicat software license, admission to the conference pgWest 2011 and finally some cash. If you have any suggestions for prizes that would motivate you to compete or if you know anybody looking to support a fun database oriented contest please, please, please let me know!
The Contest Booth
Last year was the first time I ran a contest, well, anywhere so putting a booth together was a bit of a new experience. I like to think I know where I can improve but you might have some additional suggestions for me. Here is what I will try to do better for next year:
Business Cards - How I forgot this last year I'm not sure.
One page sheet with:
- Spiffy logo
- Database Connection Details (Host, Port and Database)
- Connection Strings for common languages
- Connection Setting Dialogs for common applications (pgAdmin, Navicat, Database.Net)
Projector! - This year I am going to request to have a projector in place at the booth to rotate between current standings and a visualizer showing the actual space battle taking place. Standings will be simple to pull off but a visualizer is going to take some effort. I think having people walking by and actually seeing the space battle taking place will make the SQL game happening underneath seem a lot more appealing.
Manuals - If I can get some not horrible documentation written up I think having a couple manuals printed at the booth might help too. Would you sit around and flip through one?
More chairs? More Power? Am I missing anything?
Swag
Last year we gave out buttons to new registrants that I felt were quite stylish. Did you like the button? Do you often find yourself wishing you had more to place them on items all around your house or person? From a purely selfish standpoint, seeing people wear my dumb buttons around the con gave me a huge amount of pride so I really don't mind tossing some money at the contest to make it happen again. But, if there is other small swag you would be more interested in, I am completely open to suggestions! (Sorry, I can't make a badge that runs psql though)
Another Talk
Obviously, just like this contest itself, I cannot even say for sure such a talk would be accepted but considering the level of complexity involved with entering the contest, would you like to see me write up another CFP for an updated talk regarding the game? Topics in the talk would likely include gameplay basics again (and what has changed) as well as some more details on hack attempts (successful and not) and "fun" things discovered about PostgreSQL throughout the development of the game.
This pretty much sums up what is on my mind for now. Personally, I learned quite a bit about running a competition at DEFCON last year and I plan to put it all to good use to make this year way better. That certainly doesn't make me an expert at this so I really appreciate any input others may have.
-Abstrct
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