Today we are formally launching a new feature in the Smashboards Rankings system known as Sub Leagues.
This feature has been a part of the system for a few months now and we're ready to open it up to the public at large. You can see a full list of all Sub Leagues, by clicking the link on the index page of the Smashboards Rankings either above the list of Global Leagues or in the sidebar. You can also see a list of the Sub Leagues that you are active in on the Rankings index page below the list of Global Leagues.
The Sub League system allows community or region leaders to create a limited collection of brackets in the Smashboards Rankings system. If you're a leader in your community or region and would like to create a Sub League, you can do so via the Sub League Application form on the Sub League index page or by clicking here.
Managing a Sub League is straightforward for those familiar with the Rankings system. Simply submit your bracket to the Smashboards Rankings system, then navigate to your Sub League. In the sidebar you'll find a button to Add/Remove Brackets, and then paste in the link to the Smashboards bracket you'd like to add at the bottom of the page.
The primary use of this system is of course for being able to see the rankings of players within your region or community. As an additional feature though, TOs that utilize Challonge for their events can now find a new button at the bottom of any Global League or Sub League page to seed their bracket using that league. Simply create your event on Challonge as you normally would and then grab your API key from the Challonge settings panel. You can then use the Seed By League option on the Global League or Sub League page, enter in the URL of your Challonge bracket and your API key.
There is a caveat to this feature however, in that the Smashboards Rankings systems only knows who a user is by their Smashboards user ID, and obviously no one enters using that, they use their name or alias and no TO can be expected to memorize such a thing for all of their regions players. This is where the final part of today's update comes into play.
The Smashboards Rankings system is a framework formally known as XenTorneo, developed by
Jaxel
of 8wayrun.com. He has created a mobile phone app called XenTorneo Buddy that allows you to manage your tournaments right from your smartphone.
Screenshots of XenTorneo Buddy in action
This app, currently available for Android, supports managing tournaments on Challonge right from your phone (with SmashGG support planned when they're ready!). A few keen Smashboards users recently noticed a new link in their account menu dropdown for a QR Link. This app allows you to very easily check in players to your tournament simply by scanning a QR code on their phone.
This QR Link is a link to your profile page on Smashboards and can be scanned by XenTorneo Buddy to register a player into your tournament with their username, which can be adjusted afterwards if necessary. Most importantly though is that by doing so, the user's Smashboards ID is saved in the data of the tournament itself! This allows the Smashboards Rankings system to connect a player in your tournament with their Rankings data for use in the earlier mentioned seeding system.
It also means that once your tournament is over and you submit it to the Rankings system, any player that was checked in via QR code will automatically have their result claimed for them, saving both players and organizers the tedious task of handling the Claims themselves.
Once you've established a Sub League and/or know the usernames of your regulars, you can also quickly get their QR code yourself by finding them in a Global League or your Sub League and clicking on their User ID.
Clicking a User ID in the Rankings system will display their QR code
Each of these additions are great on their own, but together we hope regions and communities will enjoy the streamlined functionality of working with the Smashboards Rankings.
This feature has been a part of the system for a few months now and we're ready to open it up to the public at large. You can see a full list of all Sub Leagues, by clicking the link on the index page of the Smashboards Rankings either above the list of Global Leagues or in the sidebar. You can also see a list of the Sub Leagues that you are active in on the Rankings index page below the list of Global Leagues.
The Sub League system allows community or region leaders to create a limited collection of brackets in the Smashboards Rankings system. If you're a leader in your community or region and would like to create a Sub League, you can do so via the Sub League Application form on the Sub League index page or by clicking here.
Managing a Sub League is straightforward for those familiar with the Rankings system. Simply submit your bracket to the Smashboards Rankings system, then navigate to your Sub League. In the sidebar you'll find a button to Add/Remove Brackets, and then paste in the link to the Smashboards bracket you'd like to add at the bottom of the page.
The primary use of this system is of course for being able to see the rankings of players within your region or community. As an additional feature though, TOs that utilize Challonge for their events can now find a new button at the bottom of any Global League or Sub League page to seed their bracket using that league. Simply create your event on Challonge as you normally would and then grab your API key from the Challonge settings panel. You can then use the Seed By League option on the Global League or Sub League page, enter in the URL of your Challonge bracket and your API key.
There is a caveat to this feature however, in that the Smashboards Rankings systems only knows who a user is by their Smashboards user ID, and obviously no one enters using that, they use their name or alias and no TO can be expected to memorize such a thing for all of their regions players. This is where the final part of today's update comes into play.
The Smashboards Rankings system is a framework formally known as XenTorneo, developed by
Jaxel
of 8wayrun.com. He has created a mobile phone app called XenTorneo Buddy that allows you to manage your tournaments right from your smartphone.
Screenshots of XenTorneo Buddy in action
This app, currently available for Android, supports managing tournaments on Challonge right from your phone (with SmashGG support planned when they're ready!). A few keen Smashboards users recently noticed a new link in their account menu dropdown for a QR Link. This app allows you to very easily check in players to your tournament simply by scanning a QR code on their phone.
This QR Link is a link to your profile page on Smashboards and can be scanned by XenTorneo Buddy to register a player into your tournament with their username, which can be adjusted afterwards if necessary. Most importantly though is that by doing so, the user's Smashboards ID is saved in the data of the tournament itself! This allows the Smashboards Rankings system to connect a player in your tournament with their Rankings data for use in the earlier mentioned seeding system.
It also means that once your tournament is over and you submit it to the Rankings system, any player that was checked in via QR code will automatically have their result claimed for them, saving both players and organizers the tedious task of handling the Claims themselves.
Once you've established a Sub League and/or know the usernames of your regulars, you can also quickly get their QR code yourself by finding them in a Global League or your Sub League and clicking on their User ID.
Clicking a User ID in the Rankings system will display their QR code
Each of these additions are great on their own, but together we hope regions and communities will enjoy the streamlined functionality of working with the Smashboards Rankings.
