FF1GP – Awards and Achievements

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Pete

For the Fantasy Formula 1 Grand Prix 2012 season, I’ve been working on a new feature, called awards and achievements. It has been quite a bit of fun writing the code and doing the graphics, although credit has to go-to Malc in re-doing and re-rendering all the cup images in 3D since the old images was starting to look a little dated.

Awards

First off, the awards are the cups that get awarded to teams at each race for coming 1st, 2nd, 3rd and last. The prediction medals get award for 2 or more correct predictions. If you have been following the FF1GP for the last few years, you will be correct in saying this isn’t anything new. What is new for 2012, is the ability for league owners to allow the award of league cups to players in their leagues. Hopefully that will provide a bit of excitement when you win one of the cups in your leagues.

Achievements

Achievements are unlocked when you enter a team or enter a prediction. So when you enter a team that selects a 2012 rookie driver, you will unlock the “Pick a Rookie driver” achievement. There are many ways to pick up achievements, so you best bet is to look at the list of achievements page and figure out how to unlock them. Some are hard, some not so easy.

Here is a screenshot of what my page looks like after entering a team. (Please note this is from the dev site, so I do have a load of extra awards, that I don’t normally have!)

FF1GP awards

FF1GP awards

I will be adding more achievements throughout the year, some for certain races, and there will be some for the end of the season to award the overall winners of the year. I’ve already received ideas for new achievements, including some involving Eddie Jordan’s shirts and David Coulthard’s jeans. (Not quite sure how that will work yet!)

If you have any ideas for achievements, please leave a comment or drop me a line via twitter or email.

Prediction achievements

Some of you may have entered a prediction and suddenly collected a big set of prediction achievements, such as the 25, 50,  75 and 250. Yes it is counting the past predictions, so don’t worry this isn’t a bug. I see 2 players have already picked up the “Enter 250 predictions” which is impressive!

What’s next

There are a few things that need adding, which are planned to be implemented before the 1st Grand Prix.

The first is a new page that lists the players teams and obtained achievements so far, as it’s currently a little bit difficult to brag that you picked up a load of awards and achievements.

Also on the awards page, it will list the number of players that have collected each achievement.

Past awards

I do have a plan to award achievements and awards for past race wins, and also setup awards for the past winners. However before that can happen, the whole website needs to go over to the new database design and framework so the old data can be imported properly. There isn’t a date set for this yet, there is quite a lot of work to do first on other areas of the FF1GP website first.

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FF1GP and PHP Frameworks

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Pete

Every year I run the Fantasy Formula 1 Grand Prix site, which is now in 15th year, it’s almost ready to go for the 2012 season, now that the driver lineup has been finalised and the prices have been fixed.

Quite often, there will be one team that hasn’t quite got their act together. In 2009 we didn’t know that Brawn GP was going to make it to the grid, until about week before the first race. However I can’t complain as Jenson Button and Brawn GP became world champions that year, and it was a fantastic year!

This year I’ve got a new feature coming to FF1GP, which I’m keeping under wraps until closer to the 20th of February.

However, the main reason for this blog was to talk briefly about the code on the FF1GP site. It does have quite a bit of history.

I’ll warn anyone reading this blog, that the next part is quite geeky and techie, and has bugger all to do with F1.

When the FF1GP website started in 1998, it was powered by a Access 97 database, which exported and imported CSV files to a bunch of Perl scripts. It worked very well for the small numbers, and it made a nice side project while at University.

Then in 1999 the Perl scripts changed to PHP scripts, however the Access 97 database remained until 2000, where it was migrated from Access 97 to Paradox. The reason? Well I was doing some work with Delphi 3 then, and it seemed a good idea at the time.

Then the database changed again in 2001, to MySQL. It’s still using that database, and it looks like it’s set to stay that way.

However the website code has always remained in PHP, and that has many changes over the year. The next re-write started in 2007, and never really got finished as I also decided to write my own PHP framework to run the FF1GP site.

Well it sort of worked, but as I found out, maintaining your own framework isn’t easy and takes a lot of time away from doing the real stuff, like writing the new code for the FF1GP site.

Also at the time in 2007, I didn’t think there was any decent PHP 5.2 frameworks that I felt was worth using. Since I’m a .NET developer, I was looking for something that was as good as the Microsoft .NET framework.

Come to 2011, there is no shortage of very good PHP 5.3 Frameworks. I looked at a few and started tinkering with a early Zend 2 Framework alpha however the progress on that framework has been very slow, and they only released another Beta recently. Also it’s still a massive framework in the terms of size and shear number of files. That’s not to say that is a bad thing, since it is a well tested framework.

So I looked at Symfony 2, and although it is a lot smaller than Zend, it met my requirements quite nicely. I’ve also managed to setup a bundle to help manged the running of the site and customise it for my needs. Also it was a simple job to introduce Symfony 2 to my existing code base, so I can slowly migrate all the old code to Symfony 2.

The Dependency Injection in Symfony 2 does take a little bit of getting used to, but once you understand it, it’s a very powerful feature.

At this stage, the FF1GP site is running a mesh of Symfony 2, my old framework code, with Doctrine 1 and Smarty template. The next step is to move the templates from Smarty to Twig, and then move from Doctrine 1 and old DB code to Doctrine 2. Once I’ve got that done, I can finally complete the code to make all the previous year’s data available.

It sounds like a lot of work, but for once I’ve got a feeling it can be finally achieved.

Anyway I’ll close this blog with a tip to anyone considering writing their own framework. Either:-

  1. Use someone else’s framework.
  2. Write your own, then throw it away and use someone else’s framework.
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Twitter, so you want to follow me?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Pete

I’ve been on twitter as @brammers for quite a few years now. It’s one of those few social networks I’m happy to be part of, as can follow the latest news in F1, the IT world and my other interests. Also it’s great for sharing snippets of information, and also good for a few small rants. ;)

I’ve also got a growing list of followers, who I will give my thanks for following me. I do sometimes follow back, but I have no fast and hard rules on who I follow back.

However here is a list of types of tweeters who don’t get a follow back. I also report them as spam, and they get blocked.

1. Obvious twitter spam. Yes those just @ replying with just a link, and nothing else.
2. SEO tweeters. In my eyes, you are just as bad as spammers.
3. Search Engine Optimisers. See 2 above.

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Blogging again…maybe

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Pete

I’ve been saying to myself for a while that I should fix my blog and start blogging again.

So far, I’ve done the easy bit. Upgrade the blog to the latest WordPress version, which wasn’t too bad.

Then there is the hard bit. Writing blog posts…

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The week in Tweets for 2010-05-30

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Pete
  • So if we come last does that mean we don’t have to watch it or enter next year? #eurovision #
  • Stop voting for Denmark! #eurovision #
  • How much did they spend on the cameras and cgi? #eurovision #
  • Now that was the winning song of #eurovision #
  • Think it will be between Germany and Ireland. #eurovision #
  • Ok what are the drinking rules for #eurovision scoring? 1 finger per point for your country? #
  • Spain… when will the clown come on stage… oh wait…. #eurovision #
  • Keep moving them both off the stage….. #eurovision #
  • A copy of every breath you take? #eurovision #
  • Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz #eurovision #
  • He has git the lyrics in a note on his hand! That’s cheating! #eurovision #
  • Ok on song 19 how many more songs of pain are left? #eurovision #
  • France sounds like a boring French dance track.. #eurovision #
  • Ukraine I take she isn’t going to jump around or pan the camera down.. #eurovision #
  • Iceland, first their bad banks, then their dam ash and now a crappy song. #eurovision #
  • Albania – bad translation of Bad boys? #eurovision #
  • Turkey almost sounded like a mix of rock band an rapping. #eurovision #
  • I think I wait for the scoring…. #
  • Just got in and accidentally turned on Eurovision Ireland sounds good, Greece WTF, and now the UK err right… #Eurovision #
  • Right 4 year old P4 box 910GL chipset vs a 5 year old AMD socket 939 nForce 4 box. Which one do you think is better? #
  • Formatting done! #
  • Ok bets on how long a 800gig hard disk will take to format? #
  • Ok bets on how long a 800gig hard disk will take to doemat? #
  • Did the BBC do a tribute to Gary Coleman of Different Strokes at the end of the F1 coverage? #
  • Right, it’s 5pm. The weekend is now here…right now! Have a good one everyone. #happy #
  • I’ve been Tweeting since June 05, 2008 (722 days). How about you? – http://HowLongOnTwitter.com #
  • I heard there was a load of Pirates queuing up in Regents street in London this morning….they were looking to buy the new iPatch #
  • “Tilke to design new US F1 track” http://bit.ly/cZ4byM No..No. NO! Expect the US GP to be boring then. #f1 #
  • What, why is everyone looking at me? I am #notworkingonkillzone3 #
  • “German bank robbers in Italian Job moment” http://bit.ly/c1gyaV – I’ve been cracking up since reading that story on the BBC yesterday #fail #
  • “German bank robbers in Italian Job moment” http://bit.ly/c1gyaV – I’ve been cracking since reading that story on the BBC yesterday. #fail #
  • Ok, where did all this rain wind and….more rain come from? #
  • Hmm….camera phone isn’t good enough to show the damage on the bumper. #
  • Gah some woman reversed into my car, paintwork on bumper is damaged. #
  • Right Super street fighter 4 is 23 quid in Morrisons and not 15 #
  • Mass Effect Movie – http://bit.ly/b5I54b Considering how bad most Game to Movie conversions are, I’m sure all Mass Effect fans will worry. #
  • Yes if press update when the corrected word is highlighted it doesn’t use the highlighted word it uses your mispelt word. #
  • Hmm I am wondering if the official Twitter client has a bug with the spelling of the last wird #
  • Everyone missed the England goal in the pub where I am, everyone was staring at a wasp! #
  • 27 and melting here in Chippenham. Those cold beers look like they want srubkinf! #
  • Ok so if have few beers watching the England footie match and then watch #Lost, will I have a chance of understanding the ending? #
  • I will be catching up with Lost later…no spoilers please! #
  • The week in Tweets for 2010-05-23 http://bit.ly/aZy85C #

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The week in Tweets for 2010-05-23

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Pete
  • I mean exit so quickly… #
  • The cat must had known he wasn’t meant to be on my front room… never seen a cat exit front room, garden and fence when I said “oi” #
  • My viewing of the football was briefly interrupted by one of the local cats… #
  • Right garden sorted out, Doctor Who watched and now I have some cold beers to watch the champions league final. #
  • RT @xanthein: @Brammers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmTpOQrqoO0 (For all the Star Wars fans out there!) #
  • So @xanthein what’s this execellent video that @sunbug is talking about? #
  • Quick pint stop on the way home from work. Need it in this hot weather. #
  • Heh, goto http://www.google.co.uk/ and play PacMan! #
  • Hot day, hot office… and a Magnum to cool me down! I think a cold pint is in order later! #
  • Here is my #followfriday @ProphecyNetwork @Gameburst @adriennepierce @HiddenEloise and @jakehumphreyf1 #
  • Hmm…better come up with a few #followfriday’s myself…. #
  • Looking at DDR2 ram – how is this old memory type so expensive? #
  • /dev/xvda4 has gone 209 days without being checked…..great….. Linux fsck still takes an age…. #
  • Right…time to backup my mum’s PC…. 200gig space left on my SAN…that’s just enough space. Any bets on how long it will take to copy? #
  • It’s ridiculous, I have more networked entertainment devices than computers now! #
  • Just heard the Shakira world cup song on the Radio, it sounds crap imho… #
  • And yeah! It’s Monday! First day of the week! Errr…think I took the wrong pills this morning…. #
  • Hmm git subtree merging…. lots of “Removing” messages…. That’s gone a bit south, back to square one. #
  • Ok time to see if Spotify is worth the 9.99 a month. #
  • Monaco Grand Prix results http://bit.ly/bEo2X4 #
  • Hmm touchscreen keyboard thinks when I type FIA it thinks I mean DOS… #
  • RT @Jamesallenonf1: #f1 FIA stewards have decided that Schumacher’s pass is illegal and add 20 seconds to his time. #
  • Still no Stewards decision from Monaco. I am thinking of a quick dash for a few cans of Beer! Will there be a decision before I get back? #
  • Going to start on the FF1GP results, but we are still waiting to hear about the Stewards decision in Monaco. #f1 #ff1gp #
  • After hearing the arguments I don’t think Schumacher will get any penalty. #f1 #
  • If Schumacher is given a 10 second penalty he will end up last…will he not? #f1 #
  • Damon Hill is on the Stewards panel – so Schumacher won’t get off lightly after overtaking on a safety car lap #f1 #ff1gp #
  • Great win for Webber in Monaco. #f1 #
  • Great quote on 5live – Jenson will not want to hear “Push the button” from the sugarbabes #f1 #
  • Nooooooo Button is out #f1 #
  • Yuck I mean… #
  • It’s tuck outside. Well I will just settle for the f1 in Monoaco #
  • The week in Tweets for 2010-05-16 http://bit.ly/bE3tpf #

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Monaco Grand Prix results

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Pete

For news on Mercedes dropping their appeal, scroll to the end.

What a great result for Mark Webber! Two wins on the trot and if you was watching the F1 Forum on the BBC Red Button, you would have seen the Red Bull team having a party on the top of their motor home in their pool!

Winning is Monaco is always special for any driver, Mark Webber joins that special list of Jewel in the Crown winners.

However a dark cloud did move over for two teams and two drivers. Micheal Schumacher of Mercedes GP and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

Just a few laps from the end, Jarno Trulli’s Lotus and Karun Chanhok’s Hispania collided at La Rascasse, causing the safety car to be deployed. It was  deployed until the very end, and everyone crossed the finish line.

However Micheal Schumacher overtook Fernando Alonso. My first reaction was Penalty, as I had not realised that the safety car rules had changed slightly, where there is a 2nd safety car line where you can overtake, and Micheal Schumacher did overtook Fernando Alonso after this line.

My view at that point changed to that’s a fair pass, and also a clever pass by Schumacher…until you get this sport article.

Now Article 40.13 of the sporting regulations, which states: “If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.”

Yes the safety did enter the pit line, but this is where we get a grey area. On the final lap the message from race control was “Safety car in this lap” in other words (In my view) it was being un-deployed. If that message had not appeared on our TV screens, then I would agree that rules was in effect and no overtaking. allowed.

Ross Brawn argued this point on BBC with screen-shots from race control, and I agree with him. He even showed camera-shots from the car showing green flags and green lights.

However the Stewards are taking the view that the safety car was still deployed on the final lap, and therefore no overtaking was allowed.

As I write this blog, Mercedes GP have decided to appeal this decision to the FIA. Expect a hearing within the next few weeks.

However I do fear that they wont be able to appeal. Anyone remember Belgium 2008 with Hamilton, and the appeal being ruled inadmissible?

This unfortunate series of  events has unfortunately left the Monaco results being labled provisional.

Update 18 May 2010.

Late this afternoon, Mercedes dropped their appeal on the Stewards decision. This means the FF1GP results for Monaco are final.

The press release is here, but the short version is they won’t appeal, however the rule 40.13 will be reviewed at the next Sporting working group.

It’s clear that rule 40.13 is open to mis-interpretation, as Mercedes GP have shown. Even I still stand with Micheal Schumacher that he was in the right to overtake, and I will be the first to confess I’m not a Micheal Schumacher fan, and before anyone thinks I’m pro Ferrari, I’m not a Ferrari fan either. I’m more likely to back the Bristish drivers, but one thing I like is seeing a good race.

So why are we in this mess? Well it’s not Micheal Schumacher fault for overtaking Alsonso. It’s not Mercedes fault for mis-interpreting the confusing rules. It’s also not Damon Hill’s fault for being forced to make a very difficult decision.

No the fault clearly lies with the FIA for writing rules the rules badly.

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The week in Tweets for 2010-05-16

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Pete
  • You can tell this is a big match for the FA cup final – local pub is empty of a lot football fans. #facup #
  • Unlocked ‘Ding! Expert’ in ‘Borderlands™’ http://tinyurl.com/34wu29x #xboxtweet #
  • Unlocked ‘There are some who call me…Tim’ in ‘Borderlands™’ http://tinyurl.com/3ymhan4 #xboxtweet #
  • Unlocked ‘Discovered Headstone Mine’ in ‘Borderlands™’ http://tinyurl.com/33y768k #xboxtweet #
  • Hmm the latest Google maps update has sneaked a new road satnav program onto my phone. #
  • So who is left to sue out of all the main SmartPhone makers? #
  • RT @neal_revell HTC slaps back at Apple patent slap http://bit.ly/ajOtIh (Can I say Good!) #
  • Misread the BBC news website headline “UK coalition leaders in unity vow” I thought there was a unity row! #ge2010 #
  • Reinstalled Rainbow Six Vegas – a 2006 game – Hardware check says it needs a 3.0-3.5GHz CPU. Says my Quad i5-750 2.66GHz doesn’t cut it. #
  • That has to be the most brutal episode of 24 ever. #
  • Just turned over from BBC news 24 to BBC1 … I shouldn’t have bothered… all normal programmes are off. #
  • David Cameron waits longer than expected at Birmingham palace while the Queen finds the spare keys for no. 10… #ge2010 #
  • So what deal have the lib-dems agreed to? It better be good. #
  • Oh change of government – that happen quicker than I expected… #
  • Gordon Brown goes…. another step in the right direction. #
  • Right the last football matches of the seasons as a Liverpool supporter I will be cheering on Stoke and err … Chelsea #
  • Thanks everyone – yeah like that! Right better do the FF1GP results #
  • Can one of my followers send me an @ message please? #
  • Missed Lewis crashing out… and the Virgin cars did not run out of fuel! #
  • Lol – drive through penalty for rejoining the track!? #f1 #
  • Meanwhile on using the HTC desire … it is excellent! One thing I wish it could do is link Twitter accounts to contacts. #
  • Well that start was … not that exciting #f1 #
  • Ahh Spain! One of the greatest f1 races I have been to. Not long to lights out and the smell of burning rubber! #
  • Ok where can I find a news channel with other news on? Also what are the chances of Click not being shown today? #
  • The week in Tweets for 2010-05-09 http://bit.ly/aV9QiT #

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The week in Tweets for 2010-05-09

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Pete
  • Just seen Iron man 2 – excellent film! #
  • Grr dam election pushing the F1 off BBC1 – just glad it’s on the red button #f1 #
  • After 3 weeks the formula 1 is back #
  • Testing Twitter #
  • I have a new toy, one HTC Desire! :) #
  • News just in – “There is now no chance of the Conservatives winning a Commons majority.” Good! #ge2010 #
  • Hung parliament, I’m not surprised One good bit of news is the Lid-Dems won in Chippenham. #
  • Bed calls…. on this very odd night… #
  • If there is a coalition between Lib-Dems and Labour, I want to see electoral reform. #ge2010 #
  • Ok BBC please push Aastair Campbell into the Thames #ge2010 #
  • The BBC is predicting a Conservative overall majority? I hope not…#2010 #
  • So….how did the BBC get their giant iPad? #ge2010 #
  • And BBC… Thornbury and Yate is not in South Yorkshire (or even South Whiltshire) #ge2010 #
  • Why is the BBC interviewing peeps from a piss-up on the Thames in London? #ge2010 #
  • Voting done pint in hand – all i can say now is #gonick #
  • #ukvote SN15 #
  • Right off to vote and have a pint! #
  • Don’t forget to vote today! #ge2010 #fb #
  • Ok just sticking “Contact” in (Blu-Ray) and I’ve got a FBI warning on Piracy….. #
  • Plan for tomorrow. 1) Get up 2) Goto work 3) Go home 4) Go and vote.5) Goto pub next to polling station…. #
  • Why all the Tory basher keep bashing the Tories with negative spin? Forget that & put some positive spin on and vote Lib-Dem! #ge2010 #
  • Anyone know where I can find a AMD Socket 939 Motherboard? Make and model not too important. #
  • Unlocked ‘Headcase’ in ‘Halo® 3: ODST’ http://tinyurl.com/35ful33 #xboxtweet #
  • Unlocked ‘Pyro’ in ‘Borderlands™’ http://tinyurl.com/35x5y2g #xboxtweet #
  • The week in Tweets for 2010-05-02 http://bit.ly/aEzd3E #

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The week in Tweets for 2010-05-02

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Pete
  • RT @jodiekearns: Got this email from one of my favourite London restaurants – the BNP bit made me laugh! http://www.twitpic.com/1k2f6p #
  • Redmine 0.9.4 bug/security fix released: This maintenance release fixes more than 30 bugs and several secu… http://bit.ly/dCZZae #redmine #
  • Post office #Fail part 2 – Season 3 of the Unit came today….Still missing Season 2 (I have 1,3 and 4) #
  • Ok with the availability of GPS and route planning software, why are Parcel Delivery companies unable to give an ETA for delivery? #
  • I ordered The Unit Seasons 2,3 and 4 all at the same time. Season 4 has arrived, but not 2 and 3. Post office #Fail #
  • http://www.twitVoteUK.org.uk Looks like a LibDem landslide victory! #twitVoteUK #ge2010 #
  • Oh great, I am at the mercy of Home Delivery Network…. #
  • First Redmine Developer Meeting – 2010-04-30: We have picked a date and time for the first Redmine Develop… http://bit.ly/dqAL1g #redmine #
  • I’ve just registered my opinion for my constituency for #ge2010 at http://www.twitVoteUK.org.uk, why don’t you? #twitVoteUK #leadersdebate #
  • Note to self: For a CD-Rom drive to work, you do need to plug in the power lead…. #
  • Is the hay-fever season early this year? I’m sneezing about a month earlier than I should be. #
  • Good afternoon using GIT. Only major issue is git submodules is nowhere near as good as subversion externals I need git submodule add-tag #
  • The week in Tweets for 2010-04-25 http://bit.ly/c825fF #

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