What is pLANer?

The proposed project by Team pLANer will be a LAN (Local Area Network) party management system composed of a server and client written in Python for a cross-platform release. The server and client together will be a tool named “pLANer” and will allow LAN party administrators to schedule tournaments (and the LAN party itself).  Scheduling a tournament will consist of specifying meta-data for each generated tournament bracket, allowing the system to build and handle a wide variety of events. Necessary data includes when it will take place, the expected time it will take per match, how many players per team, how many teams total, the game it will be played in, and a description which can include tournament rules and other information. Optional data could consist of images or links for the specific event, additional rules like double or round robin elimination.  The different tournaments will be stored in a database on RGA’s (RPI Gaming Alliance) servers for development purposes, but release users can host their server elsewhere.  The server will also maintain a list of registered players so that they can log in and sign up for LAN parties and tournaments remotely, before the LAN party starts.  Players will have a client-side application which connects to the server to display necessary information about the LAN party.  The client will allow a player to register for a LAN party and its hosted tournaments.  Additionally, the client will be able to view tournament brackets for tournaments that are in progress and provide support for players reporting who won or lost games.  When a player is signed up for a tournament, the server will notify them via texting, email and/or desktop notification a set time before their next match starts. 

Let's Get more Specific!

The RPI Gaming Alliance (RGA) was the original inspiration for making pLANer.  Despite this fact, the final product will be developed in a way that applies to any type of LAN party organization, not just RGA. Therefore the target audience for this software is gaming clubs in general.  The core of the project will always stay as a robust and easy system to build and progress through tournament brackets of varying styles and rule sets.

            The pLANer software will have two main types of users: LAN party administrators and gamers.  Administrators will primarily use the software to schedule the LAN party events.  Current LAN party administrators have to manually keep track of where a player in a tournament is supposed to be and when his or her next games start.  Complex cases also arise when a player is scheduled for overlapping tournaments and is supposed to be playing two games at once.  It was very hard in the past for these administrators to determine where a player was and what to do in these types of situations.  The pLANer software will greatly reduce the time and complexity currently required for them to determine which players should be where, what the current status of a particular tournament is, and also help them know when a player is available for their next match if they are signed up for overlapping times.  It will also help administrators know how many people are coming to their next LAN party ahead of time so they can plan prizes and equipment setup accordingly.  The pLANer project will also benefit the gamers who attend the LAN parties, even when they do not have to schedule them.  They will be very interested in seeing what tournaments their friends have signed up for and what LAN parties they are attending.  It will also tell them ahead of time what tournaments will be available and whether they will get a slot.  Additionally gamers will be able to form teams ahead of time, which is always an issue for games requiring large teams.

No software for specifically scheduling LAN parties currently exists.  The closest competition is generic scheduling software such as a program called Organizer.  This software implements planning in a classic sense, recording events on a calendar.  However, a specialized approach should thrive for LAN parties in particular because it does not just need to store data, users need to be able to manipulate and view it in special ways.  For example, tournament brackets are very useful for viewing the state of a tournament and for reporting winners of matches.  Users will also be notified when their matches are about to start, which is almost impossible in our competitors software.