Leaderboard Submission & Viewing: A Discussion

Hey guys! Let's dive into the exciting topic of leaderboard submission and viewing, a crucial feature for any game that aims to foster competition and engagement. In this article, we'll explore the core concepts, acceptance criteria, and tasks involved in implementing a robust leaderboard system. We'll be focusing on how players can submit their scores, view the top rankings, and the technical considerations behind making it all work smoothly.

Understanding the Need for Leaderboards

Leaderboards are more than just a list of high scores; they're a powerful tool for driving player motivation and creating a sense of community. Think about it: when you nail a high score, the first thing you want to do is see where you stack up against the competition. Leaderboards provide that instant gratification and encourage players to keep pushing their limits. They also offer a fantastic way for players to connect, compare strategies, and even forge rivalries – all in good fun, of course!

• Motivation and Engagement: Leaderboards tap into our innate desire for competition and achievement. Seeing your name climb the ranks is incredibly rewarding, motivating you to play more and improve your skills. This competitive aspect keeps players engaged and coming back for more.
• Community Building: Leaderboards create a shared space where players can see each other's progress and achievements. This fosters a sense of community and encourages interaction. Players might discuss strategies, share tips, or even challenge each other to beat their scores.
• Goal Setting: Leaderboards provide clear goals for players to strive for. Whether it's breaking into the top 10 or simply beating their personal best, leaderboards give players something to aim for, making the game more challenging and rewarding.

For developers, leaderboards offer valuable insights into player performance and engagement. By tracking scores and rankings, you can identify areas where players might be struggling or excelling, allowing you to fine-tune the game's difficulty and balance. You can also use leaderboard data to create challenges, events, and rewards that cater to different player skill levels, keeping everyone engaged and invested in the game.

Acceptance Criteria: Ensuring a Solid Foundation

Before we jump into the technical details, let's lay out the acceptance criteria for our leaderboard system. These criteria serve as a roadmap, ensuring that we build a feature that meets the needs of our players and delivers a seamless experience. These are the key things we need to get right to call our leaderboard a success.

Submitting Scores After Game Over

One of the most critical aspects of a leaderboard is the ability for players to submit their scores. After all, what's the point of a leaderboard if you can't add your name to the list? The process needs to be straightforward and intuitive, ensuring that players can easily record their achievements.

• Entering Name and Submitting: Immediately after the game ends (GameOver), players should be presented with a clear and easy-to-use interface for entering their name or alias. This input field should be prominent and inviting, encouraging players to immortalize their score. The submission process should be initiated with a clear button or action, such as "Submit Score" or "Add to Leaderboard."
• Backend Integration: Upon submission, the player's name, score, and timestamp (created_at) should be securely written to the backend database. This ensures that the data is stored reliably and can be retrieved for leaderboard display. The data structure might look something like this: {name, score, created_at}.
• Feedback Mechanisms: It's crucial to provide players with clear feedback during and after the submission process. A loading indicator should be displayed while the score is being submitted to the backend. Upon successful submission, a clear success message or animation should be shown. In case of an error (e.g., network issue, database problem), a clear and informative error message should be displayed, guiding the player on how to proceed (e.g., retry submission).

Displaying the Top 10 High Scores

Now that we can submit scores, we need a way to view the leaderboard itself. This means displaying the top players in all their glory. A well-designed leaderboard should be visually appealing, easy to read, and provide all the essential information at a glance.

• Fetching and Displaying Data: The High Scores scene should automatically fetch the top 10 scores from the backend. This data should include the player's rank, name, and score. The leaderboard should be presented in a clear and organized format, such as a table or list, making it easy for players to compare scores and identify the top performers.
• Visual Hierarchy: The ranking should be visually prominent, making it easy for players to quickly identify the top performers. Consider using visual cues like numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd), icons (trophies, stars), or color coding to highlight the top ranks. The player's name and score should be displayed clearly and legibly, ensuring that the information is easily digestible.
• Handling Empty or Error States: The leaderboard should gracefully handle scenarios where there are no scores yet or if an error occurs while fetching data. Instead of displaying a blank screen or a cryptic error message, the leaderboard should show a clear and informative message. For example, it might display a message like "No scores yet! Be the first to submit!" or "Error fetching scores. Please try again later."
• Navigation: A clear "Back to Menu" option should be provided, allowing players to easily navigate back to the main menu or other sections of the game.

Out of Scope (For MVP)

To keep things manageable, especially for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), we're intentionally excluding certain features from the initial implementation. This allows us to focus on the core functionality and deliver a working leaderboard system quickly. Two key features that are considered out of scope for the MVP are:

• Offline Functionality: The MVP will not support offline score submission or viewing. This means that players will need an active internet connection to submit their scores and view the leaderboard. While offline functionality is a desirable feature in the long run, it adds significant complexity to the system and can be deferred to a later iteration.
• Queueing Mechanisms: Similarly, the MVP will not include queueing mechanisms for score submissions. This means that if the backend is temporarily unavailable, score submissions might fail. Implementing queueing would involve storing scores locally and submitting them later when the connection is restored. This feature adds complexity and can be addressed in a subsequent release.

Tasks: Building the Leaderboard System

Now that we've established the acceptance criteria, let's break down the tasks involved in building the leaderboard system. This is where we get into the nitty-gritty details of implementation, outlining the steps we need to take to bring our vision to life.

Supabase Table Design

The first step is to design the database table that will store our leaderboard data. We'll be using Supabase, a popular open-source Firebase alternative, for our backend. Our table will need to store the following information for each score:

• id: A unique identifier for each score entry (primary key).
• name: The player's name or alias (string).
• score: The player's score (integer).
• created_at: The timestamp when the score was submitted (timestamp).

Here's how we might define the table schema in Supabase:

CREATE TABLE high_scores (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT uuid_generate_v4(),
  name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
  score INTEGER NOT NULL,
  created_at TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT timezone('utc', now())
);

CREATE INDEX idx_high_scores_score ON high_scores (score DESC);

Key Considerations:

• Data Types: Choosing the correct data types is crucial for performance and data integrity. We're using UUID for the id to ensure uniqueness, VARCHAR for the name to accommodate player names, INTEGER for the score as it's a numerical value, and TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE for the created_at to track submission times accurately.
• Indexing: We're creating an index on the score column (descending order) to optimize leaderboard queries. This will allow us to efficiently retrieve the top scores without having to scan the entire table.

Utility Functions: submitScore and getTopScores

Next, we'll need to create utility functions that interact with the Supabase database. These functions will encapsulate the logic for submitting scores and retrieving the top scores. This helps keep our codebase organized and makes it easier to reuse these functions in different parts of the game.

• submitScore(name, score): This function will take the player's name and score as input and insert a new record into the high_scores table. It should handle any potential errors during the database operation and provide appropriate feedback to the caller.

  async function submitScore(name, score) {
    const { data, error } = await supabase
      .from('high_scores')
      .insert([{ name, score }]);
  
    if (error) {
      console.error('Error submitting score:', error);
      throw error; // Re-throw the error for handling elsewhere
    }
  
    return data;
  }
  

• getTopScores(): This function will fetch the top 10 scores from the high_scores table, ordered by score in descending order. It should also handle errors and return an appropriate result (e.g., an empty array if there are no scores or an error message if something goes wrong).

  async function getTopScores() {
    const { data, error } = await supabase
      .from('high_scores')
      .select('name, score')
      .order('score', { ascending: false })
      .limit(10);
  
    if (error) {
      console.error('Error fetching top scores:', error);
      throw error; // Re-throw the error for handling elsewhere
    }
  
    return data || []; // Return an empty array if data is null
  }
  

UI Implementation: Name Input, Submit Button, and High Score Scene

With the backend logic in place, we can now focus on the user interface (UI). We'll need to create UI elements for name input, score submission, and displaying the leaderboard.

• Name Input + Submit UI in GameOver: In the GameOver scene, we'll add a text input field where players can enter their name or alias. A submit button will trigger the submitScore function, sending the name and score to the backend. We'll also include loading and success/error feedback mechanisms to inform the player about the submission status.

  • Input Field: A standard text input field will allow players to enter their name. We might want to implement input validation to prevent excessively long names or special characters.
  • Submit Button: A button labeled "Submit Score" or similar will trigger the submission process. We'll disable the button while the submission is in progress to prevent multiple submissions.
  • Loading Indicator: A loading spinner or animation will be displayed while the score is being submitted, providing visual feedback to the player.
  • Success/Error Messages: After the submission is complete, a success message (e.g., "Score submitted!") or an error message (e.g., "Error submitting score. Please try again later.") will be displayed to inform the player of the outcome.

• HighScoreScene with List and States: The HighScoreScene will display the leaderboard. It will fetch the top scores using the getTopScores function and display them in a list format. We'll also implement states for loading, error, and empty leaderboard scenarios.

  • Loading State: While the scores are being fetched, a loading indicator will be displayed.
  • Error State: If an error occurs while fetching the scores, an error message will be displayed, prompting the player to try again later.
  • Empty State: If there are no scores yet, a message like "No scores yet! Be the first to submit!" will be displayed.
  • Leaderboard List: The top scores will be displayed in a list or table format, showing the rank, name, and score for each player.

Testing and Error Handling

Last but not least, we need to thoroughly test our leaderboard system to ensure it works as expected. This includes testing the happy path (successful score submission and retrieval) as well as error handling scenarios.

• Happy Path Testing: We'll submit scores with different names and scores to verify that the data is correctly stored in the database and displayed on the leaderboard.

• Error Handling Testing: We'll simulate error scenarios, such as network issues or database connection problems, to ensure that our system handles these situations gracefully and provides informative error messages to the player.

  • Backend Errors: We'll test scenarios where the Supabase backend is unavailable or returns an error. This might involve temporarily disconnecting the database or simulating a server-side error.
  • Input Validation: We'll test input validation by submitting scores with invalid names (e.g., excessively long names, special characters) to ensure that the system handles these cases appropriately.

Conclusion: A Step Towards Engaging Gameplay

Building a leaderboard system is a significant step towards creating a more engaging and competitive gaming experience. By following these guidelines and focusing on the key tasks and acceptance criteria, you can develop a leaderboard that motivates players, fosters community, and provides valuable insights into player performance. Remember, a well-designed leaderboard is more than just a list of scores; it's a powerful tool for enhancing the overall player experience. Let's get building, guys!