LAN party web UI - initial thoughts

Earlier this week I listed a couple of projects I planned on working on. One of those projects is a LAN party web UI. As I've just joined a group of LAN party enthusiasts, I thought this would be a great first Critical-Web project. Before starting any worthwhile projects, it's always a good idea to take a step back and plan things out. That's what we're here for today.

Before we can plan this project, we are going to need a little background information. Our little LAN party is comprised of maybe half to a full dozen "party-goers". These people are obviously not available every day/night of the week, and different circumstances can change their availabilities. Also, aside from the good ol' bring-your-own-box LAN party in someone's basement, we tend to play mostly remotely, using VPN software to emulate a LAN over the internet. Obviously, we tend to play different games at different sessions, and sometimes more than one per session. We also use Teamspeak for live voice-chat.

With this background information provided, we can list a couple of high-level requirements for the application:

• Sensitive information (Teamspeak server, e-mails, etc.) requires login to view;
• User information (nickname, e-mail, instant messaging, availabilities, installed games);
• Played games and versions;
• Calendar system (sessions and special events);
• Admin UI for managing all of the above.

I'm pretty sure everything's there. In our next episode, we'll be preparing the databases that will help get this idea off the ground.

Once you pop... the fun don't stop