Pandamonium

Another bunch of updates for Starcraft II and tournaments. 

New create for tourneys

As you may know we're gearing up towards huge tournaments as a part of IGN's IPL, that why this part will get far more options in the future. Current concept is to split whole creation screen in two parts: main and secondary. For now date & time is going into secondary, however this may change. Other two additional parts are BO's and Map Pools (for Starcraft II only). 

Map Pools

This is a very specific Starcraft II update. Map pool allows for every commissioner to choose first map for each round of a tournament from a defined map pool.

If you have any ideas about how to spice up other game's tournaments with options specific to them like an ability to choose teams setup for FIFA — this is the time to let us know. 

Map pool that we're using so far (same as IPL):

• MLG Metalopolis
• MLG Shattered Temple
• MLG Shakuras Plateau
• MLG Xel'Naga Caverns
• GSL Cross Fire SE
• GSL Crevasse
• GSL Terminus SE
• SL Tal'Darim Altar

Enjoy and stay tuned.

Quick signup for Starcraft II

One of the first pieces of user-feedback we received during preliminary Starcraft II testing was the difficulty of account creation in the case of a new Playhem user that was invited to a tournament. Playhem has 2 modes of play: head-to-head matches and tournaments. In case of a PC game like SC2 that lends itself to tournament play first and fremost, it's important for new users to see that they are signing up to the tourney rather than Playhem itself. 

In the previous flow, when someone in a forum (or on facebook, twitter, anywhere on the web) provided a tourney link, the new user would click the link and be confused on being prompted to signup for Playhem. Provided the user did signup, they then had to know to add Starcraft 2 in the 'Manage Games' tab, then find the original tournament they were linked to in the tournament list, and finally join it. Not the quick, most direct, or most user-friendly way to do it. We tried a couple of things, but a quick tournament signup is the best idea (we think, let us know if you agree or disagree).

With this any Starcraft 2 player being introduced to Playhem for the first time can signup for the tournament hyper-easily and join it right away. We will test it in the upcoming weeks and will make adjustments based on your feedback (as always) and the data as it comes in.

New brackets design

Funnily enough the new bracket design was ready to go probably around 2 months ago, but we were focusing on different things at the time. The main utility of the new design (apart from being prettier) is new statuses for each player. Everyone in the tourney including the commissioner can now clearly see who is ready and who is not. We hope that this, along with the other new commissioner tools, makes tournaments far easier to handle.

Improved tournament matches layout

Individual tourney matches receive a nice overhaul too. They get by far more contrast than anything else on the tourney page, simply because we want the players' eyes drawn to them faster. Same goes for the "I'm ready" button and different cases inside the match.

We hope that you enjoy the new stuff as much as we do! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

We, like you loyal Playhemmers, were excited to have our upcoming partnership with IGN and the IGN Pro League made public on Wednesday: http://go.ign.com/e8tkNi

There are many details to come, but we'll start by emphasizing that we share David Ting and the IPL team's passionate vision for creating the best competitive gaming experience this burgeoning community has yet seen. Integrating an IGN version of the Playhem experience into the larger IPL initiative allows players of any skill level to compete against their friends and rivals for cash and prizes.

Suffice it to say we are beefing up our tournament commissioner tools to allow for more user control of the tourneys in this very moment. Look for this deployment early next week, alongside key features that are specific to Starcraft II gameplay and tourneys. All games that are part of the Playhem experience will be available also on the IGN-Playhem shared platform, with more titles being added soon. The Playhem functionality will launch with IGN in time for IPL Season 2 in June.

Most importantly, watch Season 1 starting tonight. 16 of the top North American SC2 players duke it out for $5,000 in prizes. Tune in and support eSports, the IPL, and Playhem by tuning in tonight, April 21, at 8 PM EST: ign.com/ipl