My side-project: recappd.com

[kohanz]

Hey guys,

Long-time lurker, occasional poster here. I've been working on a side-project for longer than I'm willing to admit (not really, ask me if you must) that processes play-by-play. It's not really an analytics site, so it's slightly off-topic to this crowd, but I thought there might be some overlapping interest.

The motivation for this site came from wanting to keep up with what happened in the NBA (e.g. last night's games), but having progressively less and less time to do so. I felt that despite all the data at their disposal, sites like ESPN still make me spend a lot of time (view the box-score, read the generic AP recap, watch the video) to find out all the things I wanted to know. I typically like to look at the box-score, to see who had a good or bad night, but when you do that, you sure have to do a lot of mental math yourself. I also would want to know about any exciting events during the game (game winners, buzzer beaters, four-point plays, etc.) - but I would have to read the written summary or watch the highlights for that.

This is why I built http://recappd.com. It's a work in progress, but as far as "scratching my own itch", I'm pleased with it. Please check it out and if you like it, give me some social media love (@recappd on twitter)

Any and all feedback is welcome.

Thanks!

edit: I should add that I was quite inspired (motivationally) by the hobbyist sites nbawowy and vorped. I know those guys post on here and I just wanted to say thanks for giving me that inspiration.

[sndesai1]

cool stuff

fyi, the header link is broken if you go to a box score page (you're using "../" as the link which only works if you're 1 dire ctory down from the base)
i.e. click on "Recapp'd" on http://recappd.com/games/2015/1/22/UTA-MIL

[kohanz]

cool stuff

fyi, the header link is broken if you go to a box score page (you're using "../" as the link which only works if you're 1 dire ctory down from the base)
i.e. click on "Recapp'd" on http://recappd.com/games/2015/1/22/UTA-MIL

You're right - thanks for pointing that out. It should be fixed now.

Another thing I should mention that may not be obvious right away, is that many things are clickable: players, teams, and for badges, if you hover over them (or touch them on a mobile device) you'll get a tooltip with more info and the tooltip is clickable to see more info about that particular badge. It's not the greatest UX experience, but it's tough designing something that works both on mobile and desktop.

[v-zero]

Really cool, and similar to something I have planned (but not identical) for a while now. I'll definitely be using this when need a lightning-quick recap.

[EvanZ]

I like it! If you make it real-time, maybe it'll be my go to site for checking scores.

[kohanz]

I like it! If you make it real-time, maybe it'll be my go to site for checking scores.

Thanks! It's set up to work that way, but I don't have faith in the $5/month 512MB VM to handle that load (not sure what that says about my code...). It's definitely on the roadmap.

[nbacouchside]

what are you using to calculate who the "stars" of the game are?

[BigLeagueIT]

I like it! If you make it real-time, maybe it'll be my go to site for checking scores.

Thanks! It's set up to work that way, but I don't have faith in the $5/month 512MB VM to handle that load (not sure what that says about my code...). It's definitely on the roadmap.

If you want we have a lot of extra power and space for our servers. I can set up an apache virtual host and give you access if you want the site hosted for free. PM me if interested.

[kohanz]

I like it! If you make it real-time, maybe it'll be my go to site for checking scores.

Thanks! It's set up to work that way, but I don't have faith in the $5/month 512MB VM to handle that load (not sure what that says about my code...). It's definitely on the roadmap.

If you want we have a lot of extra power and space for our servers. I can set up an apache virtual host and give you access if you want the site hosted for free. PM me if interested.

Wow, that's very generous! Thank you. I'm not quite ready to go live with that feature but when I do, I may be in touch

[kohanz]

what are you using to calculate who the "stars" of the game are?

The foundation is the Hollinger game score, which I feel does a pretty good job. I take that and then add and subtract for different achievements. For example, hitting the game-winning shot provides a sizable boost to your game-score, while getting ejected detracts from it. The adjustments are fairly arbitrary in a way that would make analytically-inclined people cringe

Similarly, the boxscores are color coded (green = good, red = bad) according to player performances: http://recappd.com/games/2015/1/23/ORL-NY

[Statman]

The badges remind me of winning trophies in a sports video game.

Gotta admit I kinda like it. Box scores made more fun at quick glance.

[kohanz]

The badges remind me of winning trophies in a sports video game.

Totally! Like achievements on Xbox. It's weird to say that I'm kind of game-ifying a game. For the programmers in the crowd, the design of the badges comes from StackOverflow.com.

Gotta admit I kinda like it. Box scores made more fun at quick glance.

Thanks so much! Exactly what I'm aiming for. I'm always looking for more badge ideas, so feel free to get creative.

[bondom343]

Very cool, I like this a lot for a quick boxscore, especially the color codes, great work! I may post this over on RealGM to show some people.

[kohanz]

Very cool, I like this a lot for a quick boxscore, especially the color codes, great work! I may post this over on RealGM to show some people.

Thanks! I'm on RealGM too (former Raptors forum mod).

Last night's Bulls-GSW game is the perfect example of why I made this site. Woke up to see the game went to OT and saw instantly that Draymond tied the game in regulation and Rose won it in OT.

[bbstats]

Nice site!

Put in TS% and I'll link to it, all the time.