Challenging Problem

Hi guys, I have a very challenging problem I would love some help with! I code in C#

If a players chance of winning is increased based on their level.

The Players Names are stored in List<string> Player. The Player level is List<int> Chances. If Amy is level 7 and George is level 9, Cindy is level 4, Dave is level 2, Emily is level 5, Frank is 17.

The Game randomly shows a winner based of the new chances a player has to win, Frank should win.

Here is my example code:
{
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public class DrawSetUpPetLevel : MonoBehaviour
{
private string winner;
List<string> Player;
List<int> Chances;
List<string> PlayerChances;

public void Start()
{
for (int j = 0; j < Player.Capacity; j++)
{
// PlayerChances = Player + Chances;
}
}
public void whoWon()
{
// winner = Random.PlayerChances;
Debug.Log(winner);
}
}
}

I would love the help! This might not be possible... How do I store the data to make it work? The data is collected from the client and sent to the server when a player clicks a UI button.

 

First, always use code tags https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/using-code-tags-properly.143875/
Second, generally better not to include polls unless they are really necessary.

Third, I honestly don't know what you are really asking. Can a winner be chosen from a list with a higher chance of winning based on level? Yes, there isn't anything really challenging there other then maybe creating the proper algorithm to choose the player. I would suggest you make either a strut or class so you can relate player with their level and maybe percent chance to win (basically just to associate the data together better).

 

In addition to +1ing everything that @Brathnann said, it sounds like what you want is, essentially, that if Bob has 2 chances to win and Alice has 3 chances to win, you want an algorithm that will randomly choose Bob 40% of the time and Alice 60% of the time. Is that correct?

Here is an algorithm to do this. It's not the most efficient algorithm, but it's the most easily understood:

Code (csharp):

1. List<PlayerClass> players; //to be populated elsewhere. Assumes .name is string and .chances is int
2. PlayerClass RandomlyPickWinner() {
3. int totalChances = 0;
4. //first, what's our total?
5. for (int p=0;p<players.Length;p++) {
6. totalChances += players[p].chances;
7. }
8. //next, choose a number
9. int chosenNumber = Random.Range(0, totalChances);
10. //finally, run through the players, adding their chances, until our running total is higher than our random number
11. int thisPlayerHigh = 0;
12. for (int p=0;p<players.Length;p++) {
13. thisPlayerHigh += players[p].chances;
14. if (thisPlayerHigh > chosenNumber) {
15. return players[p];
16. }
17. }
18. return null; //if I wrote this algorithm correctly, the only way we ever get here is if the list is empty
19. }

 

Here's a somewhat recent post in which we all discuss weighted random selection:
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/random-numbers-with-a-weighted-chance.442190/#post-2859611

In which I even link to an even older thread also about it:
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/making-random-range-generate-a-value-with-probability.336374/

In which I actually go into detail about the concept of the algorithm.

And of course my fully fleshed out version is found in here as 'PickRandom' with memory optimizations added:
https://github.com/lordofduct/space...blob/master/SpacepuppyBase/Utils/ArrayUtil.cs

 

I didnt test it but i am 99% sure that this should do it.

Edit: just realized that @StarManta gave prettry mutch the same answer.
Edit2: @lordofduct in your answer you use only 1 random value thats good but dont your
prioritize "players" that come first in the list or am i missing some thing ?

Code (CSharp):

1.         List<int> chanceList = new List<int>();
2.         float total = 0;
3.         int winner = 0;
4.  
5.         foreach(int value in chanceList)
6.             total += value;
7.  
8.         float leaderPoints = 0.0f;
9.  
10.         foreach(int value in chanceList)
11.         {
12.             float points = Random.Range(0.0f,(float)value / total);
13.             if(points > leaderPoints)
14.             {
15.                 leaderPoints = points;
16.                 winner = value;
17.             }
18.         }
19.         //Debug.Log(playerList[winner]);