Simplest way to collect data for a University thesis research project (from Google Sheet or MS Excel?)

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:bust_in_silhouette: Asked By MathieuJazz

Too long to read? You can skip directly to the question. Scroll down to → Question about Data collection

About the thesis project

Important: Data collect as already been approved by the University’s Ethic comity

First, you must understand that we are not collecting sensible data, in fact we mostly need some data from the game itself. Nothing like credit cards and so.

We are creating a coop game that would facilitate and make more enjoyable the acquisition of music improvisation skills. It’s a card based coop game where you first have to choose some thematic cards and some constraint cards to finally improvise some music (on any instrument) about these cards.

So, if you select the “Kitten” theme card and the “2/4” constraint card, you must musically improvise something that correlates with the chosen cards. Your partner must properly guess the cards you previously chose. Then, it’s your partner’s turn. When enough cards have been guessed, you both win the game. But if the timer goes to zero, you both loose.

Question about Data collection

I may not be able to work on this project forever. Therefore, I need to find the easiest way to collect and modify data from a very easy to use db. (If a beginner coder works on the project, I want him to be able to understand and maintain the code).

Here is what I would like to do if possible. I’d like to use a service like:

  • Google Sheet (from GDrive) or;
  • Microsoft Excel (from OneDrive).

In the sheet, there would already be the names of the research participants. From this file, I’d like to be able to access the data and modify them from the game itself.

Ex: User enter his unique code in the game, the game would fetch the code in the Excel or Google Sheet DB. Then the user would play a game and some of its data would be written in the file. (Data examples : The chosen cards, the failed one, etc.)

This way, my boss would be able to generate some of his research statistics.

How would you consider achieving that?

Math

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:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: skysphr

You need to write a client that calls the appropriate APIs from Google and Microsoft. Godot has a HTTP request class that allows you to send requests to the rest APIs. Logging users in might however be a bit of a hassle (speaking from previous experiences with consuming Google APIs), so if you are not aiming for the data to be primarily edited outside the game you might want to consider writing your own backend instead.

Thank you very much! I’m gonna start with that.

Of course, writing my own backend would be the greatest way, but time is limited… So!

Thank you skysphr

MathieuJazz | 2021-09-19 18:19

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You can use the Google Sheets API to programmatically access and modify data in the sheet. This involves setting up API credentials, authenticating your application, and writing code to interact with the sheet. This allows you to automate the process of fetching and updating lead data enrichment. In your game, implement a mechanism for the user to enter their unique code. Use this code to fetch the corresponding row from the Google Sheets document.