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My feelings on The Demon Rush
I will be sending these layouts to the Crowne Monday. These are drafts, but unless if something egregious sticks out, I'll stick with these. Attached to this post is the floor plan pdf so you can see which room in the hotel corresponds with the marathon room layouts. Also, the one layout I worked on a lot with Cool Matty was the main marathon room so if I'm more defensive about that layout, there's the reason why.

If anyone wants to look at all of the layouts (including the sketchup files), you can go here. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hi4ob6colj3mqyb/OxxyjhHye-

Some basic notes:

-We have about 6700 sq ft total for conference rooms. When you include the boardroom I'm renting for prize storage (a table isn't going to cut it anymore), then it's 7000 sq ft. This is about 3 times as much room than we had at the 4-H Center.

-Yes, we have about 95% of the conference rooms in the Crowne, so we mostly have it to ourselves.

-Yes, we have enough TVs for the room layouts. I currently have around 28 (give or take two), and there are 8 more I know I could pick up on the spot. That being said, more tvs never hurts.

-I only put up walls so you could see the approximate location of the doors

-I got really lazy copy pasting some stuff so if rows don't look straight, they aren't.

Main marathon room: Salon A and B on the PDF - ~3000 sq ft

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kaj3fhu4cpmu1rr/agdq2014%20marathon%20room.png

Notes:

-Cool Matty touched up this layout which is why it looks nicer than the other rooms.

-I might move the host table further right so the host has a better view of the action going on.

-The purpose of this setup is to make sure the tech station is within easy access of all of the most important parts of the marathon, the stage, donation station, and the PC practice area/Borderlands 2. Also, there's a bunch of tables for the tech area because there will be a lot of stuff. I only put down the basic tech equipment, not all of it.

-Yes, we are moving to a stage and projector setup. There are too many people attending to keep the old layout, and this layout will let a lot more people watch what's going on without needing to camp a seat/stretch their neck. We can have 100+ people watching the marathon, which is good because it looks like we'll be having at least 300 people attending.

-The stage is only a foot high, so don't worry about it being unreachable.

-For races with more than 2 people, we'll use the two tvs on the side. We shouldn't have to move them, but if having those side tvs on a lower levelt han the other tvs is disorienting, then we can possibly move

-I only really intend to use the borderlands 2 area for streaming borderlands 2 and maybe PC races.  For other PC games we should be able to slip in a PC under where the monitor is (right above the tvs on stage)

-What isn't on the stage is the cabinet/shelving I intend to use for the consoles. Right now I'm siding more with shelving because it's easier to move around (especially if it has wheels) and take consoles in and out.

-As I mentioned earlier, there is no more prize table, I'll be storing the big and valuable prizes in a ~300 sq ft room.


Practice Room: Salon C - ~1500 sq ft total.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbk3000nnjmz3li/AGDQ2014%20practice%20room.png

Notes:

-This room is pretty self-explanatory. Just a bunch of tvs for practicing games. You might think the bigger room should be the casual room, but this room is closer to the marathon, and we don't want to hear the big plays next to the marathon room.

-Some of those tvs can be replaced by computers for practicing, it's not a big deal. This is just a basic mockup.


Food/viewing room:  Dulles + Reagan National - ~1150 sq ft

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kurv6eec27v8n9c/agdq2014%20food%20and%20watching%20room.png

notes:

-This is the one area where people can eat food. Food won't be allowed in the other conference rooms because it got really out of hand last year.

-I didn't cram tables on both sides because I wanted some room for people to move around and be able to open the doors on the side.

-Those two microwaves on the bottom are being provided by the Crowne Plaza. Smiley


Casual/Smash/Big Plays room: O'Hare and La Guardia - ~1500 sq ft

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjeorusfcixp50g/AGDQ2014%20casual%20room.png

notes:

-The tables are more spread out than the practice room so more people can play multiplayer games/sit around.

-There are cubbyholes on the left wall that could fit a TV, but I don't remember exactly how many there are (it's 2 or 3) so I left them out of the layout. IIRC, they were near the doors.

-This will be the room where tournaments (poker, smash, fighting masters) take place. They can't take up the entire room so that people still have some room for other casual stuff, but we can definitely section off at least half of the room for said tournaments.


-Anyway, I'm going to submit these layouts to the crowne on Monday or Tuesday (depending on whether they'd rather receive it via email or in person).
Thread title:  
My only concern (and I'm aware there are space limitations) is whether it will get weird having the audience possibly show up on camera facing perpendicular to where the actual run is occurring.
My feelings on The Demon Rush
Oh I forgot to mention, there will be a separate camera for the audience. Gamespot has actually loaned us video cameras to use for the marathon.
Edit history:
Radman: 2013-12-13 04:07:35 pm
For Fun! For GLORY!!
^^ Well only if it's the first two rows.

EDIT: Oh there's an audience cam too? Oh, the reactions up close! XD How will you work that in stream layout?
Worthless categories WR master
The stream layout would almost need to be on two screens
Voice
I don't know if it can work, but having some portion of the audience (even if it's just a few rows) directly behind the runner would be cool. The isolation of the runner from the audience strikes me as a little awkward. Otherwise I think the projector is great for the amount of people who will be attending, and the practice rooms look awesome.
We require more minerals
Right now, there are five PCs on the equipment list and the practice room shows only TVs would we be able to have a PC set up in the practice room for practicing and being able to talk/be louder than in the marathon room?
What the hell? Since when does SDA have a "Casual" room?  That is not promoting the proper mindset for speedrunning.
Likes SoM far too much
Quote from Golden:
I don't know if it can work, but having some portion of the audience (even if it's just a few rows) directly behind the runner would be cool. The isolation of the runner from the audience strikes me as a little awkward. Otherwise I think the projector is great for the amount of people who will be attending, and the practice rooms look awesome.


Seconded
Quote from Naegleria:
What the hell? Since when does SDA have a "Casual" room?  That is not promoting the proper mindset for speedrunning.


Because not everyone is a pro? It's promoting people who don't speed-run to get better or people who want a break from the hardcore running. Remember the length of the event dude..
Quote from Raelcun:
Right now, there are five PCs on the equipment list and the practice room shows only TVs would we be able to have a PC set up in the practice room for practicing and being able to talk/be louder than in the marathon room?


The notes below that layout indicated that a PC can be swapped in for any of the TV stations in the practice room - but it would be nice to have a designated one present at all times if possible. This is all, of course, a backup for possibly practicing on the gaming PC in the marathon room.

Also, I agree with Golden - I'm worried about the loss of that crowd connectedness, because that's kind of part of what makes the event awesome. It'll look extra awkward if the crowd gets caught on the main camera at all, because they're all facing perpendicular to the run.
#Casual
Quote from Synaww:
Quote from Naegleria:
What the hell? Since when does SDA have a "Casual" room?  That is not promoting the proper mindset for speedrunning.


Because not everyone is a pro? It's promoting people who don't speed-run to get better or people who want a break from the hardcore running. Remember the length of the event dude..


he kids, he kids

#casual
Voice
I don't know a ton about feng shui or what not, but I think it would make more sense to just put the stage and projector next to each other in the front of the room, and have the entire audience facing towards both of those. People can watch whichever of the two screens is more convenient, but at least then the whole audience is pointed generally in the same direction as the runner.

Also, minor suggestion, but back at AGDQ 2012 the donation reader was on stream (off to the side of the runner and couch, but still visible), and I kind of liked that. It's not just some disembodied voice reading donations. It's flicky, or it's spikevegeta, etc etc
For Fun! For GLORY!!
I don't care either way. Sure, we lose some interactivity, but we get better views of the reactions of the audience.

Also why are you complaining Naeg. The casuals room was made just for you. Kappa
Edit history:
thadarkman78: 2013-12-13 04:49:58 pm
Hmm, will the host even be able to see the TV from that angle in the main room? I mean I'm sure since it's a mock up it may seem that way and in reality it'll be fine, but just making sure. Obviously if we have a host that can't watch the run that would be an issue.

Also:

Quote from Golden:
I don't know if it can work, but having some portion of the audience (even if it's just a few rows) directly behind the runner would be cool. The isolation of the runner from the audience strikes me as a little awkward. Otherwise I think the projector is great for the amount of people who will be attending, and the practice rooms look awesome.


Agreed as well. A projector is definitely necessary, but it would be nice still to have that feel of at least some of the Audience directly behind the runner. I understand that growth has necessitated us to move away from the small group mindset, but it would be nice to at least retain some of that mentality.
Personal text
Quote from Golden:
I don't know a ton about feng shui or what not, but I think it would make more sense to just put the stage and projector next to each other in the front of the room, and have the entire audience facing towards both of those. People can watch whichever of the two screens is more convenient, but at least then the whole audience is pointed generally in the same direction as the runner.


Also agree on this. Having the runner "isolated" like that feels awkward.
Bad Sandwich
Yeah it seems weird to me, part of the appeal of the whole thing is in how up-close and personal the interactivity can be.
Edit history:
Duke Bilgewater: 2013-12-13 05:24:25 pm
Duke Bilgewater: 2013-12-13 05:23:09 pm
Duke Bilgewater: 2013-12-13 05:22:58 pm
Quote from Golden:
I don't know a ton about feng shui or what not, but I think it would make more sense to just put the stage and projector next to each other in the front of the room, and have the entire audience facing towards both of those. People can watch whichever of the two screens is more convenient, but at least then the whole audience is pointed generally in the same direction as the runner.

I agree that the placement of the "stage" and the audience is awkward for both the runners and the audience. When you place the audience to the side of the runner, out of sight, it really feels like they aren't there at all; the audience is a big part of the atmosphere of the stream, not just for the viewers but for the runner as well. During SGDQ, the PC setup had the audience set off to the side in a similar way; I don't think they were visible on stream, and it felt like they were removed from watching the run. I've talked to other PC runners about the PC setup and they said they shared the same experience of feeling uncomfortable during their runs because of this.
On top of that, I think the layout is also worse for the viewers. I understand that first and foremost AGDQ is a speedrunning marathon, but viewers love watching the audience as much as they love watching the runs. It's a unique opportunity to see a bunch of speedrunners together, live, and watch them support each other. Unless there's a way for you to make it seem that the stage and the audience are right next to each other on the stream layout, it seems like this layout removes that element from the equation - which I think is going to end up being bad for the stream's atmosphere. That atmosphere is a part of the audience's experience too, there's a big difference between cheering someone on live, right next to them, and cheering on a projection on a wall. It's going to kill a lot of hype from people, I think.
Another issue is: How are you going to capture the audience on the stream layout, if at all?

I just think there are better ways to do this, and it isn't something that should be ignored if it can be made better - this event only happens twice a year, so it's important to get it right. This layout solves the problem of runners not being able to see the runs on the CRTs (I'm not sure how much of an issue that is, unless you're being blocked directly), but creates bigger issues instead. I'd do a rough draft of another layout, but I'm at work; if there's a way for you to situate the "stage" and the audience together - as it was in past GDQs - I think that would fix the issue with the layout.
Maybe you could just let people move their chairs behind the couch if the runners are okay with it and it doesn't fuck with what the cameras are capturing. I know that's what I'd want to do, I really love watching runs in person.

Nice Swastikas in the practice room, by the way.
Also will the projector be showing the raw stream or the twitch feed, with all the stuff going on at twitch (7 minute lag behind and stuff), even a small lag would be crazy to deal with. (plus feedback)
sinister1
so pro u don't even know
I think the audience is positioned awkwardly as well. I do get that the couch is up on a stage, and if audience sits behind the couch that will not be able to see over the couch. I hope we can find a good solution where we can have audience directly behind and still able to see what is going on. Is there any chance of a projector hanging from the ceiling?
I agree with Duke's novella, having the viewers behind the runner is important imo. It also might be distracting to have tech stations and people moving around behind the TV that the runner is playing on.

One thing this setup does nicely is put the Host station close to the runner. Not sure if how far away it was at previous marathons (they were always off cam) but there seemed to be some disconnect between the runner and the donation reader so having it closer is good.
Edit history:
Laplacier: 2013-12-13 06:01:05 pm
StarSong Hype
I would agree that having the audience off and not facing the camera would not be ideal.

What are the dimensions of all these things in the picture? I'm sure some people would be interested in giving suggestions as to how it could be organized.
Pudding%
Something to consider: While having a large audience is a real boon to a run, seeing an empty room can have an equally opposite effect. There have been runs at every marathon where everyone just cleared out of the room at the start, and it was basically just the runner and their couch crew. I think the best compromise here would be to only have a small portion of the audience in view, and the rest off camera, of on a separate camera (if need be).
The Dork Knight himself.
I'd agree for a half compromise: 1/3 to 1/2 of the audience space will be behind the runner, the rest off to the side watching the projector. As for how the viewers behind the couch can see, the best methods I can think of would be to either use stands for 2 flatscreens directly to the left/right sides of the couch (hopefully just outside of the actual camera's view) OR mount 1 large/2 medium flatscreens directly above/behind the crt setup. The former is better overall since the audience doesn't get blocked by the raised couch and the runner doesn't get distracted by the extra (partially lagged) screens. The biggest problem, aside from finding the necessary equipment to split the video signal this many times without interference, is finding flatscreens that are both large enough and light enough to be mounted to a stand.
Here's another idea to consider: http://i.imgur.com/FHllNdH.jpg

-both on and off camera seating for the audience
-donation handler seating on camera to encourage more donations
-host desk next to the runner so they can chat with each other