ESA2012 - Evaluation

Edenal

Edit history:

Edenal: 2012-09-07 02:38:59 am

Edenal: 2012-09-06 12:13:58 pm

Edenal: 2012-09-06 11:58:27 am

Edenal: 2012-09-06 05:39:33 am

2012-09-05 02:44:04 am

Hockey enthusiast

I think it's time to start an evaluation for ESA2012. What went well. What totally sucked. What rocked your socks off? Anything is open for discussion, how could this event have been even bigger, or was it already too big for us to handle with our limited experience? Any point of view is greatly appreciated, runner, visitor, viewer, donator.

Generally I think we underestimated the stress involved when tech did not work. We did not have dedicated roles and assignments, but this worked out somehow anyway! In retrospective, redundancy on the tech side would have helped during BSoD. The problems would still be there, but the effects would be reduced.

I will try to update the OP with a summary so that we don't flood this post with the same thing over and over again.

What we did well:
- Mixer setup
- Venue was amazing!
- Practice room had a 50+" television showing the stream and chat at all times
- 720p stream
- Dedicated gaming-PC with HDMI-out.
- Local promotion

What could be done better:
- Giving popular games a better time slot
- Uneven volume levels
- No schedule for manning the different stations
- Lack of NTSC compatible television.
- More mics (especially the wireless "fly-mic"-type)
- Clear directives for each station with instructions.
- English system language for PCs
- Standardized stream layout
- Online / International promotion
- Acquire Twitch partnership to allow viewers to watch in any resolution

What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:
- Stations were disconnected from each other. (Opposite side of the room with no way to communicate)
- Schedule changes during the marathon
- Setup routines between games, especially for PC-block and 4-player race. (Connection diagrams) More tape??
- Lack of dessignated commentators
- Don't have the streaming-PC protected by a password! Or share it with everyone.

Thread title:

I think it's time to start an evaluation for ESA2012. What went well. What totally sucked. What rocked your socks off? Anything is open for discussion, how could this event have been even bigger, or was it already too big for us to handle with our limited experience? Any point of view is greatly appreciated, runner, visitor, viewer, donator.

Generally I think we underestimated the stress involved when tech did not work. We did not have dedicated roles and assignments, but this worked out somehow anyway! In retrospective, redundancy on the tech side would have helped during BSoD. The problems would still be there, but the effects would be reduced.

I will try to update the OP with a summary so that we don't flood this post with the same thing over and over again.

[b]What we did well:[/b]
- Mixer setup 
- Venue was amazing!
- Practice room had a 50+" television showing the stream and chat at all times
- 720p stream
- Dedicated gaming-PC with HDMI-out. 
- Local promotion

[b]What could be done better:[/b]
- Giving popular games a better time slot
- Uneven volume levels
- No schedule for manning the different stations
- Lack of NTSC compatible television. 
- More mics (especially the wireless "fly-mic"-type)
- Clear directives for each station with instructions.
- English system language for PCs
- Standardized stream layout
- Online / International promotion
- Acquire Twitch partnership to allow viewers to watch in any resolution

[b]What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:[/b]
- Stations were disconnected from each other. (Opposite side of the room with no way to communicate)
- Schedule changes during the marathon
- Setup routines between games, especially for PC-block and 4-player race. (Connection diagrams) More tape??
- Lack of dessignated commentators 
- Don't have the streaming-PC protected by a password! Or share it with everyone.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2012-09-05 05:45:14 pm

2012-09-05 05:44:49 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Okay I guess it's time to offer some constructive criticism.

First off, I want to say the ESA marathon far exceeded my expectations. I honestly wasn't expecting the marathon to be successful, but seeing what you guys did blew me away. I really enjoyed popping in when I could and watching runs because you guys put on such a good show.

What I liked:

The audio setup with the mixer: Honestly, your audio setup was better than the one we've used in past marathons. There was no overpeaking and the audio was quite clear.

The stream setup: While your stream setup was similar to ours, you definitely made better use of the space available, and it was at 720p. While we will use prettier stream layouts for AGDQ 2013, we can definitely take some lessons on stream layouts from ESA.

What I didn't like or what confused me:

The volume levels: While the audio never overpeaked during ESA, sometimes the audio was way too quiet and it would take a while to get adjusted. Some of the runs were very quiet and we couldn't hear the runner talking.

The schedule: It was all over the place, IMO. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason as to why games were placed where they were. I know the two Zelda 2 runs were placed right next to each other, but the Spyro 2 runs were placed far apart. There also needs to be more consideration for popular games in prime time slots.

I might have more to say later, but those were the things that really stuck out to me.

Okay I guess it's time to offer some constructive criticism.

First off, I want to say the ESA marathon far exceeded my expectations. I honestly wasn't expecting the marathon to be successful, but seeing what you guys did blew me away. I really enjoyed popping in when I could and watching runs because you guys put on such a good show.

[b]What I liked[/b]:

The audio setup with the mixer: Honestly, your audio setup was better than the one we've used in past marathons. There was no overpeaking and the audio was quite clear.

The stream setup: While your stream setup was similar to ours, you definitely made better use of the space available, and it was at 720p. While we will use prettier stream layouts for AGDQ 2013, we can definitely take some lessons on stream layouts from ESA.

[b]What I didn't like or what confused me[/b]:

The volume levels: While the audio never overpeaked during ESA, sometimes the audio was way too quiet and it would take a while to get adjusted. Some of the runs were very quiet and we couldn't hear the runner talking.

The schedule: It was all over the place, IMO. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason as to why games were placed where they were. I know the two Zelda 2 runs were placed right next to each other, but the Spyro 2 runs were placed far apart. There also needs to be more consideration for popular games in prime time slots.

I might have more to say later, but those were the things that really stuck out to me.

TimpZ

Edit history:

TimpZ: 2012-09-05 10:15:07 pm

TimpZ: 2012-09-05 10:06:15 pm

TimpZ: 2012-09-05 10:04:57 pm

2012-09-05 09:59:27 pm

With reservation for what Mike said, which I agree with by the way, I'm going to talk about both from a viewers perspective and a visitor. I hope I don't repeat too much from the other thread.

What we did well

Donation tracking - Thanks to Edenals last minute tracker we could read donation comments with ease almost as soon as they came in. I was worried about this bit but it turned out great. The google document showing donation incentives and the like was also a good idea and according to me better than the second stream that I saw at AGDQ12.

Venue - Just a quick mention. Overall I felt pretty comfortable in the venue, nothing was stolen and possibilities to lock up valuables was there. Showers, kitchen and considerate "roomates" made living there for a week feel nothing like a chore.

Food - Again just a quick mention. Right in the centre of town so close proximity to both restaurants and grocery shops. I liked the way you made a deal with a local restaurant so thumbs up.

Practise room - Big screen TV showing the marathon + chat in the middle with some chairs around. Lots of TV's, everyone letting people play each others games. Playing fighting games, racing games, obscure games and generally fun games. No matter if you wanted to relax a bit and make some new friends or do some hardcore practise or warm up to prepare there was always resources and a nice atmosphere to do so. Only possible complaint I might have is a bit of a shortage of NTSC-compatible televisions.

What could have gone better

Manning - It was too much of the same people manning the different stations of the stream. I personally was initially intimidated to handle the donation tracker since I was afraid of doing something wrong, but as I got more into it and I understood it then it was fine. Perhaps making it more accessible by having a small 10 minute crash course in what to do, or some other alternative. This was mostly evident in the sound department as we only had 1-2 people that knew how to handle it well AFAIK. Huge props to Neviutz, Tompa and Alko too who did a lot of work to keep the quality up.

Donation Reading - A better system for donation reading than waving your arms across the room and hoping that the stream handlers will see is needed. I personally wondered why the chat and donation moderators didn't sit together by the main setup though it might have been a space issue. In any case, better communication is needed since there were a few instances of people talking over each other without even knowing.

Stream setup - The stream looked great and overall held a high standard. But there was no standard throughout the marathon and especially when you got 4 people races and such things could take a while before you figured out a nice setup. Perhaps more before-thought into design for special cases like this should be considered. I also noticed a lot of people asking which runner was on what side and I while the answer was logical it might not be obvious.

Goodbyes and thanks - I think a day or so before the last streaming day the general progression of the comments should be noted and if anyone have something they want to say then be able to tell so in beforehand such that it's less messy. I say this not because of anything Frezy or anyone else said but because he offered the mic to go around if anyone had something special to say. I felt embarrassed after thanking Mike89, Flying fox and the ZSR & SRL community (since I had forgotten at my one and only time in the spotlight) as I realised afterwards that there wasn't enough time for everyone to give personal shout-outs.

Also the last bit in the goodbye session is mysteriously cut away from any of the links I've seen.... Idk is it only for me?

What did not live up to expectations

Sound - Mike already covered most of it, but just to mention commentators. I think someone posted about having a designated commentator and I agree. Unless you got something special in mind or it's a very slow paced game, people should think about commentators more than 2 minutes before their run. I jumped in at the games that I have been running myself such as OoT and SM64 but I was kind of displeased when I noticed that you could barely hear any of my comments during the entirety of Cpkaka's run.

What went totally wrong

I got a cold... Sad

With reservation for what Mike said, which I agree with by the way, I'm going to talk about both from a viewers perspective and a visitor. I hope I don't repeat too much from the other thread.

[b]What we did well[/b]

Donation tracking - Thanks to Edenals last minute tracker we could read donation comments with ease almost as soon as they came in. I was worried about this bit but it turned out great. The google document showing donation incentives and the like was also a good idea and according to me better than the second stream that I saw at AGDQ12.

Venue - Just a quick mention. Overall I felt pretty comfortable in the venue, nothing was stolen and possibilities to lock up valuables was there. Showers, kitchen and considerate "roomates" made living there for a week feel nothing like a chore.

Food - Again just a quick mention. Right in the centre of town so close proximity to both restaurants and grocery shops. I liked the way you made a deal with a local restaurant so thumbs up.

Practise room - Big screen TV showing the marathon + chat in the middle with some chairs around. Lots of TV's, everyone letting people play each others games. Playing fighting games, racing games, obscure games and generally fun games. No matter if you wanted to relax a bit and make some new friends or do some hardcore practise or warm up to prepare there was always resources and a nice atmosphere to do so. Only possible complaint I might have is a bit of a shortage of NTSC-compatible televisions.

[b]What could have gone better[/b]

Manning - It was too much of the same people manning the different stations of the stream. I personally was initially intimidated to handle the donation tracker since I was afraid of doing something wrong, but as I got more into it and I understood it then it was fine. Perhaps making it more accessible by having a small 10 minute crash course in what to do, or some other alternative. This was mostly evident in the sound department as we only had 1-2 people that knew how to handle it well AFAIK. Huge props to Neviutz, Tompa and Alko too who did a lot of work to keep the quality up.

Donation Reading - A better system for donation reading than waving your arms across the room and hoping that the stream handlers will see is needed. I personally wondered why the chat and donation moderators didn't sit together by the main setup though it might have been a space issue. In any case, better communication is needed since there were a few instances of people talking over each other without even knowing.

Stream setup - The stream looked great and overall held a high standard. But there was no standard throughout the marathon and especially when you got 4 people races and such things could take a while before you figured out a nice setup. Perhaps more before-thought into design for special cases like this should be considered. I also noticed a lot of people asking which runner was on what side and I while the answer was logical it might not be obvious.

Goodbyes and thanks - I think a day or so before the last streaming day the general progression of the comments should be noted and if anyone have something they want to say then be able to tell so in beforehand such that it's less messy. I say this not because of anything Frezy or anyone else said but because he offered the mic to go around if anyone had something special to say. I felt embarrassed after thanking Mike89, Flying fox and the ZSR & SRL community (since I had forgotten at my one and only time in the spotlight) as I realised afterwards that there wasn't enough time for everyone to give personal shout-outs.

Also the last bit in the goodbye session is mysteriously cut away from any of the links I've seen.... Idk is it only for me?

[b]What did not live up to expectations[/b]

Sound - Mike already covered most of it, but just to mention commentators. I think someone posted about having a designated commentator and I agree. Unless you got something special in mind or it's a very slow paced game, people should think about commentators more than 2 minutes before their run. I jumped in at the games that I have been running myself such as OoT and SM64 but I was kind of displeased when I noticed that you could barely hear any of my comments during the entirety of Cpkaka's run.

[b]What went totally wrong[/b]

I got a cold... :(

ozzy88

2012-09-06 01:25:48 am

What we did well:

Practice - I've been looking back at some of the runs and what strikes me every time is that the players were very comfortable with the games they ran. For being live runs they still look really impressive and I don't think we had any games that were mercy killed?

What could be done better:

I can't think of anything that haven't already been mentioned. I also agree with the previous posts.

What did not live up to expectations:

I can't think of anything that haven't already been mentioned. I also agree with the previous posts.

What went totally wrong:

Richter Skip!!! I don't think I'll ever want to play this game at a marathon setting again.

Alko

2012-09-06 10:44:01 am

Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^

What could have gone better:
More mics. We'll either be wanting something picking up the background sound of the room plus runners (which might cause problems due to chattering in the background, see GDQs) or one mic for every runner during races PLUS commentary. Pros of a room mic: Discussion going on around the runners (jokes and stuff, Nev ranting about FFXIII-2 etc) will be picked up.
Communication between donation station and streaming station. I agree that it was complicated. While there was a chat installed (Edenal's twitch chat) most of the time people weren't checking it. While sitting here walkie-talkies pop up to mind but I don't know if they're practical. I agree with keeping the donation station more away from the streaming station though, because both will want their room.

The schedule updating was a bitch, especially during times where we were badly behind. I would suggest automating this. Maybe one of these months, I'll talk to a friend learning programming and devise something I like or someone else is quicker. We'll see ^^

While I agree on the 'prime time' thing, the question is what is prime time and where were our viewers. If the viewers were mainly Americas that would create a different prime time than mainly Europeans. I would also consider having some EU-prime time runs, regardless of which viewer count is higher to promote locally. Of course, we need schedule stability to create prime time.

I'll think of more later; food is calling =^___^=

What could have gone better:
More mics. We'll either be wanting something picking up the background sound of the room plus runners (which might cause problems due to chattering in the background, see GDQs) or one mic for every runner during races PLUS commentary. Pros of a room mic: Discussion going on around the runners (jokes and stuff, Nev ranting about FFXIII-2 etc) will be picked up.
Communication between donation station and streaming station. I agree that it was complicated. While there was a chat installed (Edenal's twitch chat) most of the time people weren't checking it. While sitting here walkie-talkies pop up to mind but I don't know if they're practical. I agree with keeping the donation station more away from the streaming station though, because both will want their room.

The schedule updating was a bitch, especially during times where we were badly behind. I would suggest automating this. Maybe one of these months, I'll talk to a friend learning programming and devise something I like or someone else is quicker. We'll see ^^

While I agree on the 'prime time' thing, the question is what is prime time and where were our viewers. If the viewers were mainly Americas that would create a different prime time than mainly Europeans. I would also consider having some EU-prime time runs, regardless of which viewer count is higher to promote locally. Of course, we need schedule stability to create prime time.

I'll think of more later; food is calling =^___^=

dxtr

2012-09-06 11:22:59 am

Speedrunner

I think everything has already been said. So I keep it short

What we did well:
Audiosetup was fantastic. Ty Niss3.
Venue was great with good sleeping area, practiceroom and streaming room. Trainstation literally across the street. Close to food and grocery.
Streamquality

What could be done better:
Commentarys. I dont know why we decided to have donationstation and streamingstation on seperate ends of the room. Since the lack of communication broke down a little because of that.
Stationschedules. Give everyone a crashcourse of 10-15 minutes and well be all set. Since it wasnt to much trouble to steer everything.
Equipmentsetup for the next games.
The wireless mic was a great for the runner, add maybe 2-3 more of those and that would be awesome. Good sound and easier to handle then the handheld mics.

What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:
Im thinking.. nothing. Since everything turned out good in the end, but could ofc gone better.

What went ABSOLUTELY wrong
Been sick for 3 weeks now, caught a sinus infection (<- google translate) But it was worth it.

I think everything has already been said. So I keep it short

What we did well:
Audiosetup was fantastic. Ty Niss3.
Venue was great with good sleeping area, practiceroom and streaming room. Trainstation literally across the street. Close to food and grocery.
Streamquality

What could be done better:
Commentarys. I dont know why we decided to have donationstation and streamingstation on seperate ends of the room. Since the lack of communication broke down a little because of that.
Stationschedules. Give everyone a crashcourse of 10-15 minutes and well be all set. Since it wasnt to much trouble to steer everything.
Equipmentsetup for the next games.
The wireless mic was a great for the runner, add maybe 2-3 more of those and that would be awesome. Good sound and easier to handle then the handheld mics.

What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:
Im thinking.. nothing. Since everything turned out good in the end, but could ofc gone better.

What went ABSOLUTELY wrong
Been sick for 3 weeks now, caught a sinus infection (<- google translate) But it was worth it.

PJ

2012-09-06 12:07:33 pm

Is PJ

Catching a mysterious illness is part of the fun of the marathons!

Edenal

2012-09-06 12:12:16 pm

Hockey enthusiast

Updated OP.

Dxtr: I caught that infection too...

We entertained the viewers. We had some people manning the Twitch chat pretty much all the time, we had a bot in the chat which was great.
The Twitch-channel had decent good information thanks to Nev for letting us stealing (borrowing) his layout!
We got through to most local media outlets. Radio, TV, Newspapers. (This might not have generated much viewers, but coming around for another go. This could prove very important in finding sponsors!)
Dxtrs' laptop saved the day as the main PC for gaming. Worked perfect HDMI-out and after Duo Princess we figured out how to handle the audio too!

Lack of redundancy. Like I said in the OP. Having another computer with 1 dazzle connected would have kept viewers entertained during the meltdowns. Also my PC was password protected and I forgot to remove it :S Some guys knew the password, but they were not around for the crashes. My bad!

Ill keep adding things to the list as we go.

Neviutz

Edit history:

Neviutz: 2012-09-06 01:47:24 pm

2012-09-06 01:46:23 pm

Speed is all that matters.

Some of the stuff was already mentioned a couple of times but I feel since this is my own opinion of the marathon I should point those things out once more.

What we did well:
- Nisse totally saved the day by supplying the mixer table and all the microphones, it was really good.
- Stream quality, we had a pretty good connection at the venue which was pretty neat. (Even though we needed "Edenal strats" every time we had to reset/crashed the stream)
- Last minute donation tracker and early into the marathon donation incentive list.
- The venue overall was pretty great, huge practice area with a big TV showing the stream and chat. Comfortable sleeping room (assuming it was comfortable since I never used it and used the area we hadn't rent instead ^_^), and a nice streaming room.

What could be done better:
- We personally crashed the stream way too often. We should have checked stuff like that before and we should have had all devices connected from the beginning on. Most of our crashes were from plugging in new dazzles. That shouldn't happen.
- Setup times for new games. All our games were ahead of schedule and we still fell behind. Transitioning between games took way longer than it should have.
- Despite the fact that Edenal's computer is pretty powerful we really had a lot of issues with performance, especially in Xsplit. It didn't directly influence the stream, but it was quite annoying to deal with sometimes.
- Adressing the previous issue. Our initial attempt was to use Wirecast instead of Xsplit, I would have much preferred that but we couldn't get it to work for some reason. Not too much of an issue but next time we should check if the stuff we want to use actually works out in the end.
- Station schedules. I don't think we need actual schedules on either of them, but at least the vast majority should have had knowledge of what to do at either station so we don't always have the same people at the stations. Maybe a quick crash course like someone else suggested?
- Volume control and commentary. There were a lot of occasions where the runner and/or the co-commentator were actually really quiet compared to everything else. We didn't always check for volume levels when we started a new game, that was a problem. Next time we should always check that everything's alright.
- Microphones. We didn't have enough of them, really. The wireless mic for the runner was super awesome but other than that we only had one mic for the co-commentator and one for the donation station. If possible 2 or 3 of those wireless mics would be optimal, and maybe one additional hand mic.
- Communication between the station. We definitely need a better way to communicate next time. standing up and waving around hoping that the other station would see it really isn't the best way to deal with this, especially since it can also distract the runner.
- Schedule. Less the fact that we got behind on schedule, but more so that it wasn't 100% properly planned. Lot's of stuff was all over the place and the first PC game we tried to run due to a donation war didn't even work since we hadn't properly planned out the PC setup yet (it would have been easy, but, once again, there was that issue with the performance of the streaming computer. I still don't understand why and how, but oh well)

What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:
- NEVER, NEVER, NEVER add additional games when you're 3 hours behind on the schedule. That's just a no-go.

Mixed feelings:
- Promotion.
I'm not entirely set on this and I could be wrong since I got into this event pretty late.
I know that the local promotion was pretty good but to me it seemed that our online promotion was lacking a bit. I know that within the SDA and SRL community this was well known, but I'm unsure about the people that aren't part of those communities. I tried to do as much last minute promotion on this as possible but I think we should regularly promote the event at least a month beforehand the next time.
Once again, I joined the event pretty late so there might be stuff about promotion that I just completely missed.

- Stream layout.
The stream looked pretty standard and plain, not uberly fancy but it was informative. However, sometimes it looked kinda rushed whenever we had to re-organize the information, etc. on the screen.
I think if we used general overlays for single player, races, and 3-way+ races and for different generation consoles (just for readjusting the size for the picture) we could have made it look much better. Especially since we would have a generalized place for the information boxes and video screens. Overall it would looks more generalized. I know this comes with much more work than what we had now but work will always be involved if you want stuff to look good.

I guess that's it from my side for now. If I can think of anything else I will add it.
Overall though, the marathon far exceeded my expectations and I was happy to be a part of it.

Some of the stuff was already mentioned a couple of times but I feel since this is my own opinion of the marathon I should point those things out once more.

[b]What we did well:[/b]
- Nisse totally saved the day by supplying the mixer table and all the microphones, it was really good.
- Stream quality, we had a pretty good connection at the venue which was pretty neat. (Even though we needed "Edenal strats" every time we had to reset/crashed the stream)
- Last minute donation tracker and early into the marathon donation incentive list.
- The venue overall was pretty great, huge practice area with a big TV showing the stream and chat. Comfortable sleeping room (assuming it was comfortable since I never used it and used the area we hadn't rent instead ^_^), and a nice streaming room.

[b]What could be done better:[/b]
- We personally crashed the stream way too often. We should have checked stuff like that before and we should have had all devices connected from the beginning on. Most of our crashes were from plugging in new dazzles. That shouldn't happen.
- Setup times for new games. All our games were ahead of schedule and we still fell behind. Transitioning between games took way longer than it should have.
- Despite the fact that Edenal's computer is pretty powerful we really had a lot of issues with performance, especially in Xsplit. It didn't directly influence the stream, but it was quite annoying to deal with sometimes.
- Adressing the previous issue. Our initial attempt was to use Wirecast instead of Xsplit, I would have much preferred that but we couldn't get it to work for some reason. Not too much of an issue but next time we should check if the stuff we want to use actually works out in the end.
- Station schedules.  I don't think we need actual schedules on either of them, but at least the vast majority should have had knowledge of what to do at either station so we don't always have the same people at the stations. Maybe a quick crash course like someone else suggested?
- Volume control and commentary. There were a lot of occasions where the runner and/or the co-commentator were actually really quiet compared to everything else. We didn't always check for volume levels when we started a new game, that was a problem. Next time we should always check that everything's alright.
- Microphones. We didn't have enough of them, really. The wireless mic for the runner was super awesome but other than that we only had one mic for the co-commentator and one for the donation station. If possible 2 or 3 of those wireless mics would be optimal, and maybe one additional hand mic.
- Communication between the station. We definitely need a better way to communicate next time. standing up and waving around hoping that the other station would see it really isn't the best way to deal with this, especially since it can also distract the runner.
- Schedule. Less the fact that we got behind on schedule, but more so that it wasn't 100% properly planned. Lot's of stuff was all over the place and the first PC game we tried to run due to a donation war didn't even work since we hadn't properly planned out the PC setup yet (it would have been easy, but, once again, there was that issue with the performance of the streaming computer. I still don't understand why and how, but oh well)

[b]What went totally wrong / What did not live up to expectations:[/b]
- NEVER, NEVER, NEVER add additional games when you're 3 hours behind on the schedule. That's just a no-go.

[b]Mixed feelings:[/b]
- Promotion.
I'm not entirely set on this and I could be wrong since I got into this event pretty late.
I know that the local promotion was pretty good but to me it seemed that our online promotion was lacking a bit. I know that within the SDA and SRL community this was well known, but I'm unsure about the people that aren't part of those communities. I tried to do as much last minute promotion on this as possible but I think we should regularly promote the event at least a month beforehand the next time.
Once again, I joined the event pretty late so there might be stuff about promotion that I just completely missed.

- Stream layout.
The stream looked pretty standard and plain, not uberly fancy but it was informative. However, sometimes it looked kinda rushed whenever we had to re-organize the information, etc. on the screen.
I think if we used general overlays for single player, races, and 3-way+ races and for different generation consoles (just for readjusting the size for the picture) we could have made it look much better. Especially since we would have a generalized place for the information boxes and video screens. Overall it would looks more generalized. I know this comes with much more work than what we had now but work will always be involved if you want stuff to look good.

I guess that's it from my side for now. If I can think of anything else I will add it.
Overall though, the marathon far exceeded my expectations and I was happy to be a part of it.

Kotti

2012-09-06 06:52:43 pm

Thinking of things that haven't been mentioned already... While the stream did look good in 720p but we also got people asking if they could somehow lower the quality for the stream to work better with their connection. Aside from lowering quality I don't think there was anything we could have done since getting partnered wasn't really an option. Who knows, maybe by next year Twitch have changed their video quality system to something more viewer friendly.

Another small thing similar to removing the stream computer password is having the system language set to English.

Anyway, those are relatively minor things and the marathon exceeded my expectations in every way. Great venue, great stream quality, great equipment and of course great runs.

mikwuyma

2012-09-06 09:25:50 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

RE: Prime Time: I can say that the Metroid games were at a shitty time, whether you were in America or Europe.

The 720p issue: If you get partnership (which you should be able to do easily now), then people can set what quality they watch the stream at.

TimpZ

2012-09-06 10:31:02 pm

I think it was Edenal and Frezy that made a deal out of the stream being free of commercials. I don't know if there's a way to get partner without the initial connect-commercial but I'm pretty sure it's unwanted. I agree with the benefits of the stream being commercial free seeing how obnoxious they are (volume levels and whatnot) but idk maybe it should be a voting matter or more thoroughly discussed before an ESA13.

Edenal

2012-09-07 05:46:05 am

Hockey enthusiast

Quote from Neviutz:

- Stream layout.
The stream looked pretty standard and plain, not uberly fancy but it was informative. However, sometimes it looked kinda rushed whenever we had to re-organize the information, etc. on the screen.
I think if we used general overlays for single player, races, and 3-way+ races and for different generation consoles (just for readjusting the size for the picture) we could have made it look much better. Especially since we would have a generalized place for the information boxes and video screens. Overall it would looks more generalized. I know this comes with much more work than what we had now but work will always be involved if you want stuff to look good.

This I agree with more than anything! This is something Wirecast does better than xSplit. You can adjust the "stream window" without applying the changes, and then with the click of a button you will have a smooth transition to the new layout. And I think I've figured out why Wirecast did not work.

Having a semi-professional boardcast prodution is something I personally would love to spend my time with, achieving that for future events.

[quote="Neviutz"]- Stream layout.
The stream looked pretty standard and plain, not uberly fancy but it was informative. However, sometimes it looked kinda rushed whenever we had to re-organize the information, etc. on the screen.
I think if we used general overlays for single player, races, and 3-way+ races and for different generation consoles (just for readjusting the size for the picture) we could have made it look much better. Especially since we would have a generalized place for the information boxes and video screens. Overall it would looks more generalized. I know this comes with much more work than what we had now but work will always be involved if you want stuff to look good.
[/quote]

This I agree with more than anything! This is something Wirecast does better than xSplit. You can adjust the "stream window" without applying the changes, and then with the click of a button you will have a smooth transition to the new layout. And I think I've figured out why Wirecast did not work.

Having a semi-professional boardcast prodution is something I personally would love to spend my time with, achieving that for future events.

Alko

2012-09-08 05:28:42 pm

Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^

Re: Re: Prime Time: I said those two lines without having any specific game in my mind. The Zelda block was dreadfully placed for both time zones, too, iirc.

I could 'this' half of Nev's post, but I'm too lazy to do so now.

Btway, as I read in the FF-marathon thread, SGDQ is supposed to be somewhat later 2013 (June or July) so while I wouldn't say it clashes with the potential ESA13-replay date (mid-August, assuming that can find a majority) I'm not sure how good or bad it'll do us.