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ozzy88
ozzy88
Edit history:
ozzy88: 2013-07-29 07:37:10 am
2013-07-28 08:33:25 am
Hey all!

I hope you all had a good time at ESA this year and that it lived up to your expectations of such an event. We had issues of course and next time we'd like to have less. Anything you can think of that can be done better or easier in any case could help us a lot.

This thread is not bound to any one kind of feedback, be it tech, manageing venues, prizes or chat moderation. Anything that you think could help us out or was an issue we should address until next time is welcome in this thread so that we may discuss possible solutions.


Note that this is not a decision I made on my own, at least Edenal also would like to have your input already. The 2 weeks advised is being ignored in this case.

Thread title:  
Partystar
Partystar
Edit history:
Partystar: 2013-07-29 06:59:45 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 06:07:02 pm
Partystar: 2013-07-28 06:04:48 pm
Partystar: 2013-07-28 01:05:34 pm
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:56:13 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:53:50 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:53:15 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:53:02 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:50:57 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:46:05 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:42:05 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:38:39 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:37:09 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:35:14 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:24:46 am
Partystar: 2013-07-28 09:22:30 am
2013-07-28 09:20:40 am
First of all, I'm still hyped from ESA. And I'm hype about video games again because of ESA!

1) For next year's ESA, I would recommend using a mailing list. Information should reach everyone within time. Of course using the forums opens discussion and allows questioning but using e-mail makes sure that everyone receives important information as soon as it is sent. When information is spread over multiple topics, it requires from attendees to check the forums and not to overlook something. I think it is also easier for organizers, because in some occasions it seemed that organizers had to PM people that do not often visit this forum. Furthermore, adhering to deadlines and rules cannot be overlooked since it it clearly stated in the mail.

2) I think set-up buffers should be significant longer in the last few days to catch up with delays during the marathon. If I'm correct, at the last day we were pretty far behind schedule. I think at the beginning of a marathon everything is executed smoothly, but in time people just get more tired. Also for unexpected delays or wrong estimates larger setup buffers will make up for the time lost.

3) Although we got a lot of donations and it is def something to be proud of, I think we could have had a bit more. Compared to SGDQ we had significant less donations. That could have multiple reasons such as GDQ being more populair, prizes or interesting donation incentives. But I feel we missed a few donations. We should have put a donation goal and the current amount of donations under the streaming window with large and appealing fonts similar to SGDQ. It makes sure that a snowball starts rolling a bit faster! People especially when hyped want to help reaching that donation goal! On the other hand, donations was not the primary goal for ESA.

That being said, I think the ESA crew was amazing. The amount of work put for this event is very impressive and I'm very thankful for that.
Meridian
2013-07-28 12:11:10 pm
Hello everyone!

Just like my fellow countryman Partystar, ESA has got me motivated even more about practicing and streaming video games.
The fact of a meeting with multi-country folks and get along ever so smoothly is amazing me every time.

A few things I like to address.
1) Due to the variety of games / consoles switching back and forth, the tech part of making it work knowing the possible setups is vital.
For example, NES Pal/NTSC, SNES etc... etc...
To make the switch between runners more smooth is to setup all consoles beforehand so only the game itself and controllers are required. A simple flip of a switch in between to make change the source of the signal.

2) People get tired and need sleep/rest before their run or watching some of their favorite games. The way of going back and forth between the buildings isn't helping. As a result people deny their sleep having all kinds of side effects.
Having the sleeping area near (next to) the gaming building or inside of it would solve this issue.

3) I saw you had a xml setup to alter screen texts. This is cool, but I noticed people had to ask for estimates, runner's name and twitch channel. Maybe a list of things linking with the xml or Xsplit would instantly update all the needed info without asking. This is adviceble because the tech guys need to sleep as well and sometimes there was noone to update it causing an unneeded wait.

Now these are the things I can think of that can (but not required) use improvements.

Thank you all for a wonderful time!
Keep up the good work and I hope to see you all next year! (or sooner)
MrLonghair
MrLonghair
Edit history:
MrLonghair: 2013-07-28 04:29:21 pm
MrLonghair: 2013-07-28 01:43:53 pm
MrLonghair: 2013-07-28 01:42:18 pm
MrLonghair: 2013-07-28 01:22:11 pm
2013-07-28 01:21:09 pm
Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit
1) Better setup discipline, for making sure everything especially mics are setup right. Systems check basically, making sure everything's ready for take-off. Sometimes it seemed that people sat without mics, sometimes volumes were entirely off (so that's an audio thing, wouldd have been better off if I'd been able to add to the numbers)

2) Get more data ahead of time, like Meridian's #3 of getting player information. It was in my plans actually, and I forgot to send that along.

3) That's seriously it. I've got the audio feedback from myself and elsewhere under writing for our planning forum, I'll take all audio feedback that comes into consideration and go through it (PM if you have questions, or want to deliver in private about ESA audio). I learned a lot just from being home and watching my plans unfold, next year it will be even better.

Don't be bothered by donation totals, ESA doesn't have the viewership of the kind that regularly puts themselves into four digit credit debt in donations to AGDQ/SGDQ, but maybe 2014! Don't sell your bodies for donation gimmicks, focus on the great fun that the ESAs bring to everyone instead.

(additon: The website was beautiful but the stream wasn't there, many got confused from that. Camera and dual-camera was wonderful, happy I sent it down. Hella colourful views through them, a pleasure to see, great angle also. Amazing locale. Outside of the hard to read font that should have been left to timers only, the overlays were the best I've seen for a speedrun marathon.)
Web-cam location, height and angle, was 100% perfect.

e: presjolks #3 - that may be why the audio got those periodic BZZT problems. #4 was a pain, brainstorming a good, easier solution for that.
presjpolk
presjpolk
Edit history:
presjpolk: 2013-07-28 01:45:18 pm
2013-07-28 01:42:02 pm
HELLO!
1. The charity needed more hype. Put it in the layout, give it more mentions on stream.  This seemed to get better as the marathon went along, though.

2. Relatedly future runs and donation opportunities needed more hype.  Ditto that this got better as it went along though.  Basically, I think Alko was doing a good job.

3. Get the phones and laptops off stream.

4. Biggest issue with the audio was that all too often, people trying to do commentary on the couch could not be heard.
Tohmane
Tohmane
Edit history:
Tohmane: 2013-07-28 03:09:19 pm
Tohmane: 2013-07-28 03:08:44 pm
2013-07-28 03:07:03 pm
Execute.
I agree with what everyone else said. Also some feedback of my own: consider muting the couch/runner/audience microphones between games/during setups, especially when reading donation comments.

Going to add some IRC channel specific suggestions:

Push the IRC chat more, I didn't get to kick or ban anyone we only topped out at a little over 100 people. It was very easy to moderate though (see strikethrough). A few more mods next time please, I felt like I was the only active one and that made me a tad hesitatant to sleep at times when I had been granted the oppurtunity to help the event out from offsite.

Onsite participation in the IRC channel could've been much better. Tompa (and whoever else was on his account during the marathon) was by far the most active one and a much needed and appreciated direct line to the event, but he couldn't and shouldn't be expected to be the only one. I personally, others may agree, felt that we were a little isolated from the event in comparison to the twitch chat.

Great event all around, I enjoyed it a lot. Made great improvements just from last year, very impressive. Might edit in/post more stuff if I think of any.
Edenal
2013-07-29 04:49:04 am
Hockey enthusiast
Great feedback so far! And keep it coming!

I'll get responses going a few days!
ozzy88
2013-07-29 07:28:48 am
I will take my time now and respond to the 5 posts so far as best I can. Don't take what I say as fact as it's all my speculations, observations and things I've heard.


Quote:
For next year's ESA, I would recommend using a mailing list. Information should reach everyone within time. Of course using the forums opens discussion and allows questioning but using e-mail makes sure that everyone receives important information as soon as it is sent. When information is spread over multiple topics, it requires from attendees to check the forums and not to overlook something. I  think it is also easier for organizers, because in some occasions it seemed that organizers had to PM people that do not often visit this forum. Furthermore, adhering to deadlines and rules cannot be overlooked since it it clearly stated in the mail.


This was a thought I didn't have until I realised that I had big issues with reaching people. It made the planning very frustrating towards the end where we had a lot of info and few channels to go through to get it out to the attending. Mailing list and a couple of other things have come to mind when people sign-up for the next event. Next time a little more responsibility may be put on the runners as to making screenshots, sending in a picture and so on when signing-up.


Quote:
I think set-up buffers should be significant longer in the last few days to catch up with delays during the marathon. If I'm correct, at the last day we were pretty far behind schedule. I think at the beginning of a marathon everything is executed smoothly, but in time people just get more tired. Also for unexpected delays or wrong estimates larger setup buffers will make up for the time lost.


I did put some effort into emphasising this myself during the planning ESA this year. In the end we had about 1 setup per full day of streaming and that is what we thought would be enough at the time. I do however in my honest opinion feel like we were on schedule for most of the event and I estimate us to have been 2 hours behind or so towards the end of the marathon. This is a great improvement considering last years delays.

(I have an idea for how one might be able to make the schedule update with high accuracy so that it at least makes sense and gets updated with proper times throughout the event. This idea however requires programming skills and I do not have them.)


Quote:
Although we got a lot of donations and it is def something to be proud of, I think we could have had a bit more. Compared to SGDQ we had significant less donations. That could have multiple reasons such as GDQ being more populair, prizes or interesting donation incentives. But I feel we missed a few donations. We should have put a donation goal and the current amount of donations under the streaming window with large and appealing fonts similar to SGDQ. It makes sure that a snowball starts rolling a bit faster! People especially when hyped want to help reaching that donation goal! On the other hand, donations was not the primary goal for ESA.


You speak the truth, getting in more donations will of course be a priority for the next ESA. Managing prizes and being better at spreading the word about the event is something we tried to get better at for this marathon and to some degree did. However it didn't really live up to our own expectations and I think this is one of the most important aspects for us to try and figure out how to go about for next ESA. Getting more exposure and interest for it earlier is key to a more successful event.

As to what was missing from the website and what we should have on it during the marathon, all feedback is of course welcome but you should know that it was bare bones because Edenal made it all by himself a handful of weeks before ESA was about to happen. So it was not an easy task to get the website ready in time.


Quote:
Due to the variety of games / consoles switching back and forth, the tech part of making it work knowing the possible setups is vital.
For example, NES Pal/NTSC, SNES etc... etc...
To make the switch between runners more smooth is to setup all consoles beforehand so only the game itself and controllers are required. A simple flip of a switch in between to make change the source of the signal.


Ah! I see what you mean. I think this is a thing we should try and do next time. The issue here is that most attending don't want to bring more luggage then needed and therefore it's hard to get one dedicated console for every version to just have in the stream room. We only had 2 xbox 360's for instance and we were several who had to practice on it as well as using them for the casual stuff. But if we try to reach out early on and say that we want stream room dedicated consoles and it is needed for smoother setup times and a better experience for the viewers, I could see it becoming a reality.

As to the tech part, I am not so sure how viable it is to have a setup that would just require some switch-flipping. But if it is possible to have such a setup, it would make wonders for the setup times.


Quote:
People get tired and need sleep/rest before their run or watching some of their favorite games. The way of going back and forth between the buildings isn't helping. As a result people deny their sleep having all kinds of side effects.
Having the sleeping area near (next to) the gaming building or inside of it would solve this issue.


First of all we don't know where next ESA will be held, or at least I can't say so for sure already. We already have some plans for it if we use Nyeport again. There is a white building you pass on your way (before the park) to the house of culture owned by Volvo. We will look into using that one if Nyeport is the next location for ESA but we also have the nearby hotel to look into. Also the second floor in Nyeport might also be viable. The problem there is that it's only for rent my companies, so we might have to go through some company to get access to it. And in the end the prises for renting these areas are at least to me still unknown. So for now there's only hopes and speculations for how to manage the venues next time. 


Quote:
I saw you had a xml setup to alter screen texts. This is cool, but I noticed people had to ask for estimates, runner's name and twitch channel. Maybe a list of things linking with the xml or Xsplit would instantly update all the needed info without asking. This is adviceble because the tech guys need to sleep as well and sometimes there was noone to update it causing an unneeded wait.


Good idea! Should be used if it's possible. Making as much as possible automated and easy to manage is a good focus for the "tech department". Smiley


Quote:
Better setup discipline, for making sure everything especially mics are setup right. Systems check basically, making sure everything's ready for take-off. Sometimes it seemed that people sat without mics, sometimes volumes were entirely off (so that's an audio thing, wouldd have been better off if I'd been able to add to the numbers)


Sometimes we didn't have any of the audio pros around and had to make due with what knowledge had been passed down to us from them. It's hard to know what sound correct if you don't know what to listen for. We did mic checks before every run in general but I don't know how thorough such a check should be.

When it comes to the "people without mics" issue, all I can say is, if you wanted to be heard on stream, you had to fetch a mic. That is how it was setup and I was quite sure that people knew that. Now, the reason for this was that we though we'd have a lot of random chatter within the stream room. Such was not the case, I for one cannot believe how well behaved everyone was during the runs. The attending gave the current runner the silence they needed to concentrate and commentate. So I believe that we could've had mic:ed up most of the room and it would've worked pretty well with how people behaved.

But that's the thing, we can't predict how well people will follow rules and directions given. So I'd say the sound in general during runs was good. Sadly some commentary was missed because people didn't bother to get a mic.


Quote:
Get more data ahead of time, like Meridian's #3 of getting player information. It was in my plans actually, and I forgot to send that along.


Right on! So next time we'll have it for sure! Smiley


Quote:
The charity needed more hype. Put it in the layout, give it more mentions on stream.  This seemed to get better as the marathon went along, though.


Agreed! But as with everything for this years ESA, we had a hard time finding anyone willing to do layouts for instance. I don't really know where we got them from but I think the layouts were really good looking. If we can request the charity organization to be on the layouts next time, it will be done.


Quote:
Relatedly future runs and donation opportunities needed more hype.  Ditto that this got better as it went along though.  Basically, I think Alko was doing a good job.


I don't have much more to add then, yes! Alko did a great job with it. I suppose we could run the announcements on a timer or something to make sure we try and get that information out there more frequently.


Quote:
Get the phones and laptops off stream.


Agreed!


Quote:
Biggest issue with the audio was that all too often, people trying to do commentary on the couch could not be heard.


Yeah, we did in some cases throw people a mic when they started doing commentary without being heard. But it was their own fault for not getting a mic when they wanted to commentate. I think all these audio issues will get a big re-think from MrLonghair, Niss3 and Charleon and we'll see what kind of solutions they can come up with.


Quote:
Push the IRC chat more, I didn't get to kick or ban anyone we only topped out at a little over 100 people. It was very easy to moderate though (see strikethrough). A few more mods next time please, I felt like I was the only active one and that made me a tad hesitatant to sleep at times when I had been granted the oppurtunity to help the event out from offsite.

Onsite participation in the IRC channel could've been much better. Tompa (and whoever else was on his account during the marathon) was by far the most active one and a much needed and appreciated direct line to the event, but he couldn't and shouldn't be expected to be the only one. I personally, others may agree, felt that we were a little isolated from the event in comparison to the twitch chat.


I think we were supposed to include an IRC chat from QuakeNet on the website but it seems to have not been ready in time. An issue I overheard during the event was also that you can't have too many using the same IP-adress on IRC. So when too many tried to join it, it would block that IP for some time. Something like that.

IRC would be a great tool for communication between people at the event as well so I hope if there is an issue with having many users on site that it can be resolved in some way. It's a shame that the plans for the IRC chat didn't work out but it's something I hope should be a sure thing next time.



As for my own feedback I will wait a little more before going into that. Doing these responses took quite a while already ^^'
oasiz
2013-07-29 07:50:01 am
Iha paska
I was going to write a bunch of suggestions but found out that 80% of them were related to AV tech so I will just talk to edenal / etc.. on irc about it at some point.
Anyway, tech wise it was a huge step since I don't think that any marathon has attempted to deal with 60fps RGB inputs from systems like this so there was a lot to learn.. I believe that next time will be a lot simpler and easier for the runners and the tech. Overall it went really well from my point of view considering the complexity.

Charity hype: Maybe some splash images about the charity should do, I don't think that it should be mentioned all the time and the balance was pretty much perfect at ESA, let it roll by itself with some careful reminding now and then. Donation are good but they shouldn't overshadow the fun itself too much. Improvements here are welcome though.

Phones and laptops: I think laptops should be there, the biggest issue with noise is usually cellphones and their data connection. I think that in this case it was my old work-iphone that was trying to search networks. I would suggest leaving phones away if going to the couch as it seemed to trigger whenever I had a microphone and was commenting. Wi-Fi on the other hand runs at 2.4GHz and I have never really seen it interfere with tech really that much.
Laptop users can monitor chat and relay questions from there to the runner or simply answer game/run related questions by typing without hogging the microphone from the actual runner / commentator. Banning laptops completely is just stupid. I would agree that if people started watching youtube videos in the back and laughing as a group it would matter but most I saw was just people monitoring the chat reactions and such which is impossible otherwise.

Breakfast: Rotation is needed in here, Get it done and leave it there. Maybe there should be a carrot on a stick for this one by letting the breakfast dude sleep on the site for the night or something similar to make it more tempting. (Think of something in here). Shift is early and you are either super tired from waking or staying awake all night.

Tech station: Rotation is needed in here as well, like I said, tech can be much simpler next year so this shouldn't be too hard to do. Just have a list of numbers for dudes who can help when issues arise, we need a more stable routine for game change process: microphones get returned, new guys get microphones (numbers noted), they tell their nickname & twith ID etc..  While this is being done then the tech dude can plug in systems / scaler stuff and such and change titles. Anyway this is something I should discuss with the overlords in more detail, got some ideas to simplify this.

I know I have more but I can't think of any right now..
flicky
2013-07-29 08:24:14 am
$15 per rant/allegory
My feedback may be a bit unusual, I don’t know, but it is my honest opinion of the event. The reason I enjoyed ESA so much is because it wasn’t diet-AGDQ (can’t speak for SGDQ, never been), but it was its own entity. I’d like to list why I had so much fun and how to keep the vibe (should you choose to). For shortcomings, I will post some as I come to think of them. I watched half and attended half the event.

Please do not read into this feedback as knocking on other events. The things I suggest here are with regards to ESA only and comparisons are only there as positive reasons for the event.

The goal of the event

To me, this was the main reason the event was so much fun to be a part of. From the beginning of ESA, I knew that it was a meet-up with a stream that had a charity element to it. The event was clearly designed for the runners and attendees (and not to just make as much money as possible) which gave the event a brilliant community vibe. Nearly all decisions were made with this in mind, leaving no confusing or weird decisions.

This not being primarily a charity marathon (like AGDQ) meant less rules and more freedom for the runners. This allowed the runners, commentators, everyone to be themselves, mess around and so on. Speed runners respect each other naturally and so it never caused a big problem. It’s very freeing to not be representing a charity when on camera. We’re still getting them money, but doing it our own way.

Again, this created a stream-room that I wanted to be in all day, to entertain or to watch runs and so on. I’m not anti-charity or anything, but having a meet up with a marathon is a great counterpart to AGDQ’s marathon with a meet up aspect.

The Venues

I’ve been to a few gatherings, meet ups, esports events and speed run events and I can honestly say that they Nyeport venue was one of the best I’ve been to. The layout for the stream room was amazing (only downside is that maybe the donation reader was a bit too far from the runner) and the setup of the building was perfect for the setup. The stream room was easily accessible, the cool room was a perfect place for a rest or to eat, the practice room was the right size (and having the projector in the middle allowed a great atmosphere) and the lobby/kitchen bit was a brilliant place to chill out. Having a kitchen is amazing for this kind of event and being within walking distance of places to shop/eat is perfect.

I also liked having a separate venue for sleeping in and the people there respected it greatly. I didn’t hear a peep in that sleeping room. Only having two showers wasn’t ideal but dreamhack had about 30 for 10,000 attendees. I don’t think that getting to the venue put me off sleeping, but perhaps an alternative way of getting people to the House of Culture after dark (with the key) could encourage those who thought so.

Location-wise, I was very apprehensive about Skövde. As a town it lends itself well to the event, it’s quiet and easy to get around. As for getting to it, I was driven both ways but the train didn’t seem to be too bad. The station is so close to the venue I think it worked out ok. You’ll have to get that feedback elsewhere as I happily spend 16~ hours getting to AGDQ every year using all manner of travel methods.

Chat Interaction

I loved the chat interaction while at ESA. We were blessed with a very good chat and being able to talk with them was brilliant, especially during runs with a quieter audience or runner. While some dislike seeing phones and laptops on screen, I think it’s definitely good for those attending and for those in the chat.

Scheduling

Some games were still in weird places but overall I think the scheduling was good. There were a lot of risks with games and runners but I think it paid off in the end. My suggestion would be to have more lenient estimates for some of the games but we were on track for the most-part. I don’t know how negatively the bad runs worked out with regards to viewer enjoyment.

Room Audio

I like having mics on key people and the donation mic thing is good. However, this is a double edged sword. Viewers may miss some funny or insightful comments from the room and whatnot without audio covering the whole area. It’s quite annoying to see mouths move and people laugh or gasp when you can’t hear it. On the other hand, being able to talk about what I want while watching a run (ie, inane chatter) was very nice. I think you know which is more important though.

Other Things

Honestly, I can’t think of many things that really bugged me. Not having schedules printed out was a little annoyance (at AGDQ there’s one on the doors to the marathon room, practice room and other room. I thought at first the communal sleeping would be bad but it works well enough and keeps costs down and has that Swedish tradition of mass sleeping. Another advantage is that it discourages people from hiding away in hotel rooms or whatever. I thought at first that holding it in Sweden could work out really pricy, but with buying food at Markets and the communal meals, it only costs as much as you make it.

Overall, I have very little to suggest for ESA, so I’ve mostly just pointed out what I liked and would like to have back next year. The casual atmosphere was perfect and the way everyone interacted with one another was brilliant to see. I think part of that is just that we’re Europeans and from different countries (and therefore find one another interesting, if a little weird) but I didn’t notice any drama or arguments or anything (which is normal for all speed run events), just all round cheesy friendliness. Honestly I’m not fussed about the charity aspect of any of the marathons (I’d still go if there was no donating at all) but I agree with the decision to share the charity with SGDQ.

All I’ll say is that if you want to increase the donating for next year, don’t let it take over, please.
ozzy88
ozzy88
Edit history:
ozzy88: 2013-07-29 09:20:56 am
ozzy88: 2013-07-29 08:54:32 am
2013-07-29 08:43:26 am
Quote:
Charity hype: Maybe some splash images about the charity should do, I don't think that it should be mentioned all the time and the balance was pretty much perfect at ESA, let it roll by itself with some careful reminding now and then. Donation are good but they shouldn't overshadow the fun itself too much. Improvements here are welcome though.


Come to think of it, we could maybe do like they do for Fighting Game streams, where during setup they have a picture with sponsors and what not. We'd have the charity picture up instead of sponsors...just an idea.


Quote:
Laptop users can monitor chat and relay questions from there to the runner or simply answer game/run related questions by typing without hogging the microphone from the actual runner / commentator. Banning laptops completely is just stupid. I would agree that if people started watching youtube videos in the back and laughing as a group it would matter but most I saw was just people monitoring the chat reactions and such which is impossible otherwise.


Can relay questions yes and when that was done it was good. But most of the time a laptop was on stream it was someone in the back looking at chat and giggling and not actually paying any attention to the run. I can't see how that's a good thing. When a laptop is used for a purpose on stream then it could work in our favour. Not when people sit in the back and just chat. I didn't look too much at the chat and I don't know if everyone had mod that was on site, but never when I looked would anyone who had mod that could have been someone on stream answer questions or give information on the current run.


Quote from Flicky:
All I’ll say is that if you want to increase the donating for next year, don’t let it take over, please.


It's hard for me to understand exactly what makes a donation focused marathon and what makes one more focused on the people there.

What I think will keep this vibe we had this year is that we're going to value the same things when it comes to making the schedule and such. Everyone get to play a game at least so we get a bit variability and we're not locked to the most popular runs necessarily. I think we might make more use of donation wars for games as it seems to be a powerful motivator for people to donate. And I don't really think that would mess too much with the feeling of attending?

Ugh, feel free to elaborate as I might be understanding this incorrectly.
garik16
2013-07-29 08:50:32 am
Quote from ozzy88:
Quote:
Charity hype: Maybe some splash images about the charity should do, I don't think that it should be mentioned all the time and the balance was pretty much perfect at ESA, let it roll by itself with some careful reminding now and then. Donation are good but they shouldn't overshadow the fun itself too much. Improvements here are welcome though.


Come to think of it, we could maybe do like they do for Fighting Game streams, where during setup they have a picture with sponsors and what not. We'd have the charity picture up instead of sponsors...just an idea.


Really like this idea.  take the still from this promo for SGDQ at 42 seconds in:


Just showing that between runs during setup would help promote the charity, even if the guys on the stream can't vocally promote the charity. 
MrLonghair
MrLonghair
Edit history:
MrLonghair: 2013-07-29 11:27:17 am
2013-07-29 11:21:56 am
Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit
I'm in line with flicky on the focus of ESA, favouring Cheesy over profe$$ionalism, sounds offensive to write, I contribute to charities with monthly donations but there was so much fun and joy during this that I wouldn't want it any other way (gunning for more donations should not change the atmosphere of ESA). For runners and attendees as he says. Certain commentators have said things about how AGDQ and SGDQ and their changes over the years that agree on this point.

Room audio: I'm working on improving room audio for the next ESA, the little turd of a microphone hanging from the ceiling wasn't correct, or carrying a good enough amp, circuitry in general, but it helped me figure things out. I don't want the room to be heard only during laughter and applause, I don't want laughter and applause beating the audio from the couch-mics (commentators, runners), I should be able to sketch out a plan where the first row behind the couch are able to speak while being heard - though that kinda clashes and could become too much audio to hear with up to five in the "couch-audio" set already. Brainstorming and testing atm!

Inbetween runs:My idea was a couch-ambience mic to flat out enhance the audio inbetween runs, I believe there was one on the spot underneath the table for a while but it requires active work to put on, turn off. Had I been able to attend (too many medical problems to list started popping up weeks ahead of time) I would have worked this out. Better solution guaranteed if my income goes up before next ESA, if it would be interesting to hear talk (like "nice work $runnername!") while a new game gets set up.
presjpolk
2013-07-29 11:36:36 am
HELLO!
Re: the IRC chat, I think it's kind of good that it didn't get more attention.  We seemed to have few active mods, compared with the Twitch chat with seemed to have people around most of the time.  If it had gotten hammered it would have gotten unusable.
RoboSparkle
RoboSparkle
Edit history:
RoboSparkle: 2013-07-29 12:59:05 pm
RoboSparkle: 2013-07-29 12:56:23 pm
2013-07-29 12:55:35 pm
Magical. Flying. Bathtub
Ok, I made a few notes but a lot of what I wanted to say has already been said.  I would like to clarify a few points with my thoughts.

Laptops / Mobiles on stream:

Mobiles, no.  Laptops, yes IF they are used to monitor chat for the runner, look up notes, etc.  I did chat monitoring for Flicky during his Bayonetta run and we got some great feedback on the banter that generated between Flicky, the couch and the chat.  I'll openly admit I was paying more attention to the chat than Flicky's run but I honestly thought that keeping on top of the Q&A between Flicky and chat improved the general atmosphere (also if it didn't then I know Flicky would have got me to cut it out one way or another). 

If you are on stream looking at chat and not reading out witty comments or questions to the runner then you might as well be sitting in donation station and moderating.  (Also, only read chat out to the runner, etc. IF the runner is happy with that arrangement. For example, Sonic 06 was a bonus stream game and more about having fun than serious speedrunning so that was fine but I know some runners want to maintain focus)

Scheduled Commentators

I know that many runners had this organised between themselves but more on a casual basis.  Ideally I think there should be people planned to be couch commentators and they should be on the schedule.  If people are volunteering and signing up to this beforehand then it means the organisers are aware of runs that might have an empty streaming room and can take measures around it (I know that a couple of times people had to come to the streaming room and politely demand bodies to show support - props to everyone there as not once was this type of request refused apart from guys who were actively practicing for an upcoming run).  Also if the commentator and runner haven't met before it can serve as an impetus for the two to meet and discuss the run, potential talking points, etc.  This follows into a point someone made above about having readily available game trivia, run information etc.

Also on a similar note, scheduled mods, donation and tech station guys so that we aren't left with a situation where no-one in the streaming room was able to set up for the next game and had to scavenge for a tech and audio guy to help out.  In low-traffic times / graveyard shift this could conceivably be the same guy, but there should be a clear-cut point of contact.  And probably an optional training session so more attendees have the skills to help.  I'm sure that the reason we didn't have as many tech and donation guys as we could have was that people weren't 100% sure how they worked and didn't want to be that one guy that screwed it up for everyone.

Schedules

Flicky (I think) made the point about having a few copies of the schedule taped to convenient walls/doors, and I wholeheartedly agree with this.  It was really useful during AGDQ and meant I didn't have to find a laptop every time I wanted to look up the schedule.  On that note I also think the schedule should be dynamic (i.e. update depending on how far ahead or behind we are).  This will be really useful both for runners/commentators and viewers.  I don't know how easy it will be to implement software that auto-updates the schedule based on start times but I'm pretty sure that the 'GDQs have it that you may be able to steal.

Audio

I noticed several times people chatting pretty loudly in the streaming room and I really wanted to shush them and tell them to have more respect... until I realised the runner couldn't hear or see them and neither could the stream.  I'm all for a noise-capturing room mic to make sure we don't miss comments made from around the room but if you do that there will need to be tightly enforced rules about talking in the streaming room.  I personally thought the setup we had worked great (apart from when there wasn't an audio expert in the room), so it's up to you how you want to play it.

Breakfast

Firstly, mad props for the breakfasts, they were excellent and LotBlind deserves a lot of credit for being the main driving force behind them.  I'd love it if that was a thing next year as well.  Having said that the fact that he had to basically scavenge for helpers was a shame and it meant that he was on duty most days or every day (not sure).  I'm sure that the main reason for that was that the whole arrangement for breakfast wasn't organised until after the marathon started.  There's quite a simple solution for this: If you want breakfast, when you sign up you have to volunteer to help out on at least one of the days and this can be scheduled around your games / commentaries / runs you really want to watch etc so no-one is "stuck" doing breakfast duty when there's a run on that they want to see.

General Feel
I had this conversation with Flicky during the event and I couldn't agree with him more on this.  I loved that the feel of this was a bunch of gamers meeting up for a week of good times and the focus was on an enjoyable event above the stream or even the charity and I don't want that focus to change.  Trying to improve ESA based on what the 'GDQs are doing is a good idea generally but it shouldn't come at the expense of being an excessively professional event where the focus is on the stream or charity over the runners.  Even having attended ESA 2012 and AGDQ 2013 and got pretty high expectations of the event I was completely blown away with how much fun I had and I'm already so very hype for ESA 2014.  So much was improved over last year and you guys really did improve the level of organisation and professionalism without sacrificing anything that made it so much fun in the first place.

Seriously (gushing mode activate) I loved the whole event and can't wait for the next one.  I tried to voice my suggestions as just that rather than criticisms so if anything comes across like that then I really apologise.  I also tried to make sure my reasoning was clear so if it wasn't then just say and I'll try to rephrase (wishing I was more continental so I could give the "not my first language" excuse...).  If you disagree with anything I've said then that's cool too,  I didn't put much about tech in there because I do not understand any of it and it sounds like those who do know already have a goldmine of ideas which is awesome.
Alko
2013-07-29 02:48:16 pm
Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^
I'll start by going over what some people have said.
Re setup buffers getting longer towards the end:
That should not be needed. Seriously not. We were well on track with the schedule for the largest part of the event, and something completely blew on the last day, I don't know what. Ideally, we should be exactly back on track after each setup block.
Maybe a solution to that one would be: During sign-ups, when an estimate is asked for, explicitly do not ask the runner to add setup, and just add 5 to 10 minutes setup time to each run a priori. Then the organisers could decide things like 'okay, this is the second run on the same console, setup should be done immediately' vs. 'Right, we need to get a PC game working here, we'll add quarter of an hour'. Setup buffer times could maybe even be added in an extra column on the schedule to create transparency.

Re stream overlays: They were seriously the coolest I've seen ever. I especially loved the idea of the changing controller (although sometimes I had to be behind the tech staff to make them change the controller image xD). Yes, ideally we would have Twitches and estimates in a prepared text document on the streaming PC and no need to ask before the run.

Re phones/laptops: Yeah, people shouldn't be in the back of the room and reading the chat, even if their sole presence is half of the chat discussion. (I think, we all know who I'm talking about xD.) If anything, make it least obvious (hide the laptop, only glance down every now and again), but really the only reason to have a laptop open is for runner's notes or runner requesting chat questions.

Re scheduled commentators: Well, we kind of had that, or at least we tried. I think, the assigned commentators were different from the actual ones 99 % of the time. I'm guilty of not showing up to a run where I was written as commenting in the schedule, but made up for it, by being the only one in the room for another run (more or less). We should maybe advertise that more, but then again for most of the time I thinked it worked out pretty well?

Now to the things I noticed and want to express:
Cheat sheets
We were severely lacking them. Yes, donation station, audio station and streaming station could orally pass on knowledge, but it is so much better if the knowledge is still around on a cheat sheet in case someone needs to know. Those things also need to be laminated and glued to the tables to make sure they're always there and readable.

Streaming equipment
Should not be removed, just because one person is leaving early. What I mean by that one: We had some serious problems during bonus stream (a) trying to get the gaming PC to stream and (b) with everything that had PAL60. At least the first problem was caused by some equipment having been moved. Until the end of the bonus stream, no cable whatsoever should be removed from the streaming area, unless it is the very first bit from console to Scart splitter.
Also, it should be made very clear (and I mean even clearer; think cheat-sheet) which plugs may be removed and replaced, and which must stay in exactly the same position. I feel, too few people had knowledge about this one.

Bonus stream
Scheduling did not work the way it happened. (Okay, I was very short on sleep, but it wouldn't have worked if I had slept properly, either.) I suggest beginning the bonus stream scheduling during the event proper. And not only runner, game, estimate, system, constraints, but maybe even 'ideal starting time'. I've got a few things in mind, which I would implement if I'm in charge of bonus stream again next year. Also, the person in charge needs to know when bonus stream is scheduled to end (I spend over one day of bonus stream schedule planning thinking we had at least 12 hours more to our disposal than we had).

No food/drink rules
Did I understand correctly, that the rule concerning the practice area was one by Nyeport itself? If we are to keep those rules (and I wouldn't see any reason not to), we need to strictly enforce them from day one, which also means, we need a set of people with approved Miktator powers. Also, the exception and type of exceptions need to be clear. Is only bottled stuff allowed for tech/audio/donations? Tea/coffee as well?

Prizes
I feel like 20 % of the prizes were a total mess, and I'm not even talking about the perlers that broke. I feel we need to get the prizes inserted into the tracker before the event starts. Ideally all the prizes (although adding prizes later is no big deal). Also, there should be an easier way of adding multiple copies of the same thing (like the three copies of Anodyne we had as prizes). I'm not sure, if UA/SMK/CoolMatty or whoever else works on the tracker will be reading this thread, so I'll tell them separately later. It should be possible just to draw multiple winners of one prize, but I didn't have enough guts to try.
Also, the person who left his coffee mug on the prize table, until it looked like there were things living in it, deserves a good thrashing!

Audio
I reserve myself the right to add more here later, once I've watched a run or two from the recordings. So far I'll just say: The donation station needs to be able to hear the runners/couch commentators, so they know when not to talk. One way would be to switch the places of audio/donation, if the audio cables are still long enough then. Quite a few times I'm pretty sure we talked at the same time, stopped at the same time, and then I was trying to listen over the whole room when there was a space for me to talk. Another way would be  monitoring headphones for donation reading people.
And yes, the goddamn room needs more respect and less noise >__< At least donations should be heard in the room and not only on stream.

Use of the timezone adjusted schedule
I believe that should have gotten the same prominence that it does for the GDQs. And it should not only adjust to the user's timezone, but we should also adjust it on-site by adding times (not only estimates) to the runs. Scroll up to where I said something about publishing the setup buffer separately: This could be used to have the real run times published, and still have the correct setup time for the next run's starting time to be the same. Would also facilitate adding start/end times into the tracker if that has been neglected later. (I still managed, but by lots of maths, and if it hadn't been me, nobody would've done it, I believe Wink .)

Quote from presjpolk:
Basically, I think Alko was doing a good job.

I keep blushing at these lines >__< Thanks ^^'
MrLonghair
MrLonghair
Edit history:
MrLonghair: 2013-07-30 09:10:51 am
2013-07-29 04:21:35 pm
Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit
Regarding audio, donation station: My plans were to let donation readers listen in on the output mix from the main mixer, so that they would know when to speak and then their own volume. Wrote this down on my notes a few times, but the layout ended up with the donation station not right next to the audio setup.

Regarding food and drink: No-spill containers (Zojirushi like) should be the only thing allowed in and around critical areas, and lozenges. I need to pop something in my mouth to speak for more than two hours straight, periodic feedings of water depending on the air quality. Don't want a runner, commenter or donation reader to get a parched throat. (Purely strategically, you don't want the senses of the runners disturbed by food or drink that can be smelled)
bangerra
2013-07-30 08:02:35 am
Regarding Laptops on screen:

Considering about 90% of the room was on stream, it was very hard to find a spot to moderate chat while in the streaming area. There was literally space for about 1.5 extra laptops in the 'tech' area that weren't dedicated to donations/streaming. I know I was on screen a lot while moderating chat, but I tried to be in the back or at the side to be as hidden as possible and not distract from the ongoing runs.
One might argue that you can just as well moderate from a different room, but it's hard knowing what's going on in chat if you're not in the athmosphere of the streaming area.

So where I'm going with this: Maybe it's not a bad idea to have a few extra tables in the streaming area where people can use their laptops, maybe at the other side of the room? I know space is precious in there, but it may be something to consider.
DRsynj
2013-07-31 01:13:14 am
Reverse Death Valley Bomb
Having fallen out of speedrunning slightly from about February my attendance at ESA was much less about showing a set of record setting runs on the stream and more to meet many awesome people in gaming and some amazing friends from last ESA, with this standpoint I can only echo every word Flicky has posted in this thread.

This meet up, for me, was a massive highlight of my year not because I got to play on a stream with X amount of viewers or donations but because I got to attend a speedrunning themed gaming gathering which I knew everyone from Europe was more than comfortable coming to. The vibe was so relaxed and enjoyable, we didn't have to be *hype* all the time to entertain the more excitable stream audience, we just got to be ourselves and play games in a creatively lax way both on stream (Dark Souls and DmC3) and off stream.
The venue of Nyeport served every purpose we would need (including clothes washing, interestingly) and the House of Culture as a sleeping area was perfect especially because, like last year, everyone respected the need for a quiet atmosphere. I would have liked more access to stores after dark though, whether facilitated by Nyeport/Ludendi staff inside the venue or just a general store that was open past 8pm.

If Ludendi were to focus on improving the stream and the charity donations for next year I would really hope it doesn't impact on the, quite powerful, attribute ESA has of a welcoming gaming gathering for the attendees. I've never personally liked this fad of having to take donations for charity as an excuse to hold a speedrunning event, I want to see it disappear where it's not necessary, particularly where the gamers participating aren't interested themselves and thus can't heartfully support the cause. I understand it's a gateway to increasing the stream viewership but I'm sure there are other ways to do it that doesn't involve asking people for money we don't need.
Although, a speedrunning event like ESA has proven to be a strong method of gathering donations, so if we were to find a cause to put them toward that the attendees can all invest in emotionally and financially then I would understand taking the dontations in the first place, just up 'til now I haven't been convinced and I suppose neither has the stream viewers.
As for the stream presentation itself I can't really suggest anything productive besides echoing Flicky again, I thought the stream layout was done really well this year and I would just like the camera closer to the runners like SGDQ's runner cam, it's a much more personable view than the overhead we had at ESA.
TimpZ
2013-08-03 09:03:52 am
I agree with most of what has been said but here's my thoughts:

There were a lot of people who were vey hard working the whole marathon in order to make it as good as possible. Tompa and Alko did probably 80% or more of all donation managing and I almost felt sorry for them, LotBlind spending half the marathon in the kitchen, Neviutz managing the stream and lots of others. I feel like next year we should have a schedule for various tasks so that not a few people are stuck doing things like managing the kitchen for the whole week. Everyone can dedicate a quarter of a day to emptying the dishes or making new coffe, all we need is a list of volunteers and designate a 6 hour slot for them.

I didn't really mind sleeping in a separate venue but it did create a couple problems. On more than one occasion a runner would be sleeping and getting a hold of them quickly, waking them up and getting them to the streaming location all ready up took way too long. Another problem was security. During the day it was non-existant and during the night it was too tight. I didn't really feel secure leaving my stuff in Kulturhuset so I just kept my pillow, towel and dirty clothes there, and during the night the communication for "the train" was so bad that I missed it several times and thus had to wait yet another hour to get to sleep.

There's also something about the atmosphere on stream that people have mentioned that I can agree with. Like Longhair said, there needs to be more discipline regarding setting up audio though for 90% of the runs I've seen, it at least gets fixed within 10 minutes into the run. However though I feel like we had a better audio setup last year than AGDQ2012, this year I feel like SGDQ was better. The reason being things like people already mentioned; audience questions and comments, laughter etc. The audio we do have is great quality but it's too isolated and in the end I question the value of removing coughs, chatter, inconsistent audio levels ("RIP headphone users" during clapping for ex.) and other background noises because of it.

Also regarding the atmosphere is like people have mentioned cellphones and laptops on stream. They're usually nowhere in sight at 'GDQs and it's for the better imo. I do agree with what Robosparkle said but during the marathon it was mostly a group or two of 2-4 people gathering around a computer laughing at the chat and it's very disrespectful in every single way. Checking your phone isn't really that bad but again having it up all the time to read chat is a no no. Edenal came with a couple questions to the runner from the chat so I can definitely see a "designated chat interactor" being a good addition but as it stands now, especially with the current audio setup, I see nothing positive about it.

Also, since the majority isn't native english speakers, I think we missed out on a lot of commentary possibilities again probably because of the audio setup. People are afraid to talk, ask questions or in any way interact. There were several runs that went almost completely uncommentated and while I can understand the runner being busy and no'one else knowing the game enough, that's when the audience should for example make jokes or discuss what they're experiencing. A runner should feel like he's talking to the audience behind him and the audience should be free to respond!

Regarding promotion, I think it was close to nonexistant. We had Adam, GG, Ennopp, Josh etc that regularly talked about it on their streams but other than that I can't think of any real promotion at all. I tried to stear up making a hype video but that fell through due to lack of interest from others and the fact that there's like 5-10 people visiting nintendo-records at all. The website looks very professional and all that and I've heard a lot of positive things about it but it should've been done a month earlier and as stated, donation tracker, stream etc should've been readily available as the first thing you see during the marathon.

That's the only things I can really think of now. I would list the positive things too but that would take all day :p.
Alko
2013-08-03 12:59:36 pm
Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^
Somebody (to lazy to pinpoint and quote it now) said something about not enough space for laptops near tech station.
I disagree. We had space for thre laptops on the donation table, two next to the mixer on the audio table and one next to the streaming machine (although that one should probably be manned only by the stream manager). One and a half people were absolutely enough for donation tracking. One person was enough for 90 % of the time. Ergo four chat tracking spots off-stream. If re~ally required, we could add a table more, but then again, chat monitoring should also happen (and happened, Curseddolls and Kitty did so) outside of the streaming room.
Linkinito
Linkinito
Edit history:
Linkinito: 2013-08-03 02:43:38 pm
Linkinito: 2013-08-03 02:41:40 pm
2013-08-03 02:40:50 pm
This is my avatar
Well, here's all my feedback for ESA 2013.

We can't deny that collecting $20,000 is quite great for a good cause and a second iteration for the marathon. As I seem to recall, nearly half of the donations came from the French community and restream. We were around 700 in average (peaking at 1,200) and 450 at least, at any given time. The original stream averaged 7,000 viewers (peaking at 14,000 during GTA SA). So 10% of the viewers actually gave nearly 50% of the donations. The french community really supported this event beyond all our expectations. Despite all the technical problems (it was Kanjo's first big restream), it went quite well overall.

But I'm gonna talk about the other 90% of the viewers who donated the other half. I'm pretty sure many people kept their money to donate the biggest part at SGDQ (and I won't hide it, many french people also did it). As they knew it would be the same charity organization (Doctors Without Borders), most of them donated a very small sum and did big donations at SGDQ. I think there were major factors that actually made people donate a small amount at ESA and a big amount at SGDQ:
- First of all is just that the 2 events were simply too close together. And while people showed their support for ESA by doing small donations (every dollar counts anyway!), they knew SGDQ was coming and then, kept their money for a little bit longer.
- Steam Summer Sales. They were still running at the time of ESA. So basically, some wallets were just emptied. But I won't put much cause on this particular reason as that's something unrelated to marathons. It still does have an impact on the money.
- Not enough donation incentives and prizes. To be honest, the next ESA needs much more things that would incitate people to donate. The donation incentive thread was done just days before the marathon start. To be really honest, there was a TON of donation incentives that could have been done during this marathon, mostly multilanguage, bidding wars, naming characters, etc. Despite having twice the amount of games than SGDQ, there were less choices and challenges. And that's kinda disappointing as the sole donation incentive for the animals in Super Metroid at SGDQ raised more than ESA as a whole. One donation incentive can have a great effect, and can give a serious boost to the donations. So when you will do the Games Thread for ESA 2014, ask for potential donation incentives and create the thread several months before the marathon starts.

But I'm gonna put that mostly on the fact that the two marathons were too close together and the most hyped one had the biggest amount of donations. I didn't expect ESA to raise a 6-digit donation amount, but seeing it at 20k is a bit disappointing to me, especially with the length of the marathon, the number of viewers, and all the HYPE that was around the event.

Let's talk about the Hype, anyway. ESA made its success only (and solely) thanks to SRL. Even if SDA mentioned ESA several times, most of the viewers where brought from SRL streams, which relayed the "ESA HYPE" since the beginning of the year. But the bad thing is no promotion was done outside SRL. Nearly no gaming site talked about the event. Not many mentions on gaming forums etc. (we've all seen what Team Liquid was capable of during AGDQ). There wasn't any trailer to promote the event. The website wasn't in "marathon state" until 24 hours AFTER the start of the marathon. The promotion work for ESA could have been so much better. It was enough however to bring the attention of a french streamer who did all the job to do a french restream as MisterMV couldn't do it because of SGDQ. As a result the french community were clearly supporting the event. Even if there were 3 times less viewers for ESA than SGDQ (700 vs 2,100 viewers), we had a real importance.

We had also an amazing support on the other end, with many shutouts to the french community on-stream. Most of the times if was perfect, but however, something will stay into my mind. A bad thing that was "fixed" at SGDQ: the Vice City run. Many french people donated to have the game in French (even if there wasn't an incentive on it) because we knew that would be possible as SGDQ would do it with the same runner. Adam_ak just ignored that, and did the run in english. We felt unlistened, even if our money went to a great cause. Of course the run in english was still quite funny with all the phone calls, the musics, the audience behind, etc., something that wasn't possible in french language. Fortunately the french community reunited at SGDQ to have the game in French, and we managed to get it.

Let's talk about the game and the runners. It was quite fantastic, with a variety of games that haven't been seen in any speedrunning marathon. AGDQ2013 brought a better variety but ESA showed whole sagas and trilogies that are worth to be seen (Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter instantly spawn into my mind). Some commentaries were great to listen, however some runners just played the game without any comments to explain what they were doing. Of course not everyone can be talkative and have the eloquence of some great runners, but that's probably the main criticism against ESA: sometimes, it was boring. Some people admitted that they came to the french restream to hear some commentary, even if they didn't understand a word! So animation is another main concern for ESA 2014. Make it more alive than this year!

The streaming was perfect, great quality, great layout, great places, some setup times were a bit long but the schedule was respected, so big kudos to all of you. And many runners really delivered at ESA, the pinnacle being Josh beating his WR live on stream in front of 14,000 viewers. Really a great moment. And having commented this in french for 6 hours straight was really intense. It even brought some french private jokes. Nearly all the games offered great runs. Yes, nearly. And you know what I'm talking about.

Dark Souls.

This should absolutely never happen again in any speedrunning marathon. It was evident that the runner didn't give a damn about the game and the whole run and I count this as a disrespect for the viewers and the charity. Thank god it was mercy killed and SGDQ did justice to this game. Also it was very disrespectful for the people who donated for the run to be online, and quitting when a viewer who came for PvP was coming. The run went completely into chaos and this shouldn't happen ever again. It might have been funny on-site, but trust me, the viewers were not amused by this. That's the kind of bad publicity that can ruin an entire marathon. And I hope the lesson have been learned now.

Well, I think I have nothing more to say. Many critics of course, but in order to make ESA next year even better. Some points were great, and should be definitely kept and even improved in the next year. I didn't talk technical too much as I wasn't really paying attention, but it was near-GDQ quality. It seems the streaming room was much more brightful than SGDQ, with more light and that was better for the eyes.

TL;DR version:
- Much, much, much more promotion needed
- More donation incentives and challenges (and prizes) to motivate people to donate
- Great variety in games, runners really delivered, keep it up this way
- Better commentary work
- No more comedy run like Dark Souls
Alko
2013-08-03 03:03:31 pm
Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^
Re placement close to SGDQ:
This was actually intentional, creating a feel that both the marathons belong together. Hence the same charity etc. I prefer not to see the small amount raised when compared to SGDQ, but rather the success we had when compared to last year (10 times the amount of last year's). And yes, last year there were three months between SGDQ and ESA. (We also peaked at a lot less viewers and stuff but still.)

Re incentives: Yes, this could have been better. Tompa and me should get a hold of the tracker about a month before and start entering things into it. First time I saw the tracker was on-site on the day it started. Not ideal ^^'

Re Vice City: Yes, I recall reading donations for that. I also remember going looking for Adam who was probably sleeping at the time, because I didn't talk to him. I then forgot to pursue the subject further.

Also I agree that without the French restream and community this event wouldn't have been half of what it was! Big thanks to all of you for restreaming, recommenting and collecting viewers and donations! <3
MrLonghair
MrLonghair
Edit history:
MrLonghair: 2013-08-03 05:42:13 pm
2013-08-03 05:41:39 pm
Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit
Can happily say that we've figured out the technical audio issues internally, had I been able to attend I would have fixed it on the spot (interference wired and wireless, I'd have had to yell at people), audio dipping after people went loud will be a thing of the past next time around also, audience micing is a hella challenge that's being worked on.

I hope to figure out some way to share my knowledge with the AGDQ crew, they've got limited equipment but it's capable of being setup better, speaking as an audionut who can't help but wish things sounded better. Should get my thumb out and make that one audio equipment thread..
mikwuyma
mikwuyma
Edit history:
mikwuyma: 2013-08-03 06:03:54 pm
mikwuyma: 2013-08-03 06:00:02 pm
2013-08-03 05:58:21 pm
My feelings on The Demon Rush
So I have a list of stuff I wrote down, but I want to talk to Edenal first either on Skype or via PM before posting everything.

What I was curious about is...

1. What stream program did you use? Xsplit? OBS?

2. The 60 fps stream was sexy, I'm guessing that was done through the upscaler. We used a xrgb framemeister-mini but it might have fucked up because it was going through the dvd recorder first (btw I have no intention of using dvd recorders the next agdq).

3. Did you guys have a compressor? It seemed like anytime the audio was loud (like during Etholon's cube run), the sound would cut out.

4. Did you guys ever have to replace the batteries on the lavalier mics? We're going to buy more lavaliers for AGDQ because the one we had during SGDQ was very well-received.

5. Who handled the tech stuff anyway? From this topic it looks like it was MrLonghair and Oasiz. I want to ask them some questions about their setup, because the tech stuff was quite fast and impressive.