What is ESA?
A gathering which took place the two last years in Skövde, Sweden. With speedrunners and enthusiasts from all over the world. We hung out, played games and broadcast the marathons on Twitch. The event is hosted by Ludendi, a non-profit video game organization based in Skövde, and made possible thanks to all the wonderful people coming together for a week to share the love for games and entertainment. We want to keep the ball rolling, keeping ESA running as an annual event.
ESA is an on-site marathon, much like AGDQ and C4L. Hosted by other gamers, with a European touch in a part of the world where Sega won the 16-bit console war!
ESA is not a pure charity/speedrunning marathon. While it's true that's what it started as, the event has evolved into a slightly more casual gaming event with a charity aspect attached.
It's an event for everyone, with members from all communities, where we enjoy each other's company and just have a damn good time! You are warmly welcome to attend, even if you are not running a game or commenting on one, and feel uneasy about helping with tech stuff.
When is ESA?
Sunday, July 27th through Sunday, August 3rd are the dates we are broadcasting the main marathon. However we are open from Friday evening the 25th, through noon, Wednesday the 6th at noon for clean up and bonus streams.
What's new this year?
This year we want to emphasize diversity in speed gaming and are opening up game suggestions for longer RPGs, rhythm games, games with gimmicky accessories, shmups and challenging auto-scrollers. Basically anything as long as it's entertaining.
There will be two parallel streams. We are going to do our best to balance them as much as possible. This means that we can hit twice the hours of games. Great isn't it?
We are introducing more transparency in the game selection process. There's currently a focus group consisting of 5-7 people tasked with making the first round of selections.
On top of that we're looking to have a couple of on-site tournaments and maybe put the finals on stream together with the mandatory victory ceremony (including a big fish dropping the trophy!)
Where will it be held?
We are yet again expanding this year. We will again be having the main event at Nyeport in Skövde. Stream-HQ and main practice rooms will be held here. There's one big practice room big enough to not get too crowded, equipped with a projector so you can still watch the stream. Our streaming room has windows and daylight, so vampires and nocturnal creatures beware! Several big common-rooms including the famous green room and a kitchen where you can make toast and store food.
Where will I sleep?
There's a hotel right across the street from Nyeport where we managed to get a group discount. Most rooms are doubles and will cost you 260 SEK (~30€) per night, including free wireless internet and breakfast buffet. There are triplets and quads which are just slightly cheaper, but they are very limited in quantity. There are currently 30 doubles reserved.
If you prefer mass housing like we had last year at the House of Culture, we are looking into either renting the House of Culture again, or something similar closer to Nyeport. Unfortunately, we do not have a set location yet, but it will be cheaper than the hotel if enough attendees choose this alternative. We will get back when we have confirmation.
What will it cost?
There will be an attendance fee set at 50€ for anyone attending for more than one full day. Visiting for one day will still be free.
This will cover prizes, shipping, equipment storage and transportation, badges and will really allow us to improve at the much appreciated breakfast!
What can I do to help?
ESA is possible thanks to people volunteering their time both before, during and after the event. When we ask attendees to partake in the necessary work, it means less stress for the organizers and a more smooth and rewarding marathon experience for everyone. There are several ways in which you can help out that require no special skills or experience whatsoever. There are tasks people have performed in semi-conscious states (though it is recommended to sleep!) while talking to someone, writing an SMS and wearing mismatched socks...
In the streaming room, there will be the old dedicated streaming tech station where people like you can help with handling donations, moderating the chat and other tasks. Everything will follow a pre-formulated schedule that guarantees that all stations are manned at all times, with more people during prime time, and less during graveyard shifts. Everything will be well-documented with elaborate cheat sheets / manuals with images, in addition to which the scheduling will never leave you alone without someone who can help you get started. Our vision is that a trained monkey (or an untrained marathon attendee
) should be able to handle the stream.
A number of people are also just required every day in kitchen-related work and in keeping places tidy. The kitchen work is easily manageable and usually quite relaxed as many mageirocophobics (look it up!) have found out. On average, it has taken the kitchen taskmaster around 5 minutes to explain to people just what they need to do when it's their time to shine [dishes or otherwise].
But in all seriousness, we sincerely hope this doesn't cause people to feel apprehensive about attending the marathon. If we get as many attendees the next time as were present this year, we estimate everyone volunteering for one task slot will more or less cover all the work that can be handed out. On the other hand, in everyone's best interests, we would like to sort out almost all of the volunteer scheduling before the hour is nigh, so stay tuned for a future newsletter about how to reserve a spot of your liking. You will have the chance to see the schedule of runs beforehand so you can make sure never to miss anything of interest due to your volunteer duties.
When can I suggest my games?
Game suggesting will being on 2014-01-25 at 08:00 CET and end on 2014-03-09 at 23:59 CET.
The first cut will be posted around 2014-03-15
The second (final) cut will be posted around 2014-04-15
Link can be found here: [LINK]
Where should I direct further questions?
You should in general try to ask questions that make sense in the respective threads that will be created here on the SDA forum throughout the planning of this marathon. We also have a twitter account where we will answer questions and give out more information on what is being worked on or whatever else we would like to share.
Link to the ESA twitter account can be found here: https://twitter.com/ESA_Official_
Roundtable from 2014-01-17: http://www.twitch.tv/ludendi/b/495986497
A gathering which took place the two last years in Skövde, Sweden. With speedrunners and enthusiasts from all over the world. We hung out, played games and broadcast the marathons on Twitch. The event is hosted by Ludendi, a non-profit video game organization based in Skövde, and made possible thanks to all the wonderful people coming together for a week to share the love for games and entertainment. We want to keep the ball rolling, keeping ESA running as an annual event.
ESA is an on-site marathon, much like AGDQ and C4L. Hosted by other gamers, with a European touch in a part of the world where Sega won the 16-bit console war!
ESA is not a pure charity/speedrunning marathon. While it's true that's what it started as, the event has evolved into a slightly more casual gaming event with a charity aspect attached.
It's an event for everyone, with members from all communities, where we enjoy each other's company and just have a damn good time! You are warmly welcome to attend, even if you are not running a game or commenting on one, and feel uneasy about helping with tech stuff.
When is ESA?
Sunday, July 27th through Sunday, August 3rd are the dates we are broadcasting the main marathon. However we are open from Friday evening the 25th, through noon, Wednesday the 6th at noon for clean up and bonus streams.
What's new this year?
This year we want to emphasize diversity in speed gaming and are opening up game suggestions for longer RPGs, rhythm games, games with gimmicky accessories, shmups and challenging auto-scrollers. Basically anything as long as it's entertaining.
There will be two parallel streams. We are going to do our best to balance them as much as possible. This means that we can hit twice the hours of games. Great isn't it?
We are introducing more transparency in the game selection process. There's currently a focus group consisting of 5-7 people tasked with making the first round of selections.
On top of that we're looking to have a couple of on-site tournaments and maybe put the finals on stream together with the mandatory victory ceremony (including a big fish dropping the trophy!)
Where will it be held?
We are yet again expanding this year. We will again be having the main event at Nyeport in Skövde. Stream-HQ and main practice rooms will be held here. There's one big practice room big enough to not get too crowded, equipped with a projector so you can still watch the stream. Our streaming room has windows and daylight, so vampires and nocturnal creatures beware! Several big common-rooms including the famous green room and a kitchen where you can make toast and store food.
Where will I sleep?
There's a hotel right across the street from Nyeport where we managed to get a group discount. Most rooms are doubles and will cost you 260 SEK (~30€) per night, including free wireless internet and breakfast buffet. There are triplets and quads which are just slightly cheaper, but they are very limited in quantity. There are currently 30 doubles reserved.
If you prefer mass housing like we had last year at the House of Culture, we are looking into either renting the House of Culture again, or something similar closer to Nyeport. Unfortunately, we do not have a set location yet, but it will be cheaper than the hotel if enough attendees choose this alternative. We will get back when we have confirmation.
What will it cost?
There will be an attendance fee set at 50€ for anyone attending for more than one full day. Visiting for one day will still be free.
This will cover prizes, shipping, equipment storage and transportation, badges and will really allow us to improve at the much appreciated breakfast!
What can I do to help?
ESA is possible thanks to people volunteering their time both before, during and after the event. When we ask attendees to partake in the necessary work, it means less stress for the organizers and a more smooth and rewarding marathon experience for everyone. There are several ways in which you can help out that require no special skills or experience whatsoever. There are tasks people have performed in semi-conscious states (though it is recommended to sleep!) while talking to someone, writing an SMS and wearing mismatched socks...
In the streaming room, there will be the old dedicated streaming tech station where people like you can help with handling donations, moderating the chat and other tasks. Everything will follow a pre-formulated schedule that guarantees that all stations are manned at all times, with more people during prime time, and less during graveyard shifts. Everything will be well-documented with elaborate cheat sheets / manuals with images, in addition to which the scheduling will never leave you alone without someone who can help you get started. Our vision is that a trained monkey (or an untrained marathon attendee
A number of people are also just required every day in kitchen-related work and in keeping places tidy. The kitchen work is easily manageable and usually quite relaxed as many mageirocophobics (look it up!) have found out. On average, it has taken the kitchen taskmaster around 5 minutes to explain to people just what they need to do when it's their time to shine [dishes or otherwise].
But in all seriousness, we sincerely hope this doesn't cause people to feel apprehensive about attending the marathon. If we get as many attendees the next time as were present this year, we estimate everyone volunteering for one task slot will more or less cover all the work that can be handed out. On the other hand, in everyone's best interests, we would like to sort out almost all of the volunteer scheduling before the hour is nigh, so stay tuned for a future newsletter about how to reserve a spot of your liking. You will have the chance to see the schedule of runs beforehand so you can make sure never to miss anything of interest due to your volunteer duties.
When can I suggest my games?
Game suggesting will being on 2014-01-25 at 08:00 CET and end on 2014-03-09 at 23:59 CET.
The first cut will be posted around 2014-03-15
The second (final) cut will be posted around 2014-04-15
Link can be found here: [LINK]
Where should I direct further questions?
You should in general try to ask questions that make sense in the respective threads that will be created here on the SDA forum throughout the planning of this marathon. We also have a twitter account where we will answer questions and give out more information on what is being worked on or whatever else we would like to share.
Link to the ESA twitter account can be found here: https://twitter.com/ESA_Official_
Roundtable from 2014-01-17: http://www.twitch.tv/ludendi/b/495986497
Thread title: