Streamer Woes : Web Cam Audio Override

June 13, 2016

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So it is been about last year since I last streamed a FG event. This involves me to dismantle my home PC equipment, set it up, stream and record an event live, redismantle my stuff, then bring it back home to use it again. Up to this point, I have been using my gaming laptop. This time around, I have a new PC that can handle the video strain I desire to both record & stream 60fps and 720p video at the same time. I have already been using my new PC to stream home, so this would be my first time using it outside.

At a local fighting game event called “Danger Time” in KO Gaming Lounge,  some people played Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, so I felt that this game would be perfect to use for my stream. I took measures to make sure I had all my stuff ready to go. I made some new layouts. I got 2 Web cams to use for player cams and a full mixer set. I also checked to make sure that the game audio & commentator voices mixed well. Visually, the stream looked great, & I was convinced that all was well.

The whole day went off without a hitch with people having fun chatting on the stream setup, the energy of just having the stream setup there is always great. At the end of the night, I closed the stream & set down my equipment. I drive home feeling accomplished. I load up the stream on my phone just to make sure that the end is good. Video loads up & and the first thing I hear…

Loud button pressing…
Jarbeled voices…
Game audio at a distance…
Lots of sound feedback.

I found out later that my pc did not pick up the mic port has my mixer is connect to. It was actually getting sound from the mic attached to the webcam and getting outputted to the stream. This was the first time using those webcams on my PC, and I did not consider that they would screw with my mic setting. Knowing me, I know why I missed it too: I was too wrapped up in making a good layout and just assumed the mixer already worked as it should. Ultimately, this resulted in over 5 hours of stream time that was probably unpleasant to listen to with archives that are unusable.

On the bright side, the intention of this stream at its core was to make sure my equipment worked.  In essence, my failure to catch this oversight gives me another thing to look out fore.  What I should have done was: 1 – view and listen to my stream on another platform (like my phone), 2 – Test my webcams before hand to make sure it is not being picked up, and 3 – double check that my XSplit is inputting the correct port.  Yes I feel dumb for making this preventable mistake happen, but that just means I won’t make the same mistake next time.

For those who may have ran into this stream and tried to watch it, I do sincerely apologize for my oversight.  Look forward to more future events, and I’ll make sure it enjoyable for everyone.


Streaming at EVO2014: Reflection and Experience

July 23, 2014

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So EVO 2014 happened. This is not the first time for me going to EVO. I have been going since… around 2008. This is the first time, however, that I would play the role of a tournament streamer for the following games: #aquapazza,  #chaoscode, #MBAACC, #JojoASB, & #AH3LM.  For those who may not know, these games are the anime fighters that are not made by Arc System Works, the makers of Guilty Gear and Blaz Blue, and are thus, less popular of the anime games. (GG and BB are being covered by Jyosua).  This is my view and experience for Evo2014 as a streamer, as well as my experiences overall.

Streaming & TO Fun Times as a Whole

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Friday was the day that we ran Aquapazza, Chaos Code & Melty Blood.  Thanks to DJCream, we were able to get 2 tables to set up all our games at the corner of the exhibit hall. Aquapazza was the first game that we ran. Prior to that, I was prepared to just record the matches, but somehow, I got the tethering on my phone working. When i did a speed test, I found out that the upload of my phone was around .8 BPS,  This was fast enough to run a a low bitrate 360p stream, good enough for others to watch.

For being a last minute announcement of me streaming on Friday, It all went much better than expected. My channel probably got over 200 viewers at its best time & ended with a little less than 100 around Melty top 8.  I ran the Aquapazza bracket while DJ Cream & Dippy ran MBAACC and Chaos Code. We were absolutely surprised at the amount of entrants that joined, expecially Melty which had over 50 entrants while CC had 20 and AP had 25.  For myself, running the stream & the Aquapazza bracket took a great deal of energy, so much so that I actually lost my voice on saturday. I enjoyed watching each Top 8, though IMO, Chaos Code was the most entertaining, mostly thanks to Abegen and his amazing Chef and DJ Creams commentary. As a whole though, I felt this as a huge accomplishment.

Then saturday came along, which blew my expectations out of the water.  Again, shoutouts to DJCream for coordinating the table setups.  There managed to be 4 setups for Aquapazza and 2 setups for Jojo’s All star Battle for the tournament. At 5p we started and I ran the brackets for Jojo’s while DJ Cream ran Arcana Heart. Running the brackets this time and running the stream at the same time went alot smoother this time around. I was surprised to see how long Jojo’s matches can take, but the folks were understanding and were good to work with. In the meantime on twitter, my twitch channel was being spammed all over the place by the JP. The largest I seen the numbers for my stream was around probably 1.1k, which is outstanding in my perspective since this is the most I’ve ever seen in my channel.  Jojo’s Top 4 was quite surprising and exciting to watch, especially when Spinking completely owned the competition. Arcana Heart Top 8 was also a blast with Nadakaineko cheering for Yoriko in the stream chat and Bill doing amazingly well. Finals between Mabushin’s Mei Fang and Inuchiyo’s Dorthy was a sight to see for, while Inuchiyo’s Dorothy was dominating, Mabushin’s Mei Fang definitely put up a fight and had great moments.

Overall, from a streamers perspective, This time was an absolute blast. I am happy that I was able to muscle through this event, ‘specially since this was my first time streaming at a main event. I’m not sure how I will top this EVO in the future.  All I can do at this point is take it a bit at a time.

Notable Moments & Shoutouts

Drinking with SoCal Melty

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I heart you guys. I love watching y’all suffer at the Hash House.  I also appreciate the help on the side with sign ups and random stuff.

Aquapazza Kumite in the BAR

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When everyone got settled on thursday, my group was invited to a room, which was later dubbed the BAR (British Anime Room) since the ppl who owned the room were from ths UK, and the room itself was a freakin Suite. Right when i went in, it was announced that KOG (ko-gi) and Mabushin, both from Japan, were coming into the BAR to face everyone in Aquapazza. After some deliberation, i was convinced to get my video game capturing equipment and record this little event.  The result was some very exciting matches between Japan and all the people in the BAR.  See it yourself.

Mabushin VS the World: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsbj_QbyY-HhKuNFGnRdAAMPNxbsEuUj

KOG VS The Wrold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Q5r7loFsA&index=2&list=PLBsbj_QbyY-HhKuNFGnRdAAMPNxbsEuUj

Short Version: US Got bodied, but goddamnit it was fun trying. All of us started chanting USA out loud in the room, that eventually we got a warning from the hotel to keep the noise to a moderate level. Only Lark was good enough to get a match off the JP.

Consolation Prize

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Given to me by Bill703 after Arcana Heart 3 Love Max was finished. This really does mean alot to me. Thanks, Bill!

That God Damn Cloth

See the header Image. That was the first place prize for Arcana Heart 3, won by Inuchiyo. That was a sight to behold, & I’m glad i got it on my stream.

The Playstation All Stars Battle Royale Guys

It was amusing to help you guys last minute.  I’ll have to admire you guys and your dedication to the game. Also props to Dopples for taking charge of brackets and Bam for his dedication. If you guys want me for some streaming projects, feel free to ask.

The British Anime Room

Such a great room. Aside from the drinkage and the Kumite, the moment that pops out was when I popped up some random game on the PS3 and then i hear Mr. E in the background say “Oh, is that Fighting Vipers?” That’s when everything became great.  Thanks for letting everyone invade your place and have a good time.

DJ Cream

Thanks for organizing all these tournaments and for asking me to be the streamer for this. I had alot of fun doing it.  I’m glad you had a good time down at SoCal and thanks for the Weiss cards. Kuud is Lewd.  I’m also glad that, along with dippy and everyone else who helped run everything, that this side tournament was a big success.

Final Thoughts

Don’t know what else to say, really. I just had a great time overall. Each night after everything settled down, I’d have a nice drink to celebrate each day, and each night had a little adventure.  I played games here and there and I did the best I could. All the event match vids are on my Youtube. Ev2014 is done. Everything is now done and settled.

And yes. Time to move on.

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Here’s to my first amazing EVO Anime stream. I look forward to future endeavors with this crazy hobby of mine.

Evo2014 AnimEVO Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsbj_QbyY-HhKuNFGnRdAAMPNxbsEuUj


#PSASBR at #TRB & Discovery

June 19, 2014

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For those who may or may not have been following me on Twitch, I have been streaming “Playstation All Stars Battle Royale” (#PSASBR) on my stream during “The Runback” at Super Arcade. This started as a means to provide some sort of competitive content since  Guilty Gear +R (#GGAC+R), the game I have been streaming previously during #TRB, hasn’t been receiving the desired numbers to run a tournament.  I haven’t really played the game at this point, but the numbers that #PSASBR have been getting have been fairy consistent, so I felt that the game deserves some additional stream time.

What I did not know until recently is the push behind why #PSASBR is streaming at Super Arcade, which is explained by the tweet below.

I have also noticed the existence of https://gigapunch.wordpress.com/, which, from what I read, is a site dedicated to #PSASBR.  They have also been pushing my stream on there as well.  For those who are interested more in the news of this game, go there.

With the discovery of this new information, what does this change for me?  Honestly… not much.

I am still in this for the sake of streaming competitive matches. That does not change. However, this Thursday (06/19) and the following Thursday (06/26), will make this the last 2 games that are sponsored by Sony for this season. I will continue streaming #PSASBR at #TRB til that point.  Those that are interested in watching the matches prior to losers & grand finals on the main stream, feel free to watch on those nights at 9:30pm PST on my stream channel at Twitch.tv/numakie.

We can then share some silly moments… like mecha shooting at Parappa

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Numakie’s Analytical Insight: How to Not Lose!!!!!

March 11, 2014

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I do love these ask.fm questions I am getting. Sometimes I get a question that makes me think, then I get a blog worthy post for it. Feel free to ask me questions on “ask.fm/numakie” to get my brain flowing. If it gets words out of me, I’ll post it here too and maybe a little more to it.

The Question:

I keep going 0-2 at tournaments. First I lose in the game, then I try to fight the person outside and then I lose again. Are fighting games just not for me?

The Answer:

Whether fighting games are for you or not is all in your head. I won’t be able to answer that.

As for losing in tournaments, mind that people who play in tournaments, ‘specially ones you pay for, will have people that play the game often and, at the very least, find ways to not lose. In addition, those who tend to be stronger overall most likely have small sub communities (ie: friends, rivals, etc) who play with each other, learn from each other, give advice, criticize, shit talk, etc.One of the biggest hurdles when learning not to lose when learning a game is finding out “Why” I am losing. Some notable hurdles I deal with in games I am learning are:

  1. Jumping in all the time.
  2. Focusing on trying to start my combos and getting blown up.
  3.  Messing up at a critical point in my combo that leaves me wide open.
  4. Getting too predictable with my Wake up options.
  5. Not blocking or waiting.
  6. Stopping myself from advancing all the time.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I do enjoy countering mistakes that others do. As for solutions to those options above for example:

  1. I’ll just DP them, Hit them with a normal that’s good at hitting Ground to Air, or intersect them in the air.
  2. Either options in 1, or just block and then hit punishable moves that are supposed to be mid combo filler.
  3. React when they mess up, or just mash DP mid-combo… or hell, just mash.
  4. Stand close to them and just block, or just bait DP’s, and then let them suffer.
  5. Meaties all day, baby.
  6. Pretty much all the options above and more.
The point really is to catch what you are doing wrong, and then see how you can prevent it. If it is something that the other person is doing that is catching you all the time, find out why that works and see about adopting it. It’s all trial and error and it takes time. Get to that point where all you have to do is fierce punch an opponent all day and win, then feel awesome. If losing is still happening, find someone who is of equal or slightly better skill level and learn off of each other, then face a real good person to help yourself gauge your progress and find your failings. It will come over time.

If you are unwilling to sit down and figure out why, though… nothing will help you.

Closing thoughts:

I may be good in Melty, but I do still lose. Losses are good for me since it gives me opportunity to find out why I lost and see how i can get it next time. If it is recorded, I can forever analyze my game play too. ;3

And that is it for me. Til next time.

Hooks

January 17, 2014

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One time at high school english class, the lesson was about writing hooks. The assignment was to write a paragraph that was attention grabing, and then reading that paragraph out loud in class.

I ended up writing a paragraph bout a swordsman cutting up a dude in battle and reveling in the thrill and the feel of his blade eviserating the other person. 

Same day, I got called out of another class to get counseling from a random peer in my english class. I couldn’t help but laugh on the inside that someone thought I was a troubled mind due to me writing that, and then reported it somewhere.

In retrospect… I still think it funny, and I understoood the english lesson.  Also, people. Haha.