User:ShiftLeftLogical/sandbox

= The Stony Brook University Online Event Broadcasting Model =

Overview
The Stony Brook University Online Event Broadcasting Model, designed in 2020 to broadcast a video-game programming competition live for an audience with competing teams and judges taking turns being on air. The entire competition, even communications between team members, was remote due to the Coronavirus Pandemic (If we want to keep this in we may want to link to the page). Competitors and judges, as well as the directors of the event utilized Discord for screen sharing, capturing video & audio, and communication, while Twitch was used to broadcast the live stream to the audience. It’s free!

16th Annual Stony Brook Game Programming Competition

 * Held annually but Covid messed stuff up
 * Normally the event is in person but due to Covid-19 we were forced into finding a quick solution to needing to host the competition online while still having an audience and a full panel of judges.
 * Absence of technology set that would cover all bases
 * There was no one stop shop for broadcasting, and coordinating an online event like this so we had to mesh together multiple technologies, in our case Discord, Twitch, and OBS.

Event Outcomes

 * Peak audience count, group count, etc
 * Ultimately the solution allowed for an even larger audience than in years where the competition was held for in-person participation and spectating. Attendance peaked at around 200. Also allowed for far more judges than usual as all polling and questioning was done online. This resulted in having dozens of judges. There were also (was it 10?) competing teams who themselves did not have to exit quarantine to cooperate with one another and participate in the competition.

Overview of Requirements and Specifications

 * To successfully execute this event, one computer with video capture software (OBS, Twitch Studio) and Discord was needed in order to successfully broadcast the footage.  The broadcaster also needed a Twitch account in order to livestream the event on the Twitch platform.  Additionally, competitors and judges needed a computer, laptop, or other electronic device with the Discord application on it in order to be broadcast.  They also required a microphone and camera in order to be seen and heard in the broadcast.  Producers and directors needed only a Discord account and a link to the livestream in order to successfully manage the judges and competitors properly, while audience members needed only a link to the Twitch livestream in order to view the event.

Hosting

 * Hosts are responsible for introducing each competitor and their games, as well as opening and closing the event. The host is also responsible for what is shown on stream.

Competing or Participating

 * Competitors are the ones who made the games being presented. Each game has between 1-3 competitors. Each game has their own voice channel on discord and can only be accessed by the competitors that created that game along with any staff.

Judging

 * Judges are Stony Brook alumni invited by Professor McKenna. After all the games are presented they are responsible for giving each game a score and the game with the most points wins the competition.

Viewing

 * The audience is anyone viewing the competition on the SBGD twitch channel. They can interact with the event by posting comments on twitch chat.

Directing & Producing

 * The producers are the ones that work behind the scenes making sure the event runs smoothly. Their tasks include fixing technical issues, warning competitors, and monitoring twitch chat.

Technology Requirements

 * Discord


 * OBS
 * Twitch.tv

Model Architecture

 * Relationships between the different technological components
 * The people involved and the flow of information / data
 * Transition time between different components of broadcast

Directing Events through Discord
The job of directing through Discord is split between a designated director and a host (technically speaking, one person could be performing both roles but if there is an actively speaking host it is best to split up the roles).