As many of you know I have been quite sick for the past few weeks. I've been without a voice of almost a week and, as those that saw my failed attempt at a production video last night can attest, I still have a 'wee bit' of a cough
Even so, there was something that happened last night during the NASL S3 match between WhiteRa and Jinro match that went almost unnoticed but I think is HUGE for the eSports scene. Note: As of this writing the VODs are not up on YouTube and, sorry, I am not a subscriber on Twitch so I cannot get you a timestamp (I will update this post when VODs are posted); it was the last game of the series late in the game just after WhiteRa advanced and the, smartly, retreated after a successful attack we saw something happen that we have never seen before. MrBitter and Roderdamn then INSTANT REPLAYED the encounter.
UPDATE: HERE IS THE VOD. Action starts to 11:44
That's right. The first ever Starcraft 2 Instant replay happened last night and, as a geeked out production guy, I squee'd with excitement
So how did this happen? What does this mean for eSports productions moving forward? How does an instant reply work on a live stream?
These are the things I am going to cover in my first ever text edition of eSports Production Values! It should be noted that the only thing I hate more than taking the dog for her morning dookie session is freak'n typing - just say'n.
OK! So first the technology. How did they do it?
I haven't spoken to anyone on the NASL crew yet but I would venture a pretty fair guess that this was done using a 3Play box by NewTek - the same company that makes the TriCaster which I cover in detail in the episode on the Evil Geniuses Master Cup . I would also assume they are using the model 330 (which is the smallest of the three version available and allows for 3 live feeds to be recorded at once). Picture of the 3Play:
You can see a basic overview of it's operation in the video linked here.
Basically, the live feeds come into the 3play box and as something awesome begins to happen during the match the operator hits a key and it marks and 'in' point and when the event is over he simply marks an 'out'. Seems easy enough, right? These events are then immediately accessible to the live stream director who can show them instantly live. Pretty cool!
These instant replays are also captured, labeled and stored in the 3Play box so they are available instantly at any time. So, if we have a long unexpected break in the stream BOOM instant highlight reel, have a long macro style game between 2 rivals? BOOM instant replays. Holy crap! Did you see that engagement? BOOM let's take another look!
Now here is where my geeky little brain starts to nerd-gasm. What if...and just go with me on this...what if we combined the 3play instant replay ability with the Tricaster's ability to do picture in picture? I KNOW! It's awesome to think right?
So if we were to combine PnP with Instant Replay we could 1) never miss another drop using PnP and then 2) when the action was over we could put the live match in PnP and then fullscreen the instant replay of the drop that just happened in PnP. BOOM your head just exploded didn't it? yeah, I need a sock.
In all seriousness, though. This happened and Rotterdamn mentioned that they just made eSports history. Well, they did and they should be damned proud. It is a subtle thing that happened and I don't think many people really got it at first but as NASL begins to experiment with the potential of the 3play technology I think we are going to see some very cool things come out of this.
Oh, and one more small advantage to using this box. Even if you do not use it for instant replays in your live stream you can still use the logged footage and events to very quickly make highlight reels, daily recaps and so many other things. This would literally save your editors hours of post production time and would be well worth (for some productions) the $5,000 price tag.
And, lastly, it wouldn't be a proper production blog if I didn't add a touch of advice for the NASL crew. Using the 3play and, again I assume, a Tricaster, you can create overlays. I would encourage you guys to add a text overlay that says 'Instant replay' or something like that. Let people know what they are watching. Watch any football game and you will see this. Fancy transition wipe in - replay with instant replay overlay text - fancy transition back to live. Going one further you could actually BRAND your instant replay. That replay was brought to you by the Stride Instant Replay. Just saying
OK, that's it for me today. Hope you are excited about this new technology as I am. Congrats to NASL and their crew for once again innovating the eSports scene.
I hope to rid myself of this chronic cough soon so I can get back to doing proper video production blogs. Until next time...peace out!
ps. It is 8:30am so I did not drink gin during this production blog but I was drinking a very lovely Pu'Erh Poe tea
UPDATE #1 Got the NewTek part wrong. Dead curious what they use.
UPDATE #2 The link in the Tweet is HERE. They use the HyperDeckStudio. I am pretty unfamiliar with it but I'm reading the materials now.
This is fantastic. A huge step forward really. I'm saddened that I haven't purchased a S3 pass yet, after purchasing both season 1 and 2 to support them. I never got around to watching as many games I wanted, so I skipped this season. Damn.
The biggest thing which you touched on was not missing a drop. I just cant stand when a caster " during this whole time a drop i missed was going on the main" and we only get the trail end or not at all. How much damage did that drop do does that change our view on what the casster was looking at the time. All these things just give me more information and give me a better a view on the situation on the game. If leagues can do it they should.
Yes that was amazing, really really liked it, especially after big battles like that there is usually nothing going on, that was great, now NASL producers if you read that, skype scoots or what ever, and LEARN the picture in picture, I have seen in 3 different games times where on the minimap I see a drop going down, and the casters don't mention it once, because they are focused on something else. In a game that is all about multi-tasking, we need to be able to see these things.
But to not take anything away from you, it was fantastic, and I can't wait to see how you guys progress throughout the season, all for when you have the best offline finals possible.
I cannot express how happy I am that NASL did this. I can see it soon becoming a must-have for all productions. Also, gotta say I -love- your idea about combining it with PnP. Instant replay and PnP might very well be one of the main things needed to make the game even more appreciated by people that do not play it.
How can you drink that shit? Man... honestly? I'd rather lick a flowerbed after a fresh rain. Tastes like mud and smells like salmon.
On Topic, however... This is very exciting stuff Looking forward to seeing more and more of this high production value content coming out of the big names in ESPORTS, as it will force more technological competition within our community.
It's like the space race of the late 50s and 60s all over again, except this time we included bugs and aliens.
On May 01 2012 05:33 PR4Y wrote: How can you drink that shit? Man... honestly? I'd rather lick a flowerbed after a fresh rain. Tastes like mud and smells like salmon.
Actually, I like the earthy (what we call 'mud' in the tea world) taste. It is my morning tea. I find it MUCH better than drinking coffee.
If your Pu'erh has a fishy or salmon taste that is the sign that it is old and should be thrown out. Pu'erh needs to be kept out of sunlight and not exposed to open air. The fishy taste is a clean sign you had some bad stuff
NASL season 3 has been amazing. The player pool, the format and money on each match change, the casting, the various small sideshows, the production value, everything has really improved immensely. Really enjoying it.
3 streams, you say? So 1 for live feed, 1 for pic-in-pic and 1 for instant replays... Considering that they always omit overlay in the pic-in-pic, maybe they could throw in a "Rebroadcast" overlay there instead of the "live now" bit. Kinda depends on whether it's a crop of the screen, or full shot with game UI hidden.
Not exactly a flashy use of the channel, but it'd be a nice touch until they find a better use for the 3rd stream.
I'm not sure if they have a dedicated observer like GSL, but having that, plus having instant replays + sponsors = growth. It will look more professional!
I know your main focus is on SC2 productions but I think this could be something very cool for instant replay. The LoL spectator mode is incorporating the ability to jump around in time during a "live" game. The downside of course is that the game isn't truly live because of the built in delay. Would you think this kind of system works for SC2 and what sort of advice could you give to the people producing shows for LoL?
On May 01 2012 07:39 ssjGinyu wrote: I think they should add a graphic when switching to the replay and back because there is no cut in between and it looks a tad confusing
Good point. It was just their first rough try though :D
I know your main focus is on SC2 productions but I think this could be something very cool for instant replay. The LoL spectator mode is incorporating the ability to jump around in time during a "live" game. The downside of course is that the game isn't truly live because of the built in delay. Would you think this kind of system works for SC2 and what sort of advice could you give to the people producing shows for LoL?
Complete production noob here but it would be comically easy to simply have a dummy machine spectate alongside, big play, dragon/baron fight/missed gank/whatever, bring back the game on the dummy computer, switch stream to the dummy computer (with an "instant replay" overlay obviously) show said moment, go back to main live computer. Ez pz? I might be missing something though
I know your main focus is on SC2 productions but I think this could be something very cool for instant replay. The LoL spectator mode is incorporating the ability to jump around in time during a "live" game. The downside of course is that the game isn't truly live because of the built in delay. Would you think this kind of system works for SC2 and what sort of advice could you give to the people producing shows for LoL?
I'm pretty sure Dota 2 did this already? or am i wrong
I've always thought SC missed out on the potential of instant replay, especially for a game like SC2 where there seems to be a lot of big engagements, and then a lot of dust settling. Because "macro" in this game isn't as impressive as in SC1, it's often worth looking at the engagements again and again.
On May 01 2012 10:18 Klogon wrote: I've always thought SC missed out on the potential of instant replay, especially for a game like SC2 where there seems to be a lot of big engagements, and then a lot of dust settling. Because "macro" in this game isn't as impressive as in SC1, it's often worth looking at the engagements again and again.
Yeah, the long zealot trains just arne't the same with warp in
Allways enjoying seeing and reading youre blogs i still dont understand how long it will take for insta replaying to be effective alot of times casters forgets or misses out to show some tabs etc seems they will have to step up and do it good
Who could have thought NASL would become so amazing? Before I kinda never really tuned in but since season 3 ive pretty much been tuning in everyday, even if it is just leaving it on in the background and studying while listening to the soothing voices of rotti and mrbitter
Not to take ANYTHING away from the NASL, but the first instant replay that I can remember in eSports was done by GotFrag and TsN during Counter-strike broadcasts circa 2004-2006. I do believe this is the first time we've seen it in StarCraft 2.
I think it's important to give credit where credit is due. Of course after GotFrag and TsN, DirecTV's Championship Gaming Series utilized Instant Replay nearly every single match - but in all fairness, they had 2 production trucks and full ISO's on every damn camera they were utilizing.
Grats to NASL for bringing it back to this space, but it certainly was not the first time we've seen an instant replay in eSports. AND I SURE AS HELL HOPE IT'S NOT THE LAST!!!!!!
What if events started using multiple observers? I know it would probably be quite expensive to execute live, because you'd need observers working together so they're showing different things, and another person to choose what to show, but with this box you could have another observer specifically dedicated to showing plays like drops and burrowed infestors and then at times when there is a lot of multipronged action and it's difficult for the main observer to give all the action sufficient screen time they could give us the instant replay of the drop when there is a bit of a lull in the action.
On May 01 2012 06:31 Bagration wrote: NASL season 3 has been amazing. The player pool, the format and money on each match change, the casting, the various small sideshows, the production value, everything has really improved immensely. Really enjoying it.
totally completely wholeheartedly agree.
Thanks to the OP for a blog that gives them the shoutout they deserve! <3
Thank you Jason. Nice to see NASL taking the initiative. Definitely headed in the right direction and hopefully I'll be in town for when the finals come here.
I wish NASL would display a large blinking R (like in sports broadcasts) when they instant replay a scene. Sometimes even the casters did not notice that suddenly they were on an instant replay.
EPT
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