• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 18:35
CEST 00:35
KST 07:35
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview9[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy9
Community News
Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?32Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris46Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!15Weekly Cups (Aug 4-10): MaxPax wins a triple6
StarCraft 2
General
Speculation of future Wardii series Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Heaven's Balance Suggestions (roast me) Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson has passed away #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time
Tourneys
LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris Monday Nights Weeklies
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies
Brood War
General
ASL20 General Discussion Starcraft at lower levels TvP BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Victoria gamers
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Is there English video for group selection for ASL [ASL20] Ro24 Group F [IPSL] CSLAN Review and CSLPRO Reimagined!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s) Gtx660 graphics card replacement
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
How Culture and Conflict Imp…
TrAiDoS
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 692 users

Gauntlet TEST Tuesday w/ Neeb, Bly, HuK, Kelazhur

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Tournaments
Post a Reply
Normal
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-02 21:46:31
January 30 2016 15:22 GMT
#1
[image loading]
(Wiki)Super Test Tuesday

Prepare yourselves, we are testing a SC2 broadcast with NO PRODUCTION TAB!!




When and Where?


Tuesday, Feb 02 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)




English Stream - Twitch


Non-English Streams TBA


Replay pack provided by SC2ReplayStats


Youtube VOD's





The Players & Format

[image loading][image loading][image loading][image loading]


(Z)Bly ,(P)Neeb, (P)HuK, and (T)Kelazhur


      2016 is upon us in full force! We'll be testing our year long format with this event. More details on our yearly plans will be announced VERY SOON!! This event will have a total prize pool of $300!
  • 4 Players, Winner/loser bracket, Double Elimination. Bracket info(Wiki)Super Test Tuesday
  • Best of 3 series for all matches except Grand Finals
  • Grand Finals is Best of 7 winner-take-all, there are no second chances if you go undefeated to make it to the finals, only to lose the best of 7.




What do you mean by TEST?


      Last weekend during the (Wiki)2016 DreamHack Open: Leipzig I noticed community members on Twitter discussing the amount of information broadcasted during a StarCraft match.


      Clearly there isn't a consensus, but the time is now to experiment with production techniques, with Legacy of the Void still fresh and new. Below are some of the things we will be doing, suggestions and feedback are most welcome, good and bad! Also, yes, we realize twitch chat will not be happy with us, we can handle the rage! We would rather try than do nothing!

  • No Production Tab
  • Toggling on/off Upgrades throughout matches
  • Showing Army Value and/or Resources lost

      We would like to reach a happy middle-ground approach on this. We don't want to broadcast a completely blank screen with no information whatsoever, but we also want to build up the hype and have our casters engaging in discussion rather than being able to guess the outcome with all of information at their fingertips. Please keep in mind this is only a test and does not mean that all future events will be produced this way.





Production


[image loading]       [image loading]

NexusRecall & FalconPaladin



      Production on the main stream is brought to you by NexusRecall and FalconPaladin! BobbyAwesome and FalconPaladin return to cast the event, while Elementfini handles the logistics as well as our in game observer. Big thank you to them! Without them, GauntletSC2 doesn't exist.

You can find more information on BobbyAwesome and Elementfini by checking out their website www.nexusrecall.com, they do a lot of custom made content catered towards the SC2 community, definitely check them out!

https://twitter.com/NexusRecall
https://twitter.com/EleMenTfiNi

For all things FalconPaladin please check out his YouTube channel, with daily uploads of top LotV games. You can find his channel here.

https://twitter.com/FalconPaladin




Prize Pool-USD

  • 1st - $200
  • 2nd - $100


Good luck to all of the players!!
TL+ Member
Topher_Doll
Profile Joined August 2015
United States76 Posts
January 30 2016 15:53 GMT
#2
I think tests like this are important. While I am a big fan of more data, not less, it's hard to say how it will work until we test it out so thanks Ctone for being willing to do this.
I'm a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
imre
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
France9263 Posts
January 30 2016 15:57 GMT
#3
Really nice to try this, it'll be important for the casters to be able to tell the story of the match instead of just commentating on the information shown on screen.
Zest fanboy.
KiF1rE
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United States964 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-01-30 16:18:30
January 30 2016 16:16 GMT
#4
Well to be honest, all I think this will do is allow casters to tell better stories that are in line with what they are saying, regardless of how wrong they are,lack of in game knowledge or how kept up they are on the meta. But overall will make the games unwatchable for high level players. Now I know Huk made a point of just watching the replays. But most tournaments that I feel that will experiment with this if it does take off, wont even bother releasing replays. Most notably korean tournaments like GSL/SSL that have historically not released replays, making Huks argument of high level players should just watch the replays pretty much invalid. Since they wont be available. Which hurts the high level scene since being able to study the games to their full potential allows for improvement.

It's bad enough that these same tournaments dont allow players to showcase their micro and remove that element from battles by not showing health bars, unless the observer selects it and proceeds to not show everything since the observer is either choosing to barely show anything or is just awful at it.

Honestly, I've always preferred to have the most information available, that way I can follow the game myself. Without having to listen to someone that is misinformed about what is actually going on tell a story of what isnt actually happening. Which to me is just an illusion filled with lies, why would we need to be blinded by illusions to enjoy a game?

Do appreciate your going to try it with a tournament though. Will see how this pans out.
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
January 30 2016 16:19 GMT
#5
On January 31 2016 00:57 sAsImre wrote:
Really nice to try this, it'll be important for the casters to be able to tell the story of the match instead of just commentating on the information shown on screen.

Completely agree. We would love to hear any feedback or criticisms you have, if you get a chance to watch!
On January 31 2016 00:53 Topher_Doll wrote:
I think tests like this are important. While I am a big fan of more data, not less, it's hard to say how it will work until we test it out so thanks Ctone for being willing to do this.

I think a lot of people will feel this way, we hope we can present the data in way that's still informative. For example, the casters will still be able to toggle stats on their computers, but it will be up to them how they present the data that aligns with the flow of the cast/game.
TL+ Member
ShoCkeyy
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
7815 Posts
January 30 2016 18:01 GMT
#6
In BW no production tab was available, everything was an element of surprise.
Life?
EleMenTfiNi
Profile Joined January 2015
Canada107 Posts
January 30 2016 18:48 GMT
#7
Surprise is the fiNal EleMenT of a good show, should be awesome
Don't complain about things you're not willing to change.
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-01 20:51:22
February 01 2016 20:50 GMT
#8
UPDATE: FalconPaladin had something come up and will be unable to cast tomorrow's test event.

In his stead will be our trusted observer and all things production, EleMenTfiNi. FalconPaladin will be working with us in our 2016 events so he will return, this test event was a bit short notice.
TL+ Member
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
February 02 2016 21:51 GMT
#9
Live in just under 15 minutes!

We'll be uploading all of the matches separately to YouTube (also available via twitch) that will list all of the observer techniques tested for that particular series. We'll be trying out a few different things today, looking forward to it!
TL+ Member
FXOTheoRy
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States519 Posts
February 02 2016 22:28 GMT
#10
test feedback:

Pros: The surprise factor is neat from a spectator standpoint. Also it somewhat hides the competitors builds so their future opponents cannot have complete information on their timings

Cons: Players will like the production tab so that they can learn how to do cool builds.

As a frequent player I like to see the production tabs but with or without is cool in its own way.
oyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-02 22:59:15
February 02 2016 22:52 GMT
#11
HuK thinks he is $o$ (2 gold before natural for the moment)

Edit : how did he lose this?
Bupi00
Profile Joined February 2016
3 Posts
February 03 2016 00:14 GMT
#12
This non-production tab, non supply overlay sucks. this is a waste of time. bye
DreamOen
Profile Joined March 2010
Spain1400 Posts
February 03 2016 00:22 GMT
#13
I think , it has some interesting parts, but the casteers need to be top notch, it was used in broodwar with exProgamers and super good casters. On the other side, maybe its too late for us as spectators to adapt to that anyays. It is a nice try still.
Tester | MC | Crank | Flash | Jaedong | MVP
0(o.O)0
Profile Joined January 2006
Brazil2 Posts
February 03 2016 00:24 GMT
#14
It's not that good without those informations.
TiTo
Nisticism
Profile Joined May 2015
41 Posts
February 03 2016 00:26 GMT
#15
Feedback.

Cons: Broadcasters should always be switching between tabs to entertain the audiance anyway. The amount of information is not important, only the type of information.

Production and supply are the two most important.
NA GM Zergie ~~ https://www.twitch.tv/charmquark_ ~~
Emerica
Profile Joined November 2015
1 Post
February 03 2016 00:27 GMT
#16
Don't mind no production tab, but supply is pretty important. I personally find it useful in multiple scenario's:
- Helps me catch up to the status of the game if I have not been giving 100% of my attention
- It is handy if I am watching the broadcast to learn new styles of play. Casters are not always 100% on point (entertaining tangents, etc).

In fact I think having more info on screen gives the casters more flexibility with how they want to cast because the hardcore types will still have numbers to crunch.
Clagus
Profile Joined April 2013
4 Posts
February 03 2016 00:42 GMT
#17
army value > army supply
I wonder why isn't it used more...
coolprogrammingstuff
Profile Joined December 2015
906 Posts
February 03 2016 01:00 GMT
#18
On February 03 2016 09:27 Emerica wrote:
Don't mind no production tab, but supply is pretty important. I personally find it useful in multiple scenario's:
- Helps me catch up to the status of the game if I have not been giving 100% of my attention
- It is handy if I am watching the broadcast to learn new styles of play. Casters are not always 100% on point (entertaining tangents, etc).

In fact I think having more info on screen gives the casters more flexibility with how they want to cast because the hardcore types will still have numbers to crunch.


Agreed. Prefer production, but no supply is what really rustles me.
Venser
Profile Joined April 2012
Croatia232 Posts
February 03 2016 01:01 GMT
#19
I hate it. I don't see how lack of info makes game any more interesting and casters have no clue what's going on which makes whole stream looks silly.
Shellshock
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States97276 Posts
February 03 2016 01:03 GMT
#20
wait did kelazhur beat neeb as zerg or is liquipedia just mistaken?
Moderatorhttp://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png
TL+ Member
FrkFrJss
Profile Joined April 2015
Canada1205 Posts
February 03 2016 01:05 GMT
#21
I think if they want to take out the production tab, they should at least have the supply. It''s really not that large, but it shows so much information. Also, with the lessened information in the overlay, it makes the overlay somewhat bulky looking. For instance, last game with the army value, there was so much space on either side.

I agree with the idea that having the ability to show more information allows the casters more information. For instance, with the basetrade casts, they have the graphs that show the income difference, which is so much more revealing than just the current minerals/gas per minute. If used sparingly, it's really effective.

Also, without the supply and the production, I feel a lot more lost and a lot more dependent on the casters. And I feel that the casters have to be REALLY good at conveying that information...or at least better than they are now.
"Keep Moving Forward" - Walt Disney
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
February 03 2016 01:16 GMT
#22
Feedback : I am okay with the changes. I don't feel that the games are much more exciting, and I can sure feel that I would like to know the supply sometimes.

All in all, it's interesting. I feel that's not enough for this to become mainstream
Shield
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Bulgaria4824 Posts
February 03 2016 01:29 GMT
#23
On January 31 2016 03:01 ShoCkeyy wrote:
In BW no production tab was available, everything was an element of surprise.


In 1900s people didn't have computers, should we go back in time? There's no reason to go in the past.
Bupi00
Profile Joined February 2016
3 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-03 01:38:41
February 03 2016 01:31 GMT
#24
If this is going to be the future of sc2 casting then it'll be a dead game even faster. Blizzard did a good job with LotV and your killing it with this shit.
Where is the point in not knowing, if a player does an early push how many worker he has behind? How is it interesting if armys clash and i have no idea what upgrades units have, or when they will finish. Is it close before finishing? Is a player stopping with upgrades after 1/1?
Casters became useless, because they have no idea what is going on. They comment on what they see, but they have no idea what players intention is behind any action. I'm a watcher and player since WoL beta, i know how this game works. But not knowing whats going on is not bringing hype, it makes this so boring, i'd rather watch literally anything. This is pure bullshit.
IEM was bad enough without army supplies. But this is killing it.
So far my statement.

edit: also like one of the others already mentioned. if you dont watch the entire game, for example writing this and tune back in, you are just so lost. and many viewers like to be on facebook meanwhile or do other stuff. and they will just close the stream because they dont get into it again
SetGuitarsToKill
Profile Blog Joined December 2013
Canada28396 Posts
February 03 2016 01:37 GMT
#25
Wait is liquipedia wrong or did Kelazhur actually beat Neeb with Zerg?
Community News"As long as you have a warp prism you can't be bad at harassment" - Maru | @SetGuitars2Kill
Monty113
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany5 Posts
February 03 2016 01:39 GMT
#26
The lack of supply/production tab is not making it more exciting at all imo. It's just annoying and frustrating to watch. I want to know what's going on in the game and not mindlessly watch units battle each other. I get the idea behind it, but it just doesn't work at all for me. Not fun to watch.
LeLapinQuiPete
Profile Joined February 2016
1 Post
February 03 2016 01:44 GMT
#27
I find it pointless and extremely frustrating. And kinda boring at times. But mostly extremely frustrating.
iAmJeffReY
Profile Joined August 2010
United States4262 Posts
February 03 2016 01:52 GMT
#28
i think it's completely silly to not show any info like army size, population size, or production tab.

doesnt make it any more exciting. tbh makes me tune out more than it would ever make me tune in.
Unbiased biased terran abuser Jeffrey. Sorry for the rage, friend!
Taranok
Profile Joined September 2009
United States33 Posts
February 03 2016 02:05 GMT
#29
The thing is, this info, like production, army size, is still there, just not where you expect them. You have look at the game and make an evaluation rather than look at some numbers at the bottom screen. So there's an understandable frustration when you don't see what you want where it has always been (if that makes sense).
Have no fear, the land is near
Sif_
Profile Joined January 2011
Brazil3106 Posts
February 03 2016 02:18 GMT
#30
I would probably stop watching sc2 if this became a thing. Just my sincere feedback after watching half a game on the stream
ObviouslyGreen
Profile Joined February 2012
United States10 Posts
February 03 2016 02:21 GMT
#31
Hiding the info can possibly still be good. The casters have to really utilize the fact they have the control of the information to create an exciting storyline. Casters can't just talk about attacking and movement, we all can see that. They have to talk more about upgrade timings, what specific upgrades, what possibly each player is going to do next, etc.

For example, the last neeb vs kel game, neeb got warp prism speed and the casters didn't mention at all. If the casters don't utilize the unknown aspect of the information to create hype or inform viewers, the negatives of the format definitely outweigh the positives.

If you don't talk about upgrades / build order, experienced players will be frustrated for not knowing what is going on at the level they want. If you don't utilize hiding the info to create hype and a storyline for the game, the newer players are just gonna get bored.
Pontius Pirate
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
United States1557 Posts
February 03 2016 02:24 GMT
#32
The lack of the production tab is awful. But the games are still solid. I'm not having as much fun watching this as I have while watching other games. It's still better than zonking out and watching TV though.
"I had to close the door so my parents wouldn't judge me." - ZombieGrub during the ShitfaceTradeTV stream
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
February 03 2016 02:37 GMT
#33
Actually, the lack of information made the basetrade between Neeb and Kelazhur much more interesting I believe.
EleMenTfiNi
Profile Joined January 2015
Canada107 Posts
February 03 2016 03:22 GMT
#34
On February 03 2016 10:31 Bupi00 wrote:
If this is going to be the future of sc2 casting then it'll be a dead game even faster. Blizzard did a good job with LotV and your killing it with this shit.
Where is the point in not knowing, if a player does an early push how many worker he has behind? How is it interesting if armys clash and i have no idea what upgrades units have, or when they will finish. Is it close before finishing? Is a player stopping with upgrades after 1/1?
Casters became useless, because they have no idea what is going on. They comment on what they see, but they have no idea what players intention is behind any action. I'm a watcher and player since WoL beta, i know how this game works. But not knowing whats going on is not bringing hype, it makes this so boring, i'd rather watch literally anything. This is pure bullshit.
IEM was bad enough without army supplies. But this is killing it.
So far my statement.

edit: also like one of the others already mentioned. if you dont watch the entire game, for example writing this and tune back in, you are just so lost. and many viewers like to be on facebook meanwhile or do other stuff. and they will just close the stream because they dont get into it again

This non-production tab, non supply overlay sucks. this is a waste of time. bye


This is why we tested it, to see where it would be useful ;D
Don't complain about things you're not willing to change.
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
February 03 2016 03:26 GMT
#35
On February 03 2016 12:22 EleMenTfiNi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 03 2016 10:31 Bupi00 wrote:
If this is going to be the future of sc2 casting then it'll be a dead game even faster. Blizzard did a good job with LotV and your killing it with this shit.
Where is the point in not knowing, if a player does an early push how many worker he has behind? How is it interesting if armys clash and i have no idea what upgrades units have, or when they will finish. Is it close before finishing? Is a player stopping with upgrades after 1/1?
Casters became useless, because they have no idea what is going on. They comment on what they see, but they have no idea what players intention is behind any action. I'm a watcher and player since WoL beta, i know how this game works. But not knowing whats going on is not bringing hype, it makes this so boring, i'd rather watch literally anything. This is pure bullshit.
IEM was bad enough without army supplies. But this is killing it.
So far my statement.

edit: also like one of the others already mentioned. if you dont watch the entire game, for example writing this and tune back in, you are just so lost. and many viewers like to be on facebook meanwhile or do other stuff. and they will just close the stream because they dont get into it again

This non-production tab, non supply overlay sucks. this is a waste of time. bye


This is why we tested it, to see where it would be useful ;D

Thanks for the cast =)

Good finals, especially game 4
Topher_Doll
Profile Joined August 2015
United States76 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-03 07:36:37
February 03 2016 07:36 GMT
#36
Thoughts on Gauntlet’s Test Tuesday (This is long so be warned):

Tonight Ctone and the Gauntlet crew hosted their first Test Tuesday where they had heard reactions from various pros and casters about removing aspects of the observer UI with the intent of adding tension to the viewing experience. To test this Ctone was awesome and made a tournament to test this idea out. Each series they changed up the UI to show different data, but in each series they always hid production, but altered what they did show, from APM to existing buildings. This gave us a variety of UI to discuss so I want to do that.

I want to especially note this entire experiment rested on how well the casters and observer did, if they struggled the test would be ruined because the player would struggle to understand purely out of weak production. Luckily as expected BobbyAwesome and EleMenT did exceptional work.

Now since I wanted a different view point I watched this with my wife. Her background is that she has watched some Starcraft since I enjoy it and she is amazing, but she’s never played the game and only has a very rudimentary understanding of the game outside of combat. For this I’ll try and include both her and my thoughts so we have the view point of a veteran as well as a true casual fan. To start I want to look at the pros and cons of purely losing production and after that we’ll look at how some of the different UI’s that were used fared. For each point I’ll try and include a game to use as an example so I’m not speaking generally, though some points are meant to be general since they were part of all games.

Pros:
- There is a greater focus on micro. Now this topic was mentioned in the initial conversation that started the idea since in Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm there was too much dead time that removing data with such long slow points ruined a lot of games. Now in Legacy of the Void this is largely a moot point as it’s a faster scaling game with far less down time, there is always something to have the observer focus on. My wife loved this since it’s what she knows best.
- On this line of thinking you also never miss things you might otherwise. When casters are just reading the production tab they often can miss things going on out in the map, especially if the casters are observering. This wasn’t the case as they were almost entirely focused on the minimap and what is going on. They didn’t miss a drop or overlook a skirmish, they were always on top of flanks and run byes, it was nice since often viewers see things casters miss because they are focused on the production bar.
- There are real surprises, HuK versus Kelazhur is a good example of this where on a few occasions the casters didn’t see something coming and then bam, everyone was caught off guard, I won’t say when but one game also featured a surprise nuke.

Cons:
- On the same train of thought of surprises is you also get some really, really frustrating moments of ex machina. For those who don’t know what that means it generally means a story is resolved by an unexpected and unrelated solution, out of left field so to say. So a game could seem really close and intense and then all of a sudden a disruptor shows up and wins the battle and you are left feeling unfulfilled. One example of this was Neeb versus Kelazhur game 1 when it appeared Kelazhur was about to break Neeb apart with drops and then Neeb arrived with about 8 Pheonix and tore the Medivacs apart. We knew Neeb had a single Stargate (discuss that UI data later) and opened with about 3 Pheonix but based on most of the game we thought they had been destroyed but all of a sudden there is a huge swing and it’s over and we are left confused. My wife related it to if you took The Lord of the Rings movies and removed all the characters except Frodo and Sam and when they get to the end and the enemy mountain is empty and they win and don’t know why until after. By not having all the information surprises can ruin a game as much as help. As with Day9’s famous trumpets, having a random, not expected new aspect can ruin a song or game, and this happened with Tempests in one game.
- A point that bothered my wife more than me was she was often confused if an attack or harass was effective. Normally we can see how impactful those are but without things like income or harvesters the casual, I want to emphasize casual, fans ask “I have no idea if that was good or not, so why did the casters show it?” As a more experienced fan I can estimate if damage was good or not but casual fans won’t know those things and it can be frustrating.
- The one thing I took note of a few times was the “wait what is going on?” feelings. In HuK versus Bly there was a point when HuK got supply blocked mid battle but we had no idea this was happening, we only found out because the casters mentioned it off hand. This was a key piece of information at a pivotal time in the game and it had a huge impact on a great battle, but we had no idea it had happened. Had we known HuK was supply blocked it would have altered the entire feeling of the battle knowing he was against the wall. Another example of this if this UI were used in IEM Taipei in Lilbow against ByuN in game 3. They were in a great, heated conflicted but we noticed that while Lilbow was controlling well he was producing zero units or buildings for over 60 seconds. An entire minute with no macro and it was hugely impactful on both the battle and the follow up. This macro mistake by Lilbow was the reason he lost that game, had we not seen production we’d never have known why he lost.

Let’s first look at a few of the specific UI that were used and how they stood out to me:
- The first combination I wanted to look at is when the workers or army count were shown without context. While probably the two most valuable pieces of information outside of the production tab since they show the balance of economy and army strength, but alone they are actually confusing. My wife pointed out that while normally we can see that a player may have more workers but that may have cost them defensive units while their opponent wants to punish them for their greed, but by showing only workers or army value we have no context to that. Do they have fewer workers due to harassment or because they are being overly aggressive? One player may have the larger army but do they have the economy to support continued attacks? These questions just frustrated us rather than adding tension, as we found out in Huk versus Bly.
- I won’t speak too long on the APM only observer UI, while largely useless it did show when a player was really focusing on microing, but it also showed that Kelazhur has Korean level APM, that kid is fast. Not a great full time UI but fun for during fights, but that is already used in that case.
- Another UI they tested was showing workers and army value. Now what this meant is they showed the mineral and gas cost of each army. I was excited when Ctone said they’d test this one out but in reality it didn’t work well. Now early game it was fine since you could estimate army composition based on gas cost. If a Protoss army has a lot of gas you know they probably have a lot of Sentries, Immortals or went skyToss. This UI was used in Kelazhur versus Neeb and lead to a case of one of those bad surprises I mentioned. In game 2 we saw this happen, there was a constant conflict going on mid map and then all of a sudden during all of this Kelazhur gg’d out. Chat felt it was an idra quit but then the casters mentioned how great a comeback if was by Neeb and how Kelazhur threw the game. Similar to Huk versus Bly, it left a “what the hell?” feeling, we had no idea Neeb was behind or that Kelazhur had thrown a lead until the casters told us.
- Possibly my favorite of the UI tested was also in a few matches from Kelazhur against Neeb when they showed only the structures built. They still hid workers and army but showed what buildings had been built. This was surprisingly nice since while we were still frustrated at not knowing what was coming, we had a sense of the capability of what a player could do. We knew if a player had built a Dark Shrine or a Fusion Core. This information didn’t tell us what they were doing right then, but it did tell us what could happen, which was a nice runner up to the production bar. It allowed us to know if a player’s production was ravaged in that last drop or if they had a proxy Stargate outside their main.

Overall most of the UI led not to tension but to frustration or confusion, especially when our information didn’t match what we saw and what the casters were telling us. But I do want talk a bit more about the final UI combination I mentioned, buildings. The goal that HuK and Apollo wanted was to increase tension, the other combinations seemed to struggle with that, either for long term players or casual players. But with the buildings shown we actually had that tension, because while we didn’t know all of the information, we did know what direction each player was going. This gave us vital information that lacked in other formats since often times we had no idea what the production of each player was or what they general plan was, but this gave us that information without telling us with certainty what their current production was. We were still left with frustration over not knowing the economy of army strength of each player of the data combinations used, this would be my preference outside of the traditional model.

I want to really thank Ctone and the Gauntlet group for this tournament. Almost all fans of Starcraft have opinions on this but no real data to back up their opinions so a test like this was vital in gauging how each persona, and the community felt. Judging by chat and the Team Liquid thread it didn’t go well, and I agree with them, but I am happy for the opportunity to learn and judge for myself rather than just talking without experience. I actually prefer more data than less, but I learned WHY I didn’t like only army value or why only showing one of workers or army is a bad idea personally.

Thanks for putting this tournament on Ctone, BobbyAwesome and EleMenT and hope that Apollo, PiG and others got the experience they needed to form educated opinions of their own, whether they agree with me or not.
I'm a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
February 03 2016 14:35 GMT
#37
Hello everyone, thanks for all who posted feedback and for tuning in. I think the overall sentiment is that it's a frustrating experience to not have the standard UI that we are used to. When I first saw the tweets between HuK, Heyoka, and others, I thought it wasn't the best idea. The more I thought about it though, the people saying those things are folks I have a lot of respect for, so I appreciate Topher_Doll and others who appreciate the attempt to test out these things.

Overall the test went as I thought it would, a lot of twitch chat anger, a lot of "WTF IS GOING ON" moments, but after a while people began to calm down and suggest things such as worker count + army value. We had a last minute change of caster as FalconPaladin was unable to join us for this one, forcing Element to observe, scene switch (produce) and cast all at the same time. He did a good job, but it's something to consider when running a test like this.

I think in max army scenario's and base race situations can benefit from less information on the screen. We had an exciting base race with Neeb and Kelazhur that I honestly feel was improved by the lack of information. Out of the entire night of testing the base race scenario felt to be the only viable time to run this kind of production, but who knows someone else may come along and try this and do much better.

Thanks again to all who tuned in and endured the test with us! The vod's will be uploaded soon for others to see.
TL+ Member
aQuaSC
Profile Joined August 2011
717 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-03 14:50:51
February 03 2016 14:44 GMT
#38
Sorry for refering to only one of your points, but I disagree with this one:

On February 03 2016 16:36 Topher_Doll wrote:
On the same train of thought of surprises is you also get some really, really frustrating moments of ex machina. For those who don’t know what that means it generally means a story is resolved by an unexpected and unrelated solution, out of left field so to say. So a game could seem really close and intense and then all of a sudden a disruptor shows up and wins the battle and you are left feeling unfulfilled.

I believe that BW popularity in Korea was partially thanks to the observed game not being too analytical. No one will convince me that all of these people, especially girls screaming watching tanks getting stormed were there to carefully watch when one player did one thing and understand the game to later come back home and try it themselves.

I realized that games may be casted to analytically, catering only to those who understand the game really good and are able to connect to the thoughts that casters are often presenting. Otherwise they listen to blabber that doesn't matter to them. I think games like LoL can easily be analytical since the game mechanics are pretty straightforward unlike in StarCraft, so the viewer does not have to wonder or know everything about all the underlying layers how champions work. There are champions, they buy items with the gold they get for engaging the enemy and beating up minions on the map. In StarCraft these "hidden", intricate mechanics like cutting workers, building something on certain time, scouting unlike positioning of teammates on the map demands much more of the casual viewer. If these were limited, it's better for a viewer that hops onto StarCraft stream for the first time or a viewer that casually follows just the scene more than the game itself.

I'd be happy to see more of these tournaments of that relaxed type, but with changed overlay, not with these grey boxes :D
TL+ Member
aQuaSC
Profile Joined August 2011
717 Posts
February 03 2016 14:50 GMT
#39
On February 03 2016 23:35 Ctone23 wrote:
Hello everyone, thanks for all who posted feedback and for tuning in. I think the overall sentiment is that it's a frustrating experience to not have the standard UI that we are used to. When I first saw the tweets between HuK, Heyoka, and others, I thought it wasn't the best idea. The more I thought about it though, the people saying those things are folks I have a lot of respect for, so I appreciate Topher_Doll and others who appreciate the attempt to test out these things.

Overall the test went as I thought it would, a lot of twitch chat anger, a lot of "WTF IS GOING ON" moments, but after a while people began to calm down and suggest things such as worker count + army value. We had a last minute change of caster as FalconPaladin was unable to join us for this one, forcing Element to observe, scene switch (produce) and cast all at the same time. He did a good job, but it's something to consider when running a test like this.

I think in max army scenario's and base race situations can benefit from less information on the screen. We had an exciting base race with Neeb and Kelazhur that I honestly feel was improved by the lack of information. Out of the entire night of testing the base race scenario felt to be the only viable time to run this kind of production, but who knows someone else may come along and try this and do much better.

Thanks again to all who tuned in and endured the test with us! The vod's will be uploaded soon for others to see.

Seems like I'm in minority thinking it was overall a good idea...
TL+ Member
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
February 03 2016 14:57 GMT
#40
On February 03 2016 23:50 aQuaSC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 03 2016 23:35 Ctone23 wrote:
Hello everyone, thanks for all who posted feedback and for tuning in. I think the overall sentiment is that it's a frustrating experience to not have the standard UI that we are used to. When I first saw the tweets between HuK, Heyoka, and others, I thought it wasn't the best idea. The more I thought about it though, the people saying those things are folks I have a lot of respect for, so I appreciate Topher_Doll and others who appreciate the attempt to test out these things.

Overall the test went as I thought it would, a lot of twitch chat anger, a lot of "WTF IS GOING ON" moments, but after a while people began to calm down and suggest things such as worker count + army value. We had a last minute change of caster as FalconPaladin was unable to join us for this one, forcing Element to observe, scene switch (produce) and cast all at the same time. He did a good job, but it's something to consider when running a test like this.

I think in max army scenario's and base race situations can benefit from less information on the screen. We had an exciting base race with Neeb and Kelazhur that I honestly feel was improved by the lack of information. Out of the entire night of testing the base race scenario felt to be the only viable time to run this kind of production, but who knows someone else may come along and try this and do much better.

Thanks again to all who tuned in and endured the test with us! The vod's will be uploaded soon for others to see.

Seems like I'm in minority thinking it was overall a good idea...

I took a lot of good away from the test, don't get me wrong. I definitely think we can incorporate the "less info" approach in games where the situation arises. We stuck to the plan with not showing the production and supply count for that very reason, to see where this style of broadcasting is viable. I think we can do both, and am excited for the future!
TL+ Member
aQuaSC
Profile Joined August 2011
717 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-03 15:31:07
February 03 2016 15:19 GMT
#41
On February 03 2016 23:57 Ctone23 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 03 2016 23:50 aQuaSC wrote:
On February 03 2016 23:35 Ctone23 wrote:
Hello everyone, thanks for all who posted feedback and for tuning in. I think the overall sentiment is that it's a frustrating experience to not have the standard UI that we are used to. When I first saw the tweets between HuK, Heyoka, and others, I thought it wasn't the best idea. The more I thought about it though, the people saying those things are folks I have a lot of respect for, so I appreciate Topher_Doll and others who appreciate the attempt to test out these things.

Overall the test went as I thought it would, a lot of twitch chat anger, a lot of "WTF IS GOING ON" moments, but after a while people began to calm down and suggest things such as worker count + army value. We had a last minute change of caster as FalconPaladin was unable to join us for this one, forcing Element to observe, scene switch (produce) and cast all at the same time. He did a good job, but it's something to consider when running a test like this.

I think in max army scenario's and base race situations can benefit from less information on the screen. We had an exciting base race with Neeb and Kelazhur that I honestly feel was improved by the lack of information. Out of the entire night of testing the base race scenario felt to be the only viable time to run this kind of production, but who knows someone else may come along and try this and do much better.

Thanks again to all who tuned in and endured the test with us! The vod's will be uploaded soon for others to see.

Seems like I'm in minority thinking it was overall a good idea...

I took a lot of good away from the test, don't get me wrong. I definitely think we can incorporate the "less info" approach in games where the situation arises. We stuck to the plan with not showing the production and supply count for that very reason, to see where this style of broadcasting is viable. I think we can do both, and am excited for the future!

I think that many people would be happy with overlay where both players "create" a build order list and overall cast was a guide on how to play these playstyles. :/

I think that situational limiting information may be slightly weird, but that's only what I think.

For the casts to be really fun information should be limited from the start in the casts, when the beta was released first. The lesson should be took from BW. It was fun for the casual viewer since they weren't flooded with information, they watched how the game was unfolding, and if someone wanted to understand players' gameplans/build orders they would do it. There was a decade of Korean games without English coverage. When Wings of Liberty beta was released first, production tabs and such were important because the game was massively interesting and everyone wanted to understand how to play it. I believe that for many casual players tournament games are not casted but analyzed. Analyzed, while StarCraft II is the most difficult popular competitive game out there. Many people don't want to become the best, if I watch football it doesn't make me an aspiring football player.

If you're doing these again, I'm definitely supporting it.
TL+ Member
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 25m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
JuggernautJason66
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 16078
Artosis 558
Dewaltoss 99
Aegong 54
sSak 33
NaDa 16
yabsab 7
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K650
Foxcn377
Super Smash Bros
Liquid`Ken19
hungrybox0
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu470
Other Games
summit1g4377
Grubby2312
FrodaN1130
shahzam477
Livibee184
Trikslyr138
C9.Mang0107
Mew2King68
ViBE33
Nathanias29
rGuardiaN19
Kaelaris19
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV13
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta66
• Berry_CruncH47
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 3
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22566
League of Legends
• Doublelift5866
• TFBlade687
Counter-Strike
• imaqtpie1090
• Shiphtur172
Other Games
• Scarra778
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 25m
The PondCast
11h 25m
RSL Revival
11h 25m
Maru vs SHIN
MaNa vs MaxPax
Maestros of the Game
18h 25m
Classic vs TriGGeR
Reynor vs SHIN
OSC
1d 4h
MaNa vs SHIN
SKillous vs ShoWTimE
Bunny vs TBD
Cham vs TBD
RSL Revival
1d 11h
Reynor vs Astrea
Classic vs sOs
Maestros of the Game
1d 18h
Serral vs Ryung
ByuN vs Zoun
BSL Team Wars
1d 20h
Team Bonyth vs Team Dewalt
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
GuMiho vs Cham
ByuN vs TriGGeR
[ Show More ]
Cosmonarchy
2 days
TriGGeR vs YoungYakov
YoungYakov vs HonMonO
HonMonO vs TriGGeR
Maestros of the Game
2 days
Solar vs Bunny
Clem vs Rogue
[BSL 2025] Weekly
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Cure vs Bunny
Creator vs Zoun
Maestros of the Game
3 days
Maru vs Lambo
herO vs ShoWTimE
BSL Team Wars
3 days
Team Hawk vs Team Sziky
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 18: Qualifier 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
Maestros of the Game
Sisters' Call Cup
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

LASL Season 20
2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
RSL Revival: Season 2
EC S1
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.