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Watch this!
DESCRIPTION:
A custom spectating solution which utilizes a significantly reduced onscreen footprint, while still drastically scaling up the size of all pertinent game information.
We are very interested in working with professional productions, show-matches, and other organizations in seeing this system receive adoption. Please see the bottom of the post for contact information.
Advantages
- Screen Space
- See more of the action than ever.
- Information Clarity
- More accessibility for new viewers.
- Aesthetic
- Cleaner, stronger design to universally improve stream quality.
- Compression Ready
- Stands up across more resolutions and devices than the default options.
- Extensible
- Readily extended to add more features than the native client.
USAGE GUIDE:
Currently the system has been released for open beta via battle.net. A single test map is online until first phase testing can be completed. This map is GSL Metropolis.
To access, search 'Gameheart - Beta', via the Blizzard Arcade search functionality, enter the game and host as normal.
Note that the overlay system is only visible to game spectators and referees.
To customize the branding jewel in the top center of the overlay, simply use a transparent .png (or similar), layered onto the screen via Xsplit, Wirecast, or other streaming platforms.
A set of shape templates to simplify this process will be released shortly.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please don't hesitate to contact directly for inquiries, development, feedback, or further production assistance.
email: teamgameheart@gmail.com twitter: @TeamGameHeart reddit: Find us on Reddit - Upvote!
GameHeart is a collective of individuals creating content in the competitive gaming spaced dedicated to increasing the standard of design and available technology.
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Really nice idea. I would like if tournaments used stuff like this more. To have the upgrades show in the top bar is great. Awesome work!
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This is amazing! Would love to see this in tournaments. Also, vouch on the upgrades, this is super useful for spectators.
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Jesus this is awesome, lets just hope tournaments pick this up.
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Fanastic. I can see some prominent tournaments using your services for their events. Great idea.
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HOLY SHIT! This looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.
Edit: Just noticed this is a custom map and not a standalone program 
Edit 2: Just realized this pretty much HAS to be a custom map, still awesome.
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Very clean, I hope tournaments will start using this!
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Really nice man, amazing innovation for the community, thanks for this! I think it will improve the observing aspect of SC2 a lot. Thanks! God bless~
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Wow this looks awesome!! Great work!
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Congratulations, this is just AWESOME! Hope it gets picked up!
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Looks great, although it'll be tough for tournaments to use not only map makers but also now u guys to come together and make official maps.
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Have you taken advertising into consideration? MLG and IPL plaster the bottom with ads or player cams. What is the point of removing the UI when it is already covered in ads? Not trying to diminish what you've worked on, it is very nice, but I just don't see the practicality for major tournaments.
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Much better looking than the standard and removing a lot of crap! AWESOME
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On September 04 2012 06:57 TeslasPigeon wrote: Have you taken advertising into consideration? MLG and IPL plaster the bottom with ads or player cams. What is the point of removing the UI when it is already covered in ads? Not trying to diminish what you've worked on, it is very nice, but I just don't see the practicality for major tournaments.
Of course this was an important consideration.
Opening up more space and reducing clutter by no means eliminates advertising space. In fact it gives it more focus, design options and placement variety.
Certainly individual providers have their own desires with regards to how and when they will present advertisements, but hopefully the philosophy of this technology will help them to realize the importance of the viewing experience above all else.
As well this pathway opens up a lot of new advertising options using the in-game systems which we would be prepared to talk about via direct contact (at the provided addresses).
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This is great, but it would be much better if it was a mod. I realize that you can't edit .mpq files anymore, which is a pity.
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First off, this is completely awesome. This being the internet, you're going to hear about the 5% people don't like rather than the 95% that they do.
So, my 5% that I don't like is...why the gray structures to the left and right of the minimap? It seems weirdly out-of-place, given the overall minimalist design. Just get rid of it and have the minimap hug the left edge. I've bet you've already thought of this, so I'm wondering what the reasoning or limitation is that prevents you from doing this.
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Looks really nice
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This is fucking magnificent, I hate the UI when spectating and this slims it down to what you actually need. I think after 1.5 this won't be applicable as a mod "I'm noob when it comes to this shit but pretty certain about this" but making this for tourney maps so people can use them would be amazing. THERES SO MUCH SPACE. This is awesome.
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wow damn, this is a huge improvement from previous overlays (which were bland IMO but they worked). It looks simple, displays all necessary information, and looks a hellova lot prettier and modern than other overlays. Nice dude!
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Canada170 Posts
I'm sort of 'on the fence' about most features, such as the upgrade tracker. Commentators are usually very on top of who has which upgrades started/done/near completion etc. However, the general idea of trying to make the information easier to read in a low quality stream is fantastic and would be why i'd ever support something like this. Aesthetics look pretty good, although thats preferencial and you will find people who like blizzards basic UI better.
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On September 04 2012 07:42 YMCApylons wrote:So, my 5% that I don't like is...why the gray structures to the left and right of the minimap? It seems weirdly out-of-place, given the overall minimalist design. Just get rid of it and have the minimap hug the left edge. I've bet you've already thought of this, so I'm wondering what the reasoning or limitation is that prevents you from doing this.
same here, i think it is better without the gray structure thingy that's wrapping the minimap. for advertisements i dont think that will be a problem coz there's now a wider space to put ads.
overall, very well done :D
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Wow thats cool u could actually see minerals/gas when watching in 240p ^^
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This is really cool. The only thing i think should be changed is the mineral/gas order on the right position. It's in the wrong order. it should be minerals then gas not symmetrical.
I hope tournaments will us this!
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Great job, you should be very pleased with yourself ^_^
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On September 04 2012 08:22 OrbitalPlane wrote: This is really cool. The only thing i think should be changed is the mineral/gas order on the right position. It's in the wrong order. it should be minerals then gas not symmetrical.
I hope tournaments will us this!
You guys should consider this, seems more naturally pleasing.
edit: Also the colored drop shadow that comes off the topbar could do with a little more opacity/less bright or I guess make it gradient more. It seems rather abrupt the color change from solid to almost nothing (Its almost as if theres a 1 pixel line that is ontop fo the drop shadow thats the color of the team)
also what would be kind of nice is the tiny mineral / gas / supply icons under the numbers be placed in a tiny square socket kind of thats along the silver bar they are placed ontop of now just to give the icons a feel of belonging there
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Hope this catches on quickly. Good job.
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Your idea for this is truly magnificent. It really gives your a better view of the map and rids the unnecessary space the regular maps recreated at the bottom.
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Really like this. Hope it catches on!
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Love that people are making good use of the arcade for cool stuff like this, thanks!
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I don't know how likely it is that tournaments will use entirely new maps just for the spectating capabilities... but that being said, this looks really really awesome. I wish Blizzard would incorporate spectator features like this.
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On September 04 2012 07:42 YMCApylons wrote: So, my 5% that I don't like is...why the gray structures to the left and right of the minimap? It seems weirdly out-of-place, given the overall minimalist design. Just get rid of it and have the minimap hug the left edge. I've bet you've already thought of this, so I'm wondering what the reasoning or limitation is that prevents you from doing this.
The grey sidebar is there because we were unable to hide the three minimap buttons. If we were to remove it they would appear there floating in space.
Before the 1.5 patch there was a method for 'moving' the minimap and hiding those buttons that we were using. But it no longer functions the way it did and I have been unable to get it to work the way I want it to again. They have made some massive improvements to the editor in the arcade patch, but they have also changed a huge number of things....and without any documentation it really takes time to figure some of them out.
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This is pretty cool.
I developed a little something like this when I was experimenting with creating anti-cheat software, but it had the unfortunate side effect of essentially being a hack when used not as an observer.
Here's a hypothetical question for those who observe, either for fun or casting:
If there was an application that provided information like this for observed games in the form of an overlay or an xsplit source, like an advanced version of StarBoard, would you use it even though it's against the EULA?
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Amazing UI. Maybe Gom will buy it off you!? Email it to their casters.
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This overlay system is awesome, but I think it would work better as a program instead of a map so that it can be used with any map. I don't know if that's possible though since it would have to gather information from the game.
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On September 04 2012 11:22 caneras wrote: This overlay system is awesome, but I think it would work better as a program instead of a map so that it can be used with any map. I don't know if that's possible though since it would have to gather information from the game.
This isn't possible. In order to gather the data you need a custom map anyways. We decided on implementing it entirely in game (instead of as a plugin for xsplit or something) so that observers see the same things the audience does.
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On September 04 2012 11:36 GameHeart wrote:Show nested quote +On September 04 2012 11:22 caneras wrote: This overlay system is awesome, but I think it would work better as a program instead of a map so that it can be used with any map. I don't know if that's possible though since it would have to gather information from the game. This isn't possible. In order to gather the data you need a custom map anyways. We decided on implementing it entirely in game (instead of as a plugin for xsplit or something) so that observers see the same things the audience does.
Funny you should mention that caneras cos that was our original idea, but we decided to build things into the map to reduce latency/other concerns.
Being able to display outside information is easy enough, however you get limited as to "how" unless you write a custom XSplit flash plugin, and they are... less than optimal.
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Hooray, you guys finally announced this! I hope everyone gets excited and that this goes somewhere cool.
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This is really awesome. However there's one thing missing, I'd really like to also be able to see how many kills each unit did. Since many casters will look at the unit and will be like: Oh wow, this immortal has killed over 40 units in that battle. Or: This banshee is doing incredible harassment, it's killed about 20 units already.
Maybe by introducting a very small unit info ui near the minimap can help this. It could include some very basic information like hitpoints, kills, unit type, unit name and maybe even a small version of the unit's portrait.
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It's a good idea Adonminus but right now there doesn't appear to be a way to target observers specifically. Meaning, I can't show one observer one thing, and another observer another thing. While the idea would work fine with a single observer, if there were two or more it would become a problem as they select multiple units.
That said, it is still possible to check this information by switching to the player's perspective and selecting the unit.
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This is pretty legit good idea. Maybe Blizzard will take some of the ideas and implement it in their own UI.
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really nice , it get my seal of approva=)
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The best part is since it is a custom map and Most major lans use their own named custom map it shouldn't be hard for these guys to set up their overlay for specific tournament map pools. This UI is fucking amazing. I was literally blown away watching the youtube video. You guys did a suburb job if MLG/IPL/GSL/DH/WCS/WCG/TSL Jump on this fast they will be left in the dust by those who do start incorporating something much for spectator friendly and much better to learn off watching without needing a replay.
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Freaking awesome stuff! Blizzard build this into the game pls!
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I think the green text is a bit too dark on the LQ I viewed it on on youtube, otherwise, good job!
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Suggestion: Add a way to add overall series score directly ingame.
EDIT: Woops should have watched the video, you're one step ahead of me!
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This is really great, looks somewhat like the one from Dota 2. Which is really great! A lot easier to know what's going on etc! I hope one day that Blizzard appreciates all of our great fans who know what the community's want, And they implement user created stuff.
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Incredible stuff. Reminds me of watching dota 2.
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I dont like that you cant see the attacks and pictures
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On September 04 2012 16:35 JimmyHollow wrote: Incredible stuff. Reminds me of watching dota 2.
my thoughts exactly. Blizzard should start taking notes, lazy swines.
to the creators, your job is beautiful.
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I actually like this a lot, but two things that really bug me:
1. The silver things around the map really, really bugs me. Get rid of it or change it. It really doesn't look right, and can look a ton better. 2. The color of the gas font is a pretty dark-ish green. Maybe a slight brighter green so it's a little bit easier to read (stands out more.) Maybe it's just my crappy eyes i don't know, just seems a little dark to me.
Other than those two things i love the progress y'all have made. Looking good so far
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Whoa, this is freakin' awesome. You should just think about adding a panel to see the keybinds of a player, for example after having his units selected and clicking alt+shift or some other hotkey.
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I would love it if you could show both the unit tab and production tab. And do it so it looks good and doesn't take up too much space.
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One thing that would greatly improve the viewer experience would be a permanent (or maybe toggleable) worker count. This would let you keep the production tab open, but always be able to see how many workers each player has, which is a crucial piece of information throughout the entire game.
It can be a pain if the obs has to switch back and forth between the production and unit tabs.
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Good ideas, but it doesen't look very stylish. It needs some refining.
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The massive GameHeart logo right in the dead center taking up valuable real-estate is really unappealing. Other than that, it's really cool.
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The logo in the middle is designed to be covered up by whatever organization is broadcasting using the overlay with their own logo.
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On September 04 2012 13:28 Adonminus wrote: This is really awesome. However there's one thing missing, I'd really like to also be able to see how many kills each unit did. Since many casters will look at the unit and will be like: Oh wow, this immortal has killed over 40 units in that battle. Or: This banshee is doing incredible harassment, it's killed about 20 units already.
Maybe by introducting a very small unit info ui near the minimap can help this. It could include some very basic information like hitpoints, kills, unit type, unit name and maybe even a small version of the unit's portrait.
This is actually a very good point.
Another thing I'm wondering: you pointed out that clicking on a building will let you see what is currently researching, although, what about the upgrades that haven't been completed? For instance, I'd like to point out that a Protoss did not research Thermal Lance. Is there a way to do it with GameHeart?
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I guess I'm part of a minority that just wants to see the default interface.
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On September 05 2012 05:12 GameHeart wrote: The logo in the middle is designed to be covered up by whatever organization is broadcasting using the overlay with their own logo.
Ah, fair enough then.
Though from the looks of things it seems like you're going for a "more important info - > less important info", from inside to outside. Or at least information that changes quicker.
Still, might it be a good idea to put player names in the centre there? Perhaps have the logo of whatever event just below that.
I'm obviously not a designer, but I figured I'd make suggestions.
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Great idea and love the look of it!
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This is awesome. Awesome. ... I cant really say that enough. Some feedback, when you click an a building to see the upgrade or unit it's producing make a small bar bellow it that shows how far along it is, so observers wont have to open the production tab everytime. Also, working more on the 'art' used behind the minimap would be nice, it just seems a bit 'indie'. The rest of it, well it is AWESOME. ^_^. gl with the project.
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Looks great and the response in this thread is overwhelmingly positive.
So lets see it happen.
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What happened to Gameheart? I can't find a single map on EU. Has there ever been in EU perhaps?
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