From what you've liked/disliked from both ns2 casting and casting from other games, do you think ns2 should just have standard casting or be a bit different? How do you think the current csaters like schwa and reddog perform?

current casters

reddog

more bm casting required

Golden/joshhhy bm casts. Reporting for duty.

Me and Vindaloo is gonna co-cast a few games this season, and mostly me.. cause we need someone who looks better than the average, and not like an boiled egg (no offense vindaloo ;) haha )

Ryssk says

Me and Vindaloo is gonna co-cast a few games this season, and mostly me.. cause we need someone who looks better than the average, and not like an boiled egg (no offense vindaloo ;) haha )

Ryssk says

And you sir, can grow a pair of hair on your head :)

Hum.

Pelargir says

Ryssk says

Me and Vindaloo is gonna co-cast a few games this season, and mostly me.. cause we need someone who looks better than the average, and not like an boiled egg (no offense vindaloo ;) haha )

Ryssk says

And you sir, can grow a pair of hair on your head :)

Hum.

We got alot of love and hate each other, bromance at it's finest

I find it's actually quite challenging to put your heart into casting without bming for ns2.

Virsoul did some amazing casting a while back

duster says

I find it's actually quite challenging to put your heart into casting without bming for ns2.

It's the same as driving a car on the road, everybody else is A**holes except me, because i'm the best :)

I personally enjoy chewycentres castings alot

I'm looking forward to Pascow casting...

Simba says

I'm looking forward to Pascow casting...

Simba says

I'm looking forward to Pascow casting...

I told Pascow I'd stream so he could cast with me, but I think Pelargir thought I was joking when I told him to add me as a caster so pascow could bm stream.

Cr4zy_ says

Simba says

I'm looking forward to Pascow casting...

I told Pascow I'd stream so he could cast with me, but I think Pelargir thought I was joking when I told him to add me as a caster so pascow could bm stream.

HAHAHAA Double joke!

Theres really two ways to cast a game: Cast it as someone who is looking for mistakes and good stuff and then commenting on that. A guy like Ren26 is excellent at this. He doesn't miss alot of stuff, his analysis is mostly correct (we all fuck up in the moment, so no np) and i never saw virsouls casts but i understand it to be the same kind of cast.

Then theres casts where you go for the thrill, the amazing and epic aspect of the game, where you scream and shout and can't believe what is happening. Reddog excells at this and is undoubtably the current king of this "genre"

UWE had their own idea of how it should be cast, and i would personally say they are nearing the second genre. a game like LoL puts it heavy on the second genre too, but have a panel before and after the matches to point out the mistakes and really good stuff.

There is no best way - but there is a more popular way, and as far as i can tell, Reddog is the most popular caster. He casted alot with Blind (RIP :´( ) whos an excellent player, and whom i have learned alot from while playing in oF - this duo of a guy who can whip up a feeling of epicness and one who can say why that was so epic, might just be the way to go, when you can't make the structure as a game like LoL have.

TL:DR - A guy who can whip up excitement and a guy who can say why something was awesome, might just be a great way to cast ns2.

With all that being said i would really LOOOOOOVE a way to smooth out the camera movement, which games as SC2 and LoL has. (Dear mendasp, i wish for this so bad - amen)

Ixian says

With all that being said i would really LOOOOOOVE a way to smooth out the camera movement, which games as SC2 and LoL has. (Dear mendasp, i wish for this so bad - amen)

Something like this? -- https://vimeo.com/107426298 (Movement starts in the second half when the camera seemingly comes from underground)
I got the idea to mod this from watching Dota2 casts. Implementation is not perfect, but this is a 1 minute change based on relatively no experience modding NS2.

Puzzle says

Something like this? -- https://vimeo.com/107426298 (Movement starts in the second half when the camera seemingly comes from underground)
I got the idea to mod this from watching Dota2 casts. Implementation is not perfect, but this is a 1 minute change based on relatively no experience modding NS2.

That is very nice.
Off-topic: I thought Vimeo has strict "no games" policy? What's up?

Vindaloo says

Off-topic: I thought Vimeo has strict "no games" policy? What's up?

Even vimeo don't care enough about NS2 to bother removing it.

I was thinking more of a smooth chasing camera, when a combat moves on to another place than it originated in. That kind of movement is awesome too though, and allows not only the camera man, but also the watcher to get a better idea of things relative to each other. Yes, i want that too! =D

Generally, there is two styles how to cast: as play-by-play or color commentary.

The play-by-play caster focuses more on stating what is happening, with his own personal character. As Ixian stated, this would be e.g. building up the hype, getting excitement into the game for the viewers. Of course, partially game analysis (especially when casting alone) is required, but usually just on a lower meta level.

The color commentary is for more detailled strategic background information, also like player/team history, specific tactics - or in short: knowing everything there is to know about the matchup, the opponents, the strategies they use, and explain it in a way which is still going with the flow (aka putting info in respective situations). Obviously, this requires deeper knowledge, so it is always a good idea to ask some good competitive players to co-cast with you.

One can always do a mix of that, especially on solo-casting, but in all greater e-sports scenes you will often find a set of casters with one play-by-play caster plus a color commentary co-caster. Like Tasteless&Artosis, Kaelaris&Apollo or - OF COURSE - reddog&blind, haha. (Good old times, they've been.)

If you can't have an extra observer for streaming, I would always let the color commentator handle the cam since that is usually the guy seeing things on the minimap before they happen, given from experience by playing himself.

As a duo, you need to work together - don't openly contradict yourselves even if you know that your co-caster just said something you don't agree with, at least put it in a context where it doesn't end up bitch fighting. I've seen some SC2 casts where the casters where arguing the whole time, trying to show off who has a better understanding of the game - this is the worst case scenario for both.

Given in NS2 context, I think those general rules fit well.

Rest is experience, your personal style, language skills and the sound of your voice. Viewers often prefer native speakers, but even with accent you're not without chances, so don't let this prevent you from casting.

Talking about bm/bad language, it's a more difficult topic, I think. At least it's unlikely that you'll cast the WCS series with usage of "self censored" words, e.g. "he's completely fucked" or "holy shit, dat micro". But since NS2 will probably stay a small niche game with 1-2 digits viewers for the default stream, who cares. In that case, I guess it's more important to enjoy yourself, stay who you are and fit in with the community ;>

I always enjoyed Virsoul casting especially when he didnt have time to change after work and was all suited up. I think what brought his casting oppose to others except possible Ixian, is they are both comms so their viewing of whats going on has some of this bias if you will. So you end up receiving a more higher level cast, more information on chosen tech paths, how it might differ
When you get field players casting, it is a slightly different feel. Comments on when a group of skulks should go or pull back more micro'd on the engagements. All is good for both types or I could be totally wrong on what I've perceived over the years.

Joshhy/Golden beginning streams were always very entertaining. ++ would watch again. I think the most entertaining is them casting a d3 match and just asking what is this onos doing?

Cr4zy did have pascow co casting the other day and it was very entertaining.

One thing I just saw recently, I think it was done by heftydk, which I thought was awesome and wished in the past there was more, was that they utilized an 'instant replay/replay of important parts' at the end of the game. I've never seen this done and thought it was very unique and commend the extra time and thought that went into setting that up.

Ixian says

I was thinking more of a smooth chasing camera, when a combat moves on to another place than it originated in.

Can't you already do this by selecting a player and holding 2?

yes, but that is locked on the player, which i dislike :)

Puzzle says

Ixian says

With all that being said i would really LOOOOOOVE a way to smooth out the camera movement, which games as SC2 and LoL has. (Dear mendasp, i wish for this so bad - amen)

Something like this? -- https://vimeo.com/107426298 (Movement starts in the second half when the camera seemingly comes from underground)
I got the idea to mod this from watching Dota2 casts. Implementation is not perfect, but this is a 1 minute change based on relatively no experience modding NS2.

When the CSGO DHW final ended they hosted the Dota2 stream and saw that camera movement and instantly got reminded of that video, so I added it to my todo for NS2+/vanilla.

Not sure how much you changed. Did you post the code somewhere so I can take a look and maybe try to refine it?

Edit: Holy shit, this thread is old, this forum is so dead, lol.