GameWisp Super-Mega Development Update
(Author’s Note: GameWisp is now a totally different product from what is described below. However, we’re preserving this blog post for posterity. Enjoy!)
Here at GameWisp, we like to push out new features on a drip, with a new thing/fix silently sneaking its way onto the live servers once every couple of days or so. However, after a string of watchroom tests with some larger creators, we received several new feature requests that we really wanted to tackle all at once.
We pushed a new development update to our live servers last night that covered a lot of ground. Here are the highlights:
Watchrooms are now open. Lurkers Unite!
Watchrooms can now have an “Open” Room Access type, meaning viewers do not have to be logged in to see the event. Instead, if viewers show up before the event starts, they see the page shown above. Viewers can sign up to receive an email update when the room starts, but signing up is not necessary for entry into the room once the event starts.
Non-logged in viewers can now see the chat, promoted comments, and tippers. The video is also synchronized for non-logged in viewers. Basically, a non-logged in viewer gets the full GameWisp WatchRoom experience except for being able to chat or tip the host. It’s a lurker paradise.
Chat Filters
We received a lot of feedback around our chat over the course of the last two weeks. Chat is a first class citizen for us, and we’re spending a lot of time and effort making it the best in the business. To that end, we introduced chat filters. Here’s what they look like:
There are two categories, @chats and #QA. @chats appear under the @ tab of the chat and show all chats where you are mentioned or where you mention someone else. @chats provide a flexible way to have conversations with one or more people without the noise of the regular chat. Note: @chats are public. They just serve as a filter on the regular chat.
#QA chats are meant to be Questions and Answers for the host. If you have a question for the host, use #QA somewhere in the message and it will go in the #QA tab. The host can provide his/her answers through the webcam stream, or answer back with a #QA message.
Chat will alway be chaos with a large number of people, we’re hoping that with @chats and #QA chats we can at least provide an avenue to more easily extract relevant signal from noise. We hope to make this mechanism more flexible with time, such that arbitrary hashtags can serve as their own filters.
A Better GreenRoom Experience
If you follow @GameWisp on Twitter, you’ve probably seen the two images I’ve shared already of the new GreenRoom. If you’re unfamiliar, the GreenRoom is the central hub for room hosts. We launched the basic version of the GreenRoom a couple of weeks ago and while it communicated necessary information, it did not serve as an all-in-one location for hosts. We took care of that this week:
While it’s not the bastion of UX design by any means, it gives a ton of power to room hosts. We have an embedded broadcaster, so there’s no longer a need to use OBS, XSplit, or any other third-party software when hosting a Debut WatchRoom. Just show up, hit Start Broadcast, and you’re ready to go. The broadcaster is not integrated into Streaming WatchRooms. If you want to live stream a game, you still need to BYOB (bring your own broadcaster) and it should be OBS. This was intentional as we felt game streamers would want more control over their quality and bit rate. If there’s enough demand, we’ll look into getting our built-in broadcaster to play nice with game streaming.
Reduced Delay, Increased Capacity, and Perfect Synchronization
Before yesterday, GameWisp was playing a lot of fancy games (read: hacks!) in the background to keep the webcam stream and the embedded video in sync in Debut WatchRooms. This is no longer the case. If you’re broadcasting, the state of the YouTube video is in perfect sync with your webcam, regardless of the internet connection of each individual viewer.
Our new approach to synchronization allowed us to lower the delay on our webcam streaming. Average delay times are currently less than 2 seconds, and we’ll work in the future to keep this delay consistent at scale.
We also arbitrarily bumped capacity on rooms up to 1,000 viewers. If you want to schedule a WatchRoom and think you’ll bring more than 1,000 people, drop us a line ahead of time and we’ll increase the cap for you. We expect this cap to keep increasing as time goes on.
E-mail Notifications
We get it, everyone hates e-mail. However, we still received requests for some sort of e-mail notification when WatchRooms were about to start. We built an e-mail backend that notifies you a few minutes before a WatchRoom you’ve reserved starts. No more missing WatchRooms you reserve a place for in advance. Well, unless you want to of course.
Super Awesome Cash Out System
We deployed a system to allow hosts to cash out their tips. Here’s what it looks like:
Users can now cash out via PayPal for any amount over $25.00. Currently, we only support PayPal cash outs, but plan on adding other methods in the future. Cashing out currently takes a couple of days after the user makes a Cash Out request. You can also view all your cash out requests past and pending.
Credit Where Credit is Due
GameWisp is a monumental effort built by a miniscule group of developers who subsist on sweat and gratitude because we can’t afford to feed ourselves ramen yet. If you like what we’re doing, why not use twitter to say thanks?
@hootener — Broadcaster, GreenRoom improvements, open WatchRooms, Chat filters
@mdanderson — Infrastructure, Chat Filters, GreenRoom improvements, E-mail System
@thebatliner — E-mail System, Cash Out, GreenRoom
And, of course, pat yourself on the back for reading this far. You’re a peach.
Originally published at blog.gamewisp.com on Aug. 18, 2014
