This is meant to supplement the already fantastic How To Market A Game guide by Chris Zukowski! If you haven’t done so, please be sure to read that first.

Here’s some additional ideas that may help you with you Steam Stream. As you can see from the volume of technical details, I highly recommend that you set this up at least a day in advance of the stream day, especially if it’s your first time streaming to Steam! 

OBS: Studio Mode

Studio Mode allows you to cue up your next transition. It’s great! 

To turn it on, select Studio Mode at the lower right corner. 

Now, in the middle of two screens, you have a transition column. You can even add different types of transitions as a button that you can click on! The toggle bar at the bottom of this column allows you to control the transition timing between the Preview and Program screens.

OBS: Livestream and make a recording simultanously

Let’s say you want to go live with exclusive show content, and have this looping at a later time. Here are some ways to do so!

 

  1. Go to File > Settings
    Go down to Output > Automatically record when streaming
  2. You can also manually start either Start Steaming or Start Recording in the main controls window if you so desire
  3. To loop this footage afterwards, just go to Source > Media Source and find the local file. 
  4.   Make sure to select Loop if you want it to loop continuously. I highly recommend also including a Text that says replay on the OBS for the Steam stream.

 

How to livestream to multiple platforms 

…with some caveats! 

 

You can livestream to multiple platforms at once using services like Restream

  • Works with OBS
  • Works with platforms like Twitch*, Steam, Youtube, Facebook
  • Great if you want to test out your audience reach on different platforms
  • Steam doesn’t show if you’re streaming right away; Restream at least lets you know if you’re live much quicker
  • You just need to set up OBS once, and then toggle on Restream’s end for different platforms. Helpful if you switch between streaming to different platforms regularly.
    • This setting below is the only one that you need to change on OBS if you want multi-streaming. Go to File > Settings, then change the Service, server, and Stream Key here. Restream’s site has very clear directions as to how to set that up.

Some caveats:

  • *Twitch Partner and Affiliate doesn’t allow multistreaming – you may have your Affiliate and Partner status revoked (see: Twitch Affiliate Agreement: Live Content Exclusivity)
  • Other platforms may have other rules and restrictions about multistreaming. Please read each of their TOS before trying this! 
  • If you’re doing simultaneous streams, might be splitting your audience rather than funnel them to the Point-Of-Purchase and the festival page

 

If you have issues logging into Restream, you may need to turn off some extensions and plugins on your browser, or try with a different browser.

 

OBS: Check your audio sources 

Check these ahead of time! What our team usually does is check mics in a non-streamed local recording to check how everyone is for volume about 30 min ahead of time.

In the case of a basic setup (without a whole sound board), you may have the following audio sources: 

  • Any media source like .mp4s that are looping
  • Mic
  • Desktop audio, including music and your teammates’ audio if they’re remote
  • Video capture devices

You may or may not want these playing simultaneously!

 

Right-clicking on any audio track or clicking on the gear will bring up the menu:

  1. Properties allows you to find the source. If anything is not recording, this is the first place to check. Mic might be going to the wrong source.
  2. Advanced Audio Properties allows you to set your microphone to higher volume if you find that your volume is much lower than everyone else’s, or the desktop audio. You can change it by decibel or by %. Some things which may also help is sync offset if you’re noticing a delay from audio to the capture of some of the speakers on screen.

Steam: Create a News Hub to announce your livestream to followers

This is great to create a community of announcements to folks who are interested in your game. It will also appear for people who are following your game! 

  1. Log onto both steam partners and steam community
  2. Select your game App, go to Community & Moderation > Post/Manage Events & Annoucements
  3. Select Create new Event or Announcement
  4. Then select Live-stream / Broadcast in the following page
  5. The specific art assets and descriptions will be up to you to fill out, just make sure that you leave time for the Cover Image because it has specific requirements of 800×450 and is required
  6. What’s really important is setting the event start date, time, and visibility of the announcement as visible once the event is published

  7. It won’t be published until you complete all of the required elements AND press publish on the published tab! 

Hope that is helpful to you! Happy streaming!

Our Pledge

A welcoming, respectful, and inclusive environment is the core tenet of Vivid Foundry. We, as team of collaborators, developers, and contributors, pledge to make our work environment a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible and invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, ethnicity, caste, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:

  • Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people, including team members
  • Using welcoming and inclusive language
  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
  • Giving and gracefully accepting constructive criticism
  • Behaving with the collective team’s best interests in mind

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

  • The use of unsolicited sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
  • Trolling, insulting, or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
  • Public or private harassment
  • Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
  • Encouraging others to partake in hate speech, public or private harassment, coercion, or bullying
  • Coercing, blackmailing, or pushing others to ‘out’ any part or entirety of their identity
  • Microaggressions, including invalidating people’s traumas and vulnerabilities, and negative attitudes that further stigmatize marginalizing experiences
  • Using judgmental language at others to make unreasonable accusations, to cause harm, or to create hostility. Judgmental language comes from assumption, not fact
  • Using misinformation to undermine others
  • Stealing other people’s work and property or deliberately sabotaging work
  • Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Our Responsibilities

Vivid Foundry management is responsible for clarifying and enforcing the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behaviour. Management reserves the right to modify and change the Code of Conduct as to better fit the values detailed in the Pledge above.

Management has the responsibility and right to remove, edit, or reject digital messages and work contributions in our work environment that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, in a manner as they deem appropriate for removing threatening or harmful content.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies both within workspaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or the company. Examples of representing a project or company include using e-mail to represent the project, posting via social media about the project, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event. Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by Tanya Kan.

Procedures (internal)

If anyone working at Vivid Foundry has made you (the Contractor) feel uncomfortable with unprofessional or disrespectful behaviour (whether towards you, another employee, a customer, or other person), either in or outside the workplace, it is essential that the situation is remedied so that it is not repeated. Every situation is different, and Vivid Foundry reserves the right to enforce punitive action, from required training to termination, or anything in-between, according to the judgment of Vivid Foundry management and the severity, frequency, and outcomes of an incident.

Here are the steps we encourage you to follow if an incident occurs:

  1. Consider talking it over with the person yourself. This is generally appropriate for budding interpersonal problems but may not be appropriate for serious incidents.
  2. If settling it with the individual(s) seems difficult or problematic, bring the issue up privately with Tanya Kan (the studio director). The issue can be brought up by email, private message, or by setting up a meeting, whatever best helps the individual.
  3. Vivid Foundry will investigate and deal with all concerns or complaints fairly and thoughtfully, centring the needs of those negatively impacted, and respecting the privacy of all parties as much as is reasonable.
  4. Where Vivid Foundry deems necessary, Tanya Kan will reach out to a third party, anti-oppression expert to advise on further procedures, at Vivid Foundry’s cost.

Procedures (external)

If you become the target of harassment while working at Vivid Foundry, or especially as a result of working here, it is essential that the company assist you as best it can during this difficult time. For its part, Vivid Foundry pledges to act in your best interests, prioritizing your safety and acting on your behalf only with your informed consent.

Here are the steps we encourage you to follow:

  1. If you feel you are in immediate danger, please call 911. Alternatively, contact Sexual Assault Centres, Crisis Lines, or Support Services as appropriate for your situation (https://endingviolencecanada.org/sexual-assault-centres-crisis-lines-and-support-services/). When you are somewhere safe, please ask someone to notify Tanya or your supervisor.
  2. “Speak Up and Stay Safer”: Engage with social media with care. We urge you to prioritize safety, but Vivid Foundry will not discourage your engagement with your community. Tools like blocking, filters, and/or allowing someone you trust to post/filter for you are all useful, if and when you deem it effective or appropriate.
  3. Either alone or together with someone you trust at Vivid Foundry, investigate cybersecurity and online safety resources such as Crash Override Network (http://www.crashoverridenetwork.com/resources.html) and decide together what the best course of action is.
  4. Vivid Foundry always supports self-care and professional guidance in taking next steps. If you feel it would help, consider asking your supervisor to approve time off. If this is not feasible, Vivid Foundry recommends discussing alternatives and accommodations with your supervisor.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html, the Contributor Covenant, version 2.0, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct.html, and from Kitfox’s Harassment Policies, available at https://kitfoxgames.medium.com/kitfoxs-harassment-policies-fe2aa2305b97

Adapted by Tanya Kan, edited by Jayme Last, last edited and updated by Tanya Kan on 2024-01-09.