For the LSNZ invitationals tournament we used remote commentators from around the world. There have been several tournaments using this format in the last year or so and it’s a really great way to get high quality commentators for smaller tournaments that wouldn’t necessarily be able to achieve it otherwise.
One of the challenges is getting a live feed of the game to the commentators. If they just watch the game on twitch then they’re watching with the twitch delay, and their commentary gets out of sync. So far everyone has been using Discord or Skype with screenshare to get an up-to-date live feed of the scores to the commentators. The only problem with this is it requires constant admin – if commentators need to be switched out or drop it requires manual intervention from an admin onsite to get everyone in the call. LSNZ has now solved this by figuring out how to get a screenshare in a Discord channel (a feature usually reserved for calls). This allows casters to seamlessly drop in and out and is how we achieved our seamless caster handovers in the 2019 Invitationals.
How to set up screen share in discord channel
Step 1: Turn On Developer Mode
Navigate to User Settings > Appearance > Developer Mode and switch it on.
Step 2: Get the server ID
Right click on the server and select Copy ID. This will copy the server id into your clipboard. Paste it into notepad.
Step 3: Get the channel ID
Right click the channel and select Copy ID. This will copy the channel id into your clipboard. Paste this into notepad as well.
Step 4: Create the URL
This is where the magic happens. Using the channel and server IDs, create a URL like this: https://www.discordapp.com/channels/SERVERID/CHANNELID
Step 5: Put URL in discord
Copy the link and paste it into any text channel on your server. This should create a link that looks like this:
step 6: use the url
Join the voice channel and THEN click the link. Clicking the link from outside discord will do nothing. Clicking the link before joining the voice channel won’t work either. If you have done it right you should see screen sharing options. If someone is already sharing a screen you will see that, otherwise you will have the option to share.
If you can’t see the sharing buttons at the bottom, make sure Discord isn’t showing any warnings (e.g. mic not detected). I noticed that the sharing buttons vanish if there is a warning up the top. Just close it and the sharing buttons should appear.
Step 7:
Have your commentators join the voice channel and THEN click the link. They should then get both live video and voice chat. I recommend testing the setup with each commentator before the event to make sure they know how to get in and everything works.
Good luck!
