This year, IMGD’s annual Alpha Fest is being held on Discord (join here if you haven’t yet)! We chose this platform for its flexibility, including the ability for users to jump between several virtual “rooms” – called voice channels in Discord – where people can watch one another play different games and talk about them in real time.
One of the key parts of Alpha Fest is letting the people who developed a game see what you’re up to, so they can see how players make choices or where they get stuck. To have that same experience virtually, participants can broadcast their screen in real-time while playing a game, and developers can easily check up on anyone’s progress.
To keep things simple, this guide will only cover the basics of joining a voice channel and watching someone else’s screen. If you would like to play a game for yourself and share your own screen, check out the streaming guide as well.
- In Discord, find a voice channel (denoted by a speaker icon) that corresponds to something you want to watch (see the full list on the Projects page). Clicking the channel once will connect you to it, and clicking again will show any video feeds inside it.
- Once you are connected to a voice channel, your Discord profile icon will show up in a list under the channel’s name. You will also have access to some new controls at the bottom of the server directory, including ones to control your microphone, webcam, and screen sharing/streaming:
NOTE: Please mute your microphone if you aren’t speaking, so you don’t interrupt the person streaming or other viewers! You can toggle the microphone by clicking its icon, as shown above. A red line indicates that you are muted.
- If one or more people are streaming, you will see some “Watch Stream” buttons on your screen. Click one of these buttons to watch the corresponding stream.
- To stop watching, click the desktop icon at the bottom of your screen. This will only take you out of that stream – you will still be in the voice channel to chat, watch others, etc. To disconnect completely, click the “Disconnect” button (see diagram above).
That’s about it! If at any point something seems off or confusing, get in touch with an organizer (type @Booth IQP in any text channel) so we can help you out.