Hellscape Navigators
After dabbling in some one-off Dungeons & Dragons streams on the Power Word Casual Twitch channel, it was decided that we should bring some friends in weekly for an ongoing campaign.
Initial Planning
The structure and consistency of a weekly game with a set cast meant I could develop a much more customized graphic overlay. I took to my sketchbook as I often do when there’s an exciting idea to explore.
Character Portraits
Small, simple portraits are a good way to help stream viewers visualize the character that each player is portraying. I had a quick conversation with everyone in the game to get an idea of what their characters look like and made these for use in the overlay.
Stream Overlay
A Zoom call is at the heart of our D&D streams. One of the tricky things about creating a stream overlay like this is that the video windows within the screen captured video call are subject to shifting around in the event of a poor connection or a guest player joining us for the game. Because of this, two overlay modes were developed: “Alpha” with windows for each of the core players, and “Beta” with an open area for the video call window.
Character Stats
In D&D, players take turns during combat and act in “initiative” order. Each character has a set of key stats, so the stream interface has been set up in a way that allows the producer to show the active character’s stat line at the bottom.
The Finishing Touch
A cool interface is great, but what a good D&D stream really needs is an excellent team. I’m pleased to report that we have precisely that! We have a lot of fun at the table, and I’m so glad we get to share our adventures with a wider audience.
