This page serves as a general guideline to get started shoutcasting Roulette Rivals tournaments.
While this guide is tailored towards official Roulette Rivals matches, most parts are applicable to other (HITMAN-)events as well.
As a member of the shoutcaster team, you have access to the #shoutcasters channel, which is the central communication and coordination channel for shoutcasting.
Should you encounter any issues, have questions, or need guidance, feel free to ask within that channel.

General Guidelines

• Follow the server rules. Some of them apply extra, since you represent the server as a whole during your casts.
• Act professional. This doesn't mean you need to sit in a suit and tie to cast, but try to act mature and serious in necessary situations.
• Everyone taking part in a cast (shoutcasters and co-casters) needs to have access to the #shoutcasters channel and have either the @Shoutcasters, @Roulette Admins or @Admins role.
  • Do not bring outside people on the cast, without checking in with Admins or Roulette Admins first.
  • Members trying out for casters may co-cast without having any of the roles mentioned above, but they should be approved by a Roulette Admin prior to the cast
• The shoutcaster role may be removed from a user, should the admin team feel the individual is no longer appropriate to represent the server. Reapplication for the role is always possible, but acceptance is not guaranteed.

Before the shoutcast

Setup and communication

Communication / Claiming matches

• If there is a match you want to cast, communicate it clearly inside the #shoutcasters channel, by saying e.g. "I can cast Scruffy vs Phanium". If the match is still open, a Roulette Admin will assign you to the match, marking you down as the caster on HITMAPS and linking your Twitch channel.
  • You may also state your interest if the match is already claimed, as you might be able to join as a co-caster.
  • If you already have a co-caster prior to claiming a match, please also mention the co-caster in the chat.
• If things change, and you can no longer cast a match you've claimed or joined as a co-caster, please communicate this clearly and as early as possible, so a replacement can be found.
• Casters are asked to only claim a single match in advance, to give everyone an equal chance to cast matches.
  • This is not in effect when picking up matches that require a last-minute caster.

Cast Setup

• Each tournament will have a castpack provided with all the required assets and a scene collection, built for importing into OBS.
  • Streamlabs Desktop (formerly Streamlabs OBS) can also import these scenes and will likely work fine with them, but full support is currently only guaranteed for OBS.

• Streaming at 1080p is preferred over 720p, but both the shoutcast and the player streams should be smooth and non-buffering.
  • Please do not stream at a higher resulution than 1080p. Depending on the type of Twitch account (Partner, Affiliate, Non-Affiliate) and region, Twitch may not be able to serve the cast in a different resolutions, and higher resolutions (e.g. 1440p) have proven to cause issues for some viewers in some regions.
• Please refrain from adding personal and non-RR related overlays or sounds (e.g. sub alerts) to the shoutcast scenes.
  • Adding briefings, alternative music, and web sources viewing official F7SC partners (HITMAPS & RRStats) is permitted.
  • Other music should be checked for copyright issues, to protect the VODs from being blocked in certain countries or deleted entirely. Music provided by the admins or taken from the Hitman games is good to use.
• If you're having a co-caster, streaming your OBS to them over Discord is preferred, in order to sync both casters up.
  • Possibilities include using the OBS Virtual Camera, streaming a preview window or the entire OBS window.
  • Streaming to your co-caster should only be done if it doesn't impair the overall stream quality.
  • If streaming to your co-caster is not possible, play/pause the streams at the start of each map to ensure all streams are live.
• It is encouraged that shoutcasters do some pre-match research about the players as well as some of the basic strategies to make the commentary sound as informative and professional as possible.
  • For research about players, RRStats is a very powerful tool as it compiles a bunch of statistics and information about individual players, which can be incorporated into your commentary.
  • You can use the Compare feature to get a quick overview of both players

Using twitch.tv/rouletterivals

• The twitch.tv/rouletterivals channel is available to all shoutcasters to use for their casts. Should a caster desire to cast on this shared channel instead of their own, they may claim it alongside a match.
• In case of overlaps, the Twitch channel will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. If there are any ongoing casts on the channel, any starting casts must be done on other channels.
• The Twitch channel is strictly optional; there is no obligation to use it; any shoutcaster may continue to cast on their personal channels as they want.
• The stream key for the Twitch channel is pinned inside the #shoutcasters chat. Roulette Admins have full moderation and editor rights on the channel and can set the title of the cast.
• The VODs of shoutcasts on the Twitch channel will be exported by match admins directly to the F7SC YouTube channel.
• Shoutcasters may only use the Twitch channel for shoutcasts. The channel may be used by Roulette Admins for other official RR purposes, such as bracket draws.
• Shoutcasters abusing the access to the Twitch channel may be denied the rights to use it in the future, or, in case of repeat offenses, may be removed from the shoutcaster team.

During the stream

Before the match

after pressing "Start Streaming", but before the match starts

• Aim to go live 5-10 minutes before the match with the idler and switch to a scene with a microphone a few minutes before the first spin arrives to introduce the players to the match. Possible topics:
  • Where are we at in the tournament / which round are we playing?
  • Who are the players?
  • What maps were banned, which are being played?
  • Predictions for the match?
• Showing the brackets before the match is especially helpful in later tournament rounds, to show the progression of the players so far.
• Try to provide info both before and between maps, both to provide more information to the players and to fill the gaps between maps as best as possible.
  • This can be what happened in the previous map, stats of the next map, some match that you remember from the players, the brackets, potential opponents, asking chat how they feel about the next map or what spins they would like to see next.

While the stream is live

• Try to stay on topic. Interacting with chat, responding to questions or similar is fine, but it should be done a minority of the time.
• Keep the chat moderated. This doesn’t mean you have to be overly strict regarding it, but at least keep scam links away and try to make it a welcoming experience for potential new people.
  • Preferably, give moderation rights to other members you trust, so they can take care of the chat, while you focus on the cast.
• Sympathize with the players. Cheer when they impress, excuse failure. Never laugh at the expense of a player.
• Analyze and criticize plays and strategies, but never players as individuals.
• Once the spins are live, attempt to catch as much action as possible. Informing viewers about all the developments of a match is equally as important as keeping an entertaining stream.

After the match

while you are still live, but the match has concluded

• After the match ends, show the brackets and discuss where the players ended up, who their next opponents are / might be, and show the upcoming matches.
• When another match is live while yours ends, mention it to the viewers and raid the other shoutcaster after concluding the cast.

After the stream

• Upload your VODs to your YouTube channel, either unlisted or public, and post the link in the respective VOD channel (e.g. #rr19-matches) within seven days of the match.
• It is preferred to cut out the idler before the cast begins, or put the timestamp of the beginning of the cast in the video description.
• Use the correct thumbnail provided for the tournament, and set a clear title for the VOD with the correct tournament, round, and player names.
  • Example: “RRWC2024 | Group A | TheTimeCube vs Jokerj”
  • Optionally: “RRWC2024 | Group B | Yannini vs Frote7 | Shoutcasted by Joker and Phanium”
• Ensure that all names of players / casters / admins, etc. are spelled correctly in the video title & description. Check the participants page or brackets of the tournament or RRStats profiles for reference.
• Timestamps in the form of "02:15 - Start of cast" in the video description allow YouTube to add video chapters to your video. These can help by e.g. marking the start of the cast, pre-game or post-game talks, or the start of the spins, which are then more visible in the YouTube timeline.
  • The first timestamp has to be "00:00", in order for YouTube to recognize the chapters.
• Do not cut any of the cast or gameplay out of the VOD. Idlers, as at the beginning or the end or during breaks (e.g. in cases of photofinishes) can be cut out, but any scene where the casters are talking must be included in the final VOD.

Changes for matches in late tournament stages

Towards the end of a tournament, due to the matches having higher stakes and likely to be watched more and with more public interest, a high standard of casting is expected.
Additionally, some guidelines change, and some more apply to these later matches:

• During the later stages of a tournament, match assignment will often go from shoutcasters claiming matches themselves to admins assigning casters. You may still state your interest in casting a match, but admins will decide among all interested casters to assign the final pairings.
• The casters for the Grand Finals of a tournament are decided by the admins based on who shows interest for a cast.
  • The selection is done based on shoutcasting experience, potential co-caster pairings and other factors. Only casting a lot during the tournament does not guarantee a spot in the grand finals cast.
• Before a match, it is recommended to do a pre-game interview with the players, by messaging them some questions and discussing their answers on the cast.
  • This should be done over text messages before the match, as players may not have time to answer shortly before the match.
  • Possible questions include their thoughts and expectations going into the match, thoughts behind picks & bans, reflection on their tournament performance so far.
• After a match, it is recommended to ask the winner of a match for a short interview.
  • Ask the winning player whether they would be interested in an interview, and have them join the shoutcasting voice-channel or have the admin move them into your channel, if they lack permission to do so.
  • Possible questions would be regarding the match in general, confidence levels after certain maps, thoughts behind certain plays / strategies, thoughts for upcoming matches or future opponents.

Additional resources

Collection of optional resources, used by casters in the past. None of these are necessary, but are kept here for archival purposes.

• Discord overlay for usage on shoutcasts: https://streamkit.discord.com/overlay
• Overlay image to hide ads on player streams by Gunther: Discord message
• Formatting of stream links:
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/live_stream?channel=CHANNELID
  • Twitch: https://player.twitch.tv/?channel=CHANNELNAME&enableExtensions=true&muted=false&parent=twitch.tv&player=popout&volume=1.0
  • Note: The HITMAPS overlay includes player streams now, but these can be handy in outages or other technical issues
• Initial Replay System, by Pac:
  • This is an advanced system, which is not at all mandatory to use during tournaments. This uses Streamlabs Desktop (formerly Streamlabs OBS) to add an option to get a replay of the last ~30 seconds of either player, to rewatch missed scenes or highlight important moments.
  • Discord message
• Advanced Replay System, by CurryMaker:
  • This is an even more advanced replay system, which utilizes custom scripts inside regular OBS to allow for different lengths of replays to be generated and played on the spot.
  • Discord message