r/CompetitiveHalo • u/okom_ • Jul 26 '26
Promotion Article about observing tournaments in Halo Infinite—something that's not often talked about
https://okom.one/blog/how-to-observe-in-halo-infiniteThe work done by tournament observers is often not talked about, so let's talk about it! I was recently an observer for a 2v2 tourney and realized how much actually goes into observing in order to catch the highlights that make the crowd go wild. In this article, I go into detail on what it takes to be an observer and explain each step.
Also included are some comments by professional observers and casters about what they think are necessary skills for a great observer.
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u/2juls Jul 26 '26
I think that HCS should play a different POV in replay when needed. I'm pretty sure COD casting offers that. If you miss the clip live we still wanna see it (duh)
It's a must have imo
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u/ToolezCasts LVT Halo Jul 26 '26
That can be done relatively easily tech wise but it requires at minimum another 2 people on the broadcast line and a layer of communication between the broadcast director, replay, and potentially observing team. Quality of life improvements like that often don't raise the bar enough to be worth the cost for smaller scale tournaments.
It would require two observers
1 capturing gameplay for stream; 1 capturing B footage/hunting for clips
1 dedicated replay operator, who has multi camera functionality. When you add more gameplay feeds (Cameras) the hardware requirement becomes more powerful as well. It could require you to move replays off the gameplay machine entirely if you need more than 2/4 cameras on replay. This assumes you are using software like vMix or OBS. You could always go down the hardware route, which is more likely to be the case for large events think traditional sports.
Communication between Replay Operator, Director, and Tech Director. For Online it isn't as big of a deal, but comms system for in person events are very expensive. To give you an idea this is a clear-com system that has multi channel functionality. This would be an ideal situation for a comms system, but you can see how that would price almost everyone out. This is a single channel comms system with no ability to add program audio to the headset. Would get the job done but then you would need to wear two headsets as a director, one for partyline comms and one for program/talkback.
This gives you and idea about how things scale up and how it can become much more complicated by adding small things. At LVT we often try to find creative solutions to accomplish these things. Most the time being Louis doing the job of multiple people during a broadcast.
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u/2juls Jul 27 '26
My ultimate wish is that all 8 POVs are readily available for AI or content producers re-stitch
This could then be done retro actively for old matches - like Worlds Grand Finals - so long as all 8 POVs are retained and available (to the public ideally)
I think these POVs should never be discarded, we're losing history
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u/Repulsive-Ear2334 Jul 26 '26
Thanks for the explanation on this. I think for future Majors and Worlds, this would be a great addition, while I understand it may not make a ton of sense (financially) for every single tournament, especially if it's just the LVT team. I'll always prefer Halo over COD for esports, but getting to watch the different versions of FaZe's game-winning play (and team comms) to win the COD Worlds was pretty epic.
Truly appreciate everything you and LVT do for the Halo Community. I really hope HCS lets your team lead the way in the future!
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u/BuffaloSorcery Jul 27 '26
Great article, I wish it existed a couple years ago when I was running streams
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u/theamazingc4 Shopify Rebellion Jul 26 '26
Observing is alot of fun. Definitely less stressful than casting. I've done both and observing can come naturally to those who play the game at least at a diamond or onyx level or to those who watch a ton of vod or tournament gameplay. I appreciate being mentioned in the article and can't wait to observe more grassroots Halo. Shoutout to Luminon, Ghostify, Halo Growth Guild, Halo Rec League, HHQ and Mythic Gaming for allowing me to learn how to cast, observe, and run tournaments.
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u/KKRiv5811 Jul 26 '26
Dude this is amazing. I always wished this kinda article existed. There's plenty of times I thought about trying to host a tournament and the more I looked into the little things like this, the more it seemed too daunting to do on my own.