Twitch HTML5 player

Edit: Since HTML5 player is now the default for Twitch this post no longer of any interest and I've since moved on to use a combination of livestreamer and irc when watching Twitch streams.

Background

I got really fed up with how bad Twitch was working for me in Firefox. I love both Twitch and Firefox but I got very bad frame rate and theater mode and full screen is more or less unwatchable for me. The problem is present both with and without hardware acceleration enabled in browser. As per usual I blame this on Flash.
Chrome handles the Twitch flash player somewhat better but also behaves strangely from time to time, dropping frames and freezing. Not at all as bad as in Firefox

Solution

So I started to look around for a solution and discovered that Twitch do have a HTML5 player but the information around the web is fragmented, outdated and not very reliable. I did find this solution that works fine for me and satisfies my needs. I just use a URL like this, substituting channelname:
http://player.twitch.tv/?branding=false&html5&showInfo=false&channel=channelname
The official documentation can be found here but all parameters are not documented and HTML5 is not even mentioned. For example html5, branding and showInfo is not documented and their forum is not much help either.
Example:
Dethfanatics awesome StarCraft II stream
This show only the stream and nothing else, i.e no chat or other information.
Protip: You can use the Youtube HTML5 Video Player page to check if browser support HTML5 video player.

StarCraft II settings

Trying out some new settings after watching Jakatak's Settings Guide. So, to document my journey, I am archiving them here.

Graphics

Sound

Voice

Mouse and keyboard

Gameplay

Social

Observer and replay

Day 70, quick pickup/drop practice

Was checking out this new CSN Starcraft site after reading the introduction post on reddit starcraft and came across this Fast Pickup/ Drop Micro Tutorial.

So I spent some time practicing according to this simplified list:

Fast pick up

1. select the air unit
2. right-click the ground unit for pickup

Fast unload

1. Unload hotkey
2. left-click on the air unit to unload

Fast pick up and move away

1. move command to a location near unit to pick up
2. then shift-click the unit and move command away

Go ahead and watch the video to understand the details.

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

While watching a 24-hour stream by dethfanatic the problem with Repetitive Strain Injury came up on stream and in chat and the importance of  stretches was pointed out. This reddit post was linked with a lot of good stuff about this: A Public Service Announcement regarding Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)


Take a couple of minutes to familiarize yourself with this, especially if this is an unknown issue for for you.

Terran logo, 3D model, first render

Using the terran logo vector drawing from previous post as a starting point I finally came around to learn some basics of Blender, this incredibly powerful 3D suite. Here's the first rendering of the project:

Next thing will be to come up with some nice texture. I'm thinking some kind of metal. Later I will move on to create a smooth sculpted 3D surface to get an object looking like it has been machine carved right out of a solid block of metal.

Terran logo vector drawing, v1

Started to work on a basic terran logo vector drawing. Just getting the shape in place in this first iteration. I'm intentionally making it unsymmetrical cause I think it gives it a more organic kind of feeling.

Work in progress. Using Inkscape on Linux. Somewhere down the line I will use this for something... *building suspense* :)

Nexus visual cues

When scouting protoss it is important to know what's going on. The Nexus animation is kind of subtle but this is what it looks like.

From left to right:

1. not producing anything
2. producing a probe 
3. producing the mothership core

 

With cronoboost:

Without cronoboost:

Macro Cycle

Recently read this artcile The Macro Cycle, inspired by Day[9] Daily #360 P1 - Mental Checklist: Exercises!.

This is the concept of constantly going through a cycle of things to keep track and react to. I have been struggling with this and I found the article and the Day9 videos to be a huge help to understand how to approach this and start learning how to do it efficiently.

Go check em out!

PS. For some inspiration check out the VODs from IEM Katowice.

Visual cues in StarCraft II

I recently started to try to pay more attention to the visual cues of units and buildings. I found this video showing off some the cues found in the game.




Unfortunately that video is a bit outdated.



Just for fun I made a short video showing off the visual cue of the Disruptor.

Day One

This is day one of the folly adventures of a middle aged man and  his love for a game he is not really very good at.

There are a lot of great players with high quality streams and content to follow if you're interested in StarCraft II but what about all the rest of us?

Where is the consistent, high quality stream and content from the nice low level players? Players you can identify with that isn't embarrassed by, or afraid to show, their lack of skills and doesn't feel the need to be salty and call other players noob as soon as they get the chance (the forums and reddit has plenty of this already)?

Maybe there is a lot of content from mediocre and low skill players out there and I just haven't found it yet.