This amazing new feature really takes AArcade multiplayer to the next level. Over-the-shoulder spectating is when you stand behind a person in the VR world and watch him play the game LIVE on the cabinet's in-game screen.
This feature was in development for some time, but last week I revamped it and made it easy and automatic for all players to do.
Game streaming is becoming more popular every day, and as a result, there's starting to be a lot more gamers that know how to stream. Each of them has their own streaming preferences. Some use XSplit, others opt for OBS. Some use Twitch.tv for syndication, while thers use Hitbox.tv.
AArcade's solution for Over-The-Shoulder Spectating needed to be agile enough to allow players to continue using the stuff that they like. And the new Over-The-Shoulder Spectating system that I have added to Anarchy Arcade does just that.
You simply tell AArcade what your Twitch.tv channel name is, and that is literally all you have to do.
When ever you launch a game from a multiplayer server, Anarchy Arcade will check your Twitch channel to see if you are actually live streaming or not. As soon as you are detected as live streaming, an announcement is made in the AArcade server and everybody automatically selects the game cabinet you are standing in front of.
You will have an entire VR room of people behind you watching you play over your shoulder, so the pressure's on!
Right now only streaming to Twitch is supported, but soon Hitbox.tv support will be added, with more syndication services to follow by request.
All of the arcades hosted in multiplayer are the personal work of the players who built them. After exploring some of the amazing arcades that people created, it became apparent that there should be a way to leave feedback to the server host on all his hard work.
So now the first thing you see when you join somebody's multiplayer arcade is a Welcome screen. It shows the Steam avatar of the server host, a link to his Steam profile, some buttons to thumbs up / thumbs down his arcade, a brief description or set of rules that the host asks you to follow, and a button to block his server if you don't like it.
In addition to that, now all cabinets track not only your own play time on them, but also the play time that other people have spent on the cabinet. This means you'll be able to see which items in your arcade are the most popular based on how many hours people have spent playing them in your multiplayer arcade.
Early next week you'll see a couple more multiplayer additions & improvements, but then I'm shifting gears and will be creating art assets for the remainder of September.
Double Action Boogaloo artist & anarcast.tv boradcaster Black Stormy is becoming a serial contributor to Anarchy Arcade and will be working along side me next week to bring you guys some new off-the-hook cabinet and prop models to keep your arcades spicy.
We'll be very busy pulling on verticies all week, and that leaves me little time for programming, so keep an eye out for a couple new guides and articles to hit the Steam community that will showcase some amazing communtiy made addon content that is sure to keep things fresh.
In case you didn't know, every Wednesday I and the other broadcasters from http://www.anarcast.tv participate in Video Day. This is a weekly 24-hour gaming & streaming marathon that happens every Wednesday, all day long.
Last week we had 5 concurrent streams happening the whole day! Lots of stuff happening each week. I also give out gift codes to viewers that allow them to unlock special exclusive props & cabinets within Anarchy Arcade!
You are all invited to participate by watching the stream, chatting with us, or jumping into the actual games and playing with us! Last Wednesday I actually spent all day playing games from users' multiplayer arcades! You can bookmark http://www.anarcast.tv or just follow me on Twitter. I send a Tweet every Wednesday morning to let you know that it's kicking off!