Extra Life 2016 Game Day Review

Last Saturday-Sunday, Team Geekundspiel completed its Extra Life Game Day marathon. We played our butts off from morning 'til night 'til morning again to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Thanks to our fans, friends, and families, we successfully raised $2,270 for the Children's Hospital of Georgia! Not bad for a team of only 6 members and only a month of planning! 

I am incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication our team displayed for this even. As a quick reminder, donations are open until the end of the year, so you can still donate to our team. If you haven't, please consider throwing a couple of bucks our way.

Messages from our Team:

Jeff: I thought the Extra Life fundraiser went very well. There were hiccups along the way with the live streaming, but that's to be expected for first timers. We played a lot of fun games, my favorite was probably Scythe or Mysterium. I'll definitely do it again though hopefully I'll be able to get some more time off to recover.

Eric: Last weekend, I participated in Extra Life's Game Day for the first time. Personally, for me it was the first time I had ever really done anything in support of charity. Being part of a team of people helping to raise money for my local Children's Miracle Network hospital made me proud, and to be a part of something larger than yourself is always fulfilling. While I may not have known all of the people going into the day, by the time the full 24 hours had passed, I felt like I had made friends out of some very good people. In this life, I feel it is my duty to do what I can to help other people, however little it may be. That was the reason I decided that I wanted to participate in Extra Life's Game Day, to be a part of something larger than myself and to do what I could to help those in need.

Our Setup

Having two dogs present was crucial to our success.

We split my house into two sections for gaming: dining room for tabletop games which got the most use, and the living room for video games. The dining room didn't require much setup, but the living room needed some alterations. We opened up a corner and brought down a table and chair for Eric's PC setup. We also brought down the IKEA cabinet I use for game storage so we could have a centralized location for storage.

Emily, Shawn, and Zach brought two PS4's (for a total of three altogether) and used a spare TV so they could have dual-screen gaming. They also brought the Wii U, which sadly did not get used. 

For live streaming, we tried alternating between YouTube and Twitch. Despite getting a brand new modem and router and upping our internet speed, we did not always get high quality video due to streaming through WiFi. The only computer that could handle streaming to any degree was a MacBook Pro that did not have an Ethernet port. So while we could easily get a picture through the card capture device, streaming became a constant issue. We tried it through YouTube, which worked fairly well, and we also tried using Twitch which had some issues during one game where it reset itself every few minutes (which is why I now have dozens of 2-minute clips on the Twitch channel). We used a Canon HF R700 camera connected to an Elgato Game Capture HD60, a Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 for a second screen (that was brand new and completely stopped working at some point), and a Neewar shotgun microphone. While none of this is exactly professional-level equipment, it was more than enough for our purposes and hopefully for any future videos we attempt.

Our Games

We played the following tabletop games:

  • King of Tokyo
  • Betrayal at House on the Hill (w/ Widow's Walk expansion)
  • Scythe
  • Onitama 
  • Magic: The Gathering Commander format
  • Smash Up
    • Shapeshifters/Mythic Greeks
    • Ninjas/Dragons
    • Zombies/Bear Cavalry
    • Giant Ants/Mythic Horses
  • Mysterium
  • Lanterns
  • Rhino Hero
  • Tokaido
  • Dead of Winter
  • Archer: Once You Go Blackmail... (Love Letter)
  • One Night Ultimate Werewolf + Daybreak

We played the following video games:

  • Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn/Heavensward Online (PC)
  • Super Smash Bros. (3DS)
  • Call of Duty Infinite Warfare (PS4)
  • Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4)
  • FIFA 17 (PS4)
  • Overwatch (PS4)
  • Super Meat Boy (PS4)
  • Tricky Towers (PS4)

What We Would Change

  • I want to implement more fundraising opportunities leading up to the event, and work to get even more attention and money our way through activities, raffles, giveaway, etc. This is, after all, for the kids!
  • Regrettably, we didn't get to do the D&D on-shot game we had planned. Everyone was a bit bummed about this, but the timing didn't work out.
  • Next year, we will probably consider implementing shifts so people get equal rest periods. Not sure how well that will work, because this year I refused to take a nap.
  • Improve streaming capabilities so we can up our quality and interaction with fans. I want people to see us in real-time and talk to us, so more attention needs to be given to that. Jeff also pointed out that we were ending our filming before the live stream had time to catch up, meaning the end of a lot of our videos are cut off.
  • Work closer with local businesses. As mentioned on our Extra Life page, Cardboard Castle Games and Level Up Game Center were kind enough to point a few people in our direction and post some posters in their stores. It was very last minute last year, so my hope is that next year we can work closely with them, even if they choose to create their own teams.
  • Keep closer track of games played, stats, etc. This is just for fun.

Final Thoughts

I couldn't be happier with the way our first year went. Everyone was incredibly pleased with how we did and they're all looking forward to doing this again next year. I've been in touch with someone from the Children's Hospital of Georgia, and hopefully next year we can work together to spread the word about this amazing event and all the good it's done. This went well, but next year: more games, more people, and MORE MONEY FOR THE KIDS. Again, thank you to everyone who donated! And if you haven't donated yet, there's still time!

Videos

Warning: Live streams are unedited. We tried very very hard not to use foul language, but for many of us, that proved too difficult a task. OK, for some of us. OK mostly me, I'm sorry, ok??? Also, I can't promise that we don't make awful or tasteless jokes. We can be pretty bad people.

Friday VarietyJacobboard game, charity, extra life, video games, event