Caster tools and tournament scenes

Casting on Vespene has two halves: the role (a verified caster badge that gets you into events) and the broadcast kit (one OBS scene source plus a control desk that drives it).

Becoming a caster#

Apply through the "Become a verified caster" flow; a site admin reviews the application and grants the global CASTER badge. With the badge you can join a tournament's caster pool (organizers run pools open or restricted), and the casting board lists live and upcoming matches that need a caster: nominate yourself and jump straight into the lobby. Organizers approve nominations on restricted events.

Being an approved caster on a match gets you what you need and nothing more: the lobby, its chat, the replays, and embargoed results for the event you are casting.

The scene overlay#

Your caster URL (from Overlay Studio with the BROADCASTER surface selected, or the control desk's URL generator, added as a second 1920x1080 browser source) renders whatever scene is currently set: nothing, tournament results, standings, a match spotlight, or a replay theater running full-frame playback. One source, every scene; you switch scenes from the desk, not in OBS.

Styling lives in Overlay Studio's BROADCASTER profile: accent color, plate opacity, results panel geometry, the scorebug, the rotating session card, and the chat column. Two one-click presets cover the default look and a minimal one.

The control desk#

Two ways to drive the scenes, same desk either way:

• In the Command Console (F10, the Broadcast tab, On air): the scene switcher, laid out like OBS Studio's studio mode. Preview on the left, Program on the right, TAKE between them; scene cards under the monitors; only the picked scene's settings below. Nothing changes on stream until TAKE. This is where the desk lives now that the Broadcaster add-in is retired; the Companion's main window shows the same console.
• In the browser on its own page: the Broadcast Control Panel at /overlay/control. Both are signed-in only (deliberately not a token URL, so a leaked overlay URL can never control your stream).

The switcher gives you: your own saved scenes (a named scene with its event, match, caption and pin already set, one click away; up to 24, in your order), the quick scene cards (Auto, Hide all, Live match, Session stats, Performance, Results, Standings, Spotlight, Replay), an event picker with search for the tournament scenes, the match list for Spotlight, the replay list and a playback speed for Replay, a caption field and a keep-visible pin, and the Preview monitor that shows all of it before it goes live. The control panel page keeps its older button desk.

HIDE ALL is the master kill switch. It blanks every scene, and the post-match recap honors it too, so one button guarantees a clean screen for a sponsor read.

Replay jump-in and match data are role-gated to the people who should see them: site admins, the event's organizers and staff, approved pool casters, and participants. Completed events stay listed for casters for two weeks, with the organizer's spoiler embargo still applied.

In-game auto-hide#

With the Companion running, it reports whether you are in a game (the Hide overlays while I am in a game switch on the Broadcast tab's Setup; on by default, no add-in to install), and overlays get out of the way on their own: the post-match recap clears the instant a new game starts, and scene content can hide while you play (pin a scene to opt it out). The presence signal fails open: if the Companion dies mid-stream, overlays return after three minutes rather than staying stuck hidden.

A practical setup checklist#

1. Open the console's Broadcast tab, Setup, and create your stream key: every OBS source gets its link with Copy and a sample-data Preview. Add the post-match and caster sources in OBS at 1920x1080.
2. Under Looks, open Caster widgets and set your accent and panel sizes against the live preview.
3. If you play on the same PC you cast from, run the Companion: it hides overlays while you are in a game with nothing else to install.
4. Before the event, save the scenes you will cut to (results, standings, a sponsor read with its caption). On event day: On air open, TAKE Auto between series, preview and TAKE the Spotlight of the current match, and double-click a saved scene to cut straight to it.