Ultimate Insight 10 : Jett

1) You're heavily involved with the upcoming QLD major titled Meta Shift. What will make this event stand out from other majors? And how are you finding the tough decisions such as the choice to run doubles on the Friday?

> The tournament is focused on Ultimate, which allows us to run additional events for the game including Squad Strike and a 3v3 Crews bracket. We plan to have 3v3 Crews as the main side event to Singles (rather than Doubles) which is a unique decision of itself. 3v3 Crews seems to be something that people would prefer to watch over doubles, which leads into the next point of distinction.

I want there to be a focus on production quality, where the viewing experience is just as important as the playing experience. I've been making improvements to the FNS stream in preparation for this, such as replays and bringing back the green screen. But I hope to improve things even more for META SHIFT.

There's a third aspect that may make the event stand out to others, but that's still behind the curtain as it involves budgeting. Which may be the cause of more tough decisions to come.



2) Earlier this year you started up the Tournameta podcast series and are 11 episodes in. What was your goal for starting this series and how do you think it's gone so far?

> I wanted to start a podcast due to listening to so many on my commute to and from work. Particularly enjoying those that highlighted a special guest where you'd get an insight into that person.

I didn't really see myself as the host as I take a while to warm up to new people. I thought Cap would be perfect for it and luckily he was on board and has come up with most of the segments that are now a staple for the cast.

I originally wanted it to evolve into a mechanism for talking to big personalities. But I've found that the episodes talking to close community members have been some of the best.

Motivation for the project has had its highs and lows, but I'm thrilled with how the project has been received and the positive feedback has really kept it going.



3) You're the creator behind Streameta which is a program for stream overlays. What has been the biggest frustration of this project thus far? How big do you think it will become?

> The market itself is quite niche, so how big it will become is more dependant on expanding the target audience. It would be neat to see it used for big Esports (or even sports) productions, even though it might be stressful for me if something goes wrong for them.

At the moment I'm still keen to implement eveything myself to make sure it's a cohesive experience. But in order for it to become as big as I want it to be, the notion of letting other people touch it (in a development sense) is inevitable. I consider it "my baby" more than any other project I've worked on so that could cause future frustration.

Developing your own software for overlays allows for so much freedom with what you want to do. But opening it up to others has come at the cost of having to think about how to implement a feature that will work for everyone (not just Smash) and not just my own stream.

Overall I'm super happy with how it's evolving and how many streamers from all around the world are getting on board.



4) You've been on hand to capture some of the biggest moments of QLD smash history. What are some of the hypest, most pivotal moments that you've been there for?

> Some of the more pivotal moments are when the old guard is defeated. Flex winning FNS 35 over Jaice, and later Curtain and Ben doing similar. Negima beating Jezmo at the CW New Year Bash really signaled the start of a new era.

One of the more hype moments was the GUF Brisbane vs GUF Geelong crew battle. Going from the odds being heavily in our favour, to being several stocks down, to Jaice clutching it out in the end was really hype.

Any Ben Gold vs Mittens set has to be my favourite from this year. Just two heavies duking it out with hard reads is a recipe for hype.

Getting a massive stream raid from VoiD was sweet. As well as having Pulse and BT's BS commentary entertaining him and his viewers enough for him to want to raid the stream a second time. Cap and BT talking about King K Rool's dick has to be another commentary highlight.



5) Despite retiring from the competitive scene due to injury you continued to stick around in a different capacity and have become one of the most important figures in QLD Smash. What drives you to keep coming back? Why Smash?

> Smash has always been my favourite game series since playing the 64 version at 5 years old. Going to my first tournament at the beginning of Smash 4 only amplified my love for the series. Since developing RSI in my wrists I essentially stopped practicing the game in my own time. I would still attend tournaments mainly due to the stream.

I always wanted to try livestreaming at home but never had internet good enough to do so. After learning that tournaments were held at universities (with good internet), and that there was a distinct lack of regular Smash streams in Australia, I decided to give it a shot. After the first few streams, I began developing Streameta to help efficiency with updating overlays.

After solidifying myself as the main streamer for QLD, developing Streameta was a driving force and motivation for me to come to tournaments. I'd make improvents each week and see how the commentators would react to using it, which really helped its ease of use in the end.

Aside from my internal motivations, one thing has been a constant driver to keep me coming back. Tournaments were the one place that I really felt a sense of community. I mostly kept to myself at uni and didn't go out of my way to make new friends. But tournaments were a place that I could be social and be productive at the same time. A win-win for me.

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I usually use this section as a space for the person being interviewed to promote something, but I personally want to highlight Jett's three big projects. The Smash major Meta Shift is running on Feb 14th to 16th 2020 and is looking sick with its emphasis on fun. Streameta is actually insane and if your region has a kind of eh stream then hit up your stream master to check out the program. And lastly the Tournameta Podcast is a delight and I look forward to it every fortnight. It captures the personality of the guests in a way that these blogs don't and is legit laugh out loud funny. Alright, here's Jett's promotion -

If you're interested in speedrunning at all, I implore you to join or follow along with the Hollow Knight speedrun tournament. I've had a few people that wanted to join speedrun tournaments in the past but got concerned about how well they'd perform. You really don't have to be very good, that's the point: to learn and have fun. Although it hasn't been as successful as the podcast, the speedrun tournaments are something I'm passionate about and I want to find ways for more people to share my excitement.