Fangame Marathon 2019 Megathread

[CakeSauc3]

Greetings all! This thread contains information on Fangame Marathon 2019. Let's get ready to have a great time!

I. General Info

First off, thanks to all of you who voted in the poll. The date for this year's marathon will be June 13-16th, starting at 12 PM PDT on Thursday and ending around that same time Sunday. A shorter bonus stream will take place shortly thereafter on Sunday.

Much of the discussion regarding the organization of the marathon will take place on the marathon's Discord server, so please join it here: https://discord.gg/wW4axZp

As Wolsk and I are both serving as administrators for this year's event, please contact either of us if you need help with anything:

Discord: Wolsk#6969 and CakeSauc3#4517
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/Wolsk and www.twitch.tv/CakeSauc3
IWC Forums: Wolsk and CakeSauc3

II. Participants and Volunteers

Participant Submissions:

If you want to sign up as a runner/showcaser, check out our submission form here: https://tinyurl.com/fm19sub

Submissions will be open from now through Sunday,  April 28th. While it's best to not wait until the last minute, feel free to use this next month to prepare. You can see a list of submitted runs here: https://tinyurl.com/fm19results

We are aiming for 72 hours of marathon time, so we need every submission we can get! Due to the immense enthusiasm last year, this year we are making some changes to our selection process. As such, we cannot guarantee everyone a place in the event, but we are still looking to include as many people as possible.

Note that you don't strictly have to submit a game to speedrun. If you'd like to showcase something such as an Avoidance, TAS, or other creative outlet (like a Fangame Development Tutorial) then you are more than welcome to submit those here, too!

Because of the amazing support last year, we are once again including non-IWBTG Fangames into Fangame Marathon. That means if you have a Fangame from another game you'd love to show off, whether it be from the Undertale, Mario, Metroid, or Zelda universes (or anything really), then you're welcome to submit it as well! We look forward to seeing the variety we'll get this time around! And please help us to spread this info by telling friends from other Fangame communities who may be interested in joining!

In case you'd like to see what last year's event looked like, here's a link to the FM 2018 schedule: https://horaro.org/fm/2018

Volunteers:

We would love to have more members in the tech crew this year. Our tech crew handles restreaming, organization, technical difficulties, and other issues that may come up throughout the marathon. While it can be a lot of work, being a part of the tech crew means you would get to work behind the scenes and make some great friends with other dedicated members of our community.

Outside of the tech crew, there are other, more minor roles that you can volunteer for. We are always looking for help with highlighting video segments, moderating chat on Twitch, managing our social media throughout the event, commentating runs, etc. Help with any of these tasks would be much appreciated!

If you would like to volunteer for any role (major or minor), please contact Wolsk, any member of the tech crew, or myself!

Special Events:

As a part of every Fangame Marathon, we have special events catered towards everyone, pros and beginner players alike! These special events range from needle challenges like Jump Master, avoidance challenges like the Avoidance Tournament, and more creative challenges such as Needle Maker! If you are interested in participating in FM this year but don't feel like having the pressure of running anything, then our special events are right up your alley!
 
If you would like to suggest and manage your own special event involving any type of Fangame, join our Discord server (https://discord.gg/wW4axZp) and use the #special-events channel to talk!

You can get started by submitting what you would like to participate in using the following link: https://tinyurl.com/fm19special

Relay Race:

If you want to get behind and participate in what is widely considered to be hands-down the most fun and exciting event Fangame Marathon has to offer, consider signing up for the Relay Race! The Relay is an all-out race between 3 teams to finish a certain number of Fangames the fastest and is always a fan-favorite of the special events.

Blocks:

Once again, this year we will be organizing different runs and showcases into blocks. The organization of our blocks will be decided once submissions are in, but one that we definitely want to have is a "Sudoku Block" for extra bad Fangames.  Let's show off the worst of the worst!

Also, we will be including Setup Blocks as part of the schedule in an attempt to allow our tech crew to more smoothly handle transitions in the stream and keep on schedule. Because of this, some speedruns and events may be used during these Setup Blocks and will be accepted into the schedule as "bonus" segments.  Having a run in as a bonus does not guarantee that it will be played; it will be done only if the current schedule allows for it.


III. Guidelines for Participants and Viewers

For runners and showcasers:

Please be ready to stream at your scheduled time. We ask that you be available up to 30 minutes beforehand for setup to allow for schedule inconsistency.

It's helpful if you can bring commentary for your own segment, whether from yourself or someone else knowledgeable of the game you are showing off. If you are unable to provide for it, let an admin or tech crew member know so a commentator may be found. There is a section in the run submission form for commentary planning for this purpose.

We ask that your stream be set up correctly beforehand, including audio balancing and a stable bitrate for your internet connection. We will provide instructions for streaming to the RTMP server closer to the marathon date.

Please keep the FM Twitch chat open during your run to be able to see tech crew messages and also interact with viewers.

We ask that you keep your language to a PG-13 level, with no excessive cursing. It's common for many people (myself included) to get salty while playing Fangames, but this event is when we tone it down in order to appeal to a larger audience.

Runners must comply with Twitch's Community Guidelines at all times. This includes no racism of any kind, even in jest. Please avoid use of words like "retarded" or "faggot" that may be grounds for offensive content per Twitch's rules.

Most importantly, enjoy the event! We put on Fangame Marathon to celebrate the games that we love and share them with people within and outside our community, so we hope you guys have a great time putting them on display!

For viewers:

Most of our viewers have behaved well at past marathons, so let's keep that up! Please remember that just like broadcasters, viewers should refrain from excessive language in the chat, as well as any form of racism, even in jest.

We understand that things can get competitive in races, and it can be a lot of fun to spam cheers to hype up and encourage your team/participant of choice. However, let's remember to keep these moments clear of comments that may discourage other racers. After all, the purpose of this event is to have fun!

Fangame Marathon tends to attract a lot of newcomers to see these games for the first time, so when questions like "What are these games?" and "Where can I download them?" come up, remember that this is our chance to be helpful and give a good first impression. We have done a good job of this in the past - let's do it again this year!

As you watch the marathon, be sure to clip any funny or awesome moments that you see! It will help a lot for sharing these tidbits with friends, as well as assisting in the creation of the highlight reel at the end of the event!

While we won't be accepting donations towards a charity this year, we are planning on allowing  subscriptions to the Twitch channel for the marathon, with money going towards the support of future Fangame events. So if you would like to support Fangame-related events in the future, we welcome you to subscribe!  Any amount is appreciated!

V. Closing

As the event draws closer, it would be great if everybody can get the word out about the marathon. We’ll be using the hashtag #FangameMarathon on Twitter to hype up the event, so feel free to join in! Also, remember to follow the Fangame Marathon Twitch channel and host it as much as you like during the event. Every little bit of exposure helps!

As you encounter people who you would like to let know about FM, share the links below with them so they can easily find us when the time comes:

Fangame Marathon Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fangamemarathon

Fangame Marathon YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/FangameMarathon

Follow the Wannabes on Twitter for Fangame Marathon updates: https://twitter.com/WannabesTTV

Feel free to ask questions in the Discord server or in this thread. Thanks for reading!