A Glimpse at the Infamous Spreadsheet
If you have been watching Desert Bus for Hope the last couple of years, you might have noticed how fast videos go up on Youtube. If you thought that there were little internet elves working away to get you the third “Africa” rendition that you missed, you’re not all wrong. The Video Strike Team, or VST, is a group of off site volunteers that work diligently throughout the run to keep a record of what events have happened, grab the video footage, and upload and edit the video for everyone’s viewing pleasure.
The group grew from the community of the Desert Bus Chat, which boasts nearly a hundred active chatters off season. The members talk about everything and are bonded by their love of the event, their desire to help children in hospitals, and sometimes even their own experiences with medical issues. The transformation from a fun way to keep in touch with one another to diligent workers was started when a number of chat moderators and members were considering trying to upload sections from the torrent that was to be released of the entire event after DB5. One member, LadySephiroth, began work with XelaReko and others on a spreadsheet to keep track of what important moments had happened in the run.
Coincidentally, after switching streaming providers, Graham wanted to try out some of the features Twitch offered and contacted chat members Master Gunner, Dave_Random and Aerocmdr asking them if they wanted to use the highlight system to edit the stream during the 6th event. From this, a spreadsheet of massive intricacy was born and this spreadsheet along with the directions for uploading were circulated. While initially the plans were to keep the group small, the effort of trying to keep track of all of the call-ins, skits, songs, and everything else was a bigger undertaking than anyone expected. The group of five or six grew to include a dedicated list of chat members:
2stepz, Andreas “LambMower” Engström, Betsy, BillTheCat, Blaine aka BrainStew, Deserai “Caitiri” Del Duca, Dave_Random, Dicey, Invariel, Jace “J” Greywool, Kidspanner, LadySephiroth, LordZarano, Master Gunner, Mowinkel, QuarterNote, Derek aka Sektor88, Sokar, SweedChef, Taylor/NewClassic, Telnaior, Tyranic-Moron/GarrusVakarian, & XelaReko.
A larger portion of the group set about recording the start and end times on the sheet, and a smaller number would then take these time signatures and clip the video out as quickly as possible.
This year there is an even more complex system in place than ever before. Dave_Random almost single-handedly set up a script that will cut video from a running capture of the stream automatically using multiple servers for redundancy, including his own and ones hosted by Anubis169 and Chton. The spreadsheet is more important than ever as the script will read the times off of the sheet, pull the clips, and upload them with a small time buffer directly to Youtube. From there, they need only be given a finishing touch on the beginning and end before being made public. And the over-caffeinated elves will work on, staying up far too late to make sure every Jenga tower is documented, edited, and uploaded so you don’t have to miss a minute of the fun.
DB7 Hardcover Photo Book
Donated by Andrew Ferguson
The ultimate in Desert Bus memorabilia, this book is a professionally printed, full colour, hardcover treasure trove of Desert Bus 7 photos taken by official Desert Bus photographer Andrew Ferguson. Flip through the pages and re-visit Cam’s epic trip to the Gay Bar, Steve and Tally’s Star Trek-style shootout, Al Jazeera’s participation in internet silliness and a whole lot of dance breaks.
This book is one of only three hardcover copies that will ever be printed. It will look stunning on your coffee table or shelf, and provide a great opportunity to tell all your friends and houseguests about Desert Bus. With visuals!
Andrew Ferguson is the officially official photographer of Desert Bus for Hope, tirelessly documenting all the craziness, hilarity and feels that occur each year. During all those other weeks when Desert Bus isn’t happening, Andrew also does photography at conventions, concerts and other events, as well as portrait work. You can see examples of his other photoshoots on his website, www.goldengod.net.
We are pleased to announce that this year we will be partnering with VIATeC, the Victoria Advanced Technology Council, to broadcast Desert Bus for Hope 8 from their shiny, new facility, Fort Tectoria, in downtown Victoria. For our purposes, this space will be known as the Lunar Module.
Long have we lamented the smells, cold, and crampedness of the Moonbase come Desert Bus time, as we try to cram our small army of volunteers and mini-Everest of prizes into what is essentially a two bedroom apartment. While she has served us well, and though she continues to be an excellent home for LoadingReadyRun, she has grown weary of our presence and has thus birthed the Lunar Module. The Lunar Module comes equipped with such high class amenities as a fridge and heat. (This is actually a really big deal!)
No more will our Zeta shifters go hungry because we couldn’t store enough food in our tiny, tiny fridge.
No more will our beautiful songs be interrupted by the melodic flush from upstairs. (Though, I’m sure that will disappoint some of you. You people confuse me.)
No more will the sobs of our neighbours drown out the sounds of a 3am shout-fest with Toto.
Check out the Lunar Module!
This space will be our on-camera space, but expect it to look a lot different once we are done with it.
There is also a large off-camera work area for bloggers, Event Managers, and other desk-workers.
The downstairs also includes plenty of space for prizes, shipping, food storage and prep.
VIATeC serves as the one-stop hub that connects people, knowledge and resources to grow and promote the Greater Victoria technology sector. Fort Tectoria is VIATeC’s latest initiative to support the growth of the tech sector. It provides affordable space to local tech companies that require flexible terms and recognize the value of being close to other entrepreneurs and innovators on a daily basis.
We are very grateful for VIATeC’s generosity in opening up their Fort Tectoria space to us.
Yes, we will bring over costumes and props from the Moonbase.
Destiny Ghost Edition
Donated by Brittany Doran
Destiny! It’s big, it’s beautiful, it’s the latest big addition to the universe-exploring, alien-fighting world of inter-galactic FPSs – a gorgeous game full of stunning scenery, blood-pumping firefights and Peter Dinklage’s sultry tones. This limited edition of the game comes with all kinds of great extras, and THIS particular limited edition box has also been signed by the Bungie team. Inside, you’ll find a treasure trove of goodies, including:
- Ghost Replica (with speakers to put yet more of Peter Dinklage’s voice in your ears)
- Limited Edition SteelBook™ case and game disc
- Guardian Folio
- “Arms and Armament” field guide
- Postcards from the Golden Age
- Antique Star Chart
- A unique Ghost casing
- An Exclusive Player Emblem
- An Exclusive Player Ship Skin
AND it includes the Destiny expansion pass. Everything you need to spend many more hours piping this gorgeous game into your eyeballs.
This item has been generously donated by Brittany Doran, who is herself a member of the Bungie team.
This year Desert Bus is changing our chat system. Instead of running our own IRC server, we will be using Twitch‘s larger and more stable chat network.
What does this mean for you?
- to participate in the chat you will need to register a Twitch account (reading the chat without participating will not require an account).
- If you wish to bid on live auctions, you must attach your Twitch account to your Desert Bus account so that BidBot can verify your bids as valid. To do this:
- Log in to your Desert Bus donor account
- Go to your Profile page
- Click the
button to add your Twitch account.
Otherwise, bidding works exactly the same as last year.
For those of you that prefer web chat over an IRC client, we will be using Twitch’s embedded chat on our site.
For those of you that prefer IRC clients over web chat, you can find instructions for connecting to Twitch’s chat here.
Subscriptions will NOT be required for anything.
We think this is a good move because:
- Twitch has a larger chat network which can handle load and attacks better than we can and should be more stable
- Twitch’s embedded web chat is more user-friendly
- Twitch can provide better access to the chat on mobile platforms
- We can utilize their team of engineers to help fix problems as they occur
As with any new venture, we understand that there may be some challenges, however, we feel that the benefits of the additional stability and ease of access that Twitch’s chat offers outweighs the risks. We will do everything we can to keep the Desert Bus chat that we all know and love running as smoothly as possible; it’s full of some of the most creative, inventive, and ridiculously silly people we know.
Desert Bus chat is the best chat, no matter who hosts it.
Raz Custom Figure
Created & Donated by Shaun Nakasone
This little guy really gets into your head. This custom 8″ figure is a physical representation (totally real, not a mental projection) of everyone’s favorite Psychonaut/circus performer Razputin from the Doublefine’s “Psychonauts”.
Disclaimer: will not enter your mind and sort out mental baggage.
The original 4″ munny vinyl figure was given additional hand sculpted elements made out of sculpey and Apoxie sculpt clay, the the whole figure was primed and beautifully custom painted with acrylic paints.
About the artist:
Shaun first started out making them as gifts for friends – mostly characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Team Fortress 2. He possesses a lifelong interest in video games, sculpting and customizing. Figure making is a blast but his least favorite aspect of figure-making? All the dust from sanding the figure – ick.
Castle Crashers Pink Knight Figurine
Donated by The Behemoth
From Alien Hominid to Battleblock Theater and more, The Behemoth is well known for great games with utterly adorable characters (they make you say d’awww even as they disembowel you). The delightfully darling, utterly deadly Castle Crashers Pink Knight is one such fellow. He wears his heart on his tunic and his enemies’ hearts on his sword. When he’s in the right mood, he might even ditch the traditional weapons and wind his foes’ intestines around a giant lollipop. This lot comes with a limited edition Pink Knight figurine and a stand that holds the knight and his assortment of weapons, including sword, shield, lollipop, fish, axe and mace. For added value and general awesomeness, the case has been signed & decorated by Dan Paladin.
UPDATED 2014-11-08: We’re still missing a few icons! Take a look at what we have left.
UPDATED 2014-10-27: We’ve crossed off the achievement icons that we have received submissions for. You can still submit for any cheevo; we won’t make any decisions until after the deadline, but we thought we’d let you know what which ones still need submissions. Thanks for all your awesome artwork! Keep ’em coming!
Help create our achievement icons!
Use this image as a background to create your cheevo-specific image. Click above to see the full-sized image.
An example icon for the Banhammer achievement
Another example icon.(It’s a tree.)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Choral Reef | More than 10 people singing on camera simultaneously |
| Emergent Gameplay | A driver claims to have found a way to “make the game better” |
| Hammertime | Someone gets IRL banhammered by one of the chat mods |
| Prize Pig | A pig is sweetened |
| Show Off | A driver gets 2 points in a single shift |
| Turn Down for… what? | The dance button is pushed and something decidedly un-dancy comes on |
| We’re Helping! | When the chat solves a problem nobody at the Moonbase can fix |
| Who’s Cutting Onions? | Someone at the Moonbase is moved to tears by “all dem feelings” |
| Secret Cheevos – For these you only get the name, but not how to achieve them 😉 |
| C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER |
| Clubbing a Dead Horse |
| Gender Fender Bender |
| Somebody Stop Me |
Cat-Panion Cube Cat Bed
Crafted & Donated by Lauren
Area and state regulations do not allow the Cat-panion Cubes to remain behind, alone and companionless, when you leave the house. You could just never leave the house, of course, but you’ve got to at least buy groceries occasionally. We have a solution though: you know who doesn’t need to leave the house? Your adorable cat! Your cat gets to sleep in the warmth of a Portal themed cat bed, and you get to add some geeky charm to your house – everyone wins! Don’t have a cat? Stuff a blanket inside, flip the cube over, and turn it into a footrest – all sides are decorated so it looks good no matter which way you flip it. Or wear it on your head as a sensory deprivation device (not recommended). Or get a cat (highly recommended)!
About the Crafter:
Lauren has been sewing since she was 7, and in the past she mostly used that training to make awesome Halloween costumes, but her crazy-cat-lady tendencies led her to pursue cat-based crafting. With the cat-panion cube finished, she’s hoping to find other geeky cube shaped references to turn into cat beds, and might even make one for her own two cats if she ever finds the time.
A note from Tally: Photos in memory of Idgie, who passed away in August 2014 at age 22. He gave the Cat-panion cube a thorough testing and was very pleased with its spaciousness and softness, and most displeased not to be allowed to remain in it.