Raidiant

Producing CAH: Behind the scenes ft. Pinecone & Aloe

Frizby

November 27, 2024

Calling All Heroes has been a launchpad for dozens of aspiring professional players from marginalized genders who have struggled to gain visibility in the Overwatch esports scene. Today, we’re going behind the scenes to meet the real Raidiant heroes who make this platform a reality.

In 2024, Overwatch 2 esports has become overly saturated, and marginalized genders frequently find themselves sidelined due to limited opportunities. That’s where Calling All Heroes steps in—but bringing this event to viewers’ screens is far more complex than it appears at first glance.

We sat down with Raidiant Lead Producer Alexis “Pinecone” Wood, known for her work as the Producer and Director of the Riot Games’ VCT North America and VCT Game Changers North America during her time with Nerd Street Gamers. We also had the pleasure of getting some input from Tournament Ops Ali “Aloe” Berkey, who has over 6 years of experience executing online and LAN tournament operations for premier esports events, including Riot Games’ VCT Game Changers & Blizzard’s Calling All Heroes.

From coordinating teams to managing last-moment blunders, the duo explains why event production isn’t as simple as it may appear to a viewer at home.

Behind Calling All Heroes

Calling All Heroes has steadily attracted a growing number of viewers over time, but it wasn’t always one of the most highly anticipated events in Overwatch 2. Despite fluctuations in viewership, the Raidiant production team has never compromised on the quality and execution of the event.

Pinecone: The size of the audience is never a concern. As a broadcaster, I want my product to be held to the same quality standard if one person is watching or one million. A smaller audience might feel less stressful at the moment, but I’ve never once tried to scale back based on viewership.

For this reason, Calling All Heroes has successfully run for three years, becoming one of the flagship events for Overwatch 2 in the marginalized gaming community.

A live event like Calling All Heroes has several complex layers. Audio, video, and broadcast coordination are just the tip of the iceberg. At the end of the day, it’s an esports event, which means getting player stats and information right—an ordeal that can feel quite overwhelming during a live game.

When it comes to pushing technical boundaries, Pinecone is also eager to explore new technology for streaming. She explains that video compression advancements, such as H265 and AV1, offer intriguing possibilities but notes that the true game-changer would be if streaming platforms could increase bitrate limits.

Pinecone:I honestly just wish we could start pushing higher bitrate streams. H265 and AV1 and other developments in video compression are really interesting, but we can do more with existing technology if bitrate limits were increased by streaming service providers.

When it comes to registering players, setting up brackets, and ensuring accuracy for broadcasts, Pinecone and Aloe each bring a unique approach tailored to their responsibilities. Pinecone highlights that every game varies in its integration methods, with some offering seamless game-state integration and others providing limited or no live data.

Pinecone:The reality is that each game has its own methods of game state integration. Some of it is super easy and powerful; sometimes, no GSI is possible, and often, games are in the middle. There is no specific process, and it depends on what’s possible. Live data is always a nice plus, but it’s impossible to always guarantee accuracy or total accuracy or whatever.

But, for the event itself, Pinecone likes to combine the templatized version with new innovations, plans, and ideas. The lead producer says, “You don’t want to have to redesign the wheel every time you’re building a cart.” With a set base, Pinecone likes to do something new for each event. She says, “Building bespoke broadcasts is something I take great pride in.”

Aloe follows a structured process when it comes to collecting statistics for every event, starting with collecting essential player data—such as usernames, emails, and ranks—for identification and point tracking. In the Calling All Heroes format, which lacks seeding for Swiss rounds, manual seeding becomes crucial. For a 32-team tournament, Aloe spends around 3-4 hours reviewing each roster, which can sometimes take a toll on you. According to Aloe, the fear of messing up would sometimes turn her into an “anxious wreck.”

Aloe: If I could go back in time and give a younger me any advice, it would be: It’s just a video game; it will break sometimes, but we can fix it fairly for all teams. Do not stress about social media. Stop only consuming caffeine and eat real food. I would forget to take care of myself because I was overwhelmed by the thought that I would do something wrong and get blasted online. The reality is that this will happen, whether they’re right or wrong, and it does not change how you do your role.

Thankfully, Aloe has since come a long way, but that doesn’t mean blunders still don’t happen on the ground. The Tournament OP has simply found better ways to deal with them. For example, Aloe shared a big mess during the inaugural Calling All Heroes event in 2022, the team experienced a lobby crash, an issue that had not been encountered in Overwatch 2 before. This situation proved challenging, unlike games like CS and VALORANT, where tournament organizers have in-game processes to address such crashes.

The crash occurred after round one of a Control match, which involves three maps where teams compete to maintain control of points. To resume play, players had to log back into the game, and if it was the same map, Team A would camp the point to reclaim their score. However, since the game loaded a different map point, the organizers decided to have the teams continue as if the previous round had already been played. Consequently, the team that won the first round also secured the map point, resulting in a final score of 2-0.

Aloe: When it comes to managing these occurrences, clear communication with the players and broadcast about the next steps to come to a resolution is the number one priority. As long as this is maintained, everything will return to the timeline accordingly.

Aloe managed the challenges of CAH 2022 effectively; viewers remained unaware of any issues behind the scenes and still received a flawless broadcast. According to Pinecone, this seamless delivery is the hallmark of a successful production.

Pinecone: Simply that everything looked good, sounded good, nothing broke, and that me and the other operators didn’t troll too much at actually pressing the buttons.

Knowing Calling All Heroes staff

Both Aloe and Pinecone share a passion for live production and serving the marginalized genders in gaming, but this job has its own challenges.

As Aloe mentioned, working in live tournament operations is an overwhelming job. Despite meticulously getting each detail right, blunders are inevitable. They are often out of the production team’s control, but they must be tackled head-on to ensure a smooth broadcast.

To make sure everyone at work is in a good mental state to deal with last-moment chaos, Pinecone has a unique approach and advice.

Pinecone: Whether during an online event or in a LAN, actually finding time to get food and a coffee or getting pizza delivered is night and day in people’s mood and ability to do their jobs. 

For Aloe, it’s short walks during work breaks and some music that helps her reset. Both agree that taking care of mental and physical well-being is key to delivering a successful broadcast under pressure. Clearly, their work goes far beyond just technical skills—it’s about building something meaningful for the community. With all this dedication, I was curious to know what they are most proud of about their role in Calling All Heroes.

Pinecone: I care a lot about the women and marginalized gender scenes we serve, and I’m proud to do right by them. I used to compete in women’s CSGO and spent some time in VALORANT Game Changers, so I know what it’s like to be a competitor. It means a lot to me to see games covered with care and attention. I also believe there are compelling narratives here to develop, and I’m proud I get to help nudge them along.

Aloe: I am most proud to provide a professional competitive experience to a community that may not have had many of those opportunities before CAH. Having operated Game Changers for three years and seeing the growth it brought to the VALORANT community, I’m excited to bring that same experience to CAH. Even though I’m not front-facing in this space, I’m constantly working behind the scenes to elevate the competitive experience for future years. I look forward to seeing more players from CAH rise up to become Challengers.

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