chishoals-layouts
i like the cago
overview
- Project Name: chishoals-layouts
- Project Length: Long-Term/Ongoing
- Start Date: February 2024
- Technologies: NodeCG, TypeScript, React, HTML, CSS
links
in short
chishoals-layouts is the NodeCG graphics bundle that I maintain for Chi-Shoals, a Splatoon LAN held in Chicago that's hosted by SquidWest. It was originally created in February 2024, and it has been constantly maintained and updated with new features up to this day.
a video
Footage reflects layouts as of January 2025!
how it works
chishoals-layouts consists of about 5 unique graphics (with some additional ones that are essentially near-duplicates). These include a Starting Soon scene, Lower Thirds for commentary, a Three Screen layout, the Scoreboard, and a Credits scene.
starting soon
The Starting Soon (and by extension, Be Right Back) scene conveys information such as basic event information and socials. The scene has a bit of movement with a scrolling background (of which there are 17 different options, all made by myself) along with a simple alternating text carousel to keep things interesting.
lower thirds
The Lower Thirds are used to display who the commentators are while on the commentary scene, including their name, and optionally their tag and pronouns.
The background art for them is made by Xolo!
three screen
The Three Screen layout is used as an intra-game scene to show the players, commentators, game preview, and the current match scores simultaneously. It also includes the Omnibar which shows the time, event, location, flavor text, and a socials carousel.
scoreboard
Perhaps most importantly, the Scoreboard is used on the Game scene to show the event, match, teams, scores, ink colors, and commentary information.
credits
Finally, the Credits scene is a custom sequence fed by a Credits dashboard panel which is filled out over the course of the event.
the story
I moved to Chicago back in May of 2023 essentially immediately after graduating from college.
In a search for things to do at a time I happened to be getting really into Splatoon, I looked to see if there were any Splatoon-related events held around Chicago.
To my surprise, results came up for a monthly LAN held right in Chicago, as I found my way into the SquidWest discord server. (Which, if you happen to also be looking, here is a link to the SquidWest discord).
I attended my first event in July 2023, and then kept coming back from then on.
In January 2024, I asked about potentially building broadcast layouts for Chi-Shoals, as up until that point the event essentially ran without overlays with gameplay and a commentary camera. From then on, I've been the person behind the overlays you see for Chi-Shoals, working to improve them monthly and make the event the best it can be!
For fun, here's an ancient image of when I was initially developing the layouts.