Twitch and YouTube have seen an immense rise in livestreaming for gamers and hobbyists alike. While these are amazing platforms for those looking to turn their passion into a career, there’s a large section of the gaming population that prefers to stream games such as Zodiac just to friends.
This group of gamers has found their home with Discord, a communication app originally made for gaming groups to be able to meet and talk during matches. It has since become a full-fledged community based environment, complete with new tools that allow livestreaming in channels.
Get started streaming on Discord
Starting the livestreaming process on Discord is extremely easy thanks to the team of developers behind the project. You’ll need to have the Discord application installed on either a PC or Mac if you want to stream your screen or Zodiac window directly.
Once you open up Discord, hop into the server and voice channel you want to stream in. You’ll be able to tell if the channel allows streaming in the bottom left of the screen, just above your username and mute buttons. A “Video” and “Screen” option will appear, the latter being what you’ll want to pick. Clicking “Video” will turn on your webcam to add some personality into the stream.
Setting up content
Clicking “Screen” will not bring you to a pop-up to choose which screen to share. It’s suggested to choose the application itself directly if streaming a specific game. This makes sure nothing else on your PC is seen by viewers. If you’re livestreaming a hobby or other online activity, choosing a screen instead will make it easier to move windows around as you need.
Now comes the options for resolution and framerate. This is how high quality the picture will be and how smooth it plays back. Lower resolution will look more pixelated and lower framerates make the stream video choppy. All users can stream up to 720p at 30fps, while Nitro subscribers have access to 4k livestreaming at 60fps.
Those on PC will now have the option to toggle “Sound” on the right to have your computer’s sound play through the stream as well. Discord users on Mac are only able to stream video, there is currently no support for sound.
Starting the stream
All that’s left is to click “Go Live” and you’ll instantly be streaming to the voice channel you’re currently in, shown by a new smaller pop-up window in your Discord. Users that come into the Discord channel you’re streaming will see a red “LIVE” button on your name and have the option to jump in and start watching at any time.
Discord also provides the option to invite friends directly to the stream via an invite, even if they aren’t in the server yet. This is done on the smaller window that popped up when you went live or through the Discord overlay. The overlay also has every setting and toggle the program’s main window does so you’ll be able to mute, edit the stream and see who’s watching without moving out of your Zodiac screen.
If you aren’t a fan of the Discord overlay and don’t want to open up the entire program to check in your stream, you can now use a pop out version of the stream handler. This will make it its own separate, smaller window for less clutter and easier access. Livestreaming is always easier when you can monitor viewers, and the Discord interface shows this with an eye symbol to the right of any user’s name that is currently viewing your stream.
One last tip, then it’s time to practice what you’ve learned
The final piece of advice you should know about is “Streamer Mode”. When this is enabled, it stops the overlay from showing who is talking to protect their privacy but also mutes the sounds of users connecting and disconnecting in the channel. Less interruptions is always a good thing when livestreaming.
Now that you’ve got the basic steps, and some advanced ones, hop in your favorite Discord and start livestreaming to your friends to show them what you’ve learned and get them involved with the fun.
