How Do Gamecaster Built-In Alerts Work in Overlays?
One of the many things that come with overlays in Gamecaster are built-in stream alerts. These are messages and such that appear when a certain action is taken on your Twitch, Facebook or YouTube streams. But, how well do they work?
Why would you want to use the built-in alerts instead of using something like Streamlabs?
Today, let’s go over some of the functions and features of these built-in alerts and what they do for your Gamecaster stream.
What Are Gamecaster Alerts in the Overlay Packages
All of the overlays I’ve seen available in Gamecaster come with built-in alert packages. These include the most common elements, such as showing followers, subscribers, tips, and more.
In every instance, the alerts match the overlay itself perfectly. This means the design, colors, and fonts match the overlay you decide to use.
Personally, one of my favorites is Tristram. It really embraces the feel and appearance of Diablo III.
At any rate, these alerts are simply aesthetically pleasing giving the stream or video a sense of symmetry.
Unfortunately, there are a few alerts that are not available, such as when someone donates to your Extra Life page. But that would require using the API to connect Extra Life to Gamecaster – something that is available in Streamlabs.
Get Gamecaster 4 and Empower Your Stream!Why Would You Use the Built-in Alerts Instead of Streamlabs?
The Gamecaster alerts are tailored for each overlay. As I said, it simply looks nicer from the viewer’s perspective. And since you can switch overlays relatively quickly depending on the game you play, you don’t have to go into Streamlabs to try to create alerts to match.
That’s even if you care about such things.
I know a lot of streamers who just go into Streamlabs and create alerts that are more generic so it doesn’t matter what game is being played.
There’s nothing wrong with this approach. For many, it works exceptionally well and their streams don’t look all that bad. Then again, I’ve seen a few that really didn’t have a good flow.
Case in point, my alerts are kind of all over the map.
The built-in alerts for Gamecaster overlays, though, give new streamers and others a quick and easy way to impress viewers with aesthetically pleasing pop-ups.
How Can You Edit Gamecaster Alerts to Fit Your Needs?
To edit the alerts, simply click on the “Edit” icon of the frame you want to change. For the most part, this is your primary recording and streaming screen.
This will load the Gamecaster Scene editor. From here, you can make all kinds of adjustments.
Using the Gamecaster Scene Editor
On the left, you’ll see a series of toggles and functions. There will be one called “Alerts.” If you click the expansion arrow next to it, you’ll see all of the different alerts that are available in your Gamecaster overlay.
When you click on any of the alerts, each will expand with different options you can change.
Let’s say I wanted to change the Subscriber alert. I would then click on it to see the available options.
NOTE: Click on the alert itself, not the toggle switch. The switch just turns that particular alert on or off.
From here, I can change the line of text and background to whatever I choose. But, there is more to editing than just these few elements.
On the right side of the Gamecaster editor, you can then change a variety of settings for this particular alert.
Depending on the alert, there will be a lot of available options. You can turn on animations, add your own audio files, change position and sizing, or even add text to speech if you want the message to be read aloud.
There is one thing I’d like to point out, though. Each alert is usable on specific platforms. Some are only meant for Twitch while one or two might be available for YouTube.
It’s because of how both systems are designed. For example, YouTube doesn’t have followers, but Facebook and Twitch do.
To enable the different services for specific platforms, click to highlight them at the top. In my example, the Tristram overlay “Subscribe Alert” lets me pick Twitch, YouTube, or both.
If the service is highlighted in white, it means it’s activated and ready for action.
Once you’re done with making your changes, just click the save button on the top right.
Testing Your Alerts
If you want to test the scene in Gamecaster, just click the “Test” option next to save.
The scene editor will change to a blank screen, with your overlay running. If you have a game running in the background, it will also show as if you were actually streaming.
On the right, click what alert you want to test.
The alert will then show on your testing screen. In my example, I’m going to click the “Tip” alert.
Once you’re done testing, just click the “Back to Edit Mode” button on the top right.
You can close down the Scene Editor if you wish. Just make sure you’ve saved your settings before doing so.
Can You Use Both Gamecaster and Streamlabs Alerts?
You are capable of adding Streamlabs alerts to Gamecaster. However, I’m not sure that you would want to run both alert styles for every event.
If you do, both alerts will trigger for specific things. For instance, if you use the “Follower” alert for both systems, both will launch when there is a new follower. This can lead to a cluster of things going on in the middle of your stream.
The last thing you want to do is have too much going on during the video. It takes away from you as well as the video you’re creating.
In other words, it just looks horrible. It’s better to stick to one or the other.
However, you can use Streamlabs to show alerts that are unavailable in Gamecaster overlays.
Disabling Specific Streamlabs Alerts
Let’s say you’re using a Gamecaster overlay and you want to keep the “Follower” alert. After adding Streamlabs alerts to Gamecaster, go back to Streamlabs.
Go to the alert you want to disable. In this case, I’ll go to the Follows alert.
The first option in this next screen is to Enable or disable the specific alert.
Click the Disable radio button.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click, “Save Settings.”
Do this for each of the alerts you want Gamecaster to use without Streamlabs popping it up as well.
For instance, the Tristram overlay doesn’t have an alert available for Extra Life or Merch sales, if you use either of those. Since I use both of these platforms, I’d disable all of Streamlabs alerts except for those two.
NOTE: In Streamlabs, the “Bits” alert is the same as “Cheer” alerts in Gamecaster.
Choose What Works Best for You
Personally, I prefer the more elaborate and matching alerts of Gamecaster. I’m one of those people who is extremely picky about making everything match from a visual perspective.
But, this is completely optional. Use what works best for you and your stream. Remember, it’s all about the audience when creating any type of content. Pick the methods that they are more responsive to.
It could mean the difference between an interactive stream and one that is more akin to a ghost town.
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