Creating a match is probably the most important part of the MAS system.
By generating a new match, you will be instructing MAS to get ready to accept scoring data from you or a third party and begin creating overlays. These overlays will then be "printed" to a video by us (if you send us a video feed) or yourself (if you prefer to use software like OBS or vMix).
This documentation will go into the excruciating specifics of the types of data you can send us, but the Create Match setup flow will try and hide the majority of the repetitive/advanced steps from you, the minimum we need to get started is:
- Which sport are you playing
- If you're scoring on this device or using a third party
- Who is participating
- How (or will) you send us video
The system will assume smart defaults for you otherwise (and you can disable this behaviour in your Scoring app settings if you would like more control over this). If you are new to MAS, you should just let the application assume these defaults for you.
You can tap on any of the breadcrumbs in the navigation bar to jump back (or forwards) between steps if you need to double check anything - your values will be saved and you can go away and come back to this at any time.
Importantly, some values cannot be changed once a match is underway, specifically:
- Scoring system/provider
- Teams
- Overlay
So it is important to ensure these values are correct before hitting "Start Game". If you do make a mistake and this adversely affects your billing please reach out to our support team and we can ensure you aren't penalised unfairly.
Data System or Video System?
This is an advanced topic.
MAS' Scoring system has two distinct aspects, "Video" and "Data". If you are new to the product, this distinction isn't important as you will likely send both video and data using the scoring product.
"Data" refers to your setup values to help create an instance of a "Match" and the subsequent events created (usually from real-world moments within the game). Each time your scoring system creates data, the MAS system will respond by storing this data and doing things like creating matching highlights and modifications to the overlay.
"Video" is actually an optional part of the MAS Scoring application, whilst it is expected there will be some sort of video stream produced by you, the Scoring application is really only providing a convenient way of capturing and livestreaming a real-world video source. You can use MAS purely as a data system for creating overlays or scoring a sport without the need for video; or you can produce a video locally on your machine.
By default, the platform assumes you will send it video (and will start behaving undesirably if it was expecting video and didn't receive any) but you must send it data in order for it to do something useful. As you become more comfortable with using MAS you may find that you want to do more sophisticated video production such as multiple camera angles, better quality video capture, and more interesting audio. In these cases, MAS will slowly become more of a data/overlay producer than a video consumer - but you should keep it simple to begin with (and treat MAS as a video and data system)!
To opt-in to this more advanced process and take advantage of sophisticated third-party video tools, disable the Streaming to MAS setting in your account dialog before creating your next match.