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Arcade-Verse Streaming Engine: In-Depth Guide

How to use Go Live, understand your streaming hours, and get the most out of our easy-to-use OBS streaming engine.

What is the Arcade-Verse stream engine?

The stream engine is the system that lets you broadcast your gameplay live effortlessly. Our platform generates an optimized OBS Studio configuration so you can stream in high quality directly to Livepeer. Everything runs through our app: you pick a game, hit Go Live, grab your stream key, and your stream is created and metered automatically.

Going live (Go Live)

  • Who can use it: Pro and Premium plans (and admin accounts). Free users are redirected to the pricing page if they try to access Go Live.
  • Where: Use the Go Live entry in the nav, or go to /go-live. You choose a game and we create a Livepeer stream and give you a stream key and playback URL.
  • Stopping: When you stop streaming, we close the session and bill the elapsed time against your allowance and/or top-up (see metering below).

Livestream via OBS

OBS is easy to use, open source, and highly customizable. Follow these steps to stream into Arcade-Verse with OBS.

  1. Get a stream key: On Go Live, click "Create a Stream", then open the OBS or Arcade Stream Engine tab. Copy the Server (RTMP URL) and Stream Key. Creating a stream does not use credits — the stream stays idle until you send data.
  2. Open OBS and add a source: Under Sources, click + and choose Video Capture Device for a camera or Window Capture for a browser/game window. Give it a name and confirm.
  3. Update stream settings: Go to Settings → Stream. Select "Show All…" and choose Livepeer Studio (or Custom). Keep the default server and paste your Stream Key from Go Live. We recommend following the service recommendations for best results.
  4. Start streaming: Click "Start Streaming" in OBS. Viewers can watch using your playback URL from Go Live. When you stop, we bill only the time you actually streamed (see "How metering works" below).

Configuring OBS for low latency

Two settings that strongly affect latency and quality are Rate Control (bitrate/quality) and Keyframe Interval (how often a full frame appears). For HLS playback we recommend a 2-second keyframe interval for a good balance. Turn off B-frames (set x264 options: bframes=0) for lowest latency; B-frames improve compression but increase latency.

Recommended OBS profiles (starting points):

  • Low latency, high quality: Rate Control CRF 25, Keyframe Interval 1, CPU Preset veryfast, Profile High, bframes=0, 1080p.
  • Low latency, bad connections: CBR 1200 Kbps, Keyframe 1, veryfast, High, bframes=0, 720p.
  • Balanced: CRF 25, Keyframe 2, veryfast, High; or CBR 2000, Keyframe 2, 1080p.
  • High quality, higher latency: CRF 27, Keyframe 10, bframes=3, 1080p.

Adjust to your connection and priorities. Longer keyframe intervals reduce bandwidth but increase latency; shorter keyframes (1–2s) keep latency low for live gameplay.

Plans and streaming hours

  • Free: No streaming allowance. Go Live is not available.
  • Pro: 5 hours of streaming per billing period (monthly). Ad-free and access to Go Live.
  • Premium: 20 hours per period, plus multistreaming and priority support.

Your "remaining" time is shown in the dashboard and is used when you start a stream. If you hit your limit mid-stream, the stream is automatically stopped when the cron runs (so you are not charged beyond your quota).

Top-ups

You can buy extra streaming time (e.g. a 10-hour pack) as a one-time purchase. Top-up hours are added to your account and usedafter your plan allowance. They do not expire at the end of the billing period—they last until you use them. You can get top-ups from the dashboard or billing page.

How metering works (under the hood)

When a stream session ends (you stop, or we stop it due to limit), we compute how long it ran and "burn" that time:

  1. Allowance first: We deduct from your plan's monthly allowance (streamingUsedSecondsincreases).
  2. Then top-up: If the session used more than your remaining allowance, the rest is deducted from your top-up balance.

Session end is detected via the Livepeer webhook (stream.idle), or when you explicitly end the session, or when our cron job stops the stream because you hit your limit. In all cases we update your usage in the database so your dashboard and next stream start use the correct remaining time.

FAQ

Do I need OBS or any other software?
Yes. Our platform integrates easily with OBS Studio. You navigate to Go Live, and we generate a ready-to-use OBS configuration, a secure stream key, and an ingest URL. Simply plug those into OBS to start broadcasting your gameplay in high quality.
What happens if I run out of time mid-stream?
A background job checks active streams against your remaining allowance + top-up. When you reach the limit, the stream is terminated and the session is closed. The time up to that point is counted so your usage stays accurate.
When do my plan hours reset?
At the start of each billing period (e.g. monthly for Pro/Premium). Top-up hours do not reset—they carry over until used.

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