Subathon time, counted properly
Subs, gifts, bits, tips and raids add seconds to one clock. Your viewers watch it in an OBS browser source. Nothing to install and nothing to pay.
That is a real overlay in an iframe, not a picture of one, and those are real events at the default rules. Press one and the clock above moves by the amount printed on the button.
One Cloudflare Worker, start to finish. There is no middleman service between Twitch and your overlay, which is why there is no monthly bill. Sign in with Twitch and the server holds the connection, so the clock keeps counting with your browser shut.
Seven themes
Every one of them is running right now
Each strip below is a live overlay, zoomed so the type and the colour read at this size. Pick one and it takes the stage above, at broadcast scale.
The rundown
How time gets added
These are the numbers a new subathon starts with. Every one of them is a field in the control panel, and nothing reaches the clock that is not listed here.
| Event | Time added |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 sub, resub or Prime | +3:00 |
| Tier 2 sub or resub | +6:00 |
| Tier 3 sub or resub | +20:00 |
| Each gifted sub, at its own tier | +3:00 each |
| Bits, per 100, from 5 bits up | +0:30 |
| Tips, per 1 USD, from 1 USD up | +0:30 |
| Raid of 25 or more | +10:00 |
| Raid of 100 or more | +15:00 |
| Ko-fi donation, subscription or shop order | as a tip |
| Follows | off by default |
And then the parts you turn on
- A flat multiplier for a double weekend, and happy-hour windows in your own time zone. Overlapping windows do not stack: the largest one wins, so adding a window can never quietly pay out less.
- Three shapes for raids. A step function by viewer count, a flat rate per viewer with a ceiling, or a saturating curve that pays something for every raid and less per head as the raid grows.
- Rounding to whole minutes, a ceiling per event, and a cap on the whole run.
- Follows are off by default on purpose. They are cheap to farm, and a follow bot would run the timer away.
- Every event is logged with what it added and why. Reject a troll cheer and the clock gives those seconds straight back.
Setup
Three steps, no download
Nothing is installed and no desktop agent runs. The only thing that touches OBS is a URL.
Sign in
Twitch, Google or an email address. Twitch is the one that does the most: Subtick subscribes to your channel's events on the server, which is what lets the clock keep counting while your browser is shut, your machine is asleep, or OBS is the only thing still running.
Pick a look
Seven overlay themes, each with its own palette, typeface and layout. The neutral one, Basic, hands you the colours, the radius, the size and the placement as settings instead.
Paste one browser source
Add a browser source in OBS at 1920 by 1080 and point it at the URL the panel hands you. It is transparent everywhere the overlay is not, so it sits on top of the game and nothing else has to change.
/overlay/<id>
Your account
Your subathons
Start a new one
Got an invite code?
A subathon owner can invite you as an editor. Paste the code they sent and this account can run their clock.
Edit keys saved in this browser
These were made before an account was required. Open one and the Access tab offers to attach it to this account, after which the key goes back to being what it is now: an API key for adding time.
Questions
The short answers
Do I need an account?
Yes. A subathon belongs to an account, so it follows you to another machine, survives a cleared browser, and can be handed to a moderator. Twitch, Google and a plain email address all work; the email one is a link or a six-digit code, with no password to forget.
What happens if my computer dies mid-run?
Nothing stops. The clock is a timestamp on the server and the Twitch connection is held there too. Open the panel from any machine, or just leave the browser source running on the machine that is still up.
Can I take time back off?
Yes. Reject any event in the panel and its seconds are removed, or add and remove time by hand. The event log keeps the reason either way.
Does it do tips?
Ko-fi, through a webhook you paste into Ko-fi's settings. Donations, monthly subscriptions and shop orders each count separately, so a recurring subscription renewal can be left out of the clock.
Can my moderators run it?
Invite them by code from the panel. An editor can run the clock and approve events; only the owner can hand out or revoke access.
Can something else add time?
Each subathon issues an API key. One POST with that key in a header adds seconds, so a Stream Deck button, a chat bot or a cron job can move the clock. It is an API key and nothing more: it cannot change the rules, read the event log or sign anybody in.
Ready when you are
Put a clock on it
Sign in, pick a look, paste one URL into OBS. The whole thing takes about two minutes and costs nothing.