NHL 19
Audio Artist:
Released on September 14th, 2018. I was brought on during the second half of production to assist the audio team in bringing the project to completion smoothly. My main responsibilities as an audio artist were commentary implementation and bug fixing, and UI sound effect implementation and bug fixing. I was also responsible for implementing a new commentator into a brand new game mode, the logic for which needed to written from the ground up.
All editing of dialogue recordings was outsourced, as such during my implementation I needed to ensure all samples met our quality standards and call out any instances where it did not, in order to have those issues addressed.
Below are a number of examples of the kind of commentary work I did while working on NHL 19, videos are recorded from two different games.
Above in an example of contextually accurate commentary surrounding a goal, in this case the goal scored resulted in the score being tied. These types of detailed commentary around goals is pervasive and get even more detailed as the contexts in which they occur do.
Above is an example of the commentary giving context to the current state of the game, a kind of update for the user. In this case there is just over 5 minutes remaining in the period and the score is tied at 1-1.
This video is an example of how the commentary flows while one team is putting pressure on the other while in the offensive zone. The play-by-play voice calls out actions as they happen and you’ll notice as time goes on the intensity ramps up, along with the crowd, to account for the pressure building the longer the team with the puck remains in the offensive zone.
Here is an example of a more specific context for the commentary to call a goal. This time it is a goal scored in the final seconds of the second period and it puts the scoring team ahead by one.
Here is the set-up for the third period in the same game, again reiterating how close the game has been so far.
In this clip we see a fight break out between two players. In reality these two teams are rivals and the commentary recognizes that as part of the reason why this fight is taking place. In this case Vancouver is also losing and the commentary notes that winning a fight could give them a boost in energy and momentum in the game in order to come back.
Before games begin typically the commentary sets up key players to look for as well as some history about those players. This changes from game to game depending on which teams and players are playing.
Above is an example of how the commentary recognizes situations that could be potentially dangerous. In this case the pass across the middle of the ice could have resulted in a goal if the player was able to receive the pass and the commentary states as such.
Here again is another example of a different type of specific goal call, this time it’s a goal scored off a rebound. This time however it is followed up in greater context by the color commentator. The goal scored is the first by Vancouver and it brings them to within one goal of their opponents, Washington. The goal was also scored by one of the key players on Vancouver and the commentary notes how this player took things into his own hands in order to help his team get on track.
Above is one more example of commentary reacting to a rebound goal. This time however the shot that caused the rebound and the shot that resulted in a goal came from the same player and the commentary notes as such during the replays.
