NHL 20
Audio Artist:
Released on September 13th, 2019. In my role as an Audio Artist I worked primarily on implementing a brand new commentary team, James Cybulski and Ray Ferraro, to the game and completely rebuilding the voice over logic from the ground up. I also worked with our audio producer in coming up with interesting new designs for the commentary system. Due to my speed and amount of previous experience with our proprietary scripting tool for implementation I was the primary artist responsible for implementing the new commentary team. As such, I implemented a vast number of script driven voice lines that needed to trigger in contextually correct situations while remaining fresh and non-repetitive.
Below are several examples with explanations of the type design and implementation we were going for when we replaced the commentary team and re-wrote the triggering logic from scratch. Most videos are taken from a single game.
One of the objectives when we re-wrote the commentary scripts was to always resolve moments where a potentially dangerous situation occurred. In the above example we have Edmonton create a potential to score by passing the puck to another player right in front of the net. James Cybulski reacts to the potentially dangerous situation with a high intensity line but the puck is intercepted by a Vancouver defender and the opportunity to score is lost. James then resolves the situation with a less intense line, indicating that the scoring opportunity was thwarted. These types of build up and resolve contexts are littered throughout gameplay and can resolve in a multitude of different ways, many of which will be evident in more examples below.
Another objective we had was to create a more conversational tone for the commentary overall. This was accomplished by having James set up a situation broadly and allow Ray Ferraro the space to follow-up with specifics. In the example above it is the first power-play opportunity of the game for the Edmonton Oilers in a game that is still scoreless. James sets up the first power-play situation broadly before the face-off and Ray follows up with the specifics, elaborating that it is a great opportunity since the game is still tied at 0-0. We allow Ray’s analysis to continue playing even while the action on the ice continues, only contexts tagged as interrupts will stop it from playing, this was done to allow conversational tones to be more prevalent and get away from a more robotic “see-a-dog hear-a-dog” approach. The rest of the video contains a couple more examples of build up and resolve contexts as mentioned previously.
Following from the previous video we have another example of James setting up the broader situation, the power-play ending while still scoreless, and Ray following up with specifics about why the power-play was unsuccessful.
Another way we emphasized a conversational tone was to intersperse names into the commentary, this includes the names of teams as well as individual players. In the above example you hear “Vancouver’s got it from behind the net” this is actually two different samples that are stitched together to make it sound like it’s one. The part where the first sample ends and the second begins is in the middle of the “S” sound at the end of “Vancouver’s”. Doing it this way allowed us to replace the team name, in this case, with a different team while still using the same following sample, for example: “Edmonton’s got it from behind the net”. The same technique is used on the pass “to Edler” with the sample break on the “O” sound in “to”. The video clip in it’s entirety is a great example of the conversational tone we were going for, including names, play-by-play commentary, and analysis.
The clip above is from a different game than the other videos. It displays another example of how we attempted to create the conversational tone, by referencing a specific player’s influence on the game thus far. In this case, as Troy Stecher receives a pass, Ray mentions him as a dangerous player since he had scored previously in the game.
Another objective we had was to maintain a theme throughout a particular moment in the game. In the above example we have a goal scored by Vancouver while on the power-play that puts them ahead 2-0. The contexts that fire associated with the goal, the initial goal call, follow-up from Ray, and the replay contexts are all power-play specific. This was done by prioritizing contexts that dealt with the initial theme presented throughout the specific sequence. If the initial context mentioned it was a power-play goal, subsequent contexts would as well, if the initial context mentioned it was a one-timer goal, subsequent contexts would as well, etc.
Themes were also developed over the course of an entire game, not just particular moments. These types of themes are broader in nature, such as one team controlling the game overall as in the above example. The example also contains how specific some of the commentary can get. The goalie makes a save using his stick and redirects the puck into the corner, this is recognized by the commentary and spoken to. At full speed the goalie making a save with his stick is hard to notice, if certain actions are hard to see or happen to quickly the commentary can help the user understand what just happened.
Above is an example of the broader theme carrying through multiple moments. In this case Vancouver is ahead 3-0 at the beginning of the second period and scores again. The theme that carries through the opening face-off, goal, and subsequent face-off is how well Vancouver is controlling the game.
The above video is again from a different game. In it you’ll hear Ray react to goal while James is still speaking, these are separate contexts. It is another feature to push the conversational tone by allowing Ray to interrupt James during key moments, like goals and big hits, without James’ sample being cut off.
The above video is an interesting commentary sequence. Edmonton begins an offensive set-up and James uses short play-by-play lines to reflect the speed, however it still includes specifics such as names and a bank pass to maintain a conversational tone. When Edmonton scores James sets up a theme for the goal, in this case a goal scored off a rebound, and Ray supports that theme in his analysis. However, the broader theme of the game is still Vancouver dominating the game and this is reiterated once play resumes from the face-off.
Above is another example of a build up and resolve sequence of contexts, but in this case it is a build up followed by two different resolves. The Vancouver player intercepts a pass in his own end and breaks out away from the defenders. James builds up the possibility of the Vancouver player getting a breakaway opportunity. As the player gets closer to the opposing net and it becomes clear the defenders will not catch him, James resolves the build up by confirming the player is on a breakaway; this also acts as a build up for the next context that will resolve the full breakaway opportunity. In this case the goalie makes a save, ending the breakaway opportunity and James resolves the situation as such.
Another video from a different game. Here we see a hard hit occur which results in an injury, both commentators mention the hit and Ray mentions the injury. At the next whistle we see a replay of the hit in question and Ray reiterates the injury. This is again done to emphasize the conversational tone and the use of themes.
The theme of Vancouver dominating the play continues into other contexts as well. This includes when things run contrary to the theme; it is framed in context of the established theme. In this case Vancouver fails to score on a power-play but the analysis surrounding that fact is framed in such a way that still supports the theme of Vancouver controlling the game.
The above video contains the sequence of events leading up to and following the end of the game. The overall theme of this game, established in the first period, was one of Vancouver dominating the game. This theme carries through to the end of the game, however Edmonton scores a couple goals late in the game to bring the score closer. This changes how the commentary frames the theme from a Vancouver dominated game from beginning to end to a Vancouver dominated game until late in the third period.
