UFC 3
Audio Artist:
Released on February 2nd, 2018. In my role as an Audio Artist I was responsible mainly for commentary design and implementation, and presentation elements such as social media. I edited voice lines from UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Jon Anik out of recordings from live events; implemented those voice lines, as well as studio recorded voice lines, using a proprietary scripting tool to play at contextually correct moments. I implemented a social media system in Career Mode, built from the ground up using the same proprietary scripting tool, to give the user reactions to their fights and promotions. It was also utilized to build up rivalries between the user’s fighter and other fighters on the UFC roster. I also gave support and assisted in sound effect implementation, both in the UI and during gameplay.
There are several different examples of the kind work I did in the video above. The video takes place at the beginning of the third round and opens with a line from Joe Rogan in a conversational tone, before the action really takes off, it introduces the new round but talks about it in the context of the previous round which in this case was intense and exciting. As heavier blows start to land the commentary lines begin to ramp up in intensity, these trigger based off of the amount of damage (a hidden numerical value) caused by the strikes. When Conor McGregor lands the uppercut that knocks Eddie Alvarez down an interrupt context fires, this is a high intensity sample that takes precedence over anything else playing at the time. In this case Jon Anik interrupts himself with a reactionary “Oh!”, interrupting what he was in the process of saying. At this point we’ve transitioned into a high intensity commentary state during which only high intensity commentary samples will trigger for a set amount of time unless something else causes the high intensity window to extend. In the case of this example an overhand punch from Alvarez stuns McGregor and the high intensity window extends, causing the subsequent take-down success to be a high intensity sample even though it wouldn’t be the most substantial event normally. Once on the ground the commentary begins to transition back to a less intense state; were significant blows to land during this time the high intensity widow would continue to extend. A submission, triangle, attempt begins and as the stages are progressed through and the submission gets closer to being completed the intensity of the commentary begins to ramp up in intensity again. Alvarez manages to escape the submission with a slam and the commentary reacts in a contextually accurate way according to the type of submission, how close it was to completing, and how the defender managed to escape.
One of the commentary features that was initially developed in UFC 2 but expanded and refined in UFC 3 was the pattern recognition system. This is a system that looks to tell a story over the entirety of a fight instead of just moment to moment. It does this by recognizing which moves each fighter is using consistently over time, including strikes, take-downs, cage positioning, etc. Once a pattern is established the commentators will call back to that initial pattern either in a positive sense if the pattern continues, or in a negative sense if the pattern ends or stops working.
Above is an example of the user using the social media system to post. This occurred early in career mode which means their post just contains a broad sentence, it also includes a response from a troll.
As the user progresses in their career, and gets into the UFC, the user’s posts to social media become more detailed and can post gifs of the user’s training during camp. This also includes a post from a different promotion option.
The following four images show the progression of an early rivalry in a user’s career. The first is a conversation to kick off a rivalry, the second is after the user wins a fight against a different opponent, the third is a reaction from a fan to the interactions, and the last is a conversation once the user accepts a fight against their rival. These conversations and how the user interacts with them dictate the responses of the rival and what type of cut-scene will be displayed when fighting them, whether it will be aggressive or cordial.
Above is a video during the Career Mode of UFC 3 where a rivalry begins. The user’s fighter just won a high ranking fight by knockout and is engaged by the current champion of their weight-class after answering a question from a UFC reporter. This also includes a social media blog post about the user’s fighter breaking the record for the most knockouts in the UFC.
Here is another social media post from the user, this time it occurs when the user’s next fight is a championship fight and against their rival.
Above is an image of the pre-fight loading screen as the user is about to fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC light-weight championship.
The above video shows the resolution of the rivalry begun earlier with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which resulted in the user knocking him out and becoming the UFC light-weight champion.
