Nascar Unleashed - Wii, PS3, 360, 3DS
Sound Design
Announcer Script
Vroom and also Vroom
From the beginning of this project I knew the most important thing to nail was going to be the engine and I knew we would be tweaking it right up to the end. We started with some stock sounds of mine, they lasted for a few weeks until people got tired of them. Then I went and recorded a variety of engines from neighborhood hot rods and of course out at the race track. Didn't hurt that I live about 3 miles away from an accessible speedway. Those samples lasted for another month or two. Then we got a lot of great samples from Activision, and while I was able to use a lot of the mechanics and impacts they didn't have an authentic down and dirty hot rod with that Nascar sound. The closest I had for a while was actually a big old monster truck from a neighbor across the street. It had that power and grit, but it lacked finesse. Finally I found a fantastic little sound library that had some great elements that I mixed in with a few of the earlier elements to get the engine sound that made it into final. It's definitely a matter of taste and perception and the target was constantly moving. Ultimately I'm happy with what we settled on. Car engines can be tricky things. I learned a lot from working on Battle Cars and Tron vehicles and it definitely got me a running start on Unleashed, but you can't coast forever.
Deep Impact
Besides the car engine shenanigans, the other component that took a great deal of time was the impacts. Not just car on car stuff, in Nascar Unleashed you can hit a very large variety of obstacles. Tires, boxes, trees, signs, cones, meters, barrels, surfboards... The list went on and on. So with a list in hand I set forth and created a large library of just impacts of every kind I could think, both needed for this game and anything else I could conjure. I used to buy, fix, and sell cars for extra cash so I had a good deal of car parts. No car doors, but I did have the back window from a hatchback. It was basically a door with a large glass pane in it. It had this glorious thud that resonated so well I ended up putting a touch of it in most impacts for that gut feeling. With a sub-woofer, you're really going to feel those hits.
The voice of Nascar, almost.
We wanted an announcer/crew chief to be blaring into the players ears, informing, guiding, deriding, and generally throwing in some color commentary. So I spent a few late evenings after the family went to bed, had myself a few presumptiously Nascar approved beers and just went nuts into the microphone with some funny, bizarre, off the wall sayings from a unique crew chief in a southern drawl. Nothing offensive or disparaging to the folk whose drawl is southern. If anything, I was doing a crude impersonation of my father, which is the same voice in AstroDriller 3020. The team really dug it and got nothing but good remarks. Eventually though the script went through enough revisions that the voice didn't really fit and a different voice actor was brought in to do the final commentary you'll hear in the game. S'bummer, but I'm used to it.
Thank you Scott and Bob, for letting me share the experience. I wish Firebrand continued success!
Thank you Scott and Bob, for letting me share the experience. I wish Firebrand continued success!