Monday, August 12, 2013

Gridiron Solitaire #67: Stadiums, Cut Scenes

Last night, for about an hour, it was the holiday season.

Fredrik sent me four updated stadiums. Now, all stadiums have been "architecturally updated", and once again, he outdid himself. Plus a very astute reader suggested a separate layer for lighting (thanks, TB). That was a great suggestion, and now everything on the field has a light source (I think I'm saying that right, but I'm not sure. That pretty much describes everything I say, all day long).

Then, I received audio for the cut scene.

Here's the story. A long-time reader (I'm not using any names here, because I'm not sure if they want them used) said that one of his friends did professional voice impersonations. He linked me to a YouTube clip, and his friend was amazing.

I very much wanted a newsreel-type announcer for the cut scene. You'll understand when I show it to you (probably next week), but it had to be that kind of voice to match the visuals. I tried doing the voice, and I did decently in terms of pitch and cadence, but I just didn't have the right voice.

So last night, I get this e-mail that basically says here's the audio, even though the voice guy was disappointed in it and didn't think it was done very well.

I was a bit crushed after reading that.

I double-clicked on the audio file, expecting very little, and realized after about five seconds that the audio was absolutely perfect. Nailed. I couldn't believe how it was exactly what I wanted, exactly what I had been hearing in my head.

Fredrik is re-cutting the scene to match the audio (slight length discrepancy), but I should be able to show it to you next Monday.

I'm kind of on to something, I think, but I'm not quite there yet. I still have the fundamental problem of new players who get crushed for the first game or two of their initial season. It's discouraging, and it can be overwhelming.

On the other hand, though, the percentage of testers who get very involved in the game, the ones who "get" it, has gone up with every beta. More people are playing the game long enough to see some of the special details that (I hope) make the game stand out as a special experience.

So I still have to get the players at Point A to Point B, but at least I'm sure that Point B exists.


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