skate.’s Ambiance System: We’re working on it
Presentation on our progress on skate’s ambience system design. Organized and recorded by Interactive Audio Montreal on September 21st, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Transplanting the sound of ‘Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville’ to Nintendo Switch
Interview with Jenifer Walden
Squeezing console-sized sound into a handheld gaming device is like Tommy Boy (Chris Farley) trying to put on Richard (David Spade)’s coat.
Audio Lead Viviana Caro was tasked with shrinking down the sound of EA’s Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville to fit the Nintendo Switch — this was EA’s first port to the Switch using Frostbite. She says, “We used the existing content from the previously released game on larger platforms (PC, Xbox and PS4) and made it work for the Switch which has less audio capabilities.”
Caro and her compact team — a lead audio coder and an audio artist — had to find ways to optimize the game to make the audio work while maintaining the quality and feel of the game.
And since Caro contributed to the earlier release of PvZ: Battle for Neighborville — working as a senior audio artist who handled sound design and implementation for the ambiances, world sounds, and some gameplay content — she knew how far she could push the sound for the Switch without comprising the soundtrack’s integrity.
Playing video games contributes to improve people’s well-being
Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, was used by the University of Oxford to find that “video game play is positively correlated with well-being”
“With the UK in a second national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Christmas on the horizon, many will stay indoors to play and socially connect through video games. New research from Oxford University has delivered a surprising finding; time spent playing games is positively associated with wellbeing.
The new study is the first of its kind. Rather than asking players how much they play, it uses industry data on actual play time for popular video games Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The study suggests that experiences of competence and social connection with others through play may contribute to people’s wellbeing. Indeed, those who derived enjoyment from playing were more likely to report experiencing positive wellbeing.”
GameSoundCon 2020 Speaker
The past October 7, 2020 I had the opportunity to present my work on “Designing ambiances for PvZ: Battle for Neighbourville” to over 100 online attendees to the conference.
I also had the chance to virtually chat with the attendees after the talk:
80% of the registration fees from GameSoundCon were donated to Education Through Music – Los Angeles, a non profit that facilitates in-school music programs in low-income and disadvantaged school districts. The total donation amount was $20,000.
Audible: 16 essential audiobooks to get to know Latin American writers
Audible published a list of the top 16 recommended audiobooks from Latin American literature:
Read full article in Spanish here
I had the opportunity to work edit the audio for two of them:
- Dime Quién Soy, by Julia Navarro
- La Catedral del Mar, by Idelfonso Falcones
Great stories, highly recommend them!
New Polly Pocket Series Goes Big with 16 Broadcasters Internationally
The animated TV series Polly Pocket where I worked on the SFX editing, has been picked up by 16 broadcasters internationally.
Based on the celebrated Mattel toy brand, the new Polly Pocket series follows Polly and her friends as they embrace big adventures in a shrunken size, thanks to Polly’s magic locket. Polly Pocket premiered in Canada in July, on DHX Media’s own Family Channel and Family Jr, and will roll-out globally throughout late 2018 and into 2019.
Additional broadcasters bringing Polly Pocket to fans around the world include: Sony Pictures Television’s POP channel (U.K.); RTL Telekids (Netherlands); Kidzone TV (Baltics); Lagardère’s Gulli and TiJi (France), Gulli AFRICA (22 African-French speaking countries) and Gulli Girl (Russia); teleTOON+ (Poland); AMC Minimax (Eastern Europe); vtmkzoom (Belgium); Canal Panda (Portugal); Turner (Italy, Middle East, Turkey and Greece); Star Channel (Greece); kidZ (Israel); SABC (South Africa); and Discovery Kids (Latin America). Continue reading…
Interview: Viviana Caro On The Sound Design For FIFA 18
An interview by Alyx Jones, on my experience working in game audio for AAA games
FIFA 18’s story mode has become the franchise’s best feature
‘The Journey’ is back, and it’s better than ever.
When FIFA 17 came out last year, its standout feature was something called “The Journey.” For the first time in the franchise’s 24-year history, EA Sports added a story mode where you can pretend to live the life of a professional soccer (er, football) player. The plot centered around a fictional character named Alex Hunter, a British teenager who’s trying to make a name for himself in the English Premier League. Your goal, naturally, is to guide him in his quest to do exactly that. Thanks to its success on FIFA 17, the adventure continues with FIFA 18’s “The Journey: Hunter Returns.” Continue reading…
EA: ‘FIFA 17 was the best-selling console title in the world in 2016’
FIFA 17 included my work on the debut of the story-mode feature now found in many EA Sports titles.
EA: ‘FIFA 17 was the best-selling console title in the world in 2016’
Need for Speed’s Soundtrack Revealed
Full Need for Speed soundtrack – Turn it up!
Electronic Arts has released the full soundtrack listing for the upcoming Need for Speed “full reboot” in development at Ghost Games for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. The 64-song soundtrack offers a big variety of genres, including EDM, rock, and rap. The song “Elektra” by punk band Refused is also featured.
Continue reading…