kyliethicc
Member
Just found this awesome in-depth interview with the audio devs from Naughty Dog who made The Last of Us Part II. Its a really cool (and really long) interview that's well worth a read.
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"Naughty Dog's highly-anticipated The Last of Us Part II (available now for PS4) sold over 4 million copies in just 3 days, and the reviews are phenomenal. Here, we talk with the Naughty Dog sound team about building reactive environments, designing the Infected, the crucial role of Foley, developing better accessibility features, and much (much!) more in this huge interview:"
Interview by Jennifer Walden
www.asoundeffect.com
Even before its release, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II was winning awards: for ‘Most Wanted Game’ and ‘Most Anticipated Game.’ That much fan pressure had to make the game development team sweat. Could they make another hit like The Last of Us? Would the fans love it?
The answer is yes. They can. They did. The Last of Us Part II has officially become Sony’s fastest-selling game. The wait is over and the fans are feasting on Naughty Dog’s latest offering. And like its predecessor, the game is a feast for the mind, the eyes, and the ears. Audio Lead Rob Krekel (who was a sound designer on the first release, working under Audio Lead Phil Kovats) and his sound team at Naughty Dog may have had a daunting task in front of them, to build on the success of The Last of Us, but they more than delivered.
Here, Krekel, Justin Mullens (Sound Designer), Neil Uchitel (Senior Sound Designer), Maged Khalil Ragab (Dialogue Supervisor), Mike Hourihan (Supervising Dialogue Designer), Grayson Stone (Dialogue Coordinator) and Beau Jimenez (Sound Designer) talk about ways of connecting the player to the game through sound — by building reactive environments, by using extensive Foley, by designing human attributes into the various deteriorated stages of Infected, and by enveloping the player with a rich, well-balanced surround mix.
Just a few small excerpts:
Foley and Motion Matching:
"It’s impossible to talk about Foley in The Last of Us Part II without discussing the implications of using a motion-matching animation system in a video game. Originally, our plan was to simply retune the existing hands/feet Foley system from Uncharted 4, but once we started to see what the Animation department was doing with motion matching, we realized that system wouldn’t be able to account for the staggering variety of traversal possibilities, and the analog nature of it.
Just getting Foley to work at all in a motion matching system was its own challenge, as anywhere between 1 to 6 animations are simultaneously playing on every game frame. Every previous modern game at Naughty Dog employed a sophisticated set of blends, and Foley sounds were simply played from whatever animation was playing at the time. It was a great system that, even on The Last of Us, still looks and sounds amazing."
...
On the shamblers...
"Some fun recording tidbits: the Shambler clicks were created by sticking the Sanken into a plastic bucket, and performing palatal click sounds though a vinyl tube into the bucket. For the Shambler pustule explosion, we recorded a life vest getting inflated with a CO2 cylinder, which created a beautifully aggressive airy burst sound. We also performed with a bellows filled with milk-soaked oatmeal which created some gross (aka awesome) source material and helped bring the pustule visuals to life."
...
While working, I would A/B against a few important references — The Last of Us, No Country for Old Men, and The Revenant — to help ensure consistency across the whole game.
...
"Naughty Dog's highly-anticipated The Last of Us Part II (available now for PS4) sold over 4 million copies in just 3 days, and the reviews are phenomenal. Here, we talk with the Naughty Dog sound team about building reactive environments, designing the Infected, the crucial role of Foley, developing better accessibility features, and much (much!) more in this huge interview:"
Interview by Jennifer Walden
How The Last of Us Part II's incredible sound was made: | A Sound Effect
The Naughty Dog sound team gives you the full story behind the sound for The Last of Us Part II here:
www.asoundeffect.com
Even before its release, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II was winning awards: for ‘Most Wanted Game’ and ‘Most Anticipated Game.’ That much fan pressure had to make the game development team sweat. Could they make another hit like The Last of Us? Would the fans love it?
The answer is yes. They can. They did. The Last of Us Part II has officially become Sony’s fastest-selling game. The wait is over and the fans are feasting on Naughty Dog’s latest offering. And like its predecessor, the game is a feast for the mind, the eyes, and the ears. Audio Lead Rob Krekel (who was a sound designer on the first release, working under Audio Lead Phil Kovats) and his sound team at Naughty Dog may have had a daunting task in front of them, to build on the success of The Last of Us, but they more than delivered.
Here, Krekel, Justin Mullens (Sound Designer), Neil Uchitel (Senior Sound Designer), Maged Khalil Ragab (Dialogue Supervisor), Mike Hourihan (Supervising Dialogue Designer), Grayson Stone (Dialogue Coordinator) and Beau Jimenez (Sound Designer) talk about ways of connecting the player to the game through sound — by building reactive environments, by using extensive Foley, by designing human attributes into the various deteriorated stages of Infected, and by enveloping the player with a rich, well-balanced surround mix.
Just a few small excerpts:
Foley and Motion Matching:
"It’s impossible to talk about Foley in The Last of Us Part II without discussing the implications of using a motion-matching animation system in a video game. Originally, our plan was to simply retune the existing hands/feet Foley system from Uncharted 4, but once we started to see what the Animation department was doing with motion matching, we realized that system wouldn’t be able to account for the staggering variety of traversal possibilities, and the analog nature of it.
Just getting Foley to work at all in a motion matching system was its own challenge, as anywhere between 1 to 6 animations are simultaneously playing on every game frame. Every previous modern game at Naughty Dog employed a sophisticated set of blends, and Foley sounds were simply played from whatever animation was playing at the time. It was a great system that, even on The Last of Us, still looks and sounds amazing."
...
On the shamblers...
"Some fun recording tidbits: the Shambler clicks were created by sticking the Sanken into a plastic bucket, and performing palatal click sounds though a vinyl tube into the bucket. For the Shambler pustule explosion, we recorded a life vest getting inflated with a CO2 cylinder, which created a beautifully aggressive airy burst sound. We also performed with a bellows filled with milk-soaked oatmeal which created some gross (aka awesome) source material and helped bring the pustule visuals to life."
...
While working, I would A/B against a few important references — The Last of Us, No Country for Old Men, and The Revenant — to help ensure consistency across the whole game.
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