Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470109
64 I m ps e . o rg processed with multiple effects, we tend to bake the processing. There are also standard practices such as reverb, where we don't bake that on each asset since effects like that can be created and triggered in runtime in the game engine. That process can be an entire interview alongside our sound designers and technical sound designers, but the game engines and the middleware tools we use to implement our sound are growing to be more versatile with each game we work on to allow us to take advantage of this tech. EM: You've overseen game dialogue as it has evolved over a long period of time. What do you think has helped bring the quality and life out of these recordings, and make the quality of game dialogue improve so much over the years? LR: I would definitely attribute that to the type of games that have been produced. Going back to those narrative titles that we had like Uncharted, BioShock, and even Final Fantasy—a lot of the titles that have strong stories have come to the forefront, and people are aware of that. It has brought a lot of cinematic appeal to our titles and our genre. For instance, Uncharted is now a movie, which is awesome. I love how the industry is beginning to influence new stories and franchises. Obviously, we've seen a lot of the opposite, where a film might inspire a game. But the interactive story really has changed a lot and is able to pull a player into a world and fully immerse them in it—even in the early days with Medal of Honor. There were a lot of typical gameplay call-outs of a first-person shooter in that franchise, which is what we normally reference in an FPS, but even that franchise had a story to it, as it was inspired by Saving Private Ryan. I think it's incredible now that game dialogue and games in general are starting to influence film. I hope that continues to happen. It's going to continue to push the bar for quality of dialogue and storytelling. In the long run, I think it's going to make both industries more exciting. EM: What's been the most challenging game that you've worked on? LR: I would say the most challenging games were the last God of War and Spider-Man, which I was working on simultaneously with the Insomniac and Santa Monica Studio teams. I remember someone asked me, "Would you ever lead two AAA titles?" I responded with, "No way. That would be so difficult because they're so big."—and then I got slammed with working on both of those games. It happened because people came and went within our team, and those titles needed the support. It was definitely challenging to be dialogue supervisor for both titles, granted they were being released at different times but they were in the same calendar year. There was a large overlap at some point. I had to figure A showdown ensues in Ghost of Tsushima A nighttime rescue in Ghost of Tsushima