Diary 3, User Controlled Celebrations

Date:

17/04/2008

When watching football you often see many different celebrations after a goal has been scored depending on the individual and the importance of the goal. Peter Crouch will forever be associated with the Robot which you can now perform in our game but in reality he only did it a couple of times. We wanted to bring some of that freedom and spontaneity to the game and give gamers an opportunity to really celebrate a goal in style and with an individual flourish. We also wanted to add another level to multiplayer & online games by giving gamers the opportunity to really rub it in after scoring a goal . There is nothing quite like scoring a last minute winner and then running the length of the field doing the airplane and finishing with a double somersault.  
  
We gathered reference of all the various celebrations from real life footage and from that chose the ones we wanted to get. We wanted to capture a full spectrum of celebrations ranging from simple ones e.g. the one arm point that Shearer made famous to the more spectacular ones like the forward somersaults that players like Nani and Klose do.   
  
Once we had the list of moves we added them into the motion capture shoot schedule. Motion capture (Mocap) is the process where we have real players come into the studio and dress them in special motion capture suits that capture their movements and turns that motion into animation data. The Mocap shoot incorporates all facets of the game from gameplay moves to celebration sequences but this was the first time we had specifically done gamer controlled celebrations. In order to capture the moves correctly we had to set up a special motion capture volume that was longer than normal which allowed the players enough space to make a run and perform the sequences. The motion capture session was a lot of fun as the players (we had 6 in total) had varying abilities in performing the more acrobatic of moves so to see the players try and replicate some of the moves like a cartwheel or the Robbie Keane forward roll sequence was amusing to say the least.   
  
Once the mocap session was complete we analysed the data and the animators started to trim the sequences into cycles that would allow gamers to blend between different celebrations. The moves we captured were separated into two distinct categories ‘Running celebrations’ and ‘Finishing moves’. The running celebrations can be performed while moving the player around the field and using the right stick or face buttons to trigger the animation. These range in diversity from the ‘airplane’, to ‘blowing kisses’ and the fingers to the lips ‘Shhhhh’ motion often seen when teams score away from home. We captured 14 of these in total and you can blend from one to the other to create your own unique celebration.   
  
The other category that makes up the gamer controlled celebration feature is the finishing move and these were the most fun to implement. These are the moves that are performed to end the celebration. We captured 26 of these and gamers can perform them by holding down one of the bumper or trigger buttons and using the right stick or face buttons. These range from stomach slides, knee slides, forward rolls, the robot, a samba dance or even a number of variations of forward somersaults.   
  
We wanted to balance the controls to ensure that some of the more simple celebrations were easy to trigger whereas some of the more advanced were a little more complex. This gives the gamers an opportunity to show off by triggering the more complex moves while still allowing the more novice gamers the ability to celebrate. Some of the advanced acrobatics involve not only triggering the sequence but also ensuring its landed properly. If you don’t press the correct button to land a somersault at the right time you end up falling flat on your face which can be a little embarrassing to say the least. In most instances we tried to make the controls intuitive and relate to, or mimic the motion being performed e.g. rotating the right stick continually clockwise will make the player rotate his arm likewise and perform the ‘windmill’ celebration. Similarly holding the trigger button and rotating the right stick will make the player perform a cartwheel.    
  
Because there are so many moves available to the gamer there are a lot of controls involved. What we have found is that gamers tend to find their signature move and then start to experiment with some of the others in the game. The Gamer celebrations also adds another dimension to CO-OP play which is a big focus because of our Captain Your Country mode. In CO-OP team play all the gamers can perform the running celebrations so it’s pretty amusing to see four of you running down the field all doing different celebrations.    
  
We’ve had some great early feedback on the feature and gamers seem to really enjoy the freedom of being able to celebrate in their own unique way. We hope you enjoy the gamer controlled celebration feature as it really adds another element to the game and was a lot of fun to create.