We recently had a chance to interview NCAA Football 13 Designer Christian McLeod and Producer Ben Haumiller.

All questions were submitted, but not all of them could be answered at this time, due to coverage in the coming weeks. This interview only focuses on the sights and sounds of NCAA Football 13.

Sights

Have you improved replays and cut scenes? How many cut scenes have been added this year?

Over 50 new vignettes have been added including player interactions, player/coach interactions, celebrations, run outs, etc.

Are there more team-specific celebrations after big plays? What about postgame reactions? Will teams react differently after an upset win, loss or blowout?

We have added a new post play emotion system that will affect how players react in given situations. This system will better identify what the appropriate emotion of the player should be at that moment. While this system will provide a big improvement to the celebration animations, I think the biggest impact will come in the celebrations you don’t see any more as players will no longer celebrate in situations where they shouldn’t.

Will we see the chain gang in the game?

The chain gang will not be present in NCAA Football 13.

Will Dynamic crowd attendance be included, if so, could you give us some more details?

Dynamic crowd attendance will continue to be a part of Dynasty and Road to Glory. As the game progresses during a blowout fans will start to leave the game early, starting from the upper bowl corners and endzones to mimic what you see in real life games. As the season progresses, you will see thinner/fuller crowds at the start of a game based on the home school’s performance/opponent.

Are any of the new stadiums included? What about pro stadiums, which could be used as neutral site games?

FAU and North Texas received brand new stadiums this year using the new scanning technology. Additionally, Georgia, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Michigan, Navy, NC State, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Rice, Rutgers, Tulane/Sugar Bowl, UL Monroe, and Wake Forest received stadium renovations.

Will the trophy presentation only feature the Heisman trophy, or will it show all of them? What about trophies for winning bowl or rivalry games? In terms of what we will see during the presentation of the trophies, can you give us some tidbits?

Trophy celebrations will be on the field this year for rivalry, championship, and bowl games.

How many new animations will we see this year? Are there any specific ones that have been removed? What about some of the "Little Things", are there any you would like to mention?

Questions dealing with Gameplay will be reveled in the Gameplay playbook on April 17^th.

Will you show starting lineups for both teams at the beginning of the 1st possession, as well as, show the coaches career record?

Starting line-ups and coaching record information did not make it into this year’s title, however we will have some great Dynasty presentation news to share on May 7^th.

Texas Tech fans want to know if the Masked Rider is included and New Mexico Lobo fans want to know if their fight song, and/or there mascot Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy, made the cut. Any other team run-outs and pre-game traditions you'd like to mention?

Unfortunately the Masked Rider and Lobo mascots did not make it in this year. As for fight songs, for any fight song we don’t have in the game, it’s typically an issue where we are not able to secure the rights to use the song from the music publisher that owns the rights.

Sounds

Will NCAA Football 13 feature commentary that's not too repetitive; will we finally hear some ebb and flow between the guys in the booth, sort of like how FIFA handles it? Is it all new commentary, if so how many lines were recorded? 

We have made a concerted effort to record ad libbed commentary to help capture the feel of a true broadcast flow. Additionally we were able to use telemetry to remove old, tired lines that have gotten repetitive over the years and replace them with these all-new ad libbed lines.

Will Brad and Kirk break out of a conversation, if a big play happens while they are talking?

This is something that is possible with our new engine, and we are working to look into implementing something like this in the coming years once we are able to fully harness the tech.

Will we hear crowds reacting correctly in given situations, for example on 3rd downs, crucial plays, TD's, interceptions, fumbles, big hits, etc.?

Yes. The crowd content and system is an area where you will hear some great improvements.  Based on the recordings that were done and the new crowd mix implemented by our Audio Director, Aaron Janzen, you will be hearing the crowd swells react appropriately throughout the game.

What about playing in large stadiums, compared to smaller ones? Adding on to that question, will we hear much of a difference between full stadiums vs. stadiums with smaller crowds?

Yes, you will notice a difference between these stadiums. We made an effort to record assets at small, medium, and large stadiums throughout last season. We even attended a high school game to ensure our crowds sound as authentic as possible depending on where you play.

Will crowds vary as far as regular season games, rivalry games, bowl games, and neutral site games? Speaking of neutral site games, will the crowd react to both teams, instead of recognizing the "home" team exclusively?  

Yes, the crowd behavior is driven contextually, and the type of game being played is part of that.  We have the ability to drive different crowd reactions based on home / neutral / away.

What sort of sounds and commentary upgrades has been made for Dynasty / Online Dynasty mode? Will we hear announcers talking about your current dynasty and what is revolving around it, with other teams and players? With they speak on other games during the week, upsets, conference standings, etc.?

Dynasty details will be announced May 7^th.

Any upgrades to "on the field" audio? The cracking of helmets and shoulder pads, for example. 

Our hit system is being fully re-mixed this year. The system and content we have is extensive.  We have the ability to tune every element of the hit, based on force, and it cascades out into pad and helmet collisions, as well as all body collisions, grunts etc.  We've been somewhat conservative in the past with how we handle this system, and this year, and want to ensure we FEEL it.

Can you talk about post-game commentary? Will we see different reactions from the commentators, depending on the "end game" situations? What about post game traditions, for example, the playing of the alma mater at Notre Dame?

Yes, Brad has new ad libbed lines that are general concerning the outcome of the game. Post-game traditions will not be included in this year’s game.

If you could give us an example of a moment in "Sights" and a moment in "Sounds" that you are most proud of, what would it be?

From a sounds perspective it’s the new ad libbed content we got from the talent, specifically the mystery commentator to be named later. I’m very proud that these lines capture the essence of each of our talents, and add personality to our game. This is a very solid first year under our new recording philosophy.