About
About
Epic Games released a broadcast package for Rocket League nicknamed the “Hype Chamber,” named after its use on live broadcasts. Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) is the official college league for Rocket League, and they wanted a custom version for their productions. I modified the existing project to change the look and add the additional features CRL needed.
The biggest visible changes can be seen in the image on the right. The screen backgrounds were redesigned to blend better with the rest of the stream layout, and team logos were replaced with animated text so viewers could still identify the teams playing.
A lot of the work was behind the scenes. This included building out automation and controls so that all the renders needed for a broadcast could be set up and completed as quickly as possible.
The changes also included adding support for 6 different color schemes per team, along with automation for updating text, lights, textures, and materials so the user did not have to make those changes manually.
For CRL productions, 5 different renders were created per game, adding up to 25 per weekly broadcast stream. Two streams ran each week: one on the College Carball Twitch channel and one on the official Rocket League Twitch channel, which also serves as the home of RLCS broadcasts.
Unreal Engine kept growing in popularity and I wanted to dig deeper into what it could actually do. I started with traditional 3D rendering, but it quickly became clear the engine was capable of far more than that. That curiosity is what led me to this project.
EFVS is a project I led that gives colleges access to a virtual studio for their own productions, with a primary focus on esports. The studio supports fully custom themes that can be saved and switched on the fly during live broadcasts. This includes swapping between different analyst and caster configurations mid-stream as well as changing branding without any interruption.
My primary focus was on the functionality of the studio. Using a data table setup, I built a custom skin system that lets different branding and use cases be stored and switched through using the controller. I also built the camera moves used to navigate the studio space and created the HUD for camera control and monitoring. While I was not the primary modeler, I did contribute to applying materials to the models throughout the studio.
The project has since grown beyond a single studio. Studio A was the original, but we have also built out Studio B, which I designed and modeled the assets for. It carries most of the same features with a few additions, including DMX fixtures for added energy and a dedicated area for game recaps. Studio B is still relatively new, so there is more to come.
UNC Greensboro hosted a LAN Fortnite event where high school and college students competed for prize money. They wanted to use the studio for their broadcast on UNCG’s esports Twitch channel, so I quickly built a custom version of the studio for the event and operated the project during the live broadcast.