TDC’s Games Engine Spins the Chairs for The Voice
Think of The Voice and the chances are that the first thing to come to mind is the spinning chairs that judges use when giving their verdicts on performances. For The Voice Australia, those iconic moments in the show are provided by TDC – Technical Direction Company. The Voice is now just one of several TV game shows for which TDC provides, or will provide, what the company calls its ‘Games Engine Solutions’.
“We were approached three years ago by the producers of The Voice to deliver functionality that would make it easier and more reliable to create key effects within the show,” said Drew Ferors, Technical Services and New Media Manager at TDC – Technical Direction Company. “We quickly realised that this was a very specialist area, with limited suppliers serving the Australian market.
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TDC’s Games Engine
Having carried out significant R&D over the last three years combined with extensive exposure to the TV show environment, TDC has developed specialised expertise skill in the development of customised games engines and automated solutions.
The solutions uses a graphical interface that isn’t a traditional video with content that’s being played back. Rather, it is an engine that has rules that can be automated or triggered, with various triggers for specific actions. Multi-user and multi-functional, it can be likened to a computer game that needs to be capable of being controlled by different people at different points during the recording process to deliver anything from spinning chairs to broadcast feeds.
In addition to the Games Engine, TDC is also responsible for supplying creative LED and projection equipment solutions and media servers to the television studio productions.
Ferors recalls that, within hours of being approached by The Voice’s producers, TDC had obtained a spinning chair in order to reverse engineer it, and then applied the company’s range of talents to creating the required solution.
“The producers could immediately see the huge advantage in working with a real bricks and mortar company with strength in areas like logistics, content management, programming and project management,” Ferors remembers.
All Together Now
Following the initial success with The Voice, TDC was asked to become involved with All Together Now, another reality television music competition broadcast on the Seven network, and developed a Games Engine even more comprehensive and sophisticated than the one developed for The Voice.
They were taken aback, as no-one had ever been able to do that for them before. That’s something we can do for any show.
“For All Together Now, we created a mock-up of what we were proposing to give the producers the confidence that we really could deliver what we promised,” said Ferors. “They were taken aback, as no-one had ever been able to do that for them before. That’s something we can do for any show. In such a complex scenario, story boards just aren’t adequate – you need to show the system in operation. We’re uniquely placed to be able to do that.”
All Together Now’s huge game play required 100 buttons for inputs – one for each judge -with which TDC automated the light-up each of their 100 spot lights, opened each of their microphones and changed their corresponding LED screen to a different colour, along with counting everyone’s vote to indicate the current score to viewers at home. We also logged a time stamp for each judge’s vote, and sequenced score reveals and special effects along with controlling the podium score update to follow along with game play.
Chris & Julia’s Sunday Night Takeaway
TDC is currently working with the producers of Chris & Julia’s Sunday Night Takeaway to create a Games Engine for the Network Ten show.
“Sunday Night Takeaway is a variety show enhanced with game show-type segments including at-home guessing games, nationwide live karaoke, and prize gambling games,” explains Ferors. “Along with scoring, timing and credits requirements, we are equipped with a fleet of automation and gaming servers ready to respond to the wide range of demands and allow the producers a great deal of flexibility to be able to creatively add to the show’s dynamic variety of segments.”
“We now have a Games Engine solution that is 100% robust – yet enormously flexible, able to respond to the requirements of virtually any program with a profile similar to The Voice or All Together Now,” concluded Ferors. “We’re looking forward to engaging with the producers of those shows to demonstrate to them how we can help turn their vision into a reality.”
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