Voice acting?

[Winter]

OK, I see we now have several people who are interested in making voice files, but before we start recording away random samples, I think we should get some input from the coders as to what groups of sounds we should work on.

To give you an idea what I'm talking about, here are some proposed groups:

- voices for when a unit is clicked on ("Yes Sir?," "Ready!", etc.)
- voices for when a unit is told to move ("Moving Out," etc.)
- voices for when a unit shoots an alien
- a group for when the shot alien is killed or taken down successfully
- a group for when a hostile unit is spotted

If we plan groups like this I think it would be much easier for the coders to implement the soldier voices, rather than just a huge pool of random recordings.

Perhaps we should wait for the audio coders to post some input here first on what they think they can implement and what they don't think would work, before we start recording away.

Once we get this point cleared up, I heard from my web hosting service that there is a way to grant ftp upload access to some folders on my site, I could then allow anyone interested in doing voices to simply upload their recordings there, and then once I process the files I can make sets available for people to download and evaluate for use in the game.

Or, if anyone has a better idea about how to plan this, feel free to speak up.

Just a note, when/if you're planning to record any actual spoken words, those words will have to be written by the story team. We don't want anyone to just record random bits, as they may not fit with the military theme and terminology of the game. For example, it would break believability a bit to hear supposedly hyper-professional soldiers going "Yeehaw!" when firing at aliens. Especially when there's nothing stopping us from going for more appropriate samples, like a short, sharp cry of "Target!"

Also, I wonder if it would be possible to have several sets of samples -- one for normal troops, one for panicked troops, one for berserk troops, etc.

Regards,
Winter

[Alex]

Theres also the issue of continuity, just to make things more complicated.

Nothing would sound worse than hearing one soldier say "Target Aquired" in bill's voice, and then "Target Neutralized" in joe's voice.

Somehow the code will have to assign one voice set to a soldier.  For the duration of the game it never changes for that soldier - so they always sound the same.

Along with the soldiers bio and other stats you could add a hidden variable for the voiceset, eg:

soldier->voiceset = "joe_bloggs_3.set"

Or something to that effect.

Just a thought, but I think its worth considering.

[Destructavator]

Actually, for some time there has already been over two dozen soldier voice files created that I have sitting on my hard drive (the ones in the patch tracker are an old set of just a few of them).

In light of what was just suggested, I agree it makes sense to just wait for the story team to write up a list of voices that should be created.

Just to clarify, what exactly is the game plan here?  Is it:

1) Have the story writers come up with a list of phrases (with help of translators for other languages)
2) Post the list somewhere
3) Have everyone interested in recording voice files start making recordings
4) Have the files processed with Radio FX (and maybe static sounds added) (Whether by myself or someone else)
5) Have the completed files posted where they can be judged if they are good enough to be used
6) Have the approved files added by the coders

?

If I misunderstand, please correct me on this.

Of course I'll go with whatever the project leaders want, but it would be nice to start getting some of this going as soon as possible rather than constant talking about it with little action - I'm itching to go and I think I'm not alone, although on the other hand it does need to be organized and planned beforehand IMO.

[Winter]

Actually, for some time there has already been over two dozen soldier voice files created that I have sitting on my hard drive (the ones in the patch tracker are an old set of just a few of them).

So why haven't you posted them anywhere here on the forums? I've never heard any of them. If I haven't heard them, I can't tell you if they're appropriate.

Regards,
Winter

[Alex]

Do you think we need radio static fx?  Future communications would be static-free wouldn't they?

[Winter]

Do you think we need radio static fx?  Future communications would be static-free wouldn't they?

Either way works, as the aliens are putting out a lot of electronic warfare activity on most battlefields. Some won't even feature aliens, however. Static-free messages would probably be better.

Regards,
Winter

[Alex]

I guess it becomes a question of immersion...  Crackling radio comms are kind of the norm in games these days, it might not be accurate to have the crackle but it may make the game sounds fit into the general expectations of the game player.  Or maybe we should just try it and see what works best

[blondandy]

Even if the comms equipment that phalanx troops use doesn't put static noise on the line, it could do loads of other things. presumably the signal would be compressed and encrypted. perhaps squeezed into the tiniest band possible to make interception more difficult. loads of room for introducing various artefacts.

there's an excuse to...

...just try it and see what works best.

[Destructavator]

Actually, for some time there has already been over two dozen soldier voice files created that I have sitting on my hard drive (the ones in the patch tracker are an old set of just a few of them).

So why haven't you posted them anywhere here on the forums? I've never heard any of them. If I haven't heard them, I can't tell you if they're appropriate.

Regards,
Winter

Sorry about that, I sent an email with how to download them to Mattn and forgot to ask him to share them with all the project leaders.  My fault!

I'll send you a pm shortly on where you can download them...

-D

[XaverXN]

OK, I think most people agree on most things. To get started faster, i will set up some polls to evaluate the more controverse points - first one up already.

For my personal 2c:

I'd strongly recommend not to have sounds on selecting a soldier. Because people that cycle through soldiers a lot (like myself) then would always here a lot of 'Yes, sir'-s one after the other and that would be annoying.

Destructavator and others have proposed quite senseful steps on the roadmaps.
Proposal: We should decide on the senteces we'd need now. Why don't we agree on 'categories' like Destructavator said and collect a lot of possible phrases with the same content/meaning. A voice actor could then take one or two of them. That way we'd have no voices saying the exactly same phrases and some individuality.

Example:
Category: Alien discovered
1) Alien spotted.
2) There's one!
3) Enemy contact.
4) Alien identificated.

[Winter]

I'd strongly recommend not to have sounds on selecting a soldier. Because people that cycle through soldiers a lot (like myself) then would always here a lot of 'Yes, sir'-s one after the other and that would be annoying.

Ideally, we would have a system transparent enough (with a full text log as well) that you could mute individual soldiers if their voice annoyed you and not have your overview of the game suffer. A system similar to the Jagged Alliance games might be handy -- in the original JA, right-clicking on the soldier's portrait opened up a range of individual options for that soldier. In JA2, all these options were readily accessible on the general control panel.

Proposal: We should decide on the senteces we'd need now. Why don't we agree on 'categories' like Destructavator said and collect a lot of possible phrases with the same content/meaning. A voice actor could then take one or two of them. That way we'd have no voices saying the exactly same phrases and some individuality.

Example:
Category: Alien discovered
1) Alien spotted.
2) There's one!
3) Enemy contact.
4) Alien identificated.

Anything being said will be determined by the story team, and we'll divide our list into categories as needed. Suggestions aren't going to help.

In fact, it would be preferable to have several different voices calling out the same things with little variation, because these people are soldiers and they're trained to say specific things for specific situations. Random outcries just create confusion.

Regards,
Winter

[blondandy]

on annoying frequency.

the actors should not chirp up every time they are selected, simply once in a while. perhaps once a round on average. there should be a lot of variety in the samples, so they do not get repetive.

[XaverXN]

blondandy just got what i meant to say.

Winter, I don't think if a soldier says Alien spotted or Enemy contact would be confusing, if thats what you mean by random outcries. I think, just like blondandy, that variety would add individuality to the game.

Other opinions?

And I think suggestions are always going to help, winter. Even though it definitely will be the story team to decide.

BTW, who is part of the story team we are talking about here? We should start getting them to be part of the process i we don't want to be beating around the bush forever. Is there a team leader or contact person?

[Zenerka]

BTW, who is part of the story team we are talking about here? We should start getting them to be part of the process i we don't want to be beating around the bush forever. Is there a team leader or contact person?

In short: Mattn is the chief of everything.
In long: the Storyline Departament is under control of Winter and BTAxis - both are using this forum and both are writing posts here. Basicaly, if they are claiming something is not going to fit the storyline, this means that something is not going to fit the storyline. So if you want them to be part of the process I would ask what stops you for starting the process (whatever the process should be - I didn't read this topic very carefuly)? They are here.
Now, if you want to know more, mattn and Hoehrer are two main coders here, mattn also is the chief of mapping section and Hoehrer works with models and textures. And I am just a little fish reading your posts and doing some small fixes in the code.
Note, that any work with new sound effects needs additional work from the coders side. It is not just that someone will made cool sounds for voice acting, we will add the files to repository, and that's it, everything works. No. More time and more work is needed to see (well, actually: hear here) the effects. But I think I already made a post about this one day... yes, it is here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1287

[Wanderer]

In short: Mattn is the chief of everything.
In long: the Storyline Departament is under control of Winter and BTAxis - both are using this forum and both are writing posts here. Basicaly, if they are claiming something is not going to fit the storyline, this means that something is not going to fit the storyline. So if you want them to be part of the process I would ask what stops you for starting the process (whatever the process should be - I didn't read this topic very carefuly)? They are here.  
Now, if you want to know more, mattn and Hoehrer are two main coders here, mattn also is the chief of mapping section and Hoehrer works with models and textures. And I am just a little fish reading your posts and doing some small fixes in the code.

That helps in a number of ways, actually.  Thanks.

To the topic:  I've done some stage training and wouldn't mind getting involved in this as another voice if you need one.  I'll have to pick up some semi-decent equipment as my current piece of trash... is just that.  But it wouldn't be to bad, I don't think.

Specifically to Winter and BTAxis:  What could we do, if anything, to help speed this process along and get some ideas of what you'd *like* in your samples?

[EDIT]: Always right after I finish posting something... the answer to my question is here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1358&highlight=