Speaking units, recommended

Create music and sound effects for mainline or user-made content.

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Boucman
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Post by Boucman »

actually, DF's idea is very doable, but the animation engine is getting a faceligft at the moment so it's a bit "early" in the developement phase to implement that.... stay tuned
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Lugo Moll
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Post by Lugo Moll »

I definitely vote for Steelclad Brians idea.
Elves: Something that sounds Elvish, but not too long - maximum is probably 2 seconds.
Here is some Quenya words that could be used:

Yes - Tancave
War - Ohta
What - Man
Forward - Eta
Hail - Aiya
Lord - Heru
Good day- Mara aurë
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turin
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Post by turin »

I would say "Aiya". A subtle tribute to Miyo, a dev here back in '03 and '04... (and, maybe, early '05).
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TimothyP
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Post by TimothyP »

I still propose making up every word ourselves. It's easy enough to create foreign-sounding languages. A lot of the quality would come down to the voice and the effects used for the person grunting, or whatever.

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Post by miyo »

Disto
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Post by Disto »

turin wrote:I would say "Aiya". A subtle tribute to Miyo, a dev here back in '03 and '04... (and, maybe, early '05).
And obviously still around. :P Nice to see you around.
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Na'enthos
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Post by Na'enthos »

turin wrote: Best proposal so far. It's actually doable, and wouldn't ruin the game if done badly.

Human loyalists: hmm?
Human outlaws: hmm? **but recorded to sound different and distinct*
Horse units: *neigh*
Elves: Something that sounds Elvish, but not too long - maximum is probably 2 seconds.
Dwarves: *grunt*
Orcs: *growl*
Saurians: *hiss*
Drakes: *wing flap*
Undead: Nothing. Or, a slight rustling of bones.
Nice. But I'd make a slightly different selection of noises:

Human loyalists: hmm?
Human outlaws: eh?
Horse units: *neigh*
Elves: Something that sounds Elvish, but not too long - maximum is probably 2 seconds.
Dwarves: *grunt* Or if you don't mind the warcraft stereotype: Aye?
Orcs: *growl*
Saurians: *hiss*
Drakes: *wing flap* Or a roar? Don't know how hard such is to create.
Undead: A slight rustling of bones (and armour/weapons). Or an eerie undead moaning sound, possibly.

Also, there are probably quite a few ways to distinguish units of the same race with sound, like by the chanting of mages.
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PsychoticKittens
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Clickamajig sounds

Post by PsychoticKittens »

I agree with most of these, but the outlaw click sound should probably be something more like "huh" or something uneducated sounding etc. as well as have afew extra variations for each one so it doesn't sound like some fighting game where you use the same combo move over and over (i.e. you hear the word "hmm", "hmm", "hmm", about a million times in one turn)
caranha
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Post by caranha »

From the translator's pits of hell...

Is this idea still being considered somewhere else outside of the foruns? We have some recording equipment in my university I believe I might be able to use, so I would love to help trying to record voices and voice-like sounds.

I have some experience with acting, and while I realize there is a huge gap between acting and voice-acting, this sounds like a fun challenge.

Please let me know if this idea has starved, or is still going on.
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turin
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Post by turin »

caranha wrote:From the translator's pits of hell...

Is this idea still being considered somewhere else outside of the foruns? We have some recording equipment in my university I believe I might be able to use, so I would love to help trying to record voices and voice-like sounds.

I have some experience with acting, and while I realize there is a huge gap between acting and voice-acting, this sounds like a fun challenge.

Please let me know if this idea has starved, or is still going on.
I think the problem is that no one was able to actually get decent sounds. If we get decent sounds, we'll use them.
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moxlon69
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Post by moxlon69 »

I don't think the problem would be decent sounds. If you have some basic recording knowledge, and a very modest budget, you can produce incredible results. Filesize would probably be offset highly by using a compressed format like ogg, and, making the voice packs a non-required element, and packaging them separately. The two biggest problems will still be to code all of the required changes, into the game engine, and the existing scripting/scenarios/campaigns, and to actually find good talent. I can record myself talking into a mic, but it would never sound good, no matter what kind of gear I use. Some people just aren't meant to be recorded.. The Talent I think would be the key element.
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Jami
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Post by Jami »

Well, my recording hardware/software is probably nowhere near the level of quality that your looking for, but in a fit of bordom/insomnia I recorded some short phrases and sounds for the thief unit.

I'm aware that the voice sounds very young and soft (that was deliberate, since the thief is a "weaker" L1... and the sprite looks so damn cute :D), and although I took measures to prevent/fix it there is still some audible feedback .

If you like it feel free to comment. If you don't, that's fine too.
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vonHalenbach
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Post by vonHalenbach »

In my opinion should every unit be spoken by a different speaker. The same speaker makes the same sounds, even in different languages. I am no soundactor but i am tempted to try to make some sounds for the dwarves and the ocrs. You can then select the best of it or mix it in studio equipment.

Junger people were better for elvish sounds and older guys more for the deeper sounding voices.

I agree with you, that we should not use english words for the voices, because then they must be translated (and newly spoken) in every language into which Battle for Wesnoth is translated. Too much work.
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Jami
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Post by Jami »

vonHalenbach wrote:In my opinion should every unit be spoken by a different speaker. The same speaker makes the same sounds, even in different languages. I am no soundactor but i am tempted to try to make some sounds for the dwarves and the ocrs. You can then select the best of it or mix it in studio equipment.

Junger people were better for elvish sounds and older guys more for the deeper sounding voices.

I agree with you, that we should not use english words for the voices, because then they must be translated (and newly spoken) in every language into which Battle for Wesnoth is translated. Too much work.
For the most part I agree with you. But I think that short words in different languages (for instance, there is no reason that a loyalist archer can't say "qui?" when clicked (qui is a version of "what" in latin). Nor do I see any problem with using "some" english words. Wesnoth is quite large, so why not have a version of english?
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vonHalenbach
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Post by vonHalenbach »

Jami wrote:
vonHalenbach wrote:In my opinion should every unit be spoken by a different speaker. The same speaker makes the same sounds, even in different languages. I am no soundactor but i am tempted to try to make some sounds for the dwarves and the ocrs. You can then select the best of it or mix it in studio equipment.

Junger people were better for elvish sounds and older guys more for the deeper sounding voices.

I agree with you, that we should not use english words for the voices, because then they must be translated (and newly spoken) in every language into which Battle for Wesnoth is translated. Too much work.
For the most part I agree with you. But I think that short words in different languages (for instance, there is no reason that a loyalist archer can't say "qui?" when clicked (qui is a version of "what" in latin). Nor do I see any problem with using "some" english words. Wesnoth is quite large, so why not have a version of english?
How can i explain this like i think it should be? In my opinion it would be best and fair for all gamers if all factions of Wesnoth speak the same language, which is not translatable into any other language of the world. Something like wesnothian (or elfish). As i sayd before, if some words were in english there would come some gamer who ask like you " why not in german? or in polish? or one of 30 other languages?" This would open the door to many halfmade and bad spoken translations, because i think not every translator is a good voice-actor. If wesnothian is something like baby babble, which has no real translation but can be understood by all gamers because they hear the intonation of the words. The intonation is something which can be understood by many different people of different heritage.

Did you have the experience of a hollyday in a land where you could not understand thier language by the spoken word, but could see fairly well because of the intonation and movement of hands and feets what words may be spoken? Languages are not totally different. So, when you say "yes" or "aye" maybe my grandmother would be able to understand this as "Ja" which means the same. In french this is "oui" and in spanish "si". So it would be best imho to use something like "ak" or "aky" or "qui" in elfish or wesnothian.
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