Project 6014: Update

[dczanik]

Hey guys,

Just an update. We're putting together a writing team as you may have noticed. Our lead writer has been away, working on something useless like a Master's degree, so he'll be out until next month at the soonest. The items discussed are mostly ideas at this point. Not a single bit of dialog has been put into the actual game.

So, I encourage anybody who doesn't want spoilers to give feedback, correct mistakes, etc. If you think you can do a better job or add to the story (and have the time)... we'd love to have you on the writing team. Remember, this is a game for fans, made by fans.

Maloo Orture is working on the CHMMR voices. Check out his test sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaS6tUumb0U

[glory_device]

Voice quality is good! The only thing that I would change is to put just a tiny bit less of reverb or echo in the post-production, but this is a matter of taste. Aside from that, there was no recording glitch or any other negative aspect!

[Angelfish]

the Star control 2 voices are horrible, any improvement that can be made upon them should be done. So it isn't bad if they don't sound exactly the same as the original

[Alvarin]

I've commented on the video

The voice itself is fairly close, but the pitch here is bit higher and the pace of speech is faster here. I think slowing the track down by, say, 5~10% could be closer.

[Maloo Oture]

the Star control 2 voices are horrible, any improvement that can be made upon them should be done. So it isn't bad if they don't sound exactly the same as the original

Actually I was going for almost the exact same. The voices from the original were crappy, yes. But then if it sounded any different, it would change the whole character for some people. It's a very difficult medium to find.

[Angelfish]

the Star control 2 voices are horrible, any improvement that can be made upon them should be done. So it isn't bad if they don't sound exactly the same as the original

Actually I was going for almost the exact same. The voices from the original were crappy, yes. But then if it sounded any different, it would change the whole character for some people. It's a very difficult medium to find.

I liked the fact that in mass effect every alien has a unique personality. You don't see all the turians being the same or talking the same, etc.

[Alvarin]

I liked the fact that in mass effect every alien has a unique personality. You don't see all the turians being the same or talking the same, etc.

SC2 falls under "planet of hats" trope.
It is doable, to give scripted encounters specific personalities and have a pool of traits for random encounters, but the amount of effort would be enormous...

[Mormont]

It is much easier to do different conversations for every character when you have lots of fixed locations in towns or other locations where you know the player will be talking to them and where you can place a specific NPC. When most conversations take place from random encounters in space, you can't exactly write the dialog differently for everyone. Randomizing space encounter dialog trees would not only be a lot of work, but probably just annoying - imagine having to keep bumping into Thraddash wondering if this will be the one with the right personality! Of course the Yehat are an exception, but there's a solid story reason for it that is made obvious to the player.

Plus, the homeworlds and other encounter planets in SC2 already do often have different dialog.

Furthermore, SC doesn't have "party members" in the traditional sense of an RPG. Fwiffo is a half-exception, but is just another escort ship once he joins. And it wouldn't really work with SC's gameplay either. I haven't played Mass Effect, but I understand much of the dialog and story is focused around the different NPCs that join you.

So I think SC2's mostly-monolithic race personalities (not entirely - don't forget ZEX and the Yehat! And the Spathi, sort of) basically suit the game's story and gameplay. Whether more specific characters in each race would be a good idea in a future SC depends on a lot of things.

[sakalava47]

I liked the fact that in mass effect every alien has a unique personality. You don't see all the turians being the same or talking the same, etc.

SC2 falls under "planet of hats" trope.
It is doable, to give scripted encounters specific personalities and have a pool of traits for random encounters, but the amount of effort would be enormous...

I do think it could be very funny to have an argument between two or three Spathi who all have somewhat different personalities. I can imagine the "logical" conclusions that they could make to rationalize their fear of the Ultimate Evil.

[sakalava47]

the Star control 2 voices are horrible, any improvement that can be made upon them should be done. So it isn't bad if they don't sound exactly the same as the original

When I first played Star Control 2, the sound was turned off so my imagination supplied the voices. When I heard the actual voices, I was kind of surprised and even disappointed. However, the Ur Quan were pretty cool.

On the other hand, there is a genuine quirkiness to their voices that gives Star Control races a unique flavor that I have come to appreciate now that I have become accustommed to them.