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Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: General Battuta on July 21, 2009, 08:18:14 pm

Title: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 21, 2009, 08:18:14 pm
Stuff is going swimmingly on War in Heaven development, progress is very rapid.

However, I just wanted to note - as a fan, rather than as a member of the team - that boy, a lot of people seem to be playing Blue Planet. Nearly every newb or IRC-newcomer has mentioned trying it (often in the context of requesting technical support  :p). Hooray! This is very exciting. Before I got the chance to play in Darius' sandbox I was a rabid Blue Planet supporter, which still comes through in my frequently bumbling attempts to drum up publicity.

All the more reason for us to get that voice-acted Director's Cut out soon, eh Darius?
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: -Norbert- on July 22, 2009, 08:46:17 am
Quote
often in the context of requesting technical support
Probably about something solved in the sticky, eh?  :lol:

Considering how good BP is, it's hardly surprising that people recommend it to their friends. For every one I ever heard of not liking BP, I heard (or rather read) at least ten who love it (including me). And yes, I also converted a friend to BP by now  ;)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Dilmah G on July 22, 2009, 09:42:09 am
Quote
often in the context of requesting technical support
And yes, I also converted a friend to BP by now  ;)
Go in peace to love and serve the Darii, my brother. :P
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Snail on July 22, 2009, 02:06:27 pm
We have several marketing campaigns going on at the moment, don't we...

(BTW WiH is a lot of fun, when it comes out you should try it.)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Mobius on July 22, 2009, 02:09:54 pm
I hope you weren't refering to these guys. :p

Back on topic: Age of Aquarius has become a very common campaign among new and old players. I kind of like the fact that new stuff can also be synonim of good stuff (remember the wide spread Derelict fanboysm?).

One more thing... we know Darius is a very good FREDder, plot creator, composer and modder... but that doesn't necessarily imply that the rest of the BP Team is comparable to the project leader - you guys have a lot to prove...  ;)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 22, 2009, 02:16:01 pm
You've never released anything.  :p

Seriously, though, Fury is an incredible tabler and tester, and, while I can't assess my own FRED skills, I reckon I'm decent. Snail could assess better than me.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Fury on July 22, 2009, 02:28:17 pm
Eh? You should have more faith in your fredding skills. The missions you've put together are great.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: -Norbert- on July 22, 2009, 03:31:23 pm
I certainly know that General Battuta is a good backstory writer and PR manager :lol: (or should I say cheerleader :P )
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 22, 2009, 03:39:01 pm
but that doesn't necessarily imply that the rest of the BP Team is comparable to the project leader

They are. Oh, they are. :P
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 22, 2009, 03:40:24 pm
I certainly know that General Battuta is a good backstory writer and PR manager :lol: (or should I say cheerleader :P )

Gimme a B!

Gimme a P!

Gimme a B!

Gimme a P!

...
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Aardwolf on July 22, 2009, 07:10:01 pm
So, does the voice-acting actually sound GOOD? Like, FS2-quality?
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 22, 2009, 07:12:45 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Aardwolf on July 22, 2009, 07:15:54 pm
FS1 wasn't that bad.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 22, 2009, 07:19:37 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Snail on July 22, 2009, 07:23:27 pm
My main gripe about many fan-voice actings including Derelict was that they didn't have consistent volume. Derelict in particular, the volume was too soft compared to the retail built-in messages. I couldn't hear what they were saying, and when I pumped up the volume, SUDDENLY A WINGMAN IS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE AND MY EARS HURT

I trust Batts and the team have taken into account. STR did a fine job of it.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Darius on July 22, 2009, 07:40:34 pm
All right, slap-on-the-back session is over.

Get back to work! :P
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 22, 2009, 08:45:03 pm
Sorry.  :nervous:

So, does the voice-acting actually sound GOOD? Like, FS2-quality?

No, not yet, but it's pretty solid, and it'll all get normalized and stuff to sort out volumes. It won't be as good as that, probably not even as good as ST:R, but it'll be palatable.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 22, 2009, 10:22:21 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Flipside on July 22, 2009, 11:04:15 pm
You can pick up a perfectly good Microphone very cheaply these days, to be honest, look for Shure or Beyer-Dynamic, the entire range is very nice.

Part of what makes Voice acting difficult for Mods is the fact that you really need a Condenser (sometimes called Capacitor) Mic to get a good recording, the standard Microphone is a dynamic Mic, which has a habit of picking up stuff going on in the background, whereas Condenser mics have a much shorter range and don't pick up your Computer fan, the cat meowing etc...
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Mongoose on July 23, 2009, 01:35:18 am
As far as fans go, Audacity's noise removal should do just fine at removing it.  Doesn't account for the cat, though. :p

I really need to finish my part for Warzone (if they still even want it), and I'd love to at least attempt to send samples in for BP, but my problem is that I live with the rest of the family, so I can't exactly start yelling into my mic at any time of the day or night.  Tends to weird people out.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Flipside on July 23, 2009, 01:40:34 am
Oddly enough, the low quality of the audio files used in the original actually helped, because dropping the resolution of the sounds make it sound more like a 'Radio' broadcast, rather than a spoken voice.

I have the same problem as you, Death Screams, for example, are out of the question, and I'm pretty sure I'd get some strange looks from Sharon if I started shouting at my computer to charge beam arrays and launch all fighters, Still, I get strange looks from Sharon all the time anyway, so that won't be too much of a problem ;)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Dilmah G on July 23, 2009, 03:43:30 am
I hope you weren't refering to these guys. :p
One more thing... we know Darius is a very good FREDder, plot creator, composer and modder... but that doesn't necessarily imply that the rest of the BP Team is comparable to the project leader - you guys have a lot to prove...  ;)
Yo trying to say somethin' fool? :P
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Aardwolf on July 23, 2009, 11:15:22 am
/me can't voice act, because he sounds like a nerd

Unfortunately, what I sound like to other people and to microphones isn't what I sound like to me. It's probably got to do with the sound resonating inside my head or something.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Snail on July 23, 2009, 11:21:13 am
/me can't voice act, because he sounds like a nerd

Unfortunately, what I sound like to other people and to microphones isn't what I sound like to me. It's probably got to do with the sound resonating inside my head or something.
I thought that happens to everyone?
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Mongoose on July 23, 2009, 12:13:24 pm
It does.  I think I sound rather more manleh in my head than I do audibly, but at least what comes out isn't too bad.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 23, 2009, 03:00:15 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Mongoose on July 23, 2009, 03:24:56 pm
No, Aardwolf was right.  It has nothing at all to do with the quality of the recording device, or anything like that.  You could record yourself in a professional voiceover booth, yet you'd still sound rather different than you do to yourself.  Remember that sound transmits far better through solids than it does through air, so when you speak, your eardrums pick up a lot of vibration straight from the vocal cords through your body; this results in a different sound than just hearing the vibrating air coming out of your mouth.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 23, 2009, 03:29:50 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: -Norbert- on July 24, 2009, 03:51:15 am
Usually they are told, if their voices sound bad, long before they get a chance to sing live before an audiance...
Besides they also hear whats coming out of the speakers (at least if the one on the mixer knows his job).

Quote
So I guess there is no way for me to sound that way to others.
You could try to get a waterproof microphone and record under water. Maybe the water will transfer the soundwaves better than the air  :P
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: swashmebuckle on July 24, 2009, 08:08:09 am
That's a bummer. I think my voice and tone sounds better to me than hearing it on a device. So I guess there is no way for me to sound that way to others.
You won't ever sound just the same to others as you do in your head, but you can project a less pinched, more resonant tone by having good, well-aligned but relaxed posture and using your chest and throat as resonating cavities in addition to the mouth and sinus.  A lot of your tone is determined by the length and thickness of your vocal cords, which there isn't much you can do about, but you can make yourself sound less tiny to others and on recordings by opening up your body into as big of a reverberant chamber as possible.  Or you can always darken up your tone by taking like Kermit the Frog or Percy Sledge, but that's a whole other can o' worms.

edit: misspelled vocal cords, the shame...
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 24, 2009, 01:13:34 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: swashmebuckle on July 24, 2009, 03:34:18 pm
I'm wasn't meaning to say anything about your voice being high or low, only that good speaking/singing form can help you communicate with greater timbral and dynamic flexibility (which might help you sound less monotonous on recordings) while also adding some resonance to the sound you're making (which might help make the sound that other people hear when you speak more like what's in your head).

And it's not that far off topic--BP is asking for voice acting stuff.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 24, 2009, 03:34:59 pm
We're almost done, actually. We just need Eriana and Mei Ling, and Orestes Tactical, and for Rian to finish doing Admiral Carey. And for the Sam guy to redo a couple lines.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: swashmebuckle on July 24, 2009, 03:40:57 pm
That was one heck of a fast reply.  In the good cheer theme, I'm really looking forward to playing both of these campaigns: the text background stuff shows how much thought has gone into it and the video previews are super exciting!
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on July 24, 2009, 03:43:35 pm
You could play Age of Aquarius without the voice acting. The recent 3.6.10 version has a couple glitches that need polish, though.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Flipside on July 24, 2009, 04:15:40 pm
For those of you with higher-ranged voices, you can always use pitch-shifters and things that don't affect the length of the recording, sometimes that can work quite well though, oddly enough, the most common mistake is overdoing it, so all the voice acting sounds like Solid Snake on a mixture of Steroids and Valium.

Often it's not so much a question of a high pitched voice as the fact that many Mic's almost totally ignore the Bass range, try bringing up the Bass levels in a Graphic Eq., that will also help.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: swashmebuckle on July 24, 2009, 07:53:11 pm
You could play Age of Aquarius without the voice acting. The recent 3.6.10 version has a couple glitches that need polish, though.
But I am looking forward to being embarrassed at how I still manage to sound like a 12 year old in the game after being all "proper spinal alignment" on the board  :D
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: High Max on July 24, 2009, 08:35:58 pm
;-)
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Leeko on August 01, 2009, 09:56:19 am
However, I just wanted to note - as a fan, rather than as a member of the team - that boy, a lot of people seem to be playing Blue Planet. Nearly every newb or IRC-newcomer has mentioned trying it (often in the context of requesting technical support  :p)

The reason I made an account on HLP after lurking for nearly four years is so that I could find out how to extract music files from Blue Planet's VPs. Some of it is still in my WoW raiding playlist. :yes:
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Dragon on August 01, 2009, 11:02:35 am
Expect more awesome music to come with WiH, currently we have one tabled track (divided into parts, like Machine) and several non-tabled (started by SEXPs, like just Aim).
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: General Battuta on August 01, 2009, 12:07:25 pm
Ey! That's bloody secret!  :p

I actually really prefer working with the non-tabled tracks as they're way more flexible and let you fit the music better to the action. And we have a ton of them, way more than in AoA.
Title: Re: A memorandum of good cheer!
Post by: Leeko on August 01, 2009, 02:01:14 pm
Indeed I am looking forward to it, as well as the re-release of AoA. I shall toast the BP team with my finest Mtn. Dew. :D