Swarm Development: Postmortem

[Hudders]

Nice voices! 

I especially like how cat pronounces it "inwincible" 

[Armageddon]

I tried to copy Secret Fawful, I think I failed.



And it's also based off, uh... Quest for Glory...

[Baron]

I like it -it's got atmosphere.    My only real issue is the legibility of the font.  Either it's gotta be less scrawling, or it needs an outline or to be offset with a darker colour for contrast.  Also we should probably put who the game is made by somewhere: by SWARMAGS.  I can put the buttons on -do you think down the lower right hand corner would look best?

Here is the fair vampire twin:

click

I can't seem to get this -can someone mirror it please?

[Armageddon]

Oh, totally forgot the text, I'll do that in a min. Also does anyone else think the title isn't readable? If so I'll redo it.

[cat]

Here is the fair vampire twin:

click

I can't seem to get this -can someone mirror it please?

That's strange, just tried the download here at work and it is ok for me.

I especially like how cat pronounces it "inwincible" 

Oh no, I knew I would get some pronunciation wrong  :'( what would be the correct way to say it?

[Hudders]

No, I like it. I shan't tell you how to pronounce it! 



...oh, OK, the v makes a sound almost like a b, I guess. Difficult to explain. You did better than I would have done in any language that isn't English anyway.

[Snarky]

V in English is pronounced like W in German, not like W in English.

It's a very common form of hypercorrection for foreign speakers. Most European languages don't have the English "W" sound, so once we learn it, we tend to overuse it where it should be "V". You'll hear Norwegians speaking English talk about "wikings" all the time. I used to do it constantly (saying "W", not talking about vikings) until an English friend started mocking me; I still do it when I get drunk.

[Peder 🚀]

You'll hear Norwegians speaking English talk about "wikings" all the time. I used to do it constantly (saying "W", not talking about vikings) until an English friend started mocking me;

I do this alot, but only some words, other words I manage fine.. And I also get mocked about it constantly specially since I live in Wales now and only speak English .

[Wonkyth]

I do it sometimes, and I'm a native speaker. Don't think it's a speech impediment thing either, just my over-dramatic brain acting stupid on me when I tired.

[Hudders]

V in English is pronounced like W in German, not like W in English.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. That's probably what I should have said. 

[cat]

Ok, I'll try to re-record that line.

[SpacePirateCaine]

No need to re-record the line in my opinion - I think that the characters sound much more like the stereotypical Germanic/mainland European vampire with a bit of an accent. Not to be disrespectful of your accent - I think it's perfectly charming.

But for the sake of assisting in linguistic study, the pronunciation of the letter V in standard North American and West-European Native English is a voiced labiodental fricative sound (i.e. a sound created by forcing air between your teeth and lips, which is accompanied by vocal movement). To properly create the 'v' sound as it appears in basically any English text, make the mouth-shape of an 'F' and voice it instead of making it just with air.

[Hudders]

Ok, I'll try to re-record that line.

No, please don't.

I especially like how cat pronounces it "inwincible" 

I wasn't being sarcastic.

[Baron]

You're a voiced labiodental fricative!

Back to serious mode: I've got Cat's lines.  It's strange how last night nothing would download for me from the ags.me server....  Anyway, I think the voice work sounds fine.  It will be interesting to see how you and Sinitrena sound conversing with each other since she interpreted her character differently.  I'm really looking forward to the completed voice version (hint, hint, nudge -get to work Studio3!).

[cat]

Yeah, since I got the fair twin and she had the dark twin with a rather dark interpretation, I thought I'd try to do a rather stereotypical blond voice. But I could try to do a another interpretation as well.

[Hudders]

IMO it's the Dark Twin recording that needs re-doing. It sounds too quiet and breathy.

[Snarky]

I haven't been paying too close attention to the development progress, but I just played the beta3 version. Holy crap that's awesome!

I didn't realize until I tried the beta that you'd actually used some of my puzzle ideas (and the concept that vampires take on the characteristics of the things they drink from), so that was particularly fun for me.

Things that were specially awesome:

Spoiler

-Merrick being hooked up to a poodle to keep him docile.
-Making the eXiT sign: "It's not a crucifix any more, just an everyday letter T."
-The inventory item for the drained carrot, complete with two bite marks.
-The ginger scientist climbing up onto the cabinet and successfully fending of Merrick with a broom.

[close]

Things I thought could still be improved:

Spoiler

-The @OVERHOTSPOT@ tooltip is displayed when you mouseover the background even during cutscenes (like the intro) and while the inventory is open. It'd be better to disable it at those times.
-I found the plot a little confusing at some points:
a) Wasn't Merrick turned into a vampire by the mad scientist? How does a history with the vampire twins come into it?
b) The mad scientist just seemed to disappear after the intro. Maybe there could be DOTT-style cutscenes showing what he's up to interspersed with Merrick's escape progress.
c) It was odd that the twins call him a traitor, when it seemed like they accepted that becoming a cyborg wasn't his fault.
-It's hard to understand that the background behind the mad scientist closeup is the ceiling, and it doesn't seem to match the room bg.
-When you look at the blond scientist after you've drained him, it would be nice if the dialog said something about him being passed out.
-It's just "M*A*S*H", not "M*A*S*H*" (the asterisks go between the letters, so there's none after the H).
-The inventory. Very plain, and uses those two annoying mouse modes instead of just left-click/right-click.

[close]

Finally, I thought it would be cooler if the poodle started to swell up once you force your blood into it, so I added a slightly bloated, bloodshot version (for after the second time you click on Merrick) and edited the burst to be more balloony.




There should really be a sound effect of a heartbeat for this action, and maybe some yipping from the dog as well. What's the current sound and voice acting status? I take it all roles are filled, but have the sound FX been claimed as well?

I was skeptical in the beginning that this kind of project could actually work, but the result speaks for itself. Very cool!

[Tabata]

The swarm has been very busy and I like, what I can see and hear. 

I am back home refreshed and ready for (almost) everything and best of all -
I could get rid of my nightmares:
               
I don't know, where I got it from

So count me in again if there is something (technically easy  ) left to do.

[Icey]

Baron I have a gift for you : http://www.mediafire.com/?5thae4j4788847b

[Baron]

b) The mad scientist just seemed to disappear after the intro. Maybe there could be DOTT-style cutscenes showing what he's up to interspersed with Merrick's escape progress.

Hey Hudders, are you up for writing a bit of a cutscene for this and then voicing it?  It would be only the Mad scientist talking, probably about 5 lines max so it doesn't slow the pace down too much, explaining that the base is under attack by a robot monster commandeered by vampires bent on liberating Merrick?

There should really be a sound effect of a heartbeat for this action, and maybe some yipping from the dog as well. What's the current sound and voice acting status? I take it all roles are filled, but have the sound FX been claimed as well?

The Buckethead List shows what sounds we're in need of.  I haven't been crossing any off since it can never hurt to have other options to choose from.  If you have any of those sounds or ones you think would work well then please send them along!

Baron I have a gift for you : http://www.mediafire.com/?5thae4j4788847b

Nice!  Except there's a funny beep on track 270.    We are still waiting for ShiverMeSideways to finish up, but to be fair his part was pretty massive.  We still need sounds (above) and a GUI....