Swarm Development: Postmortem

[Hudders]

Ok, I'm not in charge, but holy crap, that is very awesome, Hudders!

I dunno. I'd like to record afresh from the script; some of the lines sound a bit wrong.

[Tabata]

Shiver and Hudders:
You both sound great and it fits perfect to the game for me
I am jealous of you because not being able to participate, but it is to be seen, that it will be veeery special and


Edit:
I did the Beta 3 and (as Knoodn mentioned earlier) you are still able to play the game without biting the scientist (even if it is only half the fun) â€" so what do you think about, if Merrick refuses to leave the room (I need more informations, but they won't give it freely to me for sure. I think, I am in need of a little „drink“ ... or something like this) as long as „Blondie“ is still working?


Hey Big GC,
maybe I am outrageous,
but as long as you are "on the ride" and
only if you have some time left, of course
.... ähem ....
how about a little animation of Merrick getting shot?
                                   

[Big GC]

merrick getting shot

[TomatoesInTheHead]

Bloody good!

[Baron]

Bloody good!

Electrifying too!

[Jackpumpkinhead]

Splash Screen Music


MP3



MIDI

[Baron]

Nice music, JackPumpkinhead.  Can we expect more tracks, or is that it?  I've got the splash midi for the title screen, the original track for the more action scenes (Surgery, guardroom), and the explore track for the rest.  How do people feel about this?  I'm wondering if we don't need at least one more track, a sillier one, for the robot lab?  And what about boss music for the final climactic showdown?

The voice actors have finally been given their scripts.  Merrick came in at just under 200 lines -a huge thanks to ShiverMeSideways for undertaking all that work.  Hudders has volunteered to be our Mad Scientist.  Other bit parts still open are:

Ginger Scientist (14 lines)
Blond Scientist (10 lines)
Robot Monster (9 lines, needs to have mechanical effect)
Fair Vampire Twin (11 lines)
Dark Vampire Twin (9 lines)

Basically if you're interested you'll probably get the part..... unless you are horrifically terrible!  Just kidding.  You'll probably get the part even then. 

Let me know via PM if you are interested.

[Hudders]

I wonder whether it might be funnier if the Mad Scientist was called away by somebody offscreen, (his mother or his wife), rather than have an alarm?

Otherwise, if there's an alarm going off, why do the guards look so calm? Why are the scientists blithely going about their business? 

[TomatoesInTheHead]

why do the guards look so calm? Why are the scientists blithely going about their business? 

This and more will be revealed and become completely logical in Draculator IV - the Prequel!

The Mad Scientist being called away by his mother is a funny idea Though if I remember correctly, the idea behind the alarm was that it anticipates the arrival of the vampire twins who attack the base to rescue Merrick?

[Hudders]

They don't burst through the wall until the very end though and in the meantime all the guards are just standing around not doing anything.

Meh, there's probably loads more logical problems with the plot anyway! 

[Tabata]

Thank you very much Big GC  - great work again!

vocal artists:
grmbl ... I will never start my carrier, if I am not present at the right time

[Wonkyth]

If I may offer a little criticism, Jackpumpkinhead, I think the base on the fifth beat sounds a bit off. Like, in a not-good discordant way. Other than that, I'm loving it!

Edit: I take that back. After listening to it some more, I must have not been paying attention, as it seems to work fine now...

[Hudders]

grmbl ... I will never start my carrier, if I am not present at the right time

Career? What career? As a voice artist?

I think I speak for everyone when I say that you HAVE to be in this game somehow. 

[Baron]

grmbl ... I will never start my carrier, if I am not present at the right time

There are a couple of parts left to voice, Tabata......

I wonder whether it might be funnier if the Mad Scientist was called away by somebody offscreen, (his mother or his wife), rather than have an alarm?

Otherwise, if there's an alarm going off, why do the guards look so calm? Why are the scientists blithely going about their business? 

Well, the writing group never really materialized after I had hacked out the dialog/messages, and since we've already had beta testers, proofreaders and voice actors working with the script I think it's a little late now to make changes.  I agree the game is a little illogical superficially, but recall that the alarm did indeed indicate that the base was under attack.  Since this is no doubt a commonplace at such a facility then the lower-down grunt scientists and guards would simply go about their business as usual.  The rest of the guards are very intently girding themselves for battle as they watch the gunfire flashes of their comrades through the window of the guardroom door, while the mad-scientist is in some position of authority and therefore must tend to administrative tasks pertaining to the attack.

[Tabata]

Well my problem is, that I didn't take my mic for holiday
(and If you will follow the „deadline“, I won't be home before releasing)
                               
so no chance for my „soft“ voice in „perfect english“
to give it to a char of the game
         
but I am sure the swarm will rock it

[Hudders]

Well, the writing group never really materialized after I had hacked out the dialog/messages

OK. I obviously didn't realise that was up for discussion at the time. 

[Baron]

Well, the writing group never really materialized after I had hacked out the dialog/messages

OK. I obviously didn't realise that was up for discussion at the time. 

As for finalizing the writing (messages, dialogs), I was wondering if anyone would be interested in forming a working group to haggle over the wording and content of the textual part of the game.  It is probably unrealistic to do everything as a group, but everything of substance shouldn't be that time consuming.  I envisage the group spending roughly an hour or two spread out over the week debating the merits of different approaches and offering suggestions for improvements.  I can compile a text script of exactly what's in-game to speed things up, so it will just require a bit of reading and correspondence.  Please post in the thread if you are interested (PMing makes you anonymous to the group and this is more of a high-profile role).

Sorry if that wasn't clear.  I just assumed that no interest meant that people were generally content with the script.

Well my problem is, that I didn't take my mic for holiday
(and If you will follow the „deadline“, I won't be home before releasing)

Well, I'm sure we could be flexible.... .  In all honesty we don't yet have sounds, finalized music, credits, read me, GUI, or voice acting yet (indeed some roles have yet to be cast....).  So we'll probably be another couple weeks in post-production before we can finally release the game.

[Tabata]

Well, I'm sure we could be flexible.... .  In all honesty we don't yet have sounds, finalized music, credits, read me, GUI, or voice acting yet (indeed some roles have yet to be cast....).  So we'll probably be another couple weeks in post-production before we can finally release the game.

Okay, then I will prepare myself mentally during my vacation on the casting-task ahead of me,
but be warned ...
-  btw. did I already tell you, that I am blonde?! 

[cat]

I somehow lost track of which roles are taken, but I might do a female voice. Tabata and I could do the twins, so at least they will be consistant in having a German accent...

[Hudders]

The robot lines should be recorded by both twins. We can then run them together and add a robotic filter. It'd sound marvellous.


@Baron
I see. I was away from the forum at that time. Nevermind.