Hi
Which do you think is the best option for games and why?
This does not relate to music, sounds effects and without a separate speech pack.
A: Text speech only
B: Audio speech only
C: Both
I'd be interested in your views on this subject.
Cheers
Odd question, no? Both, with an option to alternate between text only, voice only and both, obviously :D.
Bad voice acting REALLY ruins a game for me, and it is surprising how prevalent it is (even in many commercial games). Unfortunately, most people (sometimes even including me) have come to expect it in games that make any attempt to appear "professional".
Still, if you can't do it well, don't do it at all.
Babar is right. It all depends on whether the voice acting is any good. Also remember, voice acting adds up to the game size significantly, so if it's nothing good, people won't be willing to download HUGE files for the voices that they don't want.
If you have decided to have voices in your games, at least provide all three options you have listed for the players. Sometimes players like to play without the voices, and even when a player wants to hear the voices he/she may like to read the subtitles at the same time, especially for non-native speakers of the language used in the games.
P.S. About poor voice acting in commercial games, this was THE main reason why the CD full talkie version of KQ5 was MUCH MUCH inferior to the floppy version.
Thanks for your views.
The text speech I have in mind will be commentary and a few cheers, boos etc.
Nothing long and stretched out as it were.
Would you recommend with a speech pack download option or adjust System.Volume per Say.
Keep your views coming :=
Speech should definitely be optional, but if you have it make sure to have an option to display the text spoken along with the words. Not all gamers can hear and to not have subtitles would be unfair to them. Personally though I prefer games without speech, if you want your characters to sound a certain way you can imply that in their dialogue or say that they sound like your favorite actor/actress/ other well known character.
There are some jokes that are only really funny through text. Monkey Island 1 & 2 are prime examples of this - Just through the way the text was used, moving around the placement, the use of capitals etc.
It's also the reason Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy worked better as a book than a movie.
Since The Hitch Hiker's Guide started out as a radio play (which is arguably better than the book), it is perhaps not the best argument for the superiority of text.
Quote from: mkennedy on Tue 13/12/2011 08:10:44
Not all gamers can hear and to not have subtitles would be unfair to them.
That, and some gamers just don't speak a language and will wait for a translation, which is much easier to do if you do a text translation (I can't think of an AGS game that has multiple language speech packs- is there one?).
So yes, as soon as speech is included I will switch to speech only, but I expect to be able to turn it off completely, or have subtitles.
Adding speech IS a great way to give your game that extra "professional" touch, but as soon as you do it, people will expect that you go the extra mile.
Subtitles are important. I've never played a game with only speech, even though my English is quite okay. Non-native speakers and deaf need text.
In general, I think that text > speech, and if there's speech, voice acting must be either high-quality or not there at all. Bad voice acting always ruins games.
Hi
I have added text as well as audio for the main parts: Its in English, can't do much for other tongues, but at least it can be read as well as heard.
Providing you are not deaf I think cheering and laughing is International.
The audio spoken words are really only an accompaniment to the game rather than anything else and sound quite good.
Example: someone in the crowd throwing comments or when you get a point score.
If it meant doing a whole load of audio texts then I think it would be more of an issue but as it has been said, text should be included along with the audio speech.
cheers guys
I'm native English, but I always have subtitles running as well as the voice-acting when both are available. I dont alwasy catch everything that's being said, due to noises outside or just my own hears playing tricks on me, and very often you cant rewind an adventure game or repeat the same bit of dialogue, so its useful to have the text there too.
I prefer „C“!
(http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/thinking~0.gif)
I like to hear the characters talking during the play.
Sometimes there is a (for me) „strange pronouncing“ or slang, so I hear it, but don't understand - but nontheless it is funny.
Voices bring the characters more to life and it is much easier to watch the animations.
If it becomes difficult for me I need to switch to the readable text. So if avaliable, I have text and voice activated.
Definitely C and definitely not A.
I mean definitely not A, unless your game has a (relatively) serious-drama storyline and the voices are bad - then most definitely A. 8)
For example I never could get over the cheesy deliveries in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - despite the stars involvement. The performances ruin the atmosphere, so I always play the diskette version.
Quote from: Snarky on Tue 13/12/2011 09:23:11
Since The Hitch Hiker's Guide started out as a radio play (which is arguably better than the book), it is perhaps not the best argument for the superiority of text.
True, but there was no visual component in a radio play, so it essentially was just still "text", if you nomsaying...
Also, I read a hell of a lot faster than I type than I type, so I always play with text and speech if available. I often only hear the first couple of words being spoken before I've read the line and can skip to the next one. Also I like seeing the different colors the designer has chosen for each character's speech :D
Thanks guys
as I have mentioned, the game I am doing is not so much long story lined with heaps of text but just spoken comments, cheers, boos, snide remarks etc etc so its not a big issue but I have included text as well to aid understanding.
As my audio speech is not such a big thing in regards of endless audio speech dribble, and I've played many a game where it starts to get off-putting and head for the volume control, I feel that if it's not going to distract the player too much and only adds to the game play that I'll leave it as it is.
Your points are all duly noted.
Its about finding a happy medium I suppose.
cheers
Quote from: steptoe on Tue 13/12/2011 06:41:05
B: Audio speech only
Never do this, because it will cause anyone who dislikes the voices for whatever reason to simply stop playing your game entirely.
Aye, always give the choice. The reason I did not listen to the Blackwell commentaries when I played the series is because they only featured audio track with no subtitles, and I was not fluent enough to understand spoken english back then.
Hi
At the momement (afaik) AGS does not support speech audio in SayBackground which is a shame. So, to combat this I have had to make separate audio to play along with all Say text. Its impossible to stop Audio without stopping all text audio as well, which is not really an option in this case.
I do not want the player to be unmoveable everytime someone speaks as with the Say command even if it is only for a second or two. I suppose it may be durable in this case, worth a try I suppose.
Something I will have to look into further.
cheers
I say, A. Just text, it works allrighty! You can always include the speech.vox as a seperate extra.
Quote from: steptoe on Thu 15/12/2011 07:39:39At the momement (afaik) AGS does not support speech audio in SayBackground which is a shame.
True, but you can play a separate audio track.
Quote from: steptoe on Thu 15/12/2011 07:39:39So, to combat this I have had to make separate audio to play along with all Say text.
Cool, so you figured that part out.
Quote from: steptoe on Thu 15/12/2011 07:39:39Its impossible to stop Audio without stopping all text audio as well, which is not really an option in this case.
Wait...what? Aren't you using AGS 3.2 or 3.2.1? Create a new audio type and you can call Game.StopAudio(eAudioTypeMusic);, Game.StopAudio(eAudioTypeSound);, etc. and stop the audio without stopping your custom speech. You could even make a custom function to do something like:
void StopAllAudioExcept(AudioType type)
{
int i = 0;
while (i < System.AudioChannelCount)
{
AudioChannel *channel = System.AudioChannels[i];
if ((channel.IsPlaying) && (channel.PlayingClip.Type != type)) channel.Stop();
i++;
}
}This comes down to a matter of what I said before about knowing what you're doing. Don't just assume something is "impossible" just because you don't know how to do it.
Quote
Don't just assume something is "impossible" just because you don't know how to do it.
your are right, which is why some of use have to ask.
I was simply pointing out that if you have speech as normal audio sound along with the text and switch sound off then all sound would cease and you'd be left with just the text.
As you say: just because you don't know how to do it.
Maybe someone, someday, will make a text-and-audio plugin that would create a new audio function which would include inputted text as well as speech, which could be recorded. That would be a great idea.
Dream on ;)
cheers Monkey
Quote from: steptoe on Thu 15/12/2011 22:54:53I was simply pointing out that if you have speech as normal audio sound along with the text and switch sound off then all sound would cease and you'd be left with just the text.
No. You wouldn't. I already explained how to do this.