Hi Corry and all, Actually, in late 2006 and early 2007 I was investigating the use of human speech in games and it never panned out. There are allot of issues involved in trying to use human speech that allot of gamers on this list probably don't realise. First, the process was extremely time consuming. I would have to write up a list of things I wanted recorded, wait until the voice recordings were complete, and when I got them edit them the way I needed them. If any files needed done over again that added more time to that one batch of files. Second, there was no consistancy in the recordings. For example one batch might be at a resonable volume, and the next batch would sound like the person was too far from the microphone forcing me to amplify the next batch to be of the same volume. That often resulted in distortion. Third, the persons mood would slightly alter the way the person spoke. For example, if the person was tired the voice samples would sound slightly tired. The next batch might sound happy and chearful. That kind of shift between files really stands out and doesn't really sound like natural speech. It clashes because generally we are use to speaking to someone in one state of being at a time. We often over look the sound of mood, pitch, sound of a person's health, in their voice until it changes suddenly or we are looking for it. Finally, the availability of the narrator. If I need to make future updates to the game and can not get in contact with the narrator or the narrator is unable to continue the project I have to start from scratch. That literally happened to me once, and I don't want to repete that again.
As much as I agree human speech sounds better over all than software speech there are allot of advantages to using software speech. Software speech is always available, you can purchase as many voices as you need to create game voices, the voice is consistant, etc. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
