Hi Bryan, Well, yes and no. Its true that a handful of people had problems with Sapi support, because for some strange reason Sapi is easy to screw up. Yet, it was under ten people who had problems. From a technical standpoint that's probably worth the risk of supporting the technology as Jeremy, Jim Kitchen, GMA, and other audio game developers use Sapi support without too much trouble with it. It is, in fact, becoming a standard among audio game developers as a common API we use to speak information in our games.
The longer I've been with this community and have been developing games I've found that Sapi actually resolves a lot more problems than it causes. That's why I am strongly considering making Sapi support a standard option in my future games for the reasons below. First, there is the matter of end user preference. I'm talking about that big thread back in June about which voice someone likes or doesn't like, the rate is too fast or too slow, the pitch is too high or too low, etc can be solved by switching to Sapi. If someone doesn't like the default Sapi voice on their computer weather it is Microsoft Sam or Microsoft Anna they can head over to Nextup.com or Cepstral.com and buy a different one. Given the number of audio games that rely on Sapi support I figure most people probably own at least one Sapi voice they like by now. Second, using Sapi, from a programming standpoint, is quicker and easier. To use *.wav files as I've been doing slows production down alot because I have to record the speech files, edit the speech files, and then write a bunch of code to load the proper *.wav file when it is needed. With Sapi all I have to do is pass a string of text to the Sapi->Speak() function and I'm done. No recording, editing, or extra coding required. Third, it saves money. If I have to higher someone to do the voice overs that can cost quite a bit to have someone speak the menus, status messages, and so on all be it the end result will sound more professional. Even if I continue recording and using Sapi voices that's not exactly free either. I have to license the voice, and pay for the rights to use those voice clips in my game. That costs money and will come out of any game I produce. Finally, it makes the installation smaller. Last time I checked I think MOTA's speech directory was close to 50 MB or something like that. While its not a problem for a modern PC its the idea that there is an easier and simpler way to self-voice a game that doesn't wack off 50 MB of your hard drive space right off the bat. That 50 MB could be used for something else like audio books, mp3s, more games, etc. No sense waisting space if you don't have to is basically what I mean. I know the counter arguments as well. Not everyone has a good Sapi voice. The default sapi voice sucks. Sapi support can break. Those are all good points, but the reasons I mentioned above actually proves Sapi is still probably the best option to self-voice a game on Windows right now. That's why I'm strongly thinking about using it in Raceway and any other games I might produce in the future. Cheers! On 8/7/11, Bryan Peterson <[email protected]> wrote: > I remember when he tried that. People kept having Sapi issues. > We are the Knights who saaaaay...Ni! --- 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].
