I feel like your diction could use some work. It sounds almost too rushed for a cold, calculating, emotionless individual like a nerazim.
I don't know what your effects were but I did my own take with what I use for nerazim. You might find it useful, if only for the acting. https://instaud.io/tBW
Your effects are already pretty solid though, so my only constructive criticism would be to work on making sure your acting is up to snuff!
You also have to understand that effects work differently with different voices. I've never had positive effects with multiple filters/layers that I couldn't make better by using less. Less is more for my voice. I can't really tell what's acting and what's editing with your files, which is a huge detraction for me, because I can't tell if your acting is good or if it's being carried by your editing and vice versa. I also don't believe that you should advise people on what to do based on what paying clientele ask for because when you're being paid for your work, it's not yours to do with as you fit - instead, you must adhere to what other people think is good, and what other people want, and their opinions likely run counter to your own design philosophies.
Another big factor in my decision making is the quality of whatever it is I'm trying to emulate. For SC:BW, which generally has far superior audio quality to SC2 in its edits, certain voices sound decent or iconic but fail to suit the personality of the unit or hero. For example, the dragoon's voice acting makes no sense when you consider the lore of the unit: it's hanging on for dear life, having suffered a mortal wound years and years ago. To exist as a dragoon is to be under some form of stress. I would expect the acting to represent that with strained intonation and perhaps even stuttered or pained pauses, but instead we get a high-pitched robot speaking to us from a very light filter. I sought to show the player a bit more substance in the acting, while improving the editing technique to better amplify the acting.
If I were editing someone else's voice, there's a good chance I'd have to modify my editing procedure just on the basis of their voice being different. That's not a knock on my editing technique, because edits aren't one voice fits all. You have to adapt to how someone sounds, especially with post-processing once the core edits have been completed. What's ideal for you probably isn't ideal for me, and I have used your filter specifications in your videos in the past and they produced poor results - again, not a detraction from your technique. It just doesn't work as well for my voice as it does for yours.
In any case, I've got two more demos to add to the showcase. The first is a triumvirate of diverse speakers - a protoss archon, a zerg cerebrate, and a terran admiral. I'm still looking for optimal effects for the archon and the cerebrate, but unfortunately, the original edits in BW are very lackluster - the archon's just makes things unintelligible, and the cerebrate's is very minimalist. The latter isn't necessarily a problem, but when I attempt to mimic it, it doesn't quite sound 'zerg' enough. I'll keep iterating on that and see where it leads.
The second is meant to be a deity, or some other extremely powerful entity. Think Amon with less edge. I'm still iterating on this as well but I'm generally happy with how it sounds.
Both files are available for your listening pleasure in the first post of the thread.
Unfortunately, your files suffer from Vile Egression syndrome, where the audio edits you're placing on them are swallowing up the fidelity of the voice acting. I use more minimalist filters to prevent as much quality loss as I can from the raw recording, while still giving it the protoss feel. Compare my voice acting here to Brood War voice acting, and then compare yours to SC2's. SC2 has genuinely intolerable edits for most of its protoss and hybrid dialogue - even the "Dark Voice" (cringe) has a problem with its original delivery being demolished by the filters that Blizzard's audio team ran it through.
Ideally, your setup when it comes to editing voice acting shouldn't require more than one flange filter, if it requires one at all, and making multiple copies of the file (or using the 'delay' effect as it does a similar thing) should be avoided. Echoes are also incredibly destructive when they're allowed to extend forever past their origin point before they fall off, as evidenced by Narud's voice acting in . Listen to how much nonsense, particularly repeated 's' sounds, are echoing for multiple seconds after their origin point. That's insane! It's hard to tell in a cinematic, but in-game, when there are sounds of battle and carnage, unit responses, etc, practises like that inevitably lead to a very clunky and unintelligible mess of audio. This is referred to as the 'loudness war' by most people who are aware of the phenomenon, and that's exactly what I want to avoid. It's a very western style of approaching audio.
I like to have my audio be incredibly impactful, but only for a moment. Every syllable should carry its own weight, but afterwards, it should disappear entirely, allowing room for other bits of audio to take up space so the player's ears don't get crowded. That's why my echoes are more subtle, and my filters are less common, so that the voice acting doesn't take up too much space and frees up more real estate for the many sounds of battle (or whatever's going on in your cinematic). Basically, anything that needlessly consumes audio space should be avoided, so you don't wind up operating in loudness war territory.
I'll have a new demo up in a few days. Enjoying the conversation here, thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for the feedback! A couple of quick notes that might answer some of your concerns.
- There is only one map we're showcasing here. The first set of screenshots were before a lighting change, as I denoted in the most recent post.
- Compartmentalisation is something we're working hard to set into effect, with the biggest biome changes being the lush, unchecked jungle versus the ancient, forgotten temple. There is some overlap, what with the jungle leaking into the temple, but we've taken note of the lack of overall visual variety and decided to remove or downscale many of the trees that were in out-of-place areas (such as the aqueducts), reserving such large indicators of wilderness for the jungle regions of the map.
- As this campaign takes place centuries before the Great War (and additionally changes much of the protoss race as a whole, lore-wise), there is no zerg presence on Aiur. You make a case with the vespene leak and other environmental effects - we are already experimenting with canals and large-scale environment changes that help the player to identify a particular kind of aesthetic with a specific quadrant of the map. A vespene leak would be unlikely given the low tech level of the region, but it is not out of the question for future maps, and more modern threats to natural order will likely take a forefront in later missions.
I hope to have a more complete and up-to-date set of images to showcase the main sectors of the map once we've completed more of them. I will continue to update this thread, as I have been. And in case you missed it, you can check out some trial-run voice acting I created for this mission's in-game mission primer here.
Thanks again for your feedback! I hope you'll have even more to say once we release the campaign as a whole, whenever that may be.
Church and I have completed a new area of the map - a distant shrine more thoroughly enveloped by the thicket.
On the approach to the shrine, a riverbank gives life to the jungle
The shrine itself is pictured here - a once-great place of worship that has fallen into ruination since the Aeon of Strife.
A direct shot of the shrine.
Worth noting, too, is that the lighting was changed between the last set of screenshots and this set. It's a cloudy day in this part of Aiur, what with all the rain, and we wanted to represent that more directly with the lighting. Please leave any feedback you have for us - we look forward to hearing what you have to say!
Quick scene I threw together. Not really happy with the lack of variety, but you're not supposed to have many doodads in melee maps for pathing purposes.
As my compatriot Church and I continue working on our first SC2 campaign, I plan on releasing small voice demos that showcase a myriad of speakers. As the cast of this campaign is solely comprised of protoss characters, it will challenge my acting and editing capabilities, as I am currently the only voice actor on file for the project (and until we are closer to releasing it, that will not change). If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please make it known.
For easy access, you can find all demos on YouTube and SoundCloud. Additionally, as I feel that the compression those sites places on audio is rather destructive to the quality, I will also be providing direct download links to the raw, unprocessed waveforms, so that you can hear it in a higher quality if you desire.
Thanks again for taking a listen, and I hope you like what you hear!
-
Demo 01 - protoss mission primer
The first sample I'm providing is a scene that takes place very early on in the campaign. The scene depicted in this sample is the mission primer, showcasing the instigator of a conflict and the overall battle plan that the player's faction devises.
Vanguard Leader - the officer in charge of the Conclave's warband
Dragoon - an allied dragoon
Ambassador - a protagonist, and leader of the player's faction
Executor - a deutoragonist, and officer in charge of the player's military
-
Demo 02 - multi-race mission briefing
The second sample is removed from the first, dealing with a much different story that involves members of all three races forming a bitter alliance of convenience. The scene depicted is a mission briefing, taking place before the start of the actual mission's gameplay.
Archon - an executor, representing the protoss faction
Admiral - an officer, representing the terran faction
Cerebrate - a brood leader, representing the zerg faction
-
Demo 03 - deity
The third demo holds only one speaker. The focus of this demo is not to provide a believable setup for a StarCraft campaign, but instead to experiment with the audio representation of a powerful yet enigmatic entity. Think Amon, but with less edge and more purpose.
The southeastern courtyard is overlooked by statues that, while old, remain intact, for the most part. Nature has begun eroding both them and the natural cliffs that reside beyond.
A recent installation, this landing pad serves as a dock for any of the dissident faction's vessels.
One of the two canals that run underneath the temple grounds has been claimed by nature, although the water contained within still flows.
This structure houses the entrance to the underground. If the door still had power, it would allow travel throughout the bowels of the temple.
I'm still iterating on certain doodad selections and trying to figure out pathing/performance, so as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!
There will be revealers for areas where you otherwise wouldn't see the doodads. I'll do some testing in-game to see what areas need such treatment. Blizzard has a similar method in their campaigns.
The main goal here was originally to provide an implied entrance into the temple, but I couldn't find any doodads that would suit that purpose. I'll continue looking and hopefully stumble onto something that I can use. Of course, if anyone has any recommendations, feel free to make them known.
I've placed numerous statues in various states of disrepair, and that remains on my list of priorities as far as establishing the theme of a broken, overgrown temple. I'm iterating on gameplay elements and how the terrain will allow those to manifest, but it's safe to say that the central complex will consist of some entrances into the temple itself (with the doodads implying that the majority of the complex is underground, and that you're simply on the surface). There will be lots of room to illustrate how ruined the locale actually is, especially since it'll be surrounded by a wild jungle.
As for the flags and banners, I appreciate this observation. I've begun adding flags to certain areas. It's just a shame that I can't apply my own decals to them.
Another recent focus of mine has been making sure that the transition from temple to jungle is as seamless and believable as possible. There's a lot of visual storytelling with the crumbling walls and statues, but I want to start off with clear borders where the temple was constructed, and then work my way backwards with the ruined, overgrown themes in order to create a realistic feel. In other words, rather than simply constructing an overgrown temple, I want to construct a temple, and then create the vines and the foliage and the ruins, so that it seems more genuine.
This is an example of where the temple starts to recede and the jungle starts to take over. There's a clear separation of where the temple was constructed, and where the jungle was left unpaved and untouched. My objective is for players to be able to 'see' how and where the jungle began invading the temple, so to speak.
Another concern of mine is performance. My computer is more than capable of running the game at max settings, but I'm unsure of how to properly optimise the map for gameplay, aside from upsizing doodads and using less of them in general. If any of my terrain draws any red flags for people who are more knowledgeable than I about such things, please let me know what I can do differently.
Thanks again to everyone who's posted so far. I look forward to everyone's feedback, just as I look forward to eventually releasing this campaign!
0
I feel like your diction could use some work. It sounds almost too rushed for a cold, calculating, emotionless individual like a nerazim.
I don't know what your effects were but I did my own take with what I use for nerazim. You might find it useful, if only for the acting. https://instaud.io/tBW
Your effects are already pretty solid though, so my only constructive criticism would be to work on making sure your acting is up to snuff!
0
EDIT: Conflict resolved.
0
You also have to understand that effects work differently with different voices. I've never had positive effects with multiple filters/layers that I couldn't make better by using less. Less is more for my voice. I can't really tell what's acting and what's editing with your files, which is a huge detraction for me, because I can't tell if your acting is good or if it's being carried by your editing and vice versa. I also don't believe that you should advise people on what to do based on what paying clientele ask for because when you're being paid for your work, it's not yours to do with as you fit - instead, you must adhere to what other people think is good, and what other people want, and their opinions likely run counter to your own design philosophies.
Another big factor in my decision making is the quality of whatever it is I'm trying to emulate. For SC:BW, which generally has far superior audio quality to SC2 in its edits, certain voices sound decent or iconic but fail to suit the personality of the unit or hero. For example, the dragoon's voice acting makes no sense when you consider the lore of the unit: it's hanging on for dear life, having suffered a mortal wound years and years ago. To exist as a dragoon is to be under some form of stress. I would expect the acting to represent that with strained intonation and perhaps even stuttered or pained pauses, but instead we get a high-pitched robot speaking to us from a very light filter. I sought to show the player a bit more substance in the acting, while improving the editing technique to better amplify the acting.
If I were editing someone else's voice, there's a good chance I'd have to modify my editing procedure just on the basis of their voice being different. That's not a knock on my editing technique, because edits aren't one voice fits all. You have to adapt to how someone sounds, especially with post-processing once the core edits have been completed. What's ideal for you probably isn't ideal for me, and I have used your filter specifications in your videos in the past and they produced poor results - again, not a detraction from your technique. It just doesn't work as well for my voice as it does for yours.
In any case, I've got two more demos to add to the showcase. The first is a triumvirate of diverse speakers - a protoss archon, a zerg cerebrate, and a terran admiral. I'm still looking for optimal effects for the archon and the cerebrate, but unfortunately, the original edits in BW are very lackluster - the archon's just makes things unintelligible, and the cerebrate's is very minimalist. The latter isn't necessarily a problem, but when I attempt to mimic it, it doesn't quite sound 'zerg' enough. I'll keep iterating on that and see where it leads.
The second is meant to be a deity, or some other extremely powerful entity. Think Amon with less edge. I'm still iterating on this as well but I'm generally happy with how it sounds.
Both files are available for your listening pleasure in the first post of the thread.
0
Unfortunately, your files suffer from Vile Egression syndrome, where the audio edits you're placing on them are swallowing up the fidelity of the voice acting. I use more minimalist filters to prevent as much quality loss as I can from the raw recording, while still giving it the protoss feel. Compare my voice acting here to Brood War voice acting, and then compare yours to SC2's. SC2 has genuinely intolerable edits for most of its protoss and hybrid dialogue - even the "Dark Voice" (cringe) has a problem with its original delivery being demolished by the filters that Blizzard's audio team ran it through.
Ideally, your setup when it comes to editing voice acting shouldn't require more than one flange filter, if it requires one at all, and making multiple copies of the file (or using the 'delay' effect as it does a similar thing) should be avoided. Echoes are also incredibly destructive when they're allowed to extend forever past their origin point before they fall off, as evidenced by Narud's voice acting in . Listen to how much nonsense, particularly repeated 's' sounds, are echoing for multiple seconds after their origin point. That's insane! It's hard to tell in a cinematic, but in-game, when there are sounds of battle and carnage, unit responses, etc, practises like that inevitably lead to a very clunky and unintelligible mess of audio. This is referred to as the 'loudness war' by most people who are aware of the phenomenon, and that's exactly what I want to avoid. It's a very western style of approaching audio.
I like to have my audio be incredibly impactful, but only for a moment. Every syllable should carry its own weight, but afterwards, it should disappear entirely, allowing room for other bits of audio to take up space so the player's ears don't get crowded. That's why my echoes are more subtle, and my filters are less common, so that the voice acting doesn't take up too much space and frees up more real estate for the many sounds of battle (or whatever's going on in your cinematic). Basically, anything that needlessly consumes audio space should be avoided, so you don't wind up operating in loudness war territory.
I'll have a new demo up in a few days. Enjoying the conversation here, thanks for the feedback!
0
Thanks for the feedback! A couple of quick notes that might answer some of your concerns.
- There is only one map we're showcasing here. The first set of screenshots were before a lighting change, as I denoted in the most recent post.
- Compartmentalisation is something we're working hard to set into effect, with the biggest biome changes being the lush, unchecked jungle versus the ancient, forgotten temple. There is some overlap, what with the jungle leaking into the temple, but we've taken note of the lack of overall visual variety and decided to remove or downscale many of the trees that were in out-of-place areas (such as the aqueducts), reserving such large indicators of wilderness for the jungle regions of the map.
- As this campaign takes place centuries before the Great War (and additionally changes much of the protoss race as a whole, lore-wise), there is no zerg presence on Aiur. You make a case with the vespene leak and other environmental effects - we are already experimenting with canals and large-scale environment changes that help the player to identify a particular kind of aesthetic with a specific quadrant of the map. A vespene leak would be unlikely given the low tech level of the region, but it is not out of the question for future maps, and more modern threats to natural order will likely take a forefront in later missions.
I hope to have a more complete and up-to-date set of images to showcase the main sectors of the map once we've completed more of them. I will continue to update this thread, as I have been. And in case you missed it, you can check out some trial-run voice acting I created for this mission's in-game mission primer here.
Thanks again for your feedback! I hope you'll have even more to say once we release the campaign as a whole, whenever that may be.
0
Church and I have completed a new area of the map - a distant shrine more thoroughly enveloped by the thicket.
On the approach to the shrine, a riverbank gives life to the jungle
The shrine itself is pictured here - a once-great place of worship that has fallen into ruination since the Aeon of Strife.
A direct shot of the shrine.
Worth noting, too, is that the lighting was changed between the last set of screenshots and this set. It's a cloudy day in this part of Aiur, what with all the rain, and we wanted to represent that more directly with the lighting. Please leave any feedback you have for us - we look forward to hearing what you have to say!
0
Quick scene I threw together. Not really happy with the lack of variety, but you're not supposed to have many doodads in melee maps for pathing purposes.
0
As my compatriot Church and I continue working on our first SC2 campaign, I plan on releasing small voice demos that showcase a myriad of speakers. As the cast of this campaign is solely comprised of protoss characters, it will challenge my acting and editing capabilities, as I am currently the only voice actor on file for the project (and until we are closer to releasing it, that will not change). If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please make it known.
For easy access, you can find all demos on YouTube and SoundCloud. Additionally, as I feel that the compression those sites places on audio is rather destructive to the quality, I will also be providing direct download links to the raw, unprocessed waveforms, so that you can hear it in a higher quality if you desire.
Thanks again for taking a listen, and I hope you like what you hear!
-Demo 01 - protoss mission primer
The first sample I'm providing is a scene that takes place very early on in the campaign. The scene depicted in this sample is the mission primer, showcasing the instigator of a conflict and the overall battle plan that the player's faction devises.
Listen: , SoundCloud link
Download: MEGA link
Speakers (in order of appearance):
-Demo 02 - multi-race mission briefing
The second sample is removed from the first, dealing with a much different story that involves members of all three races forming a bitter alliance of convenience. The scene depicted is a mission briefing, taking place before the start of the actual mission's gameplay.
Listen: SoundCloud link
Download: MEGA link
Speakers (in order of appearance):
-Demo 03 - deity
The third demo holds only one speaker. The focus of this demo is not to provide a believable setup for a StarCraft campaign, but instead to experiment with the audio representation of a powerful yet enigmatic entity. Think Amon, but with less edge and more purpose.
Listen: SoundCloud link
Download: [https://mega.nz/#!BUsliZCJ!ocaizan6bdHuCXxgRySZlL4iMXWSXHIYwGPlWyOReD8]MEGA link[/url]
Speaker:
0
No thanks.
0
With more work comes more screenshots.
The southeastern courtyard is overlooked by statues that, while old, remain intact, for the most part. Nature has begun eroding both them and the natural cliffs that reside beyond.
A recent installation, this landing pad serves as a dock for any of the dissident faction's vessels.
One of the two canals that run underneath the temple grounds has been claimed by nature, although the water contained within still flows.
This structure houses the entrance to the underground. If the door still had power, it would allow travel throughout the bowels of the temple.
I'm still iterating on certain doodad selections and trying to figure out pathing/performance, so as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!
0
@Mozared: Go
I figured as much. He's got a good resource - it's already helped me revamp the central complex a little.
@Bilxor: Go
There will be revealers for areas where you otherwise wouldn't see the doodads. I'll do some testing in-game to see what areas need such treatment. Blizzard has a similar method in their campaigns.
0
Thanks very much for the source link.
0
Wasn't able to find it upon a cursory glance, but I'll sift through the list that's available in the editor until I find something that sticks.
edit: http://www.screference.op74.net/ seems to do the trick.
0
I've completed some work on the complex.
A close-up shot of the first structure.
And the second.
The main goal here was originally to provide an implied entrance into the temple, but I couldn't find any doodads that would suit that purpose. I'll continue looking and hopefully stumble onto something that I can use. Of course, if anyone has any recommendations, feel free to make them known.
0
Thanks for the feedback, everyone.
@Mozared: Go
You'll see me continuously update this thread as time goes on, so there's no rush.
@Hockleberry: Go
I've placed numerous statues in various states of disrepair, and that remains on my list of priorities as far as establishing the theme of a broken, overgrown temple. I'm iterating on gameplay elements and how the terrain will allow those to manifest, but it's safe to say that the central complex will consist of some entrances into the temple itself (with the doodads implying that the majority of the complex is underground, and that you're simply on the surface). There will be lots of room to illustrate how ruined the locale actually is, especially since it'll be surrounded by a wild jungle.
As for the flags and banners, I appreciate this observation. I've begun adding flags to certain areas. It's just a shame that I can't apply my own decals to them.
Another recent focus of mine has been making sure that the transition from temple to jungle is as seamless and believable as possible. There's a lot of visual storytelling with the crumbling walls and statues, but I want to start off with clear borders where the temple was constructed, and then work my way backwards with the ruined, overgrown themes in order to create a realistic feel. In other words, rather than simply constructing an overgrown temple, I want to construct a temple, and then create the vines and the foliage and the ruins, so that it seems more genuine.
This is an example of where the temple starts to recede and the jungle starts to take over. There's a clear separation of where the temple was constructed, and where the jungle was left unpaved and untouched. My objective is for players to be able to 'see' how and where the jungle began invading the temple, so to speak.
Another concern of mine is performance. My computer is more than capable of running the game at max settings, but I'm unsure of how to properly optimise the map for gameplay, aside from upsizing doodads and using less of them in general. If any of my terrain draws any red flags for people who are more knowledgeable than I about such things, please let me know what I can do differently.
Thanks again to everyone who's posted so far. I look forward to everyone's feedback, just as I look forward to eventually releasing this campaign!