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In game voice over?

MorleymonsterMorleymonster Member, Alpha Two
edited March 2023 in General Discussion
I am sorry if this question has been asked, and for any typing errors. I am legally blind, 2 finger blind. I can see still, and I can read. IT is very difficult to do so, but I manage with my peripheral vision. My condition is similar to macular degeneration. Moving on, will the be an option to have text read aloud to the player on the client side? OR are all the quests spoken aloud? I am very interested in this game, and would love to support it, but if I have no idea what is going on in the quests, I'll have to say "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass".

Comments

  • unknownsystemerrorunknownsystemerror Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    From last announced plans there is very little voiceover worked planned. Some main story npcs may be, but the vast majority of quests and such will be text based. Whether there will be text to voice options given by Intrepid in game, or 3rd party apps authorized has not been addressed.
    https://ashesofcreation.wiki/NPCs#Voice_acting
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  • MorleymonsterMorleymonster Member, Alpha Two
    Thank you for taking the time to answer what you knew. I am very grateful. I hope they install or allow an in game voice to text like some of the newer games that have come out. I really want to play this.
  • RocketFarmerRocketFarmer Member, Alpha Two
    Perhaps advancements in AI could remedy this.
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I do hope we don't get robotic voices. Stunted voices are bad enough.
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  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    @Morleymonster I had a coleague in the past who was totally blind, he had to install a software and the software would read out loud everything. But I never heard of people using that software for gamming.
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    What if, by the time Ashes comes out, we'll get laws that let VAs "sell their voice", so that companies can train an AI on that voice and then just use the AI to easily voice any and all dialogue in the game. I feel like that's gonna be the future of VAing games. We'll obviously go through the pains of illegal voice use and all that shitty stuff, but I do think that the industry will come to a proper solution sooner or later.
  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    edited March 2023
    If AoC had an option to dump all the conversations in a text file, maybe players could use a text to speech software from their own choosing?

    I don't know much about these things tough.

    This could be the cheapest and fastest solution, possibly not a scope creep maybe.
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I think a narrator is good but I would hope for diversity. As always, your input broadens my mind Nik.
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  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    Neurath wrote: »
    I think a narrator is good but I would hope for diversity. As always, your input broadens my mind Nik.

    Time, money and scope
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Neurath wrote: »
    I think a narrator is good but I would hope for diversity. As always, your input broadens my mind Nik.
    It's still kinda rough rn, but it'll only get better and if you feed the AI proper voices and in a proper way - it's gonna be even better.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN-TdgGeGXw
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    Neurath wrote: »
    I think a narrator is good but I would hope for diversity. As always, your input broadens my mind Nik.

    Time, money and scope

    AI can be a beast though. Such a beast as to be seen to be believed. I realise ai costs a lot right now but I imagine the costs will fall. Also, voices are free to project if not to implement once the ai is proficient. Who knows where unreal engine will venture with ai assistance.
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  • TheDarkSorcererTheDarkSorcerer Member, Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    NiKr wrote: »
    What if, by the time Ashes comes out, we'll get laws that let VAs "sell their voice", so that companies can train an AI on that voice and then just use the AI to easily voice any and all dialogue in the game. I feel like that's gonna be the future of VAing games. We'll obviously go through the pains of illegal voice use and all that shitty stuff, but I do think that the industry will come to a proper solution sooner or later.

    You can already do this. Plenty of companies already uses Ai voices for onboarding purposes to go through new hire presentations. You'll have an Ai human talk about processes etc. It's just not explored much in the gaming industry yet. Hopefully soon though!

    I do hope there will be in-game VO though despite what the team has said. Game will feel dead otherwise.
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  • TatianaTatiana Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    NiKr wrote: »
    Neurath wrote: »
    I think a narrator is good but I would hope for diversity. As always, your input broadens my mind Nik.
    It's still kinda rough rn, but it'll only get better and if you feed the AI proper voices and in a proper way - it's gonna be even better.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN-TdgGeGXw

    oh this was interesting lol, yeah a little rough but not bad. interesting.
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    If AoC had an option to dump all the conversations in a text file, maybe players could use a text to speech software from their own choosing?

    I don't know much about these things tough.

    This could be the cheapest and fastest solution, possibly not a scope creep maybe.

    So, fun fact...

    I've seen an ACT plugin that did this in the past.

    ACT has built in text to speech capability. ACT is always reading the games log file in real time. The games log file contains all text conversations with the player.

    Not only is this all NPC dialogue, bit it is also all player to player chat.

    So, in ACT, that one player that had this plugin was able to set triggers such as NPC's talking to them, group chat, guild chat, raid chat (prioritizing specific people if needed), and whispers and it would read them all out loud.

    The player in question wasnt blind, he just didnt like reading. As such, I never really considered it to have a use outside of lazy people. But it would absolutely work in this situation.
  • DiamahtDiamaht Member, Braver of Worlds, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    Bad voice over is a lot worse than no voice over. If they do it at all, it has to be high quality. Otherwise forget it.

    Obviously a toggle option for the blind is different.
  • ZZyzxRhodeZZyzxRhode Member, Alpha Two
    i just hope they find the right voice for those that will be in game. not just pay for some celeb.
  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    edited March 2023
    Cream of the crop: the character customization screen will let you tweak how your character's voice sound

    Change the pitch, add effects like echo and others

    Why no games have this?
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • HinotoriHinotori Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    Cream of the crop: the character customization screen will let you tweak how your character's voice sound

    Change the pitch, add effects like echo and others

    Why no games have this?

    Other games do have this. Pso2 and naraka bladepoint come to mind with changing character voice options.
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    The world is beautiful whenever you're here.
    And all the emptiness inside disappears.
  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    edited March 2023
    Natasha wrote: »
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    Cream of the crop: the character customization screen will let you tweak how your character's voice sound

    Change the pitch, add effects like echo and others

    Why no games have this?

    Other games do have this. Pso2 and naraka bladepoint come to mind with changing character voice options.

    I have seen games which you can choose the voice from a predetermined list, but I never seen a game which lets you personalize the voice as you wish, like voice changer. I will have a look on those if they are voice changer like
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    @Natasha wow, Phantasy Star Online 2 has an amazing voice system! It lets people customize which voice line the character will say based on what is going on, super cool!!

    It's not a voice changer tough, but this voice system in Pso2 surprised me in a good day
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    Diamaht wrote: »
    Bad voice over is a lot worse than no voice over. If they do it at all, it has to be high quality. Otherwise forget it.

    Obviously a toggle option for the blind is different.

    The blind can't play mmos. What do you mean toggle option.
  • AzheraeAzherae Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Diamaht wrote: »
    Bad voice over is a lot worse than no voice over. If they do it at all, it has to be high quality. Otherwise forget it.

    Obviously a toggle option for the blind is different.

    I'll second this, for the most part. I really hate bad voice-overs, but if the game allows one to turn just voiceover off, it's fine with me.

    As for the impaired, I would want Intrepid to just sanction one or two of the better plugins or functions, or maybe to even 'partner' with one that can also handle some of the sound design parts that those players need, just in case implementing the basics for other stuff is easy too.
    ♪ One Gummy Fish, two Gummy Fish, Red Gummy Fish, Blue Gummy Fish ♪
  • NerrorNerror Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    George_Black wrote: »
    Diamaht wrote: »
    Bad voice over is a lot worse than no voice over. If they do it at all, it has to be high quality. Otherwise forget it.

    Obviously a toggle option for the blind is different.

    The blind can't play mmos. What do you mean toggle option.

    Read the OP again. Being legally blind doesn't mean you can't see anything.
    Morleymonster wrote: »
    I am sorry if this question has been asked, and for any typing errors. I am legally blind, 2 finger blind. I can see still, and I can read. IT is very difficult to do so, but I manage with my peripheral vision. My condition is similar to macular degeneration. Moving on, will the be an option to have text read aloud to the player on the client side? OR are all the quests spoken aloud? I am very interested in this game, and would love to support it, but if I have no idea what is going on in the quests, I'll have to say "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass".

    I have suggested this before as well. We won't be getting actual voice acting, which is fine, but it's come up a couple of times before, including a thread I made where I suggested they add a text-to-speech option to all windows with text. I think it's a basic accessibility feature they should add for people like you who are legally blind or visually impaired in general, as well as for people with dyslexia for example. It doesn't have to be a fancy, perfect solution either.
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