The snarky AI gave the game a very Hitchhiker's Guide feel and I loved that. I'm a little sad that they're toning it down, but I imagine they felt they needed to make it a little more generic in order to appeal to a wider audience. You can't please everyone, and they had to make a choice. It's a bummer, but I respect their decision.
As for a text-to-speech program, I don't think that's what the AI voice is. Pretty sure it's a voice actor. And as for text-to-speech programs not being able to have the inflection for humor, I invite people to look into Vocaloid stuff. It's mostly for music but can be used for regular speech and it is pretty wild the stuff you can do with it. Currently, it can't match a human for nuance and inflection, but it can get close.
It's pretty unrelated here but I really appreciate UWE actually having a page that clearly states their policies on YouTube, you guys are one of the few game devs that actually have a page. Every time I want to play a new game I search the name of the company that made it and their video policies and I find nothing. I search the game and the video policies and find nothing. GG UWE
Not sure if people have said this already, but the AI cracking jokes despite the dire situations could be directed to the fact that the PDA actually WAS corrupted, causing the loss of 80% of the originally available recipes. (according to some log that i don't remember the name of)
First order of business after v1.0 should be modding some of that stuff back the way it was (probably be a really popular mod, too). Problem: voiceacting. Solution: old versions of Subnautica with those lines still intact.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited October 2017
I still find it amusing that Siri sounds less artificial than Subnautica Betty and Billy. Not even mentioning Mother on the Nostromo running circles around them o/
Also didn't UWE use some kind of actual synthesized voice program instead of a voice actor?
I would so voice act this stuff in, if it would fit the animations. Too bad it actually goed off explaining the PDA interface, so it wouldn't fit... Just sayin' I'd try and make the VOX 10 times more cynical and cheeky
Greetings survivor, great job not dying. Thank you for choosing Lifepod 5 as your escape vehicle, we hope you enjoyed your flight.
Before you depart, we are obligated to inform you, the Alterra Corporation cannot be held liable for material injury, if you have neglected your mandatory pre-launch checks. These may include seat-belt safety and testing for loose paneling or hatches.
If you look to your left, the lifepod seems to be on fire. Please make sure to extinguish it and check for your personal belongings when you leave.
First order of business after v1.0 should be modding some of that stuff back the way it was (probably be a really popular mod, too). Problem: voiceacting. Solution: old versions of Subnautica with those lines still intact.
Truly dedicated fans will voiceact it themselves if all else fails
The humor is what actually stood out for me, big time. It what all the others are missing. And in every Subnautica video I have seen on Youtube, everyone chuckled at the game's seminal, yet now dead, tag line "Greetings survivor. Great job not dying." It set the mood. Well, it used to...
Agree times 1000.
Good writing is hard. Good humorous writing is even harder, especially when it's a line you hear repeatedly, i.e. every time you start over. But I thought Unknown Worlds did a great job in adding ironic little bits throughout the game. Sad to see them disappear.
Maybe it's difficult to translate that same dry humor into other languages but it's a shame to water down the English localization to a similar bland level.
The humor is what actually stood out for me, big time. It what all the others are missing. And in every Subnautica video I have seen on Youtube, everyone chuckled at the game's seminal, yet now dead, tag line "Greetings survivor. Great job not dying." It set the mood. Well, it used to...
Agree times 1000.
Good writing is hard. Good humorous writing is even harder, especially when it's a line you hear repeatedly, i.e. every time you start over. But I thought Unknown Worlds did a great job in adding ironic little bits throughout the game. Sad to see them disappear.
Maybe it's difficult to translate that same dry humor into other languages but it's a shame to water down the English localization to a similar bland level.
I pretty much just skip the intro now every time I start a new game, the new opening just is lifeless and uninteresting. I loved waking up to that silly comment from the AI before it's down to business and time to get serious, now it's just.... Uninteresting. Was one of those "small things" that IMO helped Subnautica stand out in the survival genre, since many games I've played either had no aid like that at all, or just had a textbook-style manual you'd carry around (Journals or whatnot) that had even less emotion than the PDA in Subnautica has now.
jadebenn3rd Rock from SolJoin Date: 2017-11-05Member: 233848Members
Honestly, it's really sad how much of the early-game VO they cut in general. If you have an older save file, you can actually go through your message log and actually see just how much dialogue's been cut since then (the cut dialogue will appear as 'CORRUPTED' on the log).
What's really baffling to me is that the Trello card says that "People are complaining about too much VO at game start," which appears to be the reason the dialogue was cut. My question is WHO was complaining? Internal testers? Random people? It certainly wasn't the majority of players! I have never once heard a complaint that there was too much dialogue.
Honestly, it's really sad how much of the early-game VO they cut in general. If you have an older save file, you can actually go through your message log and actually see just how much dialogue's been cut since then (the cut dialogue will appear as 'CORRUPTED' on the log).
What's really baffling to me is that the Trello card says that "People are complaining about too much VO at game start," which appears to be the reason the dialogue was cut. My question is WHO was complaining? Internal testers? Random people? It certainly wasn't the majority of players! I have never once heard a complaint that there was too much dialogue.
Only time I got "too much dialogue" was when jumping into a Creative game and the PDA had to tell me stuff all at once. I've never heard anything like this either really, which just adds to the disappointment
I get it, but it could easily be solved with spacing early game messages out a bit (add different triggers or increase timers or both), or adding more stuff to do.
Comments
- I want control over the voiceactor files
- I want control over the story scripting events
- I want a boat and a fishing rod!
And I want it now, so better get on that shit
As for a text-to-speech program, I don't think that's what the AI voice is. Pretty sure it's a voice actor. And as for text-to-speech programs not being able to have the inflection for humor, I invite people to look into Vocaloid stuff. It's mostly for music but can be used for regular speech and it is pretty wild the stuff you can do with it. Currently, it can't match a human for nuance and inflection, but it can get close.
I loved that part too!
Also didn't UWE use some kind of actual synthesized voice program instead of a voice actor?
I would so voice act this stuff in, if it would fit the animations. Too bad it actually goed off explaining the PDA interface, so it wouldn't fit... Just sayin' I'd try and make the VOX 10 times more cynical and cheeky
Before you depart, we are obligated to inform you, the Alterra Corporation cannot be held liable for material injury, if you have neglected your mandatory pre-launch checks. These may include seat-belt safety and testing for loose paneling or hatches.
If you look to your left, the lifepod seems to be on fire. Please make sure to extinguish it and check for your personal belongings when you leave.
Truly dedicated fans will voiceact it themselves if all else fails
Agree times 1000.
Good writing is hard. Good humorous writing is even harder, especially when it's a line you hear repeatedly, i.e. every time you start over. But I thought Unknown Worlds did a great job in adding ironic little bits throughout the game. Sad to see them disappear.
Maybe it's difficult to translate that same dry humor into other languages but it's a shame to water down the English localization to a similar bland level.
I pretty much just skip the intro now every time I start a new game, the new opening just is lifeless and uninteresting. I loved waking up to that silly comment from the AI before it's down to business and time to get serious, now it's just.... Uninteresting. Was one of those "small things" that IMO helped Subnautica stand out in the survival genre, since many games I've played either had no aid like that at all, or just had a textbook-style manual you'd carry around (Journals or whatnot) that had even less emotion than the PDA in Subnautica has now.
What's really baffling to me is that the Trello card says that "People are complaining about too much VO at game start," which appears to be the reason the dialogue was cut. My question is WHO was complaining? Internal testers? Random people? It certainly wasn't the majority of players! I have never once heard a complaint that there was too much dialogue.
Only time I got "too much dialogue" was when jumping into a Creative game and the PDA had to tell me stuff all at once. I've never heard anything like this either really, which just adds to the disappointment