Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi, Hmmm... Interesting. Perhaps I'll check them out someday with Orca. Anyway, as far as using them with games I've pretty much decided to use wav files for future games. I have Acapela Heather now, and I've created several wav files already for Mysteries of the Ancients. Suprisingly she seams to work rather well in the game even though these are just recordings of her voice. Valiant8086 wrote: I do know there's this stuff that allows you to use the 6 higher quality voices with the festival speech system the nitech voices. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi. I must agree. Eloquence actually is the best voice I've heard so far. RealSpeak voices have weigh too much inflection for my tastes. I haven't heard any ATNT voices, and diddo to DeckTalk. However for a game like this I can see why no one would choose Eloquence. HTH. - Original Message - From: Yohandy yohand...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 8:30 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. - Original Message - From: Bryan Peterson b-peter...@hotmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:58 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support That would be my first question. Why, when there are so many better voices out there, would anyone want to use such a monotonous voice like Eloquence? - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 7:42 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Bryan, Smile. I know. I was just curious as to why someone would want Eloquence in a game. It would seam to me to be the last choice anyone would pick for a game like MOTA which happens to be very character driven. While I am not all that fond of using synths for scenes, menus, etc the more realistic sounding the voice the better. Bryan Peterson wrote: OhI realize that. All I was saying was that the only reason I even bother with Eloquence for my screen reader is because of its response time. I've already experienced the way it sounds in some of Jim's games. It sort of fits there but it would be horribly out of place in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.8/1898 - Release Date: 1/16/2009 3:09 PM --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
[Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Thomas, The FreeTTS Kevin16 voice may drive you up the wall but it's totally free, totally IP unencumbered, it's easy to code against, it always works, and it's totally cross-platform. That being said, the sound is not my favorite either and I'd really like to get the FreeTTS JSAPI interface working. Then maybe I could use Mike (which we use as a WAV file for our audio splash screen) and the other better voices. John Bannick www.7128.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi John, Smile. Oh, i know that, but I am really looking for something much more human/realistic for the Tomb Hunter series. Besides FreeTTS is a Java based TTS Engine and the Tomb Hunter series is written in C#. If I were going to go through the difficulty of writing a .NET wrapper for a speech system I'd likely do it for something like the Cepstral voices or E-Speak. Cheers. John Bannick wrote: Thomas, The FreeTTS Kevin16 voice may drive you up the wall but it's totally free, totally IP unencumbered, it's easy to code against, it always works, and it's totally cross-platform. That being said, the sound is not my favorite either and I'd really like to get the FreeTTS JSAPI interface working. Then maybe I could use Mike (which we use as a WAV file for our audio splash screen) and the other better voices. John Bannick www.7128.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
I do know there's this stuff that allows you to use the 6 higher quality voices with the festival speech system the nitech voices. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward To: jbann...@7128.com ; Gamers Discussion list Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 4:26 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi John, Smile. Oh, i know that, but I am really looking for something much more human/realistic for the Tomb Hunter series. Besides FreeTTS is a Java based TTS Engine and the Tomb Hunter series is written in C#. If I were going to go through the difficulty of writing a .NET wrapper for a speech system I'd likely do it for something like the Cepstral voices or E-Speak. Cheers. John Bannick wrote: Thomas, The FreeTTS Kevin16 voice may drive you up the wall but it's totally free, totally IP unencumbered, it's easy to code against, it always works, and it's totally cross-platform. That being said, the sound is not my favorite either and I'd really like to get the FreeTTS JSAPI interface working. Then maybe I could use Mike (which we use as a WAV file for our audio splash screen) and the other better voices. John Bannick www.7128.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, Correct. Besides a desire to do the game my own way, with my own imagination, etc I've been writing a story that goes along with the game. In fact, I have a couple of different Tomb Hunter game stories in the works. This time I really want to do something that is based on my own merit for the most part. If I want help deciding something such as which speech voice to use I'll ask for it. If I want user feedback on a specific fature I'll ask. however, I've drawn the line between gathering feedback and taking a lot of end user suggestings that may or may not change the course of the game and story. Smile. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Yeah, I am glad to hear you've taken this course of action. This way the result is gonna be as interesting and promising as it ever could. Feedback is fine but everything has its limits, and as you work on this as your own game, not a community driven project, it wouldn't be good to stray too far from the original imagination, right? *smiles* Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, Smile. Well, with Mac OS X sudden growth in popularity, Ubuntu Linux now firmly rated the third desktop PC operating system world wide, etc it only makes sense that software companies are migrating to cross platform software design. One reason Mozilla's Firefox web browser has taken the web browser market by storm is simply because it is practically supported on every computer in the world. Weather you run a Mac, Windows PC, have a Linux PC, own a surver with Solaris, FreeBSD, Linux, Windows, etc there is a version of Firefox for you. The number of people using Firefox now is far greater than Internet Explorer which is proprietary and native to Windows platforms. Of course Firefox is open source, and has a wide comunity base. However, over the last two years or so I've seen a shift in polocy with commercial products as well. Just in access tech alone we have seen more and more access products such as text to speech systems go cross platform. I think it is atrend that could continue if companies such as Del continue to prromote Ubuntu Linux laptops and desktops along side there Windows Vista systems. Anyway, that trend isn't limited to sighted computer users. There is a small spike in blind computer users now looking at alternatives to Windows. i know of a handful of blind gamers on this list alone that have gone Mac. I know of even more on the Linux lists that have gone Linux for one reason or another. In both cases the one common problem they share is a lack of high quality games. Up until recently accessible gaming has been almost exclusively a Windows thing. As one of those computer users that use Linux quite a lot I myself want to see accessible games come to the Linux platform. So I have both the skill and the desire so why not do it? Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Wow, I didn't have a slightest clue that there were so many cross-platform engines out there. This is what results from ignorance and lack of interest or research. :-D But yeah, I see, it has more cons than pros for your purpose, so self-voicing is really gonna be a better choice. Not too many gamers would probably buy a voice along with the game itself. :-) Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, Yeah, I have heard some text to speech systems worse than Eloquence. The FreeTTS text to speech system for Java that 7-128 uses in their gamebook drives me up the wall. The E-Speak text to speech system isn't much better. Although since Orca, that's the Linux screen reader, uses E-Speak by default I've learned to tolerate it when I don't have something like Dectalk Access or Cepstral on hand. Grin. Anyway, we are really beginning to get off topic here. So we will have to stear back on topic here soon. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Then you should hear some of the czech voices out there. Eloquence sounds so much better than anyone of them. :-D Actually, Acapela has just developed a czech voice now that just rocks and puts every other voice out of place. But it's too expensive and responds rather slowly as well. Oh well, but this is getting off-topic I guess. Just to agree that what is good for a screen reader doesn't have to be good for a game. I actually liked Heather pretty much - I checked her out when I was looking at that czech voice of theirs, so I think this is one of the best available choices for the game. So this is 38 reasons to use her already. *grin* Don't know the other mentioned voices myself, so this is perfect for me. Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Trenton, Smile. I appreciate the offer, but I was hoping to find a female vocalist for the game's menus as well as for doing Angela's voice in the game. Smile.. Trenton Matthews wrote: Hi Tom! For a sapi option, I'd use scansoft Samantha. For a human voicing option, I'd be happy to help out with voicing the menus, as I can do several different voices on q Feel free to reply off list to me, if you wish for me to send any voice, and i'd like to hear any feedback about this as well! Trenton recordings --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi, Lol! Good one Willem. I don't quite think that is what Trenton had in mind. Willem wrote: *Smile* I hope you have a high voice, as you'll be pretending to be Angela. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Trenton, Big grin. I guess if you did the voice overs I'd have to change Angela's profile to a guy dressed up in women's cloathing. Now, that would be a unique character profile wouldn't it? Lol! Trenton Matthews wrote: Um, ... um, ... I was going to only do a voice for the menus, not for angel. *embarassed* I'm a baritone male, no way a saprano. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
well i know we are off topic but firefox does not work for the blind mac user at all On 21 Jan 2009, at 15:39, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi Lukas, Smile. Well, with Mac OS X sudden growth in popularity, Ubuntu Linux now firmly rated the third desktop PC operating system world wide, etc it only makes sense that software companies are migrating to cross platform software design. One reason Mozilla's Firefox web browser has taken the web browser market by storm is simply because it is practically supported on every computer in the world. Weather you run a Mac, Windows PC, have a Linux PC, own a surver with Solaris, FreeBSD, Linux, Windows, etc there is a version of Firefox for you. The number of people using Firefox now is far greater than Internet Explorer which is proprietary and native to Windows platforms. Of course Firefox is open source, and has a wide comunity base. However, over the last two years or so I've seen a shift in polocy with commercial products as well. Just in access tech alone we have seen more and more access products such as text to speech systems go cross platform. I think it is atrend that could continue if companies such as Del continue to prromote Ubuntu Linux laptops and desktops along side there Windows Vista systems. Anyway, that trend isn't limited to sighted computer users. There is a small spike in blind computer users now looking at alternatives to Windows. i know of a handful of blind gamers on this list alone that have gone Mac. I know of even more on the Linux lists that have gone Linux for one reason or another. In both cases the one common problem they share is a lack of high quality games. Up until recently accessible gaming has been almost exclusively a Windows thing. As one of those computer users that use Linux quite a lot I myself want to see accessible games come to the Linux platform. So I have both the skill and the desire so why not do it? Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Wow, I didn't have a slightest clue that there were so many cross- platform engines out there. This is what results from ignorance and lack of interest or research. :-D But yeah, I see, it has more cons than pros for your purpose, so self-voicing is really gonna be a better choice. Not too many gamers would probably buy a voice along with the game itself. :-) Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org . 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Just great! This should also make the development a bit faster and much less exhausting for you, I think. I just can't wait to see the results and to give you constructive feedback as one who has also seen and played a few of the Tomb Raider games with sighted assistance when the right time and something to base the feedback on arrives. And the alternative system gamers should also be pretty happy. Your projects will be the first really complex and immersive audiogames that are portable. Thumbs up and keep up the great work! :-) Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 4:18 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, Correct. Besides a desire to do the game my own way, with my own imagination, etc I've been writing a story that goes along with the game. In fact, I have a couple of different Tomb Hunter game stories in the works. This time I really want to do something that is based on my own merit for the most part. If I want help deciding something such as which speech voice to use I'll ask for it. If I want user feedback on a specific fature I'll ask. however, I've drawn the line between gathering feedback and taking a lot of end user suggestings that may or may not change the course of the game and story. Smile. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Yeah, I am glad to hear you've taken this course of action. This way the result is gonna be as interesting and promising as it ever could. Feedback is fine but everything has its limits, and as you work on this as your own game, not a community driven project, it wouldn't be good to stray too far from the original imagination, right? *smiles* Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
*giggles, grins bright* Now that, cracks, me, up! Trenton, the T Man! On 1/21/2009 8:57 AM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi Trenton, Big grin. I guess if you did the voice overs I'd have to change Angela's profile to a guy dressed up in women's cloathing. Now, that would be a unique character profile wouldn't it? Lol! Trenton Matthews wrote: Um, ... um, ... I was going to only do a voice for the menus, not for angel. *embarassed* I'm a baritone male, no way a saprano. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
And to clarify, there are currently 3 games in the TR series that are sidescrollers on the gameboy platform. On 1/21/2009 10:29 AM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi Lukas, Yeah. Though, adding that cross platform support isn't the easiest or funnest thing I've done in a while. The Alpha 0.4 engine for MOTA was really stable on Windows, but now that I have switched the code over to the cross platform Genesis engine I'm experiencing a lot of updates and bug fixing for the next few weeks. It is going to take a while to get 0.5 stable for private tester release let alone public release. As for being similar to Tomb Raider I am counting on its similarity to Tomb Raider to be a selling point. Being a side-scroller MOTA won't exactly have all the effect as a full 3D game would have, but there will be other games in this Tomb Hunter series to add additional Tomb Raider style game play. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Just great! This should also make the development a bit faster and much less exhausting for you, I think. I just can't wait to see the results and to give you constructive feedback as one who has also seen and played a few of the Tomb Raider games with sighted assistance when the right time and something to base the feedback on arrives. And the alternative system gamers should also be pretty happy. Your projects will be the first really complex and immersive audiogames that are portable. Thumbs up and keep up the great work! :-) Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Trenton, True, but I always felt the Tomb Raider side-scrollers were nowhere as good as the FPS games. I've played Tomb Raider Prophecy which is a decent side-scroller, as far as side-scrollers goes, but some of the full FPS games are so much more indepth. Trenton Matthews wrote: And to clarify, there are currently 3 games in the TR series that are sidescrollers on the gameboy platform. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Yeah, I am glad to hear you've taken this course of action. This way the result is gonna be as interesting and promising as it ever could. Feedback is fine but everything has its limits, and as you work on this as your own game, not a community driven project, it wouldn't be good to stray too far from the original imagination, right? *smiles* Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 4:08 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, Well, you aren't the only one who didn't like karen. I rather like her voice, but there are those who don't. It is one of those things that not everyone likes/dislikes the same TTS voices. Can't please everyone I guess. Smile. Anyway, getting too much feedback is one of the reasons I am waiting to release a demo. With Montezuma's Revenge and STFC I got a lot of feedback. In many cases I would work on a feature or suggestion I myself wasn't interested in doing, and as a result I became disinterested in the project. With MOTA I am trying to keep end user input to a minimum, and let my own ideas dominate the projects final outcome. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: That was Karen in the original trailer? Oh Aha. :-D-D I didn't like her very much either then... But well, the voice used doesn't matter that much to me after all. Just keep up the good work and do whatever you feel is best for the game (it's you who's creating it and who is so familiar with the Tomb Raider series and so many other mainstream games, and who knows how to code things best, what accessibility solutions to invent...) and don't hurry anything too much or change things the way you don't want them to be just because someone is complaining. After all, you have been forced to do this stuff, although you would personally prefer to do more complicated and interesting games. I am glad to see that MOTA is turning out much better than you expected it could, as you said, so don't let it suffer. :-D Best of luck and my sincere support! Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Wow, I didn't have a slightest clue that there were so many cross-platform engines out there. This is what results from ignorance and lack of interest or research. :-D But yeah, I see, it has more cons than pros for your purpose, so self-voicing is really gonna be a better choice. Not too many gamers would probably buy a voice along with the game itself. :-) Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 4:21 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, Well, yes and no. There are cross platform text to speech engines for Mac, Linux, and Windows but they aren't necessarily ideal for accessible gaming. The ESpeak TTS Engine is cross platform, free, works well, but it sounds too robotic for mine. The Cepstral Swift engine is cross platform, most voices sound alright, but then we are talking a distribution license or ask everyone to buy one of the Cepstral voices independantly to play my games. The Dectalk Access software is cross platform, but has the same hang up as the Cepstral voices. Diddo for the ATT Voices and Eloquence. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: I see, I know this fact very well myself, first from other self-voicing games and second from a project I am working on myself (that's still only in czech though). But I still like this method of reading messages to the player more than using SAPI voices. But that's probably because the czech ones aren't very nice yet. Other than that, SAPI has great advantages of the game becoming much smaller in size, you can create more flexible messages or even include player names in the score recordings, etc., and it's not very difficult to code. But you are right that one must forget SAPI when they want to make their games cross-platform portable, as there is not a similar speech engine that would work on all three systems: Windows, Linux and Mac, currently. Am I right? This is how I understand it from your posts, as I've never researched the possibilities of the other two systems in this regard. But it's cool to hear about SDL as a working solution. Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Then you should hear some of the czech voices out there. Eloquence sounds so much better than anyone of them. :-D Actually, Acapela has just developed a czech voice now that just rocks and puts every other voice out of place. But it's too expensive and responds rather slowly as well. Oh well, but this is getting off-topic I guess. Just to agree that what is good for a screen reader doesn't have to be good for a game. I actually liked Heather pretty much - I checked her out when I was looking at that czech voice of theirs, so I think this is one of the best available choices for the game. So this is 38 reasons to use her already. *grin* Don't know the other mentioned voices myself, so this is perfect for me. Lukas - Original Message - From: Bryan Peterson b-peter...@hotmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:35 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support As I've said before, the response time is the only reason, and i repeat the ONLY reason, why I use Eloquence as my screen reader voice. As for whether it sounds human, I've rarely heard a less human sounding voice. But I guess it's a matter of opinion. But you're right in that it would be horribly out of place, to say the least, in a game like MOTA, even if it were just used in the menus --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Tom! For a sapi option, I'd use scansoft Samantha. For a human voicing option, I'd be happy to help out with voicing the menus, as I can do several different voices on q Feel free to reply off list to me, if you wish for me to send any voice, and i'd like to hear any feedback about this as well! Trenton recordings On 1/17/2009 8:26 PM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
*Smile* I hope you have a high voice, as you'll be pretending to be Angela. Trenton Matthews wrote: Hi Tom! For a sapi option, I'd use scansoft Samantha. For a human voicing option, I'd be happy to help out with voicing the menus, as I can do several different voices on q Feel free to reply off list to me, if you wish for me to send any voice, and i'd like to hear any feedback about this as well! Trenton recordings On 1/17/2009 8:26 PM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Um, ... um, ... I was going to only do a voice for the menus, not for angel. *embarassed* I'm a baritone male, no way a saprano. Sorry... *Smile* I hope you have a high voice, as you'll be pretending to be Angela. Trenton Matthews wrote: Hi Tom! For a sapi option, I'd use scansoft Samantha. For a human voicing option, I'd be happy to help out with voicing the menus, as I can do several different voices on q Feel free to reply off list to me, if you wish for me to send any voice, and i'd like to hear any feedback about this as well! Trenton recordings On 1/17/2009 8:26 PM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
heheh, it was only a joke. You 'thought I was serious? Trenton Matthews wrote: Um, ... um, ... I was going to only do a voice for the menus, not for angel. *embarassed* I'm a baritone male, no way a saprano. Sorry... *Smile* I hope you have a high voice, as you'll be pretending to be Angela. Trenton Matthews wrote: Hi Tom! For a sapi option, I'd use scansoft Samantha. For a human voicing option, I'd be happy to help out with voicing the menus, as I can do several different voices on q Feel free to reply off list to me, if you wish for me to send any voice, and i'd like to hear any feedback about this as well! Trenton recordings On 1/17/2009 8:26 PM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
agree with everything. Let oyour own ideas take you farther than everyone elses contact info: Msn: ckad...@gmail.com skype: corykad111 aim: corykadlik111 emails: ckadl...@verizon.net, ckad...@gmail.com Have an awesome day, Cory - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:08 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, Well, you aren't the only one who didn't like karen. I rather like her voice, but there are those who don't. It is one of those things that not everyone likes/dislikes the same TTS voices. Can't please everyone I guess. Smile. Anyway, getting too much feedback is one of the reasons I am waiting to release a demo. With Montezuma's Revenge and STFC I got a lot of feedback. In many cases I would work on a feature or suggestion I myself wasn't interested in doing, and as a result I became disinterested in the project. With MOTA I am trying to keep end user input to a minimum, and let my own ideas dominate the projects final outcome. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: That was Karen in the original trailer? Oh Aha. :-D-D I didn't like her very much either then... But well, the voice used doesn't matter that much to me after all. Just keep up the good work and do whatever you feel is best for the game (it's you who's creating it and who is so familiar with the Tomb Raider series and so many other mainstream games, and who knows how to code things best, what accessibility solutions to invent...) and don't hurry anything too much or change things the way you don't want them to be just because someone is complaining. After all, you have been forced to do this stuff, although you would personally prefer to do more complicated and interesting games. I am glad to see that MOTA is turning out much better than you expected it could, as you said, so don't let it suffer. :-D Best of luck and my sincere support! Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
OhI realize that. All I was saying was that the only reason I even bother with Eloquence for my screen reader is because of its response time. I've already experienced the way it sounds in some of Jim's games. It sort of fits there but it would be horribly out of place in a game like MOTA. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 10:40 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Bryan, Yeah. however, the thing to keep in mind since these are wav files, not the TTS voice itself, the voices aren't going to be more responsive, faster, etc no matter what voice is being used. If someone picks Eloquence for the game, because it is more responsive, that is a misnomer. It won't be any more responsive, fluid, etc than any other voice because how well the game loads and plays the voice messages will depend heavily on your CPU. Bryan Peterson wrote: I totally agree. The only reason I use Eloquence in my screen reader at all is because of its admittedly fast response time. But as far as I'm concerned no Eloquence voice belongs in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Thomas, Angela's nationality doesn't determine her accent. She could have spent a long time vacationing or in school in another country thus gain a different accent. I think I hear a slight Swedish accent in the Heather voice for example. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 12:00 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Ron and all, Over the passed few weeks I have been working on a few short stories containing Angela Carter's adventures so I have a pretty good idea who she is now. Here is her bio based on those stories. Age: 32 Height: 5 FT. 6 IN. Body: Athletic Eyes: Blue Hair: Brown Nationality: American Home: New Haven Ct. Employment: Yale University Job: Professor of Archeology Hobbies: Reading, swimming, treasure hunting, fencing, other out door sports/activities. Ron Schamerhorn wrote: Hey I'd have to throw in my two cents for a female voice. However I guess we'd have to figure what Angela's nationality is? --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.9/1900 - Release Date: 1/18/2009 12:11 PM --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
That was Karen in the original trailer? Oh Aha. :-D-D I didn't like her very much either then... But well, the voice used doesn't matter that much to me after all. Just keep up the good work and do whatever you feel is best for the game (it's you who's creating it and who is so familiar with the Tomb Raider series and so many other mainstream games, and who knows how to code things best, what accessibility solutions to invent...) and don't hurry anything too much or change things the way you don't want them to be just because someone is complaining. After all, you have been forced to do this stuff, although you would personally prefer to do more complicated and interesting games. I am glad to see that MOTA is turning out much better than you expected it could, as you said, so don't let it suffer. :-D Best of luck and my sincere support! Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 5:20 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi, Well, I had Scansoft Karen in the original trailer and some people complained about the voice. So i switched over to Scansoft Daniel for the newer trailer. Though, since I am going to record all the messages from scratch to wav files I'll need to know peopls thoughts on this in advance. Smile. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Hi Tom, nice job done there, I'm glad to hear that cross-platform support is eventually possible. I actually do not know any of these voices personally (have probably heard most of them but can't tell which is which :-), but I would certainly prefer a female voice when the main game character is also female. Just didn't sound nice enough to me when I heard a male voice (Daniel???) in the MOTA trailer when it's a Tomb Raider like game. :-) Just my not very useful thoughts, Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
I see, I know this fact very well myself, first from other self-voicing games and second from a project I am working on myself (that's still only in czech though). But I still like this method of reading messages to the player more than using SAPI voices. But that's probably because the czech ones aren't very nice yet. Other than that, SAPI has great advantages of the game becoming much smaller in size, you can create more flexible messages or even include player names in the score recordings, etc., and it's not very difficult to code. But you are right that one must forget SAPI when they want to make their games cross-platform portable, as there is not a similar speech engine that would work on all three systems: Windows, Linux and Mac, currently. Am I right? This is how I understand it from your posts, as I've never researched the possibilities of the other two systems in this regard. But it's cool to hear about SDL as a working solution. Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 6:11 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, One of the disadvantages to using pre-recorded speech is the fact that you can't exactly get fluent more natural speech. Even with a human voice you are at the mercy of how fast the game can load process and play x number of messages in the right order. It can result in some slightly unnatural speech output. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Yeah, thanksfor the voice introduction. They were pretty okay. Maybe I would welcome Cristal in MOTA then but a more fluent, natural sounding voice would still be cool if there is any among the offered ones :-) Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
My personal preference is Cepstral Callie; of the ones you mensioned, probably ScanSoft Daniel or Karen. When given a variety to choose from, many people I have worked with have had similar preferences, especially when tspoken letters are involved. Terrence -- From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 6:26 PM To: gamers@audyssey.org Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Sorry I'm a bit late chimming in here, but I most like RealSpeek Jill. Thanks - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 10:26 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. Casey Mathews Web Friendly Help | Demystifying Tech www.webfriendlyhelp.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Phil, I hadn't thought about that, but that does make sense. Especially, in Angela's case. In the bio I am developing for her she became interested in archeology principly because her father, Dr. James Carter, use to take her with him on digs where she got hands on training in the field at an early age. As a result when she grew up she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become an archeologist. As someone who grew up in various places in the world her accent might not be that of a New England woman who works and lives near Yale University when she isn't making her way through some dusty old tomb. Grin. Although, as for Heather I am quite happy with the voice. I noticed it does have a bit of an accent, but I can't quite place it. Either way I've began using it for the games voice overs, and I'll see how the private testers like her. The heather voice isn't as good as Cara would have been, but it works for the time being. Phil Vlasak wrote: Hi Thomas, Angela's nationality doesn't determine her accent. She could have spent a long time vacationing or in school in another country thus gain a different accent. I think I hear a slight Swedish accent in the Heather voice for example. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
That would be my first question. Why, when there are so many better voices out there, would anyone want to use such a monotonous voice like Eloquence? - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 7:42 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Bryan, Smile. I know. I was just curious as to why someone would want Eloquence in a game. It would seam to me to be the last choice anyone would pick for a game like MOTA which happens to be very character driven. While I am not all that fond of using synths for scenes, menus, etc the more realistic sounding the voice the better. Bryan Peterson wrote: OhI realize that. All I was saying was that the only reason I even bother with Eloquence for my screen reader is because of its response time. I've already experienced the way it sounds in some of Jim's games. It sort of fits there but it would be horribly out of place in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, Well, you aren't the only one who didn't like karen. I rather like her voice, but there are those who don't. It is one of those things that not everyone likes/dislikes the same TTS voices. Can't please everyone I guess. Smile. Anyway, getting too much feedback is one of the reasons I am waiting to release a demo. With Montezuma's Revenge and STFC I got a lot of feedback. In many cases I would work on a feature or suggestion I myself wasn't interested in doing, and as a result I became disinterested in the project. With MOTA I am trying to keep end user input to a minimum, and let my own ideas dominate the projects final outcome. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: That was Karen in the original trailer? Oh Aha. :-D-D I didn't like her very much either then... But well, the voice used doesn't matter that much to me after all. Just keep up the good work and do whatever you feel is best for the game (it's you who's creating it and who is so familiar with the Tomb Raider series and so many other mainstream games, and who knows how to code things best, what accessibility solutions to invent...) and don't hurry anything too much or change things the way you don't want them to be just because someone is complaining. After all, you have been forced to do this stuff, although you would personally prefer to do more complicated and interesting games. I am glad to see that MOTA is turning out much better than you expected it could, as you said, so don't let it suffer. :-D Best of luck and my sincere support! Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, Well, yes and no. There are cross platform text to speech engines for Mac, Linux, and Windows but they aren't necessarily ideal for accessible gaming. The ESpeak TTS Engine is cross platform, free, works well, but it sounds too robotic for mine. The Cepstral Swift engine is cross platform, most voices sound alright, but then we are talking a distribution license or ask everyone to buy one of the Cepstral voices independantly to play my games. The Dectalk Access software is cross platform, but has the same hang up as the Cepstral voices. Diddo for the ATT Voices and Eloquence. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: I see, I know this fact very well myself, first from other self-voicing games and second from a project I am working on myself (that's still only in czech though). But I still like this method of reading messages to the player more than using SAPI voices. But that's probably because the czech ones aren't very nice yet. Other than that, SAPI has great advantages of the game becoming much smaller in size, you can create more flexible messages or even include player names in the score recordings, etc., and it's not very difficult to code. But you are right that one must forget SAPI when they want to make their games cross-platform portable, as there is not a similar speech engine that would work on all three systems: Windows, Linux and Mac, currently. Am I right? This is how I understand it from your posts, as I've never researched the possibilities of the other two systems in this regard. But it's cool to hear about SDL as a working solution. Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Phil, Grin. Since I paid for Heather out of my pocket at a price of $35 USD I'd say that is 35 reasons to use her in the game. let us see $35 plus two votes is 37 reasons to use the voice. i'd say she won. Smile. Phil Vlasak wrote: Hi Thomas, As you now have Heather to play with, How about one vote for her voice. You can then remove my other vote from your list. How about having each voice say a phrase and put them all in one mp3, such as, This is Jill, and I am going to be talking in the next USA game. - Original Message - From: Casey Mathews csm...@cfl.rr.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 5:05 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Sorry I'm a bit late chimming in here, but I most like RealSpeek Jill. Thanks - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 10:26 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. Casey Mathews Web Friendly Help | Demystifying Tech www.webfriendlyhelp.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.9/1902 - Release Date: 1/19/2009 9:37 AM --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
so do I actually. At 04:08 p.m. 20/01/2009, you wrote: Hi Lukas, Well, you aren't the only one who didn't like karen. I rather like her voice, but there are those who don't. It is one of those things that not everyone likes/dislikes the same TTS voices. Can't please everyone I guess. Smile. Anyway, getting too much feedback is one of the reasons I am waiting to release a demo. With Montezuma's Revenge and STFC I got a lot of feedback. In many cases I would work on a feature or suggestion I myself wasn't interested in doing, and as a result I became disinterested in the project. With MOTA I am trying to keep end user input to a minimum, and let my own ideas dominate the projects final outcome. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: That was Karen in the original trailer? Oh Aha. :-D-D I didn't like her very much either then... But well, the voice used doesn't matter that much to me after all. Just keep up the good work and do whatever you feel is best for the game (it's you who's creating it and who is so familiar with the Tomb Raider series and so many other mainstream games, and who knows how to code things best, what accessibility solutions to invent...) and don't hurry anything too much or change things the way you don't want them to be just because someone is complaining. After all, you have been forced to do this stuff, although you would personally prefer to do more complicated and interesting games. I am glad to see that MOTA is turning out much better than you expected it could, as you said, so don't let it suffer. :-D Best of luck and my sincere support! Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. - Original Message - From: Bryan Peterson b-peter...@hotmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:58 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support That would be my first question. Why, when there are so many better voices out there, would anyone want to use such a monotonous voice like Eloquence? - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 7:42 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Bryan, Smile. I know. I was just curious as to why someone would want Eloquence in a game. It would seam to me to be the last choice anyone would pick for a game like MOTA which happens to be very character driven. While I am not all that fond of using synths for scenes, menus, etc the more realistic sounding the voice the better. Bryan Peterson wrote: OhI realize that. All I was saying was that the only reason I even bother with Eloquence for my screen reader is because of its response time. I've already experienced the way it sounds in some of Jim's games. It sort of fits there but it would be horribly out of place in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
As I've said before, the response time is the only reason, and i repeat the ONLY reason, why I use Eloquence as my screen reader voice. As for whether it sounds human, I've rarely heard a less human sounding voice. But I guess it's a matter of opinion. But you're right in that it would be horribly out of place, to say the least, in a game like MOTA, even if it were just used in the menus. - Original Message - From: Yohandy yohand...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:30 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. - Original Message - From: Bryan Peterson b-peter...@hotmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:58 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support That would be my first question. Why, when there are so many better voices out there, would anyone want to use such a monotonous voice like Eloquence? - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 7:42 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Bryan, Smile. I know. I was just curious as to why someone would want Eloquence in a game. It would seam to me to be the last choice anyone would pick for a game like MOTA which happens to be very character driven. While I am not all that fond of using synths for scenes, menus, etc the more realistic sounding the voice the better. Bryan Peterson wrote: OhI realize that. All I was saying was that the only reason I even bother with Eloquence for my screen reader is because of its response time. I've already experienced the way it sounds in some of Jim's games. It sort of fits there but it would be horribly out of place in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi, Hmmm... I don't know about the more human part but Eliquence is responsive. I'll give it that much credit. Though, as a Window Eyes user I am more use to the Dectalk Access software that comes with Win Eyes than Eloquence. I've always been a bit of a Dectalk fan anyway. Even back when they sold the Dec PC and Dec Express units. Anyway, one reason I use Eloquence myself is it tends to speak very clearly. As a programmer being able to have your synth speak words correctly and do a good job with variable names, functions, etc is important. The more human sounding voices, especially the ATT voices, go nuts when they see words that aren't in the english dictionary. If you give it a variable name like sndFireWeapon and instead of saying s n d fire weapon you get some kind of crap like s n d f i r e w e a p o n. That is enough to drive anyone nuts. Smile. Yohandy wrote: Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
well thats why I like eloquence and orpheus as synths for general stuff. they are robotic pieces of junk but at least they will almost never crash and at least they will get the job done. at any rate I prefur serious stuff to be in the audio book/ drama format.At 07:53 p.m. 20/01/2009, you wrote: Hi, Hmmm... I don't know about the more human part but Eliquence is responsive. I'll give it that much credit. Though, as a Window Eyes user I am more use to the Dectalk Access software that comes with Win Eyes than Eloquence. I've always been a bit of a Dectalk fan anyway. Even back when they sold the Dec PC and Dec Express units. Anyway, one reason I use Eloquence myself is it tends to speak very clearly. As a programmer being able to have your synth speak words correctly and do a good job with variable names, functions, etc is important. The more human sounding voices, especially the ATT voices, go nuts when they see words that aren't in the english dictionary. If you give it a variable name like sndFireWeapon and instead of saying s n d fire weapon you get some kind of crap like s n d f i r e w e a p o n. That is enough to drive anyone nuts. Smile. Yohandy wrote: Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
That's one area where the Neospeech voices really suffer. I stopped playing Sryth with them because of that. It would say some names like Hawklor, Trithik or Talinus just fine but then it would see the name Merzekk and it would actually spell it out M E R Z E K K rather than try to pronounce it. Well Kate would actually pronounce it but Paul would always spell it. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 11:53 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi, Hmmm... I don't know about the more human part but Eliquence is responsive. I'll give it that much credit. Though, as a Window Eyes user I am more use to the Dectalk Access software that comes with Win Eyes than Eloquence. I've always been a bit of a Dectalk fan anyway. Even back when they sold the Dec PC and Dec Express units. Anyway, one reason I use Eloquence myself is it tends to speak very clearly. As a programmer being able to have your synth speak words correctly and do a good job with variable names, functions, etc is important. The more human sounding voices, especially the ATT voices, go nuts when they see words that aren't in the english dictionary. If you give it a variable name like sndFireWeapon and instead of saying s n d fire weapon you get some kind of crap like s n d f i r e w e a p o n. That is enough to drive anyone nuts. Smile. Yohandy wrote: Actually, eloquence sounds quite human to me. that can't be good huh? lol. The voice wouldn't work for a game such as what Thomas is developing, but for a screen reader there's no better voice than eloquence. the response time is instantaneous, and this is definitely not the case with the more natural sounding voices. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hey I'd have to throw in my two cents for a female voice. However I guess we'd have to figure what Angela's nationality is? - Original Message - From: Bryan Peterson b-peter...@hotmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 8:24 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support My vote goes with Karen. She sounds by far the most natural to me. - Original Message - From: tim kilgore tim8...@sbcglobal.net To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 6:19 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support I'd like scansoft karren. It seems to me to be the clearest voice of them all. Tim - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 8:56 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Yeah, thanksfor the voice introduction. They were pretty okay. Maybe I would welcome Cristal in MOTA then but a more fluent, natural sounding voice would still be cool if there is any among the offered ones :-) Lukas - Original Message - From: Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 2:15 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, I used AT and T Mike for the GMA Tank Commander information voice while you are driving, and the Crystal voice for f1 help. Phil --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
That's whY I say Scansoft Karen. She's the most natural in my opinion. Crystal's good for Sci-Fi titles but that just wouldn't sit right with me in a game like this. - Original Message - From: Lukás Hosnedl lukas.hosn...@seznam.cz To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 6:38 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Yeah, thanksfor the voice introduction. They were pretty okay. Maybe I would welcome Cristal in MOTA then but a more fluent, natural sounding voice would still be cool if there is any among the offered ones :-) Lukas - Original Message - From: Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 2:15 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, I used AT and T Mike for the GMA Tank Commander information voice while you are driving, and the Crystal voice for f1 help. Phil --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
I don't go much for female voices. However, if I had to have a choice, I would also choose att Crystal. -Original Message- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of Phil Vlasak Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 6:46 PM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Lukas, I used AT and T Mike for the GMA Tank Commander information voice while you are driving, and the Crystal voice for f1 help. Phil - Original Message - From: Lukás Hosnedl lukas.hosn...@seznam.cz To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:30 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Tom, nice job done there, I'm glad to hear that cross-platform support is eventually possible. I actually do not know any of these voices personally (have probably heard most of them but can't tell which is which :-), but I would certainly prefer a female voice when the main game character is also female. Just didn't sound nice enough to me when I heard a male voice (Daniel???) in the MOTA trailer when it's a Tomb Raider like game. :-) Just my not very useful thoughts, Lukas - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 4:26 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.8/1899 - Release Date: 1/17/2009 5:50 PM --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
As for voice preference, my own would be: 1. ATT Mike 2. Eloquence -Original Message- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Ward Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 8:56 AM To: gamers@audyssey.org Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi, Well, I had Scansoft Karen in the original trailer and some people complained about the voice. So i switched over to Scansoft Daniel for the newer trailer. Though, since I am going to record all the messages from scratch to wav files I'll need to know peopls thoughts on this in advance. Smile. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Hi Tom, nice job done there, I'm glad to hear that cross-platform support is eventually possible. I actually do not know any of these voices personally (have probably heard most of them but can't tell which is which :-), but I would certainly prefer a female voice when the main game character is also female. Just didn't sound nice enough to me when I heard a male voice (Daniel???) in the MOTA trailer when it's a Tomb Raider like game. :-) Just my not very useful thoughts, Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi, Eloquence? That is about the least human sounding voice of them all. Any specific reason why it is preferable to say Tom, Karen, etc which would sound more human? Pranav Lal wrote: As for voice preference, my own would be: 1. ATT Mike 2. Eloquence --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Lukas, One of the disadvantages to using pre-recorded speech is the fact that you can't exactly get fluent more natural speech. Even with a human voice you are at the mercy of how fast the game can load process and play x number of messages in the right order. It can result in some slightly unnatural speech output. Lukás Hosnedl wrote: Yeah, thanksfor the voice introduction. They were pretty okay. Maybe I would welcome Cristal in MOTA then but a more fluent, natural sounding voice would still be cool if there is any among the offered ones :-) Lukas --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
I totally agree. The only reason I use Eloquence in my screen reader at all is because of its admittedly fast response time. But as far as I'm concerned no Eloquence voice belongs in a game like MOTA. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 10:23 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi, Eloquence? That is about the least human sounding voice of them all. Any specific reason why it is preferable to say Tom, Karen, etc which would sound more human? Pranav Lal wrote: As for voice preference, my own would be: 1. ATT Mike 2. Eloquence --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
So, I would think that, based on this profile, she should have one of the American voices, and, (grin), not a male one? That would narrow your logical choices. --- If guns cause crime, pencils cause misspelled words. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 9:00 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi Ron and all, Over the passed few weeks I have been working on a few short stories containing Angela Carter's adventures so I have a pretty good idea who she is now. Here is her bio based on those stories. Age: 32 Height: 5 FT. 6 IN. Body: Athletic Eyes: Blue Hair: Brown Nationality: American Home: New Haven Ct. Employment: Yale University Job: Professor of Archeology Hobbies: Reading, swimming, treasure hunting, fencing, other out door sports/activities. Ron Schamerhorn wrote: Hey I'd have to throw in my two cents for a female voice. However I guess we'd have to figure what Angela's nationality is? --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Probably because it is a voice that users of screen readers are accustomed to, but it's conjecture on my part. --- If guns cause crime, pencils cause misspelled words. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 9:23 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi, Eloquence? That is about the least human sounding voice of them all. Any specific reason why it is preferable to say Tom, Karen, etc which would sound more human? Pranav Lal wrote: As for voice preference, my own would be: 1. ATT Mike 2. Eloquence --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Bryan, Yeah. however, the thing to keep in mind since these are wav files, not the TTS voice itself, the voices aren't going to be more responsive, faster, etc no matter what voice is being used. If someone picks Eloquence for the game, because it is more responsive, that is a misnomer. It won't be any more responsive, fluid, etc than any other voice because how well the game loads and plays the voice messages will depend heavily on your CPU. Bryan Peterson wrote: I totally agree. The only reason I use Eloquence in my screen reader at all is because of its admittedly fast response time. But as far as I'm concerned no Eloquence voice belongs in a game like MOTA. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
[Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Scansoft Tom by a huge margin. Thanks. --- If guns cause crime, pencils cause misspelled words. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 7:26 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support Hi all, As most of you know I am currently updating MOTA 0.5 to use the new cross platform Genesis engine that uses open source game development APIs such as SDL rather than DirectX. However, I do need your input on something since there obviously is going to be a rather big difference in the way speech is handled with the new engine. In the current 0.4 release of MOTA the game gets DirectX and Sapi 5 support from the Windows specific engine. Since there is no Sapi 5 on Mac OS and Linux the newer Genesis engine uses wav files of pre-recorded speech to announce status messages, menus, etc rather than any OS specific TTS engine. There are several other game developers that do it this way like Draconis, GMA, and BSC so this isn't something new for accessible games. It is also just easier to do it this way when building a cross platform engine rather than trying to support Gnome-Speech, Apple Voices, and Sapi 5 with the same game engine. Which brings me to my question. I was going to have someone do the voice overs for the menus, status messages, for 0.5 but do to other commitments and scheduling our plans fell through. For the time being i am going to have to record all the messages using a TTS engine such as the ATT Voices, Scansoft Voices, Cepstral Voices, etc. If you had a choice which of the following voices do you personally prefer? ATT Crystal ATT Mike Scansoft Daniel Scansoft Emily Scansoft Jill Scansoft Karen Scansoft Lee Scansoft Samantha Scansoft Tom Other Thanks. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Cross Platform Speech Support
Hi Phil,
Unfortunately no. DirectX and SDL are quite a bit different in lots of
ways that would make it difficult to support DirectX and SDL at the same
time. For example, take something simple like panning a sound to the
left or right. DirectSound and SDL Mixer have two completely different
methods of handling this.
In DirectX DirectSound to pan a sound you merely need to pass the pan
control a value from -1, max left, to 1, max right. It would
look something like this.
// Center the sound in the right speaker.
sound.Pan = 5000;
SDL Mixer doesn't do it that way. You pan sounds by controling the
stereo channels independantly of each other. Each channel has a range of
0, silence, to 250, full volume. Anyway, to do what I did above using
the SDL Audio support it would look like this.
// Center the sound in the right speaker.
channel.SetPanning(0, 125);
Obviously, the two methods aren't remotely similar, and this is a fairly
miner procedure all things considered. When we get into subjects like
SDL Input vs DirectInput we are comparing apples and oranges.
In my personal opinion SDL input support is much easier to work with
than DirectX. Even though SDL Input doesn't yet support force feedback I
rather like how they handle joysticks, game pads, and stearing wheels on
the Windows side. It is much easier to work with than DirectInput by a
long shot. To enable a joystick using SDL Input all I need to do is add
the following lines to my engine.
Events.JoystickAxisMotion +=
new EventHandlerJoystickAxisEventArgs(this.JoystickAxisChanged);
Events.JoystickButtonDown += new
EventHandlerJoystickButtonEventArgs(this.JoystickButtonDown);
joystick = Joysticks.OpenJoystick(0);
This is infinitely easier and less complicated than the way I would do
it using DirectInput. With DirectInput to do the same thing it would
look something like this.
// Attempt to locate a compatible joystick/game pad.
foreach (DeviceInstance instance in
Manager.GetDevices(DeviceClass.GameControl,
EnumDevicesFlags.AttachedOnly))
{
// Grab the first game controller we find.
joystick = new Microsoft.DirectX.DirectInput.Device(instance.InstanceGuid);
// Exit the loop.
break;
}
// If we found a joystick
// proceed with initialization.
if (joystick != null)
{
// Initialize joystick state object.
stickstate = new JoystickState();
// Setup button state array.
buttons = new bool[12];
// Set joystick data format.
joystick.SetDataFormat(DeviceDataFormat.Joystick);
// Set the cooperative level.
joystick.SetCooperativeLevel(this, CooperativeLevelFlags.Background |
CooperativeLevelFlags.NonExclusive);
// Set the axis range.
// Normally a range of 1 is standard
// for most joystick and game pad devices.
foreach (DeviceObjectInstance doi in joystick.Objects)
{
// If the joystick axis is not 0
// set it to 5000 units per stick direction.
if ((doi.ObjectId (int)DeviceObjectTypeFlags.Axis) != 0)
{
// Set axis range.
joystick.Properties.SetRange(ParameterHow.ById,
doi.ObjectId, new InputRange(-5000, 5000));
}
}
// Set joystick axis flag.
joystick.Properties.AxisModeAbsolute = true;
// Aquire the joystick for use.
joystick.Acquire();
}
// If initialization failed
// set joystick to null
// and continue with normal operation.
else
{
joystick = null;
}
Smile. That is just a strait grab any joystick we see piece of code
using DirectX. That doesn't have any special features like force
feedback or some of the more advanced features of DirectInput. As you
can see from a programming point of view DirectX is infinitely more
complicated and not at all compatible with SDL. Part of the reason I
made the switch is SDL is much much easier to learn, use, and it
supports Mac OS and Linux as well as Windows. I think eventually
switching to it will pay off as it has its own advantages/disadvantages
here.
Cheers!
---
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