Proto-Germanic Voices for RTS Games

[Andrettin]

Hey,

I recently commissioned Proto-Germanic voices for my RTS game, Wyrmsun; the voices were commissioned from Manuel Senfft and he agreed that they be licensed under the CC0.

Hopefully this can be of use to RTS projects set in antiquity

[Akien]

I'm playing Wyrmsun, an I confirm that those voices are really cool :-D

You might want to let the 0 A.D. guys know about this too, I don't think they have a proto-germanic faction currently, but they might be interested in adding one in later versions (according to Wikipedia the proto-germanic language spans from ~500 BC to ~250 BC and then branches off in four derivatives, that's pretty much in the 0 A.D. timescale).

[Evropi]

Yeah Akien, 0 A.D. is the first thing that came to my mind.

Another possible candidate would be Widelands. That said, I'm not sure they're going for a specific historical theme with their game and seem to want to keep it open to interpretation.

[eugeneloza]

And don't forget about my proposal... just in case...
Free voice acting for a good FOSS game

[Akien]

Yeah while playing Wyrmsun I was thinking that eugeneloza could do some nice contributions there

[Andrettin]

I'm playing Wyrmsun, an I confirm that those voices are really cool :-D

I'm glad you liked the sounds

You might want to let the 0 A.D. guys know about this too, I don't think they have a proto-germanic faction currently, but they might be interested in adding one in later versions (according to Wikipedia the proto-germanic language spans from ~500 BC to ~250 BC and then branches off in four derivatives, that's pretty much in the 0 A.D. timescale).

Yeah Akien, 0 A.D. is the first thing that came to my mind.

Actually, that also of the first things I thought, I posted this topic there soon after submitting the sounds to OpenGameArt.org.

And don't forget about my proposal... just in case...
Free voice acting for a good FOSS game

Thanks for the offer! That's really kind of you

Perhaps you could the voices for one of the fictional peoples (dwarves, etc.)? Do you have any particular preference in that regard?

[eugeneloza]

Do you have any particular preference in that regard?

No, I can work in two directions: try to make a pre-defined character (i.e. like old wise dwarves, or drunk dwarves like in example, cartoonish dwarves or any other; funny/serious/heroic/epic/crazy/evil/etc.), or just try to imagine something and make several distinctively different moods/voices (as many as possible) - it's easier, but I have to understand the mood of the game better. I can make a script of my own (I fluently speak in Ukrainian/Russian/English) or make some accent (like German, Arabic, French, African etc.) but I'll need the script in case the language is not of those three (i.e. I'm not that good at German to make it mistake-free, and no practice in other languages) and, maybe, a reference.

P.S. It's hot now, and my computer cooler becomes noisy, so its better to wait for Autumn or some colder Summer days to make a higher quality record. However, preparation also takes some time so it's better to start in advance.

[Andrettin]

Do you have any particular preference in that regard?

No, I can work in two directions: try to make a pre-defined character (i.e. like old wise dwarves, or drunk dwarves like in example, cartoonish dwarves or any other; funny/serious/heroic/epic/crazy/evil/etc.), or just try to imagine something and make several distinctively different moods/voices (as many as possible) - it's easier, but I have to understand the mood of the game better. I can make a script of my own (I fluently speak in Ukrainian/Russian/English) or make some accent (like German, Arabic, French, African etc.) but I'll need the script in case the language is not of those three (i.e. I'm not that good at German to make it mistake-free, and no practice in other languages) and, maybe, a reference.

P.S. It's hot now, and my computer cooler becomes noisy, so its better to wait for Autumn or some colder Summer days to make a higher quality record. However, preparation also takes some time so it's better to start in advance.

I'm very sorry for the delay, and thanks again for your generous offer to make voices for Wyrmsun!

It would be nice if you could make some voice-overs in Russian or Ukrainian - although still a distant plan, it would be nice to add in the future a "Slavic" civilization, or at least some units for it, and the voices would work well for that purpose.

Usually civilizations need the following voices in their native tongues:

2-4 "selected" sounds (played when a unit is selected; would be something like "Yes?", "Your command?", and etc.)
1-2 "annoyed" sounds (played when a unit is clicked many times upon, it would be some sort of line displaying annoyance towards the player - mocking the player's indecision to give a command, for instance)
2-4 "acknowledgement sounds (played when a unit is given an order; would be something like "Yes!", "Of course!", "Yes, sir!", and so forth)
1 ready sound (played when a unit finishes training; examples: "Ready for battle!", "Ready!")
1 work done sound (played when a worker finishes building a structure; example: "Done!")

What do you think?

By the way, the game's content is generally licensed under the GPL 2.0 license:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Is licensing the voices under that license fine for you?

[eugeneloza]

Is licensing the voices under that license fine for you?

Absolutely.

I'll try to think on the scenario then and try to record some ideas (not much work, actually, just 10-15 phrases - I think, I can finish 4-5 distinctive characters in 5-6 hours) as soon as I catch a 'cold' day to get lower noise from the computer.
Should I make the processing as I see fit (lowering/raising pitch, effects, equalizer, etc), or you have some preferences?
Maybe you have some ideas on characters? I see germans, humen (europeans), dwarves and goblins in the repository. Should I extend/replace those, or should I create something distinctively different like trolls, tribals, slavics, etc?

[Andrettin]

Absolutely.

I'll try to think on the scenario then and try to record some ideas (not much work, actually, just 10-15 phrases - I think, I can finish 4-5 distinctive characters in 5-6 hours) as soon as I catch a 'cold' day to get lower noise from the computer.
Should I make the processing as I see fit (lowering/raising pitch, effects, equalizer, etc), or you have some preferences?

Nice

I don't have any preferences in particular about the processing.

Maybe you have some ideas on characters? I see germans, humen (europeans), dwarves and goblins in the repository. Should I extend/replace those, or should I create something distinctively different like trolls, tribals, slavics, etc?

I think Slavics would be ideal, as it might be difficult to get a voice actor who can speak a Slavic language later on. But of course, if you would like to do other voices, that would also be very welcome (and if there is more than one set of sounds for a particular civilization, that isn't a problem, as one of the sets could be used for a hero unit).

Thanks for your interest in helping!

[eugeneloza]

One more question:
Do you have a full list of units that speak and which need different voices/scripts? I.e. dwarf soldier may have different phrases than dwarf shaman (as in warcraft).

[Andrettin]

One more question:
Do you have a full list of units that speak and which need different voices/scripts? I.e. dwarf soldier may have different phrases than dwarf shaman (as in warcraft).

Of course, here are the units currently in the game who speak (other than Germanics/Teutons):
Dwarven Axefighter (same voice as the dwarven steelclad/stonelord/yale rider units, to which it upgrades)
Dwarven Miner/Militia
Dwarven Mercenary
Dwarven Gryphon Rider
Gnomish Scavenger (worker)
Gnomish Recruit (infantry)
Gnomish Herbalist
Goblin Worker
Goblin Impaler (spearman)
Goblin Archer
Goblin Thief
Goblin Glider
Kobold Footpad (infantry)

Elves, Orcs, Trolls and etc. are planned, but only for the distant future.

[eugeneloza]

Hi all!
I'm ready to record the RTS voice set in the nearest future (temperature is down and I've almost recovered from cough ).
I've prepared ~300 phrases to record, but if you need anything more, feel free to add.

[Julius]

The German ones have a lot of errors. I guess better leave them out And the question is also if it should be WW2 style or modern.

[eugeneloza]

The German ones have a lot of errors. I guess better leave them out And the question is also if it should be WW2 style or modern.

Well, maybe someone better at German than me can correct it? I've tried to grab those from 'German military commands lists', however, I don't know German that well to say if that list contained errors, because it was explained in English.

And the question is also if it should be WW2 style or modern.

I think that I just should make as much different voices as I can in medieval/fantasy background.

[Julius]

Sure, but do you think you can pronounce them correctly then?

[eugeneloza]

Almost sure. I've been rather good at German at school (it's just 15 years by now, I've just started to 'revive' the language, grammar is still at 'zero' level). At least I can try

[Andrettin]

Nice to see the list

I think there isn't a need to do German sounds, since there are already ones in the game (and as Julius said, unfortunately the list has many errors). I would focus on the Russian and Ukrainian sounds, since they would be a nice addition to the "Slavic" NPC civilization, which right now derives all its assets from the Teuton civilization; the voices would make them a bit closer to becoming a playable civilization Maybe Russian and Ukrainian voices could be used for different units (i.e. the infantry soldier speaking Russian and the archer speaking Ukrainian, that sort of thing), or different factions.

[Vandar]

Almost sure. I've been rather good at German at school (it's just 15 years by now, I've just started to 'revive' the language, grammar is still at 'zero' level). At least I can try

Eventuell kann ich da helfen. Zumindest, wenn es um etwas geht, das sich in Textform ausdrücken lässt.

I might be able to help there, at least if it's somthing that can be expressed with text. So if you have questions, let's try.

[eugeneloza]

Oh, thanks, that'd be great! You can take that script file above and correct my mistakes and/or add new phrases. There are English variants, you can translate those or add something new. I would be very grateful.

[Vandar]

The wyrm_151020-06.odt file? I've got it, and I think I can help there.

Question for the group "Selected" - is the player to be seen (adressed) as a noble, or an ordinary persion?

Noble: "Euer Wunsch ist mir Befehl"
Normal, "Ihr Wunsch ist mir Befehl"

I'll try to prepare a list.

[eugeneloza]

The wyrm_151020-06.odt file? I've got it, and I think I can help there.

Yes, this one.

Question for the group "Selected" - is the player to be seen (adressed) as a noble, or an ordinary persion?

Better if noble, however, you can give both there so that game developers may choose from. Best if you could notify me of the phrase character, so that I could include it in voice character.

I'll try to prepare a list

Thanks a lot!

[Akien]

Noble: "Euer Wunsch ist mir Befehl"
Normal, "Ihr Wunsch ist mir Befehl"

I'll try to prepare a list.

As Andrettin said though, there is hardly a need for new German voices, at least it's probably not a priority. For example, "Ihr Wunsch ist mir Befehl" is already featured in the Germanic faction AFAICR.

[Andrettin]

As Andrettin said though, there is hardly a need for new German voices, at least it's probably not a priority. For example, "Ihr Wunsch ist mir Befehl" is already featured in the Germanic faction AFAICR.

Yup, that's correct. The current German/Teuton sound list is the following:

Selected 1 - Was ist Ihr Befehl?
Selected 2 - Ja?
Selected 3 - Was möchten Sie?
Selected 4 - Was ist Ihr Wunsch?

Annoyed 1 - Ich warte...
Annoyed 2 - Soll ich hier Wurzeln schlagen?!
Annoyed 3 - Was zum Teufel wollen Sie?!

Acknowledgement 1 - Jawohl.
Acknowledgement 2 - Jawohl, mein Herr!
Acknowledgement 3 - Los geht's!
Acknowledgement 4 - Ihr Wunsch ist mein Befehl.

Ready - Ich bin bereit.
Ready (Worker) - Bereit für die Arbeit.

Work Complete - Fertig!