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https://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-3-mod-uses-ai-to-create-new-voice-lines-without-geralts-original-voice-actor/ https://www.ibtimes.com/witcher-3-story-mod-stirs-controversy-over-ai-generated-voice-acting-3237250 https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/video-game-voice-ai-human-actors-witcher-3-mod-controversy My position: get over it, voice actors. The writing has been on the wall since Vocaloid was released. I think we've seen games shipping with 10 to 30 gigabytes of voice data at this point. You could imagine some game using procedurally generated text (like GPT-3 used to fuel NPC chatbots), team written scripts, or crowdsourced scripts to get to the equivalent of 1 terabyte or more of lines. Powerful 8-core CPUs are becoming the minimum standard for gaming, and between the CPU and GPU there will be more than enough computational resources available to synthesize voice lines and other sounds, like object collisions, in real time. Assuming 500,000 pages per gigabyte, 1.5 minutes to voice a page, you can get 1.4 years of text-to-speech from 1 gigabyte of scripts. The legal issues are legitimate. I have no doubt that a court would side with voice actors who are having their voices "stolen", citing personality rights. At the same time, companies could figure out how to mix the voice samples of hundreds of real people together in training data, and adjust parameters to come up with an infinite number of indistinct voices that can be used without paying anyone. Meanwhile, fan efforts can rip off real voices from Hollywood and voice actors, or specific voice performances like Stephen Russell as Garrett. It's not worth it to sue them, and they can come together pseudo-anonymously and distribute code using torrent sites if needed. In some cases, an amateur will do the voice acting and then a different voice style will be pasted over the original recording. We could also see pure text-to-speech with a markup language to add emphasis, vocal cadence, etc. In either case, an algorithm can definitely transfer or fake the "breathing" and pauses. It's also likely to be considered art. Ignoring the fact that an "invisible sculpture" can be considered art, there will likely be a lot of creativity or at least fine tuning when writing a script, working with an AI that generates scripts, and perfecting the voices.

Hello, I have some roles to distribute for: - builders - mages - pagans - inventors - regular guys (you know which type of guys, the bad watchmen guys) Any new voice talents around?

Voice acting?

I'm in the process of creating WS6 (Baleford Museum) and WS7 (The Builders' Forge). I hope to release them simultaneously in the next 6 months, health permitting. I'm at the point where it's time to install the voices for a few conversations and monologues. If you're interested in providing some voice acting, please let me know. Experience isn't necessary (new voices are ALWAYS welcome), and I'll walk the inexperienced through the process. Just make sure you've got a good setup (so we don't need to manually filter out background noises, for example). I won't be doing any post-processing on your voices; what you say is what we'll hear. I'll be managing the ogg creation and sound shaders and folder management, so all you need to worry about is your performance. I have some of the scripts finished, so we can dig right in as soon as you're available. Thanks!

There's a bit to unpack here, but I'll ask that you please read this post and my motivation before giving a verdict. At the moment I'm just opening this thread for debate: If the idea isn't shot down as absurd and we agree it's possible to consider, I may proceed with a bug tracker entry otherwise forget I said anything. Also this post does NOT imply we have developers willing to work on it, if no one in the team considers it an effort worth investing time in I'm not going to beg. It would be a major change that takes time to test, so even if it does happen it would likely be next year at earliest (TDM 2.11 or later). Lastly this is intended solely as an OPTION... as the person suggesting it I don't believe it should ever be enabled by default due to how it would alter the gameplay, only offered as an extra component for players who want the mechanic. That being said, the idea occurred to me yesterday and I've been excited thinking about how it could work, it actually kept me up last night and I'm getting this off my chest to hear some feedback so I can fall asleep more easily tonight Let's get into it. The idea is partly inspired from some horror games I watched Youtubers play a while back. They had a mechanic where the engine accessed the player's microphone to read the volume: If you made too much noise, monsters would hear you and come after you. The player had to stay silent else they'd be in trouble. Last night it clicked with me how perfectly this mechanic would fit into TDM with our AI and gameplay. Imagine if any noise you made IRL risked alerting nearby guards... whereas oppositely you could use your voice to distract them to your location and move past. I'll discuss both uses below, first let's go into some technical aspects. This would obviously require engine changes: The engine needs to learn how to access the default microphone device from the sound system, enough translate the volume into a to 0 - 1 float. The game reads this volume at an interval balanced between accuracy and performance (eg: 0.5 seconds). Based on the loudness it captures that call, the same signal emitted by sound sources to alert AI is propagated from the player's view origin. The effect tapers off with distance in a fashion similar to s_mindistance (full effect below this radius) and s_maxdistance (fully ignored beyond that radius), reasonable defaults might be min 4 / max 16 measuring with the radius of a speaker in DarkRadiant. Multiplied with that distance and the AI's acuity factor, the mic volume determines the alert level being generated. The ranges I'm suggesting for this would be: 0% to 20%: Ignored, doesn't generate any alert. Ambient noise and insignificant sounds are usually in this range for all microphones. 20% to 40%: Can go up to the 1st alert level, makes the AI mumble and say "did I hear something" but move on and ignore you. 40% to 60%: Can produce 2nd alert level in guards, making them stop in place to look around. 60% to 80%: 3rd alert level allowed, guards realize something is up and start searching the area. 80% to 100%: Loud enough to make your presence in the area known, 4th alert level is possible making guards draw their weapon and dare you to come out. 100%: So loud that your exact location is clear to the guard as if you bumped into them, 5th alert level activates and the AI proceeds to attack you. So what is the point of this? Some would see it as an annoyance and the player sabotaging themselves, though just like selecting a higher difficulty level it's a controlled form of making your run more interesting. I for one am in it for the immersion and ingenuity: It would offer a new way to integrate the player into the world, using hardware almost every player has: A headset with a microphone, a mic on their desk, even one in their webcam. This has been done in small games but never attempted in a full stealth game for my knowledge, TDM could be among the first project of this genre to use the idea which would be an extra selling point to make it more interesting and appealing. The first aspect is fear of being heard. Imagine you really are the player in a typical FM, hiding in the shadows as guards are walking past or running around looking for you. The last thing you want to do in such a circumstance is make any noise: You'd be careful about your breathing, and god forbid you need to cough or sneeze. This mechanic would emulate just that: Players have to be aware of their breath as an enemy walks past them... if for any reason you feel like sneezing or coughing, you better hold off or the guards will become alert in-game. To me this sounds super neat... I can already imagine playing TDM with the added fear and adrenaline The second part is how this can be used to attract guards in a controlled way. Jumping in place works but it's hard to make guards come and investigate, with this you'd do it using your voice. The fun here is learning how loud to speak to get the desired alert level: If you whisper to the guards they won't hear you and just walk past, but if you scream too loudly they'll know where you are and attack you on sight! You'll want to say something like "hey" at just the right volume to make them investigate. As a bonus to end the idea, why not introduce this for friendly AI too as a fun detail? You know how some FM's have pubs the player can enter where the maid and party-goers won't attack you; Whenever the player says something in their mic, friendlies and neutrals look at you and use the generic response bark! Imagine how much fun we'll have taking breaks from the objective to say all kinds of stupid things in the mic and each time someone responds with a "hello there" or "you said it" or "yeah yeah"

Who are the following voice actors and how can I contact them? grumbler_guard_01 pro_guard_01 pro_civilian_01 builder_04_civilian builder_01 My partner in crime and myself wrote a few conversations for the next mission and it would be great to get the original voices to avoid confusion.

There is a similar list over at ttlg, but I though we should start the same thing over here. I people can do as has been done over on the ttlg thread, post thier recording equipment, and what FM's (TDP, TMA, TDS, TDM, etc). I will then put a link for each person in this thread on this post for easy access etc. The post below is how people should reply Male: Bikerdude: view information Mortem Desino: view information Ocn: view information Betpet: view information Noelker: View information Female: FM authors looking for a voice actor can either: view these posts to find out who is available/most appropriate for what they want, and contact them (PM / e-mail) Other voice actors who want to be listed above: Create a post post in this thread with the following information: Experience (name the missions you lend your voice to) Type of voice (sounds best for hammerite guard, thief, nobleman, or pagan etc) Recordings (post any links where examples of your voice can be heard) Status (currently to busy, already occupied, available until summer, that sort of thing) When you make your own post, a link will be put in the first post, behind your name. General points of attention: Wait until your mission is in the final stages of development, before asking voice actors to record conversations. It happens too often that voice work has been done for a mission that never made it to release. No need (as voice actor) to divide your info over multiple posts. You can make one, and edit/update it whenever you want. Let me know when: I forgot to mention your name above, and it will be added you're mentioned above but no longer available, and it will be removed

I still need a second NPC voice actor for my upcoming mission. It's about a person who is stuck in the level and will have all sorts of things to report over a loudspeaker system and who is between scared, desperate and hysterical but all with a funny undertone. So things like: "How could that have happened to me? Now, of all times, when I only have to fulfill another 35 months of my three-year contract! Any new or old volunteers here? Andros (Jonus Thorunsson, an Inventor) and Malasdair (The Thief) are already on board.

Hello everyone, I am doing a call for some help with voice acting for Volta and the Stone V2 as well as the next map in the campaign. I've already got a few volunteers, but I'm looking to fill a couple more roles. If you have a good mic and preferably some experience, PM me or post below! Volta and the Stone V2 The Engineer- Male or Female. (3-4 lines, monologue). A snobby mechanist-esque character who loathes doing trivial repairs for the Voltas. Similar in tone to the Builders. Bikerdude Dumb Guard- Male. (3 lines, dialogue). Drunk and dimwitted. Gossiping about strange happenings in Volta Tower. I'm not sure who did the original drunkard, but he would be the tonal goal. Yandros The Thief- Male. (Lots of lines) This is more or less to see if anyone would be interested in collaborating with me on this role. It would require somewhere between 10-15 lines + some screaming and yelling . A slightly younger Garrett would be the goal. This would be a lot of work so I'm looking for a fairly experienced actor here. Andros Trail of the Dead (working title)

Hello! I would like to ask if there are any female voice actors available in our community? Does our community members have wives or friends who would be interested? I'm thinking about the conversations for my WIP FM. No point in writing female lines if there are no available actresses. Don't get too excited, the mission is far from finished. Just planning ahead. Thank you!

Evening Melan and I are now at the stage where we are setting up the conversations, so if these members are still around I would like to hear back from those who did the voice lines for - Grumbler guard,CriticCommandermany thanks b.

Not so long ago I found what could make a pretty good profile picture and decided to try it out on these new forums. But I couldn't find a button anywhere that would let me change it. I asked on Discord and it seems Spooks also couldn't find anything anywhere. So I logged into an old alternative account and, lo and behold, that account has a button. This is on the first screen I get when I: 1) click on my account name in the top-right of the browser -> 2) click on 'profile'. Compared to my actual account: Are you also missing this button on your account? It'd be very much appreciated if that functionality could be restored to any of the affected accounts.

This has gone pretty much under the radar but looks very interesting. Even though it's released by Cyan Ventures (the publishing department of Cyan) and the creator worked on Myst, it doesn't have a lot of puzzles (or just very easy ones) and it's more story. Reviews are divided as the game seems to be quite different from what was promised during the kickstarter. ZED is the story of an aging artist, lost in regret and the haze of dementia. Inside the dreamscape of this creative mind come undone, players reassemble the artist’s fragmented memories into a final, lasting legacy: a loving gift to his granddaughter. Making its debut on PC (with optional VR support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive), ZED is a surreal trip, with an unexpected narrative that unfolds across fanciful, fractured lands. Spanning regret, reconciliation and redemption, it’s a bittersweet story that’s both deeply personal, and undeniably universal. Released in partnership with Cyan Ventures, the new publishing arm from the creators of the legendary games Myst and Riven, ZED is the vision of Chuck Carter, part of the team behind the original Myst. Co-written by Joe Fielder (Bioshock Infinite, The Flame and the Flood) and David Chen (Metal Gear Solid series, Narcosis), the game also features a riveting performance from veteran video-game voice actor Stephen Russell (the Thief and Fallout series).

Hi, I need to know what the code is to use Spoiler Tags. I am using my tablet and I don't have the options to use anything, like spoiler tags, quote tags, text changes etc. Thanks

Male Voice Actor on Call with Dark Mod Experience Hi, I am Andrew Bartmess, a talented voice actor, who would like to do some work for you. HISTORY: You can find examples of my work on my website, www.everybodyandme.com. I have “done voices” all my life for church shows, my own amusement, and for D&D gaming, but am now getting traction professionally. My website has many faux-mercials, comedy bits, characters and my radio commercials for WDJO as well, showing off a variety of voices and styles. I am a 58-year-old man, but can be whomever you need: Major Bumble, Ben Franklin, Pirate Pete, Winston Churchill, you name it. I am an excellent mimic, and have done lines in the styles of some of the Dark Mod Ai characters...would LOVE to do a Hammer! The best are on the main page, with other stuff in the Archives page. THIEF WORK: I am a LONG TIME THIEF fan, back to the original, and have been doing work for several mission authors on The Dark Mod, appearing in a dozen-plus missions so far. I have done drunks and lords, guards and sailors so far. I can do everything from refined twits to gruff lockpicks. You can hear a full voice real of my Dark Mod / Gold work at The Dark Reel on YouTube. And I do a great classic Garrett...check out my homepage. I love to donate work for Thief missions, as it is great vocal training and great fun to make characters come alive! MISSIONS: You can hear me in Dragofer’s “Down By The Riverside”, Sotha’s "Coercion", Goldwell’s “Lord Edger’s Disappearance”, Cambridge Spy’s “Murdering the Markets”, LarryG’s “Finals at the Academy” and Gort’s “Rebellion of the Builder 2”. Some additional missions have been Death's Cold Embrace, The Black Parade, Snowed Inn, The Eye, & In and Out, and dozens of others. I was in 8 of the 23 entries for the 20th Anniversary contest a while back. CONTACT AND STUDIO SPECS: Best contact is andy@everybodyandme.com (carbon arcadewizard@cinci.rr.com just to be sure), as I don't always check here. I have a daytime mundane job, but have my own studio booth, and can turn most work around in a few days, overnight if it is limited. I work ProTools Lite with a Spark microphone, can send you MP3, .wav or .ogg files as you like. Under 20 Meg I can email, over that I have sent by Zippyshare and WeTransfer, or you tell me how best to get them to you. I LOVE doing voices; I am a frustrated actor with NO memory, so I would have been great in radio theater, and this is as close to that as it gets. Give me a challenge, some rough guidelines and a script, and I will give you back several treatments to see what you like. I would also like any work in any other games you have a hand in…SF or other kinds of stuff. I just want to get the experience on the way to doing this for a (part time) living, but I think you will like what you hear. Thanks. BARTMESS_Garrett.mp3