[DEVELOPMENT] Campaign 4 Development Thread

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

No coords have been changed. It's just little touches here and there to give the map some life. Call it decorative.

I'll wait until you've done more. My poor overworked machine is having a rough go of things lately. Processor is probably getting ready to drop dead.

[lav_coyote25]

No coords have been changed. It's just little touches here and there to give the map some life. Call it decorative.

I'll wait until you've done more. My poor overworked machine is having a rough go of things lately. Processor is probably getting ready to drop dead.

just make sure you have EVERYTHING!!!!!!! backed up several times in several places. trust me - we dont need another loss of code such as what was lost ie: editworld32bitbeta. enuff said????

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Everything is uploaded to Dropbox, and on networked computer where my storage drive is. Nothing gets lost, ever. Takes flaME a full minute to fully load up, and processor runs at 99%. That's just one example.

Stupid ex, ruining my lovely dual-core machine back in early feb.

[Rman Virgil]

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Lot going on with scripting, I can see.

Coming a bit from left field - was still wondering (or did I miss it somehow) ?

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BTW Goth: Do you have an overall title for Campaign 4 ?

The one I worked on back in the NEWST days (that was never completed or released) was called -

"Triumph in the Balance: The Mission R.A.C.E."...

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Regards, Rman.

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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Heya Rman, welcome back.

Nope, no title yet. I *have* begun to write for Campaign 5 already though. I thought your idea of having Episodes was a great one, and the writing style is reflecting that.

I've been working on the "voice-changing tomfoolery" stuff, and it's not working out (as I predicted). NEXUS sounds like Xerxes from 300 who has been assimilated by the Borg. Looking around for some VST plugins that could help isn't panning out either. None of the FOSS ones really do what they are supposed to. Might work great for another character, but it's too late in the game to add another Protagonist.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Ladies and gentlemen, NODE has its' voice. The person I had in mind to do the voice acting declined, so I took it upon myself to test some dialog, perform some MAJOR tomfoolery and audio wizardry, and presto! And best of all, the latest plugin I'm trying (KeroVee) is working miracles, is free and seems to work as advertised.

Remember, I'm a GUY. It's a very unusual feeling to hear ones' voice as the opposite sex, no matter HOW good it sounds. NODE is an AI but is intended to be voiced by a female.

Here's a side-by-side:

My own voice:

test.ogg

"Tomfoolery" mode:

tomfoolery.ogg

And the final mixed down version with effects and processing:

nodetest1.ogg

Fairly good plugin, that KeroVee. Any suggestions to improve or change it up, please speak up.

[lav_coyote25]

nodetest1 - needs to be a bit louder and a bit more on the high to midrange side... not a lot , just a bit...

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Yep, I agree -- and I've been messing with the mix-down. I've doubled the quality, removed the secondary layer ("monster speech") part, removed some of the plugins that were causing the "muddiness" and it sounds much clearer. NODE doesn't need the monster speech part anyway.

Here's the FULL Mission 6 Briefing, audio only (when the player finally meets NODE). I have secondary and tertiary layering to add (like with Gibbs) since NODE is communicating across the same unstable EM fields and whatnot, so it isn't finished. Enjoy!

m6briefingfull.ogg

[Rman Virgil]

Heya Rman, welcome back.

Nope, no title yet. I *have* begun to write for Campaign 5 already though. I thought your idea of having Episodes was a great one, and the writing style is reflecting that.

I've been working on the "voice-changing tomfoolery" stuff, and it's not working out (as I predicted). NEXUS sounds like Xerxes from 300 who has been assimilated by the Borg. Looking around for some VST plugins that could help isn't panning out either. None of the FOSS ones really do what they are supposed to. Might work great for another character, but it's too late in the game to add another Protagonist.

Thanks Goth.

Here's a thought. Text to Speech synthesizer progs.... there are quite a few FOSS out there (some excellent, some not so great).

For example this mature project: The MARY Text-to-Speech System -

http://mary.dfki.de/

There is a clear emphasis on the parametrisation of expressive synthetic speech here, end-user control of nuances and of course you can select gender - a female voice with a Brit or American accent, for example.

Various output formats including .wav.... for further processing in your fave audio prog.

- Regards, Rman.
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Yep, found one. Works very well. Check out the M6 briefing -- it came out beautifully.

[Rman Virgil]

Yep, found one. Works very well. Check out the M6 briefing -- it came out beautifully.

Female for sure - sounds good.

To my ear the echo is about enough. The cross-fading perhaps a hair much as it tends to disturbing & a bit disorienting. But that's a subjective taste thing & may be precisely the effect you're after !!

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I've added the secondary and tertiary layering. Remember before, when I said that I had an idea that would cross human and cylon? That idea is now realized. The crossfading helps to disseminate the three layers, and it's a startling result.

m6briefingfullthreelayers.ogg

I'm very pleased with it. Anyone object to node sounding more or less like this?

[Rman Virgil]

I've added the secondary and tertiary layering. Remember before, when I said that I had an idea that would cross human and cylon? That idea is now realized. The crossfading helps to disseminate the three layers, and it's a startling result.

m6briefingfullthreelayers.ogg

I'm very pleased with it. Anyone object to node sounding more or less like this?

Well done.

I also like your expansion of the original canon with this new character / narrative hook. Very interesting layer of complexity achieved with an elegant stroke. I think it can dovetail neatly with the NEXUS reboot as well.
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Rman. The whole reason NEXUS did what he did was because NASDA had eighty-sixed Project NEXUS. They surely had an alternative in place that was better, and now we're seeing it. That's how I've treated the story with regards to NODE, although the Pumpkins never got into the details.

We greatly expand the story in Campaign 5, and that's where NEXUS is rebooted. I'm not ready to provide any more information than that, yet -- I'm still writing, but suffice it to say that Dr. Reed does survive the encounter in Nevada after all -- though it's not by the hand of The Project or NODE. That's how we'll segue into the reboot. Campaign 5, my intention anyway, is to tell a story more than Cam 4 has. Might even warrant a Warzone FMV that could bridge the events of Campaign 4 to Campaign 5, and we'll use what I've written for THAT, instead. Lots we can do here, and I'm definitely open to any and all suggestions and ideas.

[carbon dude oxide]

how do i test the level i cant find it