Character Names

[Madpotator]

In Dragon Quest VIII people just call the main character whatever they like, and just skip over the name chosen in the beginning of the game even though it is written in the dialog text below.

Actualy, there have been a lot of advancements in voice synthesizers. We're very close to the indistinguishable to human speech.

Check this links:

http://www.loquendo.com/en/demos/demo_tts.htm

http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html

The first and the third link provide Finnish choices for voices and the ones in the previews in the first link sound OK but in the third link when you write something in the box it sounds kind of weird. The English voices sound pretty good though.

I think that EA sports mixed with a synthesizer in some way if I remember it correctly. I remember me and a friend playing like NHL 2004 or something, naming one character of "Animal Mother". We were shocked when the commentator screamed "ANIMAL, SHOOTS!"
Maybe they have "rendered" a couple of names like Forsberg, Jagr and such, ah well I don't know.

Animal was one of the prerecorded nicknames in the game. The game chose it automatically if the player's name had animal in it. I usually put Animal as a nickname for some of my players.

 

[OceanRunner]

Years ago on Front Mission 3, I changed the main character's default name to (First Name): SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Last Name): YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for a laugh, resulting in lines such as "Hey SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!, do you know what you're doing?" and "Hey Colonel YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[bjj hero]

Ok but to me those guys are kinda big buff manly men compared to the amount of weedy or overweight people around. I mean to me Shep and Niko are the same size as Nier is, though I will take your point on Alone in the Dark (not played the others) Carnaby's old now but he's pretty trim for his age

You're right don't tend to see the over weight or weedy from east or west (mage types tend to be the exception). It makes sense in that you are always running, diving, fighting, climbing you would be athletic. You have to be in shape to do that or be able to suspend belief that tonnes of fun has cardio for days like Rufus in SFIV. It would be interesting to play something like devil may cry/god of war where you have to wait for lunchbox to get his breath back after every other combo or hopping over an obstacle. He could even be sick if you spend too long sprinting, I've seen it with new guys at the gym.

 

[Warlocked]

I like the idea of having the game read your name back to you when you first enter it. That way you get instant feedback as to how the synthesizer is going to sound. Does it really matter if the computer reads your random string of characters back to you and it sounds like a sneeze? I think not, as long as the sound of that sneeze amuses you. Conversely, if you're deadly serious about perfect pronunciation of "Twattycake", the game could allow you to modify the way it's spelled in a separate field (allowing for some phonetic manipulation) until you achieve the desired results.

 

[Ravinak]

I forgot where, but I read somewhere before that the original character for Nier is actually the older version, they changed it to a young protagonist because it wasn't received very well in the Japanese testing group.

 

[Divine Miss Bee]

"Every member of your party in Nier has white hair, it's like a delivery of fetish gear got mistakenly delivered to the geriatric ward."

speaking of punctuation, that comma needs to be a semicolon.

(inner monologue: i can't believe i just grammar-trolled yahtzee. i feel accomplished, yet somehow unworthy.)

You could at least correct the grammar on your post, specially upper cases, so you don't allow him the pleasure of fighting back!

my grammar is correct. my lowercase letters indicate speaking softly.

 

[S_K]

I agree with how voices in games have actually made them lose something. Take the wwe wrestling games for example, the story modes were waaaaaaaaaaay more interesting back when they didn't speak in voice, not only because the events in story mode were more randomily generated, but it spent less time stroking diva wrestlers (and by diva I mean the guys not the whores... I mean woman 'wrestlers') egos and spent more time making a good game =P

 

[ad5x5]

You have been gone from GB for a long time, Yahtzee, if you think that saying "my duck" makes you sound like you're from my native Yorkshire...

That's a Derbyshire colloquialism.

 

[boholikeu]

Choice doesn't bother me, infact I'd prefer a solid story set in stone, everybody's different but I agree with the cutscene thing, MGS4 is really bad for that and FFXIII, I see you use the word feeling, I'm a big jrpg fand it may feel like it hasn't changed but it really has, a lot, FFVII and FFXIII have hardly anything in common gameplay wise, the people who say they haven't changed haven't played.

I'd say I agree with you there too but heres the thing, all media has to stick to a stereotype be it space marine thugs, effeminate whiney emos, geeks, jocks, ice queens whatever, and all media does stick to stereotype, every character you can name in tv, film, game, print are somewhat stereotyped and Japan are just playing on relatable stereotypes from their culture, that gives it a slight otaku vibe regardless, so less westerners get it just as western games aren't as well loved in Japan because they don't get the culture or characters

Well, I live in Japan and I love the culture, but still I hate the irritating anime stereotypes you find in most JRPGs. I suspect many other people here in Japan feel the same way, too, because the last report I read said RPG sales are down here in Japan.

It's perfectly possible to make a game feel "Japanese" without resorting to otaku stereotypes. If you don't understand how this could be possible I suggest you expand your knowledge of Japanese culture. I think you'll be surprised how much more there is to it than angst-ridden effeminate heroes and super-stylized over-designed monsters/robots.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Choice doesn't bother me, infact I'd prefer a solid story set in stone, everybody's different but I agree with the cutscene thing, MGS4 is really bad for that and FFXIII, I see you use the word feeling, I'm a big jrpg fand it may feel like it hasn't changed but it really has, a lot, FFVII and FFXIII have hardly anything in common gameplay wise, the people who say they haven't changed haven't played.

I'd say I agree with you there too but heres the thing, all media has to stick to a stereotype be it space marine thugs, effeminate whiney emos, geeks, jocks, ice queens whatever, and all media does stick to stereotype, every character you can name in tv, film, game, print are somewhat stereotyped and Japan are just playing on relatable stereotypes from their culture, that gives it a slight otaku vibe regardless, so less westerners get it just as western games aren't as well loved in Japan because they don't get the culture or characters

Well, I live in Japan and I love the culture, but still I hate the irritating anime stereotypes you find in most JRPGs. I suspect many other people here in Japan feel the same way, too, because the last report I read said RPG sales are down here in Japan.

It's perfectly possible to make a game feel "Japanese" without resorting to otaku stereotypes. If you don't understand how this could be possible I suggest you expand your knowledge of Japanese culture. I think you'll be surprised how much more there is to it than angst-ridden effeminate heroes and super-stylized over-designed monsters/robots.

Actually I agree but from my experience with stories in all forms of media, it's really hard to appeal to a mass audience without using some form of stereotype to make it easier for the masses to mentally digest and to make people relate to the characters easier, for example more people are going to be able to relate to and understand a very stereotypical character like Hope from Final Fantasy XIII but if Hope was very different, very average and not at all stereotypical in his feelings and actions, the audience would find it very difficult to understand what's going on in his head without a monologue every 5 minutes just to tell you. Stereotypes, no matter how much I hate them, are really necessary when it comes to mass marketing and since video games have gained a bigger target audience the stories and characters have to become more generic so that everyone understands and can feel the same about certain things. It's a shame it really is but that's how it ends up in everything that gets popular, the more people that expect something to be good, the more the developers have to make everyone happy, and you can't do that without making something that both the masses and the individuals can understand, it's a hard thing to do

 

[Hallow'sEve]

STILL no update on Space Game.....

 

[Laggings]

Yeah Mr.Yahtzee is writing the exact thought down I had about ten years ago, regarding the reading out of the custom name. Considering I was 11 then ... video game developpers seem to be a slow progressing species. But yeah, most voice synthesizers are pretty shitty in action (I believe the whole scripting stuff is only a couple KB in size and the additional syllable audio files wouldn't exceed 5-10 MB's either... so that can't be the reason) - they're great to have fun with though, so the robot idea is great. But only one game could get away with doing this.

I personally have no problem with the main character having a predefined name, especially if that means it can show up in the voice acting. It certainly doesn't limit the level of empathy, only I imagine a player could be more likely to go about thinking "okay I am James from SH2 now, so what would he do next? - Oh, I know, he'd wonder what that shadowy figure was, so he'd follow it slowly" (at least that's how I always play these games, in a more cinematic way, especially when there are friends watching as I play) - in the other scenario, with a custom name, players probably get a feeling of "Allright, that's me there, and I will now run around and smash stuff cause I want to"

I guess both is OK and depends on the type of the game. The only thing that does suck imo is when you can actually customise your character with custom skins etc. to look like you, and then people will still greet him with "Hey C.J., how's it goin?"

 

[Shankity Stick]

How exactly would you say the name "Qqq%kblk?"

Well, seeing as how it's giberish, I can pronounce it however I please. I'm going to go with the way we now pronounce "fudge". That okay with you?

 

[soren7550]

Man, how I would love to hear my Shep be called by her first name. Sure, it won't really add anything much to the game, but still, I think it would be kind of cool to hear Kaidan call my Shep Roslyn rather than Commander and/or Shepard all the time.

Ah well, guess I'll just stick with giving people stupid names in Fable 2:

Spoiler: Silly Random Dudes Name

 

[boholikeu]

Choice doesn't bother me, infact I'd prefer a solid story set in stone, everybody's different but I agree with the cutscene thing, MGS4 is really bad for that and FFXIII, I see you use the word feeling, I'm a big jrpg fand it may feel like it hasn't changed but it really has, a lot, FFVII and FFXIII have hardly anything in common gameplay wise, the people who say they haven't changed haven't played.

I'd say I agree with you there too but heres the thing, all media has to stick to a stereotype be it space marine thugs, effeminate whiney emos, geeks, jocks, ice queens whatever, and all media does stick to stereotype, every character you can name in tv, film, game, print are somewhat stereotyped and Japan are just playing on relatable stereotypes from their culture, that gives it a slight otaku vibe regardless, so less westerners get it just as western games aren't as well loved in Japan because they don't get the culture or characters

Well, I live in Japan and I love the culture, but still I hate the irritating anime stereotypes you find in most JRPGs. I suspect many other people here in Japan feel the same way, too, because the last report I read said RPG sales are down here in Japan.

It's perfectly possible to make a game feel "Japanese" without resorting to otaku stereotypes. If you don't understand how this could be possible I suggest you expand your knowledge of Japanese culture. I think you'll be surprised how much more there is to it than angst-ridden effeminate heroes and super-stylized over-designed monsters/robots.

Actually I agree but from my experience with stories in all forms of media, it's really hard to appeal to a mass audience without using some form of stereotype to make it easier for the masses to mentally digest and to make people relate to the characters easier, for example more people are going to be able to relate to and understand a very stereotypical character like Hope from Final Fantasy XIII but if Hope was very different, very average and not at all stereotypical in his feelings and actions, the audience would find it very difficult to understand what's going on in his head without a monologue every 5 minutes just to tell you. Stereotypes, no matter how much I hate them, are really necessary when it comes to mass marketing and since video games have gained a bigger target audience the stories and characters have to become more generic so that everyone understands and can feel the same about certain things. It's a shame it really is but that's how it ends up in everything that gets popular, the more people that expect something to be good, the more the developers have to make everyone happy, and you can't do that without making something that both the masses and the individuals can understand, it's a hard thing to do

While this is true, I don't see how it gets them off the hook. Yes, stereotypes make it easier to market a game, but they also typically cheapen the story.

 

[Datacide]

I use a voice synthesizer all the time in Windows. I am a terrible email writer. I have awful spelling but worse, I tend to leave the ends off of words. Something like "wouldn't" suddenly becomes "would" and this often gets me in to loads of trouble when having conversations with friends. Something like "I wouldn't have sex with my grandmother" takes on very different meanings...oh come on, you all have those discussions with friends...right?

Anyways, I used TextAloud http://www.nextup.com/TextAloud/ It sound better in Vista than XP if you just use the built in voice. I purchased some AT&T Natural Voices and they sound loads better. I am in Canada and bought a UK voice...thought it gave some class to the bovine sodomy forums. Anyhow, check it out, there are examples of the voices there to listen to. I am not sure how much memory it uses, but it ain't much. It also uses zero CPU cycles when not reading. Certainly something like this could and SHOULD be used in games.

You'd have to tweak some, maybe using some of the examples people have given. Mine reads Qqq%kblk as Q, Q, Q, percent, B, L, K (but fairly quickly)...I think it needs some vowels. As an example, I just had it read this post, it sounds great, it only seem to sound a little strange on the word "loads".

 

[duchaked]

Puss in boots? how about Speedy Gonzales lol

(totally not offensive at all)

 

[credop]

Im liking the robot idea. Like the robotic voice from portal, not too annoying yet calm and creepy.

 

[ReZerO]

the most annoying encounter I've had with a game where you have to put in your own name is Star Ocean for the PSP (the first one). In that game you can enter whatever you want as a name, but the voice acting all uses the name Roddick, it took me about an hour to figure out that Roddick was you and not some unknown other character.

pissed me off to the point that i had to go back and change my characters name to Roddick.

 

[Mr.Gompers]

Yahtzee should put the robot with a voice synthesizer into Fun Space Game: The Game.

How's that coming along by the way?