Ideas to engage/Use backers beyond testing

Gameplay
#1

I had some ideas of how some backers might be able to lend some additional help to Warhorse.

Music.

There are almost 40,000 of us here… I can’t believe I am the only musician here. I am not talking full symphonic score here, but more ambient music we might encounter in the world. I’ve got a mandolin I’d be willing to noodle around on and see if I can come up with something that fits the setting. (although, to be accurate to 1403 I should be playing a Mandore or Lute instead… Mandolins evolved out of the Madore, but didn’t exist as ‘mandolins’ until the 17th century. My hunch? Not one listener will be able to tell the difference between a Mandore and Mandolin in the recording I don’t know about Bohemia, but Guitars existed in Spain by this point and my nylon string classical can probably get close enough to a 15th century guitar) Noodle around, come up with something that sounds ‘right’, Record it and send it in.

I have to guess there must be a few people here at least that might be able to add to the body of ambient, historically appropriate music that might be encountered. Warhorse keeps doing what they are doing for the main score… but I mean for the music that bard in the corner is playing during a feast or something. By getting a few backers to contribute a few songs… Warhorse can round out ‘the soundtrack’ and add some diversity by bringing in other writers for these bits.

I could be way wrong, but I gotta think there are… a few at least… that might be able to kick a song or 3 into the pile for Warhorse to use.

It could get into a weird legal mess… I’d give the song for free to Warhorse for them to use… but I’d still want to retain ownership/copyright of anything I create to prevent it being abused by others. So I’d probably register it with ASCAP and the whole nine yards, and then grant legal permission for Warhorse to use it gratis in perpetuity for KC: D. And it doesn’t have to be original composition either, I am sure some of us could record some traditional pieces that would have been played in that era…

Just struck me as a way to add to the amount of music available in the game… without forcing Warhorse to hire a bunch of musicians. I can’t be the only musician here, and I can’t be the only one that would give them a few songs if I came up with something that would work.

Unrelated idea…
Voice over work. Hire pros and use them for all the important parts. But consider holding auditions for backers to read some lines. Give some backers that passed muster on the voice test some B script lines or less important NPC’s to voice. Again, let the pros do the heavy lifting… but this is a way to add a wide diversity of voices to the game… for free. the people doing it will get a kick out of it because when it’s released they get to tell all their friends that the line ’ Ahhk Foul weather tonight!’ was you (or ‘I took an arrow in the knee’ or whatever simple lines we’d be reading for)

The only requirement for this as I see it is the ability to get good normalized recordings. But if you’ve got a decent mic, a means to record, and maybe did some community theater years ago… maybe you can add a few lines of dialog to the game?

Any comments on these idea? Any other ideas of how the community can help grow the game?

(Mods, really not sure ‘gameplay’ was the right heading for this, feel free to move it… will there be something like a ‘dev forum’ after Alpha launch for topics more related to development or the dev team?)

#2

First off… Some (or most) seems a little in-feasible. To the voice over thing, as you said their are over 40,000 thousand of us… Need I explain the problem? Another thing, they cant accept mediocre work, they just the better voice actor stretch goal, I doubt they want to start settling.

This one applies to both ideas: Sound quality, it would have to be top notch, no matter how good they are at acting, or composing. For the level they need, it is unlikely many have a recording booth available that can block out all exterior noise. Another thing, they wouldn’t have a director, so they would have to record, send, then record and send again if they didn’t like it.

What this amounts too, is having to get them to a professional studio to record a couple of lines… I doubt it would be would all the trouble.

1 Like
#3

Good points… rather than shooting it down, let’s address them.

These ideas are NOT for 40,000 people. When I say audition for voiceovers… I would expect Warhorse to put out… 3 lines. Read these, send it in.

Also, I think you misunderstand the dialog I am talking about. This is NOT major dialog. These are simple throwaway NPC lines. The random things NPCs say in games. THAT is more what I am thinking. Not dialog, stand alone lines.

If you don’t have a good recording/studio set up… you might not be able to play.

Of 40K people, let’s say 10% audition. They have nice mics, a means to record, and want to do it. That’s 4K applicants. Now, give veto power over auditions to 25 volunteers. Each have 160 recordings to listen to and give a thumbs up or down… narrow the pool further, then Warhorse can make the final decisions. They then whittle that down brutally to a number they are willing to work with. By brutal I mean, you get one take. Read the line send it in. If they like they will contact you for more line readings. If they don’t… you’ll never even hear from them. No send it back with direction notes ‘could you read it again with more pathos?’… no, none of that. They liked what they heard on the audition or they didn’t. Not even a ‘thank you’ card, these guys are busy and have more important things to do… remember, my goal is OFFload some of the work for Warhorse, not add to it.

As for real direction in real dialog… I don’t see this as backers playing out major scenes with tones of dialog. I am talking about the throw away NPC lines likes the famous ‘took an arrow to the knee’ from Skyrim. One off lines as background dialog. Not front and center scenes. That is what Warhorse is hiring pros for. I see these are more or less random lines to ‘round out’ the dialog from what the pros did/are doing.

For voice recording, I don’t know that a home studio or access to a studio is needed… if you have a quiet room, you are recording single lines. A few seconds of audio at a go. If a big dump truck rolls past your house and blows a take… no biggie, it was 5 seconds of audio to be re-recorded, it’s not like you blew a 5 minute song. But I don’t think reading the lines while sitting at your computer into a $20 USB mic is going to cut it either… maybe. But I think the voice over work would be ‘good mic, quiet room’. But I would also just say, clearly, bad recording is immediate rejection. ‘Sorry, good read, you mic sucks, we can’t use you… NEXT!’ Make audio quality a clear requirement, discourage the $20 USB mic set up as acceptable.

On the music end of it… Those without studios or access to one need not apply.

Seriously, if you don’t have a good means to record, I don’t care how good you are, we can’t use you unless you can get to a studio. And that studio time has to be on YOUR dime, Warhorse is paying the pros, us amateurs will be doing it for free. So if you don’t have a home studio that can do what you need for your recording… you should probably sit this out.

#4

misguided enthusiasm tends to be a little annoying, so don’t be put off by people who want to put you down instead of build you up. it just means your idea isn’t very cost effective. they already have professional voice actors, it wouldn’t make no sense for them to do the work of auditioning for qualified talents out of thousands of people, then process the soundbites the eventual qualified people send in. it would be more efficient to simply use the talent they have available.

same as the music idea. they have professional composers and orchestra already. i think a good idea if you want to contribute may be to send them your sheet music that you have composed and see if they like it.

#5

I think for the sort of lines you are looking at, it is far simpler and less costs/work if you grab some of the devs on their lunch break and let them read some lines on their equipment.
With that you get the same technical recording level, can add some “direction” to the lines, can do fast reruns and reduces practical all of the filtering/organization overhead of the community approach.

My point being, I don’t mind community participation, but I prefer it to be in areas where it doesn’t produce more work than in the in house approach.

#6

Frankly I assume they are grabbing devs on lunch breaks anyway…

It might not be cost effective. Just floating the idea. If amatuers could record some simple usable lines, you could add hundreds of voices to the diversity. They do NOT have hundred of voice actors. They have a few, and probably grabbing employees on lunch. So how many voices will be hear in the game? This seemed a way to add diversity to the throw away NPC lines on the cheap.

Likewise music… whoa there… I am NOT writing orchestral scores. I do not intend this to be part of the ‘soundtrack’ for lack of a better term. Warhorse has composers and musicians that are doing great work. They are paying pros and getting great results. My proposal has nothing at all to do with that. I am not talking about the ochestral score when you play the game. I am talking about what is called ‘ambient music’ I think. Sound effect music. You walk into an inn, in the corner someone is playing a lute… THOSE are the songs I think backers could contribute. Not to the main soundtrack, but incidental period correct music that your character would hear in their travels. I think a diversity of musicians will serve well there. Even the amatuer nature of the submissions could work… maybe that guy playing in the corner ISN’T that polished and few clams sneak in… in a way, that could make it more ‘real’ than a too slick, too perfect production.

So just to clarify, whether dialog or music, neither of these proposals is meant to touch what Warhorse is already doing. These are ideas to add a bit more speech, and a bit more incidental music. Increase diversity and round out what people hear. Won’t it be annoying if every time you walk into an in the bard is playing the same damned song? Most games are like that. But if a dozen musicians contributed a few tracks each… suddenly we have dozens of tracks you might hear wandering into an inn. 3 or 5 different recordings by different people of the same traditional song (so it sounds like someone else is playing it every time you hear someone else play it).

Absolutely NOT talking orchestral soundtrack here, that is well covered already.

Also, what other ideas do you guys have for engaging the community beyond testing? What else could we do to help? These were just two ideas in a thread meant to spark several.

#7

In one of their lectures for Czech students, they mentioned that they are completely inundated with music offers. The best community engagement you have in mind would be through modding tools, once released.

© 2015 Warhorse Studios www.warhorsestudios.cz