Voices

[EmperorJay]

I suppose that the people in the game will have a voice as well, but just to be sure: will there be voices?

If so, did you record them yet? What accent do they have?

If not, IMHO, you should stick to either British English or American English, correctly pronounced though, not with any local accents. Egyptian/Arabian accents might work, but it also might ruin the game if it doesn't work out as you planned, why take the risk? (Then again, by releasing CotN, you certianly have shown that you're willing to take a risk or two. :) )

[Afterburner]

I would say that I mostly enjoyed the accents in Pharaoh. There were a few that didn't hit my ear just right, but for the most part it was well done. I don't think that either British or American accents would give the same tone and feel to the game that the quasi-Middle Eastern accents did.

[Keith]

I preferred the narrator from Pharaoh over the one for Cleopatra. Something along the lines of Pharaoh would do nicely.

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[Afterburner]

I preferred the narrator from Pharaoh over the one for Cleopatra. Something along the lines of Pharaoh would do nicely.

Having never gotten far enough to play any Cleo missions, I dunno how they compare. But I remember that the narrator voices seemed to change every so often. And one of 'em was this really deep-voiced guy with a lilting accent. He'd start talking and those sonorous tones would drill straight into the sleep centers of my brain and start putting me to sleep.

I think he introduced the Abjedu mission.

[Keith]

Having never gotten far enough to play any Cleo missions, I dunno how they compare. But I remember that the narrator voices seemed to change every so often. And one of 'em was this really deep-voiced guy with a lilting accent. He'd start talking and those sonorous tones would drill straight into the sleep centers of my brain and start putting me to sleep.

I think he introduced the Abjedu mission.
The same narrator did all the Pharaoh missions, IIRC. I'm listeing to the one for Abdeju now and it sounds like the same guy that did the the opening mission narration to me.

The voice of the narrator from Cleopatra has more "flat" delivery.

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[Jayhawk]

Maybe Omar Shariff is bored and wants to do the narration?

[Afterburner]

The same narrator did all the Pharaoh missions, IIRC. I'm listeing to the one for Abdeju now and it sounds like the same guy that did the the opening mission narration to me.

I would swear that there are at least two different voices providing pre-scenario narration. I recall the voice saying "Pharaoh Djoser" in the Saqqara mission as being distinctly different than the voice for the Abedju mission. It sounded older, higher pitched, and more nasal.

Maybe I'm thinking of the post-mission narration.

[Keith]

I would swear that there are at least two different voices providing pre-scenario narration. I recall the voice saying "Pharaoh Djoser" in the Saqqara mission as being distinctly different than the voice for the Abedju mission. It sounded older, higher pitched, and more nasal.

Maybe I'm thinking of the post-mission narration.There are several files that have duplicates labeled "...-classsic.mp3" these appear to be recorded in higher 128k-bit rate over the original 64K-bit rate. I'm thinking that the difference you hear can be put down to different recording sessions with a different setup. It still sounds like the same voice, if you listen to the speech pattern, but recorded with less bass. The audio narration after Abdeju seems to take on this "brighter" audio quality for the rest of the game. While the narrator for Cleopatra is distinctly different.
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[Lannes]

I suppose that the people in the game will have a voice as well, but just to be sure: will there be voices?

If this (http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1qvdk/id18.html) is authentic there will be........

Lannes

[Afterburner]

If this (http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1qvdk/id18.html) is authentic there will be........

Well. That answers the question about accents.

[Ken Parker]

Don't deduce too much from that. AFAIK those are audition files. They definitely don't indicate anything about the finished product.

[Afterburner]

Don't deduce too much from that. AFAIK those are audition files. They definitely don't indicate anything about the finished product.

Would you be offended if I heaved a big ol' sigh of relief here?

'cause I found those samples pretty underwhelming.

[Ken Parker]

Keith Z. just confirmed that those are private audition files. With over 200 actors trying out for the openings, it's not surprising that somebody went a little bit overboard with his application. What you heard is no indication of CotN's approach to voices. I'll bet that link stops working pretty quickly. ;)

We are all pretty impressed with Lannes' googling skills, btw.

[mouse]

Afterburner I'm with you not very impressed by the voices :rolleyes: Would like the narrator the have one of those deep booming voices (like to voice of god or James Earl Jones) :D A voice that you know could be heard in the back of the Egyptian Temple ;)

[Afterburner]

Would like the narrator the have one of those deep booming voices (like to voice of god or James Earl Jones) :D A voice that you know could be heard in the back of the Egyptian Temple ;)

Like the guy in this movie trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html

:D

[Lannes]

We are all pretty impressed with Lannes' googling skills, btw.

Hey Ken, you forgot the ":rolleyes: ". Certainly hope so........... for your sake :p

Lannes

[Jaguar]

I was a bit worried there. Those samples really didn't do much for me either. There were only a couple that I didn't mind, but most left a lot to be desired.

[Merepatra]

I too found these auditions fairly underwhelming. I was much more interested in who the samples showed, Sandle maker, Armorer, Scribe, Overseer, Archer, Military Commander. Looks like we are getting footware finally :)

[Keith]

I too found these auditions fairly underwhelming. I was much more interested in who the samples showed, Sandle maker, Armorer, Scribe, Overseer, Archer, Military Commander. Looks like we are getting footware finally :)
Since they were auditions, they were probably made on the person's home computer without benefit of a proper studio or mixing equipment. They don't have any mood inspiring music playing in the background either.

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[Ammurit]

From the sound of it, I was fortunate not to have been able to listen to these samples. :)

[Afterburner]

From the sound of it, I was fortunate not to have been able to listen to these samples. :)

Well. They weren't bad.

They just weren't good.

[OhhJim]

I really liked the voices in Pharaoh. And Emperor:RotMK was pretty good in that respect, too. I never understood why the Romans in CaesarIII had British accents. I mean, you don't want them sounding like Mafia characters, but come on! The naration in Pharaoh was great; it was authentic, and dignified.

[Ken Parker]

I never understood why the Romans in CaesarIII had British accents. Purely for the record, C3 was designed by David Lester, who was British, as were lead programmer Simon Bradbury and a few other team members. Impressions had a British office at that time, and the voices were recorded in England...so you see, the English accents in C3 were authentic. Since neither British nor American accents were historically true, I think David went with British because historical games always sell better in Europe than in the US, and he felt that Europeans would find the English accents more familiar. But I might not remember that 100 percent accurately -- it was a long time ago.

David left Imp many years ago to found Firefly Studios, and Imp gradually lost its English influence. Here at TM, we keep one British programmer around as our mascot. :D

I don't know what Keith intends to do about accents in CotN.

[Elvenwarrior2001]

Hehe. Gotta keep that Brit around! Got any Aussies?

I liked the Brit accents in C3! I thought it was great! :)

Elven

[EmperorJay]

Thank you for the post Ken (I may call you Ken?). Looking forward to hear the first sounds of a living city :) .