Friday, July 22, 2011

Vocal vs. Silent – Ready, set, FIGHT!

Silent it is!



Damnit >.<

Mmmyes, I guess I lost that battle of votes, which means I have 25k words of text I need to revise to make the PC silent… *Scratches overgrown beard*

Oh well, shit happens, yet science still gets done. Now if good things happen on the other hand, my writing does not become like a monkey infected with rage! Which is a good thing I guess, but what’s not so good is that I haven’t been able to concentrate for squat because of said good things, leaving me with not a single written word for the last two weeks. Ooops :P

I did get back on track today though, and I’ve revised and expanded upon the event with the last cowgirl, and I shall continue to do so. The poor girl is flat as a pancake in the chest department, but old Echo is conjuring up ways to remedy said problem! And then some! And then some! And then some! And then s… oops, I might have gone a bit overboard… I’m sure you won’t mind ^_^

Also, for the record: I agree upon the change into a silent player character. While I would have liked a vocal protagonist, the protagonist I was creating would ultimately become mine, not yours. And in the end it is after all for you that we’re creating this game, not necessarily for ourselves. Well, a bit for ourselves too, but mostly you, so it is only fitting that you get to create your OWN character :)

And that was today’s rant! I’m back on track, and while my train of thought might go off the rails at times, rest assured that I will stay till the end of the line. As for the rest of my evening: Full steam ahead! :)

10 comments:

  1. I'm surprised to hear you were in favor of a vocal protagonist. It doesn't seem like you.

    >Implying that I know what you're like after talking to you over the internet four or five times.

    >Implying implications


    For the record I prefer waffles over pancakes but I may just have to change my tune when this is said and done from what you've just let slip.

    And then some.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay! I will be a mute/say things that will go over NPC's heads!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Nazca: I love vocal protagonists. It gives them so much more of a personality. But in this case that is exactly the problem. I give YOUR character MY predetermined personality, which simply doesn't work very well for this game. I guess I just got used to write the dialogue for every character after writing the short stories.

    And pancakes are definitely better than waffles... Just saying...

    @EmilIrving: Definitely not. Your character will still express himself/herself/itself, but I will not put the exact words in your characters mouth. Silentsilent protagonists like Gordon Freeman or Jak from Jak and Daxter 1 is something I’m not fond of. It annoys me to no end when someone is about to do something stupid, my character knows that it is stupid, yet he/she still refuses to speak up >.<

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Echorid isn't that the point of silent protagonists? They couldn't very well speak, though I did leave a suggestion of making different attitude choices for our characters (like in Alpha Protocol) when making decisions but at best we would only get at best we could get reaction from NPCs but nothing else, which is why I took it back xD.

    Not to mention Jak was silent until, and I like to think this is the case, the Dark Eco managed to fix his vocal cords in Jak 2.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, it would probably be more correct to say that we're going for a "reactive" protagonist then, rather than a silent.

    And while I'd have loved to create different attitudes, it would also require a buttload of work. And that's a buttload I'm not keen on hauling, as I'd rather just create new stuff. It also requires a lot of thought to create dialogue that people actually think fits their character. And while that sound like an exciting challenge, it is still beyond my capacities. Also; the dialogue/reactions of npcs would have to be changed as well. I doubt they would act the same way to a cheery/kind pc and a snarky/sarcastic pc.

    Maybe we'll be able to siphon some of the Dark Eco over to other games then, as the second game was a major step in the right direction compared to the first, much thanks to Jak actually speaking.

    Anywho, I’ve got a hard day ahead of me tomorrow, time for some sleep. Good night.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Which kind of disappoints me. Not because of the fact that it will be hard, I never tried making a game (yet) but I assume it is hard work that requires a lot of effort to make it run smooth just by itself without the added hassle if done right.

    But the fact that I can imagine my character's words then their 'wtf' looks when those words are ignored. Even though the decisions and personality in general is flexible as is, like the very first choice concerning if the child left his/her parents on good terms (I seem to always choose that O.O) or bad terms.

    Granted you don't need to put dialogue for the PC, just have the attitude choices then the level of it (heavy to mild if it is threateningly, or good to bad if it is in a joking manner) but then is the thought of creating the dialogue/reaction from the NPC that would have to avoid saying what exactly the player's characters would say. That probably adds more work than just adding dialogue all together. So choices of their reactions would probably be for the best.

    ... Did anyone but Daxter wonder why Jak can suddenly start talking (except for Samos since he and child Jak met Older Jak before/later/whatever sense we can make whenever it comes to Time Traveling)?

    Anyhow, night Echorid.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Personally, I believe the 'silent' type is popular just because of Gordon Freeman.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Although there have been silent protagonists before that. Link comes to mind immediately. Cloud from FFVII as well.

    I, however, am most decidedly NOT a silent protagonist.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Link is actually a reactive protagonist, not a silent one, whereas Cloud Strife is a vocal one. Cloud speaks during the game (in particular I remember the scene when he reveals that he is not whom he has claimed that he was.) even though he doesn't speak a lot.

    I'm so stupidly tired now that I have to insist on some shuteye. I wish I could give you lengthier explanations rather than just state it as fact, but it will have to wait till tomorrow or something.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Okay yeah I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I brought those two up

    ReplyDelete

Total Visitors