ZDoom

New airship model incoming for one of the most intriguing Chapter 3 maps

Awesome model!! it looks great in-game!

Omfg looks incredible!! great work Ozy!!!! I cant wait to play it

Thanks guys! I must specify that the model still doesn't have skin fixed for BoA, and that it comes from NecroVision : Lost Company

The final chain-link | Airport Tempelhof
After the past three months have been pretty silent when it comes to public news, the team had been working unweary on the final chapter of Blade of Agony. We made huge progress leaps in the mapping department and there is only one map left to be finished in the main part of the third chapter - Airport Berlin Tempelhof (without mentioning our secret operation and the three specials that can be played at the console, but more about that in the future). After that we will concentrate on polishing the storyline and the structures, adding sidequests and making sure everything works without any flaws and is playable from the start to the end.

"And what comes next? A release?" Well, it's not as easy as that. One of our additional goals for the final release is the localization and the voice acting. For the localization we plan to release the game in various different languages (german, italian, russian next to english) to reach a wider audience. On the other side, we want to improve the atmosphere with a special audio addition, therefore we plan to add voice actings to the briefing, the dialogues and the ingame messages. But this all can only be done as soon as most of the game is set in stone to avoid gaps or redundancies. Anyway, we won't be able to do all this on our own.

So if you are used to translating texts in the languages we aim for, or if you are interested and skilled in doing some voice acting for a specific character in the game, drop us a line, get in conctact over the forums and let us know. We are looking forward to any kind of support in this area.

Yes, have been spriting since morning on this, almost non stop

Tormentor667 wrote: "And what comes next? A release?" Well, it's not as easy as that. One of our additional goals for the final release is the localization and the voice acting. For the localization we plan to release the game in various different languages (german, italian, russian next to english) to reach a wider audience. On the other side, we want to improve the atmosphere with a special audio addition, therefore we plan to add voice actings to the briefing, the dialogues and the ingame messages. But this all can only be done as soon as most of the game is set in stone to avoid gaps or redundancies. Anyway, we won't be able to do all this on our own.

Aren't you getting a bit ambitious here? I've done localization of game projects on my job in the past and I can tell you one thing - it can become a very time consuming task - and we had the budget to buy professional translation and voice acting so the time spent on that was not a big issue. I've also seen how much work it was to get GZDoom localized.

So, I'm sorry to say - but I fear that you are aiming a bit too high here if you want to hold back the release for that. It may be wiser to do an English only release first and then offer the additional languages later as bonus packs - it'd take a lot of pressure off you and the team and give you more time to do it right.

I kind of agree with Graf Zahl that it seems like it's maybe a bit unnecessary to postpone the release for full voice acting and language localizations, because those things can take quite a while to get done right, especially when everyone working on it is a volunteer and can be added easily enough as a patch sometime after release. I'm not a native English speaker myself, but I'd much rather actually play the game then wait an indeterminate amount of time for some stretch goals that will in all likelihood impact a much smaller number of people than those who can make do with the English version. Although, all of that said, it is your project and if you feel that localization and voice acting is of the upmost concern in releasing the project I think it's probably more important that you be satisfied with what you're putting out there. Either way, I am definitely looking forward to the thrilling conclusion.

Yeah, this isn't exactly the right decision. I agree with the common consensus right now; it isn't a wise decision to hold back your product when it's ready.

Moreover, if the language packs were separate, people could download the ones that they want. Presumably if the localisation includes voice acting sound files, it will be quite big.

To add something that hasn't been said yet - and speaking from actual working experience - to be blunt, free/non-paid/amateur/unprofessional voice acting is, more often than not - usually rubbish, borderline cringey and unbearable. :P

There I said it.

It's a lot of things on why this is so - from lack of pro-grade audio gear, to acoustically untreated rooms, down to untrained performance - and most of all, extreme inconsistency in audio quality and performance from the mixed sources (different environments, different equipment, no single voice director too coordinate the performances like a professional production would usually employ).

Yes, there are some genuinely talented VAs out there who might do it for free - and may have both the gear and/or treated room - but these are very, very rare, if not already bombarded with 20 different projects. Getting a hold of these people will be difficult - you know how it is, you have experience running an unpaid team. :P

My biggest concern with this is that overall product polish will suffer, from a combination of untrained/unprofessional talent and inconsistent audio quality alone.

Yeah, I'd leave the voice acting to a separate, post-release "talky pack" ala the old Origin games.

@Nash: Not even professionals get this right all the time. I can still remember one game I worked on 20 years ago where I was overseeing the German and French translation. We had no problems with the German studio, but the French screwed up badly, leading to two rejected recordings - once due to picking the wrong batch of voice actors (we had two lists to choose from, they used the wrong one) and the second time for bad quality of some recordings. So yeah, I'm sorry to say: Doing this with amateurs will definitely not be for the project's benefit, considering the scale we are talking about.

And even when looking at movies or big budget games, I am quite wary of the localization quality. It often misses out on nuances and sometimes produces a cringe-worthy mess even when all the money in the world is available.

We could consider ourselves lucky if an English version happens to work out, but trying to do 3 or 4 languages. Sorry, no.

I'll give my two cents, though I do see how Voice acting and localization can be seen as a bit too much for a free mod, I will say this. I personally would not sacrifice my vision for the project for the sake of pushing something out the door ASAP, this the Triple A mentality that has been plaguing most games that come out today just Crunch Times and Cut content.

Again just my two cents.

jazzmaster9 wrote:I'll give my two cents, though I do see how Voice acting and localization can be seen as a bit too much for a free mod, I will say this. I personally would not sacrifice my vision for the project for the sake of pushing something out the door ASAP, this the Triple A mentality that has been plaguing most games that come out today just Crunch Times and Cut content.

You clearly have no idea what this entails with localization. Doing a professional localization, even with all the assets needed being available is time consuming and work intensive. Depending on amateurs to do the work for free is something else entirely. First you need the people who need to do the work and then you need to make sure that these people deliver their work on time and with acceptable quality. And then you need to multiply the whole thing by the number of languages you want to support.

It's a time consuming and very grinding task that is very likely to bog down the project entirely for something the vast majority of its users will see as an extraneous option, not a necessity. Moreover, it is something that can be done as an add-on, there's no need to hold back the otherwise finished product for it.

If this may be any indicator, judging from the scope of the project and the amount of content to localize and be equipped with voice acting, if I had to do a financial estimate about the costs, it'd be a high five-figure amount in $/€ - per language!

At some point it is worth considering whether a feature is really worth the delay it inevitably brings. And in this case I'm sorry to say, it is not. For a very simple reason: In terms of time it's a wash if this is done as the main project or an add-on. All the localization work will not magically increase or decrease if the localization package is an add on - provided that the main bulk of work is not being touched again once the localization starts. My personal experience is that it's better to have a definitely finished product out before localizing it. Otherwise the inevitable will happen: Since the product is not released it gets further tinkered with - eventually affecting the localization and forcing to redo some things. And now it gets nasty. Work has to be redone, time needs to be rescheduled, contributors are no longer available - and the entire effort will explode. Been there, done that, no thank you!