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Original post by Raduprv The problem is, if you want to apply filters and cast spells by speaking the words, the server will have to receive the sound, process it (see if it's a spell), add the appropriate filter for EVERY player in the range, then send the modified sound (each player hears it differently, depending on race, language skill, etc.) to the players in the range. Now, unless you require broad band as a requirement for the players (ie. no dialup and ISDN) and have a LOT of bandwidth on your server, this will be impossible.<br>There is no way to make the system p2p, as the players will find a way to cheat the filter, and send the sound just like that, unencrypted.<br>This idea as a whole is nice, but I don't think today is the right time to implement it. Maybe in 5-10 years, when the BB internet will be as normal as a telephone.<!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></blockquote><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br><br>Well luckily for us, 5-6 yrs seems a realisitic launch date. I see what you're saying about the recognition though, and we are hoping to find a method so that the client is doing the actual voice detection (such as spells or interacting with an npc) and simply sending the selection, or spell to the server in a much more simplified way. <br><br>The question is whether the players would attempt to hack our client to speak each spell perfectly each time or things of the sort. Those seem like more reasonable obstacles to tackle though that having the servers attempting a load like the alternative. Any thoughts?<br>

That was JJacobo posting up there. Wish I could edit it:
*"There"
*Inaudible
*seamless

^^^ That was me. I officially HATE Firefox. I never lost my login with IE since the day I joined GameDev. Now it's happened twice in less than a week. Guess I'll switch back.

Regarding IE and There: There uses ActiveX for sign-up and login. You need to use IE to sign up and to log in; it's a shame that there isn't a single, comprehensive plug-in standard for browser controls on Windows :-( (The web site also uses some XSLT that wasn't supported in Mozilla until very recently)


Regarding adding echo and making voice sound like another language: adding echo is almost trivial. Changing voice to sound like another language is a very hard problem.


Regarding business development: I'll forward your name (I'm in engineering, not bdev).

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Original post by hplus0603 Regarding IE and There: There uses ActiveX for sign-up and login. You need to use IE to sign up and to log in; it's a shame that there isn't a single, comprehensive plug-in standard for browser controls on Windows :-( (The web site also uses some XSLT that wasn't supported in Mozilla until very recently) Regarding adding echo and making voice sound like another language: adding echo is almost trivial. Changing voice to sound like another language is a very hard problem. Regarding business development: I'll forward your name (I'm in engineering, not bdev).

I'd appreciate that very much.

Hrm, what kind of quality do you think we could pull out of a system like that?

I would address you by name, poster, but you're anon!
I'm just inquiring where the technology is at currently, and whether the quality diversity would allow for it to be immersive on the level that we're looking for. How would you do different voices? Or would all characters sound like 2-3 models. I've yet to hear any convincing speech-to-text, but I'd love to hear what the community is aware of that I might not be. Thank you in advance!

hpplus,
I would appreciate it, if you wouldn't mind giving me an email or a direct access to the development team of the said software. I have had a chance to test it out and I think it is the technology is a strong candidate for our project goals. You can post the information here, or email it to me at awildrumpus@mail.com

Thank you all for your help so far. If anyone has any other ideas thoughts on the issues that haven't been raised I invite you to pitch in. =]

I've just had a thought on perhaps simplifying our voice server/ range issue. Let's say that each map in our MMORPG has it's own chat server where all the clients are connected at once (of course invisible to the players themselves). As any one player comes close to any other player their particular streams are simply unmuted, or initiated. There should be a dynamic limit to how many streams you can hear at once of course, and you're free to mute any player you would rather not listen to.

Anon, As for the speech-to-text idea, why not allow this system to not only allow players to interact with their environment, but for players who are unable to speak for whatever reason to supplement the voice streaming with it. Therefore, if English isn't your primary language (although we'll have different servers running in different countries with different primary languages!) you can type simple commands, which will be rendered (hopefully convincingly) and heard by the other players. As long as it wouldn't sound mechanical, we would be open to an idea like this.

Frost, I appreciate all the thought you've put into this system and while I do realize some of the difficulties that you have presented, I am not convinced that the language system should be abandoned. There is a solution out there, it is simply a bit hard to find at first. =]

There are no chat channels though, and for a reason. We're forcing a logistical and spatial relationship between players, which is more like an adventure and less like AOL Instant Messenger.

As for charging players for the bandwidth they consume, I am unsure. We want every player to interact using our voice system, and would rather not discourage them for doing so. The technical aspect of the system is our task to deal with, and I wouldn’t want players too aware of the game mechanics. I think that would intimidate casual players (it will be difficult enough getting all of our players to install the microphone that will come packaged in the retail box).

Keep the input coming please. =]

Hrm, very interesting. I am thinking about perhaps integrating both features into the game, or perhaps S2T and T2S only, if, as you have suggested that it might, it does enable us to communicate as convincingly as streaming voices would. Either way it seems that the speech to text / text to speech will definately be playing a role. Do you have any resources that you would suggest we look into involving the technology? For the purposes of securing investment, we will most likely have to give a convincing show to the gaming company who will be providing the funding, to allow us to produce the project.