Inquiry on Voice-Over MMORPG Feature

JJacobo · 2005-05-17T00:35:57

As I have recently stated, I am working with a fledgling film production company to create a new kind of MMORPG. I have presently been charged with the task of gathering ideas on how to implement some of our planned features. Without any further adieu, I'd like to explain this feature and ask the developers in the community what they feel is the best way to achieve it, or any ideas on how to improve the system. Our 3D MMORPG is set in a medieval/fantasy setting. On of our key features will be the ability to chat with other players over a microphone, somewhat similar to Voice Over programs such as TeamSpeak / Ventrilo, and in-client features in games like Counter-Strike. What makes our idea of the system different is that you must be near another player to hear him/her speak. When a character speaks, they hold down a binded hotkey and begin to talk. An icon will appear over their head to show other players that they are speaking. In one of the game's options you can choose to hear up to x-y clients at the same time. In this case if you are nearby you'll hear that player speak in (with the help of a standarized codec) excellent clarity. If you have our second option selected, you'll see their red speech icon and if you click it, they will toggle to unmuted and you'll hear them speaking as well. Now, everyone's voice should be adjusted to be the same balanced volume. As your character comes closer to the speaker the sound will increase until it is as if you were sitting next to the person. However as you back away the voice will become fainter. Characters of different races will have a filter applied to their speech which modifies the voice so that it indeed sounds like a foreign language. As your character hears it more and more, over a long period of time and studies in the said language the filter becomes less and less prevolent until that character can understand the new language. Additionally, caves will echo sounds, certain spells will silence you and so on. We also hope to include certain voice-recognition features, for example: In order for a casting character to cast a spell, they must actually speak out the incantation (assuming of course that they have trained with the client-side voice recognition program). If they make a mistake the spell does not work. In this case another filter will be necessary since as the incantation nears completion the voice should sound deep and multilayered. I would love to hear the community's feed-back on how this might be achieved and any ideas or other suggestions are more than welcome. Please post constructively. I thank you for your time. *edited for silly spelling error