Bit Blot Forum
Aquaria => General => Topic started by: Land Whale on February 20, 2007, 08:26:51 am
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Why do you decide to have Naija speak with a British Accent? I love it!
I really love the British accent. It gives Naija that air of wisdom & experience, despite her youth. It also make sense to the fantasy milieu of Aquaria, as her accent makes her at once familiar & something we can relate with, yet reminds us that Naija is otherwise an otherworldly being. Otherwise, it's just cool, as cool as Sean Connery's brogue.
Is that why you choose her to have an accent?
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Its kinda funny, Jenna Sharpe's website was one of the first sites I came across when looking for voice actors, and I was really impressed. I emailed her at that point too, but she didn't get back to me for some time...
We originally wanted "no accent" (I suppose a 'North American' accent?). We auditioned 100+ people. But none of them really had what we were looking for. Some of the auditions were painfully bad and sometimes hilarious. We ended up hiring a lady whose audition we were happy with - but when we had her record more, we realized she wasn't right for the part. It was a frustrating thing to go through.
Eventually Jenna emailed me back, and we had her do some auditions. Right away, she was nailing the scripts... without needing much input from us. At that point we started to realize that the accent actually brought more color to the script and helped give Naija an interesting personality. Now its hard to imagine the game without that feel.
So yeah, we kind of arrived at the accent in a roundabout way, but I'm happy we got there. Jenna's got some serious talent!
Maybe Jenna will share her side of the story too... :o
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Does the game have voice through the whole game? (Meaning more voice actors) Or is it all text and you get to hear Naija at key points of the game?
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In place of textual dialogue that most games rely on we used voice acting to drive the story without interrupting the gameplay.
The game is narrated by Naija, its kinda like you're in her head!
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In place of textual dialogue that most games rely on we used voice acting to drive the story without interrupting the gameplay.
The game is narrated by Naija, its kinda like you're in her head!
I always liked the RPGish feel of the text, personally. You usually have text AND Voice, but no text kinda makes me sad, being an RPG lover and such.
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In place of textual dialogue that most games rely on we used voice acting to drive the story without interrupting the gameplay.
The game is narrated by Naija, its kinda like you're in her head!
So kinda like a third person feel but a first person perspective? :)
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I'm usually an advocate against VA in games since the quality in 95% of the cases are really bad. A poor performance will just derail the characters and some cases the games credibility.
But I must say the performance in the trailer is among the best I've heard. It feels natural and not forced and corky as in most cases.
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I'm usually an advocate against VA in games since the quality in 95% of the cases are really bad. A poor performance will just derail the characters and some cases the games credibility.
But I must say the performance in the trailer is among the best I've heard. It feels natural and not forced and corky as in most cases.
And now, you all of the sudden changed my view on the voice acting and soured it. Glah.
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I think Jenna is perfect in the part. We're all going to head down to GDC, so hopefully we'll be able to record the final lines there. For me, good voice acting can add a lot to the game. In this case its also cool because Naija can keep yapping as you continue to swim, explore and fight stuff in the background.
But, if you're one of those people that has an "allegric reaction" to voice acting in games, or if you don't understand English (which, if that's true, you won't understand this post... but, anyways!) there'll be subtitles.
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I think Jenna is perfect in the part. We're all going to head down to GDC, so hopefully we'll be able to record the final lines there. For me, good voice acting can add a lot to the game. In this case its also cool because Naija can keep yapping as you continue to swim, explore and fight stuff in the background.
But, if you're one of those people that has an "allegric reaction" to voice acting in games, or if you don't understand English (which, if that's true, you won't understand this post... but, anyways!) there'll be subtitles.
Avoiding another point... Turning off voice acting only.
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What we've heard so far sounds great. And you know, voice acting has improved greatly in the last few years. There's still a ways to go consistency-wise, but there's good stuff being done out there.
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Avoiding another point... Turning off voice acting only.
Its a game. You can customize how you play it. You'll be able to setup the controls how you want, and you can disable parts of the sound. You can mute the music and loop Ecco tracks in the background if that's what turns you on. Heck, you could hack it and replace all the graphics with ASCII characters if that's your thang.
But that's common sense. If you're not into it, don't use it.
And dude, chill out a bit. You don't need to spam every thread. ^-^
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Its kinda funny, Jenna Sharpe's website was one of the first sites I came across when looking for voice actors, and I was really impressed.
I'm having a hard time finding her web site. Would you mind providing a link?
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http://www.freewebs.com/jennavation/
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A question just came to me...
If Naija has voice acting, do any of the NPC's have it as well?
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We originally wanted "no accent" (I suppose a 'North American' accent?).
Heh. I know this was posted quite a while ago, but, having majored in anthropology, I am a bit of a linguistics geek, and you have given me the chance to pontificate. :P
Every person in the world speaks with an accent. We don't normally see this, because most of the people around us speak with the same accent that we do. However, as soon as you go to some other region, you will think that the natives of that region are speaking with some kind of accent, while you are not. The natives, on the other hand, will think that you are speaking with a funny accent, and that they are not. The can easily be seen when a Bostonian goes to Atlanta (or vice versa).
That being said, in most widespread languages (i.e. English), there are what are known as "non-regional" accents. A non-regional accent is one that cannot be easily placed in one region or another, and will sound "accentless" to most native speakers of a language across many areas. For instance, most of the major network talking heads on the evening news speak with a North American non-regional accent. They could go to pretty much any part of the country, and people would not think that they spoke with particularly extraordinary accents. These same speakers, however, would definitely sound American if they were to show up in London, so, obviously, even they have accents.
Thus ends my pontification for the day. ;)
(http://www.martingordon.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/the_more_you_know.jpg)
xander
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The differences in American accents are pretty interesting, and I would have loved to get The Atlas of North American English (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-North-American-English-Phonetics/dp/3110167468), if only I had $700 to spend on a book. I've had to content myself with the website (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html) instead.
Often one of the first things I'll ask someone on finding out what part of the country they're from is if they distinguish the words "cot" /kat/ and "caught" /k?t/ (map (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/Map1.html)). My accent (the somewhat un-differentiated "Western New England") does, and I know at least one linguistics major from out west who's learned the distinction by virtue of always being the guinea pig as someone who didn't recognize it :)
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--==<snip>==--
Another linguistics geek! Huzzah!
xander
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Aye, although normally I would be pontificating on historical linguistics rather than sociolinguistics (I'd normally call it just "sosh" but it seems wrong to spell it that way).
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Aye, although normally I would be pontificating on historical linguistics rather than sociolinguistics (I'd normally call it just "sosh" but it seems wrong to spell it that way).
Hrm... I'm not sure we can be friends anymore. Historical linguistics are for doody-heads. Sociolinguistics rule! :P
xander
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The blossoming and then sudden death of a friendship...So quick. ;)
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Aye,
I misread that as Eye... then I looked at your avatar...
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"Aye" is one of those things I say a lot on the internet, but never in person. As far as the internet lexicon goes, I think it's pretty tame... probably it's something I picked up from the pirates; all I need now is to figure out what ninja say. Although, I already make a point of interpreting the misspelling "hai" as meaning "yes" instead of "hi"...
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nihongo ga dekiru?
I study it in school.
Anyway, the accent is a bit weird to me (I live in New Zealand) but I'd get used to it by playing the game. After all, if Naija sounded "normal" then she wouldn't be as interesting or other-worldly.
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Evidently New Zealand doesn't get the wealth of recycled BBC programmes that Australia does...
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I think she should have more of a Monty Python-style accent. "GOOOORRRRRN." ;)
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I'm all for Pythons, but if you were to really go that route, I think you'd have to have her be voiced by a man in women's clothing, and that would probably detract from the experience. Jenna seems a bit better at it... ;)
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"On second thoughts lets NOT go to Aquaria. 'Tis a silly place."
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Naija played by a gumby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqyxXX3Ra4A) would be a moving experience.
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"This is an ex-jellyfish."
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I'm glad people here seem to like the voice acting although I am pretty sure as many people who love it will also hate it... oh well, you can't please everyone right? Whether people like the sound of my voice or my accent is less important to me than the acting and delivery. It is like Alec says, many voice actors over play lines and end up sounding super hyper or camp. For some games that works but the character of Naija required more sensitivity and sincerity because of all the emotions and things she has to deal with in the game.
Yeah my side of the story is pretty much what Alec said. Gosh when I think what might have happened if I hadn't have got back to them! It would kill me to hear someone else voice Naija as I have got kind of attached to her. At the risk of sounding cheesy most of us have felt alone, like we didn't fit or that we were somehow destined for something better so hopefully people can identify with her and her experiences on some level. And hey, if that doesn't do it for you maybe my death/orgasm sound effects will ;D
Accents definitely facinate me. The weird thing is that as a VA in this country I am classed as having received pronunciation which means you don't have a decernable regional accent ! But to anyone from outside the UK I definitely have an accent! Speaking of accents I am secretly very envious of people who can speak more than one language. British people aren't very good linguists because we just arrogantly assume that everyone else will know English.
I think if I ever have kids I will get them learning another language from a young age because it is so much easier than trying to learn as an adult! Aquaria actually has its own language doesn't it Alec? Perhaps I will learn Aquarian :)
Someone needs to make me a better website! Derek should make me a Naija themed one :P
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Jenna's performance in Aquaria is the best I've ever heard in a video game, indie or commercial. It's the honest truth. Alec and I are extremely lucky to be able to work with her!
Someone needs to make me a better website! Derek should make me a Naija themed one :P
Any time! (Well, let's say after the game is released. ;))
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I am just awfull to recognise an accent, but the Brisish one is one of the only I can identify and it is just wonderfull.
I just learnt a few days ago that I have a very strong french accent ??? while I was speaking with belgian people... I didn't even knwon there was a french accent when we speak in french (it's just when we speak english that it is really powerfull XD )
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I think having a French accent while speaking French is a good thing! ;D
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I am just awfull to recognise an accent, but the Brisish one is one of the only I can identify and it is just wonderfull.
I just learnt a few days ago that I have a very strong french accent ??? while I was speaking with belgian people... I didn't even knwon there was a french accent when we speak in french (it's just when we speak english that it is really powerfull XD )
You should go in France my friend... you WILL see (or "hear") a difference between Quebec's and France's accent... I went there once, friends of France came in Quebec twice, and hell we sometime got hardtime understanding each other!! :D
So... don't get upset if you do have an accent... even among friends in Quebec, I have my own accent from Saguenay, though not as strong as other here... :) (for example, pronuncing "trotoir" : "troto
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Everyone has an accent. You just don't notice it until you start speaking with someone who has a different accent.
xander
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What about mutes, you insensitive clod!
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What about mutes, you insensitive clod!
Actually, assuming that they communicate in one sign language or another, they will sign with an accent. Nifty, no?
xander