Speech Compression
Hi everybody.
I'm Stuart, a full time composer / music producer from the UK and I love Sam n Max, I've replayed hit the road 100s of times (and I play it even more now I have a GP2X :-)
Great start to the new series - and its great to see a proper adventure game, however the one niggling annoyance was the amount / type of compression applied to the speech.
The speech is compressed to such a degree that it is very noticeable especially on s's and female voices. I don’t think most people would mind a longer download time in order to get full quality speech. Maybe offer 2 versions?
Stuart
www.goodsounds.co.uk
I'm Stuart, a full time composer / music producer from the UK and I love Sam n Max, I've replayed hit the road 100s of times (and I play it even more now I have a GP2X :-)
Great start to the new series - and its great to see a proper adventure game, however the one niggling annoyance was the amount / type of compression applied to the speech.
The speech is compressed to such a degree that it is very noticeable especially on s's and female voices. I don’t think most people would mind a longer download time in order to get full quality speech. Maybe offer 2 versions?
Stuart
www.goodsounds.co.uk
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Comments
The compression Telltale uses allows us to compress the voices to very small file sizes, which is important with downloadable games. Some people hear the compression more than others, and I think it depends on the sound card to a degree, too. I don't even notice it, myself.
I don't know what would be involved in creating two versions, but with so much going on, it's probably more trouble than it's worth devoting the resources to right now.
It was though the only thing I can pick on in what looks to be a great comeback for Sam n Max so thank you for that, all I ask is that you take my comments on board and at least look at ways to improve on the ‘bad mp3’ sound that is occasionally audible in the speech.
Thanks
Here! Here! Sybil's and peeper's tinny voices especially.
I agree that making two different game setup files might take too much work, but it shouldn't take that many extra resources to release a separate 'audio pack' download for people willing to use the extra bandwidth. All the vox files are in one directory, all you need to do is make a zip file with the higher bitrate audio files that unpacks in the right directory.
That way you can keep the game in one setup file just as it is now. I think it's safe to assume that people who want higher quality audio don't mind downloading the game including the low bitrate audio and then just replacing it afterwards
We're definitely paying attention to the feedback, don't worry.
Thanks and - - - GREAT GAME.
Thats a great idea... wish I'd thought of that :-)
The voices are packed in in a VOB or VOX pack (something like that). They're all seperate. It'd be a cinch (relatively) to create a high-bitrate and low-bitrate version.
I personally vote for better sound, even if it increases the filesize. I don't mind downloading a little longer (100MB are nothing these days where links of 1Mbit/s and higher are well available) if in turn the atmosphere of the game isn't disturbed by bad audio.
I understand that download size is key for episodic content, but I've played other such games that are over ten times the size (Half Life 2: Episode One, S.I.N. Episodes). I didn't really mind having to wait a bit longer to play a game with high quality media assets as it was well worth the "effort" during the first and subsequent plays.
I'd love it if the sound were improved for future downloadable episodes, but worst case scenario, how about high quality 44khz sound for the full season CD/DVD?
Personally, I've found the speech quality to be fine
Thanks,
Unno
P.S. Other than the audio, keep up the good work. I'm really enjoying the games.
Would I accept better? Sure. Can I live without better? Sure.
It's 2007 guys! Every downloadable gamedemo is around 1-4gig and patches for big games like World of Warcraft are around 0.5-1gigabyte. Belieave me, if you would make a game like S&M 100megs larger for improved soundquality not one person in the world would complain about it. In the time we now live in people either don't have a connection or download big things fast.
Me Like To Compress Things!!!
Compress With Sledgehammer!!!
Makes For Tasty Soundbites!!!!
Me Hungry!!!
*SMASH!!! SMASH!!! nibble nibble*
HMMMMM!!!! LOVE THOSE DELICIOUS ESSES!
I call bull***t.
Excluding S&M and a few 5MB or under exceptions, I haven't downloaded a single game or demo for the last several years precisely because they're so huge. I'm still stuck on dialup, and NO it's not a case of being too lazy, cheap or anything else. I am physically incapable of getting a broadband connection where I live, thanks to the utter incompetence of Telstra.
You mentioned World of Warcraft; every time a WoW patch comes out, it takes me offline for at least several days. If a demo comes out for a game I really want to play, I usually have to pass up because I don't want to tie up my internet connection for a week and a half to play 15 minutes worth of gameplay (incidentally, does anyone remember the days of demos like Descent anymore?).
Don't even get me started on people who go around embedding videos into their website because "everyone has broadband!" There is still a large number of people on dialup, some of whom cannot upgrade.
Now, to disprove your above assertion: I would complain. Frankly, if the S&M episodes suddenly grew 100MB larger, I wouldn't continue to buy them (although, since I've purchased the whole season, this is something of an empty threat). The fact that I only have to spend two or so days downloading them is a big thing for me, and one of the core reasons I decided to get them.
To give you an actual example, I purchased Half Life: Episode 1 when I was on holidays up at my parents (who have high-speed broadband). When I went back to Uni, I wanted to try Ep1 on my (somewhat faster at the time) machine to see how it looked. But since I left in a hurry, I didn't have a copy on CD: I would need to re-download it. I haven't played it since, because it was just taking too long to download. I own the game, and I can't play it because it's infeasible for me to actually get a copy!
Would I like better sound quality? You bet! But when a new episode is released, I want it now, not a week from now.
You have broadband and that's wonderful; I'm real happy for you. Just don't ruin things for those of us who aren't so lucky.
It would take VERY LITTLE work for Telltale to make a sound patch file for optional download that patches over the old sound files. It's 2007, I like my Sam & Max game to at least sound better than the version I played back in 1993 from LucisArts.
It honestly ruins dialog to hear Sam's voice missing a lot of the frequencies in his low deadpan voice. But I suppose listenting to the game as though I were on a cell phone will have to do.
[RANT]
I'm one person
I love people that say 'everyone in the world...'. I do so admire how they have the wisdom and courage to speak for everybody.
The sad truth is, many people live in places where downloading big things is not an option. I know this, because I live in such a place. Oh yes, we DO have so-called 'broadband' here, but its still at best 5 times slower than the rest of the world (even some 3rd world countries!) and it's really only affordable to the rich and/or corrupt.
The other sad truth is that people in our situation outnumber the fortunate ones by far. There are far more third-world countries in the world than first world, and the population in these countries are usually much higher. [/RANT]
*breahtes normally*
Ok, the truth is, I won't mind a bigger download for better sound quality, but talking of 1gig downloads is scaring me :eek:
We have already talked about that, Telltale guys know this, but they have to do a three hours game very month and they are a very small compagny. I understand they don't have time. But they also said the big problem in this is they can't bring support to patch and modifications. Okay, I understand. But I'm sure it's not that difficult to put a zip and replace files through the right directory, with a big "no support warning, save your directory before doing any changes" and hose who wants to try the adventure just try, and if it doesn't work, they can reinstall the game, and even redownload it, as they have a broadband.
People who claims they want this improvement sure have time to sneak on forums, search the zip file, and replace files manually. I'm sur they don't really care about a beautifull, easy and sexy patch with a "thanks" popup window at the end who make this so beautifull "tund" sound.
In fact, I don't mind in doing that, it takes five to ten minutes for me to download, and three to replace.
And everyone will be happy and get colorful.