I am a big fan of commentary throughout speedruns, whether it be audio commentary or subtitled. It helps me understand certain things which surprise or may not be immediately apparent, as well as perhaps entertain during a particular boring section of a game. As it stands there are currently 35 runs which have some form of commentary, whether it be audio, subtitled or just a simple translation or overview of the plot. This is a pathetically low number in my opinion compared to the number of total TASes on the site, and I'd like to see something done to improve the number of commentated runs.
So, I have two suggestions as to what to do to improve this. First would be to integrate commentary into the submission process - this can be done through audio with a .wav file, and/or subtitled with some form of .srt or Lua file. Most of the audio commentaries are located off-site, and with a few exceptions most of them are no longer available, which is unacceptable.
The second would be to organise a group of regulars to commentate on existing and upcoming runs, perhaps focusing on the more popular runs at first and runs that will require a lot of explaining. I'd be happy to add my golden British voice to this list. Of course, it would often feature guest appearances from the TASers themselves, or at least people who know enough of the game mechanics to explain things, or at the very least entertain throughout.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to see more commentary in runs, so let's make it happen, people!
Joined: 4/17/2010
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Audio streams and subtitles can be added to Archive items if they are in SpeedRuns collection, or the creator is alive.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Yes, I know about Archive, and some of the existing AC happens to be there. I'm talking about bringing the commentary entirely to TASvideos and cutting out a middleman site like Archive.
Basically yes. TASing is popular in many countries and languages, but this site is primarily in English so it stands to reason we should have English commentary to go with our runs. I have a lot of respect for what RealMyop does but I don't know French that well, and I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate an English language commentary to complement his series.
Well, I posted my opinion about this before, and I'll think it applies to here as well:
jlun2 wrote:
Derakon wrote:
There's other ways to be entertaining besides playing around in the game itself. In particular, providing commentary makes a big difference in the entertainment value of a run, especially for people who aren't familiar with the game.
Unfortunately, not everyone can spew out creative gold for like an hour straight, so it (usually) ends up being either lots of silence, or rambling.
Mind you, I've seen it done before, so kudos to those who managed to pull it off.
I think it would be great to have an English language TAS commentary show, along the lines of 88 mph. The only ones I've been able to find were in French, unless there's a NicoNico show I'm unaware of.
Joined: 6/2/2009
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Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Hi, arkiandruski.
I love your Gunstar Heroes commentary. The way that you explain the things you did, it's great.
Well, one of my goals is making an audio commentary for one of my runs, a future or an old one.
But... my English is still really, really bad, so it may take some time for it to happen, but I'm working hard to improve it.
I'm listening to all of the commentaries on the site, paying attention to some of common TAS related words and practing "practicing" those pronunciations.
So, I'm all in favor of more audio commentaries on the site, it will even help the non native speakers in some way.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Okay, it's harder than I thought, but I have an idea and it may appear on a project I'm doing with r57shell;
(I just need to check if r57shell will agree to use it in our run)
The future of audio commentaries may be TASing the commentary itself!
Well, we don't have the skills to play games in real time as we have when TASing.
So, why do we need to speak English to have audio commentaries in our runs?
I got the idea when I was testing some text to speech programs, like Loquendo TTS Director.
This app lets you do some kind of "TASing" with a computer voice, but its voices are not that good.
But... VW Julie is a beautiful and natural computer voice, pretty clear and accurate.
So, I'm doing some tests with this idea and I'll post the results here soon.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Joined: 4/17/2010
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Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
I'd better suggest asking someone to read out the subtitles you will make.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Good idea, but none of my friends speak English that well, sadly. :(
I know what people think about computer voices, but wait until you listen to "Julie". :)
And "TASing" the commentary seems to have some advantages too;
1) annoying tag questions? not anymore!
2) no silence between two important actions
3) it's cheaper than a good microphone. :)
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
There's no reason why you can't submit a commentary in your native language. We can have commentaries as in many languages as our users are willing to make.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Thanks for the suggestion, but a commentary in Portuguese? I don't know.
I think it will limit the viewers interested in listen to such commentary.
Of course, even in English it will depend on the creativity of the TASer.
But it's just an idea, I don't know how well it can be applied on a run yet, it may fail, who knows.
I'll make a sample tonight just to show you the potential of an audio commentary TAS.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
A commentary in Portuguese will see less interest than a commentary in English, but our Portuguese speaking visitors will appreciate it nonetheless. If you are fluent in Portuguese and English, you can do both.
Anyways, Portuguese aside, we have quite a bit of users who understand non-English languages. I imagine Spanish, French, and Japanese commentaries will all be well received.
Edit:
Judging by our special language forums, it seems that French may be the second most popular language on the site.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
That's a quite good achievement in text-to-speech technology, but you can still hear something not completely natural about it, and it's a bit bothering.
I don't know how it's with other people, but personally I just can't stand listening to text-to-speech audio. It's jarring and annoying. Whenever I start watching a youtube video that has speech made like that, I usually can't watch it. It's the uncanny valley of speech.
That particular sample is not nearly as bad as the more common ones, but you can still hear it...
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Okay, thank you, all of you, for the feedback!
Spikestuff wrote:
"dooshy is a Brazilian TOSSer."
Yeah, the TOSSer part needs a bit of tweaking, but she pronounces "Dooty" exactly the way I do!
It's a Brazilian nickname, so I say something like "dootchy", not "duty" as it should sound in English.
But, Balabolka is a feature rich program and learning to use all of its possibilities will take some time.
Also, I don't know English grammar that well, so, the program itself won't make miracles. :)
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
That's a quite good achievement in text-to-speech technology, but you can still hear something not completely natural about it, and it's a bit bothering.
I don't know how it's with other people, but personally I just can't stand listening to text-to-speech audio. It's jarring and annoying. Whenever I start watching a youtube video that has speech made like that, I usually can't watch it. It's the uncanny valley of speech.
That particular sample is not nearly as bad as the more common ones, but you can still hear it...
Well, if the commentary is going for a comedic route, I suppose a text-to-speech audio can potentially work, but it takes a good comedian/writer to get that right.
Well, if the commentary is going for a comedic route, I suppose a text-to-speech audio can potentially work, but it takes a good comedian/writer to get that right.
Uh... I really think that good comedy requires good delivery, which means good intonation, rhythm, etc. I have hard time believing a programmatic text-to-speech voice is going to be any good at that.
