Ambient speech for NPCs?

Maybe I missed this but has there been word if there will be ambient speech for NPCs? For example that you hear them talk to each other while walking through a city? I am aware that there will not be full speech for the dialogues but what about ambient speech?

If you take a look at this new Witcher 3 video you know what I mean. Ambient speech adds a lot to the atmosphere:


If it would be too costly why not crowdsource this too, like with the music? The community could provide the ambient speech if Portalarim offers the texts.

 

If this sort of thing turns out to be too costly for Portalarium, I would say their affairs are pretty hosed.


It's ambient rambling noise. You could make that in under an hour.


I'd like to see it in the game. It might make the towns feel a little more alive.

 

I'd definitely like it, but I would think it would be pretty expensive. You would want to have the right amount of it throughout all the cities or else some places would feel empty. Lots of different voice actors for variation. And then localization of any spoken words for different language releases.

I do think short of that there needs to be a few different types of generic crowd murmur. Bars should have glasses clinking, indecipherable whispering, laughing, cocktail party sounds. Arenas cheering / booing. And I'd like it to be dynamic so that the more players / NPCs in an area the louder it is. A dead marketplace or bar should be quiet, but a lively one should sound full of activity.

 

There's already some "ambient" speech from the NPCs. This comes in the form of barks that they say to everyone or directed at you by name. Guards currently do this often. Some vendors and peasants do as well. But they definitely do need a ton more barks (and from more NPCs). A more complex system would have situational barks based on dynamic events.

Also, the NPCs do talk to each other...somewhat. An example of that is seen in Peddler's Row in Owl's Head. You will hear Randall asking Myra if she's heard from her brother. I don't remember if she responds though. The system is very basic right now and it could be just a system of barks and not true conversations between NPCs yet.

I think they do plan on expanding that to some degree and I certainly am pushing for this heavily as it forms the basis for SmackTalk (NPC social and knowledge graphs).

 

Yep, agreed. Some games do this via an ambient track that loops based on location and not really individual noises coming from each NPC. The former is much cheaper to do but less realistic and repetitive. The latter is more real and complex but definitely more costly.

The Unity Asset store actually has some sound packs that do just this. I also backed an Ambient Environment kickstarter some time ago:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ent-environments-soundtracks-for-rpg-settings

 

Ambient sounds are good - on the other hand repetitive npc conversations - where npc continually throw out their catchphrases is irritating - maybe cash / time is better spent elsewhere - possibly adding functionality to the overland map

 

Please give them local accents and if at all possible, language. Helps with the immersion and suspension of disbelief.

 

This seems interesting. Crowd sourcing for npc voices would really work out. Get some volunteers, have some specific lines that people will record and send in. Listen to and match them to specific NPCs. Send that person the lines you want for that npc to speak. The more talented, or in tune voice, would take the quest line conversations while others would be the random npc chatter that perks up here and there. Skype and such could be used for interactive conversation between 2 or more npcs. Like in bars, playing cards, or out in the trade area. Guard/Merchant yelling at a thief while the running npc taunts back some flippant remark or insult.

 

This guy always made me lol when passing him in the streets of Qeynos: at 7min 20sec mark

Although I didn't find his regular question as you passed him, "Come to gaze upon me, have you?"

 

The same random ambient noise would soon get old, I believe.

It would be better if the noise had context to the situation. Walk past two guards and hear some dialog that you would expect guards to have. Walk past a group of farmers and get the same, from a farmer's point of view. Just like when you go past a sheep you expect it to bahhhh not bark.