Hello commander!
After last week’s dive into history with our upcoming Army General campaign DLC, the Battle of Turda, pitting Axis Hungary versus Allied Romania, today we circle back to the soon-to-launch Nemesis: Raid on Drvar.
One of the final elements coming in hot in our new Nemesis DLC are the dialogue lines, or as we call them, acknows. We wanted to tell you more about how we handle this vital aspect of our sound design.
The first step: writing and translating
The devil is in the detail. The Steel Division 2 experience and authenticity extends beyond graphics or core game mechanics. Such as? The soundscape, including the all-important dialogue.
We take great efforts in having the sound, from music to the explosions and the spoken word, be top-notch, realistic and immersive. That includes acknows. These are the short dialogue lines said by the various units in their original language.
Every unit in Steel Division 2 has a set of dialogue linked to an action, order, or battlefield event. If you click a unit, we hear the acknow. The voice can differ from nation to nation, division to division, and type (armor, infantry, artillery, etc.) and sub-category (anti-tank teams, anti-tank guns, or tank destroyers, for instance).
The vast majority of the lines are similar across languages and unit types. Think of a unit mentioning to the player that they are under attack. However, close to 10% of dialogue for a nation are unique and personal (movie quotes, singing a song, etc.).
The lines are initially written in English and then translated by professional translators into the language required. Before moving to the actual recording step, we have members of our community proofread and double-check the military jargon for accuracy. Yes, a slight disclaimer, we have learned this vital part the hard way (Danish Wargame fans know what we are talking about).
Second step: recording
Now, the second stage: selecting the right actors. Voice acting is a tough job, make no mistake. It involves screaming (a lot), finding the “right” voice, emphasizing words and phrases in the perfect way. It’s one of those situations that when it works, it's the best thing ever and you never think twice, but if it doesn’t… the faults are rather obvious.
After the lines are written and translated, we look for freelance voice actors for our target nations. This involves a lot of “testing” of voice samples. Certain nations are much easier to check, as the pool of actors is larger (say American or British English, German, Russian). The more specialized the language or accent, the smaller the roster of actors, and more of a challenge it is to find the right one. Guess one? That’s right… Maori!
Putting some spirit into it
After finding the right fit, we devise a plan of attack, reach out to the actor, and have them record a couple of sample lines following our precise guidelines. It involves a lot of “I’m under fire” or “I’m hit, arghhh.” We are looking for actors to punch it up and deliver some guts, allowing us to make it even more credible and realistic.
Of course, a key aspect is that the acknows are being said by soldiers and pilots on the frontline, not in a comfy recording studio. It needs to feel and sound natural, not bland and uninspired. Lots of our dialogue lines feature specific directions (“Under fire” can be expressed panicked, cool, distraught, etc.).
Some less-than-inspired recordings:
Give Them Hell
Fire at will
And now some that speak volumes of the kind of voice acting we are looking for:
ITA
BRZ
Nemesis: Raid on Drvar was a new challenge for us, as we worked with no less than three different languages: Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian. There are even some Slovenian lines too!
Chetnik Mars (plain)
Chetnik Ne Pucajte! (plain)
The final step
After the successful cajoling of our voice actors, and having the audio lines in our sound files, we need to spruce them up. The finishing touch is some effect magic. This will make the actors sound like they are in the open, or inside a button-down vehicle, or in a plane speaking through a radio. For instance, some of the Chetnik lines above after the audio treatment:
Chetnik Mars
Chetnik Ne Pucajte!
Nemesis: Raid on Drvar coming soon
We are still chipping away at Nemesis: Raid on Drvar! As mentioned previously, the awesome Strike Team is busy testing and checking all the hard work for bugs, issues, and other technical hazards.
You might have noticed that they are already streaming the new DLC, meaning that after implementing the missing acknowledgments detailed above, and some touch-up brush strokes, we’ll be ready to roll!
Au revoir and until next week!
Once again, we have to leave you be. As always, it won’t be for too long.
Keep a close watch on our Steam forums and Instagram to keep up to date with the latest Steel Division 2 talk. Looking for an online game? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page and get involved with the lively Steel Division 2 community!
See you!