Bosun Posted July 25, 2023 Posted July 25, 2023 (edited) I wanted to start this as a separate proposal topic since it was buried in the F-4 forum under a different thread. The Background: Jester was created from 11,500 voice calls that constitute his personality based on actual character study of pilots from the 80s. The character that is revealed in Jester play is a comedic, younger RIO who can be irrevent and light, and also jabby at times. The immersive qualities of the recorded clips are truly next-level in their implementation, and HeatBlur has set a very high bar for two-crew aircraft simulation. The Situation: Jester's calls are authetically immersive in their dynamically scripted (to coin a phrase) recordings. During missions you can truly get the sense of a real person with a personality back there. This is highly immersive in scripted single-player campaigns, were added dialogue also enhances that underlying personality research that was done to 'create' Jester. However - during multi player missions, and even extensive single player hours being logged, the calls that are endearing and individually entertaining through a scripted campaign, become repetitive and grating over time. This is normal effect of any repeated content that has high-inflection. This can cause the initial positive responses to his scripts, to change over time. This, again, is entirely natural in human experience. This happens in work, personal and other types of relationships when you get to know someone, and is a trackable, measurable effect of repetition in mannerisms and perception. Also, many pilots in the virtual world are in a generation that sees them more matured and in a different stage/place in life, than a young naval fighter pilot. In flying with someone, they are looking to have their RIO experience match their own personality to some extent, and maturity level. In the same way that drinking a cocktail or beer in your later years is nice, but you cannot handle an all-night binger anymore - so to do we experience our perception of the energy of younger, more irreverent personalities. They're fun to be around - for a short while - but if we had to live with them, or fly with them regularly, our experience of that personality would change. This is what is happening within the subset of playerbase that is calling for different Jester interactions. Heatblur has defended their creation of Jester as is, with no plans to alter his personality, with the idea of creating a true-to-life recreation of an actual RIO. This is a commendable goal and principle, and one that cannot be faulted to them. The issue remains, however, of how to positively reach the playerbase you're creating the program for, and how to keep them engaged as customers, regardless your stated goals in the intitial creation. The Solution: The technology exists to synthesize test-to-speech with every inflection of a real person. The technology also exists (Elevenlabs as an example) to take audio sound files of speech, and have an AI algorithm process and mimic a voice almost flawlessly, with that text-to-speech format. That means that it is entirely possible for any DCS player to mimic Jester's voice using such technology and individually re-record the Jester calls they find irritating, repetitive or undesirable for any reason. The fact that the Jester program has the file structure that allows this is a huge, untapped potential for endless customizability by individual players, which is further credit to the wonderful work Heatblur put in to making this module timeless and approachable to many different demographics. What is needed to properly do this easily are three things: 1. Sample files of the Jester voice that do not have the radio effect distortion, for proper synthesizing into an AI program, and authentic reproductions therein. 2. A macro of the radio distortion applied to each call, to match existing files once re-recorded ones are made. 3. A simple program to combine new recorded calls, and the macro distortion, without the need for complex audio programs. I'd like to propose that Heatblur look into building a "Jester Call Package" that would include those three things, so that any individual may alter the calls they deem necessary to increase or enhance their immersion. An alternative would be to release this package as a single editor program, similar to a mission editor or module manager. This kind of ability would create the longevity in the Jester program that would extend across modules from Heatblur, time eras, generational differences and culture/language differences. (*ElevenLab can synthesize a voice in multiple languages and accents, making Jester able to speak several different languages*) All that is needed for this amount of immersion and adaptability, are the three items mentioned above in either a ZIP file distributable, or singular ad-hoc program. Thank you, Heatblur, for your amazing work on Jester. He continues to be one of the most immersive and interesting aspects of your simulations, and I hope to have him in the backseat in many different variations, for years to come. Thank you for coming to my Jester talk. Edited July 25, 2023 by Bosun 1
draconus Posted July 26, 2023 Posted July 26, 2023 https://forum.dcs.world/forum/69-dcs-modding/ Win10 i7-10700KF 32GB RTX4070S Quest 3 T16000M VPC CDT-VMAX TFRP FC3 F-14A/B F-15E CA SC NTTR PG Syria
Bosun Posted July 26, 2023 Author Posted July 26, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, draconus said: https://forum.dcs.world/forum/69-dcs-modding/ Yes, there is a modding section. The creations you make from this kind of modularization could go there, for sure. **Side note** Got a response on the original thread reply - modularizing Jester's voice for easier modification is something HB has considered. No promises, but it has pinged their radar already. Edited July 26, 2023 by Bosun 1
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