Retakes of some of the voice-overs

Black Mesa Archive Suggestion Box
#1

I recall a thread in the other forum about retaking some of the lines from the trailer. I have to agree. Barney’s line especially, “We had a system crash about, I don’t know, 20 minutes ago and I’m still trying to find my files. Just one of those days I guess”.

The line wasn’t done horribly, but the line lacks a sense of preoccupation that the original had. The original line felt some anxiety by Barney, fixing the problem with his computer while trying to give Gordon a simple message. However the new line feels as though Barney is not bothered by the system crash, and is fully focused on giving Gordon the message.

It may be semantics, and new players may not care or notice, but the new line feels too much like foreshadow, as if to imply that shit will in fact hit the fan, where as in the original the first 10 minutes of the game are designed to give the player the immediate impression that nothing will go wrong, and nothing is expected to go wrong, and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that there is a reason to expect anything other than the day before, except of course those directly responsible for the test chamber’s instruments.

By giving any form of foreshadow outside of the test chamber and its related sub-rooms could detriment the plausibility of the emotions conveyed by the same sprites following the resonance cascade, such as Barney’s “What the hell are these things Gordon? And why are they wearing science uniforms?”.

Just my 43 cents and a Canadian twonie.

#2

To a certain extent, I understand what you’re saying here. I’m wondering myself if the line was meant more with the idea that it would set the tone for the trailer. Still, it’s far from horrible and at the very least is comparable to what HL1 originally had.
I could just as easily state that the original line from HL1 sounded like he ws just fooling around and not really trying to fix anything, whereas the Black Mesa Voice actor actually sounded like he was dealing with a real problem and was showing signs of frustration from it.

#3

I find it weird that I’ve seen people bash the voice acting of Black Mesa when HL’s original voice acting sounded fucking hilarious.

#4

You guys should be complaining about the female scientists wearing ties or something. :wink:

1.) That whole ominous atmosphere thing may be a side effect of the ominous soundtrack.
2.) You’ve played the game. You know what is going to happen. This is already ruined for you no matter what.

Where is the lack of preoccupation? He says “I dunno”. Sounds like he is preoccupied to me…

You are meant to be knocked off balance as the game begins. In the first 10 minutes of the game you see a security guard locked out of a security door and cruise by a cracked silo leaking radioactive waste.
Then you meet a bunch of absent minded scientists who are more concerned with who ate the last donut rather than where they left the shutdown procedure charts.
Everybody knows what you’re supposed to be doing expect for you. That makes the player uneasy. “You got the wrong airlock Mr. Freeman, YOU KNOW i can’t let you through here.” I do? Oh, uh, yeah, sure i do. sorry about that…
A line like “What the hell are these things and why are they wearing science team uniforms?” resonates (excuse the intentional pun) because the players perspective has shifted. Now you know more about whats going on than the NPCs, even if it is only just a little.

#5

ITT

#6

suspension of disbelief, once the lines get so horrible they get judged on the campy/ridiculous scale, BMS is high enough quality that people are actually taking it seriously and judging it based on that.

#7

Maybe that’s why Valve left out the female scientists; they knew that none of the women would put up with wearing such ridiculous ties.

#8

I often wondered (yes, for real!) how those scientists could make a tie knot without screwing up or making it look horrible without any women near by.

I’m glad Black Mesa is filling that major plot hole.

#9

This complaint again? Honestly… I dont know how else the line could have been stated.

#10

IMHO AFAIK YMMV instead of recording his lines again, they should just get the Barney voice actor to do some Xen texture painting or something. Get this bad mother out the door!!

#11

No.

#12

I really don’t think that the voice actor needs to be replaced. It sounds great as is. I just think that one or two of the lines needs very slight retooling.

On a related note, didn’t Mike Shapiro agree at one point to do voice acting for this probono? That would be the best idea for the character gman’s voice retakes especially. If you asked Gabe Newell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he let the team borrow the studio for Mike Shapiro’s recording. I’m sure Gabe would do anything he can to help perfect the project. Just email him with the details.

#13

It sounds good if you keep listening to it until you’re used to it.
See here: https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showpost.php?p=2705&postcount=21

#14

sometimes i think people are just so dam picky about things !! theres nothing wrong with the line !! hl1 had CRAP voice acting . . . i meen come on the scientist all sounded the same (and looked the same too !! ) plus barney is a bit of a brain donor any way !! he more dumb muscle ( well mayb not muscle) and besides if you had already read the blurb on the back of the box of half life you pretty much new the shit would hit the fan anyway !! wot did you expect that the game was gunna be about a mute scientist that doesnt seem to do any real work and just walks around all day !!
i dnt mean to piss any1 off but it anoys me when ppl analise something that well isnt reali THAT important. when the release day comes ppl aint gunna refuse to play it or be anoyed about that line andd if u are bothered then you have something wrong with you!!

#15

Oh wow…
No, Mike Shapiro never agreed to work for Black Mesa team. And he isn’t Gabe Newell’s slave or something so they can’t ask him to “borrow” Mike. They offered him money, just like for the normal voice acting job, but he refused. So no, emailing to Gabe won’t help.

#16

I thought they offered him the position, but he asked for money.

#17

Anyway they don’t need Mike Shapiro. Doesn’t debeerguy sounds amazing enough? :stuck_out_tongue:

#18

Nope. I could probably find that post (if it was a post, but I think so). Plus I think they even said it in some interview (podcast maybe).

#19

I’d like to see you try. :wink:

#20

IIRC, it happened in this order.

1 ) We brought on debeerguy to do some voice acting for Barney and Gman. He nailed Barney and he showed real potential for gman.
2 ) We contacted Mike and asked him if he would join the project. (Specifics were not presented at the time) We indicated we could pay.
3 ) Mike politely declined indicating he did not have the resources to dedicate to the project.(Specifics were not presented at the time)
4 ) debeerguy nails more and more Barney and Gman voices.
5 ) To date, debeerguy continuously tweaks existing recordings due to the awesomeness of his voice talent increasing.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.