Cunobelin gets an "M" and We get to See How his Sound Mod Works
I am mostly done with tweaking my crew voices. I have a good mix of nostalgic voice captures that kept and improved upon the spirit of the first ingame voice mod I used (through Aslain's XVM modpack) while getting rid of the overly obscene or silly captures I did not like. At some point, I may do the hard work to unwrap my current GUI.fsb file. This would allow me to access the first contact and enemy spotting events. I have some good captures for those, but don't think the effort required is worth it. I would have to redo many GUI sounds that I am happy with, just to get the spotting pieces changed.
If you haven't, go ahead and give the embedded video a look. I used CamStudio to do the screen capture of a WoT replay. While doing the capture, I kept Pandora playing, which is how I play the game. I was trying for an authentic experience; however, both the sound and video quality are notably worse than I get while playing in HD. The Pandora capture is especially poor, probably because the volume is low. The crew voice mods, which is what I am really looking to highlight, come through much better.
It turns out the answer to question 6 is that I do have to update for most WoT mods. Recently WoT created a game modification that caused me to have to reinstall XVM. It took Aslain a couple of days to update his mod pack to adjust for the game change. I had to update with his new mod pack and then replace the ingame voice files with my previously created versions, before everything was back to normal. It is quite possible that a future game mod will invalidate NoblePlatoon's template. At that point I will have to find someone else who has made an up-to-date template, or reverse engineer the game's fsb files to create my own.
I found sufficient scaffolding for everything I envisioned. I believe there is enough to successfully reverse engineer other sound effects (there are threads with modders working on custom engine and gun sounds), though I have little interest in these areas. I also imagine, but have not looked into it, that there is scaffolding for doing new screen mods (e.g. the damage given and received tables I mention in the game video narration). All of it was fun to create. I think I had the most fun finding sound capture files and then matching them up to relevant events (e.g. "they killed Kenny" or "Bring out your dead" for dead/injured crew members). While writing this post, I asked one of my sons if he likes my mod, and got an affirmative response. After letting him know he could have it by just replacing two files, he didn't ask for them though. I suppose time will tell if anyone else ever tries it. The last question is especially good. I have considered ways in which I could integrate World of Warplanes into a theoretical airplane design class; however, math class is a harder fit. Once I know the location and subject(s) I will teach in the Fall, I plan to think more on it. I expect that students will find the modifications, funny and interesting. If I can find a genuine connection to content, it should strengthen my connections with them and improve many students' learning outcomes.
For example, I have several quotes from the movie Aliens that I have long repeated. Most of them are from Bill Paxton's character, Private Hudson. One in particular, "Whydntcha put her in charge?," is a wonderful, snarky remark that Hudson makes to Ripley, after she castigates the Marines' for complaining by stating that a 10 year old girl has been able to survive. The version of this quote I was able to find on the web included several seconds of blank space that makes it useless for my purposes in game. I needed an audio editor, bad :P After a short search through audio editor reviews, I decided to go with Audacity. It turned out to be easy to use and plenty capable for my purposes. In fact, besides improving a few movie quotes. I also spent some time fooling around making clips from my own voice. Although fun, I have found my personal work to be less satisfying. Perhaps I need to put more work into my voice acting preparation? My final step was to adjust which quotes I put where. As part of this, I also decided I needed more raw files. Not all of my files worked for every event, and some events were pretty thin. My corected "Whydntcha put her in charge?" fit nicely for a killed tank commander, but I wanted more. The main source I went to was other games. Although I added a couple more from Duke Nukem, it was StarCraft where I really hit the jackpot.
As the authors point out repeatedly in their book, connections are a critical part of what allows us to create value. People who know about Iraq have a huge advantage in connecting it to other ideas, over those who merely have access to knowledge about Iraq. I wonder about the tipping point; when do we have sufficient knowledge to make connections that will drive us to leverage the deeper knowledge that is more easily available today?
However, I did not connect with Geeking out. How do you get deeper than incorporating the media to become an exension of yourself? Reading another interpretation of the typology I came away with a picture that I could wrap my head around. In this case the Hanging Out is a social function with a byproduct of learning (think connecting with others on social media). Messing About is when you internalize the media and make it into an important facet of expressing yourself. Geeking Out is then the experience of building deep content associated with the intersection of the media and your interests.
My own experiences are more modest. Games can be played solo, but success is greater with cooperation. In Warplanes, for example, I can get good at operating my Corsair solo or combined with flights (one or two other players that play in the same battles who may or may not be supplementing their coordination with voice – chat is default). Individual skill is absolutely necessary for success, but it can be enhanced by learning to cooperate successfully with others in flights. Players also benefit by teaching each other techniques to increase their individual skill. Finally, a major factor is judgement. Learning to choose who to engage, when to break off, and when to be patient is another crucial factor that is built both solo and through interactions with others. This raises an interesting question that I have also pondered in my teaching practice: what is the proper balance between individual learning and group learning? It seems to me that many factors affect this issue. For some students, group learning may be more effective, though I know this is not true for many. For others, group learning is an important method to teach collaboration skills, which will be crucial (but not sufficient) for their future. Group learning also offers those with superior skills / knowledge to further improve through teaching / mentoring. Finally, group dynamics have the potential to create emergent cultures where learning takes on a life of its own. This last point is where the book is focused. I wonder what are the sufficient conditions to create that within our classrooms? Is World of Warplanes more of an Individual Game than most MMOs? How do we balance individual and group learning to provide our students the most benefit? |
SH2f088Old H-2 pilot; washed up & revamped rocket scientist. Had trouble teaching your kids math & chemistry. Categories
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