I admit, I have not read all 91 pages of this thread, so apologies if this has been asked before: How can one contribute to the sound sense project? I'm friends with some voice actors and musicians who thought it would be fun to add to it.
It looks like
zwei, SoundSense's creator, hasn't been on since April. But I'm pretty sure he checks the forums now and then. My suggestion:
If you haven't already, check out the SoundSense webpage
here as it has more information. In particular, you may be interested in this:
- packSkeletons.zip are xml files for all known log lines without sounds, you can use this as your starting point.
- missingMessages.cmd will parse log file and output all lines your packs will not recognize
Both
packSkeletons.zip and
missingMessages.cmd can be found inside the SoundSense download. The .xml files in
packSkeletons.zip can be opened with Microsoft Excel or Open Office. And missingMessages.cmd will search the game log for messages / announcements that SoundSense may not recognize. (BTW: It looks like none of the files in
packSkeletons.zip are more recent than March 13, 2016.)
The above can be used to figure which log announcements and sounds SoundSense is still missing. I suppose you could also search for - or create your own - sound effects or music that may work better than what is already used. Though, what one may consider "better" is
subjective, so zwei may or may not use them. (However, some people create their own, optional sound packs or mod the music or settings suit their taste and preferences.)
For such, the
SoundSense website has a list of sites with public domain and creative commons sounds and music.
Some sites of interest should you want additional sounds:
http://soundbible.com/
http://www.freesound.org/
http://www.musopen.org/
http://opengameart.org/browse/audio
http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
http://ccmixter.org
http://free-loops.com/
http://www.pdsounds.org/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sound
http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio
http://publicdomainaudiovideo.blogspot.com/
Be warned: It can be a time-sink. It's difficult to find stuff that is appropriate for missing sounds or to find something better than what SoundSense already has.
As for voice acting: I think the voices already present for announcements like migrants, moods, and dwarf babies being born are already
perfect. I can't imagine anything better. They sound
exactly like dwarves should, IMO. And many are hilarious.
But then, there are some popular Dwarf Fortress mods that make major changes to the game. For instance, Meph's
Masterwork Mod is popular and it allows the player to play as other races, such as Elves, Humans, Kobolds, Orcs, and Succubi. Perhaps someone could make a soundpack of voice announcements for the other races or something?
Myself: Several years ago I started collecting new sounds for the birth of animals that are either tamable or which I felt
should be tamable. (The "Everything is Tameable" module for the popular
Modest Mod does what it sounds like.) There are not many public domain or CC sources for baby animals sounds. So I ended up searching on YouTube and politely asking video authors for permission to use the sound, with credit, in a Dwarf Fortress sound mod. (Actually, when asked, about half of them gave permission. The other half never responded.) Surprisingly, if one is determined, one can find videos or sounds for newborns of a wide assortment of animals, from puppies to baby crocodiles and leopards. However, I lost interest and never finished. Though, I have been thinking of picking that up again and releasing something.