The Indie Game Magazine September 2014 | Issue 41 | Page 15

C, D, and E all sound very similar to a voice recognition engine (and a human ear). So, we took a page
out of a real military’s book and used the phonetic
alphabet; alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo. Not only
does it increase recognition, it makes you feel just a
*tiny bit* cooler.
IGM: Which came first: The desire to build a game
supported by full voice controls, or the desire to
build a high quality, squad-based strategy RPG?
Jason: They were nearly simultaneous, to be honest.
I thought of how I didn’t like being ordered around
by some robotic voice in my earpiece in some FPS
or another, and realized that using the very same
method to direct *your own* troops could be extremely compelling.
IGM: How sophisticated is the AI in There Came an
Echo?
Jason: It passes the Turing Test! Assuming the Turing
test is altered to specify that agents must demonstrate intelligent tactical behavior on a battlefield.
Seriously, we’ve spent a lot of time developing the
internal systems... voice commands aren’t used for
minutia, so the AI needs to smoothly handle things
like aiming, firing, and reloading. While enemy soldiers will use further tactics, the player himself will
take care of the higher level functions for the protagonists on the field.
IGM: What’s been the most challenging aspect of

development so far?
Jason: Well, the obvious answer is getting a nuanced and flexible voice control system working,
but I’d like to say that really balancing the narrative
and gameplay elements so that one doesn’t hinder or obstruct the other is quite the difficult task.
I have a slight advantage in that I’m the one doing
the design on both of those phases, but it’s still exceedingly difficult.
IGM: When the game first launches, how many
languages will it support?
Jason: Eleven, actually... let’s see if I can name
them: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional,
Japanese, Korean, and Russian. Intel is the one helping us with localization, which normally is a very difficult feat. I should note that localization does *not*
mean voice acting in all of those languages, but
translated subtitles, menus, and the ability to speak
commands in that given language.
IGM: What are the team’s plans in terms of Early
Access? When can players get their hands on a
build of There Came an Echo?
Jason: This is a contentious point, here, but there
are absolutely no plans whatsoever for Early Access
of any kind.
We get it... for a multiplayer game, or ones based

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