PAX: Jed Dawson Discusses Speaking Simulator

According to Dawson, Speaking Simulator is "the story of a robot [...] trying to infiltrate human society". He is doing this "by having conversations [...] he needs to make words come out [by] moving his tongue and lips into the right positions and then make those sounds".

Dawson explained the research that went into this project. The team behind Speaking Simulator spent a lot of time figuring out tongue positions in formulating certain words, sounds and sentences. This game will tests how players subconsciously know how to make sounds - although, this is guaranteed to be a lot more tricky in a simulator game.

While Dawson mentions how this game also has some mathematical features, he described how those who have tested the game for themselves have noticed how it replicates the feeling of social anxiety. This is due to the awkward, fumbling sentences and feeling as though you're 'falling apart' in your speech.

As gamers will know, there have been a lot of 'simulator' games over the years. From the original Surgeon Simulator, to Farm Simulator to Goat Simulator, the gaming community had thought they had seen all that 'simulator' games could offer. Speaking Simulator hopes to bring new life to the genre, but where did the inspiration for the game come from?

Dawson explained to Gamers Classified how he was having conversations around facial animation. With many games also striving to mimic human movement and behaviour in an awkward fashion. He says that a scene from 'The Dark Knight' with an awkward scene involving 'Two-Face' inspired the game.

If you want to play this game for yourself you can wish-list Speaking Simulator on Steam. Alternatively, you can keep up with the team and news on Speaking Simulator through their website linked here.

You can also see the game in action by checking out the trailer for Speaking Simulator here: