Part of the modern soundscape is the singing synth voice, telling us what must be covert fetish videos, from slime recipes and teen drama to union procedures and scissor-wielding “fashion hacks.” It’s TikTok’s text-to-speech, ubiquitous. Now it’s even in Half-Life, thanks to a mod that replaces the opening tram narration with a TikTok TTS version. It’s a painful artifact, and I hate that it kind of works. Watch/listen for yourself in the video below.
Like many scary ideas on the internet, it started with a joke:
Half-life, but every voice segment is redone by tik tok text-to-speech
— 💙M&M McFurry🧡 (@TheFloofierLove) April 23, 2022
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Like many shocking jokes on the internet, it escalated over time. Just a few hours later, creator and joker “TheFloofierLove” entered the opening tram announcer script into the TikTok API to update the Black Mesa tram system with a lively and funky new personality.
“Why does this exist? Because I was bored and found out that you don’t actually need TikTok to generate voice snippets,” they explain on the download page for the TikTok Transit Voiceover mod. A very good reason to make mods. I’m glad they made this mod.
The README (always read the README) does state, “I’m really not sure how far I’ll go with this mod.” Maybe it’s still just the trolley intro. That would be nice. Just kidding is enough. That might still be too much. Although…if they did finish the whole game, I would definitely download and play it.
While government lab Black Mesa will no doubt keep its traditional announcer system until the tape dries, cracks, and withers to dust, I could see a tech startup, Black Mesa, adopting a TikTok voiceover. You know, the kind of workplace that replaces their announcer with a new joke voice every few weeks (and lists it as a perk in the job ad, alongside “beer fridge” and “top jokes”) . You know, in another month, the CEO will make a terrible impression on Rick & Morty again. Although this workplace may also use slides instead of streetcars. Still, Half-Life’s railroad chapter would have made better use of slides (especially surfing).
I do now want to see how TikTok voice replacement combined with musician Graham Dunning replaces all of Half-Life’s sounds with vintage rave and dance samples, turning Half-Life into an experimental electronic generator.
