00:00Metal Finger
00:01We brought it here and it had those fuckers inside
00:04We'll do it two week two
00:07and whether it's a fuck you or fuckers
00:13In our game your origin changes more than a few dialogue options
00:16It affects how people treat you and what you notice around you
00:20If you play as Belter
00:21Our Belters might treat you as one of their own
00:24You understand words and gestures that
00:26Offer on Martian might seem to miss
00:28We wanted a choice to stay with you throughout the game
00:32For Belters, gestures are part of everyday communication
00:35They can show emotion, attitude or meaning without replacing spoken language
00:41At first we thought we just needed to create a set of new animations
00:44It turned out to be much more complicated
00:47The same gesture can feel friendly in one conversation and aggressive in another
00:51So we needed different versions
00:54That could work with the mood of a character and the context of the scene
00:57That's why we worked closely with experts on Lang Belter and Belter gestures
01:02Time to get our heads out of our asses
01:09One of the things that makes the game different from the show
01:13Is that you are really directly interacting with the language in a way that you aren't
01:19When you're simply watching it and having it recited to you in a sense
01:24You're interacting with characters speaking with it in a sense
01:26It's like they're talking to you in Lang Belter
01:29And that's a unique experience
01:40Something that I enjoyed about working on the game was that I was really able to focus on aspects of
01:48the language
01:49That I didn't get a chance to with the show because of the depth of use of the language
01:56There were, I mean, even just little grammatical things that, um, questions that I had never quite ironed out
02:02And I was able to wrangle with, uh, given that depth
02:07Belters don't always speak Lang Belter
02:09And in the Expanse Osiris Reborn, that became really important
02:13They switch between English and Lang Belter all the time
02:15But when things get emotional, when someone's really angry, scared, or being honest
02:20Lang Belter often comes out
02:26So when I was working on the game, it wasn't just about translating dialogue
02:31It was about looking at the character, the scene, who they're talking to
02:34And asking, would this person actually switch to Lang Belter here?
02:38When you walk through series, those details are everywhere
02:41You hear Lang Belter, you catch conversations that explain what's happening around you
02:45Without anyone stopping to tell you
02:47And you notice gestures
02:51From the beginning, we knew these gestures needed to feel like a natural part of Belter culture
02:59A way to express emotions, reinforce dialogue, and communicate complex interactions
03:08It was equally important to use these gestures to portray just how close-knit the community Belters are
03:16Belters have stayed together through hardship and value
03:22Showing identity in their own way
03:25Especially the more expressive individuals
03:28Who often say as much with their hands as with their words
03:43You might see two workers arguing
03:45A Belter can't understand what started it
03:47While an Earther might only see two people shouting at each other
03:51We needed their body language to be able to tell part of their story
03:56During the motion capture sessions, we constantly tested and refined the performances
04:03Some gestures worked beautifully on an actor
04:07But felt unclear once they were transferred onto a Belter character
04:13Different body proportions and camera framing
04:17Changed how they read on screen
04:20So we adjusted the choreography until every movement felt clear and believable
04:27That's good
04:28Really far away
04:30Good
04:32You can either be proud of it or ashamed of it
04:35And it really depends on what side
04:38Like what part of Belter society you are a part of
04:41What you fall into
04:42So with any culture or any society
04:46You're always going to have some slight differences between the way generations speak
04:52We're all familiar with it, right?
04:53Teenage slang, Gen Z slang, Gen Alpha slang
04:56And that continues in Lang Belter
04:59And sometimes one word can tell you a lot about Belter life
05:03Take Wolmein
05:04It means loser
05:05But it comes from someone who has to cling to the wall in zero G
05:09For a Belter that immediately tells you this person is out of their element
05:14A Belter can leave the belt
05:16But the belt never truly leaves them
05:18Their appearance, language, culture and gestures make them instantly recognizable
05:23And that's what makes Belters feel so distinct
05:26Lang Belter is more than just a language
05:29It's a reflection of Belter identity
05:32I've been working on Lang Belter for over 12 years
05:35Imagining how English might evolve after generations of people
05:39From different cultures live and work together in space
05:43You will definitely feel that Belters have their own physical language
05:48The way they greet each other, react or express emotion
05:52Helps make the expanse Osiris Reborn
05:56Feel like a real place with its own culture
06:00Getting out of their Equip bank
06:05You will definitely get them
06:08You may have also remain hidden
