So I was debating whether or not to put voice overs in my game. I've played games with just text dialogue, games that just have voice overs on cutscenes, and games that have voice overs all the time. What do you guys prefer? Does it make the game more epic, or is it just annoying?
A prime example of my opinion is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. It has voices on cutscenes, and a narrator voiceover with text there too between levels. Everything else is just text. I would have loved voiceovers all the time, because they just pwn so much in the cutscenes, but I don't like the narrator's weird accent. He pronounces things differently than I would. I don't care if the narrator pronounces Serenes sehr-in-iss, I still pronounce it sehr-eens. So in a nutshell, my opinion on them varies.
Discuss.
Full Version: Voice overs
I think good voiceovers are definitely a plus in ANY game, however, it gets kind of annoying to hear the people talking 24/7.
My opinion: Voiceovers for just cutscenes, makes a game better.
My opinion: Voiceovers for just cutscenes, makes a game better.
I put never, though come to think of it, cutscene only might be a good rule.
It's likely to create a huge game though. Also, you've got to find people willing to act, being that this is unlikely to be a professionally hired game (though I suppose you could hire here), even if they're parents, girlfriends, neighbors, etc. Best if they're talented and can do two or more roles.
I liked Vacant Sky's approach though, having vocal lines at opening, ending, and a few key places.
It's likely to create a huge game though. Also, you've got to find people willing to act, being that this is unlikely to be a professionally hired game (though I suppose you could hire here), even if they're parents, girlfriends, neighbors, etc. Best if they're talented and can do two or more roles.
I liked Vacant Sky's approach though, having vocal lines at opening, ending, and a few key places.
QUOTE (bulmabriefs144 @ Dec 4 2011, 08:13 PM) 
I put never, though come to think of it, cutscene only might be a good rule.
It's likely to create a huge game though. Also, you've got to find people willing to act, being that this is unlikely to be a professionally hired game (though I suppose you could hire here), even if they're parents, girlfriends, neighbors, etc. Best if they're talented and can do two or more roles.
I liked Vacant Sky's approach though, having vocal lines at opening, ending, and a few key places.
It's likely to create a huge game though. Also, you've got to find people willing to act, being that this is unlikely to be a professionally hired game (though I suppose you could hire here), even if they're parents, girlfriends, neighbors, etc. Best if they're talented and can do two or more roles.
I liked Vacant Sky's approach though, having vocal lines at opening, ending, and a few key places.
I thought Vacant Sky's dialogue was all dubbed?
And yeah, bulmabriefs brings up a very valid point, if the voice actors aren't talented, or there's not enough variation between roles (eg, someone who's playing two different roles, but not doing a very good job of vocalizing differences between voices.) it could ruin the point of even having voice actors.
I personally find having Voice Over not a good idea for general dialogue.
Probably the most suitable situations for actual Voice Over's is Cinematic Cut Scenes.
Sometimes it burns my ears, hearing repetitive battle quote/crys in a rpg battle, good or not, it becomes repetitive, and likewise mocked.
Probably the most suitable situations for actual Voice Over's is Cinematic Cut Scenes.
Sometimes it burns my ears, hearing repetitive battle quote/crys in a rpg battle, good or not, it becomes repetitive, and likewise mocked.
It's very expensive in terms of size usage. 2/3 of my game size is music and sounds.
Bringing this up actually made me think of one place I could use a voice actor (since it's silly to make a recruitment post just for this, I'll post it here). I could really use a female voice-actor for the opening narration of my game.
Bringing this up actually made me think of one place I could use a voice actor (since it's silly to make a recruitment post just for this, I'll post it here). I could really use a female voice-actor for the opening narration of my game.
Details
The thing with voice acting is that if it isn't high quality, this will hurt your game more than serve it. Now consider that even professionals sometimes end up with laughable VA, and imagine how hard it will be to find amateurs with enough talent (and training) to convey the wide range of emotions needed for a RPG character.
I say do it if you really want, but at your own risk. And put a non-voiced download link as well.
I say do it if you really want, but at your own risk. And put a non-voiced download link as well.
There are many different sites that actually provide very high quality Voice Actors, To avoid advertising I shall PM you a few links if you would like?
Voice actors, when used right, can give so much more of an atmosphere. I have seen games where I wished that Voice Acting was used throught, of course it does take alot of work, for example currently I am still working through all the Lines of my VA's just so that you can make sure they all sound perfect. If you are willing to put in the work, and you contact the right people, then Voice Actors/Actresses are a vital part of a game
Voice actors, when used right, can give so much more of an atmosphere. I have seen games where I wished that Voice Acting was used throught, of course it does take alot of work, for example currently I am still working through all the Lines of my VA's just so that you can make sure they all sound perfect. If you are willing to put in the work, and you contact the right people, then Voice Actors/Actresses are a vital part of a game
DROD: TCB has great voice acting, check out it; speech is minimal as it's puzzle game mainly.
I say no because most indie games create a 2D retro feel that would be awkward to include voic overs, plus the voice overs are never that good. But if you've hired a professional team and have customized the game to look like something from at least mid-late Playstation, then go for it.
QUOTE (Jonnie19 @ Dec 5 2011, 02:01 AM)
There are many different sites that actually provide very high quality Voice Actors, To avoid advertising I shall PM you a few links if you would like?
Sure. I'd love that.
I dunno, amerk. Sure it takes away from the retro feel (which is possibly why it should be limited to major cutscenes, in the same way high graphics scenes are limited in PS rpgs, and for probably the same reason, space conservation and a need to break from the actual game), but it adds to characterization being able to hear that character speak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0XAzddFqwc
It really does add to the scene.
I like voice-overs when done well. They can add more meaning that text just can't convey. However there are times when its just not necessary.
For simple practicality though, for an RPG Maker game if you're going to use voice-overs, I would say just in the cut-scenes.
For simple practicality though, for an RPG Maker game if you're going to use voice-overs, I would say just in the cut-scenes.
I like VO for certain games. For example, the Star Wars franchise will not be the same without the voice overs.
I have tried the SWTOR beta as an Imperial agent and the voice over has been one of the parts I like compared to WoW.
When it comes to indie games though, VO is so out of budget that I voted - people can read
I have tried the SWTOR beta as an Imperial agent and the voice over has been one of the parts I like compared to WoW.
When it comes to indie games though, VO is so out of budget that I voted - people can read
QUOTE (amerk @ Dec 5 2011, 10:33 AM)
I say no because most indie games create a 2D retro feel that would be awkward to include voic overs ...
I agree with this. To me, voice overs in a 2d game would seem unnatural and kind of forced. I suppose I could be proven wrong, though. Generally speaking, I preferred RPG's from back before the advent of voice acting, as I could decide for myself what I wanted the character to sound like in my head. Left more to the imagination, I guess. And then, of course, there's the problem of some games having terrible voice acting. The only games I really liked the voice acting in were Xenosaga I and III, I thought the acting fit very well and really heightened the experience. Most of the time it just sounds awkward to me. Kind of like dubbed anime. It always seems unnatural to me.
If you're going to use voice acting, I would definitely say cutscenes only. But I would most likely prefer to read the dialogue myself. An option to turn off the voice acting would probably be a good idea.
Even the games with terrible voice acting can earn the "So Bad It's Funny" category and can be fun to play just because it's cheese.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bangt7d9vGA
Listen to Karen's voice and tell me that's not hawt. (It's not hawt)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bangt7d9vGA
Listen to Karen's voice and tell me that's not hawt. (It's not hawt)
LMFAO. That voice acting was sooooo horrible it was funny. And gave me cancer.
Is that a commercial game?
When voice acting is bad, it can ruin a game. When it's bad almost as if on purpose, it can be funny and novel. (You'll turn off the sound after a while anyways)
If it's good, then it can really add a lot to the game.
So, in my opinion, either do it right or not at all. No exceptions. Text is fine and there's other ways to give audible confirmations of a characters action.
Is that a commercial game?
When voice acting is bad, it can ruin a game. When it's bad almost as if on purpose, it can be funny and novel. (You'll turn off the sound after a while anyways)
If it's good, then it can really add a lot to the game.
So, in my opinion, either do it right or not at all. No exceptions. Text is fine and there's other ways to give audible confirmations of a characters action.
I would concider it a must for cutscenes (personally) but it would just seem out of place in a 2 Dimensional game.
Dont do it, dont think about it, dont even wish it. no game should have voice acting, FF10 and up was (in my oppinion) ruined because of it. while the graphics got nicer the games ....got suckier.....
I'm TOTALLY going to be "that guy" about this, but I'm an actor and as such I have a unique perspective on the situation. I'm not NEARLY as experienced in the field of voice acting as some of my friends, but I still have some insight into the subject.
Voice acting in games is a layer of cream on the cake. Great frosting will only make the cake better and bad frosting will ruin the entire thing, but ultimately the frosting is optional. Voice acting makes Bioware games stand out, but I'd rather read fire emblem's text for hours on end than listen to Star Ocean: The Last Hope's acting for five seconds. Doing it right is awesome, but like anything in videogames, doing it RIGHT is complicated.
There is a LOT in a character that can only be said well through vocal inflection, but unless there is something special to say and someone who can say it well (the actor) then there isn't much point. There has to be a lot of valid subtext for the actor to use before acting should be considered necessary. Then, it takes a quality actor to identify that subtext and not just perform it, but add upon it in a meaningful way. Take Dragon Age Origins: the reason that the voice acting is good in that game is because they A ) had very well written and detailed relationships between the different characters, and B ) had actors that understood character development isn't just in what the character's say, but how they say it. Sarcasm can be funny, dry, mean, and a variety of other flavors, and then there is a multitude of ways that the character can be funny or dry or mean, each saying something about that character. A good actor won't just perform the text believably, they'll make it BETTER. It's also important to know that writing for performance is different than writing for a visual medium, so you will either need to learn the differences or find a writer who does.
If writing is your skill set and you can find actors who are on the level of, or better, than your writing then it may be worth a shot. Just know it's a SUBSTANTIAL time investment. My strength is my writing and (sorry about "name dropping" but it's not really a big name) one of my best friends in my program is Kate Bristol who does a lot of anime voices and has done a few games. She offered, and we briefly talked about about doing voices for my current game. We decided against it. We agreed that it would take too much time and the priority on a first release should be solid gameplay.
If you can do it right and are willing to put in all the time necessary, it can only make your game better, but don't rely on it to make your game special. If you don't have either the writing experience or you don't have access to truly great actors, then your players imagination will probably do a better job than you can.
Again, sorry about being "that guy", but I hope it helps!
EDIT: Just saw your poll, and I wish I could answer but I don't think I can vote without knowing more specifics about your game. I know a lot of games only have voice acting because the story is often told at the same time as the action. In a lot of shooter games, you have people telling you what you need to do and what's happening at the same time you're playing. In that case, you NEED voice acting because it's a disaster trying to read text and shoot something at the same time. If you're telling a story via cutscenes or isolated story segments, like I think the majority of us on this site, then you should make an educated decision about whether or not you have writing and actors capable of adding to your game, as well as how much time that process will take.
Voice acting in games is a layer of cream on the cake. Great frosting will only make the cake better and bad frosting will ruin the entire thing, but ultimately the frosting is optional. Voice acting makes Bioware games stand out, but I'd rather read fire emblem's text for hours on end than listen to Star Ocean: The Last Hope's acting for five seconds. Doing it right is awesome, but like anything in videogames, doing it RIGHT is complicated.
There is a LOT in a character that can only be said well through vocal inflection, but unless there is something special to say and someone who can say it well (the actor) then there isn't much point. There has to be a lot of valid subtext for the actor to use before acting should be considered necessary. Then, it takes a quality actor to identify that subtext and not just perform it, but add upon it in a meaningful way. Take Dragon Age Origins: the reason that the voice acting is good in that game is because they A ) had very well written and detailed relationships between the different characters, and B ) had actors that understood character development isn't just in what the character's say, but how they say it. Sarcasm can be funny, dry, mean, and a variety of other flavors, and then there is a multitude of ways that the character can be funny or dry or mean, each saying something about that character. A good actor won't just perform the text believably, they'll make it BETTER. It's also important to know that writing for performance is different than writing for a visual medium, so you will either need to learn the differences or find a writer who does.
If writing is your skill set and you can find actors who are on the level of, or better, than your writing then it may be worth a shot. Just know it's a SUBSTANTIAL time investment. My strength is my writing and (sorry about "name dropping" but it's not really a big name) one of my best friends in my program is Kate Bristol who does a lot of anime voices and has done a few games. She offered, and we briefly talked about about doing voices for my current game. We decided against it. We agreed that it would take too much time and the priority on a first release should be solid gameplay.
If you can do it right and are willing to put in all the time necessary, it can only make your game better, but don't rely on it to make your game special. If you don't have either the writing experience or you don't have access to truly great actors, then your players imagination will probably do a better job than you can.
Again, sorry about being "that guy", but I hope it helps!
EDIT: Just saw your poll, and I wish I could answer but I don't think I can vote without knowing more specifics about your game. I know a lot of games only have voice acting because the story is often told at the same time as the action. In a lot of shooter games, you have people telling you what you need to do and what's happening at the same time you're playing. In that case, you NEED voice acting because it's a disaster trying to read text and shoot something at the same time. If you're telling a story via cutscenes or isolated story segments, like I think the majority of us on this site, then you should make an educated decision about whether or not you have writing and actors capable of adding to your game, as well as how much time that process will take.
QUOTE (Adrien. @ Dec 26 2011, 07:56 PM)
Dont do it, dont think about it, dont even wish it. no game should have voice acting, FF10 and up was (in my oppinion) ruined because of it. while the graphics got nicer the games ....got suckier.....
Its like Dubbing Anime, dude. Same principal, those voice actors have decent talent, The guy that did Tidus for example.. he's all sorts of characters. He's Obi Wan in Clone Wars, for example. Wakka was Bender for that matter. When you translate a game from a different language, a lot is lost for a number of different reasons. Could also be the case where the characters don't have anything interesting to say. I personally found the entire party, baring Auron to be a group of retards but that might be beside the point. If you want voice overs done right, Skyrim to me is about as good as it gets, even though some people sound the same.
On topic though, I don't condone the use of voice overs.. but it can get a bit annoying depending on either how well you write, or who you get to do your voices. Either one of those will possibly put people off. If you want to do battle grunts and groans and special attacks and stuff like that, maybe. But again, it depends.
If you're going for comical value, sure, use voice acting.
Otherwise any amount of quality and skill used to make the voice acting will never ever replace what the reader can create in their minds. If you're a good writer then a voice is something you should never need to gather reactions from your writing.
No matter what the person reading can and will always make a better voice in their head than you possibly ever could.
Therefore, why bother? It's not worth the effort or development time.
Otherwise any amount of quality and skill used to make the voice acting will never ever replace what the reader can create in their minds. If you're a good writer then a voice is something you should never need to gather reactions from your writing.
No matter what the person reading can and will always make a better voice in their head than you possibly ever could.
Therefore, why bother? It's not worth the effort or development time.
It really depends on the voice actors. With general games, absolutely, but those that are text based, they REALLY need good voice actors, or else the game will fail.
One more thing, due to the nature of voice acting, text will probably be shrunken to save space and time, which does remove some elements. It's like in a book, everything is text based, no shortages, while movies are heavily shortened. It's the same here, really.
One more thing, due to the nature of voice acting, text will probably be shrunken to save space and time, which does remove some elements. It's like in a book, everything is text based, no shortages, while movies are heavily shortened. It's the same here, really.
Having done this for a few weeks, I can give some pointers. For clear sound and small file size (these wav files are HUGE), switch to mp3. This will of course turn it to a repeating file on some rpg makers, so you'll need something to stop the file once it plays.
I created this common event to deal with this (first, you'll need to memorize whatever music is currently there before voice acting starts, since music is interrupted).
Loop (interrupts to play before text)
If Sound File Plays Once
Play Memorized (Reverts to music)
End Processing (Common Events usually screw up without this exiting out)
End
End Loop (if it's inside)
Post your game here on http://www.starnow.com/ as a free or paid project and it seems to get hits like crazy. It's up to you to make sure they follow through though.
Imagine this scene without voice acting and you'll see what people mean.
Kingdom Hearts 2
"Voice in the head" argument is about the same as having silent protagonists because you can better identify with them. But as someone else said, when you make a character an everyman, they end up having no personality. How the character talks tells scores about their character. If you leave it up to the character, the context is lost (you read the character as emotional, and the lines suggest rather that they are deadpan, it helps to have a voiceover play it as deadpan).
I created this common event to deal with this (first, you'll need to memorize whatever music is currently there before voice acting starts, since music is interrupted).
Loop (interrupts to play before text)
If Sound File Plays Once
Play Memorized (Reverts to music)
End Processing (Common Events usually screw up without this exiting out)
End
End Loop (if it's inside)
Post your game here on http://www.starnow.com/ as a free or paid project and it seems to get hits like crazy. It's up to you to make sure they follow through though.
Imagine this scene without voice acting and you'll see what people mean.
Kingdom Hearts 2
"Voice in the head" argument is about the same as having silent protagonists because you can better identify with them. But as someone else said, when you make a character an everyman, they end up having no personality. How the character talks tells scores about their character. If you leave it up to the character, the context is lost (you read the character as emotional, and the lines suggest rather that they are deadpan, it helps to have a voiceover play it as deadpan).
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