The Game Composer’s Blog

Voice acting in games: a great interview

I just found an excellent interview over at Gamasutra dealing with voice acting in games. They interviewed the Dialog Manager at Sony named Greg deBeer. He brought up many good points and it is a good introduction to some of the finer points of voice acting.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3676/giving_games_a_voice_sonys_.php

I agree with him to an extent about not hiring celebrity actors to do game voice.

deBeer: “…hearing an identifiable celebrity voice takes you away from the game. Instead of being immersed in this environment with these characters who are supposed to be a part of whatever world you’re playing, you say, “Oh, I recognize that voice,” and it brings you back into the real world. It’s a very disruptive experience for me personally.”

I have found myself taken out of a game trying to place a voice I’ve heard. I think it’s actually a worse problem with b-list celebrities because you don’t instantly know who it is and it bothers you until you figure it out. With the more famous celebrities you can say “oh that’s cool I guess”, file away that info, and move on with the game. But with some character actor whose voice you recognize and you know you’ve seen on various TV shows or in movies, it just bothers me until I can figure out who it is.

The problem is, good strictly-voice actors are going to be in demand and are going to appear in many different games. It can also take you out of a game trying to figure out in what other game you’ve heard that voice actor. So, in the end, it sort of cancels out the negative aspect of having a celebrity actor in your game. Any recognizable voice is going to take you out of the game for at least a little while.

But we’re used to seeing actors play different roles in different movies. Was anyone seriously freaked out watching Harrison Ford running from the law in The Fugitive, not able to get past the fact that he wasn’t toting a blaster a la Han Solo? I don’t think so. We’re used to actors pretending to be many different people. But it is true that when we don’t see the actor, we have to concentrate a little harder on placing the voice rather than enjoying the game. This goes for animated movies as well. I was actually quite distracted for a long while the first time I watched The Incredibles, trying to place Mr. Incredible’s voice. Coach! Ah, there… now I can enjoy…

The biggest gripe I have with using celebrity actors is that I think it is a waste of money. They are not necessarily better voice actors and I’m not sure putting their name on the game is really going to effect game sales anyway, if star power is being used as a marketing tool. Just make a fun game. Let the fun sell the game. There are plenty of excellent voice-specific actors out there who will do a bang-up job for you.

Another point I agree with from the interview is to pleeeease get speakers with natural accents. Fake accents stick out like a sore thumb. A fake accent may sound close to authentic, but it’s always the subtleties that ruin the performance. The little words like “the” or “them” can instantly destroy any attempt at an accent. I noticed this in Grand Theft Auto 4 in my review of the month and it will always be an issue. Don’t be lazy with your casting. Get the real deal.

Anyway, enjoy the interview. I gotta say it’s nice for me to read, especially because he graduated from my grad school, CalArts. Go us!

July 10, 2008 Posted by thegamecomposer | Voice Acting | casting, voice, Voice Acting | Leave a Comment