Conversations without voice actors?

[Sph!nx]

I was wondering how you would approach conversations for a game since I assume a lot of amateur game designers hit a brick wall when trying to find suitable voice actors.

Of course a text message (possible with a portrait of the one who's speaking) would be needed but complete absence of sound would still make it feel a bit unfinished.

Wierd, muffled, deformed voices would work great on a cartoon game but I can't figure something out for a more realistic design. Yeah, a simple beep or radio click for some kind of communication through a radio or other device would be sufficient but would not really work for face to face conversations.

Any thoughts?

[jonas]

Voice Changing software: changes the pitch and you can completly control how your voice sounds. Its rather cool to play around with

[Agentarrow]

good, but Out of my question, I'll google a free version

[SV2.0]

You could take the Zelda aproach. Like where you just hear a character say a simple greeting like "Hey" and then the rest is text. This way, the player knows what the voice sounds like but you only have to get one word to sound right instead of a whole dialouge.

[Sph!nx]

Voice Changing software: changes the pitch and you can completly control how your voice sounds. Its rather cool to play around with

Excellent, will take a look into that!

You could take the Zelda aproach. Like where you just hear a character say a simple greeting like "Hey" and then the rest is text. This way, the player knows what the voice sounds like but you only have to get one word to sound right instead of a whole dialouge.

That's a nice approach. That would work!

[MakerOfGames]

I would agree, take notes from the Zelda and Metroid Prime Series. They have very minimal voice acting and most of the story is delivered through text. Also, go back and play some old N64 or playstation games if you are finding it too hard to create conversations without voice. The games on those systems are known for having very little voice acting for conversations.

Edit: There are advantages to avoiding voice acting as it lets the gamer have the freedom to assign voices to the characters in their heads. Not only that but it also can create generic enemies and Non-Playable Characters that you can use the same model for again and again without the worry of gamers thinking they were supposed to be another character. It makes them less distinct and can give focus to not who the characters are and how they develop but to what the player is doing and how the events around them are unfolding. This is because the player can then think less about constructing the identity of the characters from what you give them and more about the reason as to what their character has to do because they quickly define an identity for the character in their head. Basically it shifts the focus from the character being something to watch develop and more to watching the events around them develop.

Edit Edit: I forgot to mention that by leaving out voices for the main character allows the player to bond more personally with them as they do not feel distanced by the presence of a voice. Believe it or not, but voice acting for main characters eliminates personal ties with the player just by defining what they are to sound like. A person feels more in touch with characters that they have to construct an identity for.

[SV2.0]

Those are some excillent observations. Sph!nx, listen to this guy, he knows what he's talking about.

[Sph!nx]

Thanks, MakerOfGames. The whole theorie you described fits the discription of half-life(1) very well. Although they used voices more often, the effect was the same.

[MakerOfGames]

Yeah, that is a prime example of how no voice acting for the main character can create a deeper tie with the player by letting them feel more like they are the character.

[Agentarrow]

Except Metroid Prime 3 has full voice acting for everyone but samus

[jonas]

that was exactly the point he was trying to make...

Very Nice MakerOfGames! I can tell you've been around video games a long time, and you've made many observations. Love reading your stuff!

[Agentarrow]

yeah, you do write interesting to read stuff...

[paradoxnj]

Edit Edit: I forgot to mention that by leaving out voices for the main character allows the player to bond more personally with them as they do not feel distanced by the presence of a voice. Believe it or not, but voice acting for main characters eliminates personal ties with the player just by defining what they are to sound like. A person feels more in touch with characters that they have to construct an identity for.

NeverWinter Nights does this really well. You don't hear your character at all (except for some generic battle cry). It just gives you a list of responses in text and the NPC's respond with voice.

[Agentarrow]

I never played NeverWinter nights...

[MakerOfGames]

Very Nice MakerOfGames! I can tell you've been around video games a long time, and you've made many observations. Love reading your stuff!

yeah, you do write interesting to read stuff...

Thank you very much . I have been independently studying game design since I was a freshman in high school(now I am a freshman in college) and have been an avid game player since I was very young. I am always glad to share what I have learned over the past four years. I love to analyze games and help out with game theory and design aspects .