LE Being picky with voice acting, is it worth it?

[littleork]

Hello there

 

 

I have been working on a mod that adds jobs in Skyrim for 6 months and I am finally done with it, did a beta release for people to enjoy and it go some popularity.

 

My mod uses a lot of vanilla npcs to make it easier for me to set up the quests in the environment, for example, I use the in game blacksmith for the blacksmith jobs, alchemist for alchemy, merchant for fetch jobs etc etc.

Since I use vanilla npcs, I am trying to get voice actors that have voices that are similar to vanilla as much as possible since I had people complaining in the past about voices not being close enough thus breaking immersions.

 

I have found 1 male va so far that has been able to do about 31% of my male voice acting by being really similar to the characters but obviously, he doesn't feel comfortable with all of them so I started searching for va for the rest.

 

Went to a va website and did my request stating that I use vanilla npcs so closer to the real ones the better. I later get a post from an admin saying that expecting people to do that is unrealistic and that it will probably get zero help if I stick with those expectations.

 

 

Is it really unrealistic to think that I can get people to voice npc close enough to vanilla keeping in mind that I was satisfied with some of them already?

 

Should I just take any decent va I find without them doing a voice close to vanilla? I really want my current users to be satisfied with the mod, including the va but how far should I go to do so.

 

 

Thanks for reading me and any opinions is appreciated, I am just not sure what to think right now :S.

[JanusForbeare]

Hm... I came into this thread thinking, "Yes, always hold out for the best possible VAs", but after reading your post, I'm re-considering my position.

 

I know it's a little late in the dev process to be saying this, but I would have strongly recommended that you use custom NPCs as your questgivers to avoid this very situation. Your mod has... 16 different voiced roles, if I remember correctly (though some of those NPCs likely use the same voice type). Even if that cuts the total number of voices needed down to, say, 12, you still have three major concerns if you want the voice transition to be relatively seamless.

 

1) The voice type and accent, as you've previously noted;

 

2) The skill level of the VA - most of the VAs you'll find here are amateurs (no offense to them, just stating a fact) and might have difficulty making their lines sound as sincere as Beth's professionals;

 

3) Sound quality - even people with a decent mike set up will need to do some audio sweetening to reduce noise, cut out breath sounds, etc.

 

If possible, I'd recommend doing a minor overhaul of the mod to replace the vanilla questgivers with new NPCs. If not possible, then I'd try expanding your search to resources that newcomers to the acting industry use, rather than restricting yourself to gaming forums. I use StarNow (registration is pretty cheap), but there are other similar resources out there as well. Often the up-and-comers have a lot of talent, but need to fill out their portfolios, and will be willing to do unpaid work for the experience. Provide links to audio/video of lines being said by the NPCs you want to emulate, and see what you get.

 

Good luck! It's a tough situation you're in, but I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work.

[littleork]

Hm... I came into this thread thinking, "Yes, always hold out for the best possible VAs", but after reading your post, I'm re-considering my position.

 

I know it's a little late in the dev process to be saying this, but I would have strongly recommended that you use custom NPCs as your questgivers to avoid this very situation. Your mod has... 16 different voiced roles, if I remember correctly (though some of those NPCs likely use the same voice type). Even if that cuts the total number of voices needed down to, say, 12, you still have three major concerns if you want the voice transition to be relatively seamless.

 

1) The voice type and accent, as you've previously noted;

 

2) The skill level of the VA - most of the VAs you'll find here are amateurs (no offense to them, just stating a fact) and might have difficulty making their lines sound as sincere as Beth's professionals;

 

3) Sound quality - even people with a decent mike set up will need to do some audio sweetening to reduce noise, cut out breath sounds, etc.

 

If possible, I'd recommend doing a minor overhaul of the mod to replace the vanilla questgivers with new NPCs. If not possible, then I'd try expanding your search to resources that newcomers to the acting industry use, rather than restricting yourself to gaming forums. I use StarNow (registration is pretty cheap), but there are other similar resources out there as well. Often the up-and-comers have a lot of talent, but need to fill out their portfolios, and will be willing to do unpaid work for the experience. Provide links to audio/video of lines being said by the NPCs you want to emulate, and see what you get.

 

Good luck! It's a tough situation you're in, but I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work.

 

 

I am getting to a point where I am just tired of working on this mod and want to move on to something else. I had no intentions to release any va but it got popular enough that it is almost a must-have for some people. I am proud of the work I have done on my mod but there has been too many mistakes in it, starting with using vanilla npcs. I could do a change of everything but it would mean reviewing the mod in its entirety and let's say that I am burned out on that one, it has been a good learning project and VA is the only thing left to bedone, but it seems that it can be a part that makes you want to throw the mod in the *garbage*.

 

I guess I just need to think about it and see what I want to do.

[IsharaMeradin]

I had no intentions to release any va but it got popular enough that it is almost a must-have for some people.

That right there is the key... SOME people. There is no pleasing everyone and honestly you shouldn't try. If they really want voice acting, then allow them to procure va and add on to the mod themselves. Don't put yourself thru stress and worry for something that you were never planning on doing.