To Devs: Voice Acting

I'm just curious as to the process of auditioning for voice actors when you create new DLCs.

I already sent in 47 demo recording auditions for Lobo and Evil Ernie, back the **** off.

That job is mine.

(yes I know he's Chaos Comics...trust me he will show up one day when the crossover stuff is used to bring more money in)

Voice acting in non-single player games is the biggest waste of money and time ever.

A lot just depends on the level they go to, I think. Done right, it can add a nice little level of immersion, more than just reading a text dialogue box. But if you go overboard, like having everything voiced (including the player characters), it can have the opposite effect and remove the player from feeling immersed.

Of course, immersion itself is pretty subjective, so there's no one right answer. But I think they got the right amount of voice-over in the game to add immersion. Anything more would probably be overkill for me.

I was leaning more towards having (and paying) known actors for voiceovers.

I have to disagree with this.

One of the most attractive features of this game is it's voice acting. Compared with something like World of Warcraft that has long scrolls of text explaining why a mission needs to be done. Heck I tried Final Fantasy 14 when it was in Beta phase and the first mission I accepted was like 4 pages worth of text and the objective was to go around the back of the building we were in at speak to some guy. Painful and pointless.

It's one of the best features in DCUO, in my opinion. Especially considering the amount of actors they've used from animated ventures such as BTAS, JL and the animated films.

On the other hand, though, it also makes too much of an emotional and business connection that the developers/company have to the game. The 1-30 leveling process is heavy on the voice acting and I'm sure it cost a lot of money to do. As a result, it can't be heavily modified or in a better scenario, replaced with a more relevant experience that prepares users for what to expect after the leveling phase is over. Something that wouldn't be an issue had the game relied heavily on reading text instead of voice acting.

Another stigma of voice acting is that actors, such as Mark Hamill, who can't be easily coaxed into reprising the role, making it difficult to produce new content featuring that character. It also means that it's expensive to include new lines of dialogue in the game. Want Batman to say something new? better get the cheque book out for hiring Kevin Conroy for the day, then. Which is one of the reasons I love Spytle as T.O. Morrow. He's a good voice actor but he's also part of the team and can record new lines for the game at a moments notice and no extra cost (assuming voice acting is covered in his salary)

But I stand by my original opinion of saying that voice acting helps make this game stand out and much more enjoyable.

I would disagree, I believe alot more people than you might think were sold on the fact that Kevin Conroy was voicing Batman. At the very least, it was like Christmas to a lot of people who grew up hearing the Conroy-voiced Batman when they heard him in the game. Also goes for Mark Hamil's Joker (although he's been MIA for a while).

Oh, I agree on having voice acting in the game. I wouldn't play a game that had loads of text to go through. I'm just against the cost factor of using known actors. Especially since a lot of people play with the voice volume almost off if not completely off in favor of voice chat and whatnot. Just seems like a waste imo.

Yeah, I would agree on a lot of people, but for a character like Batman I think the reward outweighs the cost. I never did understand why they got a bigger name in Baldwin to voice Superman. I think he did well, don't get me wrong, but why they got him instead of the Supes from the animated series surprised me. For people like that I would agree with you.

When we aren't using one of the established characters that already has a voice we have local Austin actors audition. We have a few agencies we give copy to and they pass it out to their stable of talent. Those people do their own recordings and we listen to the reads to make a casting decision. Once cast, they come into our recording booth at the studio and record the VO. Pretty straight forward.

O-o They got mark hamil to do the joker... you'll need a real voice acting resume to be chosen to voice act in this game not some guy from the forums. All the iconics seem to be the actual voice acters for their respective characters... they'll probably get lobo to voice lobo considering WB owned dc in the first place it won't be hard to call him in for work if they're that interested.

I agree with Poo, that's why they should hire me. I'd work for cheap.

Do you get a lot of, and/or hire, out of state actors? Or is it Austin only?

Owl would record for Free to get his voice in the game.

call a talent agency he said those work with the actors directly, and while your doing that why not just apply for voice acting cartoons if your so dead set on it?

Other than the established out of state talent, we work locally.

We never hire people that refer to themselves in the third person - always total divas. Sorry.

Baldwin voiced Superman in Superman/Doomsday and has done a lot of voice over stuff for video games and other comic media. Also, I wouldn't exactly call him an A-list celebrity.

This is actually part of what sold me on the game. Having grown up on Batman TAS and recently having rewatched the entire series finding out that those two were doing the voices for those two was what had made me try the game.

In addition to that who doesn't love listening to Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy yelling at each other in Legends PvP?

If I recall, Austin has a good stable of voice actors too. Or did a long while ago, I remember a lot of my favorite voice actors used in anime were from there.

I learned this because one of my friend's dad worked at a talent agency, if you want, you can contact a talent agency in Austin and become a client for them by sending them your info and a clip of voice ranges and examples that they can use if opportunities come around, but you have to find one willing to take out-of-state help, since usually the local talent is a plethora already. There was one that did that, but I just cannot remember the name...