A2MBXT Voice Acting Debate (Spoilers in Thread)

[InsaneIntentions1]

My voice talents are at your disposal if they're needed

[docopoper]

Unless we have an actually good voice actor that has voice acted in other games - can we please not have voice acting. Having a bad voice actor is one of the most cringe inducing things to have in a game.

[AUS]

Eh, I have a voice that exists.

[docopoper]

No, no voice acting until you finish Rayman young man.

[Doctor Shemp]

Well that was certainly a conclusive poll.

[SAJewers]

I guess it should be noted if it wasn't already that the cutscene guys apparently had decided to have voice narration for 1 cutscene.

[docopoper]

o.o Well, ok - as long as it sounds good.

[AUS]

No, no voice acting until you finish Rayman young man.

Uh. WAAAAY too late on that one. Soory.

[Demolition]

The end of world 6 cutscene will feature some voice acting from maiku. We can decide on voice acting after we have actually seen it in game.

[Doctor Shemp]

What the hell happened to the poll? Why's it suddenly down to 4 votes total with a 50/50 result? Are we just fixing polls to get the desired result now?

[docopoper]

Was that narration only option always there? If not - then that's your reason I guess.

The poll also ended apparently, so I can't vote in the new version. My vote is No.

[SAJewers]

What the hell happened to the poll? Why's it suddenly down to 4 votes total with a 50/50 result? Are we just fixing polls to get the desired result now?

I think someone goofed up and tried to restart another poll, so I ended it.

Either way, the answer was a resounding no to any voice acting, so there will be no voice acting of any characters anywhere in A2MBXT.

EDIT: Voice narration was never part of the question IMO. Unless you want me to start on a poll on that, that's up for debate.

[raocow]

it's fine. From what I understand its a one off thing so eh, thats fine.

[ano0maly]

Can I throw in an opinion?

I think we should make a distinction between having voiced SFX (jump, pick up items, etc.), and reading all of the messages and cutscenes in voice. The former might not be a bad idea if done correct, though perhaps unnecessary. The latter is more work and might be less effective.

And if several people are really interested in voiceworking, that can just be done separately. Isn't it possible to have a "voice patch" that adds these things into the game? The game could be developed as is and a patch could just add the sound files and update the sounds. The voicing group just needs to follow the development to see which things need to be voiced.

[darkychao]

Why are people so negative to having maybe five or six three or so minute cutscenes having some simple voiced dialog, I mean, we haven't even been able to give a fukking prototype and already people are shooting down the idea because stupid reasons, like raocow not talking during them because he totally doesn't do that already.
It doesn't matter really, we might just go through and make a proto just to see how we like it, I mean stuff like this hasn't stopped me before.

[Doctor Shemp]

Why are people so negative to having maybe five or six three or so minute cutscenes having some simple voiced dialog, I mean, we haven't even been able to give a fukking prototype and already people are shooting down the idea because stupid reasons, like raocow not talking during them because he totally doesn't do that already.
It doesn't matter really, we might just go through and make a proto just to see how we like it, I mean stuff like this hasn't stopped me before.

Because the game is already done and is being bottlenecked by graphic and sound replacements. It doesn't need to be bottlenecked by another thing that may (hypothetically) or may not (almost definitely) turn out good. Realistically where do you plan to find someone good at acting that isn't already an actor and hence won't be working on a fan project? And for that matter, why do we need three minute cutscenes in a fucking 2D platformer? Can you name another 2D platformer with three minute cutscenes spewing exposition at you? Because none are coming to my mind. We're not making an adventure or RPG game here. If you were suggesting this for AZCT or that RPG Maker project someone suggested a while back I could see the point and I'd support trying out a prototype but in a 2D platformer? What could you possibly need to tell the player that takes three minutes? The genre doesn't need a plot other than to justify the importance of moving to the right! Maybe, maybe, if you suggested this ages ago when it wouldn't be a bottleneck then it wouldn't just be self-indulgence to demonstrate in a prototype how much of a bad idea this is for, let me reiterate here, a 2D platformer, but at this stage in the development that's all it is.

[Demolition]

Because the game is already done and is being bottlenecked by graphic and sound replacements. It doesn't need to be bottlenecked by another thing that may (hypothetically) or may not (almost definitely) turn out good. Realistically where do you plan to find someone good at acting that isn't already an actor and hence won't be working on a fan project? And for that matter, why do we need three minute cutscenes in a fucking 2D platformer? Can you name another 2D platformer with three minute cutscenes spewing exposition at you? Because none are coming to my mind. We're not making an adventure or RPG game here. If you were suggesting this for AZCT or that RPG Maker project someone suggested a while back I could see the point and I'd support trying out a prototype but in a 2D platformer? What could you possibly need to tell the player that takes three minutes? The genre doesn't need a plot other than to justify the importance of moving to the right! Maybe, maybe, if you suggested this ages ago when it wouldn't be a bottleneck then it wouldn't just be self-indulgence to demonstrate in a prototype how much of a bad idea this is for, let me reiterate here, a 2D platformer, but at this stage in the development that's all it is.

Dude, this wont slow down production at all, it may in fact speed it up a little. Maiku Wotaharu is a great singer who would make a fine voice actor for a cutscene, we will have him voice it out and add in the text after if it doesn't work. We have only a handful of cutscenes left to get through and are still waiting on the overworld to be finished as well. Having Maiku read out the script and then adding it into a cutscene as a narration as apposed to using those obnoxious blue text boxes isn't going to grind the project to a halt, we had him narrate out an amazing piece of literature on the stream and recorded it with no fuss at all.

A story heavy platformer isn't unheard of, and I can think of many examples. I find your whole dismissal of the game having a story to be very John Carmack. A good story is a good story no matter where it is. Three minute cutscenes are no more out of place in a 2d platformer than they are in any other game. Don't be a pessimistic fuck.

[SAJewers]

Why are people so negative to having maybe five or six three or so minute cutscenes having some simple voiced dialog, I mean, we haven't even been able to give a fukking prototype and already people are shooting down the idea because stupid reasons, like raocow not talking during them because he totally doesn't do that already.
It doesn't matter really, we might just go through and make a proto just to see how we like it, I mean stuff like this hasn't stopped me before.

Because the game is already done and is being bottlenecked by graphic and sound replacements.

Actually, I think the bigger bottleneck is the OW right now. The pace of Graphics right now should be fine, while I'm not to worried about music right now.

Also, I'm still missing Two Towns.

[docopoper]

If you want to make a prototype - go ahead - that's probably the best way of convincing people. The main reason that I'm against it is that if voice acting isn't done well it can feel very very disjointed from the game and end up leaving the player feeling the same way you probably feel whenever Justice man calls Megaman 'brother' out of nowhere - it feels tagged on and awkward.

I mean, don't get me wrong - there are some games that are made remarkable by the voice acting (like The Stanley Parable), but in this situation we aren't trying to give the player an attachment to demo, that would just be wrong given the theme of the game. Imagine if Mario had long voiced cutscenes.

[ano0maly]

Um who said we need to make a separate cutscene? I thought voices were added to the existing stuff. It won't slow down development if the voice group develops its own add-on patch.

[cheez8]

Okay, this first part is beside the point, but... If this voice acting idea goes through, I can see it being nothing other than an enormous hassle and a contender for "biggest drama 2014" as people on one side insist that the voice acting must improve in quality so as not to detract from the experience, while another side insists that the voice acting is just about fine as it is, or that they can't do any better and why don't the people who want better voice acting try to do better themselves, while yet another side insists on scrapping the voice acting idea altogether.

Anyway.

I'm against voice acting in cutscenes because in my opinion, voice acting has done more harm than good even in licensed games where people have the ability to hire professional voice actors to ensure things go well. In the usual best case scenario, voice acting just pleasantly accompanies the plot and isn't intrusive, but doesn't actually enhance the experience. In almost every other scenario, it makes things worse.

Ultimately, I don't care that you haven't released a specific example for a voiced cutscene in this particular game. I've experienced voiced cutscenes in other games, and I generally did not care for such experiences.


I will say that having a narrator could potentially work, and in fact it is the only way I could see a voiced cutscene going well. I will not object to something along those lines as long as the narration's quality is sufficient.



EDIT: Oh right, and one other thing:

A good story is a good story no matter where it is.

There's a difference between a story being good and a story being welcome. I'm not saying a plot is entirely unwelcome here, but fifteen minutes' worth of cutscenes will not be welcome. Remember, this is a game in a series that has established a history of excuse plots, and it is based on a series that also has a very solid history of excuse plots.

[Doctor Shemp]

I find your whole dismissal of the game having a story to be very John Carmack.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm flattered to be compared to one of the main designers of Doom, one of the most popular and influential video games ever made. If it wasn't intended to be a compliment, that's a worrying perspective. Also I don't see why you're making me out as the villain of this piece. You guys suggested voice acting, it was rejected by the guy you're ostensibly making this game for in the first place, you make a poll anyway, 2/3 of the respondents say "no", you replace the poll with a new one to try again, a mod shuts down the poll and says there will be no voice acting, so you say you're going to go ahead and start work anyway. What more do you need, a sign from God?

[Unaniem]

Thanks for the compliment. I'm flattered to be compared to one of the main designers of Doom, one of the most popular and influential video games ever made. If it wasn't intended to be a compliment, that's a worrying perspective. Also I don't see why you're making me out as the villain of this piece. You guys suggested voice acting, it was rejected by the guy you're ostensibly making this game for in the first place, you make a poll anyway, 2/3 of the respondents say "no", you replace the poll with a new one to try again, a mod shuts down the poll and says there will be no voice acting, so you say you're going to go ahead and start work anyway. What more do you need, a sign from God?

Granted the use of voice acting has turned from "fully voiced characters" to, if I got this right, "cutscenes with narration" at this point.

I myself am rather indifferent on the whole "just narration" thing, so I won't argue along.

[ano0maly]

No one here saw my suggestion that the voice team create a separate side project as a patch without interfering with rest of A2MBXT? You don't need majority support or anything for that. You just need a few dedicated people who are willing to do a fan addition.

[darkychao]

No one here saw my suggestion that the voice team create a separate side project as a patch without interfering with rest of A2MBXT? You don't need majority support or anything for that. You just need a few dedicated people who are willing to do a fan addition.

People probably ignored it because you suggested that we do what made the Mario Advance games obnoxious.