Voice Acting Feedback
Hi friends! It's BowserPuma.
So, first and foremost, thank you everyone who's downloaded and played Build 1. Launch weekend was a big success ๐.
With that out of the way, I want to talk about the voice acting. Voice acting in this game was experimental. There aren't many furry VN's with voice acting, and the ones that do have it often have larger budgets than I could provide at this time. So, there weren't many templates or precedent for me to follow. I had to forge my own path with this.
Overall, the reaction to the voice acting is mixed. VERY mixed. From my data I've collected in my survey and from the anecdotal accounts I've listened to, I can't quite pin down if implementing voice acting the way I did was successful or not. In some strange way, I was almost hoping the reception would be overwhelmingly negative. That way, I could call it a failed experiment, scrap it, and move on. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
What this mixed reaction tells me, is that I'm on the right track and folks do want to hear voice acting, but I need to find ways to better implement this feature. So all in all, here are the directions I see this project going in:
- Voice acting is entirely scrapped
- Doesn't seem like the route we want to go in.
- Voice acting continues the way it is
- Again, doesn't seem like the route we want to go.
- Voice acting continues, but less full lines are spoken. However, generic one or two word lines are recorded and are used like sound effects.
- For example, phrases like: "Yeah!" , "Wow!" , "Uhh..." , "Hi, there!" are peppered throughout the novel.
- Also, generic vocalizations like scoffing, grr-ing, or laughing can be used as well.
- Video games will often use features like this. One example that comes to mind is Legend of Zelda, where characters just make vague vocalizations when you talk to them.
- Voice acting continues, but more of the script is voice acted.
- I would probably double the amount I had for Build 1, which was 10-15 lines per character (main character has about 25).
- Voice acting the whole script would be too ambitious, I think. This would take a TREMENDOUS amount of work consider how many words I want to add to this VN. Overall, I think it'd be quite impractical and would an insane amount of development hours.
- The ~100 voice lines in Build 1 took me an incredibly long amount of time to master and mix. And even then, I don't think I did a stellar job since I'm still learning how to do audio editing. I would likely need to hire someone to do that work for me.
That being said, are there any other options I'm not considering? Do you have any thoughts about the voice acting? Do you think any of the suggestions above would work?
I'd love to hear some feedback and suggestions.
Thanks!
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Gay slice-of-life furry VN
Status | In development |
Author | Bowser Puma |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Adult, Bara, Boys' Love, Furry, Gay, LGBT, NSFW, Queer, Romance, Yaoi |
Languages | English |
Accessibility | Subtitles |
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Comments
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I'm okay with it, despite my first exposure being that joke in the car and I wasn't expecting it. That's what I get for not paying attention to the changelog then. But while I wasn't sure at first, I think the current way you're doing it is perfectly fine. I'm sure it'll take some time to get it all down anyway, but a suggestion is that you want to do most of the voice recording close together. Quality, time, etc. That way you won't get different results for later lines. And so long as there's an option to turn it on/off then I can't say anything else about it. Story should be built up first, of course. That's important.
Hey everyone! Thanks for the feedback. I won't have time to individually respond to all the suggestions, but please know I've read everything and taking it all into consideration. Thanks for your time ๐ธ
I think the voice actors should try and change their voices to better match the characters they belong to. When listening to the different characters' voices, they all felt way too similar and often not matching the characters' design/personality. I personally think you could go the direction you gone with Dave's voice, aka giving each one a distinct element on their voice to make the reader go "oh, that guy" immediatelly when you listen to their voice.
Voices are a nice touch, my only problem is that some of the voices felt jarring to hear like they didn't belong to the character that was speaking. I know voices don't always match the person and it is subject to opinion so this is hard to fix. I do think the less full lines route would be a good option.
I think the currrent implementation of voice acting is good, just having I guess "key" scenes voiced. I was actually looking forward to the voiced lines while playing. I think it's fine to have fun moments to be voice acted, doesn't all need to be serious shit but occasionly the conversation would be as mundane as "Do you sit or stand when you piss" and that line would be voiced for some reason. It doesn't need to be removed but just something to think about in the future.
The only other thing i could mention was the quality of the some voices which isn't really a big deal. You're a indie dev not expecting s teir shit, I get it. Don't get me wrong, I actually like some of the acting but I won't name names since I'd feel like a asshole for being a snob about it.
One idea is for best/worst case, scrap it for now going forward and then at some point, maybe half, and finished go back and add it in, if you desire most or all of it voiced. Else stick with mostly sounds to provide tone and expressions and keep it simple. Either way its a secondary focus that can be worked on later, story first!
Idk if your able to, but maybe just give the people a option to turn off voice acting in the options or something? since the feedback is mixed, some like it and some don't?
I like the Voice acting, its a good thing to show if a character is being sarcastic, sassy or is generally upset about what they are saying as that's not always portrayed easily though texts and sometimes can be easily missed
That was already an option in the first build.
well that's embarrassing
I like the voice acting but I think it would be better to have the generic one or two word responses mixed with the occasional full sentence. Something like Dream Daddy where the characters mostly have generic voice lines when talking but there's also parts where the characters say full sentences like at the end of a date or when Amanda (your daughter) says she loves you too.
Gotta say, it's pretty nice to have voicelines since it helps make the characters feel more fleshed out. Maybe it's too early for me to think this, but, like a comment I saw somewhere, they sometimes feel like they don't fit the situation or are just simply jarring to hear. I'm fine with the current setup(Few dialogue boxes have voices), but if you don't like it, I think the more generic voicelines will work just as well.
This is mostly a nitpick though, I'm thoroughly enjoying the story. The voices really help make FVN feel more real. Hope you keep up the good work!
Will have to admit it I wasnt expecting the voices at first but its a nice feature x3