Hi friends. It's BowserPuma!

I just wanted to make a quick post about how our team will approach voice acting for future builds. First of all, I want to thank the folks who provided constructive feedback. This includes our general audience, Patrons, and folks on the creative team.

Based on feedback and survey data, it definitely seems like voice acting is a feature most folks enjoy. However, it needs some adjusting. As I mentioned in my previous devlog on the topic, the way I approached VA for this project was a shot in the dark. There aren't any templates for me to follow, since most furry VN's have zero voice acting. If VA is included, it's for the big budget projects that end up on Steam with 100% voiced character dialogue. I knew I wasn't going to get it right the first time, so I'm more than prepared to change our approach for future builds.

Let's start with the things that I plan on changing: 

• Less character dialogue will be voiced.
  • My approach with partial VA was to have certain key-lines voiced. I didn't have a robust method of choosing key-lines. It was all arbitrary!
    • I picked lines that I thought fit the character well. It either showcased a part of their personality, or was part of an important moment in the story.
    • I also wanted all their first lines to be voiced. That way, readers know what the character sounds like right away. I'll keep doing this for all new characters.
  • I think it'll be better to narrow down what I consider to be a "key-line" that's worthy to be voice acted . That way, those special lines that are chosen will feel more sensible to readers.
  • I think I'll choose roughly 1% - 2% of the total lines of character dialogue to be voiced. For context, in build 1, I chose a range of 5% - 10% of lines being voiced. 
    • 1% - 2% ultimately equates to one maybe two lines full lines that will be voiced per build.
• Using generic voice lines as sound effects.
  • Here's what I mean by this. I think it'll help to record generic vocal exclamations and integrate them into the game. These could be phrases like: "Oh, wow!" , "No way!" , "Hmm..." , "Aww!" , etc. That way, you can hear the characters' voices, but don't need to hear them speak an entire line of dialogue.
  • These voice lines will contribute to the overall soundscape of the game in a way that's similar to general sound effects.
  • Some VN's use this style of VA already. Plus, many video games have been using this method for decades (Legend of Zelda is a good example).
  • This is more sustainable for me as a developer. I can record these voice lines once, and have tremendous flexibility with how they're used. 
  • Using this method, even though I plan on recording less full lines of dialogue, readers will still hear more voice acting per build.

Here's what will not be changing based on feedback:

• Quality of equipment we have access to.
  • Yes, I know the recording quality wasn't consistent across most actors. No, there's not much I can do about it.
  • Every single voice actor for this project is an amateur. We're all learning as we go, and we all don't have access to the same equipment. This is something I simply cannot reconcile during this stage of the project.
  • Perhaps in the future there may be more room in the budget for upgrades.
  • I will say, one thing we can work on is how we process voice recordings with software. I did the audio engineering myself and I know I didn't do the best. But it can only get better as we grow and learn.
• Casting choices.
  • We have who we have. A lot of my casting decisions were based on convenience for development.
    • For example, the number one reason why I'm voicing Eddy (main character) is because he has the most lines. It costs me zero dollars to record him and I can record him as much as I want.
    • I do want to make clear that I'm very happy with my choices, and I didn't choose voice actors only because it was convenient to do so. Every VA had to audition.
    • I valued work-ethic in my casting selection as well. Timely auditions were highly valued.
  • Casting changes may happen in the future. But I will be prioritizing pragmatism over community feedback at this time.
  • I also noticed that folks who have been following the story for a while had certain impressions on how characters would sound, but were disappointed when the voice actor didn't meet those expectations.There's not much I can do to reconcile this issue. Not everyone will enjoy the voices I pick out and that's fine.

One last thing I want to mention is that our new approach to VA may be a step in the wrong direction. Again, I'm just taking more shots in the dark. At least I have some feedback and data to guide me. But at the end of the day, it'll come down to how this feature is implemented and what folks expect. I'll never know what works and what doesn't until I try. And I'm willing to try.

Wrapping up on a quick note, I will be accepting auditions very soon for new roles. I'll post a devlog with details later this week.

Thanks y'all 😸💖