209 réponses à ce sujet

[JRCHOharry]

Actually, come to think of it, I fracking LOVE this idea!

[IndigoWolfe]

Because champions need to dream bigger too.

[Lorianno]

Bobad wrote...
Zevran type, called Handsome Bob.

You're ****ing awesome.

Also Tom Hardy is pretty pimp.

Private Jovanovic(sp?) in Band of Brothers
Twombly in Black hawk down
Handsome Bob in Rock N' Rolla
The Romulan main badguy whose name I can't remember in Star Trek Nemesis.

[David Gaider]

I think what people need to realize is that we're unlikely ever to get a big star to voice a PC character. The amount of VO a PC has is 10x any other character in the game-- and the amount that a star charges per recording session is pretty astronomical. The cost to have them voice a PC would thus be prohibitive.
Not that you guys really care about cost, I suppose, as it's the same price tag to you in the end-- but we certainly do.

[Lorianno]

Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

[jesuno]

David Gaider wrote...

I think what people need to realize is that we're unlikely ever to get a big star to voice a PC character. The amount of VO a PC has is 10x any other character in the game-- and the amount that a star charges per recording session is pretty astronomical. The cost to have them voice a PC would thus be prohibitive.
Not that you guys really care about cost, I suppose, as it's the same price tag to you in the end-- but we certainly do.

So that's why Morgan Freeman isn't narrating!

[Ziggeh]

Lorianno wrote...

Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Films operate on a very different budget to television, which is closer to games, if not actually similar.

[David Gaider]

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

[Lorianno]

Ah. Alright then, legit reasoning Mr. Gaider. A pleasure working with you.

[nightcobra]

David Gaider wrote...

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

[Herr Uhl]

nightcobra8928 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

How do you figure that? Voicing the warden for DAO would still be way more expensive than any other character.

[Beerfish]

David, just curious. How do you go about getting your voice actors? I know that you have people who do the voice directing and you have mentioned that as writers you get to help with the direction.



How does BioWare choose who to go after? Do you have brainstorming meetings and wish lists of actors you think would be good for your parts? (For example, did some in a meeting say, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get Tim Curry to play Howe?" Or "I'd love it if we could get Martin Sheen for the Illusive man.")

[Leonia]

When you factor all six origins in and all the options for The Warden.. yeah I assume that would get expensive fast though it will be interesting to see just how many lines Hawke has in DA 2 to compare to.

[nightcobra]

Herr Uhl wrote...

nightcobra8928 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

How do you figure that? Voicing the warden for DAO would still be way more expensive than any other character.

if you voice the warden yes, it would be more expensive than the followers, but seeing that the warden was silent instead of being voiced i figure the pc voice-overs weren't as expensive as the followers in DAO.

[Beerfish]

nightcobra8928 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

With the pc being silent it would be very cheap indeed like about zero dollars.  As you go through DA or ME, look at all the responses that the PC can make to each and every line an NPC gives.  Though the actual dialouge might be shorter at times you'd have way more lines to speak.

[nightcobra]

Beerfish wrote...

nightcobra8928 wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Lorianno wrote...
Wasn't Claudia Black considered a star? Pardon me if I'm being naive about her successes, but Morrigan has done quite a bit throughout origins, and even had her own DLC?

Claudia Black did not voice a PC. She voiced a follower-- which is still pretty expensive, but again nowhere near the number of sessions as a PC character.

that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

With the pc being silent it would be very cheap indeed like about zero dollars.  As you go through DA or ME, look at all the responses that the PC can make to each and every line an NPC gives.  Though the actual dialouge might be shorter at times you'd have way more lines to speak.

well, you still have the battle cries and such. that at least must cost something so it wouldn't be free either way:P

[David Gaider]

nightcobra8928 wrote...
that can be true in DA2, but in the DAO where the warden was silent, wouldn't it be the other way around?

Yes, you're correct. Hiring a voice actor for the DAO PC would have been a remarkably inexpensive proposition. We could have hired whoever we liked to do the PC soundsets... but who would have noticed?

Modifié par David Gaider, 15 décembre 2010 - 03:47 .

[Captain Iglo]

I take a guess that Martin Sheen was probably the most expensive investment Bioware made for a voice actor to date.

[Brockololly]

David Gaider wrote...

I think what people need to realize is that we're unlikely ever to get a big star to voice a PC character. The amount of VO a PC has is 10x any other character in the game-- and the amount that a star charges per recording session is pretty astronomical. The cost to have them voice a PC would thus be prohibitive.
Not that you guys really care about cost, I suppose, as it's the same price tag to you in the end-- but we certainly do.

Thats one of my concerns with DA2, if ME is anything to go by. That the cost of having a VO'd PC eats up so much of the dialogue/VO budget that the other characters/companions/NPCs come across much shallower.  Like Garrus and his calibrations. That was one of the things I loved in Origins was how much the companions had to say and I'd worry that with the expense of the voiced PC, the companions won't be as reactive, whether thats less dialogue or less unique dialogue or having the dialogue system designed in such a way to sort of mask the lack of dialogue, like Awakening's dialogue points.

Out of curiosity, when you say that the PC's VO is 10x more than any other character, does that mean if the PC had been silent, you'd have the dialogue and VO budget of 10 other characters  or been able to flesh out the other companions that much more? Or was your VO budget for DA2 increased to account for the voiced PC?

And as an aside, I don't understand the logic in having a voiced PC if its so expensive, when you figure for your average gamer that maybe only plays the game once, they'll at best only see half of that VO work by ignoring the other gender of Hawke. Nevermind them not getting all the sarcastic/aggressive/diplomatic options in one playthrough. Obviously you guys think its worth it but....yeah. Not a voiced PC fan.

Modifié par Brockololly, 15 décembre 2010 - 03:57 .

[David Gaider]

Beerfish wrote...
David, just curious. How do you go about getting your voice actors? I know that you have people who do the voice directing and you have mentioned that as writers you get to help with the direction.

How does BioWare choose who to go after? Do you have brainstorming meetings and wish lists of actors you think would be good for your parts? (For example, did some in a meeting say, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get Tim Curry to play Howe?" Or "I'd love it if we could get Martin Sheen for the Illusive man.")

Our VO department (which is part of ALE -- Audio/Localization/External Resources) would handle the casting of any voice talent. Our VO producer, Caroline Livingstone, would look at our list of character requirements (for every voiced character in the game, from major right down to minor ambients) and see the gender, age range, accent, etc... and from that she would either go through the auditions/talent list she already has or start contacting voice agents to find the people she needs.

For major characters she would work with us (the writing team, I mean) and they often need approval from the Powers That Be (like Mike Laidlaw). For those ones we might do up an audition script specifically for that character and get actors to audition for the role. Or Caroline might have some suggestions, and we'll listen to the auditions as a group-- sometimes the ones we pick don't pan out and we need to re-cast. Happens more than you think.

Celebrity casting is a bit different. Marketing might get involved, but not always. We might have some ideas to throw out, but quite often they're either just not available or not interested (some agents don't want their actors "slumming" -- perhaps they think it makes their client look desperate for work?) ...or they're asking way too much, demanding movie-budget type salaries when video games simply don't pay THAT much. Occasionally we'll get an actor approaching us. Sometimes we'll luck out and an actor is willing, or between gigs and able to fit a few sessions into their schedule. There's a lot of back and forth.

But there it is in a nutshell.

Modifié par David Gaider, 15 décembre 2010 - 04:05 .

[ErichHartmann]

David Gaider wrote...


Yes, you're correct. Hiring a voice actor for the DAO PC would have been a remarkably inexpensive proposition. We could have hired whoever we liked to do the PC soundsets... but who would have noticed?

You should have hired yourself.

[David Gaider]

Brockololly wrote...
Thats one of my concerns with DA2, if ME is anything to go by. That the cost of having a VO'd PC eats up so much of the dialogue/VO budget that the other characters/companions/NPCs come across much shallower.  Like Garrus and his calibrations.

Those things don't have anything to do with each other (well, not much anyhow).

If we know we're going to record a PC, we adjust the budget accordingly. We don't have the same VO budget and just say "well I guess the PC is taking up more of it-- less for everything else! Oh well!" All I'm saying is there's a limit as to how high the budget can go.

That was one of the things I loved in Origins was how much the companions had to say and I'd worry that with the expense of the voiced PC, the companions won't be as reactive, whether thats less dialogue or less unique dialogue or having the dialogue system designed in such a way to sort of mask the lack of dialogue, like Awakening's dialogue points.

The overall word budget is a separate consideration. I recall people saying that full VO recording for DAO would naturally mean that it would be a shallow experience. After all, who would spend money to record all that VO and still have lots of responses and paths for dialogue? Nobody! So yeah... things are not as simple as you make it out to be.

Modifié par David Gaider, 15 décembre 2010 - 04:04 .

[David Gaider]

ErichHartmann wrote...
You should have hired yourself.

I tried my hand at VO back in the day-- trust me, you wouldn't want that. VO is a lot harder than anyone thinks it is. Having a voice doesn't make you good at VO any more than being able to write a sentence makes you a good writer.

[hangmans tree]

Do you think thatwith games these days actors are more keen playing VO for games? Gaming is more and more popular, and if its popular there is money...do you think that these factor might affect the paygrade of said "stars"?