..voice acting or not, question is now..

[Naughty Alien]

..im about to start my new project (point and click adventure), and im leaning toward option to skip voice acting all together..i went to several various sites discussing this topic and it seems that people dont mind point anc click game/RPG without voice acting...

What is your take on this, and if you are about to play such game without voice acting, what would be expected 'interaction'  feature in such game?

[dawlane]

If the games is good; then I don't think it would matter. Even games that use voice actors will fail if the game is pap.
But you could always add audio that sounds like a record being played twenty times the normal speed for speech.

[Qube]

I don't think a voice actor would make or break a game. If the games style is to use on screen text or some form of text-to-speach that would easily be fine providing it's an immersive game.

[ENAY]

Ugh. Text to speech is horrible. It can often be difficult to hear properly. I'd just stick with text only.

Avoid text to speech like the plague, not unless you want to have a game that sounds awful like this

&t=172s

[therevills]

A good voice actor can add so much to a game!

Our latest game (due out in September) was meant to be a cheaper game to produce and we werent going to add a voice overs, but the script was too good and the actor had the timing down pat for the jokes!

[muruba]

lmao^2, the best video ever!!! 

[Naughty Alien]

...lol...is this actual in game FPS?? LOL....haha..no..noo..NO..i was not thinking or asking about text to speech crap, but what would be best way to do interaction in case there is no voice acting ?? Is there anything to be considered regarding way text appears on to screen, and so on?? What would you suggest?

[muruba]

I think with 160k views for this video there is obviously a good niche for a sequel

[Steve Elliott]

A good voice actor can add so much to a game!

I agree.  It gives the game a film-like quality, and really adds to your point and click adventures NA.

People should checkout NA's work to see how voice acting is done well, rather than giving poor examples.  Text to speech is not what's being asked here.

[Naughty Alien]

..good voice acting does affect game (PNC) , but it also costs a lot and you have no work around in case something is wrong with script..i went trough all that before and i can tell you, its no easy task..that is the reason why im exploring now, other ways where, i want to provide really high quality art in game (models, animations, visuals basically), but im not really sure, how to deliver story on such way that no voice acting exists at all...i did think of some sort of generic mumbling to use, with variations related to excitement, anger, happiness  and so on, but still, mumbling, while providing subtitles..im not sure does this work well...

If you guys can recommend me some well designed Point and click games which doesnt uses voice acting, ill appreciate a lot..i need to think about this a bit as im really not sure, how to do it...

[Steve Elliott]

If you can't afford voice acting, then it's not an option.  But for me it's one of those things that adds quality (if done well) and is more professional, over the many indie titles.

Point n click adventures really need sound to bring them 'alive'.  Maybe compensate with good music?  That's what the Monkey Island games had.

[xlsior]

While I prefer adventure games with full voice myself, I also play some without... But I do know some other adventure game enthusiasts who will skip any point & click adventure game that isn't a 'talky'.

I'm pretty sure it will lower sales a bit, but the $100,000 question is whether or not the savings in voice recording would be larger or smaller than the missed sales. :-?

[Naughty Alien]

..here where i am living (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), is very hard to have proper english speaking voice acting..i have done it before, and in order to do that, i had to pay quite a lot for real film actors here (they are asians but english is proper) as well as some native british speaking folks who lives here (voice actors for adverts)..it did payed off and i have no complain whatsoever..but to organize everything was a nightmare as everyone is on different schedule, voice recording studio as well..ah..so i ended up recording everything during night time, which was a bit tiring..

Naturally, i would love to explore other options while still delivering game properly, but im not sure how to do it well, without voiceovers, which is why im asking here..heheh

[therevills]

i did think of some sort of generic mumbling to use, with variations related to excitement, anger, happiness  and so on, but still, mumbling, while providing subtitles..

I have seen that in a few games, such as Zombie Night Terror:

&feature=youtu.be&t=25

[Kryzon]

I remember seeing in more than one game the use of voice-acting and text for cutscenes and important parts, and the use of text-only for the rest.