The SunRiders [update Jul 15]

[ai-honey]

Hi there, this is Kelly, Jake's friend.

I can get you some recording samples tomorrow.

I have a British accent so I'll give Ava a go for you and since you're having problems finding male VA's I can record a few sample lines of the guys for you too. I don't have too much of a problem doing guys voices though you'll have to bear in mind I can only go /so/ low.

Hope that's some help.

[Samu-kun]

Male voice actors are consistently harder to find than female voice actors. If you can't find what you're looking for, I suggest going to the finished works section or the shorts and samplers section and listening around. If you find a voice you like, send him a PM asking him to voice the character for you. Scouting is a perfectly acceptable practice as long as you're not still holding auditions for the character. Also, even if you've found what you think is the perfect perfect voice, it's considered bad producer etiquette to cast a character before the audition deadline.

Mmm... Always keep in mind that this is a completely doujin endeaver, so plans have a tendancy to change day by day very, very quickly depending on circumstances. XD Surprisingly, I've recieved more auditions today! ^_^ And I thought they were tapering off. I'll keep auditions going as long as people seem interested. :3 I honestly can't give any guarntees on anything however, including things like roles and audition deadlines since I make all decisions based on what's going on that day and these decisions may become overturned later when the situation changes. Unexpected things happen during development. I don't expect anything to go to plan because they seldom do.

Actually, now that I think about it, why even have voices for some of the male characters? The focus on the game should be on the girls! XD If there aren't that many people interested in Mr. Okashi, Gen. Nooke, and Leiburg, I might just cut the voice overs for them. I still want to keep Kris, Ray, Helio, and Claud, because they still have lots of mecha lines, but those other three don't really seem that necessary. They're all old, aging men... Who'd want to hear their voices anyways. XD

Hi there, this is Kelly, Jake's friend.

I can get you some recording samples tomorrow.

I have a British accent so I'll give Ava a go for you and since you're having problems finding male VA's I can record a few sample lines of the guys for you too. I don't have too much of a problem doing guys voices though you'll have to bear in mind I can only go /so/ low.

Hope that's some help.

Thanks. ^_^ I will be waiting! I'm looking for a voice over for Helio in particular. [I'll make him one of those girly bishounen characters. XD] :3 Also, auditioning for Ava or Ikkari will be great. ^_^ As a matter of fact, audition for the characters that you like and the ones that you think you'll be the best in! XD If you're an experianced voice actor, that's more than fine even if the other roles have strong candidates.

[sake-bento]

Male voice actors are consistently harder to find than female voice actors. If you can't find what you're looking for, I suggest going to the finished works section or the shorts and samplers section and listening around. If you find a voice you like, send him a PM asking him to voice the character for you. Scouting is a perfectly acceptable practice as long as you're not still holding auditions for the character. Also, even if you've found what you think is the perfect perfect voice, it's considered bad producer etiquette to cast a character before the audition deadline.

Mmm... Always keep in mind that this is a completely doujin endeaver, so plans have a tendancy to change day by day very, very quickly depending on circumstances. XD Surprisingly, I've recieved more auditions today! ^_^ And I thought they were tapering off. I'll keep auditions going as long as people seem interested. :3 I honestly can't give any guarntees on anything however, including things like roles and audition deadlines since I make all decisions based on what's going on that day and these decisions may become overturned later when the situation changes. Unexpected things happen during development. I don't expect anything to go to plan because they seldom do.

Well, by saying that the deadline is a certain date, you're giving the potential voice actors a certain expectation. Experience tells me you get a lot of auditions near the beginning and a lot riiiight before the deadline. Some people budget their time since they have many different projects and auditions, so they will set a certain date to record auditions for you, and it wouldn't be fair to them to suddenly cut off auditions. Speaking from my experience with the VAA, casting before deadline is definitely a no-no in the eyes of the voice actors, and the people who have already auditioned are patient and understanding enough to wait for the deadline you've set. This is just my 2 cents, of course.

[Jake]

If there aren't that many people interested in Mr. Okashi, Gen. Nooke, and Leiburg, I might just cut the voice overs for them. I still want to keep Kris, Ray, Helio, and Claud, because they still have lots of mecha lines, but those other three don't really seem that necessary. They're all old, aging men... Who'd want to hear their voices anyways. XD

Pet hate: things which only have voices for some of the characters, but not all. I'd usually prefer no voices at all to partially-voiced, myself.

[Samu-kun]

Well, by saying that the deadline is a certain date, you're giving the potential voice actors a certain expectation. Experience tells me you get a lot of auditions near the beginning and a lot riiiight before the deadline. Some people budget their time since they have many different projects and auditions, so they will set a certain date to record auditions for you, and it wouldn't be fair to them to suddenly cut off auditions. Speaking from my experience with the VAA, casting before deadline is definitely a no-no in the eyes of the voice actors, and the people who have already auditioned are patient and understanding enough to wait for the deadline you've set. This is just my 2 cents, of course.

Seeing how the topic didn't die today at VAA like I was afraid it would, I'm probably going to keep the auditions going. XD (Good save, Mirielle! Thanks for the bump! XD) But of course, I would prefer not to delay production any longer than necessary, since generally the longer a game takes the make, the more likely chance it'll die. And that chance is very real, considering what the work burden for this game is. I mean, may art may have improved, but that still doesn't mean there are limits to what I can do. XD As the project leader, I probably shouldn't be saying this, since I do have a team and all now, but let's be realistic here, enthousiasm for projects never lasts for more than a couple of weeks. Keeping dedicated on a single project is very hard to do. The longer a doujin game's in production, the bigger the chance that it'll never see daylight.

Mmm... But I shall keep your advice in mind. I probably won't cut the auditions short, just as long as the topic at the VAA board doesn't sink to the third page and it looks like just about everyone who's interested has auditioned or something. XD Besides, the 20th's also my tenative due date for finishing the script, so who knows how things will unfold. :3

Pet hate: things which only have voices for some of the characters, but not all. I'd usually prefer no voices at all to partially-voiced, myself.

Mmmm... Yeah, it be better if they were voiced... But cutting all the voices because I couldn't get voices for those three characters would be unspeakable folly at this point. Hahahaha. XD Well, the thing is that none of those characters have character portraits either, since Samu-kun has never drawn old men before, and also because there's an estimated 200 or so character portraits that needs to be made even without them, (compare that to the 80 or so that were in Raidaa no Asahi) so I'm really wondering if there needs to be voice overs for them either.

I am kind of glad that people care enough about this project to actually be concerned about the decisions I am making though. XD Back in the old Raidaa days, I could say, "oops, looks like I can't draw backgrounds afterall" or "gah, no time to make CG's, so we're releasing without 'em!" and people wouldn't really care. Now I can't even cut voice acting for three of the most minor characters in the story without incurring protest. Haha, how times have changed. XD

[ai-honey]

Male voice actors are consistently harder to find than female voice actors. If you can't find what you're looking for, I suggest going to the finished works section or the shorts and samplers section and listening around. If you find a voice you like, send him a PM asking him to voice the character for you. Scouting is a perfectly acceptable practice as long as you're not still holding auditions for the character. Also, even if you've found what you think is the perfect perfect voice, it's considered bad producer etiquette to cast a character before the audition deadline.

Mmm... Always keep in mind that this is a completely doujin endeaver, so plans have a tendancy to change day by day very, very quickly depending on circumstances. XD Surprisingly, I've recieved more auditions today! ^_^ And I thought they were tapering off. I'll keep auditions going as long as people seem interested. :3 I honestly can't give any guarntees on anything however, including things like roles and audition deadlines since I make all decisions based on what's going on that day and these decisions may become overturned later when the situation changes. Unexpected things happen during development. I don't expect anything to go to plan because they seldom do.

Actually, now that I think about it, why even have voices for some of the male characters? The focus on the game should be on the girls! XD If there aren't that many people interested in Mr. Okashi, Gen. Nooke, and Leiburg, I might just cut the voice overs for them. I still want to keep Kris, Ray, Helio, and Claud, because they still have lots of mecha lines, but those other three don't really seem that necessary. They're all old, aging men... Who'd want to hear their voices anyways. XD

Hi there, this is Kelly, Jake's friend.

I can get you some recording samples tomorrow.

I have a British accent so I'll give Ava a go for you and since you're having problems finding male VA's I can record a few sample lines of the guys for you too. I don't have too much of a problem doing guys voices though you'll have to bear in mind I can only go /so/ low.

Hope that's some help.

Thanks. ^_^ I will be waiting! I'm looking for a voice over for Helio in particular. [I'll make him one of those girly bishounen characters. XD] :3 Also, auditioning for Ava or Ikkari will be great. ^_^ As a matter of fact, audition for the characters that you like and the ones that you think you'll be the best in! XD If you're an experianced voice actor, that's more than fine even if the other roles have strong candidates.

Sure, I have enough time tomorrow to short samples of all the characters I expect.

On the topic of male VA's I could possibly volunteer my boyfriend. He's pretty exceptional as far as impersonations and accents go. I'll send him a message if you like.

As for people caring about your decisions I expect you've made a small fan base after your last release, most games pick up a few. :)

Anyway I hope to have you something tomorrow.

[chronoluminaire]

I'm still definitely up for auditioning for the males, particularly the villains. I love a convincing sinister bad guy... and hey, I've got an English accent I've just been busy, but I'll try to get the samples recorded tonight or tomorrow.

I'll keep auditions going as long as people seem interested. :3

I think it'd be better to give a firm deadline, and then be ready to possibly allow submissions after that but with no guarantees. Particularly if it's bad form to announce final casting before the deadline.

Actually, now that I think about it, why even have voices for some of the male characters? The focus on the game should be on the girls! XD If there aren't that many people interested in Mr. Okashi, Gen. Nooke, and Leiburg, I might just cut the voice overs for them. I still want to keep Kris, Ray, Helio, and Claud, because they still have lots of mecha lines, but those other three don't really seem that necessary. They're all old, aging men... Who'd want to hear their voices anyways. XD

I much prefer it when either no character or every character is voiced. I think I'd go as far as to say, with a VN with N characters in, it's better to have N characters voiced but with only N-2 good ones and 2 not-very-good ones, than to have N-1 characters voiced and 1 unvoiced at all.

[Samu-kun]

Mmm... Strangely enough, I'm the opposite opinion that having no voice is better than a poor voice. I'm kind of afraid that if the voice for one of the characters is bad, then the player might just turn off the voices to avoid hearing that one voice and totally miss out on all the other ones. But to kind of answer that, it appears that our prayers have been answered and I just recieved a batch of auditions today for Okashi and Leiburg. (Nice timing!) XD Okay, I think I'll take back what I just said, because if Chrono also auditions, that should be enough to fill the roles. Also, seeing how the topic has once again gone beyond my expectations and more people have shown interest in voice acting, I'll keep the auditions going until the 20th. :3

[PyTom]

Hm... perhaps it's time to implement a system (like the one they have in commercial games) where voices can be turned on and off by user choice? It would make the voice system slightly more complicated, but it could be worth it.

[Samu-kun]

Mm... Yes, that would be a pretty neat feature. From what I know of Ren'py and just basic programming in general, I think that turning off voices for each individual character should be possible even with the current version of Ren'py... Couldn't you do something like,

if voice_for_asaga == true:
voice "asaga.ogg"
As "Let's go on an adventure guys!"

if voice_for_asaga == false:
As "Let's go on an adventure guys!"

The exact programming may be wrong (I'm still working on transferring from the GameMaker scripting language to Ren'py. XD), but you got the main idea. But it'll definately be alot of work to write something like that for every single line in the game, (much more work than I'm willing to do anyways...) so a more streamlined system would indeed be alot better. ^_^

[Jake]

Couldn't you do something like,

Yes, but you'd still need to set the flag somewhere, meaning you'd need a custom preferences screen... and wouldn't it be a bit tedious to type all that out for every single line of dialogue? Speaking hypothetical-features, wouldn't it be a lot easier and less tedious to have something more like:

Code: Select all

asv "asaga_s4_l15.ogg"
as "Let's go on an adventure, guys!"

- that is, a Character-like class for voices, which deals with the condition for you?

[Samu-kun]

*reads through the Ren'py manual again to see what Jake's talking about* XD

Ah... Looks like a Character with a condition is similar to what strings do in GameMaker, except it automatically checks whether the value's true or false and only runs the statement if it's true. :3 Yeah, that is alot more conveniant. ^_^ I'll have to mess around with it more in Ren'py before I can get it working though. Mmm... but, the custom preferences screen might be beyond my abilities right now. Nyuu... >_<;;;

[ai-honey]

I have done a sample clip for Ava:

http://ai-honey.com/ava.mp3

I should note I am not using my equipment or computer so I am unsure of the quality. Rest assured if I am to do a part it will be as good a quality as the previous samples I linked. Still I believe it is good enough to get a vague idea, it isn't too hideously fuzzy, just has a small amount of feedback in places. However, I will be back home before the 20th so if you'd like to hear any of the voice clips done on my own equipment when I get home it should be no problem.

I'll get to work on a few other sample clips.

Edit: as an additional note you didn't have any ideas for a song to go with an introduction..? I would love to sing something for someone sometime. *sighs* ~

[Samu-kun]

Edit: as an additional note you didn't have any ideas for a song to go with an introduction..? I would love to sing something for someone sometime. *sighs* ~

Mmm... Do you mean something like an OP and ED song? Yeah, I'm actually very interested in this too, since it appears that quite a number of the people that have auditioned are rather talented singers as well. :3 Mmm... I haven't really tried looking for a creative commons licensed instrumental track that somebody could sing over yet. (I wonder if this would be possible?) Not only that, but I'm no songwright, so what I write probably won't be that great. I have some experiance with poetry, but never with music. XD I recommend that you write it yourself if we decide to do that.

The main issue here is that the majority of the instrumental tracks have already been licensed. I honestly have no qualms about putting redubbing licensed songs in the game, but I won't be able to host it on renai.us, so that won't be a good idea. >_<

Great job on the audition by the way. I look forward to hearing the other voices soon. :3

[ai-honey]

Edit: as an additional note you didn't have any ideas for a song to go with an introduction..? I would love to sing something for someone sometime. *sighs* ~

Mmm... Do you mean something like an OP and ED song? Yeah, I'm actually very interested in this too, since it appears that quite a number of the people that have auditioned are rather talented singers as well. :3 Mmm... I haven't really tried looking for a creative commons licensed instrumental track that somebody could sing over yet. (I wonder if this would be possible?) Not only that, but I'm no songwright, so what I write probably won't be that great. I have some experiance with poetry, but never with music. XD I recommend that you write it yourself if we decide to do that.

The main issue here is that the majority of the instrumental tracks have already been licensed. I honestly have no qualms about putting redubbing licensed songs in the game, but I won't be able to host it on renai.us, so that won't be a good idea. >_<

Great job on the audition by the way. I look forward to hearing the other voices soon. :3

Well if you're thinking about it that's good enough for me! I can sing in Japanese as well, I could probably knock up a singing sample quickly enough. And thanks. :)

Some obnoxious cuteness:

http://ai-honey.com/chigara.mp3