Voiceacting in Commercial VNs-- do you?

[truefaiterman]

Being a VA myself, I'm completely biased towards listening to voice actors it in VNs With that said, it IS an extra "feature", and it will harm the quality of your game if it isn't good enough. If you don't feel really comfortable, and can't make sure to have a worthy result, don't think too hard about it and let it go until you work in other projects more suited for it, or with more resources.

[Destriarch]

I'm in the camp that says no voice acting is better than BAD voice acting, but there is a third valid option: sound bites. Instead of voicing everything, just record a few non-specific character-defining noises. These should preferably indicative of mood and personality and not be actual 'words', so giggles, sighs, groans, grunts, that kind of thing. Then you use them VERY VERY SPARINGLY.

[bluebirdplays]

I find it really does depend on the quality of the voice-actors, but as long as there's an option to turn off the VA at any time, I don't see a problem with it. I've been really getting into audiobooks lately, and much like visual novels, if the voices help you visualize the story that much better, you're in for a fantastic experience. If it doesn't, well, that can happen too.

Honestly, you can get the best voice-actors around and still have players who just don't like it in their games. I wouldn't consider it a requirement for a visual novel, but the ability to turn it on or off is a nice, pleasant add-on for those that do.

[lancermonna]

This is a very interesting topic and I enjoyed reading all the responses on this thread. It's very beneficial to those just starting to develop their projects and for those who are new to the industry. I am currently working on my first visual novel by myself so there is quite a lot to undertake. Right now, I'm in the early stages of development and am piling together as much info about what to do as possible.

At first, I would have said, yes, voice acting in a visual novel is extremely important. I personally love hearing full voice acting in games. It adds so much richness to the overall experience that I can't see not having it in games. But, after reading all the comments, I can completely understand the cons for having VA as well.

I guess you should do what's best for your budget and the project. If you don't like voice acting in games then I wouldn't recommend adding it to your project either. It could lead you doubting your decision to add it even more.

As for me, I am going to take the advice of not having VA on release day. It's one less thing to worry about cause the cost of VA is waaaay outside the scope of my project. I will instead release the game, check the feedback and then make a remastered version with voices and other added extras later. You can add it later as DLC on steam or wherever you sell or upload your game.

I wish you luck on your project and look forward to playing it when it comes out later.