What kind of voice acting would you like in Overgrowth?

[Pablopa99]

Updated the poll to avoid confusion with what I menat with voice acting

[Aleol]

although I would very much like voice acting to be in the game, It just might not fit into the guys' vision of the game. I think it should be implemented because it would indicate just how far the animals have gone up the evolutionary chain and would add another level of depth to them. Animals right now communicate through completely nonverbal cues in the wild between species. The development of language would make complete sense. It doesn't have to be voice acted (it wasn't in Lugaru) but it certainly draw me in to the experience more.

Although, tbph, I got really annoyed with the rabbit noises in lugaru . The wolf sounds were really cool though.

[Jacktheawesome]

although I would very much like voice acting to be in the game, It just might not fit into the guys' vision of the game. I think it should be implemented because it would indicate just how far the animals have gone up the evolutionary chain and would add another level of depth to them. Animals right now communicate through completely nonverbal cues in the wild between species. The development of language would make complete sense. It doesn't have to be voice acted (it wasn't in Lugaru) but it certainly draw me in to the experience more.

Although, tbph, I got really annoyed with the rabbit noises in lugaru . The wolf sounds were really cool though.

On the twitter feed, David was mentioning voice acting. It wasn't much, but it seems like he's at least strongly considering it.

i think it could go either way, if it's good voice acting it could really bring the story to another level, but if it's bad or cheesy in any way it could really bring the quality down. I voted yes

[SirDoombox]

If the voice acting can contain specific traits for each race then it could be amazing.
Examples:
Wolves have growling and snarling.
Dogs I would assume would be quite vicious yet composed.
Cats would be quite elegant and sophisticated.
Rabbits are quite a tough one however because they don't have any dominant obvious traights within the lugaru/overgrowth universe, that might be another thing to consider.

[Sirian]

i say Yes, but not person voices beause turns it in unrealistic , should be good animal sounds or something like that, but human voices aren't cool

[Mardy]

I'd say that, if the guys can find a way to tell a story without dialogue, they should go for it.

The game's already got a pretty stark aesthetic going for it, what with the expansive, sparse landscapes and all. I think that dialogue, if not done well (and used in moderation), might take away from that.

If anyone here has seen Valhalla Rising, that's the vibe I get from this game. For the uninitiated, the main character never says a word. He just sorta hangs out, traveling around these huge scenic landscapes and killing dudes every once in a while.

Similar to Shadow of the Colossus, if that's a more accessible example.

[Arigatōr]

On the blog someone mentioned that he thought of an animal language like the one in 'StarFox 64' (here is a video of the 'Lylat' language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nHR4RsMc0g ).

I think that using animal sounds instead of human voice acting would be much more economic, which is important because of Wolfire's limited budget and manpower in comparison to big companies.

Here is what I posted on the blog:
Professional voice actors would be more expensive and would have to record a lot of lines, if the whole dialogue of the story in single player mode was dubbed - whereas you would just need a handful of different grunts and squeaks for the 'StarFox' option. Sentences could be made up of random sounds of the respective race. Or there could also be rules, like a squeaking sound at the end of the sentence means a question, a growling sound signifies anger or sarcasm etc.

Moreover, if the player crosses a city populated by a big amount of animals of one single race (like the babylonian cat city shown in some of the alpha videos) or different races, then it would make sense if you could listen to the chattering and small talk of the inhabitants, just like in "big" RPGs (I am from Germany, so I'm thinking of "our" former showpiece franchise the 'Gothic' series, where this effect was used a lot in settlements). Also in this case, it would be a lot more economic, if there you would be hearing several different animal sounds instead of a big amount of different human utterances, which would get repetitive either way after some time (as someone in the comment section mentioned it before).


I know that 'Overgrowth' is not going to be an open world RPG, so maybe the cities in single player mode are not going to be inhabited by many 'civilians' you can talk to, but are first and foremost levels where you fight NPCs, so the small talk argument would not count.
But by all means I suppose that human voice acting would be more expensive and therefore slow down the developement of 'Overgrowth'.

[TheArdentWriter]

No human voice acting. Voice acting can make indie games look bad so keep to the primal sounds.

[stevensonbak]

Honestly, I think voice acting is a major component in any video game.
A great example of an indie game that excelled due not only to gameplay, but also voice acting, was Amnesia: The Dark Descent developed by Frictional Games. It would not have been the same if you were completely isolated and alone and never hear another human voice throughout the entire game, a lot of story elements would be lost.
I'm not sure how easily a story with depth could be told with just chirps and snarls...
I say limit the animal noises to combat, while dialogue is still in English.

If the voice acting can contain specific traits for each race then it could be amazing.
Examples:
Wolves have growling and snarling.

^^And this^^, I don't think I could put it any better.

[Chibiabos]

I think a combination. I don't really think you could get away with it without human voice/noises, at least grunts, yells of pain, etc. I mean, I don't know rabbits all that well, but I don't think you could get a real rabbit to make the sorts of noises you'd need without getting yourself some animal rights visitors.

At the same time, it would be nice to have wolf howls and growls, dog barks, a cat hiss, etc.

[Jacktheawesome]

Honestly, I think voice acting is a major component in any video game.
A great example of an indie game that excelled due not only to gameplay, but also voice acting, was Amnesia: The Dark Descent developed by Frictional Games. It would not have been the same if you were completely isolated and alone and never hear another human voice throughout the entire game, a lot of story elements would be lost.
I'm not sure how easily a story with depth could be told with just chirps and snarls...
I say limit the animal noises to combat, while dialogue is still in English.

If the voice acting can contain specific traits for each race then it could be amazing.
Examples:
Wolves have growling and snarling.

^^And this^^, I don't think I could put it any better.

Just what I was thinking, noises for combat, speech for dialogue.
I was also thinking maybe the speech could have different animal-esque elements to it, but still be human speech. Like in games that are set in foreign countries, and therefore foreign languages: the actors speak in the accent of their country, instead of having some American actor voice a chinese warlord (random example). This gives the impression that they are speaking in a different language, but without the issue of understandability. Small squeeks, grunts, or purrs could be incorporated as part of the speech, based on specie of course.

[Chibiabos]

What sorts of noises to rabbits make?

[Vibhor]

I wonder how these people would get animals to scream and grunt?

[Bruce Campbell]

please, DON'T give to the rabbit or wolf human voice.I just try now the alpha, awful effect.

[superstepa]

The poll made me think about the Scott Pilgrim "Threshold " song.
On topic:
Voice acting will be out of place