Ok, so, I don’t want to be super-boring, but a little background:
I backed the KS in 2012, partly because of the great tech demo, but mainly because of Arthur’s passion about the project. Some day, I hope to get a special box with a shiny disc that I’ll probably never use because, well, Steam.
Anyways, whilst the Diablo3 beta was very promising, the final product was one of the worst purchases I ever made. On the other hand, the alpha builds of Grim Dawn were already blowing Diablo3 away in most areas, gameplay most specifically.
There is only really one aspect (ok, two: I’m not a fan of the pixellated cursor, but I’ll let that go), which bothers me: the number of places where lore has to be read and where NPCs are voiceless.
Now I get it: voice actors aren’t cheap and the process takes time. But I have a suggestion for a potential solution: draw on the resources of the (obviously passionate) Grim Dawn user base: turn it into a free-for-all competition!
What if anyone could submit an entry to voice an actor’s words? If the prospect of grading the best seems daunting, perhaps crowd-source that too?
Obviously, entries would have to stick to some guidelines. Here are some suggestions, but they’re just that: suggestions:
- Voice work must perfectly mirror the accompanying text (ie, the words you see must be the words you hear)
- If a person wishes to make an entry for a particular part, they must enter for all voice work that that NPC would need done, ie, don’t submit for just one of the Warden’s logs, but must be for all to get the part. A person could submit one to get feedback though, to decide if they should complete the voice set – and, if chosen, must commit to doing all of them.
- Voice-overs should respect the gender and region of the NPC – no deep gruff voices for girl NPCs, appropriate accent, if any, etc
- Voice-overs must be clearly audible. First takes can be of “not great” quality, but a person must commit to producing a high-quality final take should they be chosen.
I think this might fill in a small gap in the game and also provide passionate community members a way to “be part of the game”. The voices could be provided as an optional mod for the game, for those who really don’t want it.
Any thoughts out there? I’d really love to be able to pick up a piece of lore and, instead of speed-reading it so I can get back to the game, have the lore spoken to me whilst I find a monster to mash – this was one of the bits of Diablo (2 and 1) which I loved: having a voice (eg Cain) telling you some arcane information whilst you beat down on a beasty (:
(Just that little bit of quest dialog not the dude streaming)