Player Character Voice Design

Undisclosed Project

On one of my past projects, we were undergoing a rescoping exercise across the entire project. As the sole narrative designer, it fell to me to begin identifying areas where I felt we could afford to scope down. I consulted with our VO designer and came up with this very high-level design document that defined our player character’s voice design.

At the time, we were choosing between a small suite of essential dialogues that would need to be represented in our ping system and potentially cinematics, as well. One alternative that we briefly considered before abandoned was the “simlish” style gibberish talk that conveys speech without a need for localisation, but we felt that it detracted too much from the tone that we were aiming for.

Level 0 Player Voice System Design

Brief

This document outlines the design of the player voice system (L0), responsible for processing and playing voice lines triggered by events and in-game situations.

Given the current timeline of the project and the need to cut scope we have made the decision to not include specific languages/text for the player voice lines. Exclamations and similar are shouted, but not specifically called out in a language. Ie. “Shit!” is instead “Whoa!”

Voice Actor Range

A selection of voice actors, ranging across the spectrum of masculine and feminine. Target 15 unique voices to cast.

Efforts

Player voice scripts should include a full suite of efforts.

  • Combat efforts, such as throwing punches and reacting to being punched or shot.

  • Navigation efforts, such as panting when sprinting or grunting while climbing.

Non-Verbal

Scripts should also include non-verbal expressions of emotion. For example:

  • Laughing in relief when players land an especially daring jump in their car.

  • Whooping in celebration when completing a mission.

  • Dejected groans when receiving bad news.

  • Confused/inquisitive grunts when faced with an obstruction.

  • “Uh-oh!” when their car catches fire and is about to explode.

  • “Waaaaa!” while flying through the air in slo-mo.

Example List For Prototyping

  • Laughing

    • Relief

    • Just did something awesome

    • Bad guy just did something stupid/failed.

  • Groaning

    • Frustrated

    • Confused

    • Angry

    • Hurt

  • Whooping

    • Just did something awesome

    • Witnessed something awesome happening

  • Sighing

    • Impatient

    • Saddened

  • Throat-Clearing

    • Impatient

    • Idle