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Bruce · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 9:17 am Post subject: Video Game Demo

I've done a lot of demos for myself and others over the years but this is my first for video games. I tried to provide something of a mix so it's not all screaming and yelling. Most come directly from the games, but one company so over processes their audio that I took the original files and enhanced them much more moderately.

https://soundcloud.com/bruce-miles/brucemiles-videogamedemo-2

Your thoughts on what to add or drop are welcome.

Many thanks, B
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heyguido · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 9:50 am Post subject:

Fun. I particularly like the edit-play at the end.
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Velfin · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:15 pm Post subject:

Oh that was so cool!

I don't know much about video game demos, so take this with a grain of salt the size of Montana, but the first three spots sounded like they had the same background music - similar enough that it was hard to realize when you'd changed voices.

The "allright" voice at 1:46 felt like a really welcome change - maybe move it earlier?

I sort of wanted more grunts and battle noises, actually.

Was it perhaps a titch long? What's the going rate on video game demos these days?

Are you going to make this into a video? I would love to see that. Smile

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JoeActor · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 1:50 pm Post subject:

Hey Bruce,

(I'm working on a new Game demo myself Wink

The length is good ( :60 - :90), and you've got a nice range of voices displayed.

I'd err on the side of fewer cuts, longer takes, and no repeat voices (or similar ones). I've been told that once the listener starts hearing the same voice, they'll either tune-out or turn-off.

I agree with Velfin - try to mix it up so that it's easy to tell when you've transitioned to a new character, then don't use that character/voice again in the demo.

The other reason to select longer takes is to show that you can maintain a voice for longer than a quick snippet.

Hope this helps... maybe I'll have the guts to post mine when it's in a more completed state!

Cheers,
Joe
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DougVox · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:02 pm Post subject:

More input from someone who knows nothing about VG demos:

It's kinda' weird to me that from :24 until 1:25, there's no background music/SFX/walla/atmosphere, etc. Makes it sound like a "created" demo, rather than one pieced together from actual bits of gameplay.

The never-changing reverb left me with the same feeling.

Performance-wise, however, it ROCKS!
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graemespicer · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:31 pm Post subject:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don't even attempt video games and animation at this point in my career. Bruce, I can't really comment on the production, but I agree with Mr Turkel - the performances ROCK!
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Jason Huggins · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 4:48 pm Post subject:

With others who spoke, I'm not videogame expert, but here is one thing I noticed: None of the spots sound like there were for separate and unique games (which I think is the point of a demo), at they all contained the exact same reverb in the back (as Doug mentioned).

I think it would sound more realistic if you were to cut out a bunch of the voices, develop some actual scenes, leave some space for dramatic pause (maybe even some IDPs in there?), and EQ and process each spot separately on different days without presets.

At this point (though the voices are GREAT), everything kinda runs together, and I had to choose to keep listening.

BUT, as everyone has said, the actual PERFORMANCE was STELLAR! I think that if you pull some out, leave people wanting more, and don't repeat anything, you'd have a killer VG Demo

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I liked it all - I think the higher pitched characters aren't as good, meaning the lower pitched ones are the best. All really really solid voice acting, though. Maybe swap out some of the pieces for the following:

Animal/Monster voices
A long anguishing cry or cough, (doesn't have to be screaming) something that's not 'text' but conveys feeling.
Something quiet and whispery, sharing a secret.
Something that sounds like interior monologue.
There's a lot of 'Black Hat' characters - how about a benevolent King? They need those in videogames too.

This is a really great go at it. It definitely gives an idea of what you can bring to a game.
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Benjamin Stovall · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:20 pm Post subject:

Wow. Great performances. The best critique I can give is this: I'd hire you.
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Bruce · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:30 am Post subject:

Just to address some of the kind observations:

I was stuck using the reverb. Two of the companies (with the best cuts) post their characters' voices on YouTube so I was able to lift them from there. They were all reverbed, so to keep from ear-jerking listeners I applied similar effect to the dry tracks I had. One of the companies horribly over processes their audio so I went back to the originals I made. (The music under voices in the actual game play is often....meh.)

The music was from the cinematic opening to Torchlight 2 which I narrated. Too cool to not use it where I could.

I try to use only material that's actually "aired" and most of what I've done is 12 word and under lines, so I had no good, long acting pieces to include. In this genre, if they like what I'm doing with 10 words I believe they will trust me to do 30.

I tried to make it entertaining, maybe a tad humorous, for those who stick around for more than a few seconds. Of course I could keep second-guessing this to next year.

This is a small sample if you really want to pursue this type of demo. VTP now has a game demo page and the demos are really all over the map in style:

http://voicetalentproductions.com/voiceover-categories/Video-Game

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .