Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
speech
Dialogue for games, as for any other type of entertainment medium, is planned
and scripted. Setting up recording sessions is time consuming and expensive. The
better prepared you are for recording, the less likely you are to have to re-record. In
most cases, some sections of games need to be re-recorded because of changes
in the gameplay or story; but because of the cost and time involved, you want to
minimize the need to re-record.
dialogue is an
example of diegetic
sound, which is
meant to seem real
and plays in-game.
non-diegetic sound
seems to play
from off-screen,
such as narrator
commentary.
Dialogue
Often, designers record themselves or others on the team so they have temp tracks to
work with. Temp tracks are an important part of game creation, because they give the
designer the opportunity to build a section of the game and test the gameplay where
that audio is needed before investing time and money in recording final dialogue.
Final dialogue is usually recorded in a controlled environment to avoid pick-
ing up background audio that will diminish the performance and quality of the
recording. Usually, actors are hired to create the final vocal performances, as
seen in Figure 8.7.
FiGuRe 8.7
An ensemble cast of actors in a room set up to record their performances.
The walls are draped with soundproofing material to help block out external audio that will
spoil the performance.
