Audio - Video Game: Storytelling - page 198

Casting
The process of casting major characters in a voiced game should start
with, of course, a detailed Character Description Document (see Appendix
I ) . Those of you who've faithfully been reading up to this point should by
now recall this document as an old friend! A special version of the docu-
ment, customized for the Audio team, can be slanted toward how the
character should sound, with fields potentially including information such
as:
▪ Voice age (how old does she sound?)
▪ Actors who might be a good reference (and in what prior roles?)
▪ Accent
▪ Sample, defining dialogue lines
Of course, there might be additional audio clues you want to call out.
Is she confident, arrogant, nervous, inexperienced, grizzled, relaxed,
etc.? Does she have an accent, or maybe an accent she's trying to hide? Is
her use of language current or dated? Does it betray her economic or so-
cial background? Does she/did she smoke? Is she a woman of few words
or a babbler?
Please note this information would be in addition to the standard, basic
data on the character (described on this page in chapter 10) of which all
team members are made aware:
▪ Name
▪ Sex
▪ Race/Species
▪ Age (equivalent human age as well, if applicable)
▪ Intelligence
▪ Education type and level
▪ Profession
▪ Vocabulary
▪ Backstory