Since this game focuses on fully-voiced content, I'm curious what impact this will have, if any, on future expansions, new missions, etc.

 

For example, is Lacy Chabert still on the payroll for more Mako VO? What happens if the actress who voices the female sith warrior isn't available in the future for whatever reason?

 

I have to imagine that, if SWTOR is going to be around for years like WOW, that'll mean more story content, which in turn means more extensive VO... Does this mean that expansions will take longer?

 

This isn't complaining or anything, I'm just curious as to how it will work.

I am also very interested in how this would all work.

Just a guess, but I would think the actors/actresses had to sign something saying they would do voices for a certain period of time.

They should have just done what wow did and have the same guy voice everyone in the game lol.

They probably know that they will need them for the future. A lot of the voice actors in this game have been doing voices with Bioware for years now, Dragon Age/Mass Effect. They've had a relationship with Bioware for awhile now, and I don't think they would turn down the work.

 

Heck, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen voice acted for Toy Story since 1995. That's 15 years.

 

Will it take longer? I don't know, I guess so... but it's worth it.

I am sure they signed a x-year deal, if for some reason person A. can no longer do the voice over, they will find another who sounds like that person.

What actually sparked this thought was DCUO, which is also heavily VOed. I read somewhere that Mark Hamill said that Arkham City was his last stint as Joker. So does that mean no new Joker missions in DCUO?

 

It's interesting how the VO trend might impact the flexibility of the game designers now...

For obvious reasons, I can't give out details of our contracts with the voice actors! However, I can offer a few assurances:

 

We've known since the start that we would need to have major characters (Players, companions, certain NPCs) returning to record new content for many, many years. From a business end, yes, this is planned for. We have no desire to change voice actors for existing characters, nor any intention of "writing out" a character because the actor becomes unavailable.

 

From a practical standpoint, of course, unexpected occurrences do happen. This is where a bit of foresight helps--we're writing dialogue long before that dialogue ever shows up in-game, so we've usually got a pretty good window during which we can do VO recording. In other words, if a voice actor is unavailable for six months due to an emergency (or something planned!), well... if we're ahead far enough, we can still make that work. We'll adjust the schedule, record everything else we need and bring that actor in toward the end.

 

It's also worth noting that voice recording doesn't necessarily add much time to the content creation process. Recording is done in parallel with other tasks--while artists are art-ing and designers are building quests, we've got voice actors simultaneously coming into recording studios.

 

Hope that helps!

Think Alexander just came in and allievated a lot of players concerns on new content .

 

And not just on the forums.

 

Thank you for replying on this longstanding worry and great job on the Agent. You sir, are a master writer.

Wow, this is really cool. Thank you Alexander for explaining how it works! I'm getting a bit attached to my character and her companions, and it's great to know that you guys are thinking ahead as far as story and consistency. Kudos!

I'm almost 100% sure they're all on long term contracts.

 

The only worry is if someone dies. Which, sadly, is a possibility when dealing with a voice cast this large. Especially if any of the VA's are older.

For obvious reasons, I can't give out details of our contracts with the voice actors! However, I can offer a few assurances:

 

We've known since the start that we would need to have major characters (Players, companions, certain NPCs) returning to record new content for many, many years. From a business end, yes, this is planned for. We have no desire to change voice actors for existing characters, nor any intention of "writing out" a character because the actor becomes unavailable.

 

From a practical standpoint, of course, unexpected occurrences do happen. This is where a bit of foresight helps--we're writing dialogue long before that dialogue ever shows up in-game, so we've usually got a pretty good window during which we can do VO recording. In other words, if a voice actor is unavailable for six months due to an emergency (or something planned!), well... if we're ahead far enough, we can still make that work. We'll adjust the schedule, record everything else we need and bring that actor in toward the end.

 

It's also worth noting that voice recording doesn't necessarily add much time to the content creation process. Recording is done in parallel with other tasks--while artists are art-ing and designers are building quests, we've got voice actors simultaneously coming into recording studios.

 

Hope that helps!

 

You forgot to mention that VO Actors can Also sound like the orig cast ( Great Advantage of Doing Voice overs). IE My Voice over is Still heard by Many and they all think its the Orig guy :-) Not saying where or Who as it was a NDA contract.

I'm almost 100% sure they're all on long term contracts.

 

The only worry is if someone dies. Which, sadly, is a possibility when dealing with a voice cast this large. Especially if any of the VA's are older.

 

Really not a Issue. Many VOA can Imitate the Orig cast member. They Dont See us only hear us. But SHHH Keep that to ourselves!