Voice acting!!!

[kEs_Ha]

I made a post on the forums a few months ago about how bioware could create new stories:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=628592

 

Now this post is not about class stories itself but about how it can be created. I have a cousin that works in the film industry for several years now, according to him voice acting is really really cheap. The only ones that become rich in that industry are people who have become very famous for the particular brand that they represent. But the absolute VAST MAJORITY get very low pay. The vast majority of them have a job that they supplement with their voice acting because its not enough to live on.

 

They get the absolute minimum wage available depending on the country they live in. Now this information is based on the European entertainment industry in Germany, France and Italy. I can’t speak for the US or Canada but from what I gather it’s pretty much the same everywhere. Feel free to correct me if im wrong!

 

(I have seen in a few posts in these forums where people claim that Bioware themselves have claimed that voice acting is not so expensive as people believe. I don’t know when or if they stated this, but those of you that might know feel free to share your source. )

 

Now I can’t figure out why exactly some people claim that we will never get new class stories. All bioware would have to do is expand a little bit on the original planets and get new fresh voice actors. In Scandinavia where I live, there are plenty of good actors who work for less than minimum wage. Why cant bioware just hire new cheap actors (keep in mind that just because they are cheap doesn’t mean that they are bad ) and create new stories. If u think that class balance is the issue se my earlier thread!

 

Sorry for my bad English!

 

Thank You! Please keep the chat civil!

[Master_Calrandir]

Lol first off your English is perfectly fine, but yes I totally agree with you! Class stories shouldn't be THAT hard to do. I read a long time ago that the lead writer for the Agent said before he left Bioware that he had several future chapters for the class already written. Honestly, I bet they are trying to implement smaller features into the game first with these moderate digital expansion packs and are working on a much larger expansion pack that will add more class stories, familiar planets (Naboo, Kashyyk, Mustafar, Endor, Yavin IV), large level cap increase, and who knows what else?? The complexity of adding story with multiple choices and endings for an MMO has got to be time consuming to make it right. Swtor has only been out barely 2 years, I feel we are getting close to seeing a content packed expansion pack hopefully next year sometime! Fingers crossed!!

[chuixupu]

Yes, they did in fact say that voice acting is not really expensive, however they then said what is really expensive is everything involved in creating multiple branching storylines and how much Q&A it requires to keep it all together. They originally had 14 writers, lead by lead writer/designer who kept all the different writers in order (that was Daniel Erickson), and a huge Q&A department. They've cut the writing team down significantly as well as the Q&A team.

 

On the subject of voice acting, they have all the class voices under contract. I for one would probably want to quit if my character's voice changed. But they're certainly making use of a lot of the same people for minor roles (Steve Blum must do 100 voices in the game). That's how you save money - not get lots of cheap actors, but just re-use ones as much as possible, lol

 

Also, keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Cheap actors are usually cheap because they're very experienced, or not very good.

Edited October 13, 2013 by chuixupu

[kEs_Ha]

Yes, they did in fact say that voice acting is not really expensive, however they then said what is really expensive is everything involved in creating multiple branching storylines and how much Q&A it requires to keep it all together. They originally had 14 writers, lead by lead writer/designer who kept all the different writers in order (that was Daniel Erickson), and a huge Q&A department. They've cut the writing team down significantly as well as the Q&A team.

 

On the subject of voice acting, they have all the class voices under contract. I for one would probably want to quit if my character's voice changed. But they're certainly making use of a lot of the same people for minor roles (Steve Blum must do 100 voices in the game). That's how you save money - not get lots of cheap actors, but just re-use ones as much as possible, lol

 

Also, keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Cheap actors are usually cheap because they're very experienced, or not very good.

 

Actually the vas majority of voice acters from what i hear are pretty good, the only problem is that supply excides demand i.e there are more voice actors and thats why they are cheap!

[StarMagus]

The reason for the claim of it's too expensive to do more class stories isn't just the voice acting... it's the fact that you need to make 4 times the content ((at least)) for the same length of story. When they make stories that everybody can use they have to make 2 of them, sometimes only 1 depending... one for the Imps, one for the Republic.

 

When you make class stories you have to make 8 of them. So if you want to provide 15 hours of content via say Story/Class, you actually end up making 120 hours of content vs 30 if you had made just for an entire faction.

[TheSelkie]

you need to make 4 times the content ((at least)) for the same length of story.

I disagree with "at least 4 times as much content". Big chunks of the content would be reused, take Dromund Kaas for example - all 4 storylines use the same 80% of the Dark temple, then they split up into relatively small class specific instances. If they'd done the same thing with Makeb then it certainly wouldn't have been 4 times as much work, all of what they currently have could remain the same but with a handful of class specific areas added on where the class stories progress.

 

Obviously I'm not claiming that it's easy to make new class quests, but saying it's 4 times harder isn't a fair or accurate figure.

[Master_Calrandir]

Yes, they did in fact say that voice acting is not really expensive, however they then said what is really expensive is everything involved in creating multiple branching storylines and how much Q&A it requires to keep it all together. They originally had 14 writers, lead by lead writer/designer who kept all the different writers in order (that was Daniel Erickson), and a huge Q&A department. They've cut the writing team down significantly as well as the Q&A team.

 

On the subject of voice acting, they have all the class voices under contract. I for one would probably want to quit if my character's voice changed. But they're certainly making use of a lot of the same people for minor roles (Steve Blum must do 100 voices in the game). That's how you save money - not get lots of cheap actors, but just re-use ones as much as possible, lol

 

Also, keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Cheap actors are usually cheap because they're very experienced, or not very good.

 

I read awhile back that before they let all the writers go that they already have future chapters written. Alexander Freed even stated on his Twitter account that he had already finished future chapters for the Agent before he left. It'd make sense for them to do that, I mean, why give us everything at once?? Span things out to prolong the life of SWTOR. That's my 2 cents.

[chuixupu]

I read awhile back that before they let all the writers go that they already have future chapters written. Alexander Freed even stated on his Twitter account that he had already finished future chapters for the Agent before he left. It'd make sense for them to do that, I mean, why give us everything at once?? Span things out to prolong the life of SWTOR. That's my 2 cents.

 

Well, for one thing, they didn't let *all* the writers go. Several of them are still there. Mr. Freed himself was not fired but left to go freelance some time later (he is also the writer of the Makeb Imperial storyline) And yes, a few people have hinted that there is quite a lot of material for future story. However, a lot of that is being reworked into a non-class story format.

Alex Freed also was recently contracted to write some new things, though he said nothing class related, more "world building".

Edited October 16, 2013 by chuixupu