Voice Acting?

You can import sound files, right? Theoretically, you could use a mic to record someone talking, import it as a sound effect, and then play it in the game parallel to its corresponding message, right? Has anyone ever tried before?

Actually that sounds like a damn good idea.

I haven't tried yet but I was thinking about it. The problem, would be to get the sound playing at the right times.

Yes I have, I forget who did it though. And I haven't a clue how :p

I've got a few voice over going in my game, but it can be a pain in the ass with the timing to make it seem right.

If the player pressed enter too fast before the voice is done, the voice overs continue trying to catch up with the game.  You need to use an advanced message system to make sure the message box lasts a certain time to do it.

or you could just store it as a background sound... and make it fade out in 0 seconds right after the message is passed...? *Just thinking it through my head... as I am not at home to test if it works... never tried...*

Could you not try to freeze the person in place, or just have the message come up with the speech at the same time, and then when the enter key is pressed, both message and sound disappear together?

Wasn't there a message script that let you pause message boxes with like...\p or something?

Wasn't there a message script that let you pause message boxes with like...\p or something?

yeah thats the advanced message script i was talking about

How about just using 'stop sound-effect' after the corresponding message, so both textbox and sound/voice will end together?
Most games with voiceover are kind of like that; voices end immediately if the player choose to end the textbox..

Just a thought, but I guess it isn't that simple LoL

thats what i suggested... XD

and yes... it DOES work...

It's been tried before, and people have grouped together and started to record stuff, but it's never been followed through or even a demo been made using it.

i'd try making a demo but my voice sucks.. Oo 

I don't have a mic, so I'll have to hire people...

How will you get the funds to hire people?

I was planning on "hiring" some friends, or anyone willing to work for the amazing wage of 0 dollars an hour.

lmao "hiring" some friends.

Well, hope that you have success with that, i'd like to hear how it turns out. Get a local drama group involved as well. It'll give them work experience (and it's normally free)

I've tried to do some voice acting for a few projects, but they both (I think...) cancelled or something to that effect. I'm more than willing to let anyone use my voice for anything.  So, if you want to test it or ever need someone to do voice acting for just about anything, pm or e-mail me.

LMAO, so someone else did have my idea.  I was wondering when people were going to start doing voiceovers.  Anywase, I'd help out but I'm still trying to find a Digital Voice Morpher that works with pitch and tone.  Then you wouldn't realy need anyone else's help you could just record your own voice and morph the sound.  But it appears technology hasn't cought up with me yet....   

- Searching for results.  Please wait while we find your results.... -

oooooooo, then again mabey there is a ray of hope......   

Making the voices is the hard part.

Setting them in the game is easy.

Just play the voice file and have the text come up right after that.
When the player presses the button to move the text have the next thing be turn OFF sound.
Then play the next voice file followed by the text.

The one thing I'd think to look out for here is that often, people who do this end up focusing too much on getting the voices before the other fundamental aspects of the game are ripe. Just don't get distracted from the main course

P.S. In my personal opinion, voice-over is a double edged sword. If done nicely it's quite impressive, but if done badly it's a turn-off.

I tried to do voices in my GM project, the castlevania one. I figured out how to make my voice get a real cool evil effect, it didn't even sound like me anymore. Given, it's the easiest kind, but I did it.

I think quite alot of people have tried it but it would probably make the game file huge

Depends on what you save the music file as, I here wav is really small.

Um... wav is huge! If I remember it all right: wav is the best format for quality due to how it doesn't compress the file and can go through many encodings without losing quality abuptly. mp3 is a compressed and small format (unless it's at 320k/bits) but with each new encoding quality drops. There is a format that can keep quality although I think it's not a "normal" everyday format and probably requires something RPG Maker won't have.

So you'd probably need to use mp3 - even then all of the voice clips added up... that's gonna be freakin' huge anyway. 

Yea..
Unless you only put it on climatic events instead of the whole game...
you might just get away with it.

I don't think voice acting is a good idea.  Unless you've got a decent set-up and some people with actual like, i dunno theatrical talent, the voice acting thing could get real old real quick. The thought of some whiny kid narrating everything with a scratchy mic gives me goosebumps. 
If your gonna do it, make it professional.

and thus i refer to my earlier statement

Raid the nearest Drama group!

I'm a part of a large drama group at my school...we do improvisation, stage combat, and scripted plays...I could probably hire some of them.

and their equipment too!

They tend to have good Mic's, recorders and stuff.

You know what would be great?  narrating a game with a computer voice, like the ones where you type stuff in and it program says the out loud.

"The. Story. LINE. Has. Progressed. If you would like to continue, please press 1. To pause the game, press 2."

To walk forward, press 8.

If you want to screw yourself and go back to internet explorer press Alt+F4 once you open I.E. that is.

I don't think that would be a good idea. Perhaps having a general voice of the lead character?