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Jonas Tyroller2 Nov 2019

Don't Record 600 Voice Lines for Your Indie Game.

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Integrating 605 individual voice lines creates major production bottlenecks due to the labor-intensive nature of manual file naming, organizational batching, and consistent audio processing.
02
Underestimating high-volume voice production can cause significant project delays, as a task initially estimated at two days can realistically expand to a full week of labor.
03
Maintaining vocal consistency across hundreds of takes is a primary technical challenge, as subtle performance variations can easily disrupt a character's established sonic identity.
04
Achieving a distinct, non-human character aesthetic requires a complex multi-stage signal chain involving equalizers for low-frequency removal, auto-tune for pitch manipulation, and modulation effects like chorus and flanger.
05
Extensive voice acting requirements often force developers to sacrifice other planned features, such as end-game statistic screens, to maintain core development timelines.
06
Successful implementation of large-scale voice assets depends heavily on rigorous file management and the ability to troubleshoot batch-exporting issues within the game engine.

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Transcript

this is your reaction I'm really that bad that's the definition of insanity right they're all jump right into them just as I expected search query arrow for brainless object only capable of moving in one direction [Music] hey this is Jonas with another chill indie game dev log currently working on my second steam release will you snail two weeks ago I've challenged myself to finish this game within just four weeks so there are only two weeks remaining now I've already started getting quite nervous for no particular reason at all the launch is still quite a while away the game will come out in 2020 so if you don't want to miss the launch just head over to Steam and hit the wishlist but if you've seen last week's dev block then you might remember that I've written and implemented a crapload of new voice lines last week because during gameplay the AI is mostly just a silent observer for now I want that to change I want the AI to be able to comment on pretty much everything you do so that brings us to this week as well as to a

horrible realization I had Monday morning okay so from baseline 350 all the way to 933 that means I'll have to record 605 lines now this will be my recording setup Cubase on the left with all of the voice lines I've recorded already which but it already looks like a crazy barcode tone of voice lines already in there and then over here so another piece of Cubase and then of course here I have the voice lines that I actually want to record so this is my text sheet before I started recording I went through all of the voice lines again real quick just to make sure that I was still happy with the writing and to correct a couple of spelling mistakes in there I was actually legit a bit scared of the recording session because I just had no idea how long it would take me to record 600 voice lines and according to my development plan I had two days for the entire process which yes includes editing 600 voice lines

let's say takes me ten seconds muslin that equals 100 minutes I thought the recording session would take me 1 hour and 40 minutes to me wow you landed precisely where you weren't supposed to land Wow you landed precisely where you were Wow of course we all know that by the end of the week I was no longer fine but I'm getting ahead of myself here no you jumped right into that just as I expected is quite simple you see you [Music]

actually kind of challenging to get the voice sounding the same all the time cause sometimes I do the voice like this in sometimes I accidentally do it like this and that makes the voice and sound a little different from one another I hope that nobody will notice at that point I really needed a break from all the craziness so took a little bit of time to chill outside I like craziness I enjoy craziness today that's why I'm making well your snail but a person can only take so much and I'm not gonna lie recording 600 of these voice lines was a bit much you're all of the old voice lands where remember that was already a ton of work to edit all of that and here are the new ones so instead of 1 hour 40 recording the voice lines pretty much took me the entire day and here came already the next big challenge editing search for silence yeah that actually looks quite good calculate here's what I have to do

to every single one of the voice lines check if it's the correct one then hit P shift P to create a new cycle marker and then I just have to name that cycle marker give it the correct name in this case nested Zim rained room or one and that's it now I can move on to the next one on Monday evening I spend like another one and a half hours on that and it actually looked like I got a lot done look how many voice lines I've already named isn't that awesome until i zoomed out small fraction though this area is what I've managed to edit today guess what might you say was pretty much entirely spent on naming voice lines [Music] [Applause] [Music] I've been asked a couple of times already how it makes Wits voice sound like that did you really not see that coming step one is just use an equalizer to EQ away some of the lower frequencies did

you really not see that coming step two using auto-tune to pitch the voice downwards did you really not see that coming but then once again getting rid of the low frequencies using an EQ and then just adding some chorus and flanger to make it sound a bit fuller to top it all off I then make some use of the auto-tune basically to add some glitches to its pitch so it just sounds a bit more interesting don't you say I just kept grinding kept grinding the naming process took some breaks of course add enough food didn't crunch no worries I'm fine I think actually just found a cool melody for the boss fight usually the will you snail melody sounds like this [Music] for the bus fight I just came up with this

on Wednesday it was finally time to put the voice lines into the game they were finally done just kidding they were not because I still had to do this stupid pitching process for about 590 other voice lines so at this point I was basically falling super behind in my development timeline luckily the only other thing planned for that week was a statistic screen for the end of the game and to be honest in the worst case scenario the game can just do without that now at that point as you might imagine I was already super sick of the voice lines I just couldn't hear them anymore but it didn't help I needed to get it over with taking some breaks in the forest always helps me to keep my sanity because I really like trees you might have heard that mr. beast is currently collaborating with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 20 million trees for every dollar you donate they can plant one tree I've already donated myself I think it's a great project so I thought that's a quick shoutout or if you want

you can also join a game gem to spread some awareness whatever you can do is awesome some of the voice lines also took some extra editing like this money for example cause at the end of the game squid really starts going crazy a little bit by the end of the day I wasn't even halfway done with all of the new voice lands which means on Thursday I definitely had to step it up a little bit time for more busy Berg I'll spare you the details because it's just more of the same and instead I'll give you this hope that made you just as happy as last time I did that in a death look nice the editing was finally complete I did it now all I had to do was clicking the

export button [Music] I of course meant to say finding the issue with the voice line naming so in theory I just have to check where there are two with the same name right after one another as each five hours later found the double voice line renamed it now all I had to do was do a ghazal do it again a third attempt was the one that finally succeeded Cuba's was batch exporting all of my voice lines and at this point I was already so curious to hear all of those voice lines in-game okay this is epic because I really wasn't sure would help the game would hurt the game wouldn't even feel any different with the voice lines direct all of them into game maker [Music] hope that doesn't crush GameMaker and maker taking its time okay

Oh yes except for some minor box everything

working well if you want to support me best way you can do so is by wish listing the game on Steam now just takes a couple of seconds and it actually helps a ton in case you're new here check out the rest of my videos I have a ton of videos about game development from dev logs to tutorials all the way to some general advice on how to best get started with game development how to market your indie game how to use YouTube as a game developer etc etc I share everything I learn in the hope that my staff inspires you and helps you

out have a great day see you in the next one

Summary

The process of integrating extensive voice acting into an indie game requires significant time management and technical preparation, often exceeding initial development estimates. When a developer decides to expand an AI character’s role from a silent observer to an active commentator, the resulting workload—in this case, recording and editing 605 individual lines—can create substantial bottlenecks in a production schedule. The primary challenge lies not only in the recording phase but in the labor-intensive post-production workflow, which includes manual file naming, organizational batching, and consistent audio processing.

Technical execution for character voice design involves a multi-stage signal chain to achieve a distinct, non-human aesthetic. This process typically utilizes equalizers to remove low frequencies, auto-tune software to manipulate pitch and introduce intentional glitches, and modulation effects like chorus and flanger to add depth. Maintaining vocal consistency across hundreds of takes is a recurring difficulty, as subtle variations in performance can disrupt the character’s sonic identity.

The project management aspect of indie development highlights the risks of underestimating repetitive tasks. While initial estimates suggested a two-day window for recording and editing, the actual workload required nearly an entire week of focused effort. This necessitated sacrificing other planned features, such as end-game statistic screens, to maintain the core development timeline. Ultimately, the successful implementation of high-volume voice assets relies on rigorous file management and the ability to troubleshoot batch-exporting issues within the game engine, demonstrating that while extensive voice acting can enhance player immersion, it demands a disproportionate amount of development resources.