Twisted Tower Devlog (Adding Voice Acting!)

If you're wanting to stand out in 2026, uh, I highly recommend not using AI where it really counts. I'm not really talking about code. I'm talking about AI art or story or voice acting. I think voice acting is especially crucial because that's about as close to human as you can possibly get. In fact, voice acting is by far the fastest and sometimes the most costefficient way to stand out among, well, all of the AI voice acting and AI slop games that are destined to come out in 2026. Believe it or not, you can get some incredible performances from professional voice actors for a very cost-effective [music] price. In fact, both of my voice actors for my game Twisted Tower, Elena Whis and she plays Charlotte,
my night and shining armor. I'm Charlotte, by the [music] way.
And Andrew Letheron, who plays Vincent. I'm not drunk tonight. I swear. We're both in Farlight 84, which we found out during our live session.
We've been in games together before.
Yeah, we're in Farlight 84.

What? Yes.
That's so cool. What is your character?
MKR. I'm a friend to all humans.
That's amazing. Okay. Very cool. By the way, if you like this voice acting session and you want to learn more about Twisted Tower, which is the game that we're doing voice acting for, you can wishlist it below. But I'll shut up and let's go ahead and jump into five major tips you're going to need to know when hiring voice actors for your game. Okay, the first tip for your voice actors, voice actors should not be reading lines. They should be acting. And I know it's weird because it's like, well, it's voice acting, so it's kind of like reading a book, right? So, I used to think about it like, well, what would what would a audible narrator sound like? That is not what we're aiming for here. We want our voice actors and actresses to be actually acting. And you'll see this in this upcoming clip here where Elena and Andrew, they're actually acting. They're moving their bodies. They're making facial expressions. That's what's causing the

voice acting to sound real. It sounds like, well, they're actually [clears throat] acting because they are.
Oh, I knew it. I knew my screenplay would work. And you thought we'd dared.
I know. I know. But But listen, put on your coat, Charlie. I want to take you somewhere to say to say thank you.
For what?
For everything. The second tip for working with voice actors and actresses for your game is you need to have an idea for the emotion behind every single line. In fact, the lines that I send to my voice actors and actresses, it's on a Google doc and I'll put in brackets exactly how they're feeling or how they should be feeling when they're reading the line. And look, they might not nail it the first time. So, you need to be prepared during the live session. You need to be prepared to show them what that emotion looks like.
What? This movie? I actually quite dislike it.
Well, yes, but I don't. Do I?

Great, Charlotte. Can we get a little bit sexier, a little bit sensual on that last line? Something like, "But I don't, do I?"
Gentle closer in.
That's right. You're flirting. You're moving closer, and you lay your head on his shoulder.
Got it.
Okay?
Well, yes, but I don't. Do I?
Brilliant. Tip number three for working with voice actors and actresses. You need to go ahead and just let your voice actors and actresses play. Let them have fun. You don't need to interrupt them every 10 seconds. And you need to just let them go and go and go. Sometimes I would just say, "Do it again." And they would just do it again. Now, obviously, I'm going to tell them every once in a while specifics of what I need, but overall, I just want them to just do it again and again and again. And you'll find that they're going to get more and more natural and they'll get more into that one specific emotion for that singular line.
It's no use, Charlie. I'm too stupid for

this. Why on earth did I choose to be a surgeon of all the professions? Fancy words and definitions. It's just not my cup of tea.
Vincent Cameron, do shut up. You have no trouble memorizing movies. Here, try this one. the outermost layer of the skin.
Oh, this one's easy. It's uh
um epi epi.
You've got this. Oh my. Oh god. You've got to be kidding me. This is supposed to be the easy one. God, help me. Just can't remember it. Charlie,
epidermis. Vince, [laughter] I'm
stupid. Stupid. Charlie. Oh, and look here. It's already past midnight. There's just two days left till finals.
Oh, come off it. Here. Let's keep trying.
Very good, guys. Um,

let's do it again. Okay, go ahead.
Okay. It's no use, Charlie. I'm too stupid for this. Why on earth did I choose to be a surgeon? Of all the professions, fancy words and definitions, just not my cup of tea. Vincent Cameron, do shut up. You have no trouble memorizing movies. Here, try this one. The outermost layer of the skin.
Oh, this one's easy. Uh
Mhm.
Um epi epi.
You've got this.
Oh god, you've got to be kidding me. This is supposed to be the easy one. God help me. I can't remember it, Charlie. Epideris Vince.
I'm stupid. Stupid Charlie. Oh, and look here. It's already past midnight. There's just two days left till finals.
Oh, come off it. Here. Let's keep

trying.
Good guys. Number four. Don't worry about their feelings. Okay? Don't worry about your voice actors and actress's feelings. You kind of have to be a little bit cold. You don't want to hurt them, but you don't want to just move on to the next line and avoid telling them that, well, something didn't work. Here's the truth. You may say, "Hey, you know what, Elena, that's just not working for me. I feel like that felt a little dry, a little boring." You may say that and it may sting a little bit for Elena, although she didn't act like it. Uh, but the truth is is that when the game comes out, she's going to be glad you did because you're going to get an awesome line and she's going to get praised for an incredible performance. She'll get the credit as she should. Yeah, this felt a little forced here. Um, after you're fit. Do you see how that's in italics? This is kind of how I want it to sound. Okay, listen. Last night when we were studying after your fit, kind of imagine looking at him with

like glaring him down. Kind of like making fun of him like, "Dude, you're dramatic."
Oh,
does that make sense?
Yeah. I thought it was more like a I don't want to talk about this, but you know when you freaked out last night?
Yeah. No, she's poking at him. She's poking at him. She knows he's dramatic. Um, okay. Listen, last night when we were studying after you'll fit and you can maybe laugh a little, right?
Um, and then also it's kind of a mouthful saying after all you've got the entire Twisted Tower movie memorized like the back of your hand.
So, all I'll say is let's just try and make that sound natural if you can.
Okay.
So, it just felt very robotic because it is a mouthful. So,
Okay. Sure.
All right. Feel free to give uh that whole line a go. Okay, listen. Last night when we were studying, after your fit, I realized something. You have no trouble memorizing movies, right? After all, you've got the entire Twisted Tower movie memorized like the back of your hand. Give it another go there. Um, here's

kind of what I'm thinking with with the that last line there. After all, you've got the entire Twisted Tower movie memorized like the back of your hand.
Kind of like that. So maybe stretch out stretch out that first half and make it a little bit more uh have more inflection. Is that possible?
Sure.
Okay.
Okay. Listen. Last night when we were studying after your fit, I realized something. You have no trouble memorizing movies, right? After all, you've got the entire Twisted Tower movie memorized like the back of your hand.
Very good. All right. The fifth and final tip for directing voice actors and actresses is well, you need to be able to act as well. Even if you suck at acting, you need to be willing to jump into the call and make a fool of yourself. You can see footage of me here using a British accent uh and trying to emote what I want my actors and actresses to feel. This is a great thing

to do because a lot of professional actors and actresses, they're going to hear the director like me doing my best to act and they're going to be thinking, "Okay, I got clarity on what he wants, but I know I can do such a better job." Sometimes it's okay to be a fool uh in front of these uh professionals because it'll kind of bolster their confidence. He says, "Since when were you writing about the surgeon?" And you're excited, Charlotte, so you need to say something like this. Okay, listen. Last night, does that make sense?
Sort of jump in there with some urgency. Okay, so listen.
Mhm. [clears throat]
You're just really excited
cuz you think it's a great idea, and it is.
All right, so let's go ahead and jump right in. Number six, this is a bonus one. Hey, if your voice actors and actresses are sick or they're tired or they're frustrated, this might be a good thing. Andrew came into this call telling me that he was sick, that his voice wasn't sounding very good. And I

said, "You know what, Andrew? That's perfect. That's exactly what we want." Because all the lines that he was recording, well, the character Vincent is kind of miserable. He hasn't slept much. He's frustrated. He's anxious. That's perfect. So, don't be afraid to say, "You know what? I know you're miserable. I know you feel sick, but this is actually going to help your performance." No, I kind of wanted you to sound worse, honestly. Okay,
it would have been [laughter] would have been better for this scene here.
Another tape. Vincent's flat. 7:00 p.m. October 16th, 1944.
All right, those are my five tips for directing voice actors and actresses. I guess B