Have you ever thought it would be fun to do some voice acting for a game and have your voice heard by millions of people? Well here is your chance!
Ben Leffler is hard at work on the third installment of his famously good horror genre point-and-click game, Exmortis, and he needs your help. There is an intro sequence that he needs recorded and he is accepting submissions from anyone that thinks they are up to the task. There may also be further dialog that he'll need you to record as he progresses with the development of the game. Here is a description from Ben, himself:
"I'm currently stepping up work on Exmortis 3 and I am putting together some opening dialogue to kick the story off. I need a male voice to help with this game. The ideal voice is deepish, maybe a little husky—I'm thinking along the lines of a younger version of Ian McKellen (ie. Magneto from the X-Men movies). The voice actor needs to portray the voice of a man who is exhausted, melancholy, at wits-end and kind of tormented... Someone who has lost all hope but can do nothing but continue onwards without seeing the point of it all..."
If this sounds like something you'd be able to do, then here is the dialog that you need to record...
"It seems like an eternity that I have roamed this void. Resigned to never
again set foot upon the world which I once knew. For that world is no
longer... since I was played the fool."
Once recorded, send an mp3 of your voice track to: [email protected]. Deadline for these entries is February 15, 2007. If Ben selects your voice for the game your name will appear in the credits for the game, and we'll even throw in a CasualGameplay T-shirt to show our appreciation as well!
Now jay not to brag or anything but my voice is almost perfect for that. All i'd have to do is feign exhausted and tormented lol. Problem is though I don't have a mic. Got any solutions other then just buying one?
Naymlis - a special mic is not really necessary. Here's what Ben has to say about the quality of the recording needed...
If you don't even have an built-in mic on any of your computers, then I don't know what to suggest other than using a pair of headphones plugged into the mic input (yes, that really works - but the quality will be dreadful).
umm.....not to be stupid but was there an exmortis 2 or did it die?
Exmortis 2
I've been wanting to get into voice acting for years. Just never had the nads to start pimping myself out or work on training.
I was thinking more Muppet style stuff, cartoons (Frank Welker?) but anything'll do. I'll give it a go.
Neat post man!
thanks jay i'll have to take a look at that. Maybe one of my friends will lend me one because 1. No mic built in and 2. the XBox 360 mic doesn't fit in the input hole :)
Wow, that makes three of us that really think this is for us... at least that are making it known. Like xadrian, I, too, have been wanting to get into voice acting (can anyone say 'Voice-Over Announcer?' haha), but have never really had the will to 'pimp myself out' as he so phrased (very nice, by the way), though I have the bonus of a voice coach to keep my voice usable for... okay, so it's just my chorus director, and she (yes, we have a female director for an all-male chorus) works more on trying to get a happy, perky sound than a "exhausted, melancholy... tormented" sound, but that's where my practice at voice-overing comes in. Let me just say good luck to all, and don't hate me for being a first-time poster.
Is the trailer done so we can speak to the trailer? Or is there a certain amount of time you want this to be said in?
If negative for both then I guess we can use our own cadence and the trailer will be 'tailored' around the length it takes us to get the words out?
If you need a mic, here's one for $2.50
that's pretty awesome. I doubt I have the voice, but hey, I can give it a shot. I love acting.
thank goodness I have a mic. now to finally use it.
Next question, any good sound recording software out there? I'm using Windows Sound Recorder, only saves as wav. Have to convert it.
Wow. I'm not up to it, but this is quite a unique situation here. There's not many chances to snag a voice-over gig outside of major studios. (ie...nil)
(I can do Grandpa Simpson pretty good, but that's not what's called for.)
The dialogue is too goth/pith for me to even try to fake it. Too open-ended, which is what I'm sure the artist is going for. It makes sense, and I hope who can ever conquer the task grabs the opportunity.
Then again, if you can say the phrase, "In a world..." like that guy in movie voice-overs, sign up now or forever hold your peace.
Next question, any good sound recording software out there? I'm using Windows Sound Recorder, only saves as wav. Have to convert it.
Posted by: xadrian [TypeKey Profile Page] | January 10, 2007 10:03 P
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http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Check it out. The price is right. ;o)
He was fine with the .wav I sent him (unless he didn't see the extension on it). I think he just wanted an audio file, withOUT any video, or text.. but I've been wrong in the past.
This sounds like a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I don't think Ben Leffler wouldn't pick a 15 year old boy who is too nervous to even try to go through the game. (although I gave it a few gos for fun, when I go in closer I do sound much older and gruff.) If there are other chances for voice acting or if maybe someone creates a voice acting game (*hint hint game developers*) then I'd gladly give it a go-round! :)
Anyway, one thing I must say is that voice acting is actually really hard! Not breathing into the mic is tricky. :P
Hi all - thanks so much for the first day's worth of entries. There are some very good takes amongst those I have received thus far... keep them coming.
To answer some questions:
- I do prefer MP3 as it compresses the size of the file (I don't want my hotmail account to be maxed out if I don't check it hourly) - however if you can't convert your entry to MP3, then .wav or any other sound file type is acceptable...
- Timing is not necessarily crucial. But in saying that, try and leave some pauses between sentences and try not to speak too quickly. From a quality point of view, a sound byte is easier to speed up and retain audio clarity, than it is to slow down.
- Remember to emote in your entries. Monotonic voices don't always portray the melancholy and somewhat gothic feel that I am looking for with this narration.
Once again - cheers for the entries thus far. Looking forward to hearing more takes in the coming weeks.
Ben.
He want us to send it to a hotmail adress? I'll be suprised if it works.
Well, at the risk of bettering other people's chances over my own, one trick to not breathing into the mic is to hold it (or have it positioned, in the case of headset mics) about at your chin, so very little breath actually hits the mic itself. The only problem some people (like myself) have here, is that the further away the mic is from their mouth, the louder they have to speak, and they may not be used to speaking loud at all, so it may change their sound a little bit from what they were going for.
Corona - Thanks, I just downloaded, used and the uninstalled an mp3/wav converter. I should hang onto it for all the fun wav files I find that I add to mix CDs, but either way works.
Sent mine off, who else?
Well I am fortunate to have a full studio with pro mics and Adobe Audition and too much time on my hands so I just sent in my take. Let's hope it didn't suck. ;)
Awww, I'd rock at this, but I'm a girl.
Now, if we can just get a girl's voice on the next installment. :) I'd be game (pardon the pun).
I'm saying that in hopes that there will be more installments than the one that's in production.
*crosses fingers*
Everyone I have turned on to the Exmortis games has been just as thrilled as I was to play them - truly a treat, huge props to Ben and all who are involved! :)
Haha, I feel you Kate. Damn my doubles Xs!
Well, I sent in my MP3 of it. Sure hope it fares well.
Curse my gender! My voice is low and husky, but you can tell I'm a girl. Grr.
It's McKellen.
Thanks. Fixed. =)
It's too bad you don't have any female parts...I would love to try out for a part. Maybe sometime in the future...
Anyways, keep up the good work, Ben! Your games have made me so scared I slept with the lights on. ^^
I'm still waiting on my laptop being brought back from repairs, according to some people I have a deep voice, but I personally think I sometimes squeak (say when I'm drunk), but I'd love to help Ben out if I can with my two bits worth... hopefully I'll get my laptop back in time to submit my own entry for the Ex Mortis 3 Prologue
To Ben:
Not to be a hater, but the one thing that really bugged me about the first two Exmortises (Exmorti?) was that the lines and writing were really poor. Since you are putting so much work into the games, maybe you could audition for a writer as well? It should be someone who has taken fiction writing classes. They would still write in a somewhat gothic style, but sound like something someone would actually say. The news clippings would sound like they were written by a journalist, the suicide note like it was written by someone who had little time and had just killed his family. More importantly, in the same number of words they would convey urgency, tragedy, and horror to match your fine graphics.
If nothing else, audition an English teacher to proofread the lines. Poor punctuation and grammar makes for an amateurish game. Since Exmortis is set in the US, the American spellings and punctuation must be used.
Poor punctuation and grammar also make for an amateurish post written after midnight. D'oh!
exmortis 1 and 2 were fun but you went too far with the demons its better when we're scared
I'll have a stab at it in the morning. its getting late right now.
S.G.
Sweet, I'm totally gonna give this a try. I'm pretty sure I can get my voice deep and husky, it's adding the feeling that'll be tough... but why not, I'll try it. Exmortis is by far the best thing I've ever played on Newgrounds, and Ben has a really creative mind for terror and the supernatural. I'm a bit of a horror writer myself... I wish I knew how to program games into flash (and knew how to draw XD) so that I could make them, but I doubt they'd be as good as Exmortis anyway.
Anyway, I'll take a stab at it. I love to act, though I've never tried voice acting before. Either way, I look forward to the conclusion, Ben. It's good to see you put hard work and time into this game, since it seems a lot of animators out there (especially on newgrounds) stop producing work right before the end, which is always a downer.
>Anyway, one thing I must say is that voice acting is >actually really hard! Not breathing into the mic is >tricky. :P
>Posted by: Mon
Put the mic to the side of your mouth, like where the mic would be on a headset. Then the mic gets the sound but not the breath. :-p
2 of my mics are broken BUT I KNOW JUST HOW I WOULD DO THIS i want to soo bad im gonna try the head phones in the mic port HAHAHAHAHHAHA if it work i will be on the floor laughing
OMG it does work but im gonna go out n buy a microphone any way YOU WILL be disturbed my MY TORMETED RANTING lol
HI i would like to voice act because i love exmortis ^^ i dont know if i got the thing but i can make cool whisper voices ^^
if you made this game into a movie it would be really good it would make a awsome movie
ya it would make a good movie
I'd do it, but I haven't seen the X-Men movies, so I don't know what Magneto sounds like.
Then there's the laziness, which I was too lazy to mention before.
It's June already! Gosh, when is this thing going to come out..? I really love the Exmortis games, but hey.. I can't wait much longer >__>>;;
Well great job on the last two. My boyfriend's too scared to play them. Hah. Hurry up on this one, please!
-Rae
what is the story line for exmortis 3?
Dear Ben,
Put an assault rifle in Exmotis 3 and also I needed more battle in the game.
So any idea on the release date yet?
Hey Ben dude,
Loved your games they scared me really good. I'm a girl so im not really happy with the whole boy is main character part. I mean your plots are great but there are NO girls whatsoever in this game. I can tell is that little girl and the two female campers where we didnt see any body parts or proof that they were there.
Sorry, it is just bugging me. I find girls in horror movies are always aswome...am I wrong or am I right? Whatever but I wish there was a girl part....
hey, if this position is still up for grabs, i'd be happy to try out for it. i've kinda always wanted to do voice acting. but i see some of the tags on these comments were sent in like, November, so if you haven't already got a person, i'll definitely make a recording.
come on! i want to play exmortis NOW! and if you eat raw eggs and then smoke alot, you will sound SO GOOD FOR THIS ROLE! you will sound deep, gothic, angry, tortured, and demonic!
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