A new blog for Star Wars: The Old Republic has surfaced on the official site. Audio Director James Ohlen gives us a great look at the process for the Voice Over (VO) work done on the game. Check it out!

The Process

It all starts with the writing. The story is written by a team of writers and signed off by the Principal Lead Writer. Then it is handed off to the dialogue editor where it receives a pass for 'voice'. This ensures consistency and also that the writing is the tightest it can be to be delivered by voice actors.

Once the editing passes are complete, the conversations are formatted into scripts for the actors. Like all BioWare games, dialogue in The Old Republic is nonlinear. As a player, you can select from a number of different conversation lines which, in turn, lead to multiple options for NPC responses. This creates highly complex scripts (unlike a movie or television scripts which are linear). In studio, all the various permutations of the story must be recorded - and often in a variety of orders. Because the scripts are nonlinear, we have to provide enough context for the actors to understand what is going on. We need to set the scene for them.

There are two ways we work to ensure the actors have what they need to deliver a quality performance. First, prior to any large section of the game being recorded, the Principal Lead Writer meets with the VO directors for a story summit. They spend hours discussing the story content and going into detail about many of the characters. This is very powerful for the directors and I can assure you it doesn't occur on all video games. This gives the directors crucial information to be able to successfully direct the performance.

The actors' voice-over scripts are another tool we use to communicate our intention. Each new conversation script starts with a synopsis outlining the setting and purpose of the conversation. As well, "voice-over comments" are provided for all lines of dialogue, so that the intention of the writer is completely clear to the actor and the director.

After each batch of dialogue is recorded, it is edited and post processed as per the character requirements. This work is then verified and put into the game.

There's a lot more to read so head to the link above and find out more!