I'll post up a list for all the parts once I finish up the script. I'm almost 100% sure there's a part for nearly every type of voice.

I would like a minor role. I'm fairly sure I can figure out some voice for a shop owner or something. =D

What? No Chinese student wanting to learn ENGRISH reference?

The Chinese girl has been the least of my problems, to be honest. Even still I forgot to mention her. XD

To be fair though, there was a happy ending after all this, but umm...I think I'll talk about that ending once everything is official. To say the least, this person is making me a bit tongue tide right now.

Jobs
Core Tier

In VHEL, the core gameplay -- what you do all the time -- focuses on "evasion", the act of avoiding/decieving your enemies. This foundation is ultimately broken up into 3 subcategories known as "Triadic Rule": combat, cloak, and cunning -- stuff I've mentioned in the past. The enemies (Ragnic, Scouts, Reavers, and Marauders) all work in and around Triadic Rule, focusing on 1 of the 3 aspects. Each enemy type therefore works best within a particular situation, and when grouped together as one coherent force, the player is, of course, asked to think "strategically" in order to resolve each threat before otherwise toppled.

The same direction that guides enemy design is now being channeled into the player character(s) via "Jobs". Each job caters to a specific strategy, whether that be focusing on combat, cunning, or cloak. Some job specific abilities demand a higher resource/stamina cost, while others may only work best when forced to defend a specific area. Currently, there are 3 job types each character can be assigned to: Survivalist, Coordinator, and Saboteur.

Courier Survivalist
Combat Mastery

Courier Survivalist focus on attacking the enemy directly. They have the unique ability to manipulate their own stamina, making them capable of squeezing every ounce of strength out of their bodies. Their abilities make them usuable for long stretches at a time without having to waste 1 day/night event to recover stamina and develop more "tool" resources (more on that later). Khana Faust and Loki Tokun are both excellent examples of the type of characters who can execute this job type.

- Spring Trap: Can be thrown to any given location. Creates noise upon impact. It’s usage is highly dependent on it’s amalgamations.

- War Cry: Increases stamina by 30 for 15 seconds. Stamina decreases by 30 every 0.5 seconds. Creates a loud noise that can attract the enemy.

- Barrage: Charge forward quickly in any direction and cause stun damage on the enemy. Effective against armored enemies.

- Ambush: Lock onto the enemy, then attack from any angle. Note: user is unable to move until the ability is fully used.

Courier Coordinator
Cloak Mastery

Courier Coordinators focus on indirect combat and complex strategies, from the shadows. Unlike the Survivalist, Coordinators are anything but head on attackers, making them less capable of taking on a threat like the Ragnic Nidaria or Manta without extensive usage of their abilities. Coordinators are resource heavy, but smart micromanagement of the tool resource and using "amalgamation" (more on this later), can make them even more versatile than the aforementioned Survivalist. Nolan Vauldergear best suits such a role both stamina and growth wise.

- Manikin: Create a puppet that moves and behaves like it’s master. Once attacked, the manikin will eject a foul mist. Note: user is unable to move until the ability is fully used.

- Syrphid: An autonomous drone used for annoying the enemy.

- Makeshift: Create a temporary cover point.

- ???: Can't talk about it...yet. XD

Courier Saboteur
Cunning Mastery

Courier Saboteurs rely on traps and misdirection to defeat their enemies. Ordinarily, there are moments where the enemy can get the upper hand, and strike with devastating results. This doesn't always have to be the case. Saboteurs are excellent at deceiving the enemy, exploiting weaknesses, scouting ahead of a group, and strike very decisive blows. Though not as capable head on like the Survivalist, and nowhere near as allusive as the Coordinator, Suboteurs earn there reputation by being one step ahead of the enemy. Iberian Sable, without a doubt, fits this role like a glove.

- Fake Out: An object/manikin imitating another object/manikin. When touched by the enemy, things blow up! Most effective when amalgamated.

- Disguise: Take on the appearance of the enemy. Disabled when attacking.

- Demonic Cry: Lock onto the enemy, then attack from any angle (similar to "Ambush"). Note: user is unable to move until the ability is fully used. In addition, the user will...cry (sometimes laugh). This alternatively draws in the attention of all enemies, in confusion.

- ???: D'aww...this one is censored too. D=

Amalgamation
Job modifiers

The Tool resource is your primary resource used for executing various job abilities, like the manikin or the spring trap. "Amalgamation" is the method in which you can modify preexisting job abilities and "enhance" them. For example: the mankin, which costs some 50 tool resources to create, can be amalgamated with the Fabric and Murr resources. The Murr resource allows the manikin to drop puddles of smelly goo on the ground which can be used to lure the enemy, while the Fabric resource can make the mankin near invisible to the enemy when idle. As a result, you can make the manikin more so stealthy, and useful for cunning/cloak functionality. Amalgamating these two resources means that the creation of a manikin would draw from not only the Tool resource, but the Murr and Fabric resources as well. However, the amount of Tool resources that would have been originally used to create 1 mankin without amalgamating resources, decreases significantly. Why? Because you're "building" the manikin with other resources simultaneously.

Amalgamation goes hand in hand with the resource and job systems. The more resources you have, the more you can amalgamate to your abilities. The less resources you have, the less varied your abilities will be, which can be a real issue when facing some of the later enemy types in the game. Upon the next VHEL update, I'll go in depth about the resource system, including the finalized "Trade and Value" system -- which, in my opinion, feels like the most addictive part of the game.

Talents
Secondary Tier

Even though each character can specialize in a specific job, they're free to mix up their prowess by way of "passive abilities", a.k.a. "Talents". Like the name suggests, these abilities happen all the time -- no catch. Talents can be developed via the new "VHEL symbiosis" system (It's getting it's own update -- it's that damn deep), along with an assortment or other such attribute changing abilities. Although you can effectively have tons of "unlocked" talents, each character is limited to 3 at a time (think CoD4 or MW2). For the time being, I won't reveal the type of talents you can get, but in a nutshell, they can easily make a Coordinator function more like a Survivalist/Coordinator hybrid, or make a Sabotuer into a Coordinator. You'll have to wait for the gameplay footage to see what I mean. =P

Where the hell have you been 12?!
A rant free excuse! =D

Busy. Making games does actually consume time, y'know. Personal stuff with the family is going on as well (grandma's in the hospital), so don't blame me for not being consistent with this little thread. Likewise, my sleep pattern is off. I wake up at 5pm daily now. ><


Mr.12's experience with highly experienced voice actors!
Volume 1 of such-and-such number!

Although my main computer has been down for about a month now, I've placed a lot of focus on finishing up VHEL's little storyline/design doc, cleaning up the loopholes that would otherwise ruin the plot, and working back and forth with the voice actors to insure the quality. As of now, I have over 10 voice actors, and a dozen in waiting for a role (I'm just slow to post new auditions on the VAC). Although I was ORIGINALLY aiming for 40 characters by the end of this project, I'm already approaching 60 characters, and most of these are JUST for this game. I'm not even talking about the many that are backstory fodder. =P

Anywho, for awhile now, I've gone back and forth with the voice actors in live rehearsal sessions. Typically, I'll setup an appointment date, tell everyone to meet via Skype by a particular time period, and then wait to see who shows up. Once everyone is in the same chatroom, we hop on the mics, I distribute the latest version of the script, and then we go to town with the session.

Now, what all I'm doing here is veeeeery unconventional for an indie game, even when you compare it to the stuff that you would see on Newgrounds. Most voice overs for projects are recorded whenever a voice actor so chooses to in their spare time, with limited direction from a producer. This often times leads to poor recordings unless there's a lot of communication between the actor and the producer. VHEL is different. All of the recordings are done LIVE, which is very tricky because it's like recording a live drama. The only reason I can get away with this is because my actors are committed to the bone, and I'm bending over backwards to insure they're situated every step of the way.

When we start reviewing the script, there's a process we go through called "cold reading", which is basically when everyone reads through a scene while in character for the first time. Typically, we can spot out the flaws in a VA's delivery if they try to do something that's off. We correct the mistakes, fix the script, try something else, then repeat. After a few go rounds with a scene, we attempt one last go through with everything we've tried out, judge it's quality, then move on to the next scene. Simple, yah?

The problems generally come with the way the VA's work with one another. I won't lie: these people take their work seriously to the point where they put their own reputation on the line. I'm glad the talent level is so high for a game that has no pay roll, but already I've had to pull more strings than most would. I've already had arguments with some already; it's not fun. ><

This Thursday and Friday, we're having another voice over session. My composer is going to record a few snippets of the action for voice editing reasons, but I'll try and see if he can give me what we record so that everyone here can see what all goes into a (hellish) session! =D

maybe if you didn't waste so much time drawing comics about how you're busy, you'd be less busy?

Fixed that for you.