Before I detail the process we underwent: Thank y'all for your demand for inclusivity and diversity. Such demand, whether expressed in earnest or even vehemently shows that more people than ever are rooting for marginalized voices to help tell our stories.
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Related thread: https://bit.ly/2DUGAHj It's especially because of this conversation that we can address what works and what doesn't in helping representation be more authentic. Messing up sucks and iteration is slow, but hopefully with time, the process can be refined.
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So let's go behind the scenes. I was first brought on to assist in casting when public auditions for Emeric and Mercia only got 18(!) total submissions. We needed more folks to choose from, so we turned to my private network of voice talents. Eventually, we found our VA's~
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Not only did we find our Mercia (after a long, long search) and Emeric, but one of the voice actors who auditioned for Emeric was a perfect fit for Mercival (a black actor voicing a white character)! After the initial game was cast for, I was brought on to cast for the DLC.
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From the very beginning, it was heavily emphasized that the team wanted to cast the characters as authentically as possible. Even though Emeric (black) is voiced by a white actor, the team still wanted the twins and Vesper (brown/black) to be voiced by minorities.
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The 1st challenge was that the team wanted 1 actress to voice a boy & a girl, and at the beginning, their ages were around 14. If you've met actual 14-year-olds, especially boys, their voices start maturing then. So the team aged down the twins by a few years. Doable for a VA.
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After an audition, I made my selections, and even recommended an Indian actress as my top pick! But here came the next challenge: The authenticity of the Scottish accent. The actress I liked, who could play both twins, sounded more Irish with her accent.
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So, on top of casting actresses who didn't sound like Koji (another child in Wargroove's world), I had to make sure they got the accent right. Callbacks requesting adjustments happened, while actresses got close, the accents were off... Why were we so keen on the Scottish!?
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For me, I've always been of the mind that the character's accents/dialects should reflect their upbringing. What they've been raised around. As a 1st generation Asian-American, I don't "sound Asian" like my parents. I sound American because of my upbringing.
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So the only real reference I got re: the twins's upbringing was their SUPER Scottish father, Wulfar, and the assumption that since every kingdom/nation in Wargroove is different from one another, their army of bandits were Scotts too, regardless of skin tone.
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But I did try my hardest to consider marginalized voices and have them read for me. I didn't exclude them from my auditions: My favorite for Vesper was actually a black actress! But the creative vision of the production had to be met, and every role had its own set of challenges.
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For the twins, I was at a loss. I turned to VAing communities that specialized in accents, I asked some casting colleagues for referrals, I directly contacted Scottish VA's, minorities too, to audition. They either weren't right when they did, or didn't audition at all.pic.twitter.com/rfSbNrEaYw
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For 5 months, I was just casting for the twins! What about Vesper? She was easier to cast: There was a heavier emphasis on emulating Glenn Close's Cruella De Vil and putting a unique spin on it, and the actress chosen was much closer to the team's vision. Still a top pick~
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But 5 months is not helpful to a dev cycle. With the set budget and available resources, we didn't have time to hold open auditions (even though I did briefly). We found our Errol, and I had to fight for our best Orla yet. And that's when hindsight hits:
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While the team selected their actors blind, which allows newer, undiscovered talents the opportunity to be in an awesome game, I should've fought harder for my top picks. While I know marginalized voices are and can be strong actors, casting blind is... Frankly, insensitive.
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Don't get me wrong. I love the voice talents that were selected. I'd go to bat for all of them. But with a still imperfect landscape where marginalized voices still struggle to be cast as their characters, let alone someone else, more could've been done. Should've, even.
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Casting is multi-faceted. It's not a meritocracy of who's "the best" when any of the actors chosen would've brought something unique to the table. It's not picking white actors 'cause the minorities weren't good enough, when so many factors were at work.
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So what did we learn? Maybe there should've been less of an emphasis on the authenticity of the Scottish accent and more on the authenticity of the characters represented. After all, I don't sound like my parents. Maybe the twins don't too.
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Ultimately, re: the related thread I posted waaay earlier in this thread, if things were ideal, we'd have more casting situations like Mercival (and Ragna)! But the representation landscape isn't there yet. We just have to keep iterating on an imperfect system and move forward.
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Will there be more Wargroove to see these changes? Who knows. Will there be more games to cast for in the future to reflect what we've learned? Indeed there will be, with luck! But for now, please listen to the people demanding better.
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Be empathetic to the challenges we had behind the scenes. Be empathetic to the marginalized voices who are struggling to be heard and could use more people fighting for them. If you'd like to join my pool, shoot me an email. kimlinhtranvo@gmail.com Thanks for letting me ramble.pic.twitter.com/1zYatiW47p
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