10 Golden Rules All Video Games Should Follow

By Stuart W. Bedford /

2. Hire Proper Voice Actors

Back in the days of the original Resident Evil it was perfectly fine to include voice €œactors€ who were either terrible at their job or were simply unwitting dudes from the developer€™s office who drew the short straw. After all, games weren€™t always as cinematic as they often are now, and in those early days, we were still excited enough to be witnessing the 3D revolution; voice acting was the last thing on our minds. But look at the amazing voice performances that have been turned in since then; in GTA, in Red Ded Redemption, in the Uncharted series. Bad voice acting these days is akin to bad acting in a film. It€™s quite simply unforgivable. If you€™re going to make a game that features spoken word, hold some auditions, be discerning, hell, put a bit of cash down; it€™s only going to help your sales in the long run. Games that include bad voice acting are like a burnt steak; no matter how great the steak could have been, not matter how prime the cut, it€™s still burnt. It€™s amazing how often game dev€™s forget this though, and even today, games are still being released that sound like their voice cast was assembled at the nearest bus stop. Offenders: Heavy Rain, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Wet