ys wrote: It's a nice idea and someone I know also talked about this and would like this.
Just some things that I thought of (not shooting down the idea) having worked with sound, from recording to mixing and mastering. For the English dub, fans would likely have to travel to a studio in USA or Canada where a lot of voice work is done. Using different studios close to people could result in different sounding recordings due to the equipment being used, recording technique etc. This sounds weird in game and I've noticed this in a few titles. Even with communication, the sound engineers might not always be able to replicate results from other places.
Having the director at one place is also better to guide everyone.
For the other games Yu made people fly to Japan instead so he could follow the process closely. The cost of this, and the directing got criticized though: viewtopic.php?t=40831
What happens though when they don't like the performance? Or a foreign accent which clashes with the native English voice cast? Quite difficult situation, especially when the fan has paid for it. Just using the voice as background murmur seems anticlimactic.
Yeah I was going to say this as well. Additionally, you might have a professional voice actor come in for a 2-3 hour session to record 10 NPCs that all sound different, so you can get coverage very quickly. An amateur might not have the range to play multiple characters, or be bad at reading and take too long to get through lines - let alone could just be a terrible voice actor. The fans might work for free, but you're still taking the time of the recording engineers and directors, and time is money.
I understand that fans want to be involved in the process, want to help the budget in anyway possible, but to me, this is kind of stomping on the artistic integrity of the game. It's like saying you can save money by taking some music for free from soundcloud and replace music written by a professional composer. I just don't like the precedent and expectations this would set for other aspects of the game development, and the logistics could be a nightmare.
