Mid-Death Crisis is a co-op strategy game I worked on for my college senior project. Players take on the role of the undead minions of Almighty Lichlord Zeborius Necroking Doomsinger Lightcrusher Bonemaster Cursebringer Zelgon, The Extremely Terrifying (also known as Zeb) who has fallen into depression and shut himself away within his crypt. As Zeb's many enemies close in, the players must get their master back into the fight (even if they have to literally throw him out the door), defeat the invaders, and hopefully help Zeb regain some of his passion along the way.
Having voiceover for MDC's narrative was a very important personal goal for me, It's less intrusive than making players read textboxes and gives them a much more intimate connection to the characters. To accomplish this I:
oversaw auditions to find voice actors that fit each role.
Directed 6 VO sessions to bring the characters to (un)life and provide an engaging experience for players.
Worked closely with sound designers to build an effective and efficient VO pipeline that ensured we always had finalized scripts ready for recording.
Garnering player investment in the story of a somewhat chaotic co-op game was a tall order. I spent a lot of time creating and implementing solutions for this problem, including:
Writing and iterating on 150+ lines of dialogue and audio barks.
Communicating with other disciplines to ensure narrative cohesion across the entire game.
Doing research to ensure I was addressing the topic of Zeb's depression with the proper respect.