Voice direction for video games: an actor’s perspective
Updated: 7 days ago
Voice direction connects an actor’s performance with the story, characters and player experience. It gives a recording session a clear purpose while leaving room to discover something better than the first idea. That balance between structure and creative freedom is what interests me most.
I’m Ryan Highley, a British actor, voice actor and voice director working internationally in English and French. In voice production, the French term direction artistique often describes the work an English-speaking team calls voice direction. The title matters less than what happens between the brief, the actor and the microphone.
What is the voice director actually there to do?
A voice director helps actors understand who they are speaking to, what they want and what has just happened. They listen for intention, continuity and the place of each line in the wider game. They also work with the production team so a strong performance can be captured within the session’s practical limits.
When a performance misses the mark, I think we should question the process as well as the casting or the writing. Did the actor have enough context? Was the intention clear? Did anyone have time to explore another choice? Direction cannot fix every problem, but it can make those questions part of the work instead of an afterthought.
A clear brief is the beginning, not the ceiling
A clear brief: context, tone, relationships and intention, rather than a string of adjectives.
A focused session: enough preparation to spend the recording time acting, rather than guessing.
Direct feedback: a playable adjustment the actor can use immediately.
Original acting: a performance that serves this character and this game, rather than copying a familiar reference.
That is a solid Plan A. But I once heard someone point out that we always prepare a Plan B, C or Z for when something fails, and rarely a Plan A+ for when it exceeds expectations. That idea stuck with me. What if the actor finds something we had not anticipated? Have we built a process that can recognise it and make room for it?
For me, that means briefs that are clear and deep: a scene, a glimpse of gameplay, an image, music or a relationship can make the world tangible. It means sessions that are controlled and exploratory, feedback that is direct and honest, and acting that is original and ambitious. The aim is to make choices together, without letting ego or uncertainty take over the room.
Baldur’s Gate 3: creative freedom within a demanding production
PitStop Productions reports working with Larian Studios on Baldur’s Gate 3 for more than five years, with 248 actors and 1.6 million recorded words. Its production account describes the creative and technical demands of delivering such a large cast and script.
What I take from that example is the value of a process that can support both scale and individual performances. A large recording schedule does not remove the need for specific intentions and relationships. It makes coherent direction even more valuable.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: performance across languages
In an April 2025 interview, lead writer and voice and localisation producer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen identifies Jo Green as the English voice director and Serge Thiriet as the French voice director, with Jennifer and Guillaume Broche also helping with English direction. It is a useful reminder that writing, localisation, production and performance are connected responsibilities, rather than the work of one person alone.
My interest here is emotional truth across different performances and languages. A translated line still needs a character, a relationship and an intention. The director’s job is to help the actor find those things in the language being performed.
David W. Collins: knowing the world you are serving
David W. Collins’ work spans acting, voice direction and sound. In StarWars.com’s interview about Skeleton Crew, he discusses his role as sound designer and the balance between recognisable Star Wars sounds and a new story.
The connection I make with voice direction is simple: knowing the world helps you make choices that belong in it. Context is not decoration. It gives a line, a pause or a change of energy a reason to exist.
Bring the conversation into pre-production
If you want human depth in a game, involve the people responsible for performance early enough to contribute. A spreadsheet can organise the lines; it cannot supply the character’s inner life. Agree on the brief, the references, the session priorities and how discoveries will be shared with the wider team.
Explore my voice-direction work and video-game performances, or contact me about casting and recording in English and French. For production services, you can also visit VISHUDDHA.
Ryan Highley · Actor, voice actor and voice director.
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