Introduction & Disclaimer
Hello there!
I go by Alykkat on the internet and recently I’ve begun my journey as a game developer in my spare time.
Shameless ask to please follow my game development social channels:
Okay, moving on…
This past weekend I began my participation in my first ever game jam! This game jam focuses on using only one of any asset type with a 1,000 word limit.
I wanted to include voice acting and recalled a Twitch streamer tweeting about wanting to get into VA, so I asked. They said yes! (Yay.) This ultimately led to the accidental viral tweet about doing VA for game jams to gain VA experience.
This post is meant to serve as thoughts on my personal perspective and I offer the following disclaimers:
I am not a full time game developer
I am not a voice actor
I have not done open casting calls for voice acting
This is meant to be food for thought based on a specific thing that I have done
I don’t know anything about VA unions — I recommend doing a search on those.
Always be mindful of who you share your likeness with and ensure that you have a clear agreed upon understanding of what you’re signing up for.
Please read to the end of this blog post for resources and other recommendations
Resource: I Want To Be A Voice Actor!
What is a game jam?
Participants come together make a game from scratch in line with the theme of the jam and within a specified time frame. They can last for as little as 12 hours, or as long as a month or more. Game jams can help you make new connections, gain experience, and test your development skills or existing indie game ideas. (source)
A game jam is an event (online or in-person) where people get together and make small games in a limited amount of time (usually over the course of a weekend). Generally, the jam is based around a certain theme or keyword for example home, automation or mystery. Once the theme has been revealed each team (usually 1-8 people per team) brainstorms ideas and starts working away at their game. (source)
How do you find game jams?
First, and foremost Google is a really great resource for finding niche jams that might not be listed on Itch.io but many are listed on Itch.
How do you find game jam teams?
Honestly, this one is a little less straight forward. There are a few ways to find people who are participating in game jams:
Search on Twitter (seriously)
Post on socials that you’d love to VA for XYZ jam
Join a jam’s official Discord server
Join indie and solo game dev Discord servers
Find your local game development communities
How much do game jams pay?
Usually game jams focus on prototyping, demos, or short projects that are noncommercial. In short, game jams are not likely to be a paid gig for you.
Is there a form I can fill out?
Yes there is! I have created a form that goes to a public Amateur Voice Actor Directory that I’ll continuously share with other game developers.
Add yourself to the amateur voice actor directory — HERE
Other than game jams, how might I start doing VA for games?
Showcase your skills doing voices and character readings on social media.
Sign up for one of the many voice acting sourcing websites. To get you started, here is a public spreadsheet with a bunch of them listed — I do not own this spreadsheet.
Offer pre-recorded character barks and sounds on Itch.io for game developers to purchase. Please make sure to include your licensing requirements.
Here are some examples:
List of Example Character Barks
"Ack!" | "Aargh!" | "Achoo!" | "Ah!" |
"Ahem!" | "Aha!" | "Alright!" | "Area secure!" |
"Bam!" | "Bah!" | "Bang!" | "Beep beep!" |
"Blah!" | "Bleh!" | "Boom!" | "Boo!" |
"Booyah!" | "Bravo!" | "Bingo!" | "Brr!" |
"Chirp!" | "Clang!" | "Clear!" | "Cool!" |
"Cover me!" | "Crack!" | "Crunch!" | "Dang!" |
"Darn!" | "Doh!" | "Enemy ahead!" | "Enemy inbound!" |
"Enemy reinforcements!" | "Enemy spotted!" | "Engaging target!" | "Eureka!" |
"Ew!" | "Fall back!" | "Find some cover!" | "Flank them!" |
"Form up!" | "Gee!" | "Gee whiz!" | "Geez!" |
"Giggle!" | "Gotcha!" | "Growl!" | "Grr!" |
"Gulp!" | "Haha!" | "Ha!" | "Hehe!" |
"Help me!" | "Hey!" | "Hmm." | "Hmph!" |
"Hooray!" | "Hold fire!" | "Hold the fort!" | "Hold the line!" |
"Hostile down!" | "Hostile sighted!" | "Huff!" | "Huh?" |
"Hush!" | "Huzzah!" | "I'm hit!" | "Incoming!" |
"Incoming fire!" | "I see them!" | "La la la!" | "Light 'em up!" |
"Man down!" | "Meh." | "Move out!" | "Move to cover!" |
"Murmur!" | "Neat!" | "Nice!" | "No!" |
"Nuh-uh!" | "Nuts!" | "Oh boy!" | "Oh dear!" |
"Oh no!" | "Oh!" | "Oops!" | "Oopsie!" |
"Oof!" | "Ouch!" | "Out of ammo!" | "Ow!" |
"Pfft!" | "Phew!" | "Pop!" | "Pow!" |
"Push forward!" | "Rah!" | "Regroup!" | "Right!" |
"Roar!" | "Secure the area!" | "Shucks!" | "Sheesh!" |
"Shh!" | "Sniper!" | "Snort!" | "Sneeze!" |
"Sigh!" | "Stay sharp!" | "Stay together!" | "Suppress them!" |
"Suppressing fire!" | "Sure!" | "Sweet!" | "Swish!" |
"Ta-da!" | "Tada!" | "Target acquired!" | "Taking fire!" |
"Taking point!" | "Tango down!" | "Target neutralized!" | "They're breaking through!" |
"They're everywhere!" | "They're falling back!" | "They're flanking us!" | "They're on the roof!" |
"They're retreating!" | "They're surrounded!" | "Thud!" | "Thwack!" |
"Watch out!" | "Watch the corners!" | "Watch the roof!" | "Watch the sides!" |
"We need more ammo!" | "We need support!" | "Whew!" | "Whoa!" |
"Whoops!" | "Wow!" | "Wowee!" | "Wowza!" |
"Yay!" | "Yikes!" | "Yippee!" | "Yuck!" |
"Yum!" | "Yup!" | "Zap!" | "Zing!" |
"Zoinks!" | "Zzz!" |