"We're just a small studio after all, and our game isn't that large. Spending big money on famous voice actors would be somewhat cost-ineffective."
Haru looked at Qingque and calculated the costs for her.
Their combined monthly salaries totaled 32,000, and the entire game development would only take about a month. Rounding up to two months, salary expenses would be 64,000.
Including other expenses like utilities and rent, development costs wouldn't exceed 100,000.
But hiring famous voice actors would definitely cost over 100,000 to voice all the text in a Galgame. If they were more famous, 200,000-300,000 wasn't impossible.
This was why many Galgame companies preferred unknown newcomer voice actors, or simply didn't do voice acting at all, making it a visual novel format instead.
The reason was simple - saving money!
"We're a small-scale game that can't be priced too high, following a thin-profit, high-volume strategy. Hiring famous voice actors would greatly increase our costs, and it would be troublesome if we ended up losing money."
Haru sighed and spread his hands.
If this were his previous company, he definitely wouldn't care whether the boss made profits or losses. Even if the boss bought a new Ferrari, it wouldn't mean more salary for him, so hiring famous voice actors would be fine.
But times had changed...
With Bronya's wealth, a small game's profit or loss meant nothing to her, but if the game made money, Big Duck would really give studio members dividends.
Nothing more to say - if the boss treated him like a shareholder, Haru definitely had to care about game costs!
Famous voice actors were too expensive. Although they could provide some promotional effect, they also increased the risk of losses. If they really lost money, his dividends would be gone!
Although Haru had some money now, it was far from enough to buy a wedding house. Relying only on his side work and salary, he'd need to save for several years, and even then might not buy a very good house.
Whether he could live in a villa on a small island with Elysia depended on dividends from the game's success.
Qingque also caught on from Haru's words.
She usually just saw herself as a slacking worker and had almost forgotten the studio had profit-sharing. If they grew bigger and stronger in the future, people might even call her President Qing!
"Cough cough, then I also agree not to hire famous voice actors. The studio is just starting out and should spend money on the cutting edge!"
Qingque's mindset quickly shifted as she raised her hand.
Of course, Haru and Qingque's suggestions were just suggestions - the final decision was up to Bronya.
"Since you both think hiring famous voice actors isn't cost-effective, we won't hire them."
Bronya thought briefly and said with a light laugh, though her gaze toward Haru was somewhat meaningful.
The Captain's thoughts were really easy to read!
Knowing the Captain was short on money, Bronya naturally understood why he cared about the game's profit and loss - this situation was something she'd orchestrated herself.
Using dividends to bind the Captain to Bronya's side and make him her partner in profit would naturally make the Captain side with Bronya for more dividends, then sink deeper and deeper...
And Bronya could use "helpful for game production" as an excuse to make slightly excessive demands that the Captain would endure, just like this morning when she had him move closer to observe her feet.
Captain, you wouldn't want the game to flop and lose dividends, would you?
Bronya's mind already envisioned Haru being corrupted by money, his moral bottom line lowering step by step until he became completely obedient to her unreasonable demands.
Mm, thinking about it this way, she could also manipulate the Captain regarding voice acting...
Bronya crossed her black-stockinged legs, caught the inspiration flashing through her mind, then showed an ambiguous smile.
"I thought of the most money-saving plan... Even hiring unknown voice actors would still cost quite a bit, but if we do the voice acting ourselves, we wouldn't spend a penny."
"Ah? We do the voice acting ourselves?"
Haru and Qingque looked at each other, silent for several seconds before helplessly speaking.
"Voice acting requires a certain level of professionalism. One of us does art, one writes scripts - we know absolutely nothing about voice acting."
"Moreover, even professional voice actors need supervision from voice directors to ensure proper voice work for the production and avoid breaking immersion or misunderstandings."
Haru had worked at other mobile game companies and had heard about the voice acting process.
Voice actors basically only got scripts when recording and couldn't see the actual game visuals or plot. What tone and voice to use for lines was entirely controlled by the voice director.
Whether a game's voice acting was good largely depended on the voice director's skill level.
Haru understood Bronya's desire to save money, but some money should still go to others. They could hire rookie voice actors, but definitely needed a professional voice director.
"Don't worry, Bronya knows a thing or two about voice acting. I learned how to be a voice director from my teacher."
Bronya smiled slightly, her tone full of confidence.
Her teacher Welt Yang, before becoming Anti-Entropy's leader, was a legendary animation producer who created two globally popular anime series: "Arahato Heavy Industries" and "Arahato Divine Sword."
Although Old Yang mostly worked as an animator, as an industry veteran who had run an animation company, he was well-versed in all production aspects, including voice direction.
Bronya was Old Yang's direct disciple and naturally learned these skills from him, even gaining practical experience in Anti-Entropy's animation department.
Being both voice actor and voice director? Piece of cake!
"If that's the case, then it's not impossible."
Haru looked at Bronya's expression and thought of Old Yang's background, saying thoughtfully, "If you voice Mizuho, Bronya, it would actually be quite suitable."
Whether in her loli form or Big Duck form, the girl's voice always had a milky quality - the kind perfect for singing lullabies. As the game's female protagonist, Mizuho happened to be a little girl, so Bronya voicing her would be completely natural.
"Eh? I voice Mizuho?"
Although Bronya planned to participate herself, she hadn't decided which character to voice specifically.
But after Haru's suggestion, considering that Mizuho's character design was largely based on her, and the male protagonist was modeled after Haru...
Mm, she was indeed very suitable for voicing Mizuho, and only she could voice this character!
Chapter 70: Anti-Entropy Technology, Kid!
"Mm, I have no problem voicing Mizuho... By the way, Haru, will you voice the male protagonist?"
Bronya stole a glance at Haru, maintaining a calm expression while asking casually.
"Galgame male protagonists usually don't have voice acting, right?"
Haru tilted his head in confusion, surprised.
The high EQ explanation was to increase player immersion and let players get more absorbed in the male protagonist's perspective, so they didn't do male protagonist voice acting. The low EQ explanation was that male protagonist voice acting was dispensable - most players weren't there for that, so they cut it to save money.
"Rather than wasting energy voicing the male protagonist, I could voice other male characters, like the protagonist's partner Tongue, or even the rebel leader Li Zicheng."
Haru still considered it from a cost-effectiveness angle and suggested to Bronya.
But the girl's beautiful eyes narrowed as she firmly refused.
If the Captain couldn't voice the male protagonist, how could she use the opportunity of voicing Mizuho to get intimate with the Captain? How could she seduce him?
"Cough, Haru, your voice isn't quite suitable for other male characters. Never mind."
"You're right. I'm not a professional voice actor - even minor characters might not turn out well."
Haru didn't think much about it, scratching his cheek. "But even if I could do it well, our studio only has three people total, and there are over ten characters needing voice acting. We simply don't have enough hands."
Bronya wanting to spend zero money and have the studio handle all voice acting internally was completely unrealistic.
However, with Big Duck able to serve as both voice director and female protagonist voice actor, voice acting costs could be significantly reduced...
Haru pondered internally, then heard the girl's confident response.
"Insufficient manpower isn't a problem - we'll use technology!"
"Current AI voice synthesis technology is very advanced. I can borrow voice samples from some friends, then use AI voice acting completely."
Bronya crossed her arms in front of her full chest, smiling.
Anti-Entropy technology, kid!
"Eh? Can we really do such things?"
Qingque didn't understand Bronya as well as Haru did and wasn't sure if current technology could achieve this, appearing somewhat confused.
"Of course we can. It just involves legal issues about whether synthesizing others' voices counts as infringement, which makes it hard to commercialize. But using it ourselves is fine, though it requires high AI performance."
Bronya calculated on her fingers.
With Heavy Bunny's computing power, it would take about 144 hours to synthesize voice acting for other characters - working 24/7 for six days, leaving exactly one day of the week for Heavy Bunny's vacation.
Mm, even AI could get a single day off - she really was a kind boss!
Bronya nodded with satisfaction, thinking this also fulfilled her promise to Seele about improving Heavy Bunny's treatment.
"Speaking of which, since we can use AI voice acting, you don't need to personally voice Mizuho either, right Bronya?"
Haru suddenly thought of something and asked.
"I could, but AI-synthesized voices still need repeated adjustments and modifications. Doing it myself is more convenient and faster."
Bronya's eyes flickered as she explained.
She wasn't lying, just intentionally concealing her ulterior motives.
"I see. So the current situation is that we do some voice acting ourselves while using AI synthesis for others?"
Haru didn't detect any problems in Bronya's words, focusing entirely on game production.
"Exactly. This solves the voice acting problem. I'll voice Mizuho, Qingque's voice is also suitable for a little girl, and we'll use AI for the rest."
Bronya clapped her hands, speaking cheerfully. "When Qingque and I do voice acting, we might need your help too. Your role is also very important."
"Understood. I'll do my best to complete any task I can handle."
Haru said with a smile, naturally assuming Bronya just wanted him to operate equipment or something.
Bronya looked at Haru meaningfully without saying more.
Have the Captain operate equipment?
Hehe, that depended on whether "equipment" meant electronic devices or something else... In some sci-fi works, biological tissue could also be called "wetware" equipment.
"Should we discuss music next?"
Qingque, unaware of her boss's wolfish ambitions toward the lead artist, asked as an uninformed worker.
"Mm, our studio can't handle music composition - we'll need to outsource it."
Bronya considered the possibility of having Heavy Bunny compose music, then shook her head regretfully.
"Qingque, you're in charge of the story and understand what style of music the game needs better. I'll leave the requirements to you."
"Me? Then I'll list them now."
Qingque sighed quietly at suddenly getting another task.
But she was most suitable for this, so she couldn't put it off. She immediately took pen and paper to circle places in the plot needing music.
"This battle scene definitely needs exciting BGM, then daily scenes can use relatively calm and soothing tunes. This chapter about the female protagonist Mizuho's tragic background should have heavy, melancholic music. And of course we need a theme song..."
When Qingque wasn't slacking off, her work ability was quite strong.
Under Haru and Bronya's attention, Qingque listed the music requirements in just over ten minutes.
"We probably need about ten songs. Check if there are any gaps, and there's the budget matter - that's for you to decide, boss."
"Budget isn't a problem. I'll find a good team for the music."
Bronya took the requirements list, made slight modifications, then decided.
With the girl's connections, finding a reliable music team was effortless - she could even directly approach music companies under Anti-Entropy, though that wouldn't achieve the effect of independent entrepreneurship.
Haru didn't understand music matters and only knew Eden among musicians.
But asking Eden, a globally top-tier great artist, to compose for a small game would be like using anti-aircraft guns to kill mosquitoes - completely unrealistic.
So Haru had no suggestions for music and supported Bronya's decision after discussing briefly with Qingque.
With voice acting and music problems resolved, the rest of the meeting had nothing much to discuss - just routine progress communication and mutual work requirements or rejections.
For instance, Qingque hoped for cool storyboard sequences in battle scenes, fighting dozens of rounds like martial arts films - demands that would explode the workload that Haru definitely had to refuse.
And some game plots that Haru felt didn't need visuals, hoping Qingque would delete them - Qingque as the scriptwriter naturally argued back with reason.
Additionally, CG images Haru had completed weren't finalized either. Bronya and Qingque offered many modification suggestions, predictably requiring him to revise several versions.
However, experienced Haru had already saved the original drafts to prevent situations where they'd circle back to the initial version after multiple changes.
Original Principle Studio's Monday meeting passed through constant discussion, suggestions, and modifications. At the meeting's end, Bronya again mentioned profit-sharing, greatly boosting morale.
Qingque's mindset remained relatively calm, while the money-strapped Haru was full of motivation.
To afford a villa on a small island as a wedding house, let's go all out! Finish the game within a month, then make it a big hit!
Read 30 advance chapters on: patre on.com/Bored_Mortal