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ROWELL GORMON

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“GREETINGS, O INSIGNIFICANT ONE!”

August 23, 2011 by Rowell

Pre-Release Art from Torchlight II

You’ve got to love a voice session where one of your characters gets to open with a line like that!

In a recent post, I detailed the almost First Date-style jitters encountered prior to an ISDN session for a first-time client and a first job through a new agency. And I promised to add more to the story when I could.

As it all turned out, I needn’t have worried. The ISDN connection went smoothly. Steve, the engineer at Pure Audio, assured me the sound quality was fine. And the directors and lead writer of Runic Games’ upcoming computer game release, Torchlight II (John, Matt, and JD), couldn’t have been more gracious. I even got what I consider the highest praise a writer can bestow. The two directors were wondering if I should try one of the characters a different way, and I’m sure I heard JD say, “…no…that was kinda how I heard it when I wrote it.”

While other voice actors spent much of their star-time as combatants, doing what I respectfully call “grunt work” (doing the action vocal sounds of grunting, yelling and dying), I got to play more sedate and mystical characters for the most part. They include: several of the world’s Guardians; Elder Valen; the powerful Grand Regent Eldrayn; another for which engineer Steve said he’d process my voice into some kind of huge dragon-ish character…and the one we all had the most fun with during the session: the smug, condescending, all-powerful djinni: Fazeer Shah…who sends you out to “survive” for his amusement! (A set of released images included the one above, who looks like he could well be Fazeer Shah, but the characters weren’t identified by name.)

In an interview with Games Xtreme…you can read the full story here…head writer JD Wiker describes the new game thusly:
Some of the developers describe the Torchlight setting as “Dragon’s Lair meets The Incredibles.” I think that’s pretty much on the money. Torchlight 2 continues on in that vein, but there’s an element of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld in there, along with a fair amount of, hmmm, maybe not “steampunk,” per se, but perhaps “dieselpunk” or “clockpunk?”

Maybe we need a new term to describe the Torchlight theme and setting? How about “dungeonpunk?”

Since the product’s release won’t happen for a few more months, I asked when it would be safe to tell anyone about my inclusion in the voice cast. To my delight, I was given the OK, provided I didn’t divulge the fate of some of the characters…or the projected release date for the game.

Fair enough. But sometime in the next few months, I’m going to have to corral my thirteen-year-old son, buy him a copy of Torchlight II, and sit behind him while he navigates through the various scenes and levels so I see my voices in action!

— over and out —

Filed Under: General, Stories From The Biz, Voice Jobs Tagged With: Computer Games, ISDN session, Runic Games, Torchlight II, Voice Acting

“First Date” Syndrome…for Voiceovers

August 17, 2011 by Rowell

Do you actually remember your First Date? If you’re my age, it’s probably clouded by several layers of non-objective thinking, but you doubtless remember one thing: the underlying temptation to panic.

…an aside: My own first date was a drive-in movie (you may have to look that up to understand). I took the young lady to see a picture called “Bullitt”…because it co-starred my “Man From U.N.C.L.E. favorite Robert Vaughn (in what turned out to be a very unsympathetic role), and was supposed to have a great car chase. That’s all I knew about it. I should have done more research. Needless to say, the lady wasn’t all that impressed with the car chase, and the bloody violence of the story wasn’t terribly appreciated either.

On our next date…and it was to her credit that we even had a “next date”…the movie was “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.

Did I ever mention that I tend to over-compensate?

Unfortunately, First-Date-itis is not like those childhood diseases you get once and are immune to the rest of your life. That lurking feeling of panic finds other ways to return, if not on actual “dates”.

…one of those instances, for me, is the first ISDN hookup with a new client.

Never mind the “do I have a pimple?” or “is my hair doing that goofy thing again?” stuff. This is serious panic material. “Will the connection Frame?” “Did I pay the phone bill?” “Will my electric service be cut off in mid-session?” “Is that barking dog/neighbor’s stereo/nearby construction going to come through the walls?” “Are my sinuses acting up again?” “Can I match my audition?”

But in the end, it all comes down to the same thing: “Will they like me?”

Well, I have to admit that at my present age, I don’t worry as much about whether some sweet young thing likes me or not. I’ve attained that trusted “grandfatherly” look, which…one hopes…will not soon deteriorate into a “just another dirty old man”. Not that I don’t care what people think of me. It’s just not the most important make-or-break thing on my mind anymore, socially.

Here’s hoping I have time left in my voiceover career to reach the same point of tranquility when this newer version of the “First Date” comes around yet again.

Because, as I’m actively trying to court more new business…it’s going to be a fact of life.

Oh. And what happened on the latest First Date that was so worrisome as to inspire this latest entry? Watch this space.

— over and out —

Filed Under: General, Stories From The Biz, Voice Jobs Tagged With: First Date Jitters, First Time Client, ISDN session, Voice Acting

“Maybe we SHOULDN’T try to straighten the house…”

July 19, 2011 by Rowell

Buster Keaton from “One Week”

It was cluttered, it was messy, it was an unsightly disaster area.  But at least it was a working one…until I started trying to clean up!

During a break in the action, I let my “better self” overrule my “smarter self” and attempted to de-clutter my studio.   Am beginning to wonder if this is one of those things Man Was Not Meant To Disturb.  So far, yes, I have carted out several huge trashbags, made a clear path to my console, reclaimed a pile of tangled patch cords, and actually have chairs people can sit in.  I’ve also broken several collectibles, nearly disabled my ISDN, and…in a rare moment of stupidity…efficiently cut the cables to my satellite dish when I thought I was severing the old C-Band system that’s been plugged in but unused for at least five years!

Now I have another reason to wish for business to pick up.  …I’ll need to have something to pay the DISH technician when he comes to splice the cables tomorrow.  No way am I going to try and do that myself after today’s adventure!

I wonder how many calories you can burn off, kicking yourself?

— over and out —

Filed Under: General, Stories From The Biz Tagged With: Clutter, Home Office, ISDN session, Organizing, Voice-overs

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