RPG Maker VX News

Promotional Video, The Secret "Making-Of" Story (Part 2)

Posted November 21st, 2007 at 5:39am CST by Jaceryl

Enterbrain has announced the newest piece of information about RPG Maker VX. As spoken by Arts Kawashima:

I'll now continue with yesterday's story on the making of the RPG Maker VX Promotional Video. We had finished the video part, and all we had left was to choose a BGM and include a narration.

For the BGM, we wanted to have an RPG-like song prepared; a song that was pop-oriented, but also held the impression of classical. We tried out and changed a few songs, but in the end we settled on one that sounded kind of cool and fit the mood of the original aim.

Who Became the Voice Actor?

Now, the problem was finding a voice for the narration that wouldn't fall short of the BGM. From the beginning, we had planned on using a professional voice actor. If possible, we needed somebody who had an able voice, was young, and had the ability to learn by ear. On top of that, we wanted a voice with impact, somebody who could cheerfully and stylishly read the script.
Yes... to tell the truth, when I thought of the script itself, one person floated through my head. For me, I had already pretty much decided.
That person was Tomokazu Seki!

A male voice actor that I'm very fond of myself. My hand is also burning red, telling me to smash this script to pieces!*
No, recently he's been the the shop owner, hasn't he? Girl A Shift---!!**
... *cough* Excuse me.

Hmm, either way we were fired up... We can do it! We can do it with this! ... a smile floated across my face as we began work on the script.
We finally got a letter addressed to the office, saying that Seki would be able to commit if we could do it in about 2~3 hours on a single day. We'd done it! ... but wow, just how popular is this person...?

The Day of the Recording

We held the recording in a studio within the city. Seki entered the room in a cheerful mood, giving a side glance to me, my teeth chattering ever so slightly at the site of him. For having a career spanning longer than 10 years, he was still quite easily approachable.



As we handed the script over, we immediately set up to do a read over as a test. We were instructed to wait in the editing booth, while Seki remained in the stuidio that had a microphone. With the instructions given by the video department, all I had to do was sit in the back and watch the events unfold.
It was so skillfully done that my limbs went numb.

The first read through was a little docile.
Seki turned to us, asking how it was on the video staff's end. Half-jokingly, I made the comment "if I had to say, that was more like Sousuke***, so I'd like to hear the Shop Owner, you know?", to which a cheerful voice from the speaker responded "understood!" It seems Seki had heard me. Oh, how embarrassing...



From then on, the recording went very well. As one should expect of a voice actor, Seki added intonations and inflections to his performance during parts I hadn't expected. Especially the "V~~~~~X!" falsetto, which was a hit with me, personally. When we were asked if we'd like to re-record, we said it was okay as it was.

So, without performing a second recording, we did a number of tests and fine tuned a few small areas, finishing everything up rather quickly.

When you watch the video, I think you'll be able to understand and feel the vigor present as you listen. The final product is enjoyable and exciting. Just the promotional video itself may not be enough to satisfy, but I hope you can wait a little longer now that you have this.

As long as you enjoy it, I'm satisfied. I hope you'll recommend the promotional video to your friends and everybody around you. I'm counting on you, everyone!

TL Note: These parts are all references to Tomokazu Seki's voice work.
*Domon Kasshu, G Gundam
**The Shop Owner, Lucky Star
***Sagara Sousuke, Full Metal Panic!