Sound up: Adding Voice Over

Right from the start of designing this game, I knew I wanted to focus on making this game accessible to players who are blind or have low vision. So, I decided to include a voice over for the game that would read out the narrative as well as describe the layout of the game's room.
As this was my goal right from the start of the game, I made sure to include descriptions of what is happening throughout the narrative such as "I open the yellow-blue box," "An empty juice carton that has been left on the floor," and "She held on to the paperclip."

All the buttons in the game also produce a sound when hovered over such as "Play" or "Options" as well as the in-game buttons based on the main characters childhood items e.g. "A red ribbon."

The above image shows the selectable items in the game: a paperclip, a conch shell and a ribbon.

As the origins of the game were made for a 5 day long, game jam I didn't source an voice actress for this game and instead ended up using my own voice. Normally, I wouldn't record my own voice like this, however by pushing myself out of my comfort zone by making this game, I've realised how useful it can be to use scratch vocals in game projects. And now, would definitely be willing to use my voice again in future game demos. 

It took a few evenings to record all the voice over recordings and to cut them using audacity. Although adding voice over recordings can be a lengthy process, it's well worth it if it can increase the accessibility of games.