While it's easy to look at the voice actor behind our favourite gaming characters and say they were the key aspect in bringing them to life, sometimes it's not so simple. Charlie Cox might have played Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's voice, but Maxence Cazorla was the man doing all the mocap work.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Carola spoke about how we could do more to acknowledge the work of everyone who makes a character feel real in a video game. "First of all, it was an incredible honour for me that Charlie spoke publicly and acknowledged my work. I was deeply moved by his humility and generosity," he said. "In the end, it's really the combination of these two performances, along with the incredible writing and development work, that gave birth to the character."
Cazorla isn't sure we should just separate the categories between voice and mocap performances, though. "When it comes to a potential motion capture category, I think it's a delicate subject, because every game is built differently," he explained. "In this case, Clair Obscur is a game where many of the characters are created through collaboration between two actors. For example, Maelle with Charlotte Hoepffner and Jennifer English, Lune with Estelle Darnault and Kirsty Rider, Verso with Ben Starr and myself. Other games might have a single actor doing full performance capture, and some projects even involve stunt performers, motion capture actors, and voice actors all contributing to the same character."
Instead, he wants to see a Best Character category emerge. "That's something the DICE Awards already do, and I think it's a very intelligent approach...Video games are, by nature, a collaborative art form, and characters resonate because many artists give them their soul. Celebrating a Best Character category feels more logical to me than isolating a single performer and potentially leaving others invisible."
The Game Awards has lots of categories already, but people often criticise them for not feeling distinct enough. Do you think Best Character should be added to the mix?