Prototyping NPC dialogue on a zero budget

I keep watching indie game devs burn time and money on voice acting way too early in development. Here's what actually works when you're prototyping on a budget of zero.

Phase 1: Text-only playtesting

Start here. Seriously. Put your dialogue in text boxes and watch playtesters read it. You'll cut 30% of your lines before anyone speaks a word. Written dialogue that reads well often sounds terrible spoken aloud, and vice versa. Test the script before you voice it.

Phase 2: Record yourself

Your phone mic is fine. You're not shipping this.

• You hear pacing problems immediately

• You find lines that are too long for gameplay flow

• It costs nothing

• You can iterate in minutes, not days

Don't worry about sounding "good." Placeholder VO just needs to prove the dialogue works in context.

Phase 3: Free TTS for volume

When you have 50+ NPCs, recording yourself doesn't scale. Free TTS options:

• System TTS (macOS/Windows built-in): robotic but instant

• Open-source models: better quality, some setup required

• Free tiers of commercial tools: limited daily generations, but enough for prototyping

Use different voices for different NPCs. Even if the quality is rough, it helps playtesters distinguish characters.

When to invest in real voices:

• After dialogue is locked (no more rewrites)

• After you've confirmed the game loop works with placeholder audio

• When you're 3-6 months from release

• When you have budget for at least 2-3 rounds of revisions with actors

The biggest mistake: hiring voice actors during pre-alpha, then rewriting half the dialogue and paying for re-records.

What's your prototyping workflow for NPC dialogue?

Text-only, self-recorded, TTS, or something else?