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Recording Baldur's Gate 3 was like being a 5 year old with a stick, according to Gale's actor Tim Downie

Childlike imagination is the at the heart of motion capture recording.

Gale Baldur's Gate 3 Smile — Image credit: Larian Studios

News by Trent Cannon, Contributing writer

Published on Sat Oct 26 2024

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Acting is a very specific skill that takes time to develop, but the actors behind your favorite Baldur’s Gate III characters had a particular challenge to overcome. While they did both the voice recordings and the motion capture at the same time, they were still doing all that acting in an empty room with none of their fellow actors to bounce off of. How did that feel? According to Gale’s voice actor, it meant tapping into that child-like imagination we all have within us.

During the Heroes of Baldur’s Gate panel at MCM London 2024, Tim Downie gave a little insight into what it was like acting in a big empty room. “The difficulty is when you’re recording something like this you’re recording on your own. So, you’re not bouncing off other actors, you’re not gauging anything from anyone else. You’re just doing it in your imagination. I’ve said it before in other things where you are five years old again and you’ve been given a stick and been told ‘That’s your sword. Now go out into the woods and attack all the armies that are coming towards you!’ but there’s nobody there. And you have to do that as an adult… and it is really exciting!”

While Gale doesn’t do much fighting with a sword during Baldur’s Gate 3, we can still see how that frame of mind helped actors like Downie to bring their characters to life. He went on to explain that the fun of the job was trying to recapture that skill of playing alone after not using it for years. Becoming a kid again for a little while and making us all believe in the power of a stick.

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