Y’know how I said Ashley was going to have to come later? It’s later now, right? Right. Introducing Amber Leigh, who portrays the Funplex’s costumed mascot, Ashley Wolf!

Since 2001, Amber has had the pleasure of providing her voice to a vast array of online projects from indie games to songs and most anything else in between you can think of. Some of her more notable appearances include Heroine’s Quest (Lithrasir and Kraka), Brilliant Shadows (Luciana), Seduce Me 2: The Demon Wars (Rabbit), Ruffled Season 2 (Sera), and the role of Sofya Rykov in the ongoing game series Echoes of the Fey. She also appears on the podcast “Stuff Weekly” on YN Interactive Network. In her spare time, she has a passion for photography, musical theatre, and above all else, anything and everything Disney related.

We had over a hundred applicants in our open casting call to find Ashley’s voice, and immediately we connected with Amber’s emotional delivery — it simply felt like Ashley, through and through. We’re pleased we could find this absolute gem!

One more voice to go — sort of a combination voice and developer profile. That’ll be tomorrow. And then we’ll wrap these voice spotlights up and move on to developer spotlights!

One last Arcade Spirits voice to introduce to you… the villain of our little drama, Deco Nami, owner of the Deco’s Palace chain of franchise arcades… played by none other than Mark Meer!

Mark is best known as the voice of Commander Shepard, Blasto, the Vorcha, Niftu Ca, and many more in Bioware’s acclaimed Mass Effect Trilogy. Mark plays multiple roles throughout Bioware’s Dragon Age series, including Athras and the Werewolves in Dragon Age: Origins, Jethann and Hybris in Dragon Age II, the Darkspawn Disciples in Dragon Age: Awakenings, and Cabot in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Mark also appears in the Baldur’s Gate games, including the original Bioware releases, plus Beamdog’s Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition, and Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear as the drow sorcerer Baeloth the Entertainer, sun-soul monk Rasaad yn Bashir, and dozens of other characters, including the most major of the modern minor mages, Alveus Malcanter. He currently stars as pilot William MacKenzie in the ongoing post-acopalyptic survival game The Long Dark from Hinterland Studio. Other voice work includes Bioware’s Jade Empire, Blue Wizard Digital’s 1980’s slasher-horror homage Slayaway Camp, and Chapterhouse Studio’s new Captain Canuck animated series, The Prometheus Protocol. Mark is a co-creator, writer, and star of the award-winning Canadian TV series, Tiny Plastic Men. He is a writer and cast member on APTN’s sketch comedy show CAUTION: May Contain Nuts, and a veteran of CBC Radio’s nationally-broadcast comedy program, The Irrelevant Show. Mark is a five-time nominee for the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Improvisor, and a longtime member of the improv troupes Rapid Fire Theatre and Die-Nasty: The Improvised Soap Opera. His film credits include A Frosty Affair (with Jewel Staite) and the cult classic FUBAR 2.

I can’t tell you how incredibly thrilled I am to be working with Mark in Arcade Spirits, where he breathes life into the corporate tycoon of the arcade world, the infamous Deco Nami. His experience delivering amazing voice performances really shines through in this character!

We’ve got one last Voice Spotlight coming your way for Ashley, but that one will have to be delayed a bit. Meanwhile, we’ll be starting Dev Spotlights in the next few days to introduce you to the whole Arcade Spirits team, including musicians and artists and more.

The rational-minded business manager of the Funplex, Gavin Cooper, is ready to romance you in a very sensible manner!

With over 25 years of experience, Ogie Banks is a skilled dancer, actor, singer and writer. Banks is best known for his roles as Clawd Wolf in Monster High and Luke Cage and Miles Morales in Ultimate Spiderman. While his true passion lies in voicing well-known characters (he thrives on the interaction with his co-stars), he has also enthusiastically taken on projects in many well-known franchises such as Naruto, Phineas and Ferb, the Fallout games, the Saints Row games and more.

Ogie was a delight to work with. Right away he understood the dry wit and clear-minded rationality of Gavin, as well as his softer side that the player can tease out along the way. Those seeking romantic overtures with him are in for a treat when they hear Ogie’s voice in Arcade Spirits!

Playing your BFF for life Juniper, please let me introduce you to Lily, who is known online as lilypichu!

In her own words:

As of right now Lily is a full time content creator on YouTube and Twitch. She likes to voice stuff. And draw. And some piano. And she has a super cute dog named Temmie. She doesn’t have many voiceover roles to fluff up this section so please hire her thank you.

Very modest, but she’s a content powerhouse who works with Offline TV and streams all manner of great stuff. It was an absolute pleasure working with her; she understood Juniper right from the beginning, giving her a kind-hearted and sweet voice that befits the one person who will always be in your corner, no matter what. Can’t wait to hear more of her in Arcade Spirits!

She’s cute, she’s spunky, she’s socially awkward… you know her, you love her, it’s Naomi Fairchild, the Funplex’s resident arcade techie! And she’s voiced by Stephanie Sheh!

Behold! The enigmatic millionare, he of the mighty iron will that burns like fire… the mysterious but actually quite approachable Hamza! Oh, and some guy named Akash Thakkar, who did his voice.

Based in Seattle, WA, Akash Thakkar has been an audio designer for games like Hyper Light Drifter, Heat Signature, and Destiny. He is the author of Maximizing Game Feel Through Sound: A Composer/Sound Designer’s Approach to Upgrading your Game’s Impact, and is constantly looking for new ways to spread his knowledge within the game industry. Find out more about Akash at www.AkashThakkar.com

Hamza’s larger-than-life personality required a larger-than-life voice, and Akash really had a blast in the recording booth making that happen. I honestly can’t wait to see what your reactions are to some of his scene-stealing lines!

Today, we welcome the Spotlight Stage dancing game community leader, Teo — and his wonderful voice, Christopher Escalante!

Christopher Escalante is a music composer and voice actor for video games and films and whose music and voice can be heard as Ein, Derek, and Shad in the “Aphmau” web series, Erik in the Seduce Me series, Jiangshi Devo in Heroes of Newerth, The Nameless in Anima: Gate of Memories, the Blade Master in Atlantica Online, and whose music and voice can be heard in many other video games and films as Solar Warden, Yandere Simulator, ACE Academy, Mythica: The Necromancer, Blood of Redemption, Twice The Dream, Muv-Luv Alternative, The Fifth Expedition, Galactic Conflict,  Castle of Legends, Heroes Arena, Heroes Charge, and more. Christopher currently resides in Salt Lake City, UT and works as the Director of the Voice Over Division at Elevate Talent Agency and is the founder of Rose Rock Records, LLC. Learn more at http://www.christopherescalante.com/

Right away, Aenne fell in love with Christopher’s flirty, friendly audition file. Together, we were able to give Teo a range of emotions from vulnerability to sultry seduction, for your auditory enjoyment in Arcade Spirits!

Today, let’s take a look at the matriarch of Francine’s Arcade Funplex, the eponymous Francine herself!

Tricia has been a voice actor for twenty plus years, and works full time at her craft. She has voiced national TV and radio campaigns all around the world, but her favorite genre is gaming, with animation being a close second. She was the voice of The Brawler for Tera Games, Queen of Sands for Dark Parables, Troll Witch in Hellboy short, and has been the voice of numerous gaming trailers. She has also voiced cartoons such as Camp Lakebottom, Di Gata Defenders, Poopeez, Creative Galaxy and Monster Mayhem for Family Channel.

It’s been a delight to work with Tricia to bring Francine to life, giving her the warmth and humor that befits the grandmother you always wanted to have. We hope you enjoy her good cheer when you play Arcade Spirits!

Today, let me introduce you to our friend Price Johnson, aka Stumpt Price of Stumpt Gaming! He’ll be playing Percy, the warm-hearted arcade scorechaser.

Price Johnson is based out of Portland, Oregon and is a full-time content creator for Stumpt Gamers. Being a full-time content creator means video games are central to everything Price does. Additionally, he spent many a childhood party at his local arcade before it was shut down, so he is right at home in Arcade Spirits. His favorite arcade games growing up were the 4-player brawlers like X-Men, Gauntlet and Sunset Riders. While Price has practiced his voice skills over many years as a hobby, Arcade Spirits will be his official voice acting debut.

For a first time actor, Price hammered it out of the park with this one. Percy’s story called for warmth and sadness in equal measure, and needed a skilled talent to bring it to life. Without a doubt, Price did exactly that. Bring a box of tissues, ’cause Percy’s tale is going to be something else entirely…

In today’s voice spotlight, we’re taking a look at everybody’s friendly and (possibly sentient?) virtual digital assistant, Iris!

Southern California-born and Portland-raised, Stephanie graduated from Gonzaga University, where she studied broadcasting for radio and television. Though she quickly discovered that producing news for TV was not, in fact, what she wanted to do with her life, Stephanie ended up putting her degree (and news anchor voice) to use in other pursuits. She’s produced and hosted several nerdy podcasts over the past few years, including one dedicated to one of her favorite video game series of all time, Mass Effect. There was also a tangential foray into cosplay, and you might have seen some of her creations at various West Coast cons and gaming expos. She’s since made her way to Twitch, where she now streams twice a week as SigmaRue. Stephanie has made brief appearances in local indie film projects and advertisements, and you may have heard her voice in Firefall from Red 5 studios. Stephanie is now firmly rooted in the Pacific Northwest and spends her precious free time hiking, drawing, playing video games, and keeping her cats alive.

She’s been a good friend to Arcade Spirits throughout the project, and we’re thrilled to have her on board. I’m not kidding when I say this is a voice to look out for in the future. She’s going places! And we hope you enjoy her cheerful tones in the role of your virtual assistant, Iris.