A VOICE actor is honoured to be part of an authentic Scottish cast in a new video game.
Tranent-born Hannah Hebblethwaite embarked on her career as a voice actor last year and has already put her voice to a number of audio dramas, animations and video games.
Her family's roots have been in Tranent for many years. Hannah's gran went to Ross High School the year after it opened, with Hannah later attending herself, and her mum worked at Tranent nursery.
She moved house a few times growing up but always stayed within the town as a child, until moving to Hull at age 17.
Her mum and dad both still live in Tranent and she visits them regularly.
Hannah is very excited about her involvement in Farewell North, where the gamer plays as a Border collie, exploring nature and revealing an emotional story about saying goodbye.
Developed by Kyle Banks and published by Mooneye Studios, the game was released last month and is set against the backdrop of the Scottish Isles.
Hannah said: “It's honestly so cool to have been able to record for such a wonderful game with an authentic Scottish cast that highlights the beauty of the Highlands.”
She moved from Tranent to Hull to live with her boyfriend, now husband, after securing a job in the city, which unfortunately fell through after the move.
She said: "I was ill with Crohn's disease for many years after moving and struggled to find a 'normal' job due to that. I've always loved creative stuff and acting so voice acting has been a great way to do that."
Hannah recorded her lines for Farewell North from her home and described the process as “great fun”.
She told the Courier: “Someone sent me a casting call they saw on Twitter that was looking for Scottish accents for a game where you get to play as a dog, so of course I had to throw my hat in the ring!
“In one of the levels, Chesley the dog gets lost and we help his owner try to find him. Chesley is scared of us, though, and doesn't want us to find him as he's not used to people and doesn't know that we mean well.”
Hannah played Farewell North from start to finish when it came out and was in anticipation of hearing her own voice, not knowing at which point her character would appear in the game.
She said: “My heart was going the entire time, it nearly bounced out my chest when I realised I was about to find my character!
“I'm not sure I'll ever get over the novelty of hearing my own voice in a game!
“It's still surreal seeing people posting about playing it and how much they love it.
"It was an honour to be part of this stunning game."
Since recording for Farewell North, Hannah has recorded for a number of indie games where she was able to experiment with different accents, and she is excited to see these develop over the coming months.
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