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.
