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[tomka]

I'm looking to localize my game into several languages but have never gone through a localization process before so was hoping to get some advice from any others as to whether its really worth while.

Basically how much does it cost to translate, say, 10 phrases of about 10 words?

Does being localized have much of an impact on popularity and ease of us for the local market? Or are they all just used to playing games in English and don't really mind either way?

[biomechanic]

If all you need translated is 10 phrases 10 words each, then you could have it done free. Just make a post on a popular gaming forum (or game dev forum) if you need the translators to be game-savvy, or on a language forums (like http://forum.wordreference.com/). If you are secretive about the actual text just say what languages you need and what kind of vocabulary is needed and PM the text to the volunteers. If not - just put all the text in your post, the upside here is that if a translation is wrong in some way, someone else might reply with a correct one.

Whether you go that way, or use a paid translator, provide as much context as possible for the translation. If it's a line of dialogue, specify what happened before, what tone is the message supposed to be (joking? angry? ironic?), anything that might help. If it's a part of the GUI, consider the fact that words may and will vary in length - include game screens so that the translator can use a longer equivalent of the word or use it in a phrase (or: use a shorter one, abbreviate properly).

Also, some (many?) languages that use the Latin alphabet, extend it with diacritics and new letters, so that's one more potential problem - especially if you are using custom fonts. On the similar note, if object/subject/numerals in your phrase will be supplied on runtime (e.g. "X hit Y for Z damage"), know that words in your target language could be affected by declension and/or conjugation (and possibly other magic like that).

As to how much of an impact localizing your product will make, that depends on a lot of factors. If you are aiming for "casual" demographic, then translating your game might be a good idea; seasoned gamers should have a good enough grasp of gaming English to play your game, unless you include some really obscure words. While Flash games are generally accepted as one-language medium, people might expect localizations in stand-alones. Etc.

All those things considered, I would say "f@$k that s#!t". English is the lingua franca in today's world, and if someone won't bother learning it, I'm not going to do the work for them.

[Alex May]

All the translation for Eufloria was done by fans and they got a free copy and manual credit in exchange. It was great for us. I bet we sold a lot because of this, especially to Russia.

[Hajo]

My only successful game was (still is) translated by volunteers and fans too. There are more than 20 language paks now.

So people like to have localized versions, but one can start with english only, I think.

[tomka]

Thanks for that info guys, I wasn't really sure where to start.

biomechanic: i'll check out the word reference forum, thanks! that looks great

and to alex and hajo, the idea of a free copy in exchange for translation is a great idea.

i do agree that english is the lingua franca, but know that i'm sometimes annoyed that i can't get a jrpg in english so thought i'd try and find a nice way to make my game more accessible to a broader audience.

you've all helped heaps, thanks!

[Christian223]

Make sure that your game is succesfull before trying to localize it, otherwise it doesn't make sense to translate a game in lots of languages when nobody wants to play it.

I say, stick with english first, and leave the option for localization in the future. See if the game works in english first.

[Imagineergames]

Just so you know, Contact me if you need a Spanish Localization, I'm Mexican. And I wouldn't mind doing such a short quantity for free!

[Klaim]

Make sure that your game is succesfull before trying to localize it, otherwise it doesn't make sense to translate a game in lots of languages when nobody wants to play it.

I say, stick with english first, and leave the option for localization in the future. See if the game works in english first.

About that, what you all think about the problem of implementation?
I mean, if you're not sure of the success of the game, you might write your code (if you code...) in a way making localization harder. So, should you "always" prepare your code for future localization if you're planning to be successful (I mean when you're trying to do something that is not a raw sketch of the idea of the game be a polished game)?

[bateleur]

I always leave my stuff localizable simply because it's not usually hard to do. Something as simple as loading all game text from a separate file is usually enough.

[falsion]

I always see videos of indie games on NicoNicoDouga (basically the Japanese "YouTube") where they'll try to play the games but get stuck on parts that require a lot of reading in English.

They really seem to enjoy I Wanna Be The Guy though. Then again, there's not a lot of required reading in that game, it's nothing but really hard gameplay (which has no language barrier).

On the other hand, I saw someone on that site trying to play Spelunky but getting stuck on the tutorial due to it being in English.

I just wonder how much more popular indie games would be over in Japan if they included a Japanese language option. It'd be interesting to see full playthroughs or speedruns of them on NicoNicoDouga.

[Craig Stern]

Now here's an interesting question: what about for a dialog-heavy RPG? Is localization worth it? And if so, for what languages?

I ask because the strategy RPG I'm working on right how has a lot of dialog. (I just recently finished writing up the dialog from the start of the game through to the end of the first mission into a script format for voice acting purposes, and that section alone takes up 33 pages.) I'd love to reach untapped markets if it's worth the trouble--but only if it's worth the trouble.

[Imagineergames]

Now here's an interesting question: what about for a dialog-heavy RPG? Is localization worth it? And if so, for what languages?

I ask because the strategy RPG I'm working on right how has a lot of dialog. (I just recently finished writing up the dialog from the start of the game through to the end of the first mission into a script format for voice acting purposes, and that section alone takes up 33 pages.) I'd love to reach untapped markets if it's worth the trouble--but only if it's worth the trouble.

I guess it depends. is your game designed to output a database and read from it all the strings? Then it may be real easy even if there's a lot to translate. After that, it should just take time.

I can only speak Spanish and English Fluently, but it begs the question if indie games can profit from localization. Maybe to Japanese? they sure love their Dojin games.

[Klaim]

I always leave my stuff localizable simply because it's not usually hard to do. Something as simple as loading all game text from a separate file is usually enough.

Ah yes, I forgot that I'm in a quite complex case 

I have to load modules (containing dll/so + other resources) that contain those localization files, requiring a bit more organization in the way I load the localization files ^^;

But that's right, it's not that hard in the end.

[Hajo]

But that's right, it's not that hard in the end.

The real problems start if a game assembles sentances from parts and the grammer needs adjustments.

For example, a template like: "You hit the %s"

Assuming the game will insert the monster name for the %s. In some languages the exact word for "the" depends on the inserted word though (french, german, maybe more) and just translating the sentance template will not give the right results.

This becomes worse the more complex sentances a program tries to construct. I think most of these problems can be solved, but it doesn't look easy to me - at least I had one project where I tried to keep everything localizable but the sentance construction tunred into a nightmare.

Also, don't forget number formats. There are many ways to write thousand separators (some languages want none), and the decimal point can as well be a comma in some languages.

[DaveGilbert]

Now here's an interesting question: what about for a dialog-heavy RPG? Is localization worth it? And if so, for what languages?

I ask because the strategy RPG I'm working on right how has a lot of dialog. (I just recently finished writing up the dialog from the start of the game through to the end of the first mission into a script format for voice acting purposes, and that section alone takes up 33 pages.) I'd love to reach untapped markets if it's worth the trouble--but only if it's worth the trouble.

I write dialog-heavy games, too.  I've gotten lots of requests from people asking if I planned on translating, in addition to people offering to do it for free!  But, sad to say, they underestimate the work involved and in every case they disappeared without finishing.  Even as short as the Blackwell games are, they easily have several thousand lines of dialog each.  I get the feeling that if I could get them properly localized in German they would do very well, but I don't have the resources to do it properly.  There's nothing worse than a badly translated game!

[Imagineergames]

Spain also has their share of Adventure game fans. They still produce many of their own. Germany has always been Adventure game friendly as you say.

[Chromanoid]

Maybe we need a game translation community site. a standarized access/database for game text and translation tools for fan translators and indie devs. anybody interested in that? maybe this translation portal could financiate itself with ads...
maybe i could build up such a site if there are enough people interested in that.

[Craig Stern]

Maybe we need a game translation community site. a standarized access/database for game text and translation tools for fan translators and indie devs. anybody interested in that?

Yes, please! 

[Klaim]

That already exists, I've been on one some years ago, but can't remember wich.

[tomka]

with regards to dialogue heavy games, wouldnt that actually make it more worthwhile?

the game i am looking to localize has minimal text ("start", "go" and some short tutorial messages) and most non-english speakers have either known enough english to get by or have been able to largely pick up and play without the tutorial messages anyhow.

but if dialogue was a core aspect of the game, surely that would make localization even more worthwhile? ie my market is only somewhat constrained by people not being able to understand the tutorials, but a dialogue game is absolutely locked out of a country if it isnt in their language.