So you have a game, you have a budget and you want to localize your game. But are you sure you’re ready for it? Is your game ready for internationalization?
Internationalization
Internationalization, or how we call it, i18n is the process of preparing your game for localization. Without it, you’re practically sending linguists into a pitch-dark labyrinth armed only with their bare fingers to face the colossal Minotaur.
Here’s a small checklist:
- Are your main story strings ordered chronologically?
- Do you have IDs with context, such as
UI_MAINMENU_BUTTON? - Do you have reference material prepared with the idea behind your game, who’s it for, why it exists, the characters, their style, their personalities?
- Do you have images of the items, weapons, skill tree?
- Do you know if your font supports special characters (ã, ê, ç)?
All these are a brief part of what’s needed. Neglect this preparation phase and your localization is doomed to fail.
Ok, i18n (internationalization) is great. What’s next?
Time
Now we need a chunk of your time.
See, we linguists are very annoying creatures.
We want to scrutinize all the details, we want to be sure whether “Play” is really a noun in that line, not a verb, we want to know why you wrote this like this and not like that, we want images, references.
“Could you provide more context?”
Serious research proves that this is the phrase most used by translators and reviewers.
Even if you do an impeccable internationalization, we’ll still have a bunch of questions to ask you. And that’s usually a good sign that we’re trying our best to deliver an amazing localization
So, yeah, if you don’t have time or can’t allocate someone who can assist us, I’m sorry, but your localization is destined to have issues. And that is also your responsibility.
A partner
You’re good and prepared, but there’s one little detail missing: you need a partner. From behemoth agencies to our small Iguana Localize, the number of options is huge.
I’ve freelanced in this market for quite a long time, and can say plainly that most of the big players are bad. They have huge expenses to pay, and that also comes from the translator’s rate. Usually, the bigger the company, the less a translator at the other end will earn.
Juggling multiple projects to pay the bills, that poor soul will look to finish your life’s work as fast as possible. And, well, if you’re lucky, you might get away with ‘good enough’ quality.
Working directly with freelancers, or with small and medium-sized agencies, is usually the best choice. But don’t skip fact-checking and thorough analyzis either way.
Whether you choose us or someone else, localization is an ongoing effort. After the release, check the reviews on Steam and see what people are saying on social media. Ask a native speaker to look it over for you if you can’t.
Always monitor the quality in each and every country you localize to. Engage with the community. You never know, a localization might be exactly what your game needs to open up a new base of loyal fans.