game localization in wonderland

Víctor Alonso Lion @valion

Localization ConsultantPink Noise - Globalizing Fun

“What do you know about this business?” the King said to Alice.

“Nothing whatever.” said Alice.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely. “And go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

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“Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

New Needs

Even Strange needs

Batches

Sprints

Able to

scale up and down

(be big or be small)“What a curious feeling!” said Alice. I must be shutting up like a telescope!”

Iterations

Solid Methodology

Proactivity

“I wish they’d get the trial done.” Alice thought, “ and hand round the refreshments!”

“I’ve something important to say!” Alice turned and came back again. “Keep you temper. “ said the Caterpillar.

“Speak English!” said the Eaglet. I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and what’s more,

I don’t believe you do either!”

“Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where,” she said.“ Then, it doesn’t matter which way you go.

Images copyright:

Lego©

Microsoft ©

CDC Games©

NetGame ©

Blizzard©

CCP Games©

Trados

TagEditor

SDLX

Passolo Alchemy Catalyst

Wordfast

Across

Excel

UnderstandAutomatedLanguage

I18n Concepts

“Oh, please mind what you’re doing”” cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony of terror.

“Sorry, you’re much too big. Simply impassible,” said the Doorknob to Alice. “You mean impossible?” “No, impassible. Nothing’s impossible.”

“You ought to have finished,” […] “When did you begin?”

Localization World Barcelona

14 June 2011

Summary

Game Localization in Wonderland

Game localization? Outsiders see it as an obscure and mysterious process: lack of information, standards,

procedures, planning, quality, references…. Actually the reality is different and the game localization industry is

as mature as standard software localization and this session will prove why. The fact is that game localization

faces the most complex challenge: localizing continuous innovation.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely. “And go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

Process/Project management in Wonderland: A project is simply a project, right? However, in games, projects

are ALL different. Players want new technology, new ventures, new art, new experiences and want to feel more

intense emotion: each and every time! Is it possible to use a project template for such projects? Can you really

reuse plans, budget, leverage the experience of a former game? “Flexibility” and “adaptation” are the most

important concepts in game localization production.

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day.

Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Internationalization in Wonderland: Why don’t we all work on perfectly internationalized games? Isn’t it a

matter of applying a checklist to every game? Why don´t we simply standardize the engines, middleware, game

design? Reality is that success in interactive entertainment can’t be programmed. Big budgets do not guarantee

success. A revolutionary product has some problems to fit in a template.

“Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,”

said the Cat. “I don’t much care where,” she said.“ Then, it doesn’t matter which way you go.

Perfect tools in Wonderland: Can tools fit perfectly the game localization process? Ideally each professional

would focus on his own field for the perfect output. Content would be organized within simple CMSs and

translation tools would comprehensively provide all necessary information. Still generating the perfect tool is a

real challenge in game localization.

“Sorry, you’re much too big. Simply impassible,” said the Doorknob to Alice. “You mean impossible?” “No,

impassible. Nothing’s impossible.”

Quality in Wonderland: Can translation in games be perfect? Is it possible to trigger the same emotional

reactions in Tokyo, Brasilia, Paris, Berlin or New York? Quality is especially difficult to measure in interactive

entertainment projects.

Is game localization simply a non sense genre? Like Alice, game localization professionals try to find a “stable

process” within an instable ground, a framework which is at all times challenging the status quo and looking for

the next ”revolution”.