Localization is often an afterthought in game development, a small issue that needs to be addressed after the game has launched—like creating a special version for a minor portal or fixing a Win ME bug. Overlooking localization, however, is one of the biggest mistakes casual game developers continue to make. We have found that strong localization easily can more than double revenue and, more importantly, can mean the difference between creating a hit or just another top-100 game.
With product in over 30 countries and games translated into 17 languages, we have seen almost everything there is to see in localization and translation of games, and it is not pretty. Literally hundreds of developers and publishers are leaving thousands of yen, euros, dollars, and hryvnia on the table by not spending a little bit more time on localization from the project inception.
Why Build for Localization?
We can sum up the argument in favor of localization with one word: revenue. By focusing on localization at an early stage, our company now generates more than 60 percent of its revenue outside of North America. But localization is not merely for those hoping to distribute their games outside of the United States; more than 50 percent of casual games have some development done in Western and Eastern Europe (including the former Soviet Union). Although these games are usually in English (of varying levels of quality), they are usually not fully “Americanized”—that is, adapted to the U.S. market.
When the poor quality of the language interrupts the fantasy of a game, the player is less likely to continue playing—and much less likely to buy. That phenomenon is true regardless of the language—which is why it is imperative that the localization makes players feel like they are playing a locally created game, even if it was developed thousands of miles away.
How to Build for Localization
It is essential to incorporate localization into product development from the very beginning in order to minimize the long-range costs and speed up the overall process. It is much more cost-effective and efficient to localize a game when easy localization is built into the programming as opposed to when an existing title must be reengineered. In our experience, localizing a game as an afterthought often more than triples the cost of localization and delays the releases in other languages by months.
When planning for localization, the goal should be a near simultaneous launch of an English version along with versions in other FIGS languages (French, Italian, German, and Spanish, at a minimum). In our experience, sales may increase 40–50 percent if all localized and U.S. versions are released simultaneously.
There are many key issues to consider when designing for easy localization. To guide those responsible for localization, we have identified the following as crucial to success.
If you are a producer or project lead tasked with overseeing a localization project, this list will help you make sure that your team avoids any potentially costly mistakes.
Key Localization Issues:
• Avoid hard-coding or embedding localizable elements.
• Keep all of the assets used to create the product (including box art, logos, screenshots, and sales sheets) in one place where they are readily accessible. These assets will be crucial in producing localized versions of the product.
• Record and keep separate files for voice, sound effects and background music.
• For all screens that have bit-mapped text, save two versions: one with the text and one without it.
• Support multiple-byte languages (e.g., Japanese, Mandarin) and avoid engines that do not support these fonts.
• Create code that will allow you to add subtitles to your game for smaller markets where dubbing is prohibitively expensive.
• Avoid references to country-specific currency, institutions, and themes.
• Keep an accurate word count on spoken words, text files, and bit-mapped text.
• Make buffers large enough to hold translated text.
• Isolate localizable resources.
• Ensure all symbols and icons convey the same meaning regardless of language.
• Ensure that menu and dialog accelerators are unique.
• Allow users to enter text, accelerators, and shortcut-key combinations using international keyboard layouts.
• Confirm that sorting and case conversion are culturally accurate.
• Ensure that the game responds to changes in the control panel’s international/locale settings.
• Ensure that the game works correctly on different types of hardware, particularly on hardware that is sold in the target market.
• Inasmuch as language can affect the length of some .WAV files, note the length of each one in a separate document.
• If recordings are involved, make sure the speakers are from the region of the country with the lowest perceived accents.
• Use animation software that will keep the character’s lips moving while the sound file is playing.
• Make a “final script” that reflects what the actors actually said on the video that is used for the product.
• Use extensive scripting, and fastidiously document any changes that are made.
• Have script segments assigned to individual .AVI files.
• Leave extra space in text boxes for “longer” languages (such as German). Get some examples from your translators, as text boxes may often need to double in size to fit translated text.
In addition to developing your game to be easily modified for each territory, it is important to remain open-minded to different business models that may be necessary for different markets. While the trial-to-purchase model is currently the main revenue driver in North America, subscription or micro-transaction models dominate other markets. As a developer, you should plan from the onset for your title to work well with all of these models. Do not solely focus on creating a game that will convert well; also consider the underlying dynamics of these different business models and how they affect the level structure, rewards, incentives and other elements of your game. Also, be open to structuring your distribution agreements to allow different revenue models (for example, do not require a per-unit royalty) and to permit the integration of SDKs with your titles.
In addition, there are situations in which you may be contractually obligated to deliver to your distributor assets that were never created (for example, high-resolution, layered, box art for a game that was only released online). In these cases, it would be wise to invest some resources in creating an asset knowledge base that will allow you to create publishing assets that will be culturally acceptable in the country of distribution.
Working with Foreign Partners
Most development companies—and many publishers—do not have the resources to properly localize their games internally and thus must partner with other companies. By building your game for localization, you are much more likely to find a good partner in most markets. Also, if your game can be localized cost-effectively, those savings will be reflected in the deal terms you receive. The more your partner has to spend to localize, the less your partner can afford to pay you in royalties or advances. A strong localization kit can go a long way in building a strong relationship with your localization partner (see the Sample Localization Kit, opposite, for an idea of what such a kit might include).
If you don’t have the capacity to create a fully functional localization kit on your own, offer your partners an outsourcing solution in which you work closely with their programmers and designers and gather as much information as you need to create a localization kit. In any event, it would be cost-effective for your company to split localization tasks into two major parts (for example, translation and implementation) and outsource them separately. Based on our publishing experience, there are no boundaries or limits if you are dealing with a responsive and proactive developer who can assist in these tasks.
At the same time, make sure you are “getting into bed” with the right partners. It is important to have a partner that will use native language speakers, check and double-check the translation, and make the game appropriate for the market. (For example, do not use a Swedish company to create an Italian version of a game since they are unlikely to find the nuances that will make the game successful in the Italian market.) Although it is easy to turn over all the translations to one publisher or portal, before you do so you should make sure that that partner will take all the steps needed to ensure great localizations in every language. In the long run, creating a truly localized version for each market is more important than the few days you may save by not working with multiple localization partners.
Americanization
With more than 50 percent of casual games developed outside of North America, localizing for the U.S. market should be a top priority for developers, yet few companies actually focus on it. As a publisher, we see hundreds of games monthly, and most of the titles developed by non-native English speakers are poorly localized for the U.S. market. This deficiency manifests itself in three ways. First, the players in our evaluation group are less likely to review the game positively when the language impedes immersion in and enjoyment of the game. Second, if the language requires a significant rework, we must incorporate this cost in the deal terms we offer the developer. Third, and most importantly, poor localization sends the signal to our staff that the developer did not pay great attention to detail and did not devote the effort to the game that we would want in a partner. From talking to peers at other publishers, our analysis is very similar to the way games are viewed throughout the industry.
Language is the first key hurdle; non-US games often include words or phrases that seem strange to American players. By using non-standard nomenclature, the player is often taken out of the game environment and is instead left trying to figure out the story, the goal or the instructions. Although this article is not about how to make a successful casual game, one of the key elements to a successful casual game is grabbing your customers and creating the fantasy that they are part of the game.
Conclusion
Localization is a key element in successful casual games, but is too often an afterthought. By planning for localization from the outset of a project, you are very likely to significantly increase your sales and overall chance of creating a hit.
Dimitri Kirin (dimitri.kirin@casualconnect.org) has been involved in localization and translation for over five years. As Localization Manager at Merscom, Dimitri has managed and coordinated the localization of hundreds of titles. Dimitri also designed and implemented Merscom Project, Merscom’s proprietary localization management system. With an eight-language interface, Merscom Project allows for the easy localization from virtually any language to any language. He has also arranged strategic relationships with several Russian companies to publish their games in the US, Western Europe, and Japan. Kirin holds Masters degrees in Business Administration and Oriental Linguistics, and is fluent in English, Russian, Polish, and Arabic.
