Je ne comprends pas. Ich verstehe nicht. Non capisco. I don’t understand.
Introduction
With total North American revenues expected to grow from approximately $315 million USD in 2006 to more than $690 million USD in 2008, casual games already have a strong presence in the North America; likewise, they are quickly increasing in popularity in Europe and Asia, with total revenues in Asia and Europe of almost $500 million USD in 2006 and over $850 million USD by 2008 according to data provided by DFC Intelligence and the Casual Games Association. Several opportunities are available for developers and publishers looking to increase sales by tapping into international markets. By creating games that are easily localizable, developers and publishers will ensure they can expand their distribution reach and build an increased presence for their casual games in Europe and Asia. This article provides a brief overview of the international markets and presents information on how to create localization-friendly code. Finally, it details some other issues to keep in mind when creating casual games that will have broad international appeal.
International Markets
The European market has doubled every year since 2001 and is expected to continue to double for the next couple of years. Due to this growth, many casual gaming companies are quickly increasing their international presence. With offices in New York City, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai, Boonty, Inc. has invested heavily in localization and distribution services for international developers and portals. Mathieu Nouzareth, President of Boonty, estimates that while the European market is smaller than the North American market, the opportunity for growth in Europe remains significant. “Developers need to think about localization early in the process so titles can be easily and inexpensively localized,” he says. “There is a potential to double international sales if developers create localization-friendly games, especially in Europe. English games will still sell in Europe, but the conversion rate is lower. However, in the Asian markets, localized games are a requirement. Japan, China, and Korea are not interested in distributing games unless they are localized specifically for the target country. Although it costs money to localize the games for these Asian countries, it is worth it to get the game out there.”
Rather than waiting to localize content until after the game is completed, many developers have recognized the expanding opportunities available in international markets and are starting to prepare for localizations in pre-production. Wade Tinney, a co-founder of the developer Large Animal Games feels that this shift away from myopic US centric casual games is due to a combination of factors. Wade states: “A lot of it has to do with the market in the US maturing to the point at which it puts resources towards international business development. Also international businesses are taking notice of casual downloadable games as a viable market and building systems and infrastructures to support it. And of course, the most broad explanation is that there is a large and growing audience of customers who are discovering that there are games well-suited to them, whereas there perhaps haven’t been in the past. High quality games that are smaller in scope, less expensive to purchase, and more accessible are bound to attract a broad audience, not just in the US but all over the world.”
Because of this shift, developers are actively thinking about localization and altering their production pipeline so that localized games can be produced quickly and inexpensively. While this shift may take some time to be fully realized, there are some things developers can do to make games that are more localization-friendly.
The Seven Keys to Successful Language Localization
Taking into account localization requirements at the beginning of the development process will significantly decrease the difficulty of creating localization-friendly games. On the other hand, implementing these rules later on in the process—especially after the game is in full production—is not advised, especially since it will likely put the code release date of the primary version of the game in jeopardy.
Allow me to share with you the Seven Keys to Successful Language Localization.
- Centralize All Language Assets
Place all language assets, including all text and voiceover, into centralized and easily accessible directories. For example, create a directory called “Language” and store all assets that need to be modified for a localized version in there. This simple convention saves developers from having to sort through dozens of assets to locate the ones that need to be localized.
- Do Not Embed Text in Code or Art Resources
Any text that is hard-coded is difficult to locate and localize. Additionally, there is a risk when changing hard-coded text—a code string could accidentally be changed or deleted.
Likewise, it’s best to avoid creating game art with embedded text that must be localized later. Instead, make sure to include the text in the strings files. If text must be included in an art asset, create a separate layer for the text so the asset can be more easily updated.
- Establish Logical Naming Conventions for Localized Assets
If the game will be localized into multiple languages, you will want to establish a useful naming convention to make sure the correct language assets are grouped together and to ensure that all the language assets are properly localized. For example, you may want to post-fix all text variables or files that will need to be localized with _loc.
- Make Sure Text and Voiceover Files are not Concatenated
Each language has different grammar rules, which means nouns and verbs will not appear in the same order in each language. In addition, many languages have masculine/feminine and formal/informal variants, which do not translate well when using concatenated text. Therefore, all text strings should be stored as complete logical thought patterns to avoid translations such as “dinners me likes eatings of” or “my mother came to visit, he had a great time with the children.”
- Use Icons Whenever Possible
There is usually no need to localize an icon, so if icons can be used in lieu of text, the number of localization changes is minimized accordingly.
- Use Scalable User Interface (UI) Elements
Localized text can be 25% to 30% longer than English text, so be sure the UI has room to accommodate the additional characters. If possible, create buttons, boxes, and screens that can dynamically scale up or down to accommodate the adapted text.
- Support International Characters
If possible, make sure the game supports Unicode. This ensures that all major international character sets, including Asian ones, are supported. If Unicode is not supported, the game cannot be localized into any language that uses double-byte characters (such as Japanese) or bi-directional text (such as Hebrew).
Establishing some basic conventions such as the ones described above allows developers to standardize the localization process to create international versions more efficiently. Erik Goossens, COO of Zylom Media Group B.V., has standardized the process used at Zylom for that very reason. He learned from experience that it is best to work directly with the developers and ideally get access to the game’s source code in order to create the best international versions.
Within this process, Erik says his localization group needs about 7 to 14 working days to localize an average game. “We have an internal testing department that checks the game assets and prepares them for the translators,” he says. “All the in-game text is translated, and in the best case scenario, Zylom will receive the source code so that the translators can rebuild the localized versions of the games themselves. This allows them to see the translations in the game right away and gives them an opportunity to fix linguistic bugs. Once the translators are finished reviewing the game, the builds are sent to Zylom’s technical QA department for functionality testing. Once the QA team is satisfied, the game is considered fully localized and is launched on the network.” Zylom is able to create about one localized game per week, which in turns allows them to build up a good back catalog of games.
Production Issues
In addition to the Seven Keys of Successful Language Localization, there are also a number of issues to consider during production that affect how a game will be localized. There is no set rule for how to deal with these design issues, as each developer will have a different solution, be it a code change, design change, or asset change. For example, Gabriel Zichermann, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Boonty, notes that although casual games are less complex than hard code games, their UIs are not necessarily easier to localize. In fact, localizing the UI for a casual game can be quite challenging since there is limited screen real-estate (as most casual gamers do not have 21-inch monitors). What’s more, the UI needs to be as clutter-free and easy-to-use as possible, which means there is not a lot of space to accommodate additional text.
Accordingly, developers should consider all of the following issues during production of localized games:
- Font Size
Fonts must be large enough that someone playing on a smaller monitor can read them. It is ideal if the font can be dynamically scaled so that text will automatically fit within the space constraints of the UI.
- Command Inputs
When working on a game that requires keyboard commands, make sure that international keyboards are supported. You will want to either have the commands mapped to similar key locations (for example, upper right hand key functions the same way on all keyboards) or have specific keys mapped to the appropriate command (for example, the “x” key is always the JUMP command, regardless of where it is placed on the keyboard).
- International Time, Date, and Currency Formats
Since there is nothing uniform about time, date, and currency formats, each must be addressed separately in a localization. This can be tricky when working with games with an economic component, for example, because not only will the currency format need to be changed, but the currency conversion rates must be accounted for as well.
- Monitor Size
As mentioned previously, the UI for a casual game needs to be as clutter-free and easy-to-use as possible since most casual gamers do not have the screen real estate to accommodate large complicated UI interfaces.
Translation Services
There is one more component for developers to consider when striving to create a popular localized game, namely: Who is providing the translations? A developer can spend a lot of time creating localization-friendly code and setting up a solid localization pipeline, only to have poor-quality translations negatively affect how the game is received in the target country. If the game is poorly translated, players may well prefer to play the English version instead.
Goossens has solved this problem by hiring translators who are gamers. He feels that “gamers have an easier time translating the games. When we don’t use gamers, the translations are more literal. With gamers, we have translators who will make suggestions on character names, locations, or other ways to alter the game to make it more appealing to each country.”
Design Issues
Another area to consider when creating casual games for international markets is the game design and genre. Developers are now thinking about how to create games that provide an enjoyable experience to a wide variety of cultures without too much modification. Nouzareth claims that puzzle games have the most international appeal, while word games have the least. This is not necessarily because Europeans and Asians aren’t interested in playing word games—instead it is because word games are difficult to localize, and therefore localized versions are not readily available in international markets. In order to properly localize a word game, high quality translations and an extensive dictionary are a must. Additionally, a lot of testing is required in order to ensure that the game play is fun and words are properly recognized. This can be cost prohibitive, especially since a completely new version of the word game must be created for each language.
By comparison, Zichermann feels that puzzle games are more popular with international audiences because they can be easily localized and made available. There is usually minimal text, the game-play mechanics are straightforward, and there is nothing too culturally specific (such as currency or location) that would be confusing to players in other countries.
Economically-oriented games are also difficult to translate for several reasons. First of all, accommodations must be made for local currencies and the monetary amounts need to be adjusted so they make sense to the player. For example, one US dollar is equivalent to over 100 Japanese yen, so if something costs $5 USD in the game, the amount needs to be adjusted to maybe 600 Yen to make sense to a Japanese player. This means allotting extra room in the UI for the additional numbers and using the correct currency symbols.
In addition, there are cultural issues to consider when dealing with economy-based games. Zichermann cites Diner Dash, a popular game in the US, as an example: “Diner Dash is a successful game in the US but it has not been launched in Europe yet. The notion of a ‘diner’ is not a concept that exists in many other countries. Also, for a lot of cultures, food service is a career, not a temporary job. So it is less likely that this game will have a strong appeal in international territories—for most Europeans, this game would not make a lot of sense.”
Tinney also offers the example of a game developed a few years ago by Large Animal Games called Saints & Sinners Bingo: “The game features a US-focused set of characters who are traveling across America to play Bingo. While Bingo is popular around the world, with many variations on the rules, we used a US rule set. This game poses a tall localization challenge, mainly because there is a lot of humor in the game in reference to different American stereotypes and cultural behaviors. If we do end up localizing this game, it will likely be more of a regionalization with completely new content, an international set of characters, and international locations. However, as we are learning more about the international market for casual downloadable games, we are thinking more carefully during pre-production about how to create games with more international appeal.”
Conclusion
Opportunities in international markets are growing, and it is in the developers’ and publishers’ best interests to capitalize on this growth by offering games that appeal to international audiences. This does not mean that every game must appeal to every person. If that were the case, games such as Diner Dash and Saints & Sinners Bingo would not exist. It does mean that localization issues should be thought about before production begins so the code can be localization-friendly and cultural issues can be addressed if necessary.
Heather M. Chandler is a game development consultant with ten years of experience in the entertainment software industry. Her company, Media Sunshine, Inc., provides services to game developers, publishers, and vendors. Prior to the creation of MSI, she held various production roles at Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Activision. Heather is the author of The Game Localization Handbook andThe Game Production Handbook. She is currently working as a consultant with SDI Media (www.sdimediagroup.com), a leading localization vendor in the entertainment and interactive industries. Heather can be reached at heather@mediasunshine.com.
