Thankfully, the days in which waiting was one of game fans' most familiar pursuits are largely over. The internet, fuelling feverish global anticipation of new releases and instant downloads, not to mention piracy, has now pushed all game releases on to the international scale from the moment they're announced – or leaked.
That's OK for the large publishers, which boast translation departments in their many regional offices, but what about the rapidly growing legion of small developers, which now routinely make games for the international audiences of app stores and marketplaces?
It's a situation that has made the services of localisation specialists crucial. For the smaller developer which plans to outsource localisation, the key, according to Pearse Finegan of Dublin firm Games Localisation Network (GLN), is planning. "Downloadable games on consoles are released on day one in multiple languages," he explains, "so smaller developers have had to adapt to this and build localisation into the development of the game."
It took seven months for a localised version Final Fantasy VII to hit US shores after its original 1997 Japanese release. It took another two months for it to reach Europe and Australia. It took a full year before Dragon Quest VIII finally came out in the US after its 2004 Japanese release, and another five months before it arrived in the dense cultural and linguistic patchwork of Europe.
Thankfully, the days in which waiting was one of game fans' most familiar pursuits are largely over. The internet, fuelling feverish global anticipation of new releases and instant downloads, not to mention piracy, has now pushed all game releases on to the international scale from the moment they're announced – or leaked.
That's OK for the large publishers, which boast translation departments in their many regional offices, but what about the rapidly growing legion of small developers, which now routinely make games for the international audiences of app stores and marketplaces?
It's a situation that has made the services of localisation specialists crucial. For the smaller developer which plans to outsource localisation, the key, according to Pearse Finegan of Dublin firm Games Localisation Network (GLN), is planning. "Downloadable games on consoles are released on day one in multiple languages," he explains, "so smaller developers have had to adapt to this and build localisation into the development of the game."
Final Fantasy VII
As long as specialist advice is sought early on, he says, "It is usually a painless process to get their game in front of a worldwide audience."
Keith Russell, VP of sales and marketing for Babel Media, notes that the development community has come around to this way of thinking. "Simultaneous shipping requires a very high level of coordination and has changed our processes significantly," he explains. "More and more clients are taking our advice and consultancy early on, and these projects run more smoothly."
Both he and Finegan recommend that developers account for localisation in early development, ensuring the game will work in multiple languages, with translated text and audio easily integrated when the time comes. The length of time required, naturally, depends on the amount of translation to be done.
"Typically a localisation plan for a game is created by working backwards from the target date," Finegan says. "We estimate the time required for translation of all the text, recording all the audio, and playtesting and thus determine when we need to start."
Professional translators get through around 2,500 words per day; audio work typically takes two to three weeks, including casting, recording and post-production. "Linguistic playtesting can take a couple of days on each pass," he adds.
Babel prefers to translate to English first, then into other languages. "Everything occurs in parallel," Russell explains. "As the developer is still writing the source language, for example Japanese, we are simultaneously localising the Japanese to English." As such, Babel often finds itself with extra work when changes are made to the source material. "That is when Babel earns its value," Russell says. "We always communicate [with developers] throughout."
In localisation, context is king, and Finegan describes the struggle to identify intended meaning as "the biggest problem faced by everybody in the localisation business. Text might be single words used in a menu, words or short phrases used on buttons or pop-up text, or whole sentences in the game story or script." In-game text is stored in string tables, which are updated with new text as and when required, and rarely in logical order.
Wolfenstein 3D
"There is never an impetus on developers to tidy up the file," he explains, "because a player will never see it. It's a recipe for confusion." With games using text for so many different purposes, working out what goes where means asking a lot of questions. "Even then, mistakes can be made," he says. "Which is why it is very important that we perform a linguistic playtest on a game before it is released."
Babel increasingly uses software like LocDirect or Xloc, that automatically integrates localisation into the development process, which not only makes Babel's job easier but the developer's as well. "There are huge savings in time, words and money to be made when we use these tools," Russell explains, "and if the client has approached localisation on their side using tech to extract, view and integrate the text into their game."
While advances in technology have simplified the process to an extent, both Russell and Finegan agree that the most important factor in ensuring a good localisation job is experience. "You can't just jump in with a few linguists and expect to translate triple-A games," Russell says. "There are a number of trusted vendors in the market who are used by a majority of publishers, and for good reason – each vendor knows what it takes and has a proven track record. The most important thing for our business is our history of working with each client and the trust we have built up."
Mistakes are still made. In 2009 German legislation preventing games from including Nazi imagery saw Wolfenstein pulled from shelves after a swastika was found on an in-game poster, which had not been factored into Activision's localisation process; Football Manager 2005 was banned in China for its recognition of Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong-Macau as sovereign states. Reaching a worldwide audience may be easier than ever, but with that increased reach comes an ever-greater volume of cultural issues. As Russell jokingly points out: "There are easier ways to make a living."
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