Tales of the Abyss: fan translation of a video game

TALES OF THE ABYSS
Fan translation of a video game
Ana Ramírez

Defining fan translation
Whatisit?An unofficial translation of various forms of media done by fans.
Why does it exists?Because there is no official translation.

My vision…
Share fan’s interests.
Meet new people.
Popularity in internet.
Translating is fun!

Types of fan translation
Fan translation of novels.
Fan translation of comics (scanlation).
Fan subtitles (fansub) of movies or TV series.
Fan translation of videogames.

Fansubexamples
Errors and mistranslations.

Fansubexamples
Stupidtranslator’s notes.

Fansubexamples
Unnecesary subtitules.

Fansubexamples
… Jokes.

Conclusion

Tales of the Abyss
Whatisit?
RPG by Namco Tales Studio (2005).
340.000 wordsdivided in:
Script.
Skits.
Diary.
Items.
Skills, menus, monstersnames, etc.

Comparedwithnovels…

ComparedwithRPGs…

Phases of the project
“Boss” extractsthetext.
He uploadsitto ACME.
Translation and revision.
Beta patchfortesting.
Correction of mistakes in ACME.
Patchrelease.

Main problems
I had not played the game.
Continuity of the project.
Relationship withothermembers.
Bad organization.
With the translation…
No names, no references.
Nullstandarization.
No professional translators.

Organization and tools
Three main tools:
Private forum, divided in:
Laboratory.
Library.
General.
Wikis.
ACME.

Private forum

ACME
What is it?
Application for translation.
Features:
In the “cloud”.
Many translators at the same time.
Too cool to put it into words...
So I’ll show you!

Tales of the Abyss: release
Duration: 16 months.
Patch downloads: + 8,500.
Total downloads: ???
YouTube videos, news in the webs, forum discussions...
It was totally worth it.

ACME in pro localization?
Betterthan Excel.
Toolthought for translators.
Easy to…
Findmistakes.
Make corrections.
Upload new texts.
Make modifications in oldones.

ACME in pro localization?
But...
You are used to Excel.
Companieswould not buyit.
Developerswould not want to learn.
Conclusion:
Toodifficult to use a new toolnow.
But I tell you…

It istoodifficult…
…tobuild a house. We are OK in caves.

It istoodifficult…
…tocreate 3D games. 2D isgoodenough.

I mightbe hard…
But it is important to make localization more productive!
It is a vital part of the process, not some kind of “extra”.
A change of attitude is needed...

Developer’s attitude

Translator’s attitude

Thankyouverymuch!!

Tales of the Abyss: fan translation of a video game

by AnRamz - on Dec 11, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Tales of the Abyss: fan translation of a video game — Presentation Transcript