Presentation at the I Conference on Translation and Accesibility in Video Games and Virtual Wordls. UAB, Barcelona - December 2010 Virginia Parades Gurrea & Diana Diaz Monton

1. Internationalization in Video Games How to Avoid Main Localization Pits Virginia Parades Gurrea Diana Díaz Montón I VGVWA, Barcelona 2010

2. Localization Pitfalls Context Inconsistencies Mistranslations Format & Coding Wrong Implementation Layout Hardcoding & Variables PRE-DEVELOPMENTCHECKLIST Familiarization – Templates – Query Log

3. Format & Coding Wrong Implementation Why? Extraction & Insertion Embedded text File structure & naming Track of changes

4. Format & Coding Layout Overlapping Cropping Wrong rendering

5. Format & Coding Hardcoding & Variables Date & Time Format Decimal Separators Currency Measuring Units Variables

6. Context Inconsistencies Clearly identify game terms Glossaries Termbases Translation memories Automated QA & terminology checks

7. Context Cosmetic Issues in Layout

8. Context Mistranslations Gender – male or female Puns – plays on words Grammar – noun or verb Disambiguation

9. Context Templates Glossary Ingame Dialogue

10. Context Familiarization Play the game Game website Legacy Design documents Character descriptions Screenshots Artwork

11. Context Translator Log

12. Asset Organization & Format File Structure & Naming Conventions Folder for each language with subfolders Logical naming for each type of file Clearly state file version & date Unique ID for each text string Date in files Format Text not embedded in code Unicode font Allow increase & decrease of fonts Minimum concatenated screens Gender & grammar changes support Support for duplicating a string Engine that allows gender marks Duplication of all dialogues Allow change of format dates & times Artwork text images in layers Different tracks for voice, music & sfx  Use of icons for common features of UI Avoid cluttered UI screens Translation –friendly assets Information about the game Brief description of game, characters, places, missions, game phases, etc.  Glossary with a screenshot of each term & organized in categories Differentiate text, artwork, dialogues...  Character limitations Built-in macros to check lengths  Scripts organized in columns:  File ID Location Stage direction Speaker  Addressee Information about procedures Familiarization Yes No Changes allowed  Yes  No Translators in QA  Yes  No

13. thank you Virginia ParadésGurrea vparades@gmail.com Diana Díaz Montón diana@wordlabtranslations.com