This document summarizes Wooga's efforts to level up their localization process over time. They started with French, Spanish, Turkish, and German in 2009. By 2011 they added more languages and developed an in-house translation tool (WALT) to manage increasing text. In 2012 they established a professional localization quality assurance team and defined testing processes. They then expanded the translation team by adding outsourced languages in 2013 and more languages in 2015. Wooga gathered feedback through internal and external qualitative testing as well as quantitative user ratings, and aims to continue improving feedback methods.

1. Leveling up in localization

3. OptimizingLeveling up!
Dario Quondamstefano Susan M. Alma
Localization QA Analyst Localization Project Manager

4. Leveling up!

5. French Spanish TurkishGermanItalian
all in-house
2009: INITIAL LANGUAGE SET

6. 2009: OUR INITIAL TEXT DATABASE

7. 2011: ADDING NEW LANGUAGES
French Italian German Spanish Brazilian
Portuguese
Turkish Polish Dutch
all in-house

8. THE CHALLENGE
Translations hard to manage
Less quality check in game
2011: INCREASING AMOUNT OF TEXT

9. Wooga Awesome Localization Tool
WALT
2012: OUR TRANSLATION TOOL

10. Wooga Awesome Localization Tool
WALT
● overview of workload
● translation
● glossary, context and screenshots
● proofreading
● overview of text to test
2012: OUR TRANSLATION TOOL

11. 2012: PROFESSIONAL LQA
Defining the focus of
Localization Testing

12. Defining the focus of
Localization Testing
PROMOTING
2012: PROFESSIONAL LQA

13. Defining the focus of
Localization Testing
PROMOTING
TRAINING
2012: PROFESSIONAL LQA

14. DEFINE ISSUES
Defining the focus of
Localization Testing
PROMOTING
TRAINING
2012: PROFESSIONAL LQA

15. • Font implementation
• Technical issues
• Content related issues
• Grammar, typos, etc...
Localization Tester Translators
2012: PROFESSIONAL LQA

16. Clear ownership on specific projects
2013: EXPANDING THE TEAM

17. 7 outsourced languages
NEW LANGUAGES:
12 in-house languages
2015: EXPANDING LANGUAGE SET
Swedish
Danish
Arabic
Thai
Korean
Russian
Finnish
French Italian German Spanish Brazilian
Portuguese
Turkish Polish Dutch JapaneseChinese
(Simplified)
Chinese
(Traditional)
Norwegian
(Bokmål)

18. - IT HELPED TO HAVE A TRANSLATION TOOL
TAILORED TO OUR NEEDS
- DEDICATED LOCALIZATION TESTING TEAM
WAS VERY VALUABLE IN MANY AREAS
- DIRECT LQA/DEV CONTACT KEPT
COMMUNICATION FAST AND EFFICIENT
WHAT WE LEARNED

19. Optimizing Localization

20. WTF...

21. WTF@WOOGA.COM

22. Our Game Languages
Native speakers @ Wooga
English
(US)
French Italian German Spanish Portuguese
(BR)
Turkish Polish Dutch
JapaneseChinese
(Simplified)
Chinese
(Traditional)
Norwegian
(Bokmål)
Danish Swedish Finnish Russian

23. Our Game Languages
No native speakers @ Wooga
Arabic
(classic)
Korean Thai

24. Text overlap

25. Text cut off / wrong word order

26. Spelling mistake?!

27. Optimization Projects

28. Optimization Projects
1. Qualitative feedback - internally

29. Optimization Projects
1. Qualitative feedback - internally
2. Qualitative feedback - externally

30. Optimization Projects
1. Qualitative feedback - internally
2. Qualitative feedback - externally
3. Quantitative feedback

31. 1. Qualitative Feedback - internally

32. Qualitative Feedback

33. Internal Feedback Results
✅ Very positive feedback

34. Internal Feedback Results
✅ Very positive feedback
✅ Fairly quick test

35. Internal Feedback Results
✅ Very positive feedback
✅ Fairly quick test
❌ Trivial

36. Internal Feedback Results
✅ Very positive feedback
✅ Fairly quick test
❌ Trivial
❌ No ratings

37. 2. Qualitative Feedback - externally

38. Qualitative Feedback

39. • 5 testers per language @ Wooga
• 2 hours per session
• Native speakers
• Gamers
• Mobile device owners
Testing Session Set-up

40. • Tutorial
• Screenshots
• Rating (1-6 scale)
• Report
• Final decisions
Testing Session Set-up

41. External Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (~4.9 out of 6)

42. External Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (~4.9 out of 6)
✅ Corrections / suggestions

43. External Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (~4.9 out of 6)
✅ Corrections / suggestions
❌ Playing games in other languages

44. External Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (~4.9 out of 6)
✅ Corrections / suggestions
❌ Playing games in other languages
❌ Time consuming

45. 3. Quantitative feedback

46. ● “Help us out” button

47. ● “How are our translations?”
○ Mistakes
○ Boring
○ Weird
○ Perfect
○ Good

48. ● Ratings: 10K / month
● Monthly overviews

49. ~ 85% Happiness Rate
Ratings: Outsourced Translations

50. ~ 87% Happiness Rate
Ratings: In-house Translations

51. Quantitative Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (85% - 87%)

52. Quantitative Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (85% - 87%)
✅ Simple solution

53. Quantitative Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (85% - 87%)
✅ Simple solution
❌ No further explanations

54. Quantitative Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (85% - 87%)
✅ Simple solution
❌ No further explanations
❌ Biased answers

55. Quantitative Feedback Results
✅ High ratings (85% - 87%)
✅ Simple solution
❌ No further explanations
❌ Biased answers
❌ Uncomparable

56. Next Steps
● Comparable ratings
● Feedback button in all games
● Continue qualitative feedback

57. Dario Quondamstefano Susan M. Alma
dario.quondamstefano@wooga.com susan.alma@wooga.com