a brief overview Written

a brief overview Written

Contents 01 03 05 07 09 What is game localization? The globalness of games Global Product Development Cycle Distribution models and Levels of localization Interview with the makers of Passpartout

What is game localization? The market of today s game industry is definitely on a global scale. Games can be bought, downloaded, and played regardless of where the players are located or where the games were developed. The overall idea of game localization is to make the game feel more familiar or local for the consumer. Releasing a game on a specific market, without consider the various cultural and ethical differences will affect the outcome of the game s success. The ability to adapt to a certain market and successfully reach out to a broader (different) international audience is the fundamentals of Game Localization. 1

The process of game localization can address linguistic, cultural and technical issues - and since a game contains a variety of content types, games can sometimes be difficult to localize. Text, graphics, sound and even game mechanics can be necessary to alter to make a game fit for a new market. Linguistic issues Linguistic issues refers mostly to the translation of the language used in the game to better suit the market, but also account for the prerequisites needed to be able to incorporate the translated text into the game. Content and cultural issues Before the game is released on a new market, it s important that the game represent its content and information (icons, graphics, or color) in an appropriate way. Technical issues With a fully functional game, these changes and alterations can be difficult to implement. It is therefore important to design and build the game in such a way that text and icons are easily interchangeable with external files, and not hard-coded into the game itself. 2

THE GLOBALNESS OF GAMES The globalness of games Game researcher Mia Consalvo has studied games with a focus on how the early Japanese games have travelled to the west in her book From Atari to Zelda: Japan s Videogames in Global Context 1. Back in the early days of the industry, many people did not recognize a Japanese game as something that most downloaded lists all over the world. Operating in a small local market has its advantages, but as a game developer it s important to at least understand the value of game localization and how it can be used to further increase the game s revenue. According to a report from the Swedish came from Japan. Instead, they were perceived as something new and interesting to play. While this might have been due to the simplicity of early games and its technology, it is interesting to see that even today, games such as Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga seem to be on top of the best-selling/ Game Industry2, 99% of the income within the Swedish game development industry are from exports meaning that the domestic Swedish market is very small in terms of total revenue from the perspective of the industry as a whole. 3

This need for localization and the ability to quickly adapt to certain markets grew with the advent of office software such as word processors and spreadsheet software in the late 1970s. The differences between various countries, including language and formatting conventions, paved the but change development practices towards a more localization friendly development cycle. To release a software (or a game for that matter) with an English user interface to non-english speaking market is not a very good business strategy. way for the need of a more local and tailor-made user experience. O Hagan and Mangiron describes this as a major shift in mindset in their book Game Localization: Translating for the Global Digital Entertainment Industry 3, where the software industry began to not only localize a specific product Consalvo, M. (2016). Atari to Zelda: Japan s Videogames in Global Contexts: MIT Press. Dataspelsbranschen, 2015, http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se/rapporter.aspx 3 O Hagan, M., & Mangiron, C. (2013). Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry (Vol. 106): John Benjamins Publishing. 1 2 4

THE GLOBAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CYCLE The process of developing an internationally distributed product, such as a game for a global market is mainly divided into two phases; Internationalization and Localization. The internationalization phase is where the game is actually developed in order to make localization possible. This means that technical, socio-cultural, and socio-political preparations need to be made - extensive planning for a localized content in the production process. Since almost every game is different from each other, getting the game ready for localization becomes a unique process. Translating a game from English to Japanese is different than translating a game from English to Swedish, mainly because the physical (or in this case, digital) space required to convey the message in Japanese compared to English or Swedish is considerably shorter. Which means that not only does the actual text need to change but also certain game assets that contains the text, for example textures and user interface objects. The same can be said about game assets that consists of graphical elements, sounds, speech, and user-interface. Symbols and buttons has certain connotations, and this can vary between different countries and markets. For instance, the Sony Play- Station Controller s button labeled circle (O) and Cross (X) have different functions in the US and Japan. The default button to confirm anything on the Japanese version would be (O), whereas the (X) button have the confirm functionality in the US. These types of alterations must be a part of the game s code and taken into account when developing a game aimed towards multiple and various markets.

Localization is the second phase of the global product development cycle, meaning it takes part after the internationalization phase has been completed. The localization is about conducting translation and adaptation work related to the game assets. According to O Hagan and Mangiron 4 the localization process can be classified with two criteria: 1. Who performs the localization? 2. When is the localized version released? The localization process can either be developed and implemented in-house or hired as an external outsourced service. This choice determines whether the game is supposed to be shipped simultaneously in all localized forms (sim-ship localization) or if the localization is made and released after the main release (post-gold localization). 4 O Hagan, M., & Mangiron, C. (2013). Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry (Vol. 106): John Benjamins Publishing. 6

DISTRIBUTION MODELS AND LEVELS OF LOCALIZATION The game industry value chain (seen in the figure above) described by Egenfelt-Nielsen et. al 5 highlights a game s journey from hardware manufacturer and developer to end consumer. Somewhere in this chain, a game localizing function is present and O Hagan and Mangiron propose to have the main connection in an iterative loop between developer, localizer and distributor. In this description of the value chain, the game localizer is a separate entity where the localization is carried out. In terms of production and distribution, this model is based on a triple-a game, meaning big budgets and large development teams - and also to some extent a physical product in the end with a boxed version of the game distributed on physical media. In the current age of digital distribution, the physical product might not be as important, and the focus of the game localization function might not have the same kind of connections to publishers and hardware manufacturers. But, the work that is done to localize a game is still involving the same process, the difference lies in who, where and when the localization takes place. For a smaller independent, or indie, developer the whole game localization process might be done in-house or in collaboration with the community of the game in question. The developer would make a localization possible by developing the game with guidelines in the internationalization phase while the Game Localizer handles the localization part. 7

The level and amount work related to the localization process is connected to the game itself and the targeted market. Thayer and Kolko 6 propose a system where game localization can be viewed on from three perspectives; Basic localization, Complex localization and Blending. With this approach a game developer or localizer can plan for how complex or time consuming the localization will be, depending on the amount of localization work that needs to be done. Sometimes it s enough to utilize Basic localization where the content of the game, such as graphics, sound and other assets, remain unchanged and only the text is translated. Sometimes more work is required, due to a more complex or story driven game, a Complex localization process is applied. In this case localization work is applied to other assets from the game, and graphical components, sound assets and and icons in the user interface is translated or adapted in addition to the text. The most complex process involves altering and re-writing of the actual game content. This approach is called Blended, according to Thayer and Kolko, due to the approach where both translation of the original material is done, but also new material is created to fit the new market or context. One example could be to re-write the game script to better accommodate to another cultural setting, for instance changing references to pop-cultural phenomena known in one region but unknown in another. 5 Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2016). Understanding video games: The essential introduction: Routledge. 6 Thayer, A., & Kolko, B. E. (2004). Localization of digital games: The process of blending for the global games market. Technical Communication, 51(4), 477-488. 8

INTERVIEW: FLAMEBAIT PASS PARTOUT Passpartout - the starving artist Starving artists are a part of all creative industries. Devoted individuals investing large amounts of time and effort to pursue a dream to have their work seen, heard or played by an audience, preferably a large, is common. The ultimate goal is of course to not starve anymore, to make a living of the arts and crafts produced. This is not only the setting of Passpartout The Starving Artist but also a story of the Skövde-based studio Flamebait Games. Since the release of Passpartout in early June 2017, the game has gained a large number of fans all over the world, purchasing the game mainly through Steam. The game has also received attention from streamers and social media personalities in many countries who have shared their work as struggling artists. In Passpartout you take the role of the character lending his name to the game s title, an artist who tries to sell his paintings to a diverse audience of art connoisseurs. As the player, you have to produce these paintings through a simple painting interface with a strong resemblance to the pre-installed Paint program from Windows. While the presumed buyers truly are diverse in all aspects, they have one characteristic in common a (very) critical eye and having strong opinions regarding your art skills. Passpartout is a game about art and creativity. It is also a game about the harsh reality of displaying your work to others, trying to find an audience that is willing to pay you for the effort. This setting can be 9 applied to the indie game development scene as well, but with some major differences of course. While the artist Passpartout has to attract customers to come to his gallery, a game developer of today can sell their games directly on a global market. Using digital distributions channels such as Steam, the smartphone app stores or more specialized marketplaces such as Gamejolt or itch.io a multinational reach can be gained from day one. This opportunity is something that many developers seeks, to act on a global market as a local developer. The dream of being big in Japan or any other country is a common one.

-We have designed Passpartout with sharability in mind says Mattias Lindblad, CEO of Flamebait Games. Already from the early prototype we wanted to engage the players and make a game that is easy to show off through social media and streaming services. FLAMEBAIT Viktor Zryd FLAMEBAIT GAMES Viktor Zryd, Sound designer and Localization manager of Flamebait Games, explains that their localization strategy emerged from the feedback from the community. -We saw early on that we had players all over the world. From the data gathered from the free prototype version and the Greenlight campaign we could see that we had many players in Romania, South Korea and China, for instance. Using the service marketplace Fiverr, Flaimbait managed to do a multilingual translation on a shoestring budget. Instead of using a complete localization service, Viktor handled the contacts with different translators himself, meaning they could have the game in several languages at only a fraction of the cost compared to using a total outsourcing solution. This strategy has been working well for Flamebait, where Passpartout have sold very well in both South Korea and China. The data from the prototype version regarding a large fanbase in Romania have on the other hand not led to any significant sales from that region, it seems that the free prototype was enough. Flamebait Games have worked strategically towards a multinational reach. Using services such as itch.io and Steam Greenlight they have been able to communicate and interact with their intended target audience from the start. A free prototype of the game was published on itch.io early in the development process and through the feedback from the community Flaimbait could make informed decisions about localization and which markets to target. Since its release Passpartout has sold over 10 000 copies per week. This situation has put Flamebait Games in a new position, where a strategy for the future of Passpartout needs to be developed. But seeing to the past, where the previous strategies regarding making shareable games for a global audience has been successful, the future looks bright. And one thing is for sure Flaimbait Games does not have to starve for a while. 10

Credits Authors: Marcus Toftedahl Marcus Hellkvist Layout & Formgivning: Stina Arvisson Rådestig Artwork by Flamebait

Sources and further reading Consalvo, M. (2006). Console video games and global corporations Creating a hybrid culture. New Media & Society, 8(1), 117-137. Consalvo, M. (2009). Convergence and globalization in the Japanese videogame industry. Cinema Journal, 48(3), 135-141. Consalvo, M. (2016). Atari to Zelda: Japan s Videogames in Global Contexts: MIT Press. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2016). Understanding video games: The essential introduction: Routledge. O Hagan, M., & Mangiron, C. (2013). Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry (Vol. 106): John Benjamins Publishing. Thayer, A., & Kolko, B. E. (2004). Localization of digital games: The process of blending for the global games market. Technical Communication, 51(4), 477-488.