Video games are high in demand and the gaming industry is booming in the global landscape quite rapidly. Gaming companies are looking for new ways to increase their game downloads, capture larger markets and earn more profits. There are already many games’ success stories around us that have taken over the world’s gaming industry.
If we have to look for that one common factor among all these vital games, it is localization. Top game development companies very well understand the significance of localization and translations for their game. That’s why they make localization their priority. If you are a game development business that wants to go global, this article discusses practical game localization tips. It will help you seamlessly adapt your video game for foreign markets and reach out to a large audience.
Best Video Game Localization Practices for Global Business Expansion
Internationalize Your Game
If you haven’t already developed your game, make sure to build it on internationalization (i18n) principles. It will make it quite seamless and easier for your developers as well as translators to localize the game later. I18n allows you to adapt your game for different regions and languages in the quickest turnaround time. This way, you can lessen the workload of your localization teams and reduce the time required to localize your game for each marketplace. Your LSP may also charge you less for video game translation services if your game is internationalized.
Hire Translators Who Like to Play Video Games
Your translation plays an important role in determining the overall credibility of your game. Good translation allows players to effectively engage with the game and clearly understand the instructions and prompts that keep appearing. Your translators should be native, experienced individuals who aren’t just familiar with the cultural and linguistic intricacies but also have an interest in playing games.
Moreover, make sure your translators also have some exposure to working with a professional localization project management platform.
Provide Detailed Context Information to Translators
Every translator can have their own unique style of translating content that reflects in their translations. If you are getting on board multiple translators to work on your game translations, there is a high chance of inconsistencies in your translations. In this case, you must provide your translators with all the required information about project requirements, and context with reference materials. As well as it is important to create translation glossaries to support your team in generating translations with consistent tone and style.
Never Hardcode Any User-Facing Element
One key rule of localizing your game is to never ever hard code any element in the game. You must develop your game keeping the localization aspects in mind from the very beginning. It is very time-consuming to extract and modify the hardcoded elements in your game. It makes localization difficult and challenging for your developers. Not just that, it can also lead to delays and errors in your code. So, you must keep your game design flexible enough to easily get modified for different markets. Keep your game architecture developers friendly and all your localizable elements should be kept outside the code.
Provide Subtitles and Dubbings
Apart from translating the textual content, you should also provide subtitles and dubbings for the oral communication between characters. You can get professional video translation services for your game from a reliable service provider. You can choose to provide either dubbing or subtitling for your video game to create an authentic game experience. For instance, if your game contains extensive dialogues of characters, you can go for dubbing. You can provide subtitles when there is not too much audio in the game, and your players already have some basic understanding of the original game language.
Similarly, it also depends on the region you are targeting which determines the right choice between dubbing and subtitles. Let’s say you are localizing for the Spanish market, you should know that they’re not so familiar with the concept of subtitles. So, dubbing would be a better option to cater to such audiences.
Add More Cultural References
Finally, when localising your video game, you must pay close attention to the target markets’ cultural traditions. Your game’s target viewers will play it more frequently if you add more cultural allusions to it. Additionally, it will improve their entire gaming experience and give your players the impression that the game was especially developed for them. A market’s social norms and laws must also be taken into consideration. So, your game doesn’t contain any element that may offend the target audience. That’s why you should get your video game translation services from native translators only with a good understanding of target cultures.
Summing Up!
Following the localization practices and guidelines in this article, you can effectively adapt your video game for diverse cultures and markets. Using the right approaches to localize your game will save the time and effort of your translators and other localization teams. Always invest in credible tools and resources to achieve high-quality outcomes to make your game go viral globally.