Crowd-sourced translations

[Cruciatum]

Hi, some of you who are on the IRC may have seen me pass by the past few days.

 

I came up with an idea today which would make translating the game into different languages not only less work for the devs, but also a lot faster.

 

The idea being:

Write up an XML or similar format, including all the names, text events, etc. which are in the game and/or website, then release these to the public, so they can submit their own translations, this would make the workload for the devs virtually non-existent concerning translations (other than writing up the initial file and coding an integration of the new translations, which frankly, is done relatively easy).

 

Obviously if you don't trust the public enough to provide you with proper translations, which I would fully understand (children will be children), you could simply find a few people who speak English well enough - as well as another language - to help out with these.

 

The main reason I think PRO would benefit from this, is because of the few people I've seen so far who came onto IRC or in-game, that didn't know English well enough to fully understand what was going on.

Obviously this can scare these people off from playing further, thus reducing growth in your player base.

 

I explained this on IRC earlier today, and honestly the reactions were decent, considering the low activity of people at the time.

 

Either way, if you were to choose to use this idea to translate the game, you will want proof readers, even if you select only certain people to be able to translate, just for accuracy and consistency.

[Nathan]

Re: Crowd-sources translations

 

<r><QUOTE author="Cruciatum"><s>

</s><POST content="163937"><s></s>163937<e></e></POST> Hi, some of you who are on the IRC may have seen me pass by the past few days.<br/>

<br/>

I came up with an idea today which would make translating the game into different languages not only less work for the devs, but also a lot faster.<br/>

<br/>

The idea being:<br/>

Write up an XML or similar format, including all the names, text events, etc. which are in the game and/or website, then release these to the public, so they can submit their own translations, this would make the workload for the devs virtually non-existent concerning translations (other than writing up the initial file and coding an integration of the new translations, which frankly, is done relatively easy).<br/>

<br/>

Obviously if you don't trust the public enough to provide you with proper translations, which I would fully understand (children will be children), you could simply find a few people who speak English well enough - as well as another language - to help out with these.<br/>

<br/>

The main reason I think PRO would benefit from this, is because of the few people I've seen so far who came onto IRC or in-game, that didn't know English well enough to fully understand what was going on.<br/>

Obviously this can scare these people off from playing further, thus reducing growth in your player base.<br/>

<br/>

I explained this on IRC earlier today, and honestly the reactions were decent, considering the low activity of people at the time.<br/>

<br/>

Either way, if you were to choose to use this idea to translate the game, you will want proof readers, even if you select only certain people to be able to translate, just for accuracy and consistency.<e>

</e></QUOTE>

 

Sounds good but of course there will be a lot of flaws. It would also mean the developers would have to recruit staff to proof read everything. Also, another problem would be, which languages do you translate? PRO has a large player-base from all around the world and some languages may not be translated.<br/>

<br/>

As far as I know only the UI is going to be translated and none of the NPCs due to new NPCs and dialogue being added all the time.</r>

[Cruciatum]

Re: Crowd-sources translations

 

<r><QUOTE author="JollyolNathan"><s>

</s><POST content="163946"><s></s>163946<e></e></POST> Sounds good but of course there will be a lot of flaws. It would also mean the developers would have to recruit staff to proof read everything. Also, another problem would be, which languages do you translate? PRO has a large player-base from all around the world and some languages may not be translated.<br/>

<br/>

As far as I know only the UI is going to be translated and none of the NPCs due to new NPCs and dialogue being added all the time.<e>

</e></QUOTE>

 

Edited mine out to keep the msg size to a minimum<br/>

<br/>

Anyway, you have some very good points, and those would probably be the main reason why devs would say no to this.<br/>

<br/>

However, delegation tends to be the key to a project going smoothly and grow successful, that said, I honestly believe this to be a good idea in the long run, however I feel like this isn't really a big priority, just could be an idea for the future.<br/>

<br/>

Also, new dialogues can be translated, but they'll be a tad slower. If they were to recruit proof-readers, they could ask them to do the translations for the new dialogues.<br/>

<br/>

This is pretty much the fastest & most delegate-able way of getting the game translated in my honest opinion. Although I do recognize the potential problems that come along with it.</r>

[Gawerty]

Re: Crowd-sources translations

 

<r><QUOTE author="Cruciatum"><s>

</s><POST content="163937"><s></s>163937<e></e></POST> Hi, some of you who are on the IRC may have seen me pass by the past few days.<br/>

<br/>

I came up with an idea today which would make translating the game into different languages not only less work for the devs, but also a lot faster.<br/>

<br/>

The idea being:<br/>

Write up an XML or similar format, including all the names, text events, etc. which are in the game and/or website, then release these to the public, so they can submit their own translations, this would make the workload for the devs virtually non-existent concerning translations (other than writing up the initial file and coding an integration of the new translations, which frankly, is done relatively easy).<br/>

<br/>

Obviously if you don't trust the public enough to provide you with proper translations, which I would fully understand (children will be children), you could simply find a few people who speak English well enough - as well as another language - to help out with these.<br/>

<br/>

The main reason I think PRO would benefit from this, is because of the few people I've seen so far who came onto IRC or in-game, that didn't know English well enough to fully understand what was going on.<br/>

Obviously this can scare these people off from playing further, thus reducing growth in your player base.<br/>

<br/>

I explained this on IRC earlier today, and honestly the reactions were decent, considering the low activity of people at the time.<br/>

<br/>

Either way, if you were to choose to use this idea to translate the game, you will want proof readers, even if you select only certain people to be able to translate, just for accuracy and consistency.<e>

</e></QUOTE>

 

Biggest reason I can see this not happening is mainly due to the issue that most of the events and NPCs are written in such a way that you could gain knowledge that you shouldn't if you aren't trusted with the knowledge. While I am sure there could be a work-around should the idea actually be pursued, I don't know if people would think it worth the effort.<br/>

<br/>

It is a good idea, at least to me, though.</r>