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良好的本土化处理有助于提升游戏销量

发布时间:2011-07-30 17:01:44 Tags:,,,

作者:Laura DF

如果要最大化游戏销量,通常就免需要开发游戏的国际版本。本土化操作对游戏的发展至关重要,如果处理得当,就会推动游戏销量的急剧增长。

许多游戏玩家都认为本土化版本乏味而无趣,他们更情愿体验原版游戏,原因何在?因为这些游戏的本土化处理不当,质量低劣,其游戏体验自然也就大打折扣。

localization(from blog.translationartwork.com)

localization(from blog.translationartwork.com)

国际化与本土化的区别

国际化与本土化这两个概念的联系十分紧密。前者是指在不改变产品设计的前提下,根据其他发布国家和地区对产品进行调整。但其用户界面、游戏内容、控制机制以及游戏的其他方面的构思和设计,都能够与国际化版本兼容。

而本土化则主要侧重于语言翻译,它只是根据发布地区的文化,对语言资产进行调整,其他方面基本保持原样。例如,文本转换了一种语言,但用户界面、内容和人物角色仍然照旧。

玩法体验很关键

若要让本土化游戏达到最高水准,就需要本土化人员充分考虑当地文化习俗和各个国家的差异对游戏进行调整,这可以进一步保证游戏创造可观收益。几乎所有的游戏玩家都喜欢体验采用本土语言的游戏,毕竟这样更容易获得身临其境的沉浸感。

为了保证本土化游戏的质量和玩家粘性,开发商还需注意两个不容忽视的问题:

1)寻找翻译以及游戏本土化领域的专业人士接手这项工作,只有专业的本土化人员才能避免推出“水土不服”的版本。除了翻译语言,还需根据当地文化风俗调整游戏设置。

2)在完工之前让检验人员彻底地审核产品内容。他们可以发挥二级专业人士的作用,不但可以校对文本排版,语法和标点符号的问题,而且还可以针对游戏风格、语气、格式以及不同翻译方法等问题提出建议。

在完成语言转化之后,一定要让译者和检验人员查看游戏截屏或相关代码,以便他们在发布前重新审视游戏体验中的问题。他们可以反映真实玩家的感受。

在游戏发布之前调整长度和风格等内容,总比在发布之后再补缺补漏更强。

准确定位国际市场

随着国际游戏市场的发展,开发商也更加认识到海外发行的发展潜力。曾有人表示,“发行商最好锁定最大的欧洲市场,当地最大的市场是英国、法国和德国”。当今游戏产业中还有不少地区也成了开发商的重要目标,例如西班牙和意大利等国家。

以下是ICanLocalize所搜集的2010年所有的iPhone和Android本土化项目相关资料,从中我们可以看出哪种语言版本最具人气。这些项目并非都是游戏产品,它们还包括大量的一般手机应用。

iPhone and Android mobile localization(from icanlocalize)

iPhone and Android mobile localization(from icanlocalize)

从以上图表可以看出,去年最热门的本土化手机应用语言版本是法语、西班牙语、德语、日语和意大利语,几乎每个项目都推出了这种语言版本。

languages 1(from icanlocalize)

languages (from icanlocalize)

而涉及中文版本时,采用简体中文版的本土化手机应用所占比例是25.7%,繁体中文版则占8.03%。

在葡萄牙语这一方面上看,17%的本土化应用选择了巴西葡萄牙语,仅有3.4%选择欧洲葡萄牙语(游戏邦注:这一点可能与巴西人口更多有关,该国人口已超过1.6亿)。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Video Game Industry and Its Growth: How Localization Affects Sales

by Laura DF

There is a major aspect closely related to maximizing sales abroad: creating international versions of a game. Localization contributes to game growth, sales will increase dramatically if localization follows the right lines.

It’s true that many gamers consider localized versions to be dull and prefer to play the game in their original version. You know why? Because of poor quality, poor localization, thus poor gaming experience.

Internationalization and localization: the difference

There are two concepts closely related: internationalization and localization.

The first is when a product is created with something in mind: adaptation for release in other countries without the need to change the design of the product. However, the UI, game content, control scheme and other areas of the game are thought and designed to accommodate international versions of the game.

On the other hand, localization -the aspect we’re focusing on here- is the actual process of translating the language assets in a game into other languages. It only involves altering the language assets, taking into account the culture the game is addressing, and no other aspects. For example, text is translated but UI, content and characters remain unchanged.

Game play experience is crucial!

If you localize your game into different languages but the gamers experience is not good, localization will be a failure. If, let’s say, a German user finds a game with typos, incorrect translation, texts partially translated, he or she will definitely prefer the original version or will simply opt not to play the game in question -which is even worse.

Quality will make the difference to whether the gamer will be pulled out of the game experience or kept enthusiastically engaged in it!

Getting immersed in the game

For localization to be of the highest quality, the localizer needs to take local customs and differences of each country into account; this further guarantees that sales will be profitable. All gamers prefer to play a game in their native language, that’s the best way to get immersed in it.

To get high quality and have the gamers fascinated developers also need to take into account two crucial aspects when it comes to localization:

1)      Get the localization work done by professionals in the field of translation, with expertise in game localization: only a professional localizer can work on culturally appropriate versions.

You don’t just need to translate but adapt your game to the culture it’s aimed for.

2)      Have the work thoroughly checked by a reviewer: this second professional will do more than proofreading the text for typos, grammar and punctuation errors; this dedicated professional will address questions of style, tone, format, etc. as well as suggest alternative translations.

After translation is complete, it’s a key point to provide the translator and reviewer with screenshots or a code to access the game so they can experience it through the localized version before release. They’ll get the feel a real player will get!

It’s always better to fix length, style, etc. before releasing the game than after.

The biggest markets make a difference!

International game markets grow and developers become more and more interested in capitalizing on sales in other territories. “It makes more sense for the publishers to concentrate on creating localized versions that target the largest European markets. The biggest European markets are the United Kingdom, France and Germany” (Chandler, 45). With the growth of the game industry, more and more countries have become important targets, such as Spain and Italy, among many others.

You can also see the compiled statistics from all iPhone and Android localization projects carried out in ICL in 2010 to see which languages are most popular. The chart refers to mobile apps in general, not only those under the category of games. (source:gamasutra


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