作者：Michelle Zhao

我们的最新《LocaLAIse This!》安装是从美术师的角度去着眼于游戏本土化。LAI的中国总裁访问了我们的最新游戏美术本土化顾问Lillian Lee（在产业中打拼了12年）。Lillian曾经作为《Darkness 2》和《生化奇兵2》等AAA级游戏的美术师，她对于亚洲文化的了解以及成为她作为各家工作室（包括育碧和Red 5 Studios）的美术师的巨大资产。

以下是这次访问内容的记录。

游戏本土化—-美术

大家好，欢迎回到《LocaLAIse This》。我的名字是Michelle Zhao，我是LAI Global Game Services中国区域的总经理。今天我们很高兴向你们介绍我们团队的新成员，Lillian Lee。Lillian是一位游戏美术师，并且是一位非常资深的产业人士。现在她是作为我们LAI Global Game Services的美术本土化专家。所以今天我们将突出游戏本土化的美术方面。让我们欢迎Lillian。

问题：Lillian，能否先介绍下你自己？正如我了解的，你在中国工作并生活了8年，而在北美作为游戏美术师也生活了5年。

回答：大家好，我是Lillian。我是在1999年来到游戏产业，我曾在中国，美国和加拿大参与过PC，网页，手机，主机和在线游戏等开发工作。

因为待在不同的国家，我遇到了许多非常有趣的人并参与了许多我很自豪的项目。

例如：2000年面向PC的虚拟生活系列。

最近的例子：我曾致力于《生化奇兵2》和《Darkness 2》这两款主机游戏。

还有一些在线科幻游戏：《火瀑》和《战争框架》在当前的游戏市场仍很受欢迎。

问题：现在我的第一个问题是，作为一个处于不同文化的游戏产业专家，你认为最有趣的内容是什么？

回答：我想处于不同国家的开发工作室的人都会拥有不同的工作态度和团队结构。

1.工作态度

通常情况下，西方工作室的员工会更有创造性且更有想法。他们总是想要更深入地挖掘一个单一的资产，专注于特定的理念并愿意投入更多时间于各种理念中。但是复杂和创造性工作总是需要消耗更多时间，如此美术设计或制作将花费比最初的安排更多时间。

2.相反地，东方公司的员工总是会基于适当的质量尽可能保证在预期时间内完成制作。他们很少会专注于特别的理念。他们的目标是遵循上头所交代的并尽快完成既定的工作，所以他们不会深入思考某些内容。

例如，西方美术师可能会花1，2周的时间去创造游戏中的一个道具，而中国的游戏美术师只会为同样的模型花3或4天时间。

通过这一过程，我意识到专业的开发者和美术师是基于不同方式着眼于细节内容。他们必须愿意在必要时候调整每一个微小方面。当你想要创造一款世界级游戏时，这点非常重要。

2.团队结构

在中国，大多数游戏开发团队都被分成一些较小的群组。例如一个环境游戏美术团队将由许多非常小的分队所组成。每个小分队将包含4至6名团队成员。所以中国团队将拥有一个主要领导者和一些分队领导者。

2.而在北美，团队的结构更加平面化。一个领导者将监管15至30名团队成员。这将导致一些潜在的问题。首先便是一些较年轻的成员间缺少足够的训练或帮助。如果领导者离开较长时间，那么整个团队将会因为没有人指导而陷入恐慌，或者每个人只能干等着他回来才能进入下一个步骤。这会很大程度地影响质量和时间。

问题：很高兴能够了解这些区别。作为一位游戏美术专家，你是否能够为我们提供一些关于美术国际化/本土化（以西方vs东方为例）的技巧。

回答：当然，以下是一些相关技巧：

1.首先，让我们谈谈颜色。对于不同文化来说，颜色也会有不同的意义。

例如：在西方，红色被当成是带有侵略性的颜色，会让人联想到血，火以及其它可怕的元素。停止标志便是红色的！这会让你联想到危险。

然而在中国，红色却是个喜庆的颜色，是节日中经常出现的正面元素，特别是在中国春节中。也常出现在传统的中式婚礼的装扮中。

2.让我们再来说说白色。就像你所了解的，白色是西方结婚礼服的经典颜色。但是在中国，白色却被用于传统的葬礼上。

所以在面向不同文化设计图像时，我们必须谨慎地使用颜色。

接下来说说形状：

1.我想以龙作为例子。当我说到“龙”这一词时，西方文化和东方文化会出现不同的理解。

在西方故事中，龙经常被设定为带有恐龙外形的动物。它很吓人，并且是一只会喷火的怪物！

但是在东方，龙却是一个吉利的象征。它通常代表权利与好运。所以当你提到一款关于龙的游戏时，中国人所联想到的通常与西方人不一样。

2.此外，我们还需要考虑的其它内容是删除敏感文化，宗教和政治元素。你总是会想删除这些会让用户不舒服或可能遭遇政府禁止的文化禁忌。

问题：我的下个问题是：当人们在App Store中搜索游戏时，特定的logo类型是否能够帮助游戏销售？

回答：当然了！

logo是游戏的第一扇销售之窗。你需要确保你的游戏能够在众多logo中凸现出来。如此你就需要使用明亮的颜色和强烈的对比度去吸引玩家的注意，就像可爱和美丽的logo在中国很受欢迎，或者使用一些能够吸引眼球的独特设计。一个典型的例子便是《我的世界》的logo，既简单又独特，同时还能有效地与游戏结合在一起。这能帮助你的游戏有效地凸显于被众多游戏环绕的市场中。

总之，logo也是你的游戏的组成部分，所以你必须确保它能够维持同样的美术风格并有效地传达游戏的深层含义。

问题：关于UI和图标设计，你是否还能提供一些额外的技巧？

回答：我认为每一款游戏都有其独特的风格。但存在一个黄金规则便是，这一风格必须是有意义的，且能够与不同文化的玩家维系在一起。当我在为美术本土化分析一款游戏时，我不只会根据本土化文本升级图标或UI，我还会深入探析它需要进行改变以及应该如何设计才能吸引特定的目标用户。同时它也必须能够符合来自最初游戏的既定风格。

设计一个优秀的UI需要注意很多！这就跟在问我该如何做才能成为百万富翁一样！这一问题的答案是，存在许多方法去达到统一的目标，但是同一种方法并不适用于每一款游戏。

所以以下是其中的一些技巧：

首先，你需要专注于目标用户群组。并不存在唯一的解决方法能够处理所有的情况。针对目标市场定制一个本土化logo和UI是一个创造性过程。

然后，你必须了解玩家是在怎样的情境下玩一款特定游戏。他们是在家还是在前往某地的途中？

例如在中国，许多玩家是在摇晃的公车或地铁上玩手机游戏。所以这可能会影响他们对于图标和按键的使用。

你最好设计一个不会太过复杂的游戏UI和图标。所以：

UI和图标设计应该较为明亮，没有太多小细节或过多颜色。在这些移动的条件下，我们的眼睛总是很容易感到疲倦，所以手指也可能很难准确地按在适当的按键上。如此人们将会很快感到厌烦。

另一方面，你必须确保玩家能够轻松地找到所有按键。大多情况下，人们玩游戏只是为了放松或享受短暂的空闲时间。如果游戏屏幕过于拥挤，那么玩家便很难找到适当的按键。如果出现这种情况，你将可能在短短几分钟内永远失去玩家。

总之，你必须在执行本土化的同时真正理解你所面对的每一款特定游戏。这种理解将帮助你创造出更棒且能够匹配现有游戏的UI和图标，并帮助你更好滴巩固整体游戏体验！

问题：根据你的观察，在不同的游戏市场中你所倾向的美术风格是什么（西方vs东方）？

回答：在中国市场中，主流美术风格是可爱与美丽。然而在西方，我们总是会在美术风格上寻找更多多样性。所以一般说来，在中国人们通常只倾向于少数的特定美术风格。

同时，我们认为美的定义也需要进行本土化处理。例如：史莱克和木兰。这些都是在美国很受欢迎的卡通人物。然而在中国，人们会从外观上判定他们并不是那么好看。史莱克既不可爱也不帅气。许多中国用户也不认为迪士尼电影中的木兰拥有他们心中传统的亚洲美人的长相。木兰传奇是非常有名的中国故事，所以人们会将其联想为一个美丽又勇敢的形象。

在中国，很多玩家觉得日本或韩国的卡通形象很可爱且吸引人。因为在早些时候，大多数中国玩家买不起游戏主机，所以很长一段时间许多中国玩家都在玩免费的韩国或日本在线游戏，或者是观看日本的动画片。所以在这么多年的接触后人们非常熟悉这类型的风格。

让我们列举一下例子帮助你们理解：

1.日本游戏

《战地2》，《圣剑传说》以及最出名的《最终幻想》系列

（在许多亚洲的心中《最终幻想》的美术风格是最好看的。）

2.韩国游戏

《剑灵》和《AION》

3.日本动漫

《机动战士高达》，《美少女战士》，《七龙珠》

另外一个受欢迎的游戏群组是以中国古代故事为主题的内容。这些游戏通常是受到政府的支持，因为政府认为它们能够推动历史和文化的传播。所以这些游戏主题和风格在中国很受欢迎。

问题：最后一个问题是，作为一个以中文为母语的人，你对于那些想要将西方游戏带到中国市场的人有什么建议？

回答：在中国，因为人口数量的庞大，几乎所有公共设施，包括交通工具都非常拥挤。排队也是中国人每天生活中常出现的事。在一些更大的城市中，人们经常需要花1，2个小时乘公交车上下班。在排队或转车的时候，人们经常会玩游戏去消耗时间。所以围绕着这样的环境去设计手机游戏模式非常重要。

以下是一些技巧：

1.游戏不能太过复杂。必须能够在几分钟内轻松操作。

2.游戏必须拥有暂停功能。这让玩家可以在短时间里轻松地进入并退出游戏。就像轻松上下车一样。

3.在车上或等车的过程中可能网速会比较慢且不稳定，所以你必须确保即使在糟糕的网络连接下人们也能够顺畅地玩社交或在线游戏。

4.如果让游戏能够与微博，人人或微信等中国社交媒体相连接的话会更好。这将让玩家能够在自己的社交圈中玩游戏并与好友进行交流。

5.在中国只有特定群组在玩游戏。主要的玩家大概在6岁至28岁期间。这一目标用户对预期美术风格（可爱和魅力）具有很大的影响。

另一方面，因为人口规模，中国人总是具有较高的竞争性。我们可以从他们通过汽车，衣服甚至是游戏等方面与别人比较社会地位上看出这点。所以当提到游戏时，对他们来说最重要的便是更棒的武器，盔甲，分数，甚至是更好看的皮肤。

游戏将提供像排名列表，不同的道具级别，不同的皮肤风格，盔甲以及特别的道具让玩家购买。

还有一点不能漏掉：对于中国玩家来说能够炫耀自己的成就也很重要。这也是免费在线游戏在这里如此受欢迎的一大主要原因。最近在中国出现了一个流行词：土豪，这些人会通过购买许多昂贵且很酷的武器或皮肤去呈现自己的在线虚拟社交地位。我知道这听起来可能很疯狂，但这却是真真实实发生在中国游戏世界中的场景。

对了，也不要忘记在中国服从政府政策非常重要，因为如果一款游戏包含了色情，暴力或血腥等内容，它便会被拒之门外。

总结

总之，当你在考虑面向中国市场本土化一款西方游戏时，你就需要认真思考以下问题：

1.谁是你所瞄准的主要玩家？

2.他们的游戏习惯是什么？

3.他们的生活习惯是怎样的？

4.他们最喜欢的图像，风格，故事和游戏原型是怎样的？

5.他们的游戏购买习惯是怎样的？

6.玩家愿意玩一天，一周，一个月，一年，甚至更长时间的游戏风格各是怎样的？

7.你是否想在游戏中创造用户留存？

当你回答了所有的这些问题，你便可以果断地进行游戏本土化了。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Game Art Internationalization and Localization – An “East Meet West” Interview by LAI

by Michelle Zhao

Our latest installment of LocaLAIse This! takes a look at game localization from an artist standpoint. LAI’s Managing Director of China interviews Lillian Lee, our newest Game Art Localization Consultant with 12+ years in the industry. Lillian has served as an artist for AAA games such as The Darkness 2 and BioShock 2, and her expertise in Asian culture has been a tremendous asset in her work as an artist across studios, including Ubisoft and Red 5 Studios.

Below is the transcript of the interview content. Click here to listen. Enjoy!

Game Localization – Art [Featuring Lillian Lee, Game Art Localization Consultant, LAI Global Game Services]

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to LocaLAIse this. My name is Michelle Zhao, and I am the Managing Director for Greater China area here at LAI Global Game Services. Today we are very happy to introduce the newest member of our team, Lillian Lee. Lillian is a game artist and is truly an industry veteran. Now she is also working as an art localization specialist for us here at LAI Global Game Services. So today we are featuring the artistic aspect of Game Localization. Let’s welcome Lillian.

Q: Lillian, do you mind simply introducing yourself? As I know, you have worked and lived in China for 8 years and North America for 5 years as a game artist.

A: Hi Everyone, my name is Lillian. I joined the game industry back in 1999, and I have developed PC, web, mobile, console, and online games in China, the United States and Canada.

During my experience in different countries, I have met so many interesting people and made many projects that I am pretty proud of.

For example: the Virtual life series for PC back in 2000.

More recently: Bioshock 2, Darkness 2 are both console games I have worked on.

And the online sci-fi games: Firefall and Warframe which are still very popular in the current game market.

Q: Now my first question is: What do you find are the most interesting facts as a game industry professional who has worked in the two different cultures?

Well, let me think…I think people in different country’s development studios have different work attitudes and team structures.

1.Work Attitudes

Usually, people in western studios are very creative and very thoughtful. They have a tendency to dig deeply into a single asset, to focus on certain ideas and to be willing to put more time into lots of ideas. However, hard and creative work always consumes more time to complete, which can make the art design or production take longer than the original schedule.

2.On the other hand, people in eastern companies are more focused on making the product on time with ok quality. They usually do not focus so much on specific ideas. Their goals are to follow what they are told to do and work quickly and finish the work on time …. so they might not think so much about the depth of content.

(Different cover art styles for the same game in different markets)

For example, a Western artist could spend one or two weeks to create an art item in the game while a Chinese game artist might only take 3 or 4 days for the same model.

Through this process, I realized that professional developers and artists look at details in different ways. They must be willing to adjust every tiny aspect when it is necessary. That is important when you are willing to make a world class game.

2.Team Structures

In China, most game development teams are divided into very small groups. For instance one environmental game art team will be made of many small sub-teams. Each sub-team will contain 4 to 6 team members. So the whole team will have a top leader and several sub team leaders.

2.However in North America, the team organization structure is much flatter. One leader might oversee 15-30 team members. That brings potential issues. One is that some junior guys might lack sufficient training or help. And, if this leader is not available or is away for a long time, the whole team may panic a little without direction or everyone could be waiting for him before proceeding with the next step. This can affect quality and time.

(Different cover art styles for the same game in different markets)

Q: It’s good to know those differences. As a game art veteran, could you give us some general tips on Art Internationalization/Localization (western vs. eastern examples)

A: Sure, I can give several tips here:

1.First let’s talk about color. Color can have different possible meanings to different cultures.

For example: In the west, the color red is considered an aggressive color that makes people think of blood, fire, and other scary elements. A Stop sign is red!! It makes you think of danger.

However, in China, red is considered a happy color that represents good elements in holidays especially like the Chinese New Year.And also for traditional Chinese wedding dress.

(Chinese wedding)

2.To contrast that, let’s talk about the color white. As you know, that is a typical color for western wedding dresses. But in China, white is the color used for traditional funerals.

(Chinese traditional funeral clothes vs Western wedding)

So, we have to think very carefully about what colors are used when you are designing art for different cultures.

After that, let’s talk About the Shape:

1.hmm, I’d like to use the dragon as a quick example. The mental image that pops up when I say the word ‘dragon’ is different between western and eastern cultures.

In western tales, the dragon is often pictured as a dinosaur shaped animal. It is wild and scary, it is a fire-breathing monster!!

But, In the east, the dragon has more of an auspicious image. It’s usually a sign of power and good luck. So when you mention a game about dragons, the Chinese will never imagine the same type of dragon perceived in the western society.

(Dragons: East on the Left, West on the Right.)

2.In addition, some other things to consider are removing sensitive culture, religious, and political elements. You want to remove those culture taboos which make your audience uncomfortable or could be potentially banned by the government.

Q: My next question is: Will certain Logo styles help to sell the game when people are searching on the App Store?

Yes! That is for sure!!

Hmm, Logos are the first selling window of the game. You need to make your game stand out quickly in the game logo ocean. It is essential that you use some bright color and high contrast to draw the player’s attention, like a cute and beautiful style is always very welcome in China, or very unique design to be eye-catching. A good example is Minecraft’s logo matches the simple and unique art style and it blends nicely with the game. This helps the game stand out visually compared to the other games in the market.

Bottom line, this logo is also part of your game, so it is very important to maintain the same art style and also convey the deep meaning to your game as well.

Do you have some additional tips for us in terms of UI and icon design?

A: I think each game has its own unique style. But a golden rule is that this style must be meaningful and make a connection to players in different cultures. When I’m analyzing a game for art localization, I don’t just update the icon or UI with localized text, I dig deeper into why it should be changed and how it should be specifically designed to appeal to a certain target audience. In the meanwhile it must also still match the established style which comes from the original game.

Making a good UI design has so many aspects to it! This is like asking the question, how do I become a millionaire? The answer is, there are many paths to reach the same goal, however the same path is not appropriate for every game.

So here are a few tips:

First, You’ll need to focus on your intended target audience group. There’s not one simple solution to cover all situations. It’s a very creative process to customize a localized Logo and UI to the projected market.

Then, you have to know what kind of circumstance the player will be in when they are playing a particular game. Will they play it at home or on the way to somewhere?

For example, in China, many mobile games are played on a shaking bus or metro train. So, this will affect how they can use the icons and buttons.

It is better to design a simple game UI and icons that are not too complicated. So:

The UI or icons should be designed to be very bright without too many small details or too colorful. It is very easy to wear your eyes out during these moving conditions, and there are moments where it is hard for your fingers to press a button accurately. People might get annoyed very quickly.

On the other side, all buttons should be easy to find. Most of the time, people are playing games just to relax and enjoy a little spare time. If the game screen is too busy, it’s hard to press precisely or even difficult to find where the button is. If that happens, you will lose this player forever in just a few minutes.

All in all, it is very important to have a deep understanding of each particular game you are working on while doing the localization. This understanding will help you make better UI and icons that match the existing game as well as help to consolidate the whole game play experience!

Q: From your observation, what are the art style preferences in the different game markets you’ve worked for (west vs. east)?

A: In the Chinese market, the mainstream art style is cute and beautiful. However, in the West, we often find more varieties in art style. So as a general rule, in China, people prefer only a very few particular art styles.

At the same time, we believe the definition of beauty also needs to be localized For example: Shrek and Mulan. Those are popular cartoon images in US. However in China, people might consider they are not that pretty because of how they look. Shrek is neither cute, nor handsome. Many Chinese audiences don’t think Mulan in the Disney movie represents an Asian beauty in their eyes. Mulan is a very famous story in China, so people all expect that she should be very beautiful and brave.

(Mulan -Disney vs.a Chinese version)

(Mulan’s image from the Chinese movie Hua Mulan)

In China, many Chinese players find Japanese or Korean cartoon styles cute and perfectly beautiful characters very appealing. The reason behind this is in China in earlier times, most players could not afford a gaming console and also it really was not accessible. So many players have a long history of playing free Korean or Japanese online games or watching Japanese cartoon TV series. People are quite familiar with those styles after so many years of exposure.

To help you visualize the art styles let me give you a few examples:

1.Japanese Games

SAGA2, Secret of Mana, and the very famous one: Final Fantasy series

(Final Fantasy’s art style is viewed as perfectly beautiful in many Asian eyes.)

2. Korean Games

Blade & Soul and AION.

3. Japanese Cartoons

Mobile Suit Gundam, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball.

(A comparison between US and Japanese version of a very popular Japanese show)

Another significant group of popular games are ones themed in ancient Chinese history stories. These games are usually supported by the government because they are considered to carry forward history and culture. So those game themes and style are very popular in China as well.

Q: Last question: As a native Chinese speaker, what are your suggestions for a western game going into Chinese market?

A: Well, I know that in China, because the population is so huge, all public facilities including the transportation system are crowded. Waiting in queues is very common in everyday life. In the larger cities, people will consistently spend one or two hours commuting. While waiting in the queue or transferring to the bus or metro, people play games to make this time more enjoyable. It’s important to design mobile game modes around these typical settings.

Here are few tips:

1.The game is not very complicated. It should be very easy to handle in just a few minutes from the start.

2.The game has an on-hold function. This allows players to easily get into and out of the game for a short time. Like getting off the bus or getting on the bus.

3.With slow or limited internet access during commute or waiting time, people can still play certain social or online games without noticing the poor connection.

4.The game could do better if they connected with Chinese social media like Weibo, Renren or Wechat. Which helps the players in their own social circle to play the game and communicate all the time.

5.In China game playing is very limited to a certain group of people. A majority of the players are in the age range of 6-28 years old. This demographic has a high impact on the desired art style – cute and beautiful, which makes the popular art style lean towards a younger crowd.

On the other side, because of the population size, people in China are highly competitive. This is seen through how they compare their social status with each other through their cars, clothing, and even games. When it comes to games what matters most is who has the better weapons, armors, scores, and even nicer in-game skins.

Games will need to offer possible functions like a ranking list, different item levels, different skin styles, armor, and special items to purchase.

Oh, I have to mention this: Showing off is really an important ability to lot of Chinese game players. That is the whole reason why free to play online games are so popular! There is a new word: Chinese pronunciation:土豪 (English meaning: The new money or newly rich),those people are establishing their online virtual social status by buying so many expensive and super cool weapons or skins. Yeah, I know it sounds quite crazy, but it is a true phenomena really happening everyday In China’s game world.

Oh, don’t forget, In China, obeying government policy is very vital because if a game contains porn, violence, or bloody content, it will be permanently banned.

Conclusion

All in all, think deeply and carefully about the following questions when you are considering localizing a western game for the Chinese market:

1.Who are the major players you are aiming for?

2.What are their game play habits?

3.What does their lifestyle look like?

4.What are their favorite images, styles, stories and game prototypes?

5.What are their game consumption habits?

6.What type of game design would players play for one day? One week? One month? One year or even longer?

7.How do you want to build user retention within a game?

Once you can clearly answer all of these questions, I think you are good to go!(source:gamasutra)