I'm getting a number of people who are interested in translating RfJ into other languages. Thanks folks! I wanted to have a single place to discuss the process with them.

I suspect most of you are new to the inner workings of my games, so let's start by explaining a few things.

First, I write these games with a tool I wrote called "AdventureCreator" (AC). My plan is to write an update to AC that should make it possible to translate most of the game without ever getting into the code, etc. I don't expect translators to be coders. It's probably best if you waited to start translating until I get that update done, but it would be a really good idea to figure out AC ahead of time. I suggest that you download the current version of AC and use it to look at our previous game (DwE). When you're comfortable opening files and navigating around, you'll be in good shape to use the updated version when I finish it.

AC runs on Windows. If you're not a Windows user, things are going to be pretty difficult for you.

Here's a quick tutorial.
First, get the current version of AC from the AC Release Thread. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3678#p93523
Second, get DwE if you don't already have it. http://www.mediafire.com/download/e3o1n ... 9l/DwE.zip

Unzip AdventureCreator.zip, go to the AdventureCreator directory, and grab "AdventureCreator.exe" and "AdventureCreator_template.txt." Put them somewhere on your hard drive. Both files need to be in the same place. You're welcome to look at the example and tutorials, but those are for people who want to write games. They're probably not necessary for you.
Unzip DwE as well.

Run AdventureCreator.exe.
You'll get a mostly gray window with a lot of empty text boxes.
Pull down File->Open...
Navigate to wherever you put DwE. Go into the "files" directory and select _begin.htm. (Note that in RfJ the htm files will be in file/english, not files. One of the changes I'm making to enable translation is to have all the files be in directories named after their languages. I'll eventually update DwE this way as well, and maybe we'll translate it too.)
Pull down Settings and put a check box next to at least "Automatically Position Table Entries" and "Automatically Add an Image Border." We can discuss the other settings, but those two are important.
Pull down Edit->Show Game View

GameView is a window that shows every file in the game as well as the relevant text in each. Although you can open files with File->Open, most of us do our navigating with GameView. If you click on any bold name there, it will open that file in the main AC window for you.

At this point, play around with GameView and get used to navigating around. Note that if you save any DwE file you'll slightly corrupt it (DwE isn't currently compatible with the newest version of AC). So make sure you're working on a copy, not the version you're playing. You're free to play around with the other settings and things as well.

My plan is to add a "Translation" window that shows you the text from the English page and edit boxes for you to type in your language's equivalents. I'll probably also do something in GameView to show which pages have been translated and which haven't.

I've used AC to make thousands and thousands of pages for my games, so I'm really well versed in what needs to be done to optimize that workflow. But I've got no experience localizing, so I'll definitely want you folks to suggest things. "My job would be easier if you made this change" etc. Let's have that discussion in the AC Feature Discussion thread. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3679

If you have any questions about using AC, etc, please ask it here rather than in PM. If you have questions, some of your peers probably have the same ones. If I answer you here, it helps everyone.

You're also welcome to ask questions in the AC Q&A thread. viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3680 though that's a bit geared toward game developers more than game translators. Still, I'll be happy to answer anything in either place.

Thank you for offering to translate this game. It's a huge undertaking, and I appreciate your willingness to do it.

Tlaero

Hi everyone,
i've enjoyed Tlaero games from the beginning, and since "Meeting Keeley" i've enthusiastically welcomed each new-come. As soon as i read about this project i thought that this could be a nice way to express my gratitude and to return a little favor.

I'd like to translate this game in italian, ii have to say that it's the first time i try to make a game translation and, honestly, i've no coding experience, but i'm confident that the update will make our lives easier!

I've just had the opportunity to explore the Adventure Creator tool and to follow the few instruction that Tlaero gave us and it seems pretty clear. Anyway, i'll try to get acquainted with this tool while i wait for the update.

Good luck everyone!

John

Hola!

As you may remember, I've already done a Spanish translation of DwE for my own amusement. So I have all the original files in Spanish and also a Spanish version of _game.jss (I just needed to change a few words there: load/save, romantic/sexual etc). If it suits you, just let me know and I'll send you a dropbox link with all this content.

I did translatios into Spanish for Christine and the first Keeley games. It was really hard because I'm the worst and slowest typrewriter in the world , and I used a simple html editor. Anyway, I passed a great time doing it.

The "funny" thing is that I don't have my own work, because the external hard drive I store it in died after a fall from my desk. (Security copy? What's that? )

So, now I read that there will be a new tool for make the translation easier with a vague sense of envy: I wish I had it when I did my work! (Anyway, I'm a MAC user, so...)

Now my familiar life prevents me to go on board a new traslation adventure, but I must admit your new games with Mortze are really temping. Good luck!

danigonz wrote:The "funny" thing is that I don't have my own work, because the external hard drive I store it in died after a fall from my desk. (Security copy? What's that? )

Que mala suerte!

Mortze wrote:Que mala suerte!

Well... I like to blame the fortune, but the fact is that I'm really clumsy. If there's a broken glass in my house, you can bet I'm next to it!

I wonder if that new Adventure Creator with Translation box will work under Windows XP. I actually have a partititon of the hard drive of my Mac with XP installed, If it works, maybe I can give it a try...

tlaero wrote:
First, I write these games with a tool I wrote called "AdventureCreator" (AC). My plan is to write an update to AC that should make it possible to translate most of the game without ever getting into the code, etc.
Tlaero

^^That^^
This is some hard work,
My last game I had to refuse help to correct typos and fix text because the Text were inside the code itself


You seem like a better programmer than I, But I really small tip that maybe help you if you didnt get a idea on how to do it:

this Is what I will make on my next game engine to help translator and people to check the text only:
I will export all text as Arrays to an INI.file using the C function to white on .TXT file
So the .TXT should be looking like this
T[000001] = "Text 1"
T[000001] = "Text 2"
And so on ( im my case T[000001,x] x = who is speaking)

Then you can make a export tool for the programmer only(you)
Or allow the game to read all text from the .TXT (can HTM do that?) I'm doing that for my next game

But its just a idea since I not even know how you programmed the texts, I made this one thinking on my way of programming.

But good luck, I'm looking forward to the game

I would like to translate it into italian.
John non lo sapevo che parlassi italiano, se vuoi possiamo collaborare o posso farti da beta tester.

NickNKVD wrote:I would like to translate it into italian.
John non lo sapevo che parlassi italiano, se vuoi possiamo collaborare o posso farti da beta tester.

Hey Nick!
Come stai? è passato del tempo dall'ultima volta che ci siamo sentiti.

Questa sarebbe la mia prima esperienza come traduttore di giochi, e se a te sta bene apprezzerei molto la tua collaborazione.
Quando hai tempo e voglia dammi notizie.

Mi ha fatto piacere risentirti!

Interested in translate RfJ in French. Already did it with CfK, and about 80% with DwE.
But, I must say, it's quite a hard work !

If you need some help, I could help. Actually, I'm way better in translation from English to French than in other way.

Quick update. I'm making progress on the new Loc Tool. (People in my industry call it "Localization" instead of "Translation." I'm not entirely sure why. But "Loc Tool" sounds better than "Trans Tool" so I went with it.) I've got a lot of the infrastructure in place and have a Loc window that shows the primary string locked and a text box for the localized one right below it. Currently fully working with TopText, half working with Areas, and not working with Entries. Doesn't work at all with sub directories and doesn't integrate with GameView yet, but I'm still working on it. I'm assuming I'll get something functional but incomplete out, see what you folks think, and refine it after feedback.

Thank you again for your interest in localizing.

Tlaero

It's just my opinion but it's probably because there are cultural differences among countries sharing a same language. For example, the actual language is different in France, in Quebec and in Belgium even if we all speak French. Sometimes we don't use the same words or expression, just like in UK & US English. And every country has its own particularities, and if you don't know them you could misunderstand what is the revelant and what isn't in the game.

Maybe some people on this thread already know it but I translate a game from Serge and sometines it's a real pain in the butt because with just a basic translation the text looks weird and doesn't have the real meaning of the raw material.

tlaero wrote:People in my industry call it "Localization" instead of "Translation." I'm not entirely sure why.

You know how "all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs", it's the same thing. Localization covers more than a simple translation, for example it can include changing images, sizing elements differently, etc. But actually it's called L10n in the industry, and there's also i18n (internationalization). Oh, and g11n (globalization).

kexter wrote:You know how "all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs", it's the same thing. Localization covers more than a simple translation, for example it can include changing images, sizing elements differently, etc. But actually it's called L10n in the industry, and there's also i18n (internationalization). Oh, and g11n (globalization).

I was about to try and say something clever about you guys dealing in informatic having to always come up with your own language and figures of speech but then I remember that I come from the law academic field... Actore non probante, reus absolvitur and Cuique suum et cetera, et cetera...