Languages

[Eldormain]

Hello, Creators. I am working towards getting a demo/teaser put together and have many things running through my head. One of these things is languages. I believe this had been discussed somewhat at one of the Creator Support sites but I don't recall seeing any real conclusions drawn.

How many different languages do most creators focus on including? What are the most used languages beyond English? I have some guesses based on observation but I would like some feedback on this from working creators experiences.

To encompass the full question, translators... I presume Google Translate isn't going to be the end all solution. I haven't been able to find it but thought I recalled seeing a thread here where people could offer and ask for such services. Additionally, what sort of compensation should I expect to make for those helping with translations?

Lastly, at what point in the process should translators be engaged? For instance, should the demo/teaser be complete in its English form? And what's to be expected from a translator?

Cheers,
Eldormain

[tlaero]

You should write your game in your primary language. If people enjoy it, they'll come to you asking to translate it for you. If people don't enjoy it, translating to other languages won't really help matters. You definitely shouldn't pay people to translate a free game.

If you're charging for the game, then it's a business decision. I'm totally guessing, but assume a group roughly 10% the size of your English audience will play in another language. You can decide if you made enough on the English version to afford a different language. If you're there, though, you have to weigh the benefits of paying for another language against the benefits of spending that money on other things, especially advertising.

When to engage the translators will be determined in part by the tools you're using to make the game. I feel it's best to finish the game in one language before having people spend time translate it, though. If you're still likely to change the text, you're wasting the translator's time.

As for Google Translate, I don't think you should do that. If you say your game is available in Spanish, there's an expectation that the Spanish version is good. Machine translating isn't good enough. If someone desperately wants to play in Spanish, they can always machine translate it themselves. Then they won't blame you for the bad translation...

Tlaero

[Eldormain]

That's great! Thank you for that information. It takes what I was seeing as a potentially big thing off the plate for now. It's good to know how things work, ie: them coming to the creators if the work is liked. That's also a pretty cool means to measure what and how you are doing.

Advertising is another thing I do or will have questions on. I have checked the boards here and seen threads about where to post games, although I haven't read through it yet; it's at towards the top of my list. I have been looking into info about advertising for certain Creator Support sites but don't recall seeing any threads here regarding that aspect.

We can keep this thread on track relating to the Subject, though. I'm open to pms and can also start a new thread if it is preferred.

Cheers,
Eldormain.

[MaxCarna]

I agree with Tlaero

The only thing in my case is that my primary language is Brazilian Portuguese, but I believe english is a global language, not because is better or something, but because is easier.

About fifteen years ago, many people were constantly repeating that we should learn Mandarin for future, probably thinking in China expansion in economy. And what really happened? The chineses mastered English while an ocidental haven't even concluded the Mandarin's basic module.

So I recommend: do the game in English. If the game become that big, when many users will be asking for another language version, you will be probably handling problems so big that getting a translator will seem easy.

Note: thinking in the forum owners, I would make French before Spanish

[MaxCarna]

Ow about advertising

The page that seems my game had most access was Newgrounds, even without getting in the adult game list.

I asked around for some moderators how I could add the game in a list, they say that I should ask the administration team. There are just 4 people in administration, I sent messages to two but I was obviously ignored.

If somebody know the way please share it.

[Eldormain]

I have, naturally, been to New.grounds through the years but don't recall seeing Demos or Teasers posted. Is this accurate?

Cheers
Eldormain

[MaxCarna]

There are many small games, sometimes just animatons.

[tlaero]

Well, there's advertising, and there's advertising. Posting here and on Newgrounds and PlayforceOne are inexpensive and effective forms of advertising, but that's not what I was talking about. I was saying that, if you've got the revenue to pay someone to translate your game, you should at least weigh the pros and cons of spending that revenue on actual advertising instead. Buying banner ads, or paying someone to hit sites you don't have time to frequent, like the various subreddits and *****, etc.

Max, I didn't do anything special to get my games onto the Adult games list on Newgrounds. I just rated them appropriately (choosing how much nudity, etc, the game has) and they got an "A" rating and showed up in the games list. Because Royal Guard has effectively no nudity, it got an "M" rating. I was torn on that. People blocking Adult-only games would SERIOUSLY not understand Royal Guard, but I didn't want to lie about the nudity to get it classified with the rest of the games. So I left it with the M rating. It seemed to work out okay. RG has roughly the same score as the other shorts.

Tlaero

[MaxCarna]

Max, I didn't do anything special to get my games onto the Adult games list on Newgrounds. I just rated them appropriately (choosing how much nudity, etc, the game has) and they got an "A" rating and showed up in the games list. Because Royal Guard has effectively no nudity, it got an "M" rating. I was torn on that. People blocking Adult-only games would SERIOUSLY not understand Royal Guard, but I didn't want to lie about the nudity to get it classified with the rest of the games. So I left it with the M rating. It seemed to work out okay. RG has roughly the same score as the other shorts.
Tlaero

Well, when you put "Adult Games" on Google, Newgrounds has the first link, but this collection is somehow hidden from Newgrounds itself. I would like to have my game there. I made all the rating right.

I believe your games aren't in this list too, I never saw your user in this area, I searched for Royal Guard then I found it. Which path you generally go?

Firstly I thought that this list was dead, but they put some newly launched games there. Then I thought that was a minimum number of access, but Afternoon had more access then some games there. Finally in the forum some moderators told me that I need someone on administration.

[Eldormain]

Thanks again.

Tlaero, I gotcha. I don't have that sort of revenue at this time but I will keep in mind what you said.

I'm moving this week so work on the project is somewhat slower then a crawl. Once I'm moved and mostly settled I will be getting back into it.

Cheers,
Eldormain