Translating RfJ

[Greyelf]

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

What @kexter plus things like text direction (right-to-left or left-to-right), code page, number and date formats, phone number formats, etc... the list is almost endless! lol

[tlaero]

As far as I'm concerned, all that stuff is translation. I've always assumed it was a politically correct thing. But the stuff you all said makes sense too. Thankfully, though I've done a lot of different jobs and owned a lot of different parts of various systems, localization was never ... oh damn, I owned loc once too. Must have suppressed those memories. Well, it goes to show that you can work on stuff even if you don't know the precise meaning of the name...

Tlaero

[TopCat]

Hello everyone, bilingual english-spanish here. Long time fan of Tlaero's work and also willing to chip in with some volunteer work.

Unfortunately I only own Macs! Is there any workarounds for using AC on a mac?

[tlaero]

Okay, I'm getting close. This is the biggest change I've made to AC in a long time. I've got it so that you can create a localized directory from within the tool, edit the text fields in the files, save them, and have them show up in GameView.

Still have a few more rough edges to file off. I need to add scroll bars to the LocTool window, and there are some things that need to be updated when you switch languages. I think I'll probably work on it some more tomorrow and send out an early version. We'll probably experiment by localizing the example that comes with AC to make sure everything works before jumping on a major undertaking.

Tlaero

[tlaero]

Okay, I've got a beta version of AC with the LocTool on the share.

Can you localizers download it and try to use it? Let's practice on the "Example" that comes with AC. Make sure it works for you and that you're able to localize it. When we're happy with how things work, we'll move on to bigger beasts like RfJ.

Steps:
1) Download version 7.3b from the link provided here: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3678&p=93974#p93974
2) Copy both AdventureCreator.exe and AdventureCreator_template.txt over your previous versions.
3) Open AC
4) File->Open navigate to the Example's "english" directory and chose any of the htms there. (Note that you always have to open from English, not the localized directories.)
5) Edit->Show the Loc Tool
6) Type in the name of the language you're localizing to. Ie, "spanish".
7) Show the Loc Tool again.
8) Optional: Edit->Show the GameView
9) Type the localized language into the boxes in the LocTool. The English text is right above them. You can select and copy it if you'd like.
10) Hit Ctrl-S to save, or pull down File->Save from either the LocTool or the main window.

A few things to know.
1) If you see text between double square brackets ie [[GetName()]] don't localize it. That's a function call, not text the user will see. However, if there's text inside the function call, you can localize that. For instance, I did things like this in DwE [[Black('I don't like that!', 'That's cool.')]] in that case you'd localize the "I don't like that" and the "That's cool" but not the "Black". If this is confusing, don't hesitate to ask for clarification.
2) Opening up the GameView can take 15 seconds on a big game. If you have the GameView open, it is effectively closed and reopened whenever you open the LocTool or change the language. So I suggest getting LocTool opened and set up correctly before opening GameView.
3) Changes in the LocTool only affect the Localized Language. To change the primary language you need to make the changes in the main AC window. To protect you, I block you from saving changes in the primary language while using the LocTool. You can override that if you want in the LocTool settings menu, but you shouldn't. (-:
4) There are some strings in the _gametext.js in your localized directory. You'll need to localize those directly in Notepad. AC doesn't know how to work with that file.

Give it a try, see how it works. I'm interested in anything you have to say, but I'm especially interested in hearing about it not working correctly and suggestions for changes that would make it easier for you to use the tool.

Thanks!
Tlaero

[tlaero]

Okay, I just released RfJ to the public. By all means play and enjoy it before you start laboring to translate it. I don't have a set deadline for translations. I know that you folks are doing this out of the goodness of your hearts, and I appreciate it.

When you're ready to start, make sure you use the version I just uploaded (or later). If you're a patron and you had early access, please re-download it now. I made some changes in the file structure late last night prepare for localization, and it should be ready now.

Again, if you'd like to practice on something smaller and make sure the tool is working correctly, please work on the "Example" game that comes with AC. That's small and manageable.

Tlaero

[danigonz]

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.

Well, the same happens in Spanish: the root is the same, but a Mexican and a Spanish doesn't talk exactly the same way (and I don't mean only the accent). In fact, even in Spain there are several local differences: I'm from Canary Island, and our Spanish isn't exactly the same as in Madrid.

When I translated Tlaero's previous games, I tried to use the more standard language (so, I had to neglect my own local peculiarities for the sake of a wider audience). And, of course, I avoided literal tranlations because, as you said, they always sounds unnatural and weird. So I always tried to figure out how would we Spanish say the same idea, even if it implied to use a totally different expression.

Another difficult task came during the sexual scenes: for example, I don't know in French, but in Spanish there are different ways to say "pussy", which differ in its "naughtiness level" (let's call it that way ), so I had to imagine in every case which was the proper one.

But I'm not complaining: that kind of challenges were what made the translation process so funny.

[paquito]

Same in French.

[Greyelf]

there are different ways to say "pussy", which differ in its "naughtiness level"

Same in English as well.

[tlaero]

I just uploaded AC7.4. This has some improvements for the LocTool. You can learn more about it here:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3678&p=93974#p94350

Tlaero

[john milton]

Hallo,
i've been using AC 7.3 in the last few days and i had about a quarter of the translation done.
The loc tool is functional, easy to use and efficient.
It makes the translation easy enough that it's someone like me having his way with it. And that's quite an Achievement m'Lady!
I can't say i exploited the loc tool's full potential, but i noticed that you can't have both the game view and the loc tool opened at the same time. If you do, AC stops working. (That's not such a big deal actually, i usually type Ctrl+O and select the next page manually)

Anyway, when i get the chance to exlore it deeper i'll write a more accurate review about it.
From what i've seen, it has proven to be extremely handful and easy to use.

John

[tlaero]

You should be able to have gameview and locview open at the same time. But opening gameview can take a long time. When this is happening the main window title says something about waiting for gameview to populate. Give it some time and it should work. On my surfacebook it takes around 15 secs to populate rfj.

If that doesn't work please tell me more about the problem, and I'll fix it.

Tlaero

[john milton]

Yeah, i've explained myself badly.
It takes a while but i can open both locview and gameview, the issue is that i can't keep both open while i localize.
When i finish with a page, i close locview and i try to switch to the next one.
But, as soon as i get there, AC freezes and then pops-up a message with written that AC stopped working. Then you can just close and open it again.
It's not a big deal though, you can work fast and easy without gameview in the way.
I just pointed it out cause you asked for a feedback. It's not such an issue, at least not to me.

John

[tlaero]

Thanks John. I'll experiment with closing and reopening loc view. What happens if you leave loc view open when you switch to the next page? My intent is for you to leave gv and LV open, see what pages need translating in gv and click on their bolded names to open them in LV. Does that make sense?

Also, make sure you're using 7.4. There were some changes in this area.

Tlaero

[john milton]

Sure, i got it. I tried to follow your suggestion, even if having both Gv and Lv slow down the process a little bit, it works. For a while at least, i kept both opened for about ten minutes, then i had to shut it down cause the usual message popped-up.
But i'm still using AC 7.3, so i can't really tell if this issue is stuck with this version or not.
Anyway, i'll download the lastest version today. I'm going to write something about it as soon as i get to try it.
Have a good day!

John