Question 1

How do your translators get to understand the game?

Accepted Answer

As part of our game localization services, we recommend translators perform a playthrough of the game, a process known as familiarization. The translators play through the game to immerse themselves in the storyline, characters, tone and terminology. If the game is still in the planning stages, we can work with drafts and other available reference materials.

Question 2

Are your translators gamers themselves?

Accepted Answer

Our translators are all avid gamers with extensive experience providing game localization services for a full range of game genres. All game translators have been tested and reviewed by their peers. Less than 5% of game localization translators who apply make it on to our team.

Question 3

Where are your translators located?

Accepted Answer

Our game translators are all located in-country in their respective countries. Simplified Chinese game translators will be in mainland China, Japanese game translators will be located in Japan. All game localization services are managed online via a secure cloud-based translation management system.

Question 4

How do you ensure great quality when you translate games?

Accepted Answer

Experienced Resources:  Quality starts at the root; translators and editors. Through our large resource management team, Andovar maintains a database of experienced games translators, with game localization experience across multiple genres.  Processes:  As an experienced game localization company, Andovar follows game localization best practices including:     Familiarization: The familiarization stage is where resources get the opportunity to play the game and understand the storyline, plot, characters, and terminology. It is also a good opportunity to identify any cultural issues or conflicts of interest which could lead to confusion when translated, or worse still put you on the wrong side of the law.,  Translation Asset Development: We advocate the creation of translation assets prior to translation including termbase and style guides to ensure correct terminology and tone of voice.,  Testing: When the game has been translated, the game will then go on to be tested. linguistically and functionally. Once the localized build it complete, a native-speaking tester plays the game and takes screenshots of issues (including untranslated text, lines that are too long, coding issues, incorrect text orientation, contextual errors).,  Technology: Being a specialist game localization company, we use a variety of high-end tools and technologies in our workflow. These include a leading translation management system with inbuilt tools including termbase, computer-aided translation (CAT) tools, translation memory, AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine translation and automated QA.,  Multidimensional Quality Metrics Framework: Customizable LQA (Linguistic Quality Assurance) profiles allow us to tailor the level of severity of errors depending on the content type (game dialogue, website content, FAQ, legal, EULA, user instructions, software etc.), and the ability to implement pass/fail thresholds in line with defined quality standards. The features also permit users to set rules and weighting for errors according to content types, client style guides, or other genre-specific requirements.

Question 5

How much will it cost to translate my game?

Accepted Answer

In order to estimate the price, we would expect to receive the files (in any format: strings, .xml, xliff, .doc., .txt., csv, .json, .po).  We would then perform an analysis using specialist tools that count the words (excluding mark-up), while making provisions for repeat text. Lastly, we will assess the number of hours required to perform a full LQA of the game. Other costs could include termbase and style guide development.

Question 6

How long will it take to localize my game?

Accepted Answer

The length of time it will take to localize a game depends on the size and complexity of the game. Typically, translators translate 2,000 - 2,500 words/day, whereas editors edit approximately 5,000 words/day. For high-volume games, machine translation with human post-editing (MTPE) can be considered, since this can expedite the process. The Viability of MT is determined by feasibility testing and review by trained MT post-editors.

Question 7

Can you perform continuous localization?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For large games with regular updates, Andovar can connect developers to our cloud-based translation management platform. When a new string is added, this will be automatically routed to Andovar's TMS (Translation Management System)  via our API and channelled to a translator. Once translated, the translations will be sent back to the game development platform.

Question 8

Explain your games testing process?

Accepted Answer

Your games have got to work well on multiple devices, platforms and operating systems, as well as in every target location. We test them all thoroughly so that they not only reach the greatest number of global gamers but also connect with them emotionally. Some of the aspects we check for:   Functional Testing    User interface display when viewed using different hardware, operating systems, software versions, and browser types  Text length and screen fit requirements  Data entry tasks  Dynamic and hard-coded elements, including forms, dialogues, pop-ups, and graphic layering  Text and audio syncing  Platform compliance  ,  Linguistic Testing   Clarity of story and in-game instructions  Linguistic and cultural validation  Missing translations, mistranslations (out of context), and corrupted characters  Inappropriate and/or inconsistent line breaks  Data entry tasks and linguistic checks to identify incorrect data manipulation/corruption  Cultural and regional requirements

Game Localization Services

There are now over 2.5 billion active video gamers around the world. Are they playing your games? Andovar provides game localization services into over 80 languages enabling you to release your game into virtually any market.

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Game Localization Services, by Gamers

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