localization summit 2014: an overview

Localization Summit 2014:An overviewAdvisory Board: - Miguel Bernal-Merino (University of Roehampton, UK)

- Fabio Minazzi (Binari Sonori, Italy)

Support by - IGDA Localization SIG community - IGDA SIG-Glocalization

• About 100 partecipants• 22 speakers, 9 sessions• Quality Score: 4,34 over 5 = Good• EA, Microsoft, R2Games SCEE, The Fullbright Company…

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Why a Localization Summit●Create awareness

● Producers, Developers, Marketing, Journalists and… Localizers

●Exchange opinions●Network

●Started in 2010: 0ver 600 attendees in 5 years

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Key themes for 2014

• Indie games localization

• New tools/methods

• Emerging markets: South

America

Journey to the West: A Chinese Game Localization Primer

Shaun NewcomerReality Squared Games

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• State of the art for development in China

• Chinese developers still have to fully understand the needs and practice of localization

• How to do a good job in localizing a Chinese game for the West

• Holistic localization: how to translate into Western languages the characters and the feel of a Chinese game

• Be ready for fast turnaround of releases, specific monetization schemes are to be adapted

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Localization Microtalks: Globetrotting in the Fast Lane

1. Localization 101 (Christopher Nastuume)

2. FireTongue (Lars Doucet)

3. Localizing your Global User Acquisition (Crid Yu)

4. Exploiting Voice and Facial Video Recording Techniques for

International Audio Production (Bill Black)

5. Apps description localization as a water testing tool (Rebecca Lever)

Localization 101 for Indie Developers:15% extra revenue with 1% effort Building automated localization systems for fun and profit

Christopher NatsuumeCreative Director, Boomzap Entertainment

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YTD Royalties: All Boomzap Games

FireTongue An Open-Source Localization Framework

Lars A. DoucetCo-Founder, Level Up Labs

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FireTongue is a:

●Simple●Open Source●Cross-Platform

…Localization Framework (written in HAXE)github.com/larsiusprime/firetongue

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Pipeline:

Translator

Original Text(CSV or TSV)

Translator

Translator

CSV/TSV

CSV/TSV

CSV/TSV

cs-CZ

de-DE

Ja-JP

en-US

Localizing Your Global UA Strategy

Crid YuVP & MD of North America, InMobi

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Important Tips to Go Global

● Other markets ≠ the US

● Localize ≠ Translate

● App ecosystems have “local habitats”

● Counter-intuitive audience behavior

● Leverage all marketing channels

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App ecosystems have “local habitats”

Exploiting Voice and Facial Video Recording Techniques for International Audio Production

Bill BlackAudio Manager, Binari Sonori America

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Facial motion capture: basics

● Actors wear helmets with camera & lighting (no markers)

● The session generates audio and video tracks simultaneously, in the same software application

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Audio & Video assets sent to both Dev & Loc teams

US recordingstudio

Dev team3D artists

Int’l recordingstudios

Apps description localisation as a water testing tool

Rebecca J LeverBDE, Universally Speaking

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Test the waters

“Sales increase by

128% following app

store localisation.”

Common Sense Advisory

What is the place of Machine Translation in today's gaming industry?Moderator: Mike DillingerPresident, Association for Machine Translation in the AmericasOrganizer: Michel Buch-AndersenDirector, Business Development, Pole To Win InternationalMichaela BarteltSenior Director, Worldwide Localization, EABeatrice Compagnon CEO, Vienna Group InternationalDeclan GrovesLinguistic Engineer, MicrosoftKirti VasheeVP of Enterprise Translation Sales, Asia Online

Questions for Discussion

Translation Engine

Input Sentence

User

Translated Sentence

Human Review

Proposed Translation or No Match

TMMT +

Preparation:“Train” MT engines with relevant, matching sentences

Preparation:“Train” MT engines with relevant, matching sentences

Usefulness:Better match between MT data and input = more useful

Usefulness:Better match between MT data and input = more useful

Final Quality:Machine + HumanFinal Quality:Machine + Human

1: How useful is MT right now?1: How useful is MT right now?

2: Which MT system should I use?2: Which MT system should I use?

3: Which content is best for MT?3: Which content is best for MT?

4: What’s the best process for using MT?4: What’s the best process for using MT?

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Takeaway from the MT panel

• MT is currently used for non-gaming contents (automotive, IT)

• Currently no game Devs/Pubs succeeded in using MT successfully

• Publishers who tried MT reported poor performance + high costs of operation

• In theory games contents are made of creative texts + noncreative texts

• MT could be used with nonncreative portion of texts

• Effectiveness is under investigation at Microsoft

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Next sessions reported by…

• Kenji Ono

• Ryuta Yazawa

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For more information

• Slides and videos on:

http://www.gdcvault.com/demo

(videos accessible with subscription)

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Localization Summit 2015?...

• Submissions would open late August/early September

• GDC is evaluating based on attendance and community support

• Quality is good, need more people to attend

• How to involve more developers?

• Feel free to send ideas and topic proposals for next year

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Thank You!Fabio Minazzi

Localization Summit Advisory Board MemberAccount Manager, Binari Sonorifabio.minazzi@binarisonori.com