[size=150]Translation Update:[/size]
**X probably indeed is a language on our “translations we need” list, so your help would be appreciated. The translation itself is hundreds of hours of work though, and hardly doable with a single person.
Also, we will not add /get started on further translations before we are in the final beta phase of the game, which still is some time off. So yeah, once we get started with the final beta phase, we’ll assemble an X-Translation Team to work on that project, and you are welcome to join!**
/Killrob
Another request for community help - Translation
OK, it’s been a while since I first started telling people this was going to happen soon. This time we’re ready.
Basically, we need people to help us translate Automation. We’ve already had a couple of threads with people offering, and this is encouraging. But before anyone puts their hand up, be aware that there is a LOT of text in the game. To get an idea, here are the ones we have so far, at this early state of the game: docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc … XlnbS03VkE (yes, the Japanese is terrible - it was for testing)
Which languages are we after? Well, any that we can get our hands on. In answer to an issue that keeps coming up when this is discussed, yes, I’m aware that English, Spanish, Portuguese and French all have different versions either side of the Atlantic. We intend to do a US English version ourselves, though probably not till the end when all the text is finalised.
So far, the only language we’ve had direct requests for is Spanish (one for South American Spanish, others didn’t specify).
Ideally, there’d be multiple translators for each language. Not only does this cut down the workload for each person, it means that people can verify each other’s text (we can’t pick up errors in text we can’t read). Never underestimate the value of proof-reading
Interested? Read on:
The first thing to do is PM me with the following information:
The language you’re offering to translate into
An email address that I can use to give you access to the Google spreadsheet
There’s a legal document that I need people to sign and send back to me before I give them access. In summary, it states that the copyright to the translated text belongs to Camshaft Software, and that translators will be credited in the game.
The link above is the document we’re using to do the translation/text editing work. Google lets us all edit at once, which saves us so much pain compared to my previous game translation experience (often it’s all done in Excel or similar, making team efforts into nightmares). The strings are taken from the Google doc into the game strings file by hand, which adds another level of verification (there is always an actual person in between the google doc and the game) and also serves as a backup. As long as people stick to their own columns, we should be fine.
For translators, I’ve tried to make the colour coding as simple as possible. Basically, work in the yellow cells, and change them to green when they’re done.