A localization kit, or lockit, is a package of all the materials and tools needed to localize a game.

This often includes a single file containing all the text in the game.

Sometimes, in-game texts (in any format) are all that’s needed to successfully localize a game for a particular market. But in most cases, this approach results in poor-quality localization.

Let’s define the perfect lockit and discuss how to avoid common localization mistakes.

What do we need to begin?

1. Reference materials. You don’t want a translator to jump right into reading in-game texts. They should first learn the game’s background, understand its setting and become familiar with its core mechanics. They should also play the game. Therefore, the best reference materials are within the game itself. Before opening the text file for translation, a good specialist spends at least 40-60 minutes playing the game. This allows them to avoid mistakes like calling an ancient item a “gun rack.” If the game cannot be provided, the developers should make every effort to give the translators a video demonstrating the game and its key features. If you work on a huge project of hundreds of thousands of words, it would be wise to create some kind of reference “profile” for each character, with screenshots that display appearance, features, the character’s relationship with others, etc.
2. In-game texts. The most popular tool is still Excel and its brother, Google Sheets. You can provide texts in almost any format (DOC, LUA, XML and even CPP), but Excel is still the best option. The best approach is to:

• Place all in-game texts in a single file

• Keep xml-like stuff (<font>, <style>, <color>, etc.) to a minimum

• Place different text categories (dialogs, interface, tutorials, notifications) in separate tabs.

• Include screenshots illustrating at least the key points of the gameplay, locations and characters. If the project is a hidden object game, screenshots of the objects are a must. The word “nuts,” for example, can have at least two translations, making context critical.

• Arrange dialog in the order in which it’s spoken. Lines sorted alphabetically or without any kind of structure are a translator’s nightmare! This makes translating text extremely difficult, as the vendors cannot grasp the meaning.

• Include notes with the dialog. For example, when someone is speaking, with whom are they talking? If this can’t be provided, then indicating a character’s gender would still be useful. In Japanese, it’s vital to know who is speaking as male and female speech differs.

• Explain jokes, puns and what the author wants to say in ambiguous passages. Include suggestions for translating these fragments into a particular language. In the absence of suggestions, comment on what the text is implying.

• Provide comments for phrases with a certain tone or connotation. Obviously, there’s a big difference between the language of a professor and a troublemaker.

3. Style guide. This is not a set of comments to separate into fragments, but a manual. It does not have to be voluminous; the most important thing is to explain some general ideas. Who’s the game’s target audience? Children? Housewives? Troubled teenagers? Thirty-year-old dreamers? Each variant has its requirements for words, phrases and style. Such recommendations are necessary only when the style and language of the text is crucial (such as in story-driven projects).