u/charmedorigins

Hey everyone and thank you again for all of your support!

I've heard a lot of your feedback and I'm listening. Actually, this story comes as a result of this listening, so sit back, get comfortable, and watch me make mistake after mistake in the form of dev log updates!

Pre Post

Localisation is something that's big for me, not only because it's a huge accessibility concern but also because it means people across the globe can experience something I made in their native tongues. And that in itself is super special to me.

Fortunately, I was in a pretty good place because I'd prepared for this, right? Yeah, I'd prepared — in the way that I'd bought the ingredients — but that was only half the battle. Nah, scratch that - a fraction of the battle.

Godot offers really awesome translation tools and I'd been programming with eventual localisation as the goal, so why am I complaining? I'm not... just yet anyway.

Preparation phase

All I need to do is extract all of the text which is relatively simple. I write a .js script to extract all of the user-facing text into a csv, deduplicate the list, and then returned to the research I'd done about localisation.

The problem

I am an indie dev who is absolutely bootstrapped for cash. All this means is I have to find the most effective way to do this within budget constraints (~$0) and to a quality that players would appreciate. But how am I supposed to do that for a completely text-based game with over 40,000+ lines?

Well I guess now that I have the complete .csv, there are a lot of different tools out there that could help me. You know, like accessing Google Translate via an API and batching the csv. Ambitious, but hopefully cost effective and efficient... dear friends, it was neither. But before we get into that, here's the overly zealous developer those of you who follow me on Ko-Fi saw.

1st Post (Ko-fi | Circa 22:30pm)

>I don't want to make any promises — especially as I'm not too sure how great the translations are going to be — but I found a great tool on Github that proved to be quite useful.

>Using a similar approach (basically identical, bar adjustments for the key IDs since I don't want them translated), I was able to start iterating through the extracted text using the Google Translate API. 

>Whether or not this will work — and how long it might take — is still up in the air but I'll be sure to check back in with everyone once I have some more information. 

>As of now, I've hit rate limits a few times (that's called being overly ambitious in your batching efforts) BUT it appears one of the ten languages (French) is at 25% complete already. 

>So stay tuned lol.

Reader debrief 1

Oh my dear, sweet, naive Wavey... For those of you who are developers (and weren't in a state of ambitious hyperfixation), you already know it didn't work out. I hit rate limits over, and over, and over again.

But there was light at the end of the tunnel because I've heard good things about Azure's API from indie studios and larger game developers — it's right there in my face, I just couldn't see it — so why not give it a go?

2nd Post (Ko-fi | Circa 05:30am)

>So I'm still working on this (God knows how many hours later lol) because I kept hitting rate limits on the free API. Considering I've extracted over 40,000+ phrases, I decided to make the move to Azure's API instead and I think it's going much steadier.

>As the game was set up in Godot, I was already using its built-in translation functionality, and so, having extracted all relevant text using node, I should be able to test the translations soon and identify any edge-cases that might've slipped through the extraction.

>Because of the way this works, however, I can cater to more languages than I had initially planned BUT I'm not too sure just how accurate the translations will be or how well certain cultural nuances will translate.

3rd Post (Ko-fi | Circa 05:35am)

>This, therefore, means I'll probably have to open the floor up to the community. I'll try and find a way for players to contribute fixes for translations in a way that's efficient and doesn't require constant maintenance. Until then, that is all for now!

Reader debrief 2

Icarus, you have flown too far to the sun. I'll let the remaining dev logs tell the rest of this story and take you on a little detour. In the midst of all of this happening, let's just say I underwent a rite of passage — albeit an unwelcome one — known to game developers world wide.

I was sent a screenshot of a poll in favour of uploading a pirated copy of my game onto a piracy website (it's validating people want to play the game, sure, but the game is also only around ~$4) which is pretty funny for reasons past WaveyGaming Productions is about to reveal... so over to you.

4th Post (Ko-fi | Circa 15:00pm)

>Hehehe, I'm in danger. No, not really. I just didn't realise quite how expensive running the Azure localisation API was going to be. Yes, it was faster than the free version but at what cost... £350+ to be precise.

>And there are still a few pieces of text that have slipped through the cracks and will, therefore, still need translating. Not to mention, I don't even know if the translations are going to be correct.

>Game development has and always will be an expensive lesson lol, but at least it's a learning I'm dealing with now and not later. I've been programming long enough to know that every bug and potential (personal and programmatic) breakdown have teachings hidden within them.

5th Post (Ko-fi | Circa 15:02pm)

>I tried to be blasé and frame that as positively as possible but DAMN loooool. We live and we learn, just be smarter about it than me, and run those cost conversion numbers in your head before committing to an unreasonable sized translation task.

>Or, take your time with it, not everything has to be done in an overnight hyperfixation, with no concern for your wallet or your health lol.

Reader debrief 3

Ironic, heh? While people were trying to rob me off my sales — obviously I'm joking, I know piracy is very common and this is not a woe is me story, but rather a lesson learned — through polls, I was robbing myself through stupidity.

That being said, I now have spreadsheets of localised game data for a variety of languages that were requested by players. The issue is, we're yet to find out just how useful those translations were.

Hey all,

I've shown some of the improvements made to the game on ko-fi but as I gear up for an official launch, I would love to know what you would like implemented before we do launch. Please note I'm not talking about entirely new systems but rather refinements, fixes, and updates to the existing infrastructure and game!

The reasoning for this is that — whilst new content is always a plus — I want to improve the accessibility and quality of what we do have before we launch so that all of my focus can be on NEW content further down the line; without the need for excessive retroactive fixes.

Whether it's friction points that aren't necessarily bugs but bring you out of the game or annoying little mechanics you wish had easier management, I'm opening up the floor to you and I hope you take this opportunity to share your honest (no matter how brutal or even miniscule you believe it may be) thoughts!

Hi everyone, thank you all so much for all your feedback and suggestions on both the game and the trailer itself!

Introducing OurLife: a text-forward life simulator created by WaveyGaming Productions and set for official release across Steam later on in the year. This is my first time properly advertising on Reddit and I'm not too sure if I'm doing it right but I really do hope you check it out!

Interested in joining us for beta testing, why not check us out on Ko-Fi - https://ko-fi.com/waveygaming or on r/OurLife_Simulator

Hey y'all, I'm trying to decide on a colour scheme from the trailer (it uses our in-game themes so if you don't like either colour we can try out some different colours too); do you prefer the blue, the black or a completely different colour altogether?

Leave me on read or don't but there's a poll y'all can give your thoughts on so if you want to have a say? Now is your chance haha!

I wanted the overall flow of the game to feel a lot more seamless as we move closer to the official version and a big part of that is the UI and its accessibility. As a result, I've made a few QoL additions and fixes to ensure the interface actually works with you, not against you.

• UI Overhaul & Accessibility
  • (massive quality of life improvements across the board including full keyboard support across all interfaces, auto-closing pop-ups for smoother progression, dedicated milestone year UI accents, fully legible custom theme with dynamic contrasts that adapt to background colours, and highly visible cancel and back buttons to make menu navigation finally feel seamless and intuitive)
• Expanded World & Localized NPCs
  • (the world feels much more authentic with the addition of Argentina and Spain, complete with culturally accurate naming systems that now correctly generate localized names and surnames for all your school classmates and teachers depending on what country you live in — seamlessly carrying those exact identities over when classmates become friends — alongside crucial bug fixes to medical check-ups so they finally respect local free healthcare laws and active insurance policies)
• Realistic Funding & Capital
  • (reworked seed funding so the maximum capital you can raise actively scales with your fame, business experience, smarts, and past exit values — meaning that asking investors for too much will dilute your shares up to 65% or result in a detailed rejection based on your funding cap — alongside under-the-hood fixes to ensure supplier components always map correctly to their internal categories)