Video games nowadays are not just made for specific audiences anymore. Besides, most game companies nowadays aim for a global player base for their games. And if you intend to do the same, simply releasing your game in English will not cut it. So, aside from hiring expert translators for your localization team, include game localization testers as well.
After all, game localization testing ensures that your game translations express the same messages consistently in different languages. For instance, your localization testers will guarantee that all translations are accurate if your game’s primary language has language-specific phrases or jokes. Doing this allows players to enjoy a universal experience when playing your game.
So, how do you properly conduct localization testing for your game? And what are the steps involved? Here is what you need to know about this valuable process below!
Things to Know About Game Localization Testing
Game localization testing is the final step involved in localizing games. Although localization testing mainly involves linguistic evaluation and translation quality assessments, it includes other aspects. These include the following:
– Evaluating your UI/UX design
– Tests for compliance
– Tests for game functionality
– Internationalizing your game
– Culturalizing your game
If you localize your game into several languages, each version should have a tester who is a native speaker of the languages involved. Moreover, languages with different variants should also have their tester.
After all, languages such as English, Spanish, and French have several varieties. As an example, an American English Tester may not know all the phrases, puns, and other culturally specific elements included in the British English language.
Overall, this final step in localizing your game guarantees that your game does not include any translation errors or bugs. Whether it is minimal grammatical errors or complex issues affecting overall game performance, your localization testers will ensure that none of these errors slip by.
Parts Involved in Game Localization Testing
Now that you know how valuable localization quality assurance is, it is time to discuss the three steps involved in this crucial process. Here they are:
1. Linguistic Localization Testing
Linguistic localization focuses on identifying and resolving mistranslated sentences, grammatical mistakes, misspelled words, etc. Here are some common linguistic errors involved in localizing a game:
- Grammatical errors: Some sentences may have misspelled words or lack the necessary punctuation marks. In other circumstances, some terms may be missing or repeated throughout the text.
- Inaccurately translated words or sentences: Certain languages will have their specific idioms. Sometimes, these phrases are translated, lacking the context they are supposed to offer to players.
- Translation inconsistencies: A single word may have varied mistranslations with another word that closely synonymizes it.
- Unnatural-sounding speech: Sentences may be translated to the point where they do not sound like regular speech.
- Offensive phrases or terms: Particular phrases or words translated to another language might turn out distasteful in another language.
- Number formatting issues: One example would be the utilization of calendar formats in varying nations. Countries like China will use the Year – Date – Month format, while countries like the US follow the Month – Date – Year format.
- Problems related to a game’s voice-overs: At times, the voice-over may be mistranslated and provide a different meaning compared to the subtitles provided on the screen. In other circumstances, the subtitles may also have delays from the voice-over.
2. Visual Localization Testing
On the other hand, visual localization testing is all about inspecting a game’s overall design to check for any problems. And here are some of them below:
- Font-related problems: The text displayed on the screen might be too big or too little, affecting its overall readability.
- Unrecognized characters: Characters that remain unrecognized by your game are interchanged with blocks or question marks.
- Overly long text: Some languages may be lengthier in contrast to others. Because of that, these languages might exceed your provided text boxes in the game.
- Compatibleness towards different devices: If your game is playable across multiple devices, does it display things similarly even if it is opened on other platforms?
- Problems related to UI/UX design: For example, text in your provided text boxes may be interrupted by button placements or other features in your game.
3. Functional Localization Testing
Finally, functional localization testing includes inspecting the game for errors related to its artistic elements, engineering, or graphics. For example, games that do not use Unicode or are not prepared for localization can be solved by changing their coding structure.
Such issues will lead to problems where games have difficulty displaying special symbols or elements. Typical cases in this step involve the following:
- Text issues: Missing, incorrectly displayed, or broken text.
- Audio issues: Incorrectly playing or broken audio.
- Input issues: Some keyboard or button functions might not work as intended in the game.
- Malfunctioning game AI: In-game elements such as non-playable characters might not function properly.
Game Localization Testing Process
Are you wondering how you can create an effective localization quality assurance process? Here are important parts you should consider when doing so. Particular steps can be repeated if needed until the game is free of errors or bugs.
1. Start by setting your schedule and goals
Ensure that your localizing process has a schedule that your team diligently follows. The length of your testing process will significantly depend on the languages you wish to include, how huge your game is, and the linguistic components involved.
2. Make the necessary preparations before your game’s LQA testing
To guarantee a smooth testing process, it is best if you also prepare a helpful set of instructions. This will provide your testers with the information they need. These include their required hours of gameplay, specific in-game missions to achieve, the number of times they are supposed to repeat a task, etc.
In addition, make sure that they also know what they have to evaluate. For instance, offering them a criterion of standards helps them identify what they are supposed to look out for in your game.
3. Start of tests
Your testers will now start playing and testing out your game. In this step, they should provide the necessary screenshots of the parts where there are errors that need resolving or improvements.
4. Implementation of changes
Finally, after reviewing the submissions from the testers, your game development team can apply the necessary changes to improve the game.
Other Helpful Tips to Consider
Game localization testing is a tedious task. But as long as you make the necessary preparations and include all the essential steps, you will not have problems polishing your game. And to ensure that things go smoother in your LQA, here are helpful tips you should consider as well:
- Make your game ready for localization during the initial development stages: Games that are not developed with localization in mind will most likely undergo more rounds of testing. So, if you intend to localize your game, make sure that you already consider how you can make it localization-friendly during its development process.
- Make a glossary that includes all your game’s in-game terms: Your testers will appreciate it if you compile all your in-game terms in one area. That way, they can consistently translate terms and prevent any mistranslations across different versions of your game.
Wrapping Up
If you genuinely want to reach out to several players worldwide, it is highly recommended to localize your game in various languages. But of course, taking shortcuts to translate your game into different languages is not the solution. Gladly, you can always get reliable game localization services to help you accurately translate your game into various languages.
More importantly, with further assistance from a game localization tester, you can guarantee that your game will not suffer from any mistranslations and other related errors. With their help, you can spare your game from being remembered for its mistranslations and other related errors.