Growing your Japanese video games company in Tokyo #4

Part 4 Localizing other languages into a Japanese UI environment

What am I supposed to do with this?

Someone gives you a hammer, a square peg, a needle, and a smile. “Thread that, okay? Good luck,” they say. And that’s Japanese game localization in a nutshell.?

I’m joking. They never say, “Good luck.” Only, “Hurry up.”

I’m still joking. They’re very nice.

Today, we’ll be looking at localizing Japanese games on a mobile gaming platform.

One of the benefits of the Kanji writing system is that you can squeeze a lot of meaning into very few characters on screen. That’s ideal if you’re developing games for a small-screen environment, like a smartphone or tablet.

But heart rates enter the fat-burning zone on your Fitbit app when the limit of your text box is ten Kanji characters and you need to translate what’s there into a new market. Let’s say there’s five Kanji, and those translate into five words. You’re okay so far. Right?

No, that’s potentially upwards of twenty or more characters! Oh, and you need a space between each word.

Peg, meet needle.

Welcome to the life of a game planner translating Japanese for the small screen.?

Understanding the problem

A game engine designed for Japanese games tends to have several things going on. The first is the development side, where teams of developers write code (Java, Python, C++, and so on) to make the game function.

The second is the visual design, or User Interface (UI)/ User Experience (UX), side. Designers have to fit the game’s text on the screen in a way that looks legible, attractive, and uses the available space appropriately.

The third is the game’s writing. Creative teams write copy — dialogue, item and skill descriptions, quest texts, all that good stuff — for the game, which goes into the game engine, which is made to fit and look good by the designers.

Now, a Japanese game is usually made by Japanese developers, Japanese UI designers, and Japanese writers. When their game is lucky enough to become a smash hit locally, their work goes to the global marketplace.

And if you’ve read our piece on the challenges of localization, you’ll know that aligning language versions is like planning for battle. No plan survives first contact with the enemy. You have issues with meaning, cultural context, and aligning with Japanese stakeholders who don’t speak the target language.

I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, but UX is just as complex.

I’m outta space

In business, nothing exists in a vacuum. UI is a development issue, a translation issue, a design issue, and much more. Like all aspects of your company, you have to align the obvious technical considerations with your resource limitations and the expectations of your stakeholders.

Let’s say you’re localizing into English. Your business can grow to accommodate the new language or you can outsource. The problem is the same. Is your game engine/platform able to handle the changes in the UI? Are you going to pour time and money to modify it before you’ve seen how your game will perform in a new market? Are you fighting for the bosses to let you try a different, untested market?

In Japan, the cautious approach is likely to be the path open to you. You will have to make your language fit the existing UI environment, so things will get crowded. If your game planners are a talented bunch, they will learn to balance translation, UI, and marketing considerations. Their first iteration of a game may not be perfect. But if it lands and gains popularity in the new market, their importance in the organization grows as well. They must leverage that success with the business side and learn to gently push for advancements in the technology and the UX.

If you’re lucky and the new market is a big enough success, game planning roles will grow more specialized. You may expand the team to include UX experts to handle the visual design so that your translators have more time and greater freedom to improve the quality of the game’s text.

Like any problem, the solution is for young leaders to leverage small successes, show the rise in value to the business side, and build trust between stakeholders. This allows the product to succeed in an environment where funding, time, and resources may be limited.

Just remember that even when you’ve met the above business conditions, the technical problems of UI remain.?

Good or good enough?

Which fonts are going to work for your new audience? Does your current layout make sense for the new market? Who will decide how to redesign the UI for the new market, frontline game planners or strategically minded executives? Is the trust strong enough to allow game planners more authority?

This problem doesn’t always have a perfect solution. Even companies with AAA budgets operating on big screens can and do trip up. They create a visual design that grates in a new market. Their translations become word salad. It happens to the best and the smallest.

Constant, open, and respectful communication is needed across teams to keep the boat afloat. As games succeed, the budget grows bigger but so does the talent-resource issue. Localizing to a new market means bringing on new people or outsourcing to new companies, and the trust building and business considerations will come back every time.

As a fast-growing Japanese games company, we live with this issue day to day. We’d love to hear about your struggles too. Share your experiences with us, and let’s get the game community talking about the trials and tribulations of going global in this beautiful Japan of ours.