Added value from the specialist translator

PROS: “…well-written dialogue and interesting themes…” CONS: “…some clichéd story elements…”

The above excerpts are taken from a review summary of a recently released adventure game for which I translated the script. The project consisted of circa 90,000 words of what was chiefly dialogue, including the ‘inner dialogue’ that computer game characters have to have in order for you to understand them and take on their persona as you play the game. The second part of the quotation also hints at what happens all too often with computer games, especially those in the ‘adventure game’ genre. The character development and dramaturgy is often quite immature when compared to say, movies or fiction in print. Computer game developers are first and foremost programmers, artists and designers. They’re storytellers and writers second. The art of writing for computer games is a craft which has still to reach maturity.

Lively well-written dialogue can to a large extent rescue a clichéd plot. A good translation from a specialist translator is an absolute prerequisite when taking your computer game into another language. A dull translation of a dull predictable ‘drama’ is a sure-fire way to kill the success of your foreign language version.

An engaged specialist translator can also provide consultancy for the foreign language game developer, offering assistance in naming characters and place names and avoiding cultural clichés right from the outset of a project. If you have a project in planning that you’d like to discuss. Please get in touch.