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KSP Weekly: From publisher to a comet's name


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I'm liking the trend here of more and more info in the DevNotes. I'm gonna guess that it took you a bit to get comfortable with the format and the audience, but whomever writes them has certainly improved since they first started. Nice work!

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52 minutes ago, JonathanPerregaux said:

I have to be a jerk and ask: With all the effort at building localization, isn't it a "problem" that all our favorite mods will likely remain in English?

So, what, you want to pass a law and require all the modders to learn eight different languages?

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2 hours ago, JonathanPerregaux said:

I have to be a jerk and ask: With all the effort at building localization, isn't it a "problem" that all our favorite mods will likely remain in English?

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

So, what, you want to pass a law and require all the modders to learn eight different languages?

My plan is to build in the ability to read in resources for other languages, then invite users to submit strings and check them with Google Translate. Hopefully SQUAD's method of localization makes this easy.

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I only noticed this week. Do you know what has not appeared in a weekly/devnotes for a while now?

Anything referring to, for example, 1.3.0 or 1.2.3 or any other normal update. Any indication of normal progression of version numbers.

Localisation is a `localisation pack` which is being treated as different from normal development.

Barring a direct statement saying "We are working on 1.3" I`ll assume development has stopped.

I will be most surprised if they do say that they are working on it or say they are not working on it. The way we learn about stuff not happening is it just does not happen and that appears to be the case with 1.3 unless something does happen to say otherwise.

EDIT : Just looked back at the daily kerbal and the last devnote was the release of 1.2, the next time we get told about development is in a weekly and as far as I can see there has been no mention of any development further than 1.2.2.

It would be great to be wrong of course.

Edited by John FX
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11 hours ago, JonathanPerregaux said:

I have to be a jerk and ask: With all the effort at building localization, isn't it a "problem" that all our favorite mods will likely remain in English?

At that point, much like how mods are a community thing, mod localization would have to be a community project/endeavor. Assuming mod localization is made simple to implement (for things like a part pack, perhaps an alternative description block with a language identifier of some sort, like EN, ES, DE, FR, RU, CN, JP, etc. so the game knows which block to use based on the localization setting), it a matter of getting people to translate the text. SQUAD crowd-sourced via community volunteers. Modders can do the same, assuming any given mod has a big and diverse enough userbase to facilitate that. (Or some very generous general community members.)

"Plug-in"-based mods will probably either need to roll-in their own support for localization (built into the mod), or some how hook into the system KSP will be using. (Dunno if the localization support in KSP will have an API or anything for plug-in mods to use.) From there, it's probably just a matter of pulling UI text and such into their own language config files and once again asking for volunteers to translate any part that need it.

If the localization system can be taken advantaged of easily, popular mods will quickly get localizations. Of course, this assumes KSP's localization system gets exposed to modders for use (I don't recall reading this; someone chime in if you know) and in the case of plug-in mods, the dev(s) decide to support it. Localization is relatively easy these days thanks to the Internet. It's getting the infrastructure in place to do it well and correctly that's the hard part. (And probably making it robust so you don't screw yourself over later on somehow.)

Edited by StahnAileron
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2 hours ago, John FX said:

I only noticed this week. Do you know what has not appeared in a weekly/devnotes for a while now?

Anything referring to, for example, 1.3.0 or 1.2.3 or any other normal update. Any indication of normal progression of version numbers.

Localisation is a `localisation pack` which is being treated as different from normal development.

Barring a direct statement saying "We are working on 1.3" I`ll assume development has stopped.

I will be most surprised if they do say that they are working on it or say they are not working on it. The way we learn about stuff not happening is it just does not happen and that appears to be the case with 1.3 unless something does happen to say otherwise.

EDIT : Just looked back at the daily kerbal and the last devnote was the release of 1.2, the next time we get told about development is in a weekly and as far as I can see there has been no mention of any development further than 1.2.2.

It would be great to be wrong of course.

 
 

Talks about development of localization pack and then says development has stopped.

Work is work.  It not being the work you want doesn't make it any less work.

Edited by klgraham1013
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2 hours ago, klgraham1013 said:

Talks about development of localization pack and then says development has stopped.

Work is work.  It not being the work you want doesn't make it any less work.

Like I say, I`d love to be wrong. I don`t think I am though. As soon as I see an increased version number mentioned I`ll know they still are. I`m also not saying they have stopped work, I`m saying they have fundamentally changed the way they relate to the project following 1.2

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6 hours ago, StahnAileron said:

At that point, much like how mods are a community thing, mod localization would have to be a community project/endeavor. Assuming mod localization is made simple to implement (for things like a part pack, perhaps an alternative description block with a language identifier of some sort, like EN, ES, DE, FR, RU, CN, JP, etc. so the game knows which block to use based on the localization setting), it a matter of getting people to translate the text. SQUAD crowd-sourced via community volunteers. Modders can do the same, assuming any given mod has a big and diverse enough userbase to facilitate that. (Or some very generous general community members.)

"Plug-in"-based mods will probably either need to roll-in their own support for localization (built into the mod), or some how hook into the system KSP will be using. (Dunno if the localization support in KSP will have an API or anything for plug-in mods to use.) From there, it's probably just a matter of pulling UI text and such into their own language config files and once again asking for volunteers to translate any part that need it.

If the localization system can be taken advantaged of easily, popular mods will quickly get localizations. Of course, this assumes KSP's localization system gets exposed to modders for use (I don't recall reading this; someone chime in if you know) and in the case of plug-in mods, the dev(s) decide to support it. Localization is relatively easy these days thanks to the Internet. It's getting the infrastructure in place to do it well and correctly that's the hard part. (And probably making it robust so you don't screw yourself over later on somehow.)

Pretty sure this had been mentioned before. But yes, as with most things we do, we do it with Mods in mind.
Mods will be able to localize just like stock. But they will still work as they are today only in English. It will be up to the modders. Localization and support for languages is no small effort. I know for my own mods, I can add support for it but I won't be doing all the languages myself. If the community contributes then it can be done.
As for the details of how it works and what mods will need to do, that will come.

 

2 hours ago, John FX said:

Like I say, I`d love to be wrong. I don`t think I am though. As soon as I see an increased version number mentioned I`ll know they still are. I`m also not saying they have stopped work, I`m saying they have fundamentally changed the way they relate to the project following 1.2

Development continues. With all the new devs coming on board why would you think otherwise? What difference does a version number make?

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Given how much work the localization is (it's only the one thing they've been consistently talking about since November), I would not be surprised if 1.3 was nothing but localization and whatever bugfixes we've already heard about. 'Cause you know what? As not-exciting as it is, it's clearly a @$&#-ton of work.

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On 2/19/2017 at 5:04 AM, JonathanPerregaux said:

I have to be a jerk and ask: With all the effort at building localization, isn't it a "problem" that all our favorite mods will likely remain in English?

Stay on the English version then. Problem solved. :wink:

I see another issue here, since localization stuff might even lead to emergence of non-English only mods. :D

 

I don't get all the hassle with the localization though. There's too little meaningful text in KSP - contracts' description doesn't make sense anyway, strategies are a joke, part descriptions are irrelevant. The only stuff that actually matters is a handful of spacey terms and figures. Figures are kinda like digits and quite universal by themselves, while learning a dozen of terms can't hurt anyone.

The localization actually might be a sort of a PR stunt to boost some regional sales. As a guy from a non-English speaking country I personally know a handful of dudes who upon stumbling on a non-localized game go all like "Hurrdurr, this game is in English only, they don't respect us, I'm not paying for it." And use it as an excuse to pirate the game and play it with some sort of half-baked pirate localization. Or even without one. But it's highly unlikely that such people would actually buy the game if it ever gets localised, so such PR stunt might go in vain.

 

Anyway, localization is up to SQUAD, but strictly IMO it's a waste of time, since it could help, in terms of playability and sales, some text-rich game, but that's not the case.

 

Edited by Bloody_looser
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