ErikH2000
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Registered: 02-04-2003
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leventdal wrote:

ErikH2000 wrote:
To give you an idea, here are some things that have to be done to make another language work:

- Translate the text by editing a specially-formatted unicode text file.
- Find one or more freely distributable TrueType fonts that display chars for the language and look good inside DROD in a range of sizes.
- Walk through all the screens and look for size errors. Fix areas of screen elements or change text so that everything displays correctly.
- Change main menu graphic to show new text.
- Create an installer to add support for the language to DROD.

At the least, we should be able to write a guide that describes what must be provided to localize DROD to a new language, so that people outside the Caravel team can easily add new languages.

-Erik

I have don a number of translations before and can imagine the amount of work but I have plenty of time for the moment.

I have very large font collection and part of it supports Turkish. Also I can edit those font files to support Turkish.

I can seek through all screens (probably a code to see levels without playing will be used)

Great! These would be hugely useful for a translation effort.

I didn't understand the installer. Can you explain that?

We need to refine the process used to make a setup program for DROD in different languages so that it is easy for us. When I wrote the above "create an installer..." I was thinking of a setup program that upgrades an existing DROD installation with an extra language. There is also the need for a setup program that installs from scratch in a language other than English. I don't think this is so hard, but it is still work for us to get to.

DROD was designed from the beginning to support multiple languages, but there are still a some places left that need programming fixes (the font manager, the setup program, the text importer). This work probably won't get done until the release after next.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

leventdal
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 31
Registered: 05-27-2003
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We need to refine the process used to make a setup program for DROD in different languages so that it is easy for us. When I wrote the above "create an installer..." I was thinking of a setup program that upgrades an existing DROD installation with an extra language. There is also the need for a setup program that installs from scratch in a language other than English. I don't think this is so hard, but it is still work for us to get to.

I don't know how the structure will be but if some files will be copied a self-extractable archieve(e.g. Language-Turkish folder) may suffice. Or a .bat.
A custom installer with language support by itself can be a good solution as well.

Is there a file that has already been translated?

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
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leventdal wrote:
I don't know how the structure will be but if some files will be copied a self-extractable archieve(e.g. Language-Turkish folder) may suffice. Or a .bat.
A custom installer with language support by itself can be a good solution as well.

That is a decent suggestion, thanks. The installer is not really a hard thing for me to figure out, but I'm not ready to work on it yet.

The release after next, we should work on making a French DROD and probably a Russian one too. After that point, knowing better how much work is involved, I think we'd either:

1. Ask for translations and coordinate with the translators to get DROD localized to different languages.
2. Publish a localization guide so that people can do it without help from the Caravel team.

And actually, it would probably be both. But that's months away, and I don't want to promise that we will do the work of integrating someone's translated text right now.

Man, am I looking a gift horse in the mouth. Please know that I appreciate the offer, and would plan to ask for your help after things calmed down.

Is there a file that has already been translated?

The text files are here:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/drod/Caravel/Texts/
We have French and Russian text as well as English.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

leventdal
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 31
Registered: 05-27-2003
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That's not a problem for me. I am willing to translate as far as I don't have something important to do. (In summer I will probably be available)

I agree that it will be much easier when a few translations are made.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
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leventdal wrote:
That's not a problem for me. I am willing to translate as far as I don't have something important to do. (In summer I will probably be available)

Excellent! I hope to take advantage of your generosity.

-Erik


____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

leventdal
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 31
Registered: 05-27-2003
IP: Logged

Excellent! I hope to take advantage of your generosity.

Sure

By the way Dungeon Roach means "Zindan Hamamböceği" in Turkish. (Zindan Hamambocegi)
Zindan=Dungeon