Localization Summit Jason Shirley Audio Producer Localization Case

Localization Summit

Jason Shirley Audio Producer Localization Case Study Microsoft Games Studios - Ireland 23 March, 2009

Fable II Localization Case Study » Jason Shirley, Audio Producer Microsoft Games Studios – Ireland » Will Braham, Design Producer Lionhead – UK » Palma Cedele, Production Coordinator Binari Sonori – Italy 23 March, 2009

Fable II multilingual cutscene 23 March, 2009

Jason Shirley Audio Producer Microsoft Games Studios - Ireland 23 March, 2009

Agenda Items » » » MGS Ireland Fable II localization The successes Tools / Technologies Recommendations 23 March, 2009

Microsoft Game Studios Ireland » Manage MGS Localization for Xbox and Games for Windows » Engineering, Test, PM, Audio, Management » Partner with 10 Loc Vendors covering Translation, Test and Audio. » Gears of War 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars, Scene It? , Mass Effect, Fable II 23 March, 2009

Fable II Loc Team » Lionhead > Will Braham: Design Producer » Microsoft Game Studios > > > Declan Mac. Hugh: Project Manager Virginia Spencer: Loc PM Jean-Philippe Chassagne: Lead Engineer Alan Davis: Test Lead Jason Shirley: Audio Producer » Binari Sonori > Translation & Audio production » Logrus > Translation & Audio production 23 March, 2009

Fable II Languages » 15 languages » 7 Full: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Mexican, Russian, Japanese. » 5 Partial+: Polish, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian, Korean, Chinese » 3 Partial: Nordic, Brazilian, Arabic 23 March, 2009

Fable II Localization » » » 420, 000 words to translate 48, 000 audio files per language to record 54 actors per language 50 quests = 238 hours of game to test Male or Female hero Sim Ship release 23 March, 2009

The Successes » » » Communication Text management Smooth VO Production Build Portability Creation of custom tools / technology 23 March, 2009

Tools / Technology » Automated testing » Management of text content English 420, 000 words . XML 23 March, 2009 Character 1 Translator 1 Character 2 Translator 2 Character 3 Translator 3 Character 4 Translator 4 Localized 420, 000 words . XML

Language support and language interface packs » Allow for dashboard language changes on -the-fly » Automatically support Downloadable Content (DLC) packs » Support the addition of extra languages after release 23 March, 2009

Recommendations » Engage with your loc team 23 March, 2009

Recommendations » Engage with your loc team 23 March, 2009

Recommendations » Use a database to store text for UI and VO scripts Design Writers Geopolitical Database Editors Production Loc 23 March, 2009

Recommendations » » Build portability, Independent loc builds Chronological order for scripts Avoid concatenated sentence Track VO SFX 23 March, 2009

Recommendations » SFX Batch processes or realtime DSP » For pre-rendered movies use multilingual cinematics » Avoid pre-rendered text or subtitles in cinematics » Avoid time constraints for non cinematic 23 March, 2009

Will Braham Jason Shirley Design Producer Audio Producer Lionhead Studios Microsoft Games Studios - Ireland 23 March, 2009

Lionhead » Our approach to localization on Fable II > > Learning from past mistakes Minimal impact on game development Processes that driven rather than fire fighting Collaborative planning 23 March, 2009

Text » The pipeline > > > Internal database Exported as. xml Compiled into game format » Using the exported. xml > > > Loc Studio Translated text stored by the localization team Easy to use and manipulate 23 March, 2009

Huge. xml file » The. xml Splitter Tool > > > Splitting a 50, 000 line (10 MB). xml file Male / female hero gender Created and maintained by MGS Dublin 23 March, 2009

Builds and Compiling localized assets » Builds > > Builds provided daily All builds smoke tested internally and reports sent to localization teams » Compiling localized assets > > Localization Asset Build Language Interface Pack » Localization able to create and test localized builds independently 23 March, 2009

Text Pipeline Overview Lionhead text database Splitter tool English book. xml asset build Splitter tool English Char 1. xml Char 2. xml Char 3. xml translated book. xml Build with English text 23 March, 2009 Build with translated text asset build Localised using Loc Studio

Support and Communication » Support > > Localization Asset Build String Context » Communication > > All communication channelled through MGS Dublin Regular visits from the MGS Dublin team 23 March, 2009

Summary » Work with localization teams to streamline processes » Upfront planning to avoid fire fighting 23 March, 2009

Palma Cedele Jason Shirley Production Coordinator Audio Producer Binari Sonori Microsoft Games Studios - Ireland 23 March, 2009

Early kick-off » Accurate planning phase > > > Preliminary information on volume and types of material Defining number of batches has allowed perfect synchronization between developer, publisher and localizer Microsoft experience has been fundamental in the preproduction phase 23 March, 2009

Ad hoc team building » International Coordination Centre > International Project Management > > > 3 Project Managers (text/audio/supervision) International Language Coordination International Audio Team > Audio Project Lead > Audio Manager > 13 Sound Engineers International Quality Assurance International Engineering Team 23 March, 2009

Ad hoc team building » Local Project Teams > > Local Project Management Local Linguistic Coordination Local Translation > 6 translators > 2 reviewers Local Audio Team > Casting Manager > Dubbing Director > Sound Engineers 23 March, 2009

Ad hoc team building » A monster Localization team Over 130 people! (not including actors) 23 March, 2009

Pipelining with Development » MGS Dublin > Fundamental in managing the needs of development and localization » In-country Production Units > Ability to manage translation and audio at the same time » Lionhead > Excellent support throughout the project 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Subdivision in batches (and sub-batches) » The book » The gender issue 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Translation 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Structured in-context revision 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Gender control 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Script in Excel format 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Audio > > > Expert Casting / Dubbing Direction Audio Post Production (250, 000 audio files) Full Proof-listening 23 March, 2009

Overview of Loc. Process » Recording Volumes Batch (volumes for 1 language) Recording Batch 1 N° of words In-game 43. 000 Recording Batch 2 Recording Batch 3 Part 1 117. 000 Batch (volumes for 5 languages) Recording Batch 1 158. 000 N° of words In-game 215. 000 Recording Batch 2 Recording Batch 3 Part 1 Recording Batch 3 Part 2 Recording Batch 3 Part 3 23 March, 2009 790. 000 N° of actors N° of audio files 7 7. 400 40 3. 350 2. 700 9 15. 120 24. 000 45 3. 240 4. 000 18 20. 176 N° of words Time Constrain 3. 000 N° of words Sound. Synch 115. 000 N° of actors N° of audio files 35 37. 000 200 16. 750 13. 500 45 75. 600 120. 000 225 16. 200 20. 000 90 100. 880 260. 000 585. 000 N° of words Sound. Synch 23. 000 52. 000 Recording Batch 3 Part 2 Recording Batch 3 Part 3 N° of words Time Constrain 15. 000

Questions? 23 March, 2009