Games Localization: Cultural Points
- by ultan o'broin
Great article about localization considerations, this times in the games space. Well worth checking out.
It's rare to see such all-encompassing articles about localization considerations aimed at designers. That's a shame. The industry assumes all these things are known. The evidence from practice is that they're not and also need constant reinforcement.
We're not in the games space in enterprise applications yet. However, there may be a role for them in the training space but also in CRM, building relationships and contacts.
Beyond the obvious considerations, check out the cultural aspects of games localization too. For example, Zygna's offerings, which you might have played on Facebook:
Zynga, which can lay claim to the two most popular social games on Facebook - FarmVille and CityVille - has recently localized both games for international audiences, and while CityVille has seen only localization for European languages, FarmVille has been localized for China, which involved rebuilding the game from the ground up.
This localization process involved taking into account cultural considerations including changing the color palette to be brighter and increasing the size of the farm plots, to appeal to Chinese aesthetics and cultural experience.
All the more reason to conduct research in your target markets, worldwide.
