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I wish I could say localizing a game is that easy, but it isn't! Here's a very rough idea on localization. Keep in mind things change depending on the circumstances.
Also, sorry for the very long reply, but I figured it would be helpful and informative this way.
1. One of us has heard of a game that seems promising, or it's a game people are adamantly wishing for (like Ragnarok Odyssey). Maybe one of us played it in Japanese and wants to recommend it for localization (like Corpse Party).
2. If we play and dislike the game, we discard it. If we all like it, we find a way to contact the developers- sometimes it's through connections, like, perhaps we know a guy who knows someone in the company (like how our former President was longtime friends with Sakaguchi with The Last Story).
3. Wait, wait, wait, wait- sometimes the developers say no, because localization involves a lot of programming and they're doing a lot of projects. Other times they never reply to our attempts to contact them at all.
4. If the developers reply and they're receptive to the idea of localization, and we're the only ones who has approached them about the idea of localization, they take the time (a long time, usually- months and months) to set up a contract and refine every single detail. Sometimes contracts take so long that both sides agree to start localization before the contracts are even signed. In fact, that happens pretty often.
5. If multiple publishers approach the developer about a title, the publishers enter something of a bidding war- you raise your price, you promise extra things to sweeten the deal in the contract- all depends on how much you want it. This can take a lot of time or a little time, depending on how set the developer is. It changes every time.
6. If a bidding war starts over a series that's longtime been published by someone, developers might choose to stay with the publisher they were with, or take it away. It's completely up to them.
6. Once a formal or informal agreement about localization is reached, you wait. You wait, wait, wait, and wait. Sometimes for months again. Mostly for text, or maybe you have to discuss if you want to rename the title (sometimes from a Japanese to English name, sometimes to clear up confusion on something, sometimes for copyright reasons). Fragile was changed to Fragile Dreams for copyright reasons, and Corpse Party: Blood Covered: Repeated Fear was just changed to Corpse Party, since it was the first game to have ever made it over (and is also a remake of a remake).
6 [continued]. You look to see who would be best to translate a title, or if you need multiple translators. You also work out a very intense schedule with the developers and negotiate a timeframe. Maybe the publisher says they need six months to translate a title, but the developers what to have everything DONE for the title in six months, meaning you'd have to have a translation roughly finished in 3.5 months. It could be because they want to develop another title and don't want their resources taken up, or any number of things. These negotiations can take a while.
7. Once text is received, translation time begins. On a schedule not pressed for time, a translator averages about 85-100k characters (as in Japanese characters) per month. The average JRPG has about 300-400k (think a Final Fantasy title), though that number is steadily getting bigger.
8. At times we're so pressed for time that we have to squeeze translation and editing within that timeframe- sometimes by the person who translated it, oftentimes in-house. But usually editing for an average 300-400k title can take a few weeks to a month.
9. After that, the developers need to input the text into the game, as well as make English graphic text. For a typical title, this takes about a month.
10. QA varies a LOT from game to game. Some publishers (like S-E and Atlus), have in-house QA, while other publishers (like XSEED and Bamco) use outside QA houses. Since I've joined XSEED, I've kind of been the go-to person to do a quick QA of each of our games between my work. QA can take anywhere from two weeks (like with Corpse Party: Book of Shadows) to four weeks (The Last Story) to eight weeks (Way of the Samurai) to some adbominable number like 10+ months (like Unchained Blades). It really depends on how buggy the game is and how many programmers the developer has dedicated to the QA process.
11. It should be noted that since publishers oftentimes have a hectic schedule, a few or even less in the company even play the game. If some do, they only play an hour or so to evaluate it, and rarely does anyone finish. That's what we have QA- that's why we kind of have an, "Oh, shit" reaction to bugs found in the final version of games that fans discover, haha.
12. After QA has ended and the developer basically says, "Yo, this is good enough," we prepare to submit the final version of the game, or "Master." It depends on who you're dealing with- in our case, Sony and Nintendo- but Mastering if you're successful on the first try typically takes a month. If QA missed something particularly buggy, or Sony or Nintendo catch a word that's wrong (like official terminology), they'll fail us, and we have to go the developer and fix it again. Developers might have moved on at this point, and we might have to wait for them to find the time to fix the problem. Sometimes this goes smoothly, sometimes it doesn't. Really varies from game to game.
13. Once Master passes, we have ESRB (done during all this), we've negotiated manufacturing details, etc., manufacturing can begin. Manufacturing typically takes several weeks, and can only strictly be started after Master has been approved, since you'll need the final version of the game in the package.
14. After that, you pray there's not a fuck-up that delays the game somehow (that's why we slip in 'Ship Date' instead of 'Release Date'- gives us room for error) and you ship your copies to a warehouse.
15. During the localization process, we negotiate with different carriers (Gamestop, Best Buy, Amazon, etc.) to see who wants to carry it, and if so, how much. Once the product reaches our warehouse, it's up to those carriers to pick it up and ship it to their many locations.
16. Then you guys play it! We bring out the alcohol.
TL; DR- As much as we'd love to say we totally have Celceta and it's coming out tomorrow, it's been catching a lot of eyes due to its presentation. We'll keep trying our best because I want my name on a physical Ys title but even if we have it or don't have it, localization typically can still take a long, long time (and this doesn't include everything, just the most direct form of localization). We really do want it, though.
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