AionSource.com - View Single Post - Bridging the Culture Divide: NCsoft's Brian Knox

niuniu · 06-18-2009, 07:53 AM

As far as the actual Westernization, a lot of people are like 'Agh, why does it take so long after they've already released the game??

Brian Knox: In the end, the good news is that means they want the game out now, because they want to play it now, so it?s good to have that excitement.

But, ideally, we?d loved that everybody launched at the same time, and we?d all love flying cars, and everything else in the world?

The reality is that there is a process, we have to translate it, and we?re not going to be satisfied with just translating the game and putting it out.

There are so many things that go above and beyond just literal translation. For instance, if you put in a Korean fable into the game that everyone?s going know, like, ?The boy got lost and found his uncle.?

Everybody in Korea that plays will go, ?Oh yeah, that?s a good little tie-in to that!? But for us, it?s ?Huh? Okay??

So, we may tie it in and talk about someone chopping down a cherry tree and not telling a lie, or something that would automatically resonate with a North American audience, or a European audience.

I think it?s important that we have to rewrite those culturizations. And then on top of that, we go in and we study the controls, the layout, the process of entry into the game, and the proper business model.

All those things that can be tweaked on the surface so we don?t necessarily change what Aion is, but we allow the user to be comfortable with it, to be familiar, and to be able to be drawn into the great world of Aion.

So we actually have a team, I think it is ten plus writers going at it, and they?re taking the initial translation, and rewriting from there.

These are not just editors that are cleaning up the punctuation. We have real writers that have written games before, some from Guild Wars, some have written strategy guides, some have worked on Dungeons and Dragons.

We?ve got all these talented writers that are writing the game, so it sounds really good. It?s our goal that somebody logs in, and they don?t know the history of Aion, and they don?t ever think ?Oh, this game looks like it came straight out of the East and it?s translated.?

06-18-2009, 07:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
niuniu Great General Join Date: May 2009 Location: UK Thanks: 1 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts Class: Assassin Legion: Cleric Templar Race: Elyos	As far as the actual Westernization, a lot of people are like 'Agh, why does it take so long after they've already released the game?? Brian Knox: In the end, the good news is that means they want the game out now, because they want to play it now, so it?s good to have that excitement. But, ideally, we?d loved that everybody launched at the same time, and we?d all love flying cars, and everything else in the world? The reality is that there is a process, we have to translate it, and we?re not going to be satisfied with just translating the game and putting it out. There are so many things that go above and beyond just literal translation. For instance, if you put in a Korean fable into the game that everyone?s going know, like, ?The boy got lost and found his uncle.? Everybody in Korea that plays will go, ?Oh yeah, that?s a good little tie-in to that!? But for us, it?s ?Huh? Okay?? So, we may tie it in and talk about someone chopping down a cherry tree and not telling a lie, or something that would automatically resonate with a North American audience, or a European audience. I think it?s important that we have to rewrite those culturizations. And then on top of that, we go in and we study the controls, the layout, the process of entry into the game, and the proper business model. All those things that can be tweaked on the surface so we don?t necessarily change what Aion is, but we allow the user to be comfortable with it, to be familiar, and to be able to be drawn into the great world of Aion. So we actually have a team, I think it is ten plus writers going at it, and they?re taking the initial translation, and rewriting from there. These are not just editors that are cleaning up the punctuation. We have real writers that have written games before, some from Guild Wars, some have written strategy guides, some have worked on Dungeons and Dragons. We?ve got all these talented writers that are writing the game, so it sounds really good. It?s our goal that somebody logs in, and they don?t know the history of Aion, and they don?t ever think ?Oh, this game looks like it came straight out of the East and it?s translated.?