Looking Into Localization With Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War

The localization of games has long been a task for allowing players to enjoy games they would otherwise not be able to completely comprehend due to language barriers. For some games, translating the language and UI works well and doesn’t hinder the originally intended experience. Games that are more arcade in style, or a multiplayer deathmatch wouldn’t suffer a deficit in the entertainment factor when they’re localized, however other titles such as Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a different story. The tale of how this game was approached in the localization process could serve as an anthem to other story-driven titles in the future. Before outsourcing this project to the companies who would translate the game, Ubisoft decided that they wanted the experience to be unique to each country that the language is centralized to. In this case, the Russian version of Valiant Hearts became a more immersive experience to Russian-speaking players as the team would incorporate historical facts from the U.S.S.R. in World War I into the game lore, allowing players to relate better, thus driving the immersion.

A scene from the game Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Encyclopedia translation:

December 2013, All Correct was informed that they would be responsible for the Russian translation of Valiant Hearts, and with the game being released in June the following year, they had half a year to complete the task. The group knew this was plenty of time, and Ubisoft even provided materials to help prepare the team for the project. One crucial element of this prep-package was a list of films that would best convey the atmosphere of the game, including titles like “Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles” (A Very Long Engagement), Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” and Christian Carion’s “Joyeux Noel” (Merry Christmas).

Doused in the emotions and atmospheres of the films, the team was now prepared to jump into translating the game. The first task was creating the Encyclopedia on the war in Valiant Hearts. With the goal to make the experience unique in the Russian translation of the game, the Encyclopedia was largely created by the team instead of simply translating from English. With the historical lore in the game specific to the U.S.S.R., the Encyclopedia was filled with history that takes into account the past events of the country. In doing so, just this one gameplay element brings Russian-speaking players that much further into the game world.

An encyclopedia entry from the English version of Valiant Hearts: The Great War (not final version)

Obstacles:

Reworking a piece such as Valiant Hearts isn’t a task without some limitations however. Elements such as the User Interface and game resolution have to be taken into account when translating titles, descriptions and other in-game text. For example in the Encyclopedia’s case, a subject’s title could not exceed 32 characters, and the informational entry could be no more than 650 characters in order to fit the module boundaries. The translation team had to ask the developers at Ubisoft to insert the text into the game and render out a screenshot, reporting back how the text fit into the game. This process had to be done several times, and through coordination between the developers and translators, this task was eventually completed. Another obstacle the team tackled was the fact that none of the characters in the game were Russian, so incorporating elements of Russian history in the game had to be implied in a way that made sense with the events and characters in the game. Some historians have disagreements about some facts, and these disputes had to be taken into account when writing for Valiant Hearts. In the end, the team incorporated historical standpoints from France and Germany as well.

An encyclopedia entry from the Russian version of Valiant Hearts: The Great War (not final version)

Papakha:

With just about all of the original content creation was finished, all that remained was simple translation of the rest of the work. Just when things were tapering off to home free status, Ubisoft requested that the team come up with a typical Russian item to be added to the game. In addition, they asked that a letter be written that would pertain to a certain character. This would be a simple task, however the translator and sole historian lost internet after workers cut through his cable. The task was now up to the editors. Using templates and references from actual letters from soldiers in WWI, the objective was completed. The song of the Russian soldiers “Roars and Rages a Mortar in the Distance” was also incorporated into the game for the soldier march.

Collection items from Valiant Hearts: The Great War (not final version)

Voiceovers:

The last mission for the team was to select a voice talent for the narrator of the game. With the original narrator giving a phenomenal performance, the team felt the need to find someone who could follow just as well. Andrei Yaroslavtsev, best known to the demographic as the voice of Optimus Prime in the Russian version of Transformers: War for Cybertron, was chosen for the task. In addition, the character Emile was voiced by Nikita Semenov-Prozorovsky, who voiced characters in Assassin’s Creed III and Haze.

Originally published at indiehound.tumblr.com.