Translating My Indie Game! (Devlog)

WISHLIST the game here! store.steampowered.com/app/11...
This devlog covers how I've set up a localisation/translation system for my Indie Unity project, Lumbermill. I've also added personality simulations for Employee AI, a few new tents for housing and some UI improvements.
Discord: / discord
Patreon: / bwdev
Twitter (BWDev) - / bwdev1
Twitter (Lumbermill) - / lumbermillgame
If you're new to the channel, welcome! I'm a full time Indie Game developer working in Unity 2D. Lumbermill is my main project - a management/factory builder game, which I began work on in Feb 2019. I aim to release devlogs on that project every few weeks, so keep an eye out for those!
--- Timestamps ---
0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - Improved Tent Sprites
1:07 - Unity Tilemap
4:02 - AI Personalities
4:59 - Localization / Translation
6:32 - Bulldoze Tool & Outline Shader
7:09 - Luxury Tent
7:39 - Personality GUI
8:40 - Summary & Outro
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[@BWDev]

I've hidden an easter egg for the next major update in this video, comment below if you can guess what it is 👀

[@awhahoo]

I guess I shouldnt pay attention to science and should pay attention to this than

[@TorstenJacobitz]

Maybe if you somehow activate the Easter egg, the trees will turn into the *very beautiful* trees. Or Lumbermill 2? (Btw I would like to see English)

[@unknown6656]

Hey, I speak German, French, and English, so I could help you with your translations....

[@Blemonade1]

@@unknown6656 Me too! For example, "plank" is "Brett" in german, not "Planke"

[@mrcryptographic4803]

@@unknown6656 find ich gut ein weiterer Deutscher

[@ThinMatrix]

Nice video! One thing to be careful of with the translations (which I got wrong in Equilinox which led to it never being translated) is problems with dynamically inserting words into sentences. I had loads of text such as: "Breed one brown [speciesName] to complete this task" where the name of the species could be added at run time. While this works fine in English, other languages have more complex grammar rules, so for example in German the word for "one" and "brown" would also need to change depending on what the inserted word is. So just bear that in mind and perhaps work with translators as early as possible so issues like that can be pointed out early on.

[@BWDev]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense! I’ll have to look into how I can adapt the system to be as flexible as possible. Thanks a lot for the advice! Also - welcome back!

[@livedandletdie]

For German there's a lot of words for one... Depending on grammatical gender and case. English has it way better with a/an for every case. M.Nom Ein M.Gen Eines M.Dat Einem M.Acc Einen F.Nom Eine F.Gen Einer F.Dat Einer F.Acc Eine N.Nom Ein N.Gen Eines N.Dat Einem N.Acc Ein Brown Nom Braun Gen Brauns Dat Braun Acc Braun So translating is gonna be difficult, however... Declension is the easy part. The hard part is word order. The(def.art) Pink(adj) Rose(noun) comp FR, La(def.art) Rose(noun) Rose(adj). Translation is hilariously difficult.

[@BWDev]

@@livedandletdie Yep - it's giving me a bit of a headache rn but working on a solution that should theoretically make things quite flexible. Might have to simplify some of the text in places, but I'm hopeful there should be enough flexibility to figure stuff out in the major european languages at least.

[@aleksitjvladica.]

We know that.

[@Willeexd1337]

ThinMatrix how is ur city game going?

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Lumbermill is such a vibe.

[@skenda]

agreed

[@BWDev]

I've heard that Monster Tower game is rather a vibe 🤔

[@ReeceGeofroy]

@@BWDev hahaha. Thanks Ben. Might have to check that one out too

[@lFreakey]

Can assist in translating the game to German if you’re interested - would love to help!

[@Blemonade1]

So viele Deutsche hier?

[@quantumx9729]

Same leute

[@joshix833]

@@Blemonade1 anscheinend.

[@dragonminz602]

Wär ich auch dabei

[@xxunbemerktxx4539]

@@dragonminz602 ich auch

[@ronhobbydev8999]

hooray a lumbermill devlog happiness += 10;

[@aguywithahand502]

I would be very happy if I saw Esperanto as one of the languages. There aren't many videogames with Esperanto as an option, and videogames have taught me tons of vocabulary in all the languages I've learned, so having something like that especially on a game with very specific and rare vocabulary would be amazing.

[@travholt]

It woud be fun if the patches on the tents were randomly placed for each tent …

[@cmdrblaze6487]

Or maybe he could just have a couple of tent models that are randomly selected when one is placed

[@travholt]

@@cmdrblaze6487 Yes, that's the boring, non-dev way to do it.

[@cmdrblaze6487]

@Control H Just to add some variety to the visuals

[@cmdrblaze6487]

@Control H That would work great, my suggestion was just a simple and easy way he could do it

[@baenbo3486]

That's way too much work for a small detail most people won't notice tbh

[@Magnogen]

I liked the old tent sprite... But damn, I _love_ the new one. Good job on the this one!

[@ZMW7]

I don’t fluently speak any languages other than English, but I think it’s so cool how so many people are volunteering to translate the game into different languages!

[@terraincognitaband7273]

If you already name one of the employers "Longname McLongest" I'd be thankful.

[@rebeccarisk1772]

I really like the personalities, it adds so much more depth to any game. Great work, really enjoying your progress!

[@jucom756]

Maybe randomise the patches on the new tent design a little

[@joeyharrington1863]

I noticed around 3:38 that the workers might be hard to see if they're standing behind trees, so it might be helpful to give them a little floating indicator above their heads and/or auto-center on a particular worker when you select them

[@GamesBySaul]

Absolutely incredible what you've added this week! Fantastic job! :D

[@AvatarNickGames]

Really good stuff! Love the new fancy tent design

[@tauheedgamedev2388]

Great Update, Glad your back on the project

[@GingerNingerish]

This devlog series is so calming

[@jucom756]

8:05 "More sadistic type of employer" smells like let's players to me...

[@aurazemaityte3721]

DF 😎🤩

[@jucom756]

As in let's game it out. If you suddenly hear his voice as a diety in the sky you know you're gonna be abused in ways that seemed impossible to you

[@jakecurtis9398]

I really enjoy these videos. Thank you for them

[@Arfanis_7GR]

I’d love to see Seasons in the game!That change the weather and the environment!

[@nextProgram]

Love how chill these videos are. The new tents look great btw

[@aguywithahand502]

What happened to your own indie game?

[@nextProgram]

@@aguywithahand502 I’m working on a new video rn lol

[@aguywithahand502]

@@nextProgram Ah, great! I missed your videos.

[@WS-xd4sd]

just gets better and better!

[@Vidii06]

Portugal's Portuguese (mine), or Brazilian Portuguese (larger player base)... Can help translate both

[@MrHappyoficial]

FINALMENTE! OS TUGAS!!

[@siacomsuporteweb2421]

Me senti muito mal quando pensei em comentar "Português", pensando só no portugues brasileiro, desci pra ver se alguem ja tinha comentado, e percebi que taquei o foda-se pro portugues de portugal

[@Kbloko]

Boraa

[@nichegames9590]

Really good stuff as usual.

[@Steveplays28]

Nice video as always Ben! :)

[@AllDayBikes]

I literally checked your channel 45 minutes ago for new stuff, nice!

[@DakotaVaughan]

Looking Awesome!

[@adamkonig3753]

Something we do at work (if you're feeling adventurous) for localization is have a master resources csv like you have but then we run a custom script that generates a resources.cs file FROM that CSV allowing you to call Resources. and it'll autocomplete for you in your IDE. Makes productivity slightly higher at the cost of having to make that custom script. Just an idea! Game looks great!

[@TonsOfHunStudios]

The new tents are looking great! That's actually super useful to see your process of figuring out the tilemap issues. Even though you didn't switch, it's great to see your thoughts for solving the problem. And I think personality is a great idea, especially to make each person feel more like it's own character rather than just some random NPC. Awesome work! 6:29 was that intentional xD

[@BWDev]

Thanks man! Simplified englghgshh is hard to type :(

[@bloodraven2537]

I can help with the Bulgarian translation :3 Love how your game is turning out btw, keep going!

[@drepple]

I'd love to see Dutch (and/or help with it)

[@urgalten6203]

The new tents look great

[@jucom756]

I don't have a lot of spare time, but if there is no-one else for Dutch i may be able to help. I can also do German but i'm very rusty and there's probably someone else for that.

[@titarapheonix3368]

Als ik het tijd heb, misschien kan ik helpen met Nederlands.

[@rmr_md6834]

FINALLY A NEW DEVLOG!!!

[@peppermint13me]

Here is my theory for the next video: More languages is too obvious because he announced it. Structure upgrades is a good guess but it wasn't exactly an easter egg. I thought maybe the next major update was terrain editing, because I saw a screenshot of some islands. but then I saw something at 6:50 . . . ...some text saying "More visual feedback is planned!", so therefore, the next major update is *visual feedback*! But hey! That's just a theory! A fan theory! Thanks for reading! ;^)

[@williamherring]

Wow I’ve been watching your devlogs for a couple weeks and the dedication you have to this game is incredible and I just had to subscribe. Keep up the amazing work. Can’t wait for the release! Also, I’m guessing you’re Australian by your voice (I’m from there too).

[@ethaninspired]

Love the new tents! Maybe randomize them so they have different patches?

[@benjaminjones7782]

You should do a quick video on your IDE setup, colour schemes, addons, etc. Would be very useful! :) Great vid

[@pau6062]

Would be nice to have Lumbermill in spanish as well c:

[@caspernotghost]

I speak Polish, mayby Polish language would be cood. Good game, I watched nearly all devlog episodes, this is one of the longest devlog series I have seen on youtube :)

[@thomaswalls4188]

You have my subscription!

[@ipodspeaker]

I completely forgot about this game. Looks great!

[@Bratpfannenfett]

What a wonderful devlog! Greetings from Germany

[@combasco2620]

Long time fan of the devlogs! Can't wait for the game to be released. I'd love to see some Dutch translations for the game. I'd also love to help out with those if needed! :)

[@Skeffles]

Amazing progress here! It's interesting to see how you're approaching translation. I also would like to say the new tent is cool but it's a shame the old tent is gone. Could you perhaps add a chance for it to spawn as a New tent, fresh from the shop.

[@madsbdker5579]

looks like im gonna have to binge this series... will be back with my thoughts...

[@madsbdker5579]

alright im back.. and i just watched all your devlogs... and damn am i impressed!. i dont think i have ever willingly played a game of this genre, but i cant remember the last time i was genuinely excited to play a game!. the art looks great and the animations are smooth as hell! keep up the good work! cant wait to play the game...

[@isto_inc]

Love the thumbnail of this vlog!

[@christmasbear5164]

I need this in my life

[@seevenmc]

Add dogs to the game who walk around randomly and boost every employee by 20% PS: I could help you with the german translation, but since a lot of people asked for it already, you can get them instead And also, great video as always

[@voidcloud4414]

Finally new lumbermill video

[@WS-xd4sd]

this game and your efforts are so inspiring - i speak lumberjack and could send you some words that might not translate!

[@guyonthenet2000]

I know just a bit of (canadian) french. Crazy awesome to see this getting so large!

[@krismg_21]

Great video, i was waiting for it! I'm spanish by the way :)

[@mavamaarten]

Nice to see some more progress! I'd be careful with implementing your own translation system like that though. Some languages have their words in a different order, and there's already systems out there that support this behavior (String.format?)

[@BWDev]

Yep, realised that after the video - made some significant changes to support dynamic grammar rules, so should work nicely now 👍

[@Alex-yo7sr]

Nice video I really enjoy them but maybe put a DeEsser on the audio? the 's' sound is quite harsh. Keep up the good work dude.

[@666cowboy]

This is great and adorable

[@simonixen0762]

I would like to see swedish and some of the nordic languages, this game reminds me of those forests

[@chapno4255]

not swedish but finnish long live finland

[@TechyGuy17]

Swedish for the win

[@chapno4255]

@@TechyGuy17 no haista vittu sweden

[@chapno4255]

@@TechyGuy17 sweden be kinda gay doe ngl

[@TechyGuy17]

@@chapno4255 and is it something bad to be gay?

[@simontorvund4110]

I whould love norwegan in the game, and i am more than happy to help with translation.

[@HelperWesley]

I totally get, when I make my games, I make up my own way of doing things because they seem easier to me. Only to have to give up later down the line and use the more complicated system that everyone suggested I use in the first place..... >.

[@earthmyguy2552]

The white tents look a little out of place like to bright or something idk

[@mikhail_from_afar]

Just a little bit darker I think would be perfect

[@wilhelmgustavsson1022]

Liked them

[@NoNameAtAll2]

too*

[@earthmyguy2552]

@@NoNameAtAll2 ok mr grammar man

[@elsietso3229]

@@NoNameAtAll2 ok mr grammar man

[@oraziovescovi1922]

Italian maybe? I'd love to help - just stumbled upon your channel and I already love it!

[@scanzas]

Hey, I could probably help with the translation to Portuguese, I love how the game is progressing, and I would love to be part of it :)

[@Vlad79X]

im more and more hype

[@kinoru580]

English, German , Russian

[@queue_free]

looking good, there is weird stuttering on the conveyor belts tho

[@LostRelicsOfficial]

I like your videos, awesome devlog's and the game will be translate to spanish? And how you make that youtube recognize that the game is Lumbermill :D

[@NStripleseven]

The employees are currently people who are camping forever, while being ordered to collect wood by the player, an omniscient being who lives in the sky and is the only one able to create buildings.

[@WaleedDev]

I am busy, i don't have time to watch the video, i have 3 tests tomorrow + 5 undone homeworks, but I'll watch it anyways I know it will worth it!

[@CoolieBruv]

I'd really love to see Estonian in the game. Not many game devs bother with translating to such a small language group, so it's understandable if you don't want to, but I think it'd be fun. Plus, I could then show this game to my parents, they love games like these. :P

[@ossianm9821]

Would love to translate this beauty of a game when it releases

[@falxie_]

A cool thing about using a CSV is that people could provide unofficial translations if the file is loose

[@dontfeedthefreaks4368]

The game looks good so far. I think im gonna bye it when it comes out.

[@thisisloop]

If you didn't already plan this, maybe have houses later where more lumberjacks can live in, so you can save space. These houses maybe take 2x2 squares and 6 lumberjacks can live in one

[@BWDev]

This is planned!

[@andrewbuturlakin8298]

Hey man, I have a suggestion for you regarding your localization. Create an enum with all the keys that you have, and use this enum as serializefield instead of your string. Why should you do this? Because instead of writing your keys manually on each object to which you attach your script, you will have a drop down menu with all possible enums(keys), it will be more hand since: a) you won't need to remember every single key (or look it up every time) b) it's error-free, because in case of a string, you can always make a small mistake writing it down. There are ways to make it more advanced (f.e. instead of key in your drop down menu you will have categories of keys, and pointing at those categories will open actual list of keys: Main menu category -> settings, credits, play game etc.), but doing at least what I wrote above would already make it easier and more convenient.

[@ShafterPlay]

Hey, nice job as always! I just joined your Discord and I'm looking forward to helping out on pt-BR translations 😄 I have a few notes that I'd like to mention: 1) I'm not a *game* dev myself, but I don't think CSV is very performant when using a lot of words, even more when it comes to all the languages in the same file. Maybe it would be better to use PO files as they are really great for translators. Or at least a CSV, JSON or YAML for each lang? 2) It would be really nice to see the translation files on Crowdin or Github to make it easy to contribute. 3) If you ever need help on the web side of the force, you can count on me!

[@BWDev]

The CSV is only read once. No worries for performance as the data itself is stored in a C# dictionary upon import. Great to hear you’d like to help with translations - I’ll be keeping everyone updated 👍

[@simonixen0762]

05:33 If you take the Capitals out of Tree Arbre and Baum you get tab, tab backwards is bat. Bat is an animal. Animals confirmed

[@maxyolo01]

Great work, the game looks awesome! If you ever need French, I'm always available!

[@PreslavKolev]

Here is an idea: you can add a custom cursor for your game. BTW it is a great game. Looking forward to play it😀

[@christiangilbert4672]

I feel like the tents need some variation like different patches on each tent maybe 3 sprites for the red ten and two for the white and other colors.

[@syrenarch251]

this game is VERY poggers

[@moistairpods2846]

Make sure the font you're using has good coverage for non-ascii characters

[@itsME-dc4vm]

Nice ;D

[@cmrcmr9112]

What's his pixel and animation art app it's amazing and want to try it out(in this case the new tent texture). thank you you do amazing work

[@inuitshaman1483]

What about tappers that could extract saps from trees? Or some process for making maple syrup.

[@m1bl4n]

It would be amazing if there was a dutch translation. I've learned that a lot of these kind of games with a dutch translation seem to sell pretty well in my country as it is more accessible to casual players such as parents.

[@DJ1TJOO]

I would like to see Dutch

[@yourischijff]

Dutch is a important language! soooo....

[@christianvamdrunen8812]

Indeed

[@jurre8453]

Yes it is

[@matt10y27]

You should create a few different tent sprites with different patches on them. The patches are all in the exact same spot and really hurts immersion for me.

[@gemzi1426]

I would like Spanish, I know a lot of friends that actually enjoy games like this but they don't know much English, I could help if needed, love all your videos, greetins from Argentina

[@jupi6851]

pogchamp

[@parsleytaylor8361]

Rest in peace old tent

[@aidenmcclymont7146]

Malcom Tucker translation of buttons would be funny

[@toeg2030]

you should add wolf that can attack the worker and hunters that can hunter the wolfs

[@MattFenner23]

I think it would make the forest feel more 'alive' if there were little animations like butterflies or birds. Maybe birds might fly away occasionally when you place a building?

[@BWDev]

Yep this kind of stuff is planned. Love the birds flying away on build idea!

[@tedie17]

Not sure if you already have translators, but I am a native Dutch speaker who has been on 3 different internships in the USA, so I can help out with the Dutch translation if needed!

[@mulethedonkey2579]

*WISHLISTING helps advertisement on steam, just so people know!* (You should tell people that, they might just be relying on the video release, not knowing it could help!)

[@finfeehasahat]

Want a lumbermill devlog and ye shall receive.

[@jacksonyukihillary]

I love how the toilet looks like shreks toilet

[@ryanzullo7169]

Italian. I can translate it for u, it's simple: Tree = Pizza, Lumberjack = pasta, Happynes = mandolino. No, a parte gli scherzi sono italiano madre lingua ahahah.

[@wrux]

You should probably use ISO codes for locale domains. It will be better when adding German and German formal for example. Also i18n locales for GB/US varies for dates etc.