- Game Updates - Russia
- Version Numeration
- Game Updates - Foreign Territories
- Text Translation
- Source Language
- Branch Translation
- Links
- Integration
- Game Resource System
- Repetitions
- In-Branch Updates
- Links
- Excel Spreadsheet explanation
All in-game content, including texts, visuals, voiceover, promo and reference materials, is developed in Russian, with very rare exceptions.
Game Updates - Russia
The game is updated on a regular basis, and new content must be localized for each territory in order to deploy the version. Each territory forms its own updating schedule.In Russia, updates to the game are usually released within the following timeframe (according to past experience and future plans):
- Large content updates, which add new zones, game mechanics and/or classes, are released once in 6-12 months.
- Regular content updates, which introduce several major features as well as improvements to existing content, are released once in a month, sometimes once in two months.
- Hotfixes to the game are released weekly. They aim to fix errors and enable certain in-game events at a specific day and time.
Version Numeration
Versions are numerated in the following way, for example 3.0.02.21:- First index ("3") is changed only when a large content update is released, once in 6-12 months.
- Second index ("0") is reserved for technical purposes.
- Third index ("02") is changed with each monthly update.
- Fourth index ("21") is a version number.
You do not have permission to view link
Log in or register now.
Changes to the fourth index indicate that developers have modified source codes and/or data and the game has been fully rebuilt (including server and client). Number up to the fourth index is often referred as simply "version". Server and client must be of the same version, otherwise the client will fail to connect.
You may also see an additional fifth index occasionally, such as 3.0.02.21.2 - it stands for localization update. Changes to the fifth index indicate that the game was not rebuilt fully, only certain localizable resources were modified (most likely texts). Game client can connect to the server even if their fifth indexes do not match (but only with GM binaries).
You can always find the official list of updates released in Russia here:
You do not have permission to view link
Log in or register now.
Game Updates - Foreign Territories
On foreign territories, updating schedule is different. Due to a significant amount of text to translate for every branch, it can be hard to update to a new branch monthly, as it takes up to several weeks to localize the strings related to the new content and features. Besides, testing and stabilizing a new branch often require additional time. This is why branches with odd numbers (2.0.09, 3.0.01 etc.) are usually not adapted for foreign territories. Instead, branches with even numbers (2.0.08, 3.0.00, 3.0.02 etc.) which incorporate all previous content are normally released once in two months.It is up to local producers and Mail.Ru territorial managers to decide which branch is released next, and in which timeframe it should be localized, built and tested.
New versions for already released branches are released for foreign territories in order to fix critical issues. Sometimes they require additional translation.
Text Translation
Source Language
Mail.Ru translates in-game text of even branches from Russian into English. It is provided to all territories in a form of Excel file which contains:- "English base" translation (EnBase) (it is further adapted for the US, UK and Philippines by respective publishers).
- Russian source (Ru).
- Status of each line, allowing to determine if you should translate this line or use the translation done earlier.
Keep in mind the following points when choosing the source language:
- Russian text is free from translation errors.
- English text contains random translation errors, but special translation fixes are released to address them.
- Russian text of a new branch can be received prior to English.
- Sometimes English text is more consistent than Russian, with clearer game mechanics explanations and concise wording.
- Russian is changed actively from one branch to another, as writers and editors tend to fix and improve texts constantly. Not all of these improvements must be applied to translation. For example, fixing a single typo in Russian is irrelevant to translation, but this small fix may result in a line worth of 100+ words being marked as "modified", and this line cannot be easily distinguished from other changes. Usually it leads to 10-50% higher word count of Russian "modified" lines, so you can expect higher costs and longer time horizons if you translate from Russian. It is a small issue if you have Russian in-house translator available, or if your translation agency offers a special rate for editing existing text in order to align it with the changed source.
- If you do not have a Russian in-house translator available, you might need help of translation agency even for small updates, which may be not so time- and money-efficient. For small updates (hotfixes within a branch) you can opt to use English as a source (as it is always provided by Mail.ru), but in this case you will encounter a problem of aligning your terminology, wording and style with English instead of Russian.
- All documentation on this wiki is in English, and the terms used are taken from English base translation.
- Depending on target language, agency's translators from English may be more proficient, because not many games are translated from Russian directly into other languages apart from English.
Branch Translation
Source text for even-numbered branches is usually provided to all territories once the branch goes live in Russia - in other words, when all related Russian texts are polished enough to be given out to players.This delivery is the largest batch of text to be translated for a given branch. Added lines may constitute up to 20-60 thousand words. For modified lines, word count is about the same, but these lines usually require editing rather than translation.