Files

David Kotnik bdb27d2174 feat: Add prologue voiceover loading, implement new game systems, and introduce development logs

2026-01-04 14:11:14 +01:00

11 KiB

Raw Blame History

🌍 MULTI-LANGUAGE LOCALIZATION PLAN

Game: Mrtva Dolina / Death Valley
Date: January 4, 2026
Status: Planning Phase

📋 CORE LANGUAGES

Primary (DONE): ✅

Slovenian (sl-SI) - Native language, COMPLETE
- ✅ All dialogue translated
- ✅ UI translated
- ✅ 12 prologue voiceovers (Rok + Petra)
- ✅ Real character portraits

Target Languages (TODO):

English (en-US) 🇺🇸
German (de-DE) 🇩🇪
Italian (it-IT) 🇮🇹
Croatian (hr-HR) 🇭🇷
Serbian (sr-RS) 🇷🇸

🎯 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

Phase 1: Localization System (Week 1)

Goal: Create dynamic language switching system

Tasks:

✅ Create LocalizationSystem.js (already exists!)
Create language JSON files:
- assets/localization/en-US.json
- assets/localization/de-DE.json
- assets/localization/it-IT.json
- assets/localization/hr-HR.json
- assets/localization/sr-RS.json
- assets/localization/sl-SI.json (extract current)
Update PrologueScene.js to use LocalizationSystem
Create language selector UI (main menu)

Structure:

{
  "ui": {
    "skip": "Press ESC to skip",
    "autoAdvance": "Press SPACE to toggle auto-advance"
  },
  "prologue": {
    "scene_01": {
      "speaker": "NARRATOR",
      "text": "Year 2084. The zombie virus destroyed the world."
    },
    ...
  }
}

Phase 2: Translation (Week 2-3)

Goal: Translate all game text to 5 languages

Content to Translate:

1. Prologue (12 scenes):

Scene descriptions
Character dialogue
Narrator text

2. UI Elements:

Menu items
Button labels
Tutorial text
Item descriptions
Quest text

3. NPC Dialogue:

Gronk conversations
Town NPCs
Quest givers

Translation Methods:

Option A: Professional Translation (BEST)

Hire freelance translators (Fiverr, Upwork)
~$50-100 per language for game text
Native speakers ensure quality

Option B: AI Translation (FAST)

Use DeepL API (better than Google)
Manual review by native speaker
Free tier: 500,000 characters/month

Option C: Community Translation (FREE)

Open GitHub for community contributions
Steam forum volunteers
Quality varies

Recommendation: Start with DeepL + Manual Review

Phase 3: Voiceover Generation (Week 4-5)

Goal: Generate voiceovers for all 5 languages

Available Voices (Microsoft Edge TTS):

English (en-US):

Male: en-US-GuyNeural (Kai)
Female: en-US-JennyNeural (Ana)
Narrator: en-US-ChristopherNeural

German (de-DE):

Male: de-DE-ConradNeural (Kai)
Female: de-DE-KatjaNeural (Ana)
Narrator: de-DE-KillianNeural

Italian (it-IT):

Male: it-IT-DiegoNeural (Kai)
Female: it-IT-ElsaNeural (Ana)
Narrator: it-IT-GiuseppeNeural

Croatian (hr-HR):

Male: hr-HR-SreckoNeural (Kai)
Female: hr-HR-GabrijelaNeural (Ana)

Serbian (sr-RS):

Male: sr-RS-NicholasNeural (Kai)
Female: sr-RS-SophieNeural (Ana)

Generation Scripts:

Create automated scripts for each language:

# ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_english.sh
# ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_german.sh
# ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_italian.sh
# ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_croatian.sh
# ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_serbian.sh

Folder Structure:

assets/audio 🔴/voiceover/
├── prologue_sl/   (Slovenian - DONE)
├── prologue_en/   (English)
├── prologue_de/   (German)
├── prologue_it/   (Italian)
├── prologue_hr/   (Croatian)
└── prologue_sr/   (Serbian)

Phase 4: Integration (Week 6)

Goal: Wire everything together

Tasks:

Update PreloadScene:
- Load language files
- Detect user's OS language (default)
- Load appropriate voiceover folder

Language Selector UI:

[MAIN MENU]
├── New Game
├── Continue
├── Options
│   └── Language ◄ NEW!
│       ├── 🇸🇮 Slovenščina
│       ├── 🇬🇧 English
│       ├── 🇩🇪 Deutsch
│       ├── 🇮🇹 Italiano
│       ├── 🇭🇷 Hrvatski
│       └── 🇷🇸 Srpski
└── Quit

Dynamic Loading:

// PrologueScene.preload()
const lang = this.game.settings.language || 'sl-SI';

// Load appropriate audio
for (let i = 1; i <= 12; i++) {
    const num = i.toString().padStart(2, '0');
    this.load.audio(
        `prologue_${num}`, 
        `assets/audio 🔴/voiceover/prologue_${lang.split('-')[0]}/prologue_${num}.wav`
    );
}

// Load localization
this.load.json('localization', `assets/localization/${lang}.json`);

Runtime Switching:
- Save language preference to localStorage
- Reload scene when language changes
- Keep game state

📊 PRODUCTION TIMELINE

Week	Task	Deliverable
1	Localization System	Language JSON structure
2	English Translation	en-US.json + voiceovers
3	German + Italian	de-DE.json, it-IT.json + voice
4	Croatian + Serbian	hr-HR.json, sr-RS.json + voice
5	Integration	Language selector UI
6	Testing	All languages verified

Total Time: ~6 weeks (1.5 months)

💰 COST ESTIMATE

Option 1: Professional Translation

5 languages × $75/language = $375
Voiceovers: FREE (Edge TTS)
Total: $375

Option 2: AI + Review

DeepL API: FREE (under limit)
Native speaker review: $25/language × 5 = $125
Voiceovers: FREE (Edge TTS)
Total: $125

Option 3: DIY

Your time: ~40 hours
Voiceovers: FREE (Edge TTS)
Total: $0 (time only)

Recommendation: Option 2 (AI + Review) - Best balance of quality/cost/speed

🛠️ TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

1. Create Localization Manager

// src/systems/LocalizationManager.js
class LocalizationManager {
    constructor(game) {
        this.game = game;
        this.currentLanguage = 'sl-SI';
        this.translations = {};
        this.availableLanguages = [
            { code: 'sl-SI', name: 'Slovenščina', flag: '🇸🇮' },
            { code: 'en-US', name: 'English', flag: '🇬🇧' },
            { code: 'de-DE', name: 'Deutsch', flag: '🇩🇪' },
            { code: 'it-IT', name: 'Italiano', flag: '🇮🇹' },
            { code: 'hr-HR', name: 'Hrvatski', flag: '🇭🇷' },
            { code: 'sr-RS', name: 'Srpski', flag: '🇷🇸' }
        ];
    }

    loadLanguage(langCode) {
        // Load JSON file
        this.translations = this.game.cache.json.get(`lang_${langCode}`);
        this.currentLanguage = langCode;
        localStorage.setItem('game_language', langCode);
    }

    getText(key) {
        const keys = key.split('.');
        let value = this.translations;
        for (const k of keys) {
            value = value[k];
            if (!value) return key; // Fallback
        }
        return value;
    }

    getVoiceFolder() {
        const langShort = this.currentLanguage.split('-')[0];
        return `prologue_${langShort}`;
    }
}

2. Update PrologueScene

preload() {
    // Detect language
    const savedLang = localStorage.getItem('game_language') || 'sl-SI';
    const langShort = savedLang.split('-')[0];
    
    // Load localization
    this.load.json(`lang_${savedLang}`, `assets/localization/${savedLang}.json`);
    
    // Load character portraits
    this.load.image('kai_portrait', 'reference_images/kai_master_style33.png');
    this.load.image('ana_portrait', 'reference_images/ana_master_style33.png');
    
    // Load voiceovers for current language
    for (let i = 1; i <= 12; i++) {
        const num = i.toString().padStart(2, '0');
        this.load.audio(
            `prologue_${num}`, 
            `assets/audio 🔴/voiceover/prologue_${langShort}/prologue_${num}.wav`
        );
    }
}

create() {
    // Initialize localization
    this.lang = new LocalizationManager(this.game);
    this.lang.loadLanguage(savedLang);
    
    // Use translations
    const skipText = this.add.text(
        width - 20, 20, 
        this.lang.getText('ui.skip'), 
        { fontSize: '16px', color: '#888888' }
    );
}

🎬 AUTOMATED GENERATION WORKFLOW

Master Script:

#!/bin/bash
# generate_all_languages.sh

echo "🌍 Generating voiceovers for all 6 languages..."

# Slovenian (DONE)
echo "✅ Slovenian - already complete"

# English
./ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_english.sh

# German
./ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_german.sh

# Italian
./ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_italian.sh

# Croatian
./ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_croatian.sh

# Serbian
./ai_voice_gen/generate_prologue_serbian.sh

echo "🎉 All languages generated!"
echo "📊 Total files: 72 (12 per language × 6 languages)"

Estimated Time: ~20 minutes for all languages

📈 PRIORITY ORDER

Immediate (This Month):

✅ Slovenian (COMPLETE)
English (biggest market)

High Priority (Next Month):

German (Steam top 3 market)
Italian (neighboring country, big gaming market)

Medium Priority (Q1 2026):

Croatian (region similarity)
Serbian (region similarity)

🎯 NEXT STEPS

TODAY:

Create LocalizationManager.js
Extract Slovenian text to sl-SI.json
Create en-US.json (English translation)

THIS WEEK:

Generate English voiceovers (12 files)
Test language switching
Create language selector UI

NEXT WEEK:

German + Italian translations
Generate voiceovers
Full integration test

📝 NOTES

Why These 5 Languages?

English - Global standard, Steam #1
German - Steam #2 market, high-quality gaming culture
Italian - Close to Slovenia, big indie game market
Croatian - Regional, similar culture, easy translation
Serbian - Regional, similar culture, Cyrillic option

Alternative Languages to Consider:

Russian (huge market, but Cyrillic)
Spanish (global, but less indie focus)
French (big market, strict translation requirements)
Polish (huge gaming market, Slavic language)

✅ SUCCESS CRITERIA

All 6 languages fully translated
72 voiceover files generated (12 × 6)
Language selector UI functional
Runtime switching works seamlessly
No performance impact
Saved preferences persist
All text uses localization system

Target Launch: All 6 languages available at Early Access launch

Last Updated: January 4, 2026
Status: Planning → Implementation Phase Starting

11 KiB Raw Blame History Unescape Escape