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Lucile Danilov

@locdandloaded.net

600 followers 160 following 160 posts

Freelance Translator 🇺🇸 - 🇫🇷 (KonoSuba, Rune Factory, WitchSpring, Mouthwashing), Game Localization Consultant and overall menace. Author of https://locdandloaded.net/

locdandloaded.net

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Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Mar 30

Bluesky friends! I'm not very active 'round these parts, but since we never know when That Other Website might implode, thought I'd at least get a presentation thread going. Name's Lucile, and I've been working in the games industry for 18+ years. Here are some of my credited titles:

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Mato @clydemandelin.bsky.social · 22h

From my book about #Undertale 's official English-to-Japanese translation

I'd like to expand on this for an article on my site, so if you have any examples of "imprinting" situations in fandoms, please let me know

Some quick examples include FF4, FF6, Trails in the Sky, what else?

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 6d

Good stuff, see you in 7 years 👍

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 7d

MQ support upon receiving a new ticket from you

a man with a beard and blue eyes is looking up

ALT: a man with a beard and blue eyes is looking up

media.tenor.com

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 8d

"Rules for thee, not for me". Same as translators using obvious AI-generated images on social media while complaining about MTPE... People don't see it as an issue until it targets them 😔

a man wearing headphones and sunglasses is holding a book with the words " rules for thee " written above him

ALT: a man wearing headphones and sunglasses is holding a book with the words " rules for thee " written above him

media.tenor.com

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 10d

Localization budgets tend to be a very well-guarded secret, but thanks to SGG's transparency, we can at least make an educated guess for Hades II: The cost of localizing the game's 380.000 words into 14 languages was approximately $1.5m.

Read more: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Hades II is now out of Early Access, earning a staggering 94 score on Metacritic. But beyond butter-smooth gameplay, incredible art and mesmerizing music, the game also stood out for its localization…...

Hades II is now out of Early Access, earning a staggering 94 score on Metacritic. But beyond butter-smooth gameplay, incredible art and mesmerizing music, the game also stood out for its localization ...

www.linkedin.com

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 21d

Freelance illustration gigs drying up. Ad agencies using Midjourney instead of hiring human artists. Costume design turned over to AI wholesale. Good work vanishing.

These are the stories of working visual artists, who describe losing jobs, wages, and hope as their clients and bosses embrace AI.

Artists are losing work, wages, and hope as bosses and clients embrace AI

Visual artists, illustrators and graphic designers share their stories about how AI is being used to lower wages, degrade work and even replace it altogether, in this installment of AI Killed My Job.

www.bloodinthemachine.com

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 23d

Bien sûr, ces fans peuvent faire de l'excellent boulot (comme on l'a vu sur Undertale), mais ça exclut d'office les joueurs sur console ou ceux et celles qui ne veulent pas s'embêter avec les mods (ou qui ne connaissent pas leur existence).

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 23d

Pour en revenir à Toby Fox, je pense en effet qu'il n'est pas prêt à "céder" son bébé à de parfaits inconnus (à l'exception du JP, puisqu'il le parle couramment et peut donc exercer un certain contrôle sur le résultat), mais je trouve dommage qu'il s'en remette aux fans pour le reste.

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 23d

De googler "game localization agency" et de choisir les prestataires les moins chers/avec le meilleur classement SEO, où les traducteurs sont payés des tarifs de misère, et qui n'attirent donc pas les meilleurs profils.

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 23d

Il existe des structures de loc indé qui auraient pu accompagner LocalThunk (@locquest.bsky.social ou @fromthevoid.net, pour ne citer qu'eux) et proposer un résultat de bien meilleure qualité. Malheureusement, beaucoup de devs et d'éditeurs se contentent...

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 23d

À noter qu'on peut attribuer la trad médiocre de Balatro (du moins dans certaines langues) au fait que l'éditeur a contracté une des pires boîtes de l'industrie de la localisation pour s'occuper du projet. Bien sûr, ça n'excuse pas tout, mais...

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Corentin Benoit-Gonin @kocobe.fr · 24d

Undertale fête ses 10 ans aujourd'hui. Le jeu existe en anglais, en japonais... et c'est tout. Faute de réponses de la part des intéressés (Toby Fox, Fangamer ou 8-4), j'ai interrogé l'équipe de talentueux fans qui ont traduit en français eux-mêmes (et GRATOS) ce jeu vendu des millions d'exemplaire.

Undertale : 10 ans et toujours pas traduit – Canard PC

RPG singulier, héritier spirituel d’Earthbound et de Cave Story, Undertale sort le 15 septembre 2015, il y a dix ans, et bouleverse la scène indépendante. Le titre s’écoule à plusieurs millions d’exemplaires à travers le monde, suscite un nombre incalculable de produits dérivés et ouvre la voie à Deltarune, une suite au succès analogue. Pourtant, une décennie plus tard, celui qui est devenu un véritable classique moderne n’a pas connu la moindre localisation officielle autre que le japonais.

www.canardpc.com

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Badly Drawn Bears @badlydrawnbears.bsky.social · 26d

You can be anything in this life. I recommend happy. Xox
MASSIVE canvases now available at electric gallery! Xox

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 27d

"We've resigned the interface with AI in mind"

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 27d

Finally got confirmation that Testronic closed its studios in Madrid and Belgrade.

The company shared those details while also announcing an undisclosed but ‘significant’ investment that will enable ‘accelerate growth.’

Game Developer @gamedeveloper.bsky.social · 27d

Testronic makes 4.8 percent of its total workforce redundant, closes Madrid and Belgrade studios

Testronic makes 4.8 percent of its total workforce redundant, closes Madrid and Belgrade studios

The news comes after numerous reports about upcoming layoffs and severance negotiations, which Testronic didn't officially address until today.

www.gamedeveloper.com

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 28d

Damn, I hope their account is AI-generated too

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 28d

Datamining, there are already plenty of modding tools out there

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 28d

Btw, Silksong's script stands at about 90.000 words total. A pro TL would need about 2 months to translate that much, and that's with an additional editor pass.

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · 28d

Let's be clear, 20k per day is not just unsustainable, it's plain BS. Nobody can translate that much, most professional TLs have a limit of 2-3k words (not characters, important distinction) per day, that can go up to ~5k depending on a number of factors (easy content, lots of repetitions, etc.).

Reposted by Lucile Danilov

Loc in Credits @locincredits.bsky.social · Sep 9

Hell Is Us by #RogueFactor and published by @nacon.bsky.social does not credit its translators.

Only this year, ACE Agency has failed to provide the names of its contractors in two more games:

Architect Life by Shine group (@nacon.bsky.social)
SONOKUNI by Don Yasa Crew (@kakehashigames.com)

Creenshot of the credits roll for Hell Is Us. Is a black screen and the font is white, it can read from top to bottom:
Katoche Font
Ivano Pallmentieri
Aditional Cinematics
Altar Creative Inc.
Additional PR
Dead Good Media
Localization
ACE Agency
Hell Is Us Babies

Screenshot of the credit's roll for Architect Life: A House Design Simulator. The background is a gradiente from muted blue to white and ins a slightly obscured rectangle we can read n white font from top to bottom:
ACE Agency
Localisation Partner

Google Fonts
ASAP
Noto Sans

Screenshot from the credit's roll of SONOKUNI, a black screen with a white font in which you can read from top to bottom:
French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese
Audiovisual, Communication & Entertainment Agency.

(Which is the long version of ACE Agency)

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Sep 6

Not to mention Silksong's texts are absolutely not "straightforward" lmao, you'd be lucky to translate about 3k per day and still deliver production-ready results

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Sep 6

Sometimes I wonder why people say Reddit is a cesspool.

Then I read things like this, and I get it.

Quoted from Reddit: "Translation for a game like this is not a big project. There's like a light novel worth of text. One person could do it in a week. They should just have it redone. It wouldn't cost much.

I'm a professional Japanese translator. Hollow Knight had 20000 words of straightforward dialogue. That's about 40 pages. Even if Silksong has twice as much, that's possible to do in a day."

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Sep 6

And final update on the matter: Palworld credits now feature 40+ new names across a dozen languages :) #TranslatorsInTheCredits

www.pocketpair.jp/palworld/pal...

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Sep 5

I know asking people not to react to clickbaiting headlines is like asking the sun not to shine, BUT

The reason it's phrased as "3 devs and a few contractors" is because it'll drive engagement. That's it. They know it's inaccurate at best.

Lucile Danilov @locdandloaded.net · Sep 5

Actually, there is plenty to be upset about. Palworld is a paid game, so international audiences have a right to expect not being treated like second-class customers just because they don't speak English or Japanese. As I explained on LD: