Why is LQA Crucial for Indonesian Game Localization

Let's say, for instance, that you have a killer video game and are now raring to penetrate Indonesia—an ambition because this is the largest gaming market in Southeast Asia. How can you make sure, through the localized version of the game, that it's as impressive as the original version, and how do you hook the gamers in Indonesia?

So, how do you make sure your local version's quality will be the best, and any bug or flaw will be caught by you, the developer, not the player? One of the chief duties of a Localization Quality Assurance (LQA) specialist would be to enforce Indonesian game localization to achieve peak performance and reception from local players before being released.

What is Localization Quality Assurance?

Localization QA in this very competitive gaming industry has become a prerequisite for success in Indonesian game localization, even in Indonesia, which continues to rise. It means that with the unique characteristics and preferences of the Indonesian market, together with being the largest games market in Southeast Asia, international game developers have to abide by them if they want to succeed.

Experienced LQA specialists will help game developers from abroad produce a high-quality local version of the games. LQA confirms that the game does not only please players from one's own country but also holds huge potential for becoming a hit in international markets, including Indonesia. Therefore, this process may become very important because it can increase the competitiveness of games at the global level.

LQA testing aims to catch and fix various localization errors that can reduce the quality and overall gaming experience. These errors can vary, from translation errors that occur due to a lack of context to cultural inaccuracies that may be offensive or irrelevant to local players to technical aspects such as the use of inappropriate fonts that can affect readability and aesthetics.

The comprehensive LQA process involves various testing stages, including:

• Linguistic testing: ensures that all text in the game is translated correctly and according to context.
• Functional testing: ensures that technical performance cannot result in a bug or glitch as an outcome of the localization process in a game.
• Culturalization testing: checks whether game content conforms to local cultural norms and values.

By conducting thorough LQA testing, these issues can be identified and fixed before the game is released to the market.

Case Study: Insufficient LQA in Indonesian Game Localization

Poorly done localization quality assurance is bound to raise serious problems that will negatively affect game reception and success. The case study provides the ramifications of poor LQA in Indonesian game localization, showing specific examples where a lack of attention to cultural nuances, linguistic accuracy, and technical performance has led to low-quality gaming experiences for Indonesian players:

1. Bully

This is a video game developed by American Rockstar Games, a publisher of video games located in New York City. This game was very popular on PS2. However, this game has now been banned from being released in Indonesia. In fact, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission is concerned that elements of violence and bullying inside Bully—which troubles the atmosphere of a school—might have a bad influence on children if they play this game.

2. Mortal Kombat 11

This fighting game was reportedly going to be released in Indonesia on April 23, 2019. Many gamers were ready to play it, but unfortunately, this game was canceled in Indonesia because it contained a number of communist elements. This controversy stemmed from the hammer and sickle symbol found on the character Kold World Skarlet. Under Indonesian Law No. 27 of 1999, there is no tolerance for the public display of communist symbols. As a result, players pre-ordering the game were due for a full refund.

3. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

This game was expected to be a standout RPG upon its release in Indonesia. However, it encountered numerous issues due to inadequate localization quality assurance testing, which significantly impacted its success.

The story and characterization in the game are strong. But when it was first released, this game had problems such as errors that caused the game to crash, long loading times, chaotic AI, and disappointing firearms mechanics. The problem with this game itself is that its status was still not completely finished when Activision (a video game publisher from the United States based in California) decided to release it.

Additionally, the game was released close to Half-Life 2, one of the FPS games that was quite popular in Indonesia at that time (around 2004). But until 2021, you can still find people who include VtM in the list of the best RPG games.

Apart from the fact that the story plot is basically solid, fans of this game have also created an unofficial patch that addresses technical problems with the game. Of course, not all of these problems can be resolved with mods and patches. But at least the game is more stable, so players can experience the positive side of the game.

Why It's Important to Test Your Indonesian Game Localization

Here are some of the main reasons why understanding and carrying out comprehensive localization quality assurance testing is an important step to ensure your game is successful in the Indonesian market:

1. Avoiding Errors

Based on data from Databoks in 2023, Indonesia is ranked 99th in terms of mobile internet speed in the world. Therefore, localization testing before releasing the game in Indonesia is very important to prevent errors when playing it. By conducting comprehensive testing, developers can identify and fix issues such as inaccurate subtitle localization, slow loading speeds, or bandwidth limitations that may be affecting the quality and responsiveness of the game. This not only ensures a smooth gaming experience for players but also helps maintain user satisfaction and loyalty to your game in a unique market like Indonesia.

2. Ensuring Local Humor and Cultural References Resonate Well

Humor and culture are highly contextual and often have nuances that can only be understood by people familiar with that context. For example, if you want to include a joke, you must be careful not to use offensive vocabulary or affixes such as "anjing (dog)", "babi (pig)", mentioning the part of a man's or woman's body between the stomach and knees, etc.

Also, avoid using any slang just because the vocabulary is trending because some of it can contain inappropriate meanings and can even potentially be punished. Let's take, for example, the word 'anjay', which is often said by young people when they are amazed by something, but according to the National Commission for Child Protection, this word is interpreted as a form of bullying (a pun on "anjing") because it is a term that demeans a person's dignity.

Likewise, the use of the term "slebew" turns out to be slang, which was collected from various sources and is an expression that contains obscene or pornographic elements. So, before you include local slang in your game humor, it's best to think and research it in depth.

LQA translators and examiners must be native speakers who can capture the author's meaning well and understand the slang and speech patterns of the origin and target cultures. By providing humor and cultural nuances that are authentic, compelling, and relevant, you can ensure players stay engaged and enjoy the gameplay.

3. Prevent Negative Reviews and Product Downgrades from Localization Issues

Another important reason to perform localization quality assurance testing is to avoid negative reviews and product downgrades due to localization issues. When the localization of Indonesian games is not tested properly and thoroughly, it is feared that there will be content inconsistencies with local culture, problems with functionality, messy UI, etc., which will ultimately lead to negative reviews from players. These negative reviews not only haunt the reputation of the game, but they can also lower the ranking of the product. As a result, opportunities for these games to be distributed through platforms such as Google Play and the App Store are increasingly diminishing.

4. Well-Guided Players

The way players are guided through the early moments of the game greatly influences their decision to continue playing. Considering every game could be someone's first, a little guidance is necessary, especially on the easier difficulty levels.

This means that tutorial text and dialogue need to be clear and simple, yet not disrespect the player's intelligence. Misleading instructions in this text or confusing ones in the sense of Lipschitz can provide frustrating hindrances to progress, which may eventually lead the player to abandon the game.

Therefore, it is very important that LQA testers play each part of the game several times, especially at the beginning, to ensure that the guidance provided is clear and precise at every step.

Key Components for LQA in Indonesian Game Localization Although LQA testing usually takes place at the end of a development cycle, we strongly encourage you to integrate quality assurance through the development stages of your project. By doing so, you'll be able to ensure high-quality translation and make localization easier.

Here are some steps you can take to integrate quality control into the localization process and ensure that the result meets the highest standards:

1. Create a Style Guide and Glossary of Terms

First of all, a live and full-fledged guide on style and a glossary are to be prepared. This style guide will be the guideline for all translators and editors in bringing about uniformity in language use, terminologies, and writing style.

This guide should be based on rules of grammar, style preferences, and usage rules for particular terms in your game. Also, the glossary of terms is very important since it makes a list of technical and specific terms that need to be consistently translated. In this way, with a clear style guide and a glossary, setting translators on the right path to using appropriate terminology and correct style from square one will minimize the possible mistakes and inconsistencies.

2. Have Native Speakers and Experts on the Team

One of the best ways to make sure that the translations are of high quality and accurate is to have native speakers and domain experts represented in your localization team. Native speakers command deep knowledge of the language and the culture implicit therein that a non-native translator cannot capture. They can assess whether the translation sounds natural and fits the cultural context. Additionally, involving experts in related fields, such as terminologists or industry specialists, can help ensure that technical and specific terms are used correctly.

These native speakers and experts are the best judges of the quality and accuracy of your translation, and they can provide valuable feedback throughout the Indonesian game localization process.

3. Checking Translations During the Process

Don't wait until the end to check the translation. Continuously checking translations throughout the process is an important step to quickly detect and correct errors. By performing regular checks, you can catch problems early and prevent the accumulation of errors that can become more difficult and expensive to fix later on.

4. Using Modern Localization Tools

Another crucial component is modern localization tools for the automatization of routine checks, increasing the efficiency of the localization process. Computer-assisted translation tools, such as Memsource or MemoQ, are capable of pointing out wrong or inconsistent translations automatically.

These tools are embedded with several features, one of which is translation memory, which saves the previous translations to return the phrases translated correctly. This permits the translator not only to gain speed but also to maintain uniformity in a text.

Get a Professional LQA Partner for Your Indonesian Game Localization Project with Digital-Trans Asia Want to ensure that you are well localized for the Indonesian market? Partnering with Digital-Trans Asia is the right choice. We have long experience in the game localization industry, especially in the Indonesian market, and we fully understand the challenges that arise in this process.

With this deep expertise, we can deliver extraordinary results. Our working approach involves a team of diverse professionals, including native translators experienced in the local language and culture, as well as localization specialists who understand the technical and creative nuances of game localization.