If you can proofread a manuscript, you can proofread a game, right? Well, not necessarily. Much of the process is the same, but some of the considerations are a little different. If you miss a full stop or period in a book, it’s distracting, but not the end of the world. But – as any programmer is acutely aware – the wrong punctuation in the wrong place in a game can have all kinds of unforeseen consequences.
Here are five things that make editing games a little more complicated…
Recording your edits
The text for most mobile and console games is stored in separate cells in a spreadsheet (likely Excel), rather than in one long document (in Word or a PDF). The individual cells make a programmer’s job much easier, but the job of an editor or proofreader a little more complicated. Identifying errors aside, one issue is how to make sure that your corrections and changes stand out clearly on a spreadsheet without Word’s track changes. Each page might be hundreds or even thousands of rows – that’s a lot of scrolling!
Excel does actually have a feature where changes to a spreadsheet are stored for up to 60 days in a list. You can find them by clicking the “Review” tab, and then “Show Changes”. That’s one potential solution, but perhaps not the most helpful in the long run. Instead, you could add a column for your changes after the one containing the original text. You can leave the original text as is, and copy/paste/edit the new version in a different colour in this new column, leaving it blank if no change is needed. That way, someone can see at a glance as they scroll through which rows you’ve edited and how the new version differs from the original. You could also add a column for any notes or comments you need to add, also in a different colour.
Just make sure that you and your client agree on your approach!
Small screens and width restrictions
This is something to consider when the game is intended for mobile in particular. If you can only fit thirty characters on each line of text, but a correction requires you to add a few more, you need to ensure that you compensate for them. In one sense, this is no different from a book. But while a book might have 30 lines on each page to absorb any spillover, a game might only have two or three. If you can’t move a word onto the next line, you might have to suggest a cut elsewhere to make the space needed.
You don’t want to inadvertently be responsible for dialogue disappearing off the edge of the screen…
Punctuation with unintended effects
Some games will load the text on screen sentence by sentence, pausing at each period or full stop until the player indicates they’re ready to continue. That’s all well and good until you realise there’s actually a full stop only a few words into a sentence such as “It isn’t like Mr. Jones to be late with a delivery…” Players might end up staring in confusion at “It isn’t like Mr.” for a few moments before “Jones to be late with a delivery” loads up as a new sentence afterwards. If this is an issue, you and your client will need to agree on a way to treat these false periods/full stops differently – for example by marking them with a different character in the spreadsheet (like “Mr_ Jones”) and ensuring that this still displays as a period on screen.
I’ve also seen this kind of issue with quotation marks, and I’m sure there are plenty of other weird and wonderful combinations. Just be prepared to be consistent with whatever solution you find.
Is dialogue assigned to the right character?
While dialogue in a book will have speech or action tags to help the reader navigate a conversation, some games might display a character’s name alongside on-screen dialogue or show the character while they’re speaking. If the character is voiced, the voice will be another indication, alongside any subtitles.
The spreadsheet you’re working with will likely contain a separate field that records either the character’s name or a code for that character, to make sure that the game displays the right name each time and you end up with something like:
Farmer: Stop stealing my crops and get off my land!
Thief: Never!
Farmer: A fight it is then…
You need to ensure that name/code in this additional field matches the character who’s supposed to be speaking – to avoid any confusing scenarios where NPC farmers appear to be arguing with themselves.
Localisation
If a game is being released in multiple languages, that spreadsheet you’re working in will be replicated for each one. If you’re working on the original language – the one on which all the other translations are based – you need to be aware of the implications of your edits for other-language versions. If the translations have already been commissioned, what seems like a minor change on your end might create a lot more work than you think!
Likewise, if you’re working on a translation, you should be careful when editing not to alter the meaning too significantly from the original. The translator should already have picked up on anything that doesn’t work for your particular audience – names that sound rude or offensive, idioms, pop culture references, etc. – but it’s useful to keep an eye out yourself, and to provide some helpful suggestions for replacements if needed.
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