Hi all,
I just created a pretty basic Python script to make translating a game an easier task. It works for Inform 6 and Inform 7 code, and should be adaptable to other languages pretty easily.
Basically, this script pulls all the strings from a source code and writes them in a translation file, in the format
---String
the sentence to translate
--- Translation
<put your translation here>
Once you translated all the strings, simply run the script again and it’ll create the translated source code. The way it’s designed, it also works if you change the original source code in the meantime. If anyone wants to try it and give me some feedback, that would be great!
Which means that even if you don’t know Inform, you can still translate games! (mostly, because at the end of the process you might want to ask for help to include the right librairies, and correct the syntax of I6 verb declaration)
And if you know Inform, it means you can translate a game without touching the code too much, which means you will not add bugs by mistake (I did that a few years ago, a bad copy-paste and your crucial NPC doesn’t say anything anymore…). A caveat: I7 incudes logic in its strings, so it is more dangerous than I6 in that regard.
I’m also hoping to create more interest in translations of games; there are a few non-English games that have garnered praise in their communities but are virtually unknown to English speakers, and conversely non-English communities would welcome and benefit from the translation of classics written in English. It is something I’d very much like to work on, along with other people who would like to help. Would anyone be interested if I set up a public GitHub repository where people would collaborate on translating games?
EDIT: New version with I7 support, post was changed to reflect this