Global Game Development at Zynga

2012-03-05 SF Globalization Meet-up 03/05/2012 05.03.2012

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About Team ZIP

•  Zynga International Production

•  Started in April 2010 •  Had 6 members by the end of 2010 -> now over 30 •  At least 15 languages spoken by members of the team

–  English, Chinese, French, Icelandic, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Croatian, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Hindi

•  Internationalize/Localize 15 games and platforms into 7 to 17 languages –  CityVille, Empires & Allies, CastleVille, mobile games, etc!

•  Internationalizing/Localizing more games and platforms into even more languages in 2012

•  Resources: –  Assign 1 producer & 1 engineer to every game –  Analytics for each game

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Multiple pipelines

•  Simultaneous game development •  Simultaneous productions •  Sim ship

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Game content

•  review for cultural appropriateness •  Offensive? •  Voice

•  new content needed for cultures? •  Images •  Holidays •  Legends •  Technology

•  Terminology •  Zynga-wide •  Game specific

•  Glossaries •  Terms •  Definitions •  Reference images

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Game platform I18n

•  Standard “templates” •  New games built on improving platform

•  String handling and formatting •  All strings use same code

•  Language negotiation •  Facebook •  Zynga user db •  User choice

•  User game state •  Where, What, How much •  Language

•  Analytics: locale + geo •  Core system to record data •  Stats game ! core system

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Game code I18n

•  string handling libraries •  Proprietary technology injection •  Social game language

•  static code analysis •  Code scans •  Embedded strings •  Unsafe fns

•  build integration •  Auto l10n kit creation •  Fall-back insurance

•  analytics injection •  Locale metrics •  Geo metrics

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Final touches

•  Production schedules •  Game lifecycle •  Budget forecasting

•  Cross-product coordination •  Cross promotions •  Message, status bars

•  Payments •  Currencies •  Markets

•  Advertising •  Regional ads •  Market data

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Game QA and testing

•  pseudo-localization •  Truncation •  Overlapping •  Embedded strings •  Encoding issues

•  linguistic QA •  Wording •  Voice •  Grammar

•  manual testing •  Game flow •  Integration testing •  Real world

•  automated testing •  Functionality •  String construction •  Static analysis

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I18n Design Considerations

Locale Handling Character encoding Strings

•  External, Grammar, Segments, Plurals, Wrapping

Dates Times Sorting & searching Currency Transaction process

Region-specific functions Numerical formats Fonts and attributes Icons, colours Database enabling

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QUESTIONS?