Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
8.2I
MAGE
L
OCALIZATION
Imagelocalizationisnotascommonastextlocalization,however,itisnolessimportant.It's
worth mentioning that the goal behind image localization should not be to localize text that
has been “burned” into images or textures, at least, it's something that should be avoided.
It is far more work for translators to modify images especially if they don't have the source
data readily available, which may be the case when the localization is outsourced than it is
for them to modify text and for the text to be rendered.
However,therearelegitimatesituationsinwhichimagereplacementisabsolutelynecessary,
manytimesitistomeetmanydifferentgameratingguidelinesestablishedbydifferentcoun-
tries, depending on the subject matter of the game it may be necessary to remove or replace
imagery that may be considered offensive to some countries.
