The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area is without doubt one of the quickest rising on the planet by way of media, nevertheless, there exist distinctive obstacles to success in these markets, comparable to strict censorship legal guidelines and non secular sensibilities, that need to be taken into consideration when firms are planning to interrupt into these markets.

Belka Games and Inlingo have accomplished a case examine comprised of their learnings from localizing Solitaire Cruise, and we’re completely happy to share it under.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area is without doubt one of the most attention-grabbing for recreation builders. At the identical time, it poses some difficulties to localization due to its particular cultural and linguistic options.

In this new case examine, Inlingo and Belka Games share their expertise localizing the cardboard recreation Solitaire Cruise, which is without doubt one of the high 5 highest-grossing Tripeaks solitaire video games on the planet. We’ll speak about how we geared up and shipped a brand new solitaire recreation all over the world, what made it successful, and what pitfalls builders and localizers ought to take into accout when coming into the Arab market.

Belka Games: the liner units sail

The growth workforce started work on the brand new recreation in late 2019. The venture originated within the RnD division, a particular subdivision of Belka Games whose process is to survey new genres for the corporate, make prototypes of mechanics, and take a look at hypotheses. One of the fruits of their analysis turned the idea for a solitaire recreation.

At that point, there have been two giant solitaire tasks in the marketplace, however they had been solely lively within the US. Other video games in the same style could not attain the quantity essential to rank among the many high revenue-generating video games. Belka determined to get forward of the pattern and create a brand new solitaire recreation.

Evgeniy Gilmanov, Executive Game Producer at Belka Games:

“That was our first card recreation, so the mechanic was utterly new to us. A brand new factor would not have only one hidden lure—it is a whole minefield. We’re good at making match-3 ranges and balancing farm and expedition mechanics. But that point, we needed to begin from scratch with how we would method stage design, make a recreation engine shortly, work out the foundations of the sport, develop the mechanics, and think about their affect on each other.”

The division proposed two variations of a solitaire recreation, which had been developed to the stage of playable prototypes. Both choices had been examined, and the workforce selected the higher model based mostly on the outcomes of their analysis. It turned the predecessor to Solitaire Cruise.

In the storyline, gamers set off on a journey on a cruise liner to well-known cities and play solitaire. They get stars and cash for finishing ranges and mixing playing cards. They can use these things to unlock new places and make in-game purchases. On board the liner, gamers meet numerous characters who inform their very own tales and invite gamers to take part in occasions. In addition, mini golf and regatta occasions often happen. But that is not all: the builders are consistently including new options to the acquainted recreation of solitaire in order that gamers do not get bored.

Evgeniy Gilmanov, Executive Game Producer at Belka Games:

“We wanted to provide players with a unique experience, something they hadn’t seen before in card games and perhaps in casual games in general. That’s how we came up with experimental mechanics: a solitaire tournament at a card table, bowling, dice, the player’s cabin, and much more. We haven’t stopped experimenting, and this is partly why the game has been holding steady among the top five solitaire games in the world.”

Inlingo comes on board

The recreation was soft-launched within the spring of 2020. Initially, Solitaire Cruise was launched in two languages: Russian and English. In October 2020, by the point the venture had come out on the worldwide market, Belka turned to Inlingo to localize it. At first, the sport was translated into German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. This made it simpler to advertise the sport on the European market and get nearer to gamers.

After the worldwide launch, Belka’s advertising workforce examined alternative ways to broaden the product. They determined so as to add Chinese, Japanese, and Korean to the listing of languages as a result of Solitaire Cruise’s principal rivals weren’t working in Asia. The localization was successful, and solitaire managed to achieve a big sufficient viewers and income proportion within the Asian market.

The localization of Solitaire Cruise in numbers

But the builders did not cease there. In 2021, they got here to Inlingo with an bold new purpose: localizing the sport into Arabic to broaden into the advanced MENA area.

Evgeniy Gilmanov, Executive Game Producer at Belka Games

“As attention-grabbing as this area is, it’s simply as difficult to work in. The very first thing it’s a must to do is to find out viewers buy-in to your product and see in case your recreation can obtain good metrics within the area. Success in Western international locations would not assure the identical in Arab international locations in any respect.”

“The second factor is the language, type, and nationwide traits of the video games that exist within the MENA area. These parts may cause main modifications to each your technique and your product, so there isn’t any level in coming into a brand new market with out them.”

Before launching the sport in Arabic, Belka did a danger evaluation with the assistance of native audio system who work with Inlingo. The localization began with a survey concerning the particularities of Arab tradition. Based on the survey outcomes, the Inlingo workforce made a guidelines for Belka on what components are acceptable and unacceptable in a recreation. Because Islam is the predominant faith in Arab international locations, it is extremely vital to keep away from delicate matters in order to not disrespect Arab gamers.

In addition, the particular options of the venture made it troublesome to search out Arabic translators. Many native audio system do not translate card video games, that are thought of playing and due to this fact forbidden below Islam. Luckily, Inlingo has a wide range of translators in its database, together with some who will not be certain by such restrictions.

The recreation was translated into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). MSA is a supradialect of Arabic that’s extensively used within the media, leisure trade, schooling, and politics. It could appear just a little formal, however MSA is known in all Arab international locations, so it’s customary to make use of it to localize many merchandise. At Inlingo, we adhere to the identical coverage.

We labored with native audio system to create a method information for the venture to forestall using dialectal types of Arabic within the translation and set up different vital guidelines.

Louise Safarova, Arabic Language Editor at Inlingo

“The most vital factor when translating video games into Arabic is to be cautious and think about the particular nature of the lives of its native audio system. Many matters are delicate or forbidden altogether, comparable to homosexuality, extreme candidness and particulars about intimate points of 1’s life, using merchandise which might be forbidden below Islam, and non secular symbols additionally. There are fairly a couple of of those matters. If they present up in the primary language of the sport, the translators and editors localize the textual content by selecting impartial descriptions of occasions or omitting them from the interpretation altogether, so long as this does not make it obscure.”

Pitfalls

While engaged on the localization, the Belka workforce and Inlingo encountered difficulties associated to linguistic nuances and the way Arabic-speaking gamers would understand the textual content. However, thanks to shut cooperation with native audio system, cautious evaluation, and thorough testing, we managed to keep away from all the next pitfalls.

Don’t confuse your proper and left

Arabic is written from proper to left. It was vital to adapt the sport texts to this type of writing. Every division at Belka needed to get used to and grasp the brand new localization: Localization Management, Development, Quality Assurance, and User Interface. To regulate to the brand new format, the workforce studied a wealth of supplies.

Denis Ivanov, Lead Localization Manager at Belka Games

“To be trustworthy, I nonetheless need to recalibrate myself when proofreading and checking Arabic. It’s like I’ve to toggle some type of swap and begin considering in another way. The venture’s glossary and magnificence information at all times assist, and in troublesome conditions, we flip to the native audio system who work with Inlingo.”

The localization workforce could not neglect about this “swap” both. During the evaluation stage, particular consideration should be paid to how the textual content is displayed, ensuring every time that it’s right-aligned and displayed RTL (proper to left). Some textual content editors (Google Docs/Sheets, Excel, Word) don’t at all times show Arabic textual content appropriately if it accommodates Latin letters or numbers, so it is crucial to check the venture earlier than it is launched.

Check the mirror

In an Arabic localization, textual content is ready to show RTL, however numbers are written from left to proper. This led to an unlucky drawback: the price of bundles and costs within the financial institution had been “mirrored” as a result of texts’ orientation. So, the worth $4.99 turned $99.4, which might positively confuse customers. Luckily, the issue was found and stuck in a short time.

This is how the costs on interactive buttons seemed earlier than fixing the “mirror” drawback.

Here the price on the buttons is appropriately displayed for Arab international locations.

Stay impartial

In Arabic, each verb, noun, and adjective is at all times both masculine or female. Masculine is utilized by default usually, however in lots of tasks it is vital to attempt to keep gender neutrality. The Inlingo workforce proposed a very good answer: utilizing verbal nouns (“masdar”) for such circumstances.

Louise Safarova, Arabic Language Editor at Inlingo

“Nowadays, many firms use this type of the phrase of their Arabic localizations. Arabic grammar is advanced, particularly in relation to verbs. Plus, Arabic has three grammatical numbers—singular, twin, and plural—so there are plenty of guidelines for conjugating verbs. In on a regular basis speech, Arabs attempt to keep away from using verbs utterly and ceaselessly make use of verbal nouns and participles.”

The phrase within the pink field means “purchase.” In Arabic, there is no such thing as a such factor as a impartial infinitive type of the verb, so we use a masdar in such circumstances, like right here: شراء.

Consider all the small print

When getting ready LiveOps occasions, it was particularly vital to think about the cultural and non secular options of the area. The experience of native-speaking translators was invaluable right here too. Inlingo helped localise three huge in-game occasions for holidays which might be vital to Arabic-speaking gamers: Saudi National Day, United Arab Emirates National Day, and Ramadan. The workforce surveyed native audio system to gather details about vacation traditions and non secular restrictions.

Denis Ivanov, Lead Localization Manager at Belka Games

“It’s actually nice when the chance arises to make clear any points with direct representatives of the area we’re serious about. Thanks to their recommendation and proposals, we had been capable of make quite good, memorable occasions for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.”

Because of this, the Inlingo workforce discovered that residents of those international locations gown within the colours of their nationwide flags in the course of the celebrations. Special consideration should be paid to the selection of clothes for ladies, because it completely should cowl the pores and skin. When getting ready an occasion for probably the most vital holidays within the Muslim world, Ramadan, the builders despatched a synopsis to Inlingo’s native audio system so they may rigorously study the narrative.

Eleonora Artemeva, Project Manager at Inlingo

“Our common native audio system had been pleasantly stunned after we despatched them the synopsis about Ramadan and the consumer’s questions. We paid particular consideration to the setting, Istanbul, as a result of we needed to be completely positive that town was a very good match for this occasion. Overall, the native audio system actually preferred the synopsis. We did not get all that many corrections to the textual content, just some concepts for smoothing out any tough edges.”

The native audio system working for Inlingo additionally made an vital refinement to the synopsis for a LiveOps occasion going down within the Bahamas. In the plot, one of many actions that the characters may take part in was swimming with mini pigs. All the native audio system surveyed famous that it could be finest to not point out pigs since they’re thought of “unclean” in Islam.

Inlingo stays in contact with the builders to verify Solitaire Cruise is at all times heading in the right direction.

Results of the collaboration

• Translated the venture into 10 languages in 2 years
• Successfully captured not solely the European and Asian markets, but additionally a brand new area, MENA
• Led the venture to sustained leads to retention and monetization metrics

Edited by Lewis Rees