Localizing the 3D Character Base Mesh

Having taken into consider what we have researched so far, we thought that it is important to feature every country with its special body characteristics. To do that, we will be adjusting the height and the body weight of each character according to the average for each country.

As you can see, the average height in Germany is way much taller than Japan. As a result, the German character in the game will be much taller than the Japanese one.

Graphic research – Same word in different countries

I am currently in charge of the 3D graphics part of the project and my current research is based on the differences between the looking of the objects and props in a game depending on its location.

As Nikita shared few days ago, we have established a final country list of 5 different countries. Basing myself on it, I have researched the main characteristics that define each country when it comes to 3D graphics.

Last Tuesday, on our Workshop session, we narrowed down the game concept into few game ideas. During this week, I have based my research on these ideas that came across during the brainstorming. Specifically, I have focused my research on the graphic differences of the meaning of the term “Warrior” in the listed countries below depending of the historical background of each one.

• United States of America

• United Kingdom

• Japan

• Spain

• Germany

Market Research - Spain Game Market

Spain is after United Kingdom, France and Germany the fourth largest video game market in Europe. 

The Growing Spanish-Speaking Gaming Market 

As a reaction to the news of this growing market, GameSpot and Univision announced that they were teaming up to provide content for a new online destination focusing on video games in Spanish.

GameSpot, a gaming website owned by CBS Interactive, will provide content for this new Spanish gaming website, which will be hosted on Univision.com. Univision is a Spanish-language TV network that reaches more than 95 percent of Spanish-speaking households in the United States.

New research conducted by Univision shows that Hispanic households were more likely than non-Hispanic households to buy a video game in the next 30 days. Not only that, but they were also more likely to purchase in-home video game consoles and say that the price point was not a factor or deterrent in purchasing games or other gaming accessories.

“Our new video games site will be an industry-leading, fully comprehensive US Spanish-language source for video game news, content and information,” said Kevin Conroy, president of Univision Interactive Media, in a recent press release. “This launch is part of Univision’s company-wide commitment to providing US Hispanics with best-in-class Spanish-language video gaming content not currently available to them anywhere else.”

The website will focus on news, reviews, editorials and tips on video games in Spanish as well as top-selling games worldwide. 

Translating and Localizing Video Games in Spanish 

This new information about the Spanish-speaking gaming market highlights exactly why it’s important for game developers to think about translating and localizing video games in Spanish.

While many companies offer translation and localization services, not all are the same. There are many things to consider when working on video games in Spanish.

For example, there are 300 million people around the world whose native language is Spanish. It is widely spoken in 22 countries on four continents, including the US, which has about 30 million native Spanish speakers. However, not all of these 300 million speakers speak the same kind of Spanish.

There are many different dialects in Spanish, which results in differences in grammar, vocabulary and accents. Even verbs are conjugated differently. Common phrases in some varieties of Spanish can be perceived as silly, offensive or even completely unknown to other Spanish speakers.

When translating and localizing video games in Spanish, some companies go with a form of “neutral Spanish” that has no idioms, jargon or telling accents. While this sounds like the ideal solution, it often isn’t — this “neutral” version of the language seems stiff and unreal to native Spanish speakers and can be perceived as a bad quality translation.

Resource font: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Market Research - USA Game Market

Video gaming in the United States is one of the fastest growing entertainment industries in the country. According to a 2010 study released by the Entertainment Software Association, the computer and the video game industry added US$4.9 billion to the economy of the United States. There are some estimates that by 2015 the worldwide gaming industry will possibly reach $70.1 billion. 

The average American gamer spends an average of 13 hours per week playing video games.

In statistics collected by The ESA for the year 2013, a reported 90% of Americans play video games and the average American household now owns at least one dedicated game console, PC or Smartphone. The households that own these items play games most commonly on their Console or PC. 36% of U.S. gamers play on their smart phones. 43% of Video game consumers believe games give them the most value for their money compared to other common forms of entertainment such as movies, or music. Almost half of Americans who are gaming more than they did three years ago spend less time playing board games, watching TV, going to the movies, and watching movies at home. When Americans game, 62% do so with others online or in person yet the other person is more likely to be a friend than a significant other or family member. The most common reason parents play video games with their children is because it’s fun for the entire family or they are asked to. 52% of parents believe video games are a positive part of their child’s life and 71% of parents with children under 18 see gaming as beneficial to mental stimulation or education. 

Demographics 

The average age of a U.S. gamer is 30, the average number of years a U.S. gamer has been playing games is 13, and only 32% of the gamer population is under 18 years old. The American gamer population is 55% male and 45% female. Of those females, women 18 and older account for a greater portion of the population than males younger than 18. 

Market statics 

The bestselling console video game genres of 2012 were Action, Shooters, and Sports. The PC gaming market’s bestselling genres were Role-playing, Strategy, and Casual. For online games the most popular genres are Puzzle/trivia, action/strategy, and casual/social games. While there are many American video game developers that have been producing games for years, Japanese games and companies have regularly been listed in the annual lists of best sellers. The U.S. computer and video game dollar sales growth of 2012 was 14.8 billion dollars, showing a drop of 1.6 billion from the year before. The Unit sales growth featured a similar drop with the report of 188 million units sold from 245.9 in 2011. U.S gaming consumers spent a total of $20.77 billion on the game industry alone and currently hard copies of video games are still dominating in sales compared to digital copies.

Resource font: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_gaming_in_the_United_States 

Market Research - China Game Market

Online gaming in China represents one of the largest and fastest growing Internet business sectors in the world. With 457 million Internet users currently active in the PRC, the country now has the largest online user base in world, of which two-thirds engage in online game play. The average online gamer in China is relatively young (18 to 30 years old), male, and has at least completed a secondary level of education. Demographically the online gaming user base in China is very similar to base of China Internet users, most of whom live in larger cities. 

Online games in China fall into two primary categories: MMORPGs and MOCGs, the former have a predilection for persistent online worlds where hundreds to thousands of game players can interact simultaneously; the latter is a generic term for games played competitively online without the existence of a persistent online realm (games as simple as online Ma Jiang and online competitive card games would fall under this category). In 2011, there were over 100 million Chinese MMO gamers. 

Official Chinese statistics regarding online gaming state that as of the close of 2006 revenue from China's online gaming industry reached 8 billion RMB or around 1.04 billion US dollars, with earnings reaching around 33 billion RMB or 4.3 billion US dollars. Additionally, while American, Japanese, and South Korean companies have traditionally dominated the market, Chinese developed software now holds a 65% market share on the mainland, with an additional 20 million in revenue generated by users outside of China. 

The online gaming market in China grew to $1.6 billion in 2007, and is expected to exceed $3 Billion in 2010. QQ Games is one such popular online game. Growth was driven in part by China's most popular online game, Netease's Fantasy Westward Journey, which now has 1.66 million peak concurrent users. Another contributor is Giant's Zhengtu Online, which has 1.52 million peak concurrent users. 

China is now the world's largest online gaming market, contributing one-third to the global revenue in this sector in 2009, or 56 percent of the Asia Pacific total. 

There are 368 million Internet users playing online games in the country and the industry was worth US$13.5 billion in 2013. 73% of gamers are male, 27% are female. 

Resource font: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_gaming_in_China 

Cultural Differences in Game Appreciation: A Study of Player Game Reviews

Cultural Differences in Ultimatum Game Experiments: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis

Let’s get started!

Hello guys!

So excited to start this new project! I would like to share with you some of the research that I have done so far.

First of all, I have found a paper titled “Cultural Differences in Ultimatum Game Experiments: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis” that shows the differences in terms of reaction and perception of the same game in different countries and regions.  I think it will be useful for us, as a starting point, because we have some contrasted data on it.

In addition, I have also found another paper that is related on this field. However, instead of analysing the reactions of the players depending of the regions, analyse the way they review the game depending of their culture.

Last but not least, I attach you guys a useful web link that displays the top 100 countries by game revenues. Let’s be honest, money always matter! As I see it, one idea for this project is might be to adapt the concept of a game for several regions. In that case, taking into consideration where the game industry is more powerful is a MUST.

http://www.newzoo.com/free/rankings/top-100-countries-by-game-revenues/


Best regards,
Llogari