Topic: How to translate Neverball and Neverputt
This post contains instructions for translating Neverball/Neverputt.
How to use Transifex
We have set up a translation project on Transifex. If you don't have an account with them, you will need to create one first.
Visit our translation project on Transifex and check if your language is already being translated.
If your language isn't being translated yet, use the "Request language" button.
If your language is already in the list, click on the language, then on the "Join team" button. Make sure you coordinate your translations with the rest of the team! We leave it up to you how you wish to handle that. Transifex has a options to lock a translation for other translators for a fixed time.
In any case, let us know if you wish to become a translator or a reviewer. You can do that by posting to this thread.
If you have reviewer status, never mark a string as reviewed unless you're 100% certain that it's correct! We will include unreviewed translations into the software as well, so there's no need to worry about getting "reviewed" status for the strings. However, it is important to keep things clean.
Transifex allows you to watch the project, so you will get a notification whenever the source file changes.
Transifex also allows you to download the file you're translating. Choose "Download for translation" to lock out other translators and prevent any duplicated translation effort. As offline editors, I recommend Virtaal or Poedit.
How to add your translation to the game
In order to add your language to the game, you will have to add a configuration file for it to the <neverball-dir>/data/lang directory. You can use this configuration file for your own testing, but you will also need to provide this file to us when your language is ready to be included in the game.
The filename needs to be ISOcode.txt, e.g. fr.txt for French. The file needs to contain the English name of your language as well as its native name, like this:
name1 French
name2 FrançaisMake sure to save the file in UTF-8 encoding, otherwise all non-English characters will get messed up.
Finally, you will need an .mo version of your translation file. You can create one by saving the .po file in Poedit, or by exporting it with Virtaal. If you are comfortable with using the gettext utilities on a command line, you can also use that. The file needs to be named neverball.mo, and you have to place it in <neverball-dir>/locale/ISOCode/LC_MESSAGES/.
Defining your font set
If your language contains characters that aren't supplied by our standard font, you can specify that in ISOcode.txt as well, e.g. in zh_CN.txt, we have a third line:
font ttf/wqy-microhei.ttcYou will find the fonts available in data/ttf. If we don't have a font for your character set yet, please talk to us so we can find one.
If you have any further questions/problems with the translation process, please let us know.
Happy translating and thank you for your contributions!
