@WadjetEyeGames

Dave Gilbert

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Any chance you can tell us what you're working on now that Technobabylon is out?!

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Dave Gilbert
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Internally we are working on a game called Shardlight, a post-apocalyptic type game. It's being written by our new full-time designer (with me as consultant!) and it's shaping up to be pretty sweet. I haven't talked much about it yet, but now that Technobabylon is done you'll be hearing more. We have some basic info on this website: www.shardlight-game.com

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Thanks a lot for your honesty and for taking the time to explain your position clearly, Dave! And while you're totally right about directing your resources to where they'll be most useful, I hope that in the future, you might view some utility in localising your games! :)

I hope so too! I am probably wrong about EVERYTHING (it's happened before) but I'm pretty risk averse. Since I support my family on this stuff, I kinda have to be.
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Thanks for your answer, Dave! Now, what if I told you that I'd be willing to translate one of the Blackwell games into French free of charge, in order for you to see whether this could be worth your while? :)

Xtooph
It's not just the cost. Lots of people offered to do it for free. But as I said, it's NOT just "translate a file and you're done." There's quite a bit of rejiggering and adjusting to do on the programming end. It takes quite a bit of work. Work which we can't really test because we don't speak the language. Work which time has proven doesn't generate enough reward to make it worth it.
I could be wrong and maybe things are different now, but as someone who supports his family on this stuff I need to direct my time/energy/resources where I know they'll do the most good. Translation has to proven to be... not that. So for now our answer is still no.
(This is probably our most common question and I always hate having to be so negative about it)
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What about localising the Blackwell games into French and thus expanding your audience, Dave? :)

Xtooph
I've answered this question many times before (albeit it's several hundred questions down) but here's my usual response:
Our games are not very localization friendly. It's not a matter of typing in a translation file and you're done. There's quite a bit of work we have to do on the programming end to make it work properly. Work which we can't test because we don't speak the language.
We did tried the translating thing once, and it wasn't the best experience. Gemini Rue was our best selling game by a large margin. We were approached by one of the biggest German adventure game publishers who offered to translate the game (complete with voice acting!) for the German market.
Our best selling game, translated into the language of the country most eager for adventure games? Handled by one of the largest adventure game distributors within that market? It seemed like a no brainer. If anything was a sure bet, this was it.
So we did the work. It was translated and sold in Germany. And hardly anybody bought it. The sales barely even covered our advance. So if our best selling game translated into the language of the best-selling market failed to generate any money for us, it is very hard to justify doing it with anything else.
We are a very small team, and the only way we can earn a living doing this is to be very careful with how we spend our time and energy. These games support my family, and I'm just not willing to take the same risks that I used to.
One day we might switch to an engine that makes localization easier, but until then we aren't interested in getting our games translated. We're sorry.

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Have you seen the latest reviews for Gemini Rue on Steam? It seems as if people are having some technical issues with the game.

This was finally dealt with! Literally an hour ago. Phew. That's one off the list.
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What you miss the most from your childhood?

Sometimes I get nostalgic for the time before the internet, but then I realize I wouldn't be able to Google "Who were the members of Menudo" and have it answered instantly. These things are important.
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ummm is it true u banged gwen stefani the other day?

I... don't think so? I'm sure it's a thing a person would remember.
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I love you, Dave. Happy *slightly* belated birthday. Thank you for making such amazing games. <3

Oh. Thank you! And you are more than welcome.
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