Background
GBC Language Cabinet is my free CoronaSDK plug-in that helps simplify the addition of multi-language support in your games and applications. Using GBC Language Cabinet is very easy… define the languages you want to use, add the translation text, and then call a function to retrieve the appropriate text in a specific language.
For smaller games, it is very convenient to create a separate Lua module to create and add all the required text that you need within the game, but what about larger applications that have many scenes and/or a large amount of text? What about scenes that are only displayed one time? In these cases, one large Lua file will work, but it is possible to use multiple Lua files to help you manage the large amount of text needed for games such as this.
Modular Approach to Translation Text Managment
For example, translation files can be created per scene, or included in each scene’s create() method…
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-- remove all text entries currently stored in GBC Language Cabinet GBCLanguageCabinet.clearText() -- load scene specific text GBCLanguageCabinet.addLanguage("English", "en") GBCLanguageCabinet.addLanguage("Deutsch", "de") GBCLanguageCabinet.addLanguage("Español", "es") GBCLanguageCabinet.addText("RedBall", { {"en", "That is a ##color## ##object##"}, {"de", "Das ist eine ##color## ##object##"}, {"es", "Esa es una ##object## ##color##"}, }) |
Notice that for each scene, you remove all previous text, add the language, and then add the text. This ensures that only the scene specific text is available. This keeps the memory footprint lower, and makes management of text easier.
In Closing
GBC Language Cabinet is flexible, so the best approach is really up to you. It depends on your game and how you would like to manage it. Using a modular approach allows you to manage translation text in cases where a large number of scenes or a large amount of text makes a single file solution difficult.
I am always interested in knowing who uses GBC Language Cabinet… show me your games! Also, if you have any suggestions for improvements, please let me know.
I originally wrote this article in October of 2015, but never published it. Since I just released an update to Pumpkin Patch Match, and since we are coming up on Halloween, I decided to make a few edits and finally release this Post Mortem.
Background
I wanted to create a Halloween themed game along the lines of my past two holiday releases, Tappy Holidays, and Tappy Valentines Day. Tappy Halloween, as it was going to be called, was going to be a simple game with the same game mechanics as the first two games in the series, but I just couldn’t figure out a game that would be interesting.
After a couple of weeks of trashing ideas, it came to me… make a game where you have to match a pattern of jack-o-lanterns. Shortly after, I decided to change the name to Pumpkin Patch Match since it seemed better suited for the game.
Putting It Together
I have been learning Unity throughout the first part of 2015, and I thought that this would be a good “first game”. I got pretty far, and was pretty impressed with it, but what I thought were a couple of limitations prevented me from continuing, so I went back to CoronaSDK for this app.
I put together a CoronaSDK based application in no time and I am very happy with the results. I feel it is one of my better developed apps.
Stuff I Encountered
- CoronaSDK is great for 2D games. I built Pumpkin Patch Match rather quickly, but I’ve been trying to find a reason to move completely to Unity. I guess both have their strengths and weaknesses. I am close though, since there are a few things that are a bit limiting with Corona.
- 2016: Looking back, I think I should of continued to use Unity… it would of been a great learning experience.
- I decided to try Vungle for monetization… let’s see how this pans out. I hate ad based games, and I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get out of that, but I don’t seem to have a choice. My games with In-App Purchases, or games I originally released as a pay-to-play (no ads) were unsuccessful.
- 2016: Still not sure Vungle is the way to go. It fits well with the game (allowing the player to continue at the same level if he/she watches a video), but I do not see the profits I expected.
- I am also going to release on the Windows Phone platform. I have no experience there, and have no idea how this will turn out. CoronaSDK recently released a Windows Phone build.
- 2016: I did release a Windows Phone version, but since Vungle on CoronaSDK on Windows Phone is not supported, I had to go with a $0.99 app, and as I expected, not a single purchase was made.
Lots of progress this past month, despite trying to get some coding in due to other obligations. I successfully added an “80s Home Computer” mode to SMS. Below is how it currently looks… pixel graphics, classic fuel bar, and 8-bit text in all its glory. Click the image to see a larger screen shot.
80’s Home Computer Mode
I spent a lot of the first half of August researching how to handle the graphics for this mode. I though of recreating all the graphics in pixel art, but it seemed like a lot of work to animate the ship to give it a true 8-bit rotation look. I tried a shader, but it was a bit limited due to the layers I was using in the game. I finally settled on using a render texture, and it works great. I think it captures the look and feel of the 1980s. The score and fuel gauge were then created on a HUD UI layer.
Scope Creep
It’s been about 7 months since I started this project (albeit “off and on”), and I am still adding features. I still want to add an optional “60’s Mainframe Mode”, and I haven’t started on the “Current Year Shmup” mode (although I have some ideas). Once I get these modes where they are playable, I would like to release some video and a playable demo.
This month I plan on tweaking the graphics and code for the 3 modes, defining what I want in the Shmup mode, and putting together a title and options screen.
Space Mission: Survival has been updated and is available on the Apple, Google, and Amazon app stores. This update adds support for the Italian and French languages. Space Mission: Survival now supports 8 languages!
It’s been a few months since my last status update for SMS: The Next Mission. Over the past two months, I have decided to remove, then re-add, the shmup version of the game. I am also again on the fence on whether I should include multiplayer support like I had originally planned (and then decided against).
Originally, I wanted to recreate the mobile version of Space Mission: Survival on the PC and Mac. A desktop version has been running in development for several months now. The PC opens up a lot more options, so I wanted to add a lot of bells and whistles including multiplayer, and expand on the “Classic 90s” retro look. A bit later, I decided to drop multiplayer and focus on single player. I added a “Retro 70s” look as well.
A couple of months later I had a playable game that had two styles, Classic 90s and Retro 70s. Same game, two styles that the player can play from beginning to end. At this point I decided that maybe it would be cooler if the player was some sort of time traveler and can warp to different video game eras. I like it!
So, right now, I have a Retro 70s, Home Computer 80s, and Classic 90s version of the game. The 2000s version will be the shmup level and I will start development on that soon. I am actually thinking of adding a “Text Based 60s” mode to see if I can pull that off.
I am trying to keep each level accurate to the decade. This includes graphics and text styles, sound, and game play.
I am not sure if changing my mind so many times is a good or bad omen, but I believe the current idea of traveling through decades and playing the game with features available at that time will be fun and challenging. The only other decision I have to make (other than a name change, perhaps) is whether I want to add (local) multiplayer support, which would be ideal for consoles.
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Retro 70s Mode
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Classic 90s Mode
Version 1.2 of Pumpkin Patch Match, a Halloween-themed pattern matching game, is now available for iOS and Android. This version provides English, Spanish, German, Chinese, and Japanese language support.
Version 1.2 of GBC Language Cabinet has been uploaded to the Corona Plugin Market, and should be available at this time. This release provides some more debugging messages within the simulator, as well as a helper function to determine the language setting on the device.
A rather large update to the mobile version of Space Mission: Survival has finally been released on the Apple App Store, Amazon Store, and Google Play. After about a month of work on the update, Version 2.0 is live! Changes include:
- Larger UI for smaller devices (phones)
- Additional Achievements
- For iOS, partial Achievements
- Support for multiple languages… English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Klingon. That’s right… KLINGON. Other languages coming soon.
For those interested in the development side, SM:S is written in CoronaSDK, and has the following features:
- The language translation features were developed using the plugin I wrote called GBC Language Cabinet. You can use it too… it’s available on the Corona Market for FREE.
- Persistent data is being managed by another plugin I wrote called GBC Data Cabinet. Again, another FREE plugin for Corona Developers to use.
- I implemented IAP using a plugin called IAP Badger. A great plugin to make in-app purchase development easy. Support is great too.
I’ve been a bit quiet lately, and since this is the end of the month, I figured this is a good time for an update to go over what i have been working on.
I took a break for a couple weeks after Ludum Dare 35, and started up again in mid April. I was all set to continue working on the update to Space Mission: Survival, currently named “SMS: The Next Mission“, but I am still in a bit of a funk deciding what I want to add to the Shmup version of the game. The 70s and 90s version is pretty much complete, except for some tweaks. Until I figure out exactly what I want to see in the Shmup version, I decided to work on some updates to the original mobile version of SMS.
The mobile version was written back in 2014 and one of the features I coded, but did not utilize, was language support. I decided it was a good time to add language support now. Late last year, I wrote a Corona plug-in called GBC Language Cabinet that made it easy to add support for additional languages. Works like a charm… it’s also free for Corona developers. I spent a few hours adding language support to the game via the plug-in, and several days adding language support to the iOS and Android app stores in preparation for the update.
There’s a few other things I wanted to add to SMS, so I decided to keep going and make this upcoming version a massive update. Some improvements you will see, others are internal. Other obvious visible improvements are better support for smaller (ie. phone) devices, and some bug fixes.
Using GBC Language Cabinet is so easy, but while using it for this update, I noticed there are some other things I want to add that will make this plug-in incredible. I am seriously thinking of continuing development on this plug-in and releasing a “Enhanced” version as a paid version (keeping the free to use option also available).
SMS: The Next Mission is still on my radar, and I hope to get back to it very soon. The mobile update should be completed soon, and then I will decide whether to continue development on GBC Language Cabinet Enhanced. If yes, then SMS comes a bit later. If no, sooner.
Well, the results of Ludum Dare 35 are in. This is my second LD, and I improved in some areas, did a little worse in other areas, but overall, I am not surprised by the score. As I wrote in my previous Post Mortem, I had a bit of difficulty coming up with a game for this theme, and settled on a simple matching game.
I like what I developed, but I totally get it… it’s nothing great. My main goal for both Ludum Dares was to submit a game, and I did. I got to learn some new tools (I even muddled my way through Blender), and that is a plus as well.
All in all, it’s a great weekend of gamedev. Congrats to all those that participated and submitted a game… you know how hard it really is. Thanks also goes to those that played and rated my game… I appreciate your comments.
Looking forward to the next LD, and I am hopeful that I can improve my scores.
