Development Info The Witcher 2 - written in English first

[Elwro]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher 2, The

I watched CD Projekt's press conference at <a href="http://gamecorner.pl/gamecorner/1,86013,7699751,Relacja_z_konferencji_CDP__czyli_Wiedzmin_2_na_zywo.html">Game Corner</a> (you won't see any conference there now; the site contains links to TW 2's <a href="http://plej.gazeta.pl/plej/0,0.html#kanal=Wiedzmin2,typ=polecane">gameplay videos</a>). The game's presentation was fine, but what really interested me were the questions. Unfortunately, they were pretty :banal:, :underwhelming: and :boring:; still, the last sentence of the whole conference is, I think, important for anyone who played TW in English:
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">"The game is being written in English; translations into other languages (including Polish) will follow."</p>
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So if the writing is poor this time, they won't be able to blame this on the translation. Seriously though, remembering TW's translation fuckup, this seems to be a very reasonable move for a multi-language game.
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edit: just got a confirmation from Tom Ohle. Well, it's not 100% confirmation, but anyway, read it to get the full picture:<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">In short, yes that's correct. We have a native English speaker on the team, so while the game is being written by Polish writer(s) it's being implemented in the game in English.</p>

 

[dragonfk]

What the flying fuck are they doing?

I don't want bland translation from English. I want my Witcher full of polish idioms and stuffies. NYA!

 

[Brother None]

Uh...Who is writing the script in English?

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I think BN just hit the nail on the head.

 

[Elwro]

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering, too. They had a line of Polish guys from the team on the stage during the conference and told the audience who was responsible for what, and NONE of them was behind the dialogues from what I managed to hear. Although one of them "created the plot". So the identity of the dialogue writer is a complete :mystary: for me; maybe they hired a good English writer and told him what the plot was? :D Perhaps I'm missing some crucial details since I've not really been following the game recently.

@dragonfk, it's a lot easier to find a good translator from English to Polish, who'll put in all proper idioms and cultural references (some of them will of course be in the plot, I guess) in the Polish script, then to find a good translator the other way round.

 

[Konjad]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :'( Fuck you, CDP Witcher written in English won't be the same Witcher. Seriously, Wiedźmin was full of Polish jokes, word-plays and we even had our president Kaczyński's words in it "Spieprzaj dziadu" which were very popular in our culture (especially teenagers). Now everything will be gone... WHY?* It's a decline!


* - screw foreigners!

 

[Brother None]

Although one of them "created the plot".

Hmmm? I kind of figured Artur Ganszyniec created the plot. Depends on what you mean by created I guess.

maybe they hired a good English writer and told him what the plot was?

This seems most likely. It's also kind of weird.

The most sensible method for a local game with broad international aims is by the method PB used for Risen: write the game in German, then write a team of actual English videogame writers (Andrew S. Walsh, James Leach and Rhianna Pratchett in their case) to do an English version based on the same script but more or less from the ground up, which in turn serves as the basic script to translate localized versions from.

 

[ricolikesrice]

doesnt bother me that much, i loved Wiedźmin for its great RPG mechanics and the compelling gameplay.

 

[Elwro]

Jesus fuck you Polish guys can be really retarded sometimes. What'd be the problem with translating "Shove off, old geezer" into "Spieprzaj, dziadu"? Have faith in the translators, goddamit. CDP had shown they can create very good translations if they put time & money to it. The script after translation may be filled with as many Polish jokes as it would have been if it was written originally in Polish.

 

[Volourn]

Theyb betray their own country and language in the pursuit of money!

HANG THE TRAITORS!!!!!

 

[Elwro]

Hmmm? I kind of figured Artur Ganszyniec created the plot. Depends on what you mean by created I guess.

I haven't the slightest idea what they meant by that. It was funny; the guy on the stage did seem to be a bit shy when the presenter said "X created the plot" while pointing at him. Didn't catch his name, though.

 

[Jasede]

:tear of an eagle:

Noch ist Polen nicht verloren~

 

[Darth Roxor]

doesnt bother me that much, i loved Wiedźmin for its great RPG mechanics and the compelling gameplay.

It would appear ricolikesrice finally suffered a meltdown.

 

[Konjad]

CDP had shown they can create very good translations

I played English translation of Wiedźmin after I've completed it in Polish. English version was a disaster... well, ok, it wasn't as bad as some Russian->English translations but still it was very bad translation.

Also I tend to play games in original language version (if it's English/Polish), therefore I'd be probably playing TW2 in English instead of Polish (I know, that's my fault, not their's, still sucks for me).

 

[Konjad]

Theyb betray their own country and language in the pursuit of money!

HANG THE TRAITORS!!!!!

It's the first time in my life I agree with you.

 

[Elwro]

CDP had shown they can create very good translations

I played English translation of Wiedźmin after I've completed it in Polish. English version was a disaster... well, ok, it wasn't as bad as some Russian->English translations but still it was very bad translation.

Context. Heard of it? I meant translations INTO POLISH, of course.

 

[Silellak]

Theyb betray their own country and language in the pursuit of money!

HANG THE TRAITORS CAPITALISTS!!!!!

 

[Lesifoere]

As long as Rhianna Pratchett isn't involved, it's all good.

 

[Konjad]

Foreigners should learn Polish to play The Witcher

 

[Brother None]

As long as Rhianna Pratchett isn't involved, it's all good.

Yeah, because Risen wasn't easily the best localized non-English RPG in years.

Wait. What?

 

[Grunker]

As long as Rhianna Pratchett isn't involved, it's all good.

Yeah, because Risen wasn't easily the best localized non-English RPG in years.

Wait. What?

Just because it's the best doesn't mean it was good.

This is good news by the way. Sucks to be polish though.

 

[Brother None]

Just because it's the best doesn't mean it was good.

Except when it is good. Which it was. Roofles. Stop the bullshits.

 

[Jim Cojones]

Foreigners should learn Polish to play The Witcher

I recommend starting with this beautiful phrase:

"Tea who-you yeah-bunny!"

But The Witcher isn't worth trying to learn anything more complicated.

 

[Brother None]

When I want to speak Polish I just speak English but use kurwa instead of punctuation kurwa

 

[Elwro]

Stop the bullshits.

...start the bitter truth. A guy I pressed on here claims to have visited the conference and to have spoken with the Pollack "responsible for the plot". He says he was told that guy is also "responsible for the dialogue".

All of this is of course unconfirmed, but if it's true, and "responsible" does not mean "he's telling the Professional English Writers what the dialogue should be about", then in case the guy isn't the new Joseph Conrad I fear we're in for one of the biggest fuckups in modern RPG development.

CDP! IT'S NOT TOO LATE! YOUR AAA TITLE SHOULD BE WRITTEN BY PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH AUTHORS! MAN THE FUCK UP, CUT SOME OF THE FX BUDGET AND PUT IT TO BETTER USE!

 

[Lesifoere]

As long as Rhianna Pratchett isn't involved, it's all good.

Yeah, because Risen wasn't easily the best localized non-English RPG in years.

Wait. What?

Never touched Risen, but though I'm sure Rhianna Pratchett's English is perfectly fluent, she's a shit writer otherwise.

 

[MasPingon]

So if the writing is poor this time, they won't be able to blame this on the translation. Seriously though, remembering TW's translation fuckup, this seems to be a very reasonable move for a multi-language game.

What exacly do you mean by translation fuckup? I was playing both version( polish first, then english) and a difference between those ain't so huge. English version is as piss poor as polish, it's the same not finished dialogs and some sentences "from the ass".

The problem in TW 1 was not translation, it was the writing, which compared to the other crpg productions was very poor. Polish version suffers from the same things as english

 

[Black_Willow]

So if the writing is poor this time, they won't be able to blame this on the translation. Seriously though, remembering TW's translation fuckup, this seems to be a very reasonable move for a multi-language game.

What exacly do you mean by translation fuckup? I was playing both version( polish first, then english) and a difference between those ain't so huge. English version is as piss poor as polish, it's the same not finished dialogs and some sentences "from the ass".

The problem in TW 1 was not translation, it was the writing, which compared to the other crpg productions was very poor. Polish version suffers from the same things as english

Stop the lies. Srsly.

 

[MasPingon]

What lies?Srsly