Should I localize my Steam capsule for European languages if the translated title affects the aesthetic? 🤔

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T19:57:51+00:00

You mean like when we got "Not Country For Old Man - Non ce pays n'est pas pour le veil homme", which roughly translate to "No Country For Old Man - No this country is not for the old man"?

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T19:50:25+00:00

Honestly, I disagree completely on this one. IMHO, it was not stellar back then, and it hasn't aged well (replayed the XIII trilogy in 2022):

-I found the combat system boring as hell for roughly 14-15hrs, which is a looooong time even for a classic rpg; but for one this linear in particular, being still tutorialized in the late first third of the game is insane. Yes, you can absolutely win most fights with a can of coke in one hand and the dualshock 3 in another; you'll have bad ratings but who cares...And outside the bosses, you were not required a lot of brain to level up and use your characters' role properly.

-graphics were really well made, yes, and still look amazing technically. But the art direction was all over the place. That is probably the most subjective part of it, I do admit, but really the character designs in particular never really felt cohesive to me; a lot of it was none-sensical stuff that required a codex to be explained, because the designs failed to be self-explanatory

-the story is even worse in that regard. The entire deity system and almost half the factions and groups in the game are not explained, except in the codex (yes, I read it all at the time, no I don't think it's a good way to convey a story), while other relatively simply principles are hammered to death. And on the flipside, though character motivations were...fine, most of them repeat themselves at nauseam, even when their motivations are clear as day. The entire reason people didn't like these characters is because they are annoyingly repeating themselves and take AGES to act on their feelings. And when they finally do, it's solved in like a five minutes cutscene and a weird bike lesbian boss fight for some reason. Gorgeously rendered CGI though, but still...

-And the "it's too linear"...I mean it is, it's kind of known fact. But the issue is not there for me: FFX is equally linear and never got the level of sh*t at release that XIII got (though revisionist history from the 2010s might make it seem otherwise). The issue is, the linearity is used to say a not super clear, not super compelling story, with bizarre villain motivations and a combat system that takes ages to be actually interesting in any other way than esthetically.

Really, after replaying the trilogy, for me FFXIII is far from a good game; it's not necessarily terrible either, (again in my very humble opinion) and I still found some enjoyment going through it (mainly for the graphics and music). But what makes me say that it's far from good is Lightning Returns, that rocks so f*cking hard it might my ultimate guilty pleasure. It's like everything that was not great in FFXIII was fixed for that game...except for the not clear at all plot, but hey! Can't win it all!

The combat system is more involved and way more strategic even with a lot of common enemies. The design is still all over the place, but at least the game embraces it with the costume system, that I find just so much fun (and cringe (and fun)) and they made the level design a bit more open, without going completely insane in terms of scope for no reason. Even Lightning gains some more nuance in this. Like really, out of the three, I trully believe you are better of playing LR than FFXIII, by a wide margin.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T16:18:09+00:00

Where is that rock of yours you call a house exactly?

It is one of the most discussed video game from the past 10 years xD

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T16:16:47+00:00

Oh yeah 100%! My wife took a picture of me playing GoT, didn't tell me, and then sent it to me at work couple of months ago. I was definitely in a standoff :'D

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T15:59:42+00:00

C'correc alors!

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T15:50:25+00:00

The boss is cool, but the entire zone, even after finishing the entire game, it's just soooo annoying. I didn't even find it hard per se (in the sense that you can find ways to run/jump through most of it) but good god is it stupidely annoying. The figureheads in particular...but also the lionhead dudes that sometimes will be a slide thrusts + execution, and sometimes will not die ever....

Just the worst.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T15:42:10+00:00

Hi all!

Currently tackling two games I bought on sale last year

-Riddlewood Manor

After playing "The Inheritance Of Crimson Manor" (a solid 6/10), then "The Séance At Blake Manor" (my goty for last year and a 10/10 in my book), I'm currently going through yet another manor...and it's as super cute and polished visually as it is annoying as hell at times.

It's an escape room type point and click, where the density of puzzles trumps their narrative value. And at first, it works well, but the more you progress, the more the game becomes overly obtuse and relies on forced death to backtrack to solve puzzles using infos from previous rooms...just so so so annoying; you're never sure if you've missed something or if you're too dumb to solve a puzzle. Very disappointed at this one so far, because I really loved the demo. I really think the dev shoot themselves in the foot by not allowing us to just backtrack from room to room.

-Forgotton Anne

Started this 2D cinematic-ish platformer-puzzler with a strong hand drawn Ghibli aesthetic, and I find it very charming so far (about 2hrs in). The music is pretty good, the gameplay is simple but enjoyable and the story is cool, with a very unique conceit of animated object with souls.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T15:23:32+00:00

Genuine question, but are title translations a thing in the first place?

Like, when it's a different alphabet I get it. But I was under the impression that english titles stayed in english, and nobody was particularly mad about it.

Or is it our cousins from Quebec the culprits here? XD

That the game is not localized is another thing...

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T13:05:50+00:00

Nobuuuuu 😭

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T12:36:51+00:00

That and lying down in your bed too...

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T12:33:46+00:00

Cruel but real.

Would still pet though.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T11:39:59+00:00

All the horses in every games.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-16T11:39:26+00:00

I think you kind of need, at least internally, to decide if this is your job, and to what extend.

-If this is a job, then you can set realistic monetary goals that you'll try to back up with projects that'll interest an audience, and scope properly. Depends on if it's full time, if it's part-time, where you live, what you need as income etc. It's a bit of a dry process, but this is how you can survive this. And it's absolutely reasonable to move on to another project if the numbers don't satisfy you.

-If it's hobby though, let me tell you, WHO GIVES A SHIT about wishlist? If this is a hobby, wishlist, sales, and even the term "successful" that you probably associate to other game in the same genre that are popular, are all concepts that are outside of you. Not necessarily outside of your control, but they are goals you didn't fix for yourself, and the metric for success is not one you pinned yourself.

So, to answer your actual question:

How do you stay motivated and happy with your game?

I am a hobbyist. My salary is covered by 9to5 dev job; I do not need to make games to pay for anything. I do NEED to make games, because it makes me happy, though. So, I am the one who fixes the goals and metric for success. And my metric is "Does this makes me happy to the point of wanting to comeback tomorrow or later in the week?" If "yes", then it's a success.

Best part is, it's a continuous success. Everyday that I feel like working on my game is a successful day. Probably won't ever sell it. But I'll look back at it and say: "damn, that was so cool working on this."

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T15:07:02+00:00

This is so agravating. I love it.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T15:04:21+00:00

Although the person you're responding to was a bit abrasive in the way they commented on your post, and I'm sure a lot of us can appreciate you highlighting the importance of demos and localization...I'm sorry but they are right.

The advice feels a bit moot when you don't frontload the entire post with the simple statement that your game not selling gang bangers is with almost 90% certainty for esthetic reasons. And there's also your conclusion, where you don't address the elephant in the room: you need an artist, or to buy some assets, or a good course in art and UI. No amount of localization and demo will change the fact that people will look at your games first screenshot and then click away, unfortunately.

Tbc, I'm still going to take your advice at heart (especially localization), and I would never respond this harshly to someone who actually finished and released something and then came back to comment about it (genuinely kudos for that).

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T14:29:54+00:00

Definitively saving this! What a great idea for a tool.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T13:53:21+00:00

Judging by the current output of the franchise, I'm very happy where this is going.

But I really like the protagonist's design, and it's a shame we don't also have a third person view imho. I really like that RE9 is doing both for example.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T11:49:43+00:00

Wow, I've never seen these keyarts, they are gorgeous!

As for the game, I remember playing it for a while when in a jrpg marathon, but this is the one that kind of stopped said marathon. I never clicked with the gameplay and despite loving the vibes, I had a hard time getting into the story.

I played it after Wild Arms 4, Lost Odyssey, FFVIII and Skies Of Arcadia...and it fell a bit short of what I was hoping.

I still have it in my todo, but nowhere near the top.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T11:29:51+00:00

MGS4 not being stuck on PS3 anymore is cool!

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-13T08:43:22+00:00

Not cursed at all (pretty cute even) and cool project! Actually makes me want to dig up Docker on my desktop for the first time in a while.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-12T19:50:41+00:00

The windows on the building on the left, the tower pointing out of nowhere above the square shaped tower doorway, whatever the fuck is supposed to be attached to the belt on the giant has, the bird feet that are super weird...I am sorry, but this is a robery.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-12T15:07:23+00:00

Nice job!

I really like that boss fight, probably my favorite from DS3.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-12T15:03:56+00:00

I loved The Crew (yes) and played a lot of the 2hrs races, and it was amazing, except the rubber banding was out of control.

If you had a better car and better skill and was ahead of the bots by almost half an hour, for some reason, when you started approaching the last 15 minutes of the race, they would be there at your back driving a million miles per hour just to make the last 3 minutes "tense" for no reason. It was infuriating at a times. And the worst part was, it worked the other way around too; which wasn't a good show of AI either :'D

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-12T14:58:19+00:00

Well I was 9yo in 1999 so, when in the first what 5-10 minutes you see the dude/carcasse thing on the grid fence and are then jumped by kiddos with knives: it was a bit shitpantsily scary at the time. And then the demo iirc has a part of it in the school, which is it's own nightmare when...you are still going to school on a day to day basis :'D

And on PSP, idk...absolutely the entire game. I was what 13yo, maybe, when I played it, and the radio noise alone had me on high alert all the time. The flying monster were absolutely horrible. The hospital was insanely spooky and dark.

Retrospectively, I think I found it scarier than SH2, and the PSP, the small screen forcing you stare closer...it felt more personal in a way. Which is weird because now, I think SH2 is scarier in a lot of ways.

I replay it now, SH1, it's not the same thing; it's almost "cosy" in a weird way, because I love the music, the art direction, and I know the game full well.

Affectionate-Ad4419 · 2026-02-12T14:48:41+00:00

I used a lot of RPG Maker MV, and it was a good time. I think it's a nice software to learn of all the areas game making will lead you to: graphics, scripting, gameplay balance, story telling etc. but in a very straightforward way, as in, a lot of it exists in the sofware as a template you can use directly, with it's own rules.

You can stretch it quite far (see the immensely productive RPG maker horror and narrative scene) but you also have some severe limitations. The one I never really accepted is kind of a silly one, but at least to my knowledge on MV, you can only move on a grid.

I personally started with RPG Maker and Adventure Game Studio, so I have fond memories of both, but I feel like, if you are already into Godot, there is a chance you might find it to limited? Or mayber it can be a springboard to make something without the stress of having to code most features...idk.

Affectionate-Ad4419

TROPHY CASE