[SOLVED] Recommendations/Best Practices for translations on a work in progress?

[BBN_VN]

Hi all. I hope the answer to this isn't "don't do it," but I'm working on a VN and one of my fans has offered to begin translating the content into another language. However, it is very much a work in progress with incremental releases.

I'm passingly familiar with the "Generate Translations" feature and how that process works, but when I look at the translated files, I see they are linked (or appear to be linked) to specific lines in the original script. I'm worried that as I continue to work on the VN (adding new images, revising the code, etc.) the translation will have to be redone each time.

So, I guess my first question is, is it possible to do a translation on a not-yet-final VN?

And, if so, are there any recommendations for making the process as smooth and reliable as possible? Tips or tricks you've learned along the way that you don't mind passing down?

Thanks!

[Ocelot]

when I look at the translated files, I see they are linked (or appear to be linked) to specific lines in the original script.

It is slightly more complex than that, but yes, if you change script, it is a good idea to revise translation of that script in case some ids did change.

So, I guess my first question is, is it possible to do a translation on a not-yet-final VN?

Yes, it is possible and was done before.

And, if so, are there any recommendations for making the process as smooth and reliable as possible? Tips or tricks you've learned along the way that you don't mind passing down?

Do not be afraid to create new rpy files. You should strive to be able to completely describe content of every file in concise but informative sentence: "transforms and effects used though whole game", "screens, classes and variables related to minigame X", "script for random events for character Y", "epilogue for chapter 5", "post plot twist scripts for character Y events"...
If you keep your scripts relatively small, it would be less work to recheck translation if one of them changes. Also remember, that translation generates ids based on labels, so it would be good to separate long scripts with labels (like chapter headings) even if you do not intend to jump to those labels.

[BBN_VN]

Thanks, Ocelot. I've been putting everything into a single script file so far because I didn't know about doing multiple rpy files, but it looks like that's pretty straightforward and Ren'Py automatically scans them. So maybe if I put the list of images in one rpy file, then each chapter into its own, that will reduce the amount of backtracking that has to be done.

Thank you!