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Company: Universally Speaking
Game: Archangel
www.usspeaking.com
What is the name of the game for this case study and what platforms was it developed for?
Loreto Sanz Fueyo, localisation manager: Archangel, developed by Black Tower Studios and published by Unity. The game is available on Android and iOS platforms.
What stage of development were you brought in?
Compared to other mobile titles, we were brought in quite early in the development process, which allowed us to fully understand the project and objectives of the developer and publisher.
What services did you provide for the game?
We provided Unity Games with localisation, functionality QA, compatibility QA and localisation QA.
Is there a particular element of the QA and localisation process for the game that you were especially proud of?
The game was not the easiest of titles and cheats were not available. The testers assisted with highlighting particular areas of difficulty to remove these difficulty spikes, providing usability testing
as an added value service.
Due to this, our team got very proficient at the game, which proved an advantage as a fast turnaround time was required, especially when playing through it on multiple devices.
How long and in-depth was the QA and localisation process?
The game was translated into ten languages including French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The localisation of the bulk of the text took three days, including the initial translation followed by proofreading.
Naturally, there were a few last minute pesky strings that had been hiding from the developers or that needed to be updated and returned really quickly to make sure they made it into the build. This happens often and our teams were on standby ready to support with any urgent translations.
We also provided Unity with four rounds of functionality testing on Android and five rounds of functionality testing on iOS. In this case, compatibility QA was integrated with the functionality testing.
In terms of process, the team went through the game on the lowest spec supported Apple and Android devices, and then verified any issues on the remaining devices. Once complete, the title was tested across all devices on a later level (more process heavy), to ensure the framerate and game itself was still playable on the relevant settings.
Lastly, after all the translated text was implemented a round of localisation testing was performed.
Why is it important developers use QA and localisation services for a game like this?
Particularly in case of the titles available on mobile devices, like Archangel, thorough functionality and compatibility testing are a must. There is nothing worse than a user who pays for a game and cannot enjoy it due to the faulty features or lack of compatibility with their platform especially if it is on the list of supported devices.
