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Article published In:
Localization around the globe
Edited by Minako O'Hagan and Julie McDonough Dolmaya
[The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 7:1/2] 2020
► pp. 28–48

Localization and culturalization for a history-based game

The case of Detention

| National Taiwan University

Released in 2017, the game Detention by the Taiwanese indie developer Red Candle Games gained great domestic success and made a name for itself among gamer communities worldwide. Providing an English-language localization upon its release, the 2D point-and-click horror game is set in the 1960s during Taiwan’s “White Terror” era. The story follows a ghost girl bound to the school she attended and unravels her tragic story. With such a specific temporal and spatial background, the game has a wide range of cultural references, potentially preventing non-Taiwanese players from being immersed in the game. This paper aims to examine industry practices within the theoretical framework of translation studies and understand, with the case of Detention, how culturalization operates at different levels. Through the lens of loss and gain, this paper also discusses how certain cultural connotations are lost in localization to retain the immersive game experience as an overall gain.

Keywords: game localization, video game, culturalization, white terror, history, Taiwan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The historical background of Detention
  • 3.Cultural content and context of Detention
  • 4. Detention, localization and culturalization
    • 4.1Macro-level culturalization
    • 4.2Micro-level culturalization
    • 4.3Transcreation within the framework of culturalization
    • 4.4Loss of cultural connotations in localization
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 January 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.20007.hsu
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Gameography

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