Cruise to the East: how to successfully localize a game into Arabic

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the most interesting for game developers. At the same time, it poses some difficulties to localization because of its special cultural and linguistic features. In this new case study, Inlingo and Belka Games share their experience localizing the card game Solitaire Cruise, which is one of the top five highest-grossing Tripeaks solitaire games in the world.

We'll talk about how we equipped and shipped a new solitaire game around the world, what made it a success, and what pitfalls developers and localizers should keep in mind when entering the Arab market.

The development team began work on the new game in late 2019. The project originated in the RnD department, a special subdivision of Belka Games whose task is to survey new genres for the company, make prototypes of mechanics, and test hypotheses. One of the fruits of their research became the concept for a solitaire game.

At that time, there were two large solitaire projects on the market, but they were only active in the US. Other games in a similar genre couldn't reach the volume necessary to rank among the top revenue-generating games. Belka decided to get ahead of the trend and create a new solitaire game.

The department proposed two versions of a solitaire game, which were developed to the stage of playable prototypes. Both options were tested, and the team chose the better version based on the results of their research. It became the predecessor to Solitaire Cruise.

In the storyline, players set off on a journey on a cruise liner to famous cities and play solitaire. They get stars and coins for completing levels and combining cards. They can use these items to unlock new locations and make in-game purchases. On board the liner, players meet various characters who tell their own stories and invite players to participate in events. In addition, mini golf and regatta events occasionally take place. But that's not all: the developers are constantly adding new features to the familiar game of solitaire so that players don't get bored.

The game was soft-launched in the spring of 2020. Initially, Solitaire Cruise was released in two languages: Russian and English. In October 2020, by the time the project had come out on the global market, Belka turned to Inlingo to localize it. At first, the game was translated into German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. This made it easier to promote the game on the European market and get closer to players.

After the worldwide release, Belka's marketing team tested different ways to expand the product. They decided to add Chinese, Japanese, and Korean to the list of languages because Solitaire Cruise's main competitors weren't operating in Asia. The localization was a success, and solitaire managed to reach a large enough audience and revenue percentage in the Asian market.

Before launching the game in Arabic, Belka did a risk assessment with the help of native speakers who work with Inlingo. The localization started with a survey about the particularities of Arab culture. Based on the survey results, the Inlingo team made a checklist for Belka on what elements are acceptable and unacceptable in a game. Because Islam is the predominant religion in Arab countries, it is very important to avoid sensitive topics so as not to disrespect Arab players.

In addition, the specific features of the project made it difficult to find Arabic translators. Many native speakers don't translate card games, which are considered gambling and therefore forbidden under Islam. Luckily, Inlingo has a variety of translators in its database, including some who are not bound by such restrictions.

The game was translated into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). MSA is a supradialect of Arabic that is widely used in the media, entertainment industry, education, and politics. It may seem a little formal, but MSA is understood in all Arab countries, so it is customary to use it to localize many products. At Inlingo, we adhere to the same policy.

We worked with native speakers to create a style guide for the project to prevent the use of dialectal forms of Arabic in the translation and establish other important rules.

While working on the localization, the Belka team and Inlingo encountered difficulties related to linguistic nuances and how Arabic-speaking players would perceive the text. However, thanks to close cooperation with native speakers, careful review, and thorough testing, we managed to avoid all the following pitfalls.

Arabic is written from right to left. It was important to adapt the game texts to this form of writing. Every department at Belka had to get used to and master the new localization: Localization Management, Development, Quality Assurance, and User Interface. To adjust to the new format, the team studied a wealth of materials.

The localization team couldn't forget about this "switch" either. During the review stage, special attention must be paid to how the text is displayed, making sure each time that it is right-aligned and displayed RTL (right to left). Some text editors (Google Docs/Sheets, Excel, Word) do not always display Arabic text correctly if it contains Latin letters or numbers, so it's very important to test the project before it's released.

In an Arabic localization, text is set to display RTL, but numbers are written from left to right. This led to an unfortunate problem: the cost of bundles and prices in the bank were "mirrored" due to the texts' orientation. So, the price $4.99 became $99.4, which would definitely confuse users. Luckily, the problem was discovered and fixed very quickly.

In Arabic, every verb, noun, and adjective is always either masculine or feminine. Masculine is used by default in most cases, but in many projects it's important to try to maintain gender neutrality. The Inlingo team proposed a good solution: using verbal nouns ("masdar") for such cases.

When preparing LiveOps events, it was especially important to consider the cultural and religious features of the region. The expertise of native-speaking translators was invaluable here too. Inlingo helped localize three big in-game events for holidays that are important to Arabic-speaking players: Saudi National Day, United Arab Emirates National Day, and Ramadan. The team surveyed native speakers to collect information about holiday traditions and religious restrictions.

Because of this, the Inlingo team learned that residents of these countries dress in the colors of their national flags during the celebrations. Special attention must be paid to the choice of clothing for women, as it absolutely must cover the skin. When preparing an event for one of the most important holidays in the Muslim world, Ramadan, the developers sent a synopsis to Inlingo's native speakers so they could carefully examine the narrative.

The native speakers working for Inlingo also made an important refinement to the synopsis for a LiveOps event taking place in the Bahamas. In the plot, one of the activities that the characters could participate in was swimming with mini pigs. All the native speakers surveyed noted that it would be best not to mention pigs since they are considered "unclean" in Islam.

Inlingo remains in touch with the developers to make sure Solitaire Cruise is always on course.