Dear fellow forum members My name is Michel, and I would like to try my hand at translating this game's text from English to Dutch. I e-mailed the creator of the game with the request of being allowed to work on this game for that, and he (very politely) replied that, although he is not currently looking for an official translation yet, he thinks it would be awesome regardless if there was one, and he advised me to check out the forums to see if someone is already working on one, and if not, to see if someone can help me start with it. I obviously want to do this free of charge, as I believe the experience in doing so would be well worth my time invested, as well as the firm belief that this game should be enjoyed by (young) people who don't speak or understand the english language as well as others. I enjoyed this game immensely during a time where my life was a mess, so I somewhat feel like I "owe" it to the game. That said... come on, who wouldn't be absolutely proud of the idea that they worked on translating a videogame? In any case, I don't have actual experience with translating a game. I don't know where to start, or how to handle this. Do I just translate the text, do I work on a modpack, etc? Ideally I get my hands on the game's story script with all the available text so I can start translating that, and worry about the technical parts of it at a later time. I would like to hear some tips from people who are either experienced in working on a translation pack, are currently working on a (dutch) translation, or just generally have a good idea on how this all works. My apologies if this sounds a tad awkward, it's been a very tiresome day for me. I hope some of you will be able to assist me on this. With regards ~Michel~
It is quite a daunting task, unfortunately. You could start off by unpacking all of the files and editing the code of the files that have any text in it, translating the text to Dutch. That would include about 800 lines of text in ObjectInformation, furniture names, the NPCs' dialogue files, all the heart events, all the festivals, strings, and some more. You'll have edit the tilesheets/artwork if they have English on it as well (e.g. the Stardew Valley sign at launch, the 'Dog' sign in front of Dusty's enclosure, etc.). I would suggest you look in the Mods section for people to help you to make it easier on you.
I dont think I'd go as far as editing the graphic parts of the game (like the sign or dusty's enclosure), I might ask someone else to do that though for a "full" translation. I don't mind the 800 lines of text, Im aware this would be a significant task, and I'm fully prepared to do that (actually I think it would be super fun to do). I will ask people at the mods section for assistance. I'll probably copy this thread in that section. Thank you for your advice!
