Reply To: [unofficial weekender] Music was my first love

[sundancer 42985xp 2]

So here is a thing that has been on my mind for some time: why is it so hard to get my hobby mojo back? And I think a not insignificant part on this is language.

In the current climate of kickstarters and digital distributions it’s way more affordable for small companies and individuals to make a game. Most basic way is “write a rule book and distribute as PDF and print-on-demand”. (See Reign in Hell for example)

Small boardgames get made via the medium of crowdfunding because the ones who would want that game to exist simply “force” it into existence by throwing money at it.

But here is the catch: working on a budget you need to make sure you spend your coin wisely. And adding a translation is costly. And it’s not just the translation itself. When you layout a book in one language you can almost bee 100% certain that that layout will fall apart the moment you exchange the text for another language. Making a new layout needed. Which then again generates costs. That’s why most things are mostly English.

And that is my problem. I personally don’t have that many troubles reading in English but getting the rules right when sentences are structured weird or uses unconventional wording is used it really starts to hinder fluent gameplay. Also having non English speakers at the table makes you the one rules reader. Which again can really slow things down.

I’ll give you some examples:

• Frostgrave
• Stargrave
• Burrows and Badgers
• A Billion Suns
• Moonstone

All these games really tempt me (especially seeing and hearing the excitement from others on these games) but they are either not readily available on this side of the canal and all of them are English only (as far as I can tell. Saga, for example, is also available in German)

So, what to do? Wait for a German release? Find some “not so official” translations? Or just ignore everything that’s not translated? I really want something “fresh and new” but currently my mojo isn’t there…

What are your thoughts on this? Especially all non-English native speakers.