Image Internationalization — How are game images currently generated?

[Gallaecio]

I decided to start working on image internationalization and localization. This is mostly important for those languages that translate game names, however, any image might need to be somehow modified for a certain locale.

The approach I plan to follow is that of The Battle for Wesnoth. In The Battle for Wesnoth, any image can be translated. When the game loads an image, it first checks if within the folder where the image is there is a localization folder with a localized version of that image for the current locale.

For example, if the current locale is "gl", and you have a file in "folder/image.png" and a localized version in "folder/localization/gl/image.png", when the game is required to load "folder/image.png" it first checks if "folder/localization/gl/image.png" exists, and since it does exist, it loads "folder/localization/gl/image.png" instead of "folder/image.png". Simple

To help translators to keep images up to date, they have a system which basically generates checksums of translated and original images, and if developers update an original image, translators can check in a file that the original image was modified after they localized it the last time, so they know they might need to update the localized image.

Another important part of the image localization is explaining to translators how to localize specific types of images. It is important to supply translator with either source versions (for example, in Gimp format) of images, or with detailed steps to generate certain images from scratch. Here is where there is not much I can do, and I need your help.

Can anyone point me to an editable version of "public/art/textures/ui/pregame/shell/logo/0ad_logo.png", "public/art/textures/ui/pregame/shell/logo/fundraiserlogo.png" and "public/art/textures/ui/pregame/shell/logo/product.dds" if there is one? What font are we using for "A.D." in "0 A.D." or for "Empires Ascendant"? How are DDS images compressed? (if I save a version modified with Gimp uncompressed it takes 3 times as much space as the original one).

Edited September 20, 2013 by Gallaecio

[GunChleoc]

The images that are localized for Wesnoth are the logo and scenario maps. Buttons etc. are generated dynamically from gettext.

Regarding image sizes, I just posted this article that might be useful in the interface concepts thread.

[Jeru]

What font are we using for "A.D." in "0 A.D." or for "Empires Ascendant"?

Exocet and Gentium Basic, respectively. (See links here)

[Gallaecio]

Would it be possible to somehow get a list of the effects that I would need to apply to, say, a simple “0 A.D.” text in black color, to get it to look like in the logo? (same for “Empires Ascendant”) Hopefully GIMP instructions?

Translators could follow those instructions to make a localized version of the logo. Even better, we could try to create a GIMP script, so that translators only need to write the logotype text in the right places with a color specified by us, and by running the script they could get the right effects automatically applied.