I am really, really good at editing/correcting/assisting with English grammar/spelling - but don't know s**t about software.

[Snarddoom]

If anyone needs help getting (American) English right - I can help...but I don't know how. I play a lot of games in which I see gross errors in grammar/spelling, but I still play them because I can figure out what the author actually meant.

My mother was a proof-reader for World Book Encyclopedia during WWII and after until we (her children) were old enough that she could work outside the house. I learned from her and later assisted her. I made money for 'extras' during college editing other students papers for spelling/grammar. Later, while in the US Army and in Federal Law Enforcement, I was tasked with making other people's written work both correct and coherent. Now I am retired - and bored s**tless. Does anyone want my help - if so...tell me how. I am really good at hardware fixing/building/maintaining - but have no abilities with software. If you want my help - you will have to help me figure out how I can help.

 

[Snarddoom]

P.S. - I am crap at translation. I know (American) English and that is it - period. I know no other language. But if you can get the English close - I can make it perfect. But I don't know how to do it, software-wise. If you can help me do it - I can make your (American) English grammatically perfect. I cannot guarantee it will be culturally correct - but I'm sure you can coach me to make it so.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I can help...but I don't know how.

Take any game available here and for which :

1. There's works to do on the English ;
2. The author is active here.

Then, in the game thread, tag the said author by typing @ followed by it's pseudo, and say that you can't do the translation but that you are good at proof reading and that if he want, you can help him with this.

 

[Snarddoom]

Anyone who wants my help can ask - I will gladly give it. Use this thread, then tell me how to do it.

 

[Snarddoom]

Again - I am s**t at software!!!! Anyone wanting my help will have to guide me through the process.

 

[Snarddoom]

I built my own Win computer in 1988 - because the commercial ones didn't give me all that I wanted and the parts (then) were cheaper than the commercial one's on sale. I kept building newer ones as long as the ones I built were cheaper - and better - than what was for sale. Now I use a Dell Laptop (actually, I have 3), because I cannot build a better computer than the professional gaming ones cheaper than they can sell them. Parts got expensive. But I never learned software - it was always (just) good enough for me.

 

[Snarddoom]

I am totally self-taught - hardware is all I know.

 

[Winterfire]

If anyone needs help getting (American) English right - I can help...but I don't know how. I play a lot of games in which I see gross errors in grammar/spelling, but I still play them because I can figure out what the author actually meant.

My mother was a proof-reader for World Book Encyclopedia during WWII and after until we (her children) were old enough that she could work outside the house. I learned from her and later assisted her. I made money for 'extras' during college editing other students papers for spelling/grammar. Later, while in the US Army and in Federal Law Enforcement, I was tasked with making other people's written work both correct and coherent. Now I am retired - and bored s**tless. Does anyone want my help - if so...tell me how. I am really good at hardware fixing/building/maintaining - but have no abilities with software. If you want my help - you will have to help me figure out how I can help.

There are many ways to do it: First and foremost you should find a game with a not so good English and the developer active here so you can get in contact with him, an example would be me and my game in my signature (I do not think my English is that bad, just using myself as an example because I cannot think of a developer who needs help with English).

In my case I am using Unity so there is no real quick way to extract the dialogue, that means you would need to actually note down in a text file all the lines (old and new) for instance:
"hi I player I like bobs" to "Hello, I am the player and I like boobs." You'd write the old line so that the developer can easily find it and replace it with the new one.
Send the text file to the developer and you will be done.

When it comes to Ren'Py, the most common engine in here, it is much easier: Open the Game folder and you will find various ".rpy" files, open them with any text editor and you will be seeing plain English that you can edit, once you are done, you can send those files to the developer.
Some games have only ".rpyc" files, those are not editable but can be turned into ".rpy" with some tools that you can find in this forum.

 

[drKlauz]

I strongly suggest contacting author before actually doing anything, as they can have these things fixed in newer, not yet released version, they can use some sort of generators for texts, so there will be no actual text to fix, but rather code, text can be intentionally bad to show character/setting etc.
I can assure you most game developers would love some help, especially free, so don't hesitate to contact them.