Localisation Spotlight: Christiane (Jenny) Müller

Now that German players can enjoy new levels of immersion thanks to fully localised German voice acting, we want to shine a light on the entire team of people who work behind the scenes to bring all the aspects of Conqueror’s Blade to life.

We’ve already spoken with the talented voice actors, director, and others who worked behind the scenes to bring these new voices to the game, but now we want to highlight someone else who played an essential part in the project—Christiane (Jenny) Müller, German Localisation Editor for Conqueror’s Blade!

We caught up with Jenny and talked about everything from her day-to-day to the German voiceover project, her favourite part of her job, and more.

Q: Talk us through your role on Conqueror’s Blade.

A: I’m the translator and localiser of Conqueror’s Blade and work full-time on the game.

In this role, I try to make all the texts the players get to see as realistic and attractive as possible to make the game as enjoyable and entertaining as possible.

Q: Your contribution to the German voiceover project was truly a remarkable effort, as you wrote thousands of lines and created the entire script for more than 100 Units based solely on a list of triggers. How did you find the process, and what were your biggest challenges?

A: Well, the process was quite easy as I have worked as a translator with the game for many years already and know the game and the units very well. Therefore, I just needed to think of what a Claymore or a Kheshig would scream when rushing into battle. More interesting was the process of making similar situations sound different and entertaining. I had to work with a thesaurus to find enough words, as German has a lot of words, but it’s often a bit cumbersome when it comes to making short sentences.

I also tried to write some rather funny texts for the idle lines where the character waits for the player to continue.

Q: You also attended recording sessions with the new German voice actors; what was that like?
 

A: That was so awesome! I do theatre acting myself, so I know how difficult it can be to get yourself involved in a certain role. The actors had to shout or scream a lot while still making the whole thing believable, and especially female voices tend to sound somehow awkward or even kind of ridiculous if screamed, so we had to be sure that wasn’t happening.

The coolest thing was that I was allowed to intervene if a line wasn’t to my liking, and I could actually ‘show’ them what I meant by acting with my voice, so the actors understood what I was looking for.

Q: How do you approach establishing a tone and a character for each Unit and making sure it matches the game's localisation (which you also wrote)? Do you imagine a certain personality or motivation behind the soldiers in question?

A: Oh yes, definitely! Usually, we either get images of the relevant units, or we can watch the trailer of the current season, so you have a good picture of the people you are writing about.

Acting on stage as a hobby helps me a lot to imagine how those soldiers might feel or think, so it’s just a small step to write something that meets their characters.

Q: Do you have a favourite voice line from the new German recordings for Conqueror’s Blade?
 

A: I definitely love “Mich juckt’s am Hintern” (“my backside itches”) for the idle lines most.

Q: What’s your favourite part of the job?

A: When I was a teenager, I always wanted to become an actor or an artist and to draw or paint pictures. Now I actually do that for a living—-only with words. It’s like doing your hobby for a living. What could be better?

Q: What do you want people to know about localisation as a feature in games?

A: I think that most game developers totally underestimate just how important a very good localisation without grammatical flaws is. I play a lot, and I know many people who tell me how much some games suck because they don’t have a good localised version. Players get irritated by typos and grammar mistakes, or they get the feeling the developers don’t take them seriously by publishing a sloppy localisation. Yes, it costs money and time, but it’s also important for success.

Stay tuned for more interviews with the people behind the scenes of Conqueror’s Blade, coming soon!