Localization

You can localize every asset in your novel. Readers can choose separate languages for text and voice.

Localize last

Every screenplay revision makes the translations of the old version out of date. If you localize early, you’ll pay for translation again and again.

Wait until your first release has been well received in its original language before you start translating.

Declaring supported locales

First, list the locales your novel supports in your workspace’s project.json, using IETF language tags:

{
  "locales": ["en-US", "fr-FR", "ja-JP"]
}

Localized filenames

To localize a file, put the locale in its filename:

scene-i.en-US.fountain

Or put it in a locale folder:

screenplay/en-US/act-i/scene-i.fountain

You can use both approaches in the same novel. The only rule is that a file’s translations have to follow the same pattern as the original. If the original is in a locale folder, its translations need to be in locale folders too.

Screenplays

Only translate the text the reader sees: narration, dialogue, and link text. Leave everything else as it is in the original.

Every other part of the screenplay connects to your artwork and code, and changing it breaks that connection.

Switching languages mid-scene

If the reader changes language partway through a scene, Inkweaver can’t tell exactly where they are in the translated file. It takes them back to the start of the nearest section, and they replay it from there in the new language.

Artwork

Inkweaver shows the artwork for the reader’s text language. There are two ways to localize your artwork:

• Separate files. Make a complete copy of the PSD for each locale, named or placed in a folder like any other localized file.
• Variation sets. Keep a single PSD, and add a layer for each locale inside a variation set. The reader’s current locale counts as a label, so a layer named en-US shows and hides the same way as any other variation.

Audio

A stem with lyrics is localized like any other file. Inkweaver picks the version that matches the reader’s voice language.

JavaScript

JavaScript files are the only assets that can’t be localized.

If a script needs a localized asset, load it with the SDK’s resolve function.

Menu text

Each menu field keeps its text in its locales property, with one version per locale. Menus use the reader’s text language.

The Novel plugin’s menus are in English. To translate them, decorate buildMenuSchema and add your locale to each field, matching fields by name:

const JAPANESE = {
  back: "戻る",
  continue: "つづきから",
  newStory: "はじめから",
  options: "オプション",
};

decorateCommand("buildMenuSchema", async (context, next) => {
  const result = await next(context);

  const fields = result.schema.fields.map((field) => {
    const text = JAPANESE[field.name];
    if (text == null) return field;
    return { ...field, locales: { ...field.locales, "ja-JP": text } };
  });

  return { schema: { ...result.schema, fields } };
});

Name	English
newStory	New Story
continue	Continue
save	Save
load	Load
options	Options
main	Main Menu
language	Language
textLocale	Text
voiceLocale	Voice
controls	Controls
slot-1, slot-2, slot-3	Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3
back	Back