Using Google Fonts in your HTML5 Game is becoming increasingly popular and this is because of localisation. Instead of having to change all the images that contain text just to match a certain countries language, you can simply change the code within your game to allow for the additional languages. With HTML5 Sponsors originating from many different countries and using many different languages, it’s always a good idea to keep this open as an option as it adds more value to your HTML5 games collection.
Google Fonts have been around for a while and the great thing about them is they are open source and free to use for commercial purposes. No more worrying about the Font Police emailing you about the abused use of Arial or Helvetica. Translation is so much easier when using a font as you don’t have to include 5 different graphic assets for each language. Your HTML5 game size is kept to a minimum and all you have a large library of different styled fonts to choose from.
Translation
Charge an additional fee for the translation efforts, extract all the words used within your Javascript and outsource the work using Freelancer or Odesk. Keep you words generic, like SCORE, PLAY, or TOUCH as the translations you receive can be used in future titles. This is a huge time and money saver. It will also mean that future games will be ready for a sponsor without any additional time or work. You may find some sponsors will tell you the translated words if you keep them to a minimum.
Google Translate
Google Translate can be a very attractive tool to use but be very careful as this could end in disaster. Some words vary in different languages and cultures when used in different context. That’s why it is always safer to use a native speaking outsourced worker to make sure the translation is correct. So our advice is to not use this just incase you say the wrong thing.
So, take the little bit of extra time when planning your next HTML5 Game and introduce the use of fonts to minimise your workload for future projects.
[…] the previous post about Using Google Fonts in HTML5 Games, we talked about how using Google Fonts would make it easier to provide translation of in-game text […]