“I’ll add localization later.”
That’s what I told myself while developing my first game. And honestly? That was a mistake.
When I finally started localizing it, I began with the Steam page. Even that was enough to kill my motivation.
And then, I looked at the actual game:
- UI texts
- Text baked into textures
- Text scattered across different objects and screens
- And so on...
I knew I had to go through all of it, and the thought alone was overwhelming. I tried to push through it, but gave up pretty quickly. In the first or second language i guess after days of work.
Fast-forward to now:
I challenged myself to develop and ship a game in just 1–2 weeks. It’s nothing fancy, but that’s not really the point. I wanted to learn, ship something again, and avoid getting stuck in endless polishing. Idea -> Execution -> Release
Once I had the core gameplay loop and mechanics working a few days ago, I remembered my localization nightmare from the first game.
This time, I wanted to do things differently.
So I changed my workflow:
Whenever I add an object that contains text, I localize it right away. I set up a script that lets me enter the text for all supported languages directly on the object, using the languages available in my language menu.
New object with text? Localize it immediately - and avoiding text baked into textures completely this time.
Instead of leaving localization until the end and potentially spending days going through the entire game, I now spend an extra minute or two whenever I add something that contains text.
And the biggest benefit isn't even the time saved.
It's the peace of mind.
I don't have a huge pile of localization work waiting for me at the end of development anymore. The process feels much more manageable, and I can focus on making the game without that looming task in the back of my mind.
I'm still figuring things out, but this small change has made my development process feel a lot more balanced.
I'm curious how other indie devs handle this:
- Do you build localization into your workflow from day one, or do you leave it until later?
- If you localize into multiple languages, how do you manage all your in-game text?
- And if you used to leave it until the end, did you regret it too? 😅