Few things can make an otherwise good game come across as being low-quality than bad spelling and grammar. But spelling and grammar aren’t everyone’s strong points, and there’s no shame in that. Everyone has their different skillsets. Heck, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re a game developer looking to put that final layer of polish on their work — you made a video game, and I can’t do that. See? Different skillsets.
But if you want to take your development game one step further and add a layer of professionalism that will impress your players, then the text in your game needs to be good. It needs to be clear, it needs to be understandable, it needs to be quality, and I can help with that.
What I Can Do For You.
I can look at your game’s script (the dialogue script and item descriptions and whatnot, not the coding) and clean up any typos or grammatical errors or incorrect punctuation. If descriptions or instructions are unclear, I can provide alternatives that clarify your intent to the player. I can make sure you’re using the correct they’re, there, or their.
If English isn’t your first language, I can help tweak the text in your game so that it come across like it was written by a native English speaker. I can’t translate it for you, but I can help with the localization process.
Why Would I Do This?
Take a look at the screenshots below.
If you’re not sure there’s a problem with the language in those screenshots, then you need my services. If you can see the problem and don’t want the same sort of issues in your game, then you need my services.
Those screenshots come from both of the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth games, games which were published by Bandai Namco. A large dev team, a large publisher, undoubtedly enough money to pay for a proofreader… and yet errors slipped through the cracks and made it into the finished games. The Digimon Story series has a bit of a history with sloppy proofreading, and it frustrates me because it’s a low point in some otherwise very good games. The games deserve better.
Your games deserve better. Your games deserve to be played and enjoyed by people to their fullest extent, without language issues getting in the way or making it look like you don’t care about polishing the final product. I don’t want to see more games be considered poor quality, just because they needed a proofreader.
Like I said before, I want to help your games succeed, and I want to see more quality polished games on the market.
Services and Rates
1st service
I will clear up your game’s script and make it free from typos, spelling errors, punctuation errors, and minor grammatical errors. Basic proofreading and correcting. I won’t correct them within the game’s code itself, but I will send the corrected text back to you so that you can change them within your game. I’ll use Google Docs with the Track Changes and Comment functions on so that you can see what was changed.
This is useful when English is your first language but you know some aspects of grammar, spelling, etc aren’t necessarily your forte. You’re sure things make sense, but you want to make sure you’re using the right its vs it’s in your text, so that everything appears as polished and high-quality as it can.
Cost – $5 USD per 2000 words
2nd service
Everything from the 1st service, but more extensive. I’ll make sure that all the text is clear and understandable, that everything is internally consistent when it comes to names, item descriptions, etc, and basically give the game’s text a proper edit. I’ll use Google Docs with the Track Changes and Comment functions on so that you can see what was changed, why I changed it, and also to request clarification if something is particularly unclear or confusing.
This is useful if English isn’t your first language, or if you used machine translation to get your game into English, then this is the service you need.
Cost – $5 USD per 1000 words
Turnaround Times
Turnaround times will vary depending on the size of the project and which service you order. It will take a lot less time to do a basic grammar check on a short horror experience, for instance, than a full overhaul and edit of a 40-hour RPG. I will communicate my best estimate for the project before agreeing to the work, so that you can decide if my turnaround times meet your needs.
Why Are Your Rates So Low?
1 – Despite having many years of experience playing video games and noticing language errors, writing critique, and editing long writing projects for others, I’m new to the field of proofreading for video games specifically. And I’m very well aware that sometimes to get a foothold in an industry, a freelancer sometimes has to get their rates low in order to get any business at all.
2 – I genuinely do want to see your games succeed, and to not be held back by text and dialogue that needs a little work. It’s surprising how harshly people will judge games with linguistic errors in them, and often such games are seen as being poor quality, or made by somebody who doesn’t really care about their game. If I can help give your game that final coat of polish that takes it from “good” to “great,” then that’s awesome, and I want to be a part of that. I want to help your game get the best reception it can.
If you’re interested in booking any of my services, then contact me at renderbug.quadnines@gmail.com to discuss what you need.
Quadnines 