I noticed that lots of games are putting the locale files on Transifex for translations. Even projects on FreeGameDev are on Transifex, like SuperTuxKart and recenly Me & My Shadow.
I am worried we are becoming increasingly dependent on a single company which might screw us all over at any time. But that's not the biggest issue, since translation files are usually frequently backed up.
The biggest problem with Transifex is the JavaScript. We have all fallen into the JavaScript trap. The fact is, anyone who is using Transifex is using and encouraging the use of proprietary software, namely, the JavaScript. If you look into the code, you will see that it's actually obfuscated and impossible to decypher. And without JavaScript the website is just broken.
I am also part of it, sadly, I took the bait, hook, line and sinker. You might call me a hypocrite now, but that doesn't change that the problem is real or that I or you cannot change that guilty habit.
I think this is (sadly) another classic case of “convenience trumps freedom”. What can we do (in general) to move away from this dependency?
Some ideas:
- Convince Atlassian to release their JavaScripts as free software (hahahahahaha!)
- Move to http://hosted.weblate.org/.
- Develop a free standalone client for Transifex, using their API. At least that would fix the JavaScript trap but not the dependency on a proprietary software vendor. Could be frustrating when the company either changes the API extremely or shuts it down
- Launch and host a competing community-driven platform based on Pootle, aimed specifically for free software games. Which has similar features and appears to be free and concinve projects to move. Similar to http://hosted.weblate.org/
I believe using hosted.weblate.org would work for most projects. Weblate supports Gettext (PO), and Qt .ts files and a couple more “esoteric” file formats (https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/formats.html). But it doesn't support any weird hand-hacked format, of course. So, simply moving to hosted.weblate.org seems to be sensible option, too. I used it before to translate Minetest and it works just fine, just without the blobs.
I believe the 3rd solution would be best for projects, if Weblate supports your format. Your project should probably be using Gettext anyway.
I think the reason why Transifex is so popular because everyone else is using it, and for translators this means the find many projects on one place. But this comes at a price …
In general, the idea here is that having a competing platform specifically for free software projects and also being free software itself might also bind the community a little bit closer together which is of course good in itself.
There's also Launchpad in theory but I hate Launchpad (at least the instance hosted by Canonical) because it's extremely slow and takes ages to load. I wouldn't recommend it, esp. we have better free alternatives. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead once was on Launchpad and actually moved away because of this.
List of free game projects currently on Transifex (excerpt):
- SuperTuxKart
- Me and my Shadow (currently experimental, it seems)
- SuperTux
- Flare
- The Butterfly Effect
- Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
- Teeworlds
- Stunt Rally
- 0 A.D.
- Voxelands
- Widelands
- Neverball
- Pioneer
- Xonotic
(Possibly incomplete) List of free game projects on hosted.weblate.org (is itself free software):
- Minetest and related projects
- Summoning Wars
- Godot Engine
- Andor's Trail
This is just a rough overview, but I think there's currently a strong preference on Transifex and an obvious discrepancy here. A lot of the projects listed above are Gettext-based and thus could already be moved to hosted.weblate.org.
The irony that apparently a majority of free software games have made themselves dependent on a proprietary vendor is not lost on me.
Related topic: https://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7993 (Online translation platforms)
EDIT: It turns out Weblate supports more formats than just PO, sorry for the mistake! See here for the full list: https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/formats.html