Outer-Wilds-SK-Translation-Mod/PLAN.md

PLAN.md — Slovak translation of Outer Wilds

Roadmap for building the mod. Status markers: ✅ done · 🚧 in progress · ⬜ todo.

Goal

Add Slovenčina as a fully selectable language to Outer Wilds, covering the base game and the Echoes of the Eye DLC, distributed as an Outer Wilds Mod Manager mod. Quality target: natural, consistent Slovak — not literal machine output.

Approach

• Built on xen-42's Localization Utility / Interplanetary Polyglot (xen.LocalizationUtility) — register a new language from one Translation.xml. No game files needed to build.
• Translation: machine-assisted first pass (clean-room, no third-party translation text reused), then a Slovak-speaking human review pass. Phased by category so partial releases are usable: UI/menus → dialogue/text walls → ship log.
• Scope: the single ~896 KB Translation.xml already contains base game + DLC strings together, so scope is "everything," sequenced internally by category.

Phases

Phase 1 — Repo scaffold & docs ✅

README.md, CLAUDE.md, PLAN.md, and MIT LICENSE in place.

Phase 2 — Mod skeleton ✅

Created the OWML mod shell, modelled on shippy/outer-wilds-czech:

• manifest.json — author: Homer, uniqueName: Homer.SlovakTranslation, name, version, owmlVersion, dependencies: ["xen.LocalizationUtility"].
• ILocalizationAPI.cs — interface copied from the utility.
• SlovakTranslation.cs — ModBehaviour calling api.RegisterLanguage(this, "Slovenčina", "assets/Translation.xml").
• SlovakTranslation.csproj / .sln, .gitignore, empty assets/.
• Optional: GitHub/Gitea release workflow.

Phase 3 — Import English source ✅

Imported the base English Translation.xml (896 KB, 2424 entries, keys == values) from the utility repo into assets/. This is the file to translate.

Build verified: dotnet build -c Release compiles against the OWML / OuterWildsGameLibs NuGet packages (no game install needed) and stages a loadable mod folder (SlovakTranslation.dll + manifest.json + default-config.json + assets/Translation.xml) in bin/.

Phase 4 — Glossary 🚧

First draft of docs/glossary.md in place: tone/register locked (informal ty), and SK renderings proposed for the proper nouns and recurring terms below. Rows marked ❓ review still need the Slovak-speaking review pass to finalize.

Write docs/glossary.md fixing SK renderings (or keep-in-English decisions) for proper nouns and recurring terms, e.g.: Nomai, Hearthian, the Eye / Eye of the Universe, Ash Twin Project, Vessel, Black Hole Forge, Quantum Moon, Sun Station, ship log, Nomai statue, Ember Twin, Ash Twin, Timber Hearth, Brittle Hollow, Giant's Deep, Dark Bramble, Interloper, Stranger (DLC), Owlk/"Owlks" (DLC). Decide tone/register (informal ty vs. formal) and lock it here.

Phase 5 — Translate <value> entries 🚧

Machine-assisted pass → human review, by category (UI/menus → dialogue → ship log), base + DLC. Preserve all <color=…>/<i> markup, entities, and speaker prefixes. Track progress and any hard-to-translate lines here or in issues.

Progress by category (source has 3 sections — the flat <entry> list = dialogue/ text walls, <table_shipLog> = ship log, <table_ui> = UI/menus):

• UI/menus (<table_ui>, 814 entries) — ✅ machine-assisted first pass done, place-name terms reviewed & locked. All values translated; integer <key> IDs untouched; \n, <!> input-prompt tokens, <Profile Name> placeholder, and color/italic markup preserved; XML re-verified well-formed. Casing mirrors the source (ALL-CAPS button labels stay caps). A consistency re-pass applied the locked glossary terms (Scout → Skaut, Signalscope → Signáloskop, Timber Hearth → Drevený kozub, Ash/Ember Twin → Dvojča Popolu / Dvojča Uhlíka, etc.). Remaining: a general Slovak review of the non-proper-noun phrasings.
• Ship log (<table_shipLog>, 483 entries) — ✅ machine-assisted first pass done. All values translated (location names + rumor/fact entries); string <key> lookups untouched; plain text (no markup). Narrator voice locked to masculine; ship-log place names locked in the glossary (§3, §5b). XML re-verified well-formed; mod builds. Still needs the Slovak review pass.
• Dialogue / text walls (flat <entry> list, 2423 entries) — 🚧 in progress. Batched by content type (not planet — the flat list is asset-ID ordered): Nomai lore/wall-text (by speaker) → Hearthian villagers → travelers → player/system/DLC. Preserve <color=…>/<i>/<size=…> markup, template tokens (<Pause/>, <TimeMinutes>, <NbTimeloops>, <…SinceRedGiant>), \n, speaker prefixes, and per-entry whitespace.
  • Batch 1 — Solanum (70 lines) ✅ — Quantum Moon pilgrim: astronomy-museum walls, Tower of Quantum Knowledge / Quantum Shrine, Eye philosophy. Feminine voice. Applied by key; XML re-verified; builds.
  • Batch 2 — Vessel / warp-core debate (29 lines) ✅ — the Nomai clan debating how to obtain the advanced warp core for the Ash Twin Project (Oeno, Clary, Poke, Idaea, Avens, Cassava, Spire, Mitis) + Poke's personal reflections + the Vessel's escape-pod launch / crash computer log. Poke & Clary feminine, Annona masculine.
  • Batch 3 — Orbital Probe Cannon (50 lines) ✅ — Construction Yard cyclones (Conoy, Spire, Cassava), building/firing the cannon (Cassava, Daz, Mallow, Privet, Avens, Yarrow), the "let's send a probe" decision, and the cannon's damage-report / launch-log system text. Avens masc, Ramie fem. Preserved <TimeMinutes>/<TimeSeconds> tokens and the "on the other appendage" Nomai joke.
  • Batch 4 — Ash Twin Project warp mechanism (53 lines) ✅ — warp-tower alignment lore, White Hole Station tutorial, tower designs, ore/shell construction, warp-core-source debate (Yarrow, Clary, Poke, Root, Phlox, Oeno, Cycad, Annona, Ramie, Ilex). Pye fem, Plume masc. (Sun Station debate, firing, failure + memory statues still to come.)
  • Remaining: ~461 other Nomai speaker lines + ~1760 Hearthian/player lines.

Terminology change (applied file-wide): Black Hole Forge → Kováreň čiernych dier (was Zlieváreň čiernej diery) — 15 occurrences across ship log + dialogue.

Phase 6 — Diacritic / font check ⬜

Verify the stock game font renders all Slovak glyphs (á ä č ď é í ĺ ľ ň ó ô ŕ š ť ú ý ž). Only if any are missing: build a font asset bundle in Unity 2019.4.27f1 and wire api.AddLanguageFont(...).

Phase 7 — Build & in-game test ⬜

Prerequisite: install Outer Wilds + Outer Wilds Mod Manager + OWML (none are on this machine yet). Then dotnet build, load via the Mod Manager, select Slovenčina, and verify menus, dialogue, and ship log render correctly.

Phase 8 — Release ⬜

Tag a Gitea release; optionally submit to the Outer Wilds mod database so the mod appears in the Mod Manager for everyone.

Open items / risks

• Font coverage for Slovak-specific glyphs (ľ ĺ ŕ ô ä) is unverified until in-game testing (Phase 6/7).
• Translation volume is the real cost — ~896 KB of source text. A Slovak-speaking review pass is essential, especially for DLC/dialogue nuance, puns, and Nomai text-wall length constraints.
• In-game testing is blocked until the game + Mod Manager are installed locally.
• Confirm the tone/register decision (Phase 4) early — reworking it later is costly.

References

• Localization Utility / Interplanetary Polyglot (framework, MIT, source template): https://github.com/xen-42/outer-wilds-localization-utility
• Czech mod (structure reference): https://github.com/shippy/outer-wilds-czech
• OWML: https://github.com/ow-mods/owml
• Mod Manager: https://outerwildsmods.com/mod-manager/