ArcheAge is developed by the Korean studio XL Games . The publisher is very important to the project because he must be able to promote it, maintain it and communicate with users. The developer always depends on the quality of the services the publisher can provide. The life of the project in the region may depend on this.
This guide details the tasks of publishers and developers, and how they work together.
Publisher
A large number of people are working on the game. These are producers, system administrators, game administrators, community managers, testers, translators, technical support specialists and many others. Each of them knows his job, since getting to work in a large company is quite difficult. Students in such large-scale projects will definitely not be accepted.
Community managers are most often seen because they communicate with us – the players. They follow the forum , the Vkontakte public and the Discord server , and also answer questions. Observing user reviews and opinions pay off. So, the publisher finds out that we have complaints and wishes. For example, recently a “Ramian Chronicler’s Feather” appeared in the guild shop, and “essences of light” have not been removed from the game store.
Russian localization of ArcheAge was handled by Mail.Ru. This is not a simple translation, but a whole adaptation of the client from Korean. This is a very complex process. First, the localization department works with the Localization Kit sent by the developers (the official software kit for translators). Then the finished materials are sent back to them so that they can make a patch and install it on the test server. Then the testers check the text itself, errors and inaccuracies. Localization improvements are ongoing.
Korean inscriptions on the map “The Maelstrom of Kalidasa”
But it all sounds simple. It is not taken into account that the localization department creates its own glossary, which takes into account the original name of the object, location or the name of the character, so that afterwards there is no confusion and two translators do not translate the same name differently. For example, on the third floor there is the boss Tacitus the Bitten and the item “Crimson Canyon Music Box” drops from him. However, this item had a different name prior to the 3.0 update. Then the location of the Crimson Canyon was not yet, so the box was from the Crimson Desert.
If you are interested and want to learn more about this, then I advise you to watch the video at this link , where the editor-in-chief Irina at the beginning of the video talks about the difficulties of localization.
What a publisher can do:
- Suggest ideas to developers. For example, community manager CuriousCapybara reported that more items were added to the Festival Shop at their request for the New Fashion Drinks
- Refuse some innovations and changes. For example, Yatt suits, maid suits and skateboard. With Update 4.5, there was a change that would make all printed engravings personal, and had to be sealed to sell. However, this was abandoned.
- Change the game store. Each publisher composes it at their discretion.
- Change some mechanics. Provided that the developers agree to this, if it meets their vision of the project.
- Improve the protection of the game. Now the Mail.ru AntiCheat protection is used.
What the publisher CANNOT:
- Change the game code. Files are sent encrypted. The Mail.ru team does not have programs from developers that would allow decrypting files. The most they have is a toolkit for localization and user support.
- Twist the chances of sharpening. Technical support can give or collect gold, send or take an item, and also block a character. To do this, they must have a reason so that the toolkit is not used for personal gain. This is the maximum that Mail.ru can do. The odds twist is not fair to the players and they are treated with understanding. Twisting something will not work for the reason from the previous paragraph.
- Fix game bugs. Technical support can collect the maximum information and send it to the developer. The more complaints about one problem, the faster they will try to solve it.
- Remove protection. Since it was created to fight cheaters.
- Break the game. Only a developer is capable of this.
Technical support
It’s not just community managers who collect feedback. Technical support for users is carried out around the clock. If there is a critical error, the speed of solving the problem will depend on the number of complaints. Experts know the game, have the necessary materials and tools to help users. The materials usually include a description of the mechanics, functionality and reference data.
The path of your application begins with the first specialist who submits ready-made answers. Therefore, it seems that only bots answer there. These ready-made solutions help more people who contact technical support. For example, if you do not save the position of the interface and is reset with each entry, then you will first be prompted to reinstall the client. However, not all problems are solved this way.
If the application involves checking some data or requesting additional information, then this employee must check the availability of all the necessary data that will be useful in the future. After the request will be sent to the senior specialist. He personally addresses the following issues: technical problems, game bugs, in-game problem, complaints about violators, account blocking, payment problems.
The first three problems sometimes cannot be solved by technical support specialists, so they can only send information to the developer, and then wait for a solution. It sounds simple, but all the work is much more complicated and works like clockwork for them.
When you create a new request, try to fill in all the information at once if you want a quick response. If you specify additional information after creating a ticket, it will go to the end of the queue. Each new message updates the application, so the order of consideration changes. This is the most common problem when working with users in tech support.
