Setting up Mandarin-speaking regions and questions

Hello James,

Just fyi, Tap/Untap was translated as the following when MtG was translated as 魔法風雲會 or 万智牌.
Tap, héng zhì, 横置
Untap, chóng zhì, 重置

Since MtG has been translated I'd definately take a peek of the Chinese rulebook to get insight.

Why re-invent the wheel again?
Both MtG and VTES are Deckmaster games designed by the same guy and they share, AFAIK, plenty of the terminology and basci conceopts

Lonka,
Getting away from MtG terminology gets at least the Chinese version away from US patents by changing the terminology. There could be an advantage in that.

Ankha,

Hengzhi = Horizontal
Chong zhi = Vertical

ayukata wrote:

Hello James,

Just fyi, Tap/Untap was translated as the following when MtG was translated as 魔法風雲會 or 万智牌. <-- name for Magic, which directly translate to Magic the wind and cloud gathering (Magic the epic [from natural scene]gathering )

Tap, héng zhì, 横置
Untap, chóng zhì, 重置

I thought about that as well, however, the tap 横置 translation directly means 'to put it horizontally/sideways' and untap 重置 directly means 'to put it back again the way it was'. My problem is, some cards will 'tap' some other cards or minions and that doesn't translate well in Chinese if I were to use 横置. I personally translated my version to 打横 for 'tap' and 打横的 for 'of tapped' and 樹立 for 'untap/standing vertically' and 樹立的 for 'of untapped/of those standing tall or vertically'. I may just have to explain the official rules into my own words for easier understanding since other card games uses the same mechanics for different meaning/purpose.

My main concern/interest is to translate this game so that Chinese card players of other card games can understand easily and relate to this game better so in future luring/converting those players will be a lot easier. This game is complicated enough already that some the Chinese players in China already blogged this game as somewhat of a 'failure' without getting further into this game and are stuck with Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh.

Speaking of which, the Chinese from China and the Chinese from Taiwan/Hong Kong are a bit different in translation. Some phrases used in mainland China are not used in Taiwan/Hong Kong and vice versa so that adds to the difficulty. btw, glad to hear from vtes players from Japan ^_^. I personally try to avoid reinventing phrases so I might just use that, but I'll have to think about it since it doesn't flow right for Taiwanese and assuming people from Hong Kong.

Maybe as another pair of alternatives...

Ready and Torpor might be well set by having "Alert" (惕） for Ready and weary/fatigued/exhausted maybe like 累 or 倦 for Torpor.