UM ESPAÇO PARA REENCONTROS: CRÍTICAGENÉTICA, ESTUDOS DA TRADUÇÃO E HUMANIDADES DIGITAIS NO PROCESSO DE LOCALIZAÇÃO DO VIDEOGAME A SPACE FOR THE UNBOUND

Abstract

This research aims to establish a Genetic Criticism study of the Localization from English into Brazilian Portuguese of the Indonesian video game A Space for the Unbound, whose prologue was published by T oge Productions in 2020 and has its full version release scheduled to january , 19th 2023. Due to the popularization of smartphones, computers, laptops and broadband internet, video games quickly became a cultural and economic powerhouse, reaching a gross revenue of more than R$ 1.5 billion on Brazil in 2021, besides being part of the lives of 68% of Brazilians between 16 and 50 years old (PGB22, 2022). Therefore, the production, translation and publishing of softwares, especially video games, became a reality; the linguistic and cultural adaptation of digital products into the locale of a foreign market is known as Localization (SCHÄLER, 2011; O’HAGAN, MANGIRON, 2013). Meanwhile, the genetic criticism study revolves around the textual genesis, aiming to perceive the creative process which, in this scenario, corresponds to the translation campaigns (P ASSOS, 2008). Thus, a critical analysis of the genetic process (GRÉSILLON, 2007; BIASI, 2010; GÓES, ANASTÁCIO, 2013) regarding the excerpts — known as strings — present in the multilingual spreadsheets, later building a analysis of the translation choices of the localiser and the reviewer during the translation campaigns (CHESTERMAN, 2016) of the video game. The chosen strings directly impact 10 out of the 11 documents which are part of A Space for the Unbound’ s dossier . Since every research process are thought and executed counting on machines and softwares, especially the CA T T olls, this study is established in the Digital Humanities transdisciplinary axis (P AIXÃO DE SOUZA, 2011; DACOS, 2011; PRUDENTE, MOT A, 2018) allowing artificial and human intelligence to interact while studying digital-native documents. Henceforth, this research not only might unleash the production of new Localization studies in Brazil away from the market and academic South-Southeast power-axis, allowing the development of plural narratives for the Brazilian nerd community , but also might encourage the usage of the Genetic Criticism, in accordance with the Digital Humanities, for studying digital artistic manifestations. Keywords: Genetic Criticism; Localization; Digital Humanities; video games.