Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a pumpkin for a head?
We did. And not just in a metaphorical way. We stepped into the haunted world of Pumpkin Jack, talked to him, fought alongside him, argued with him over a few lines of dialogue, and eventually, we localized him. Pumpkin Jack, a gothic platformer, blends spooky vibes with sarcastic humour in a way that stands out. It’s not just another nostalgic indie. It’s a game localization challenged dressed in Halloween colors. And believe us, bringing Pumpkin Jack into Turkish was a spooky good time.
Pumpkin Jack is no ordinary game. It’s a love letter to old school 3D platformers, full of spooky environments, whimsical enemies, and humor. Imagine MediEvil, but with a sharper sense of humour. The kind of game that jumps out of the shadows with a joke in one hand and a shovel in the other. That’s exactly what makes Pumpkin Jack so unique. It’s impressive how a game that relies so much on jokes and humor manages to pull it of so well.
What It’s Like to Localize a Loud Mouthed Pumpkin
Let’s get one thing straight. Pumpkin Jack talks. A lot. And almost every line is filled with sarcasm or clever wordplay. That’s where the real game localization challenge begins. It’s not just about replacing English with Turkish. It’s about showing Jack’s brutal personality in a way that connects with a different gaming community. Every pun, joke, and clever line had to be reimagined, not just rewritten. This humorous platformer gave us plenty to work on from start to finish.
Some jokes just didn’t work in Turkish. Others needed a cultural touch to make sense. And a few were so unexpected that we just laughed and asked, “ How do we even localize this?” But when we finally found the right line that felt true to Pumpkin Jack, we knew the localization was on the right track.
And it wasn’t just Pumpkin Jack who challenged us during the game localization process. There’s a calm but slightly annoying owl and plenty of quirky NPCs spread across different parts of the game’s world. Every character added something unique, making us stop and ask, “How do we make this funny in Turkish?”
Final Words From the Shadows
Thanks to Nicolas Meyssonnier’s wonderfully chaotic writing, the game already had a strong personality. All we had to do was let that personality speak another language without losing its edge.
So if you’re wandering through a foggy graveyard, smashing crates and suddenly think, “Who localized this joke?” that was us. We were there. Sitting in the shadows, sipping from magic cauldron trying to find the Turkish version of Pumpkin Jack’s sarcastic jokes, and figuring out how to make them sound just right.
Because in the world of game localization, heroes don’t always wear capes.
Sometimes they wear pumpkins.
And sometimes they talk a bit too much. But that’s exactly why we love working on games like this.
Doğukan USLU
Plus Localization