I understand that you would probably prefer to hear more about the ...

6 months ago

I understand that you would probably prefer to hear more about the plot of the first episode and its characters. Unfortunately, I can’t share too much without diving into major spoilers. So, I’d like to talk about how the game works “under the hood.”

Localization
Since TFE is about 90% text, localization is one of the game’s most important features. And it all starts with a Google spreadsheet (pic.1).

The spreadsheet contains a column of keys and one text column for each language. The game uses these keys internally — depending on the selected language, it automatically inserts the appropriate text.

A special script converts this spreadsheet into a JSON file (pic.2) — a structured text format that’s easy for both humans and computers to read and edit. This file is placed in the game folder and loaded into memory when the game starts.

In the Prologue, we used a single JSON file for all localization. But in Planetfall, this will change. It makes no sense to load everything at once — you don’t need texts from episodes you're not currently playing. That’s why localization will now be split into parts (pic.3), and only the necessary section will be loaded. This will not only speed up loading and reduce memory usage, but also make things easier for both developers and translators. The texts will be more structured, and there’ll be no need to scroll through one massive sheet anymore.

Next up

@ALIansEN9

Our game may be unfinished a little (we're working on it), but it's already fun to play! "Murder Drones: The First Encounter. Prologue": https://gamejolt.com/games/md-tfe/939103

@ALIansEN8

Murder Drones: The First Encounter v0.9.0 is out — the final update before the first full episode PLANETFALL (Spring 2026). New inventory UI, completely rewritten resource loading (50% less RAM, faster startup), and a new episode-based architecture.