INK & PLAY

It began not with a business plan, but with a dream. As a child, I used to sit in front of the TV, watching foreign films and TV shows, fascinated by the “funny noises” coming out of people’s mouths. I wondered: “How is it that they understand each other, but I don’t?”. Communication is fascinating. It is our human superpower, and I decided I wanted to spend my life mastering it.

My life has always been a mix of two worlds, from the coconut beaches of Brazil, and the Wine and Croissants of France. Now, that is some cliché, for sure, but I hope you will allow me some poetic license. Beyond languages, my childhood was also defined by the table, I still remember the good old days after dinner, clearing the plates with my parents to set up a game. No technology, no distractions, just us, focused on a shared task, building memories. Those kinds of memories that stay with you forever. My weekends were no different, lost in the pages of a comic book, completely absorbed by a story being told, one panel at a time.

From the Courtroom to the Worldbuilding

As I grew up, my fascination with languages became my profession. I specialized in the stakes of Legal and Technical Translation, and, Today, I am proud to serve as an Official Interpreter for the Grenoble Court of Appeal. When the Judicial System needs someone to bridge the gap between French and Portuguese in courtrooms, hearings and so on, that is where I step in.

While I spent my days navigating through “legalese”, technical terminology, and massive glossaries, something kept bugging me. In the world of law, there is precision, but no room for creativity. In the courtroom, an ‘inventive’ way to interpret what has been said can ruin someone’s life, and I fully respect that weight and the responsibility that comes with it, but I felt a piece of me was missing.

I realized the answer was actually sitting on my shelf, I still play board games to this day and read comics quite often. I saw so many incredible stories and brilliant game designs that, unfortunately, French and Brazilian audiences would not get the chance to experience. This is when I said to myself: “That’s it, I’m in!“.

That was the moment the embryo of Ink & Play was conceived, I knew the “seed” was planted, but I didn’t want to just create another general translation agency. I chose to go deeper, find a very specific niche, one that would not offer broad, generic translation services, but would instead be tailored to a very specific clientele. For that, I studied the industry from the inside, working with established agencies to specialize in these niches, and gathering the specific experience required to handle tabletop and graphic novel projects.

A Mission for the Creators

I finally launched Ink & Play Localization, with a very specific mission in mind: to help developers and creators take their products international. I know that for an indie creator, your game and your comic is not just a “product”, you have put a lot of energy and your whole heart into it, I hear you. You care deeply for your world, and I am here to help.

A bad translation creates a bad reputation. We have all seen examples of international products that feel “cheap” because of poor localization. So, my advice to you is this: choose wisely who will handle your translation. In this industry, paying less might sound like a good deal at first, but it often means sacrificing the soul of your project, and your players and readers will surely notice.

“We swap worlds, not just words. A rulebook without clarity is a game without a player, and a comic without heart is just ink on a page.”