Localization · Prepress · Custom Type
Coolplay — Board Game Localization
Overview
Localizing a board game is not translation.
Every box, rule book, and card has to read naturally in Serbian and still sit inside the original layout — same space, same hierarchy, no compromise on the artwork the publisher signed off on.
The Job
Since 2023, across 50+ titles — Gloomhaven, Brass: Birmingham, Ticket to Ride, Dixit, 7 Wonders, Splendor, and dozens more — I handle the full production chain: Serbian localization, print-ready mockups, and factory-ready files (die-lines, carton markings, corrected color profiles) that go straight to press.
The Catch
Often the source files fight back — logos that aren’t editable, text converted to outlines, RGB where CMYK belongs. When a logo can’t be edited, I redraw it: on titles like Cezar & Kleopatra, Zemlja, and Welcome to the Dungeon, the Serbian name is rebuilt in the original’s exact lettering — same weight, texture, and depth — so it reads as the real logo, not a caption on top. The Exploding Kittens family (Eksplozivni, Lajavi, Zombi mačići) got the same treatment across every edition.
The Fix
Clean prepress, correct profiles, files that pass the publisher’s check and go straight to print — title after title, since 2023.
Five letters the fonts didn’t have.
So I drew them — font by font, in FontLab 8.
Dušan is efficient, meticulous, patient, precise — and we understand each other like twins. More than once he flagged things in the layout I hadn’t even noticed, but that mattered. A real rarity in this line of work!
Tanja Bogićević · Co-owner, CoolPlay