Semantics: "Armor" or "Armour", American English in a medieval game
I am making a medieval fantasy game. Since I am American, I thought it appropriate to use the American English spelling for things. Color instead of Colour, Honor instead of Honour, et cetera. The game's demographic will probably be predominantly within the US, though I'm not opposed to a much larger audience. :)
Of course the U.S. never had a feudal period like Britain did, so maybe anything with a medieval setting should use British English? I've seen many games that use American English with a medieval setting, so I don't think that's the case... Besides 1) France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and China also had a feudal period and 2) Settings with a Medieval theme don't seem to adhere to the hard definition of Europe's Medieval period. More like a statement of general similarities in technology and culture.
However, I have never seen the word "Armor" used in a game before. I have seen many games that spell every word with the American English spelling... except those games still use "Armour". Do these games suffer from a citizenship identity crisis or am I missing some rule of grammar regarding the word Armor/Armour?
I'm all for sticking to reference/inspirational material as much as possible. If something is set in medieval England, then medieval English is what should be spoken. Keep in mind that back then the language would have had many differences to the English we know now.
Try and find some kind of historical reference for the language you are using.
I think consistency is more important. If you are using American English, use it for everything.
Stay a while and listen.
That is good advice. I think using old medieval English may be more thematically accurate, but harder for the player to understand (even for British English speakers). Also, this particular game takes place in a medieval-like setting, but it is not medieval England... or even planet Earth.
When I eventually translate the game into other languages like Mandarin or Polish, the thematic use of medieval English would be miserably obliterated by the translation anyway. What do you Brits and Anglophiles out there think? Just make a British Standard English "translation" along with the other translations? :)
--Medicine StormI'm quite sure there is no special rule for spelling Armor. I just checked the Nethack guide, spells it "armor", so does DOOM and Quake.
Personally I would spell it appropriately for your target audience.
@Arcanorum: actually using medieval english would be totally untenable. They spoke Middle English, which is a different language for all intents and purposes. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of Chaucer's canterbury tales, which were relatively late in the Middle English game. See if it makes any sense:
Not to mention that in addition to that things like spelling, usage of capitalization, grammar, etc were not standardized in any way back then either.
We tend to think of "thee"s and "thou"s when talking about olde tyme talk but Shakespeare and the King James are both much later and written in Modern English. It's still a handy shorthand if it's applied carefully, but unless you're going to put the time in to make it believable and consistent I'd recommend just sticking to avoiding idioms and references that will feel too modern and otherwise write in modern American English.
If you're going to translate it anyhow, might as well have British English and Canadian English translations as well :)
Easier than translating to Mandarin.
"Dammit Jim, I'm an artist, not a software engineer."
It doesn't really matter. I would say go with what your target audience expects, but these days you'll probably have American players, British players, and players whose native language is not English at all. Go with whichever you feel fits the game better and/or whichever you personally prefer.