MANILA, Philippines – Breaking out from its purely Japanese text, kitten-collection game Neko Atsume released a fully-translated English version of the app for Android users.

Now called Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector in its English release, the game allows users to pick up an array of adorable virtual kittens.

In an interview with The Verge, Yutaka Takazaki, Neko Atsume’s project manager, described the surprise the company felt at its growing worldwide following.

“When we made the game we weren’t thinking about foreign users — we were only thinking about the Japanese audience,” Takazaki said.

“It’s very helpful that the community is helping each other out.”

Neko Atsume’s development studio, Hit-Point, also took advantage of localization agency 8-4 in the process of turning the Japanese game into a well-translated English game.

“Neko Atsume itself was designed with the Japanese language in mind,” said Takazaki. “For example, something written with two kanji characters will have to have a bigger width for the English translation,” he explained.

Takazaki also said that the arrival of the localization meant the game could now be switched at will from English to Japanese, which he said may be “a new way to enjoy the app,” as users switch from the two translations in-game to better remember the kitten names in their Japanese iteration.

The English tranlslation also opens up new possibilities, such as adding more kitten collectors to the game’s ever-growing fanbase.

Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector is free with microtransactions, though you won’t need to spend anything if you simply want to have a kitten or two on your phone.

While the Android version has the English translation available, the iOS version will follow suit soon enough. – Rappler.com