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I am creating a game. I have some UI with text. Recently we wanted to add Japanese language version but I have problem with fonts. I use stb_freetype to rasterize fonts and I support Unicode so it should not be a problem. But most fonts doesn't seem to contain Janapese characters, on Windows I've found that Arial Unicode does. But its size is 26 MB, that's much more than our complete game!

I've seen Unicode and fonts but it doesn't cover my questions completly.

So basically I'm asking about 2 things:

  1. Does Janapese fonts have different typefaces? I mean, Western fonts have serif, sans-serif or more exotic versions. Does this apply also to Asian fonts?

  2. I probably would use system font rather than providing such a big file myself. I know how to locate Arial Unicode on Windows, but our game have also versions for Mac OSX, Linux and iOS. Where can I find Unicode fonts (and which ones should I use) on those platforms? Especially I'd be intrested about Linux, because this is least familiar platform for us.

Community
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Jerry
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  • This question seems like it might be better off on Superuser... Guess I'll answer it anyway, though. – JAB Jun 08 '11 at 14:36
  • Note that Arial Unicode MS is (a) a fallback font, intended as a last resort to display code points that no other font on the system has, (b) it's stuck at Unicode 2 which is quite old by now, (c) it doesn't support any script rendering, making it unsuitable for a large majority of scripts it claims to support. Besides, it's a font that comes with Office and it not necessarily on every Windows system. Don't use it, please. – Joey Jun 08 '11 at 17:33
  • @Joey: what Unicode font should be used as default then? – Jerry Jun 08 '11 at 19:56
  • If you mean a font you can specify as the default which will encompass most or all languages ... there is no such thing. Just don't. Font substitution will take care of selecting a font for you if you use a script that isn't contained in the specified one. – Joey Jun 08 '11 at 20:06
  • Well, actually I'm doing the lowest possible level of handling fonts. Basically I'm rasterizing interesting glyphs of TTF files and render them with OpenGL. I need to code such font substitution myself. – Jerry Jun 08 '11 at 20:11
  • @Joey: to be more precise about what is "default" I'll give a concrete example. I have a leaderboards with nicknames and scores. I use custom font for those data that our artists created along rest of the UI. But if somebody uses Japanese nickname, I want to switch to "default" font because our font have only small subset of Unicode chars. – Jerry Jun 08 '11 at 20:26

4 Answers4

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most fonts doesn't seem to contain Janapese characters, on Windows I've found that Arial Unicode does. But its size is 26 MB, that's much more than our complete game!

Arial Unicode contains a lot more than just Japanese. It's also in general not a very good font: it is made to cover a lot of Unicode code points, but it is missing many features needed to actually render some languages properly. Not to mention it is not freely redistributable.

I suggest looking at the free Japanese fonts used by Linux distributions. For example VLGothic is 3.7MB and compresses down to just 2.2MB, which would be much more palatable. See also: Takao, Motoya, Togoshi.

Does Janapese fonts have different typefaces? I mean, Western fonts have serif, sans-serif or more exotic versions. Does this apply also to Asian fonts?

Certainly. Japanese (and other Han-derived fonts in general) vary widely, just as Latin does. Generally fonts might be categorised as:

  • Gothic: typically unstressed, without line-endings, with little sign of the original brushed nature of the characters. Most similar to Latin ‘sans-serif’ fonts—indeed, the name ‘Gothic‘ is taken from exactly that tradition.

    Often used as default screen fonts as they render well in reduced detail. As well as square-ended Gothic Kaku, there's Gothic Maru which uses rounded features, matching well with Latin rounded sans.

  • Minchō: has serif-like endings stylised from the brush strokes, and strong vertical stress. Often formal in appearance. Most similar to Latin ‘serif’ fonts, typically paired with a transitional serif design. Often the default Japanese font for word processing, paired with Times New Roman.

  • Kyōkasho (‘textbook’): formal handwritten style, clear and readable, but less straight-edged than Mincho. Most similar to a legible Latin pen-written script font; might also usefully be paired with a more characterful serif.

  • Kaisho: traditional brushed style, but still regular and legible, somewhat formal. Not usually so good at low screen resolutions. Might be paired with a semi-serif or brushed script Latin face.

  • Gyōsho: cursive brushed style, less clear, typically for display purposes. Also Sōsho takes this further, to generally-illegible lengths.

  • Display fonts. There are some everyday handwritten-like styles, but typically fewer really wacky novelty fonts. Presumably because the amount of work involved in creating a font to cover the huge number of common Kanji makes it not worth it. You may also find novelty fonts that contain only the kana and Latin (rōmaji) characters, with few or no kanji.

bobince
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The file size is not the only reason to avoid redistributing Microsoft technology to Linux or Mac!

1.Does Janapese fonts have different typefaces? I mean, Western fonts have serif, sans-serif or more exotic versions. Does this apply also to Asian fonts?

CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) fonts do have different typefaces. Some fonts are more caligraphic and others are more plain. It is roughly analogous to the difference between san-serif and serif. (There is no notion of italics or bold in CJK fonts. I understand that there are conventions for expressing emphasis, but I don't recall what they are.)

You can see these font differences on Windows by comparing Arial Unicode MS with MingLiU or MS Mincho. The Arial version is very "plain" in both Latin characters and CJK idiographs.

As with Latin characters, I believe the distinction in typefaces is purely for visual appeal, and does not strongly imply any difference in meaning.

I can not help you with your second question.

Jeffrey L Whitledge
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    _The file size is not the only reason to avoid redistributing Microsoft technology to Linux or Mac!_ Sure, but any Unicode font (including free ones) with Asian glyphs is of considerable size. I didn't mean to redistribute MS-licensed fonts. – Jerry Jun 08 '11 at 16:14
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    Please avoid even mentioning Arial Unicode MS. People might think it's a good font to use, which it is not. It's a fallback font and a horribly outdated one to boot. Script support is non-existent. – Joey Jun 08 '11 at 16:25
  • »I believe the distinction in typefaces is purely for visual appeal, and does not strongly imply any difference in meaning.« – ask a typographer and he will tell you something *very* different :-) – Joey Jun 08 '11 at 16:26
  • @Joey - I included the word "strongly" to give wiggle room for some small distinctions of meaning. I would be interested to know if there are any distinctions indicated by typeface, if you could share those. :) – Jeffrey L Whitledge Jun 08 '11 at 16:29
  • I only mentioned Arial Unicode MS, because the OP brought it up. Don't blame me! :D – Jeffrey L Whitledge Jun 08 '11 at 17:24
  • Aaah, ok, then I move that comment to the question ;-) and hit him with a large stick. – Joey Jun 08 '11 at 17:31
  • East Asian fonts certainly do have different weights such as bold, and this can be used for emphasis. But yes, italic doesn't exist in any meaningful way. – bobince Jun 11 '11 at 12:11
  • @bobince - Are you sure about that? I mean bold can certainly be created algorithmically, but is there really such thing as a bold CJK font? And would someone who sets type for such scripts professionally really ever use bold? I would be very surprised if that is the case. – Jeffrey L Whitledge Jun 11 '11 at 14:40
  • I wouldn't say it was unusual to have different weights. Often the weight is indicated by a trailing number in the font name rather than ‘bold’. (For an excessive example of number of weights, see TypeBank Gothic!) – bobince Jun 11 '11 at 14:48
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Yeah you need to license a font for distirbution. You can't simply use the one out of your computer...For file size you should just pull the specific code pages. typically arial unicode is $3500 to embedd in a game...however thats the price for all 50,000 characters....

Source: Monotype Imagaing

BlueHat
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  1. Yes. As a simple example, just look at the differences between MS PGothic and MS PMincho, which should be available if you have Microsoft Word installed.

  2. Unfortunately I have no experience with Unicode fonts on OSX or Linux, so I can't help you there.

JAB
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