Is there any way to run the game and test my team's localization? Sorry, if it's been already discussed or mentioned in the instruction. I couldn't find it. Thanks for the help!
Yes, you can!
For simplicity, you’ll need a working installation of Python. If you’re on Windows, you can find the latest version on the Microsoft Store.
Then simply execute/run the following line (e.g. using Windows’ “Run” dialog through Win+R):
python -m http.server 8000 -d "C:\Path\to\unpacked\locjam6\folder"
Once done, you’ll get a console window that stays on screen.
Now visit http://localhost:8000/ in your favorite web browser and it should run out of the box. Note you might have to do a hard-reload (Ctrl+F5 or Ctrl+R) if you’ve updated files, or clear your browser cache and then reload.
To stop the server, hit Ctrl+C inside the console window or close it.
Short anwer: no, you need to run it through a web-server first, so you might as well send it already to itch
Long answer: HTML5 applications struggle to run through the local filesystem, since security measures inside browsers stop them from loading the external files they need. Therefore, for them to work you will need to run some sort of server-like environment. Before moving to Itch we would provide a tool like Mangoose for that purpose, but it seems redundant now that you can all have free upload space here. Doubly so when you still need to upload the game to it in the end anyway)
If you’re using my suggestion above, the game will run right from your local directory and show in your browser. Python creates a small locally running web server for you.
Changes will be visible right away (after reloading) the website. You can always zip up the game and upload it to itch, obviously, but that requires a few more steps after all.
You can upload it to itch.io as a test project following the submission instructions and have it only visible for your account, so you can make any uploads/reuploads as you want and test it via the itch.io website.
If you follow this route, you can already practice with the submission and can save some last-minute struggles if you notice that the translated version is not running as you expect.
For the final submission, you can keep the test project or create a new project and follow the same process.
Unless you are technical enough to follow the Python method and want to do it locally.
If you changed "text_translated.lua" directly into your installed game folder and launch the LocJAM edition from the itch.io app, you can play your localized version. (Or at least, it works on my computer)
This is not a very safe way to go because you are handling files "live" here, but if you have made backups, you should not have any issue. Worst case scenario, if the game breaks, you can simply copy your translation elsewhere, delete+reinstall the LocJAM edition from the itch.io app, and start messing around in the folder again ;)
Then when you want to upload your version to the jam, simply zip *a copy of* the LocJAM edition folder (from which you might have to remove the hidden ".itch" folder), change its name, and you are theoretically good to go.