PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum
Tech and Homebrew => Turbo/PCE Game/Tool Development => Topic started by: SamIAm on March 17, 2012, 04:14:42 AM
Title: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 17, 2012, 04:14:42 AM
I've got the time and the know-how, but what I don't have these days is a script.
Esperknight, hell of a guy as he is, is so busy that the last thing I want to do is put another project in his cue.
Instead, I'm wondering if anyone here who knows their way around PCE hacking would like to do a major RPG translation. I would be willing to work on a game of the hacker's choice if he or she is passionate about it. I can't promise that I'd be interested in just any game, but it doesn't have to be my own first pick.
Remember that we have to be practical. The best games to work on will be the ones that use mostly text that can be extracted and reinserted in the traditional way.
Anyone interested? At the moment, the two that look good to me are Anearth Fantasy Stories and Legend of Xanadu 1.
Let's leave Tengai Makyou out of the discussion for now.
Thanks! :D
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: sunteam_paul on March 17, 2012, 04:48:40 AM
Damn, I wish I had the skills. Although I'd be more interested in smaller stuff like City Hunter or Schbibin Man. Non-RPGs always get overlooked.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 17, 2012, 05:00:14 AM
Maybe that Momo Tarou HuCard RPG would be interesting.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 17, 2012, 05:10:54 AM
Non-RPGs are cool, too. In fact, that's great for me as I prefer action games and those tend to be easier to translate.
A translation hack has to start with the hacking side dumping the text. I'm basically here to say that if someone wants to do that and be ready to follow through for reinsertion, I'm here to tackle translation.
There's a lot of talk about translations, but not a lot of action. I think it's perhaps just a communication problem. That's why I'd like to use this thread to talk about actually doing a translation. :)
If nobody comes forward with a game they'd really like to do, maybe I'll start pushing for the ones I'd like to do most. For now, I'd be happy to help a hacker who really wants to do a particular game.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 17, 2012, 06:01:25 AM
I still have my old Spriggan Mark 2 translation stuffs. The game's script is dumped (example): http://www.pcedev.net/SM2_script/script_0.sjs and I put in a new VWF routine (the font is temporary): (http://www.pcedev.net/SM2_script/Spriggan_Mark_II.png)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 17, 2012, 06:18:15 AM
Did this Tom not finish the Spriggan MK2 translation?
I know! I was confused, too, until I recently learned that the tomaithous of yore is latter day Bonknuts (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcg0.html).
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 17, 2012, 06:38:23 AM
Tom is short for tomaitheous. Tomaitheous and bonknuts are both me. I use the tag Tomaitheous for coding and such, but I wanted a handle that was just for gaming (so Bonknuts). I still use tomiatheous handle for all code related stuffs (and probably always will). I don't use malducci anymore (and haven't in a long time since the name existed else where that wasn't me), but my youtube account is stuck with that name. Confusion solved?
As for Spriggan Mark 2 translation; I had handful of translators over the years. But nothing was every fully translated (just a level or two) as I guess they lost interest.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 17, 2012, 06:41:06 AM
Er, so the Tom in that other topic is you, and not the other Tom doing the Ziria translation?
In other words, there's no risk of needlessly retranslating something that's already been done?
Because if it hasn't been done, send it my way. Spriggan MK2 is cool as hell.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 17, 2012, 08:25:27 AM
Er, so the Tom in that other topic is you, and not the other Tom doing the Ziria translation?
Correct.
Quote
In other words, there's no risk of needlessly retranslating something that's already been done?
Afaik, I'm the only one to ever have this project.
Quote
Because if it hasn't been done, send it my way. Spriggan MK2 is cool as hell.
Cool :D There was a youtube longplay video of it, but they recently took it down (dunno why). I have a hacked ISO that gives player invincibility, so one can play through the shmup and see the script in the correct order (context). Would you be also interested in transcribing the cinemas?
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: nectarsis on March 17, 2012, 08:27:43 AM
Cool :D There was a youtube longplay video of it, but they recently took it down (dunno why). I have a hacked ISO that gives player invincibility, so one can play through the shmup and see the script in the correct order (context). Would you be also interested in transcribing the cinemas?
Hell yes, I would be! I love this game!
There may even be potential for a kind of fan-dub. The story is pretty huge, and it would be nice to let people experience the whole thing while playing (like Zeroigar on the PC-FX, which is working out surprisingly well).
On the other hand, have you ever thought about making a special subtitle feature for PCE-CD cutscenes? I'm sure it would always depend on how much RAM was available, but something like that sure would be neat.
Anyway, please send the stuff my way. If I can play the whole game through a couple of times without dying (I never did beat it), I think I could do a pretty good job on the script. I can't wait!
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: nodtveidt on March 17, 2012, 09:58:35 AM
I just wish someone would try to translate some of the umm... more "mature" titles. :) I don't know how to look for text sequences though... I can trace code and determine how a game engine is constructed but that's about it.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 17, 2012, 10:04:32 AM
I just spoke with MooZ (pce coder and hacker) and he's looking for a translator for Nazo no Masquerade: http://pcedev.blockos.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80
Also, I'll PM SM2 stuff once I get it packed up.
Old Rover: Translation hacking is the source of many headaches :/ The easy part is finding and dumping the text, the hard part is making a new print routine (if you're lucky, you might not need to - like NW did with Xak III) and finding a way to compress the replacement English text back into the same space as the original.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 17, 2012, 10:15:37 AM
And I did have plans for the cinemas. Either a dub or a subtitle system. This game is my baby, so I'd go the distance for this one on the cinemas. My friend and I had talked about doing a dub for this game for a long time now. I know a few people that can do voice acting (and we have some related experience). But the script not getting a full translated pretty much stalled everything.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 17, 2012, 12:38:10 PM
I just spoke with MooZ (pce coder and hacker) and he's looking for a translator for Nazo no Masquerade: http://pcedev.blockos.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80
Also, I'll PM SM2 stuff once I get it packed up.
Old Rover: Translation hacking is the source of many headaches :/ The easy part is finding and dumping the text, the hard part is making a new print routine (if you're lucky, you might not need to - like NW did with Xak III) and finding a way to compress the replacement English text back into the same space as the original.
Doh! A digital comic. :( I've never been able to get into any of these, aw well.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: burn_654 on March 17, 2012, 02:33:51 PM
Ooh! ooh! *raises hand* Momotarou Katsugeki...the platformer momotarou with rpg elements by Hudson. Check it out, it's a great game! I've been working on it for a bit.
Some good progress so far: *Basic pointer changes - most dialog scripts, menu options. *Control codes discovered *Debug Hudson english table *Hiragana table **ASM hacking the townsperson vertical dialog (right to left) to print the script left to right from proper x,y origin (done), and using the diacritical column space (WIP but definitely possible) to maximize usable area. *Loading custom ASM from free space in the bank works. *With help from my brother, we coded a basic Hu6280 disassembler/reassembler, great to edit code in notepad. *A proper upper and lowercase english font will be inserted.
What needs done: *VRAM hacking to increase the number of townsperson text columns that display. It needs to a. load more script data into some blank vram space and b. alter the pattern table to include that and expand the text bubble width. *VRAM hacking/decompression for the compressed tile format - signposts, shop 'exit' sign, titlescreen if space allows. Maybe just loading in some uncompressed tiles instead? *Script translations (on hold until technical limitations are worked out)
Anyone interested in helping out with this? Someone with some vram hacking/graphics experience would be great to get in touch with.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 17, 2012, 06:13:46 PM
Ooh! ooh! *raises hand* Momotarou Katsugeki...the platformer momotarou with rpg elements by Hudson. Check it out, it's a great game! I've been working on it for a bit.
Some good progress so far: *Basic pointer changes - most dialog scripts, menu options. *Control codes discovered *Debug Hudson english table *Hiragana table **ASM hacking the townsperson vertical dialog (right to left) to print the script left to right from proper x,y origin (done), and using the diacritical column space (WIP but definitely possible) to maximize usable area. *Loading custom ASM from free space in the bank works. *With help from my brother, we coded a basic Hu6280 disassembler/reassembler, great to edit code in notepad. *A proper upper and lowercase english font will be inserted.
What needs done: *VRAM hacking to increase the number of townsperson text columns that display. It needs to a. load more script data into some blank vram space and b. alter the pattern table to include that and expand the text bubble width. *VRAM hacking/decompression for the compressed tile format - signposts, shop 'exit' sign, titlescreen if space allows. Maybe just loading in some uncompressed tiles instead? *Script translations (on hold until technical limitations are worked out)
Anyone interested in helping out with this? Someone with some vram hacking/graphics experience would be great to get in touch with.
Damn, it's got nicer gfx & music then I remember, maybe I never did try it out before? Too bad someone couldn't do a graphical upgrade as well, but I'm sure it's a whole nother ballpark. I could see maybe a few more colors, or paralax. The towns could easily have paralax with those bottom buildings, & there's never alot of sprites onscreen in general(atleast not early on). Probably could have some nice hori-paralax thruout. Still, it's a cool game. I wouldn't mind the controls being tightend up slightly, but then again, maybe the game would be too easy that way.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Arjak on March 17, 2012, 06:14:13 PM
If I had any abilities in this area beyond voice acting, I would help you in a second. As is, all I can do at this point is offer moral support and suggestions. Any of the great RPGs would be wonderful to have in English. I have heard good things about Anearth Fantasy Stories, and Legend of Xanadu I would be a good idea, since you've already tackled the second. While we're talking about RPGs (besides Far East of Eden), I've heard that the Tenshi no Uta games are really good. Finally, being the pervert that I am, I must mention that the Dragon Knight games have gotten my interest... :P (I would definitely try out for voicing the hero in that one!)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on March 17, 2012, 06:18:02 PM
Damn, it's got nicer gfx & music then I remember, maybe I never did try it out before? Too bad someone couldn't do a graphical upgrade as well, but I'm sure it's a whole nother ballpark. I could see maybe a few more colors, or paralax. The towns could easily have paralax with those bottom buildings, & there's never alot of sprites onscreen in general(atleast not early on). Probably could have some nice hori-paralax thruout. Still, it's a cool game. I wouldn't mind the controls being tightend up slightly, but then again, maybe the game would be too easy that way.
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/cooks_transb.gif) Cook notices a pattern in P_D's posts...
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 17, 2012, 07:05:52 PM
Damn, it's got nicer gfx & music then I remember, maybe I never did try it out before? Too bad someone couldn't do a graphical upgrade as well, but I'm sure it's a whole nother ballpark. I could see maybe a few more colors, or paralax. The towns could easily have paralax with those bottom buildings, & there's never alot of sprites onscreen in general(atleast not early on). Probably could have some nice hori-paralax thruout. Still, it's a cool game. I wouldn't mind the controls being tightend up slightly, but then again, maybe the game would be too easy that way.
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/cooks_transb.gif) Cook notices a pattern in P_D's posts...
Ohhhh, dear, just don't let Rover see my post! :D
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: sunteam_paul on March 17, 2012, 10:42:15 PM
Damn, it's got nicer gfx & music then I remember, maybe I never did try it out before? Too bad someone couldn't do a graphical upgrade as well, but I'm sure it's a whole nother ballpark. I could see maybe a few more colors, or paralax. The towns could easily have paralax with those bottom buildings, & there's never alot of sprites onscreen in general(atleast not early on). Probably could have some nice hori-paralax thruout. Still, it's a cool game. I wouldn't mind the controls being tightend up slightly, but then again, maybe the game would be too easy that way.
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/cooks_transb.gif) Cook notices a pattern in P_D's posts...
Ohhhh, dear, just don't let Rover see my post! :D
I think an intervention is needed.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 18, 2012, 12:28:35 AM
Probably! :lol:
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 18, 2012, 02:16:27 AM
I'm officially on the case for Spriggan Mk. 2. Time to get out the ol' headphones and do some audio translating. It would be cool if the subtitle thing really works out! At very least, I hope we can release a text guide.
Hopefully writing up a draft won't take more than a few days. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on March 18, 2012, 08:42:55 AM
Don't know if this is entirely the best place post about this but I saw that you put up a help wanted add on romhacking.net for Princess Crown! http://www.romhacking.net/helpads/393/
I've been wanting to play that game ever since I first played Odin Sphere back in 2008! Good luck on finding a hacker and trust me your going to need it. I can't think of to many people that are crazy enough to hack for the Saturn.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 18, 2012, 09:06:22 AM
Yeah, I sure did. I hope I get a response. In fact, I think I put up an add for that a year ago or so. Let's hope someone replies.
I suspect that in a couple of years, particularly when my visa runs out here in Japan, my life is going to change and get busier than it is, and it will be a lot harder to find the time to work on games. Now is my chance to do a few larger projects and put them out quickly.
Esperknight is not afraid of hacking the Saturn, but again, the dude just has too much on his plate at the moment. That's why I hope that a rogue hacker comes forward and gets me a script dump!
Got 2 stages worth of Spriggan mk2 done already, as well as beat the game with the invincibility hack. This should be interesting. By the way, who has beaten mk2 on normal with no continues? I'd like to know how difficult you rank the game. Zeroigar seemed really hard at first, but after a few dozen tries, I can pretty much 1CC it in my sleep now. If it's not too difficult, I wouldn't mind getting equally good at mk2.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 18, 2012, 02:07:10 PM
You could always translate the PSP version of Princess Crown, there's probably more hacking going on in the PSP community compared to Saturn. However, I've heard that the PSP version was a poor port, though I don't recall why. It supposedly had some kind of problems. It'd be nice though if someone brought it over & fixed whatever needs fixin, even if it's only on PSN.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on March 18, 2012, 02:19:31 PM
You could always translate the PSP version of Princess Crown, there's probably more hacking going on in the PSP community compared to Saturn.
It would probably be just as difficult, if not more, to do it on the PSP since the PSP version is actually being emulated. Hence the reason why people say it has problems.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 18, 2012, 03:22:15 PM
Got 2 stages worth of Spriggan mk2 done already, as well as beat the game with the invincibility hack. This should be interesting. By the way, who has beaten mk2 on normal with no continues? I'd like to know how difficult you rank the game. Zeroigar seemed really hard at first, but after a few dozen tries, I can pretty much 1CC it in my sleep now. If it's not too difficult, I wouldn't mind getting equally good at mk2.
IMO normal difficulty is just average difficulty. It's just the last couple of levels you have try to reserve certain weapon stock for certain areas (I mean more so than previous levels). On hard and super hard, you get to fight the real last boss in a laser sword battle (can't shoot). Plus, you get more dialogue and cinema stuff. End credits show more screen shots on completion of the harder modes. I beat it on all modes back in the day ('93 when I imported it).
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: kazekirifx on March 18, 2012, 03:42:57 PM
I can translate J->E, and wouldn't mind translating some scripts if you have any. I have only the language skills, though. No technical know-how.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 18, 2012, 04:11:20 PM
It would probably be just as difficult, if not more, to do it on the PSP since the PSP version is actually being emulated. Hence the reason why people say it has problems.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I remember having a big nerdy debate about this on a couple forums back in the day, and the final verdict came from a guy who personally checked the PSP version of the game - it uses only the script and event data from the Saturn version. It is not emulated, however, by virtue of the fact that the PSP version has no SH2 code in it whatsoever.
Anyway, I don't like handhelds, and I love the Saturn, so the answer is obvious. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on March 19, 2012, 03:29:47 AM
it uses only the script and event data from the Saturn version. It is not emulated, however, by virtue of the fact that the PSP version has no SH2 code in it whatsoever.
Wait, it's not emulated? Then is Wikipedia lying to me? Say it ain't so! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Crown#Legacy
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 19, 2012, 04:03:03 AM
There was an interview with some Sony or Atlus rep where the guy said that it was emulated. He didn't get much into it, though.
Here's the old clincher post:
Quote
My source is the game itself. If you compare the files between the Saturn version and the PSP version, you'll notice that a number of things have been changed. All music(including the sequenced music) have been converted to atrac, sound effects were converted as well. The graphics have been converted to another format I'm not familiar with, fonts have been replaced, and a few additional graphics have been included. And lastly, all Saturn SH2 code has been removed. That pretty much debunks any theory of emulation, since you can't exactly emulate non-existent code :)
EDIT: I may get my wish for a Princess Crown hacker. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 19, 2012, 06:02:10 AM
Question: How would you guys feel if I put the word "Damn!" in the Spriggan MK2 script? Because it would be appropriate in literally around a dozen places. I don't want to ruin the feeling of playing an old school game by putting in curses that never would have made it into a real release back in the day. However, I don't want to write "gee wilikers" or whatever. I'd cut the expression out altogether as much as compromise any other way.
At the moment, I'm leaning toward just using it. I do not, however, want to use the word "shit" even though it does appear a lot. Sorry.
Any input?
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Necromancer on March 19, 2012, 06:22:23 AM
I'm okay with any and all swearing - especially in the case of such mild oaths as "damn". As long as it's part of the original work and not added for puerile poop jokes (thanks, WD), I don't see anything wrong with it.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 19, 2012, 06:33:25 AM
That's cool. I always ask myself whether the characters would be saying "shit" if this were created in English from the beginning. In this case, the game itself strikes me as aiming for a kind of PG or PG-13 vibe, but definitely not an R vibe (LoX2 is quite G, I'd say, so no swearing there). That's why a few "damns" really don't seem like a big deal, but this really isn't quite gritty enough for all the characters to be saying "shit" every time something goes wrong.
Stage 3 text is now complete. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on March 19, 2012, 07:46:30 AM
I'm fine with it. Though I can definitely see why you don't want to put "shit" in it. That would just seem out of place in a TG16 game.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 19, 2012, 08:13:17 AM
^^Glad you agree.
Gee wilikers, Spriggan mk2 has a lot of text! There's as much in-game text in one stage of this one as there is in the entire game of Zeroigar.
Anyway, stage 4 is now done. Moving right along. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 19, 2012, 03:57:40 PM
Actually, IIRC, Final Zone 2 had the word Damn in it, I think it was Bowie that said it. Also, possibly CF2 had it as well, maybe it was in that secret town??
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 19, 2012, 05:34:43 PM
All right, I'm going to use it, then. I'll just be careful not to get carried away.
BTW, I got me a Princess Crown script. :dance:
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on March 20, 2012, 03:40:32 AM
This is really exiting news! I've always had a soft spot for the Saturn and I'm a big fan of Vanillaware. May I ask who this hacker is, or does he want to remain anonymous? I'm really happy that your the translator on this one since now I know something will definitly become of the project (even if it's just the script) :D
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 20, 2012, 04:05:49 AM
Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement. :)
I think I'll hold on revealing the hacker just yet, since I'm not sure if he wants to be known and/or how much he wants to commit. He actually dumped the script years ago, though. He's going to possibly re-dump it in a cleaner, more organized way (although it's mostly OK already) and give it to me to work on. The menu and battle text is still at-large, but that's not a big worry. He seems very good at what he does.
The nice thing about Princess Crown is that if we get all the dialogue and menu/battle stuff done, then that's really it! No voices or FMV to worry about or anything. I can't wait to get to started. But first, it's time to do two more stages of Spriggan Mk. 2. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Black Tiger on March 20, 2012, 04:53:05 AM
If you don't want to keep shit in a translation that's fine, but I don't think that localizations should go so far as censorship to make games closer to how an official localization would have been handled bitd. PCE games have graphic gore, nudity, swearing, etc that would either keep a game from ever being brought over or would have resulted in big edits.
I'd rather keep any swearing, but it won't ruin a game if it's taken out. I'm happy to get anything, even a rough translation like Startling Odyssey II. But if quality is what you're shooting for, then I think that keeping the swearing is better than replacing it.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 20, 2012, 05:19:05 AM
Thanks for the reply. You make some good points.
The thing is, I don't really think choosing not to translate "kuso" as "shit" is really censorship, or necessarily dubious in terms of quality/accuracy. Yes, they both mean feces, and yes, they are both often used to show exasperation. However, they're still not totally identical. The differences are very subtle, and we could discuss them for a long time, but suffice to say that those differences can be important.
Anyway, the word "kuso" appears in the game-text 14 times. It would strike me as plain awkward if these guys said it that much. That's my interpretation of what kind of people the characters are and how they express themselves, as well as the tone of the game as a whole. I will, however, consider putting "shit" in once or twice in the most extreme of those 14 situations, depending on how things look when I'm done with the first draft.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: TheOldMan on March 20, 2012, 05:53:07 AM
Quote
I don't really think choosing not to translate "kuso" as "shit" is really censorship .... the word "kuso" appears in the game-text 14 times. It would strike me as plain awkward if these guys said it that much.
Might I suggest the slightly less-offensive "Crap" ? Then you could save the literal translation for impact. Just my 2 cents.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: nodtveidt on March 20, 2012, 05:53:39 AM
Context is everything when you localize.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 20, 2012, 08:25:53 AM
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 20, 2012, 08:49:52 AM
I'm not familiar with your work, and as such, let me express hope you are translating and not transliterating. I used to think "liberal translations" were crap and transliterations were better, but I've started coming around and now I'm swinging the other way, so to speak.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 20, 2012, 08:56:25 AM
I think you'll approve. My philosophy is, if I can't imagine a native English speaker saying it, I won't write it.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 20, 2012, 09:58:16 AM
I think you'll approve. My philosophy is, if I can't imagine a native English speaker saying it, I won't write it.
The way you phrased that reassures me greatly.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 21, 2012, 06:59:32 AM
Finished the text translation. I'll have to edit it later after we test-insert it, but it's done for now.
Now to hit the cinema bits. Some of those are pretty long, so that will probably take at least a week or so. Still, I want to get this finished soon. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on March 21, 2012, 10:01:25 AM
Finished the text translation. I'll have to edit it later after we test-insert it, but it's done for now.
Now to hit the cinema bits. Some of those are pretty long, so that will probably take at least a week or so. Still, I want to get this finished soon. :)
You are too productive and efficient. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html) I would love to slice through my own tasks with such ease.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 22, 2012, 11:04:34 AM
Just read over the newest draft for a few levels and I'm loving it :D This game has such a great story (how often can you say that about a shooter/shmup????).
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on March 22, 2012, 11:19:57 AM
Just read over the newest draft for a few levels and I'm loving it :D This game has such a great story (how often can you say that about a shooter/shmup????).
Guardian Legend? (and I am cheating by using hybrid genres)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 22, 2012, 11:42:30 AM
I don't remember direct to direct dialogue on GL.
Also, I came back from RHDN and I was cleaning out some old PMs (they have a limit in how much you can store). I did some work on Cosmic Fantasy 4 (both chapters). I put a new print routine in IIRC and a new single byte ascii read routine as well. Anyway, both games used standard uncompressed SJIS. No LZxx compression or such. Would be a great game for a new PCE translation hacker to start on (I'm assuming AnimeFX is no longer translating it). Chapter 2 of CF4 was supposed to be a pretty great game from what I've read.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Djangoo2 on March 22, 2012, 02:13:35 PM
Gley Lancer? I never actually beat it, but I did get to like the last boss and I do recall a pretty good story with some branches along the way.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: nat on March 22, 2012, 07:18:14 PM
Also, I came back from RHDN and I was cleaning out some old PMs (they have a limit in how much you can store). I did some work on Cosmic Fantasy 4 (both chapters).
Hey, what ever happened to all the supposedly in-the-works Cosmic Fantasy translations? A bunch of years back it was stated some folks (Shadoff? You? I don't recall...) were on the verge of completely translating at least one of the games (I thought it was CF1), with the others soon to follow. I haven't heard a peep on any of them in at least three years, but I was holding off playing through the JP-only ones until the translations were released.
More members of the "60-80% translated, but never to be finished" club?
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 23, 2012, 05:22:14 AM
Also, I came back from RHDN and I was cleaning out some old PMs (they have a limit in how much you can store). I did some work on Cosmic Fantasy 4 (both chapters).
Hey, what ever happened to all the supposedly in-the-works Cosmic Fantasy translations? A bunch of years back it was stated some folks (Shadoff? You? I don't recall...) were on the verge of completely translating at least one of the games (I thought it was CF1), with the others soon to follow. I haven't heard a peep on any of them in at least three years, but I was holding off playing through the JP-only ones until the translations were released.
More members of the "60-80% translated, but never to be finished" club?
Yeah, Dave Shadoff was/is working on CF1. My part in that was done; I did a new print routine that would show dual fonts (sjis 12x12, and roman 8x12) a long with single byte ascii string read support and upgraded the game to Super CD for more script space. Dave was translating (dumping, translating, reinserting) as he played through the game, area by area (I got to play the first area translated). I asked him last year about it and he said he didn't abandon it - but I have no idea how long it will take him.
Post a thread over at RHDN about CF1 and ask questions about it. I've seen Dave frequent the board over at RHDN.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: soop on March 23, 2012, 06:05:43 AM
Sam, this is amazing. I can't believe how quickly you're progressing!
My $0.2 regarding swearing; damn is fine by me, and in fact, I don't mind any swearing whatsoever as long as it's in context. If you look at anime, and even some sampled speech in Japanese games (like Bangai-o) it's a fact of the matter that the Japanese seem far more relaxed about it.
If we can take for example, a charachter is ambushed in a firefight and his friends and comrades are dying around him, I would fully expect him to swear as much as he likes.
Aside from that, sterling work, and I'd like to add my vote for City Hunter for translation.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 23, 2012, 09:35:07 AM
I talked with a long time friend of mine today (he does video production and editing) and he wants to do the dub for SM2. We'll see how that goes (he was looking for a side project to do). We have some pro grade mics and stuff and know some actors that have done voice acting, just need to make a little portable sound room for recording.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 25, 2012, 03:10:58 AM
I talked with a long time friend of mine today (he does video production and editing) and he wants to do the dub for SM2. We'll see how that goes (he was looking for a side project to do). We have some pro grade mics and stuff and know some actors that have done voice acting, just need to make a little portable sound room for recording.
That would be cool, definitely. Just to offer some advice based on my own experience, though: it's not easy to find deep, strong, grizzled-warrior voices, and especially ones that can act. Some of the characters in this game sound like normal guys, yes, but you'd still need to get yourself 3 or 4 different actors capable of the deep-voice to make things convincing. That much could prove to be your greatest challenge in a dub project for Spriggan mk2.
Anyway, for a general update, I finished a first draft of the opening, pre-stage-1 and pre-stage-2 cinemas. There are already over 100 lines of dialog just from that much alone, but the going is easier in a way because the context is always totally clear. I've got real softsubs appearing over a long-play video of the game, so in a way, I can thoroughly test my translation already.
My goal is to do one cinema a day for the next week or so, then edit them over a few more days. After that, it's mostly up to Bonknuts.
:)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on March 25, 2012, 03:37:57 AM
I talked with a long time friend of mine today (he does video production and editing) and he wants to do the dub for SM2. We'll see how that goes (he was looking for a side project to do). We have some pro grade mics and stuff and know some actors that have done voice acting, just need to make a little portable sound room for recording.
That would be cool, definitely. Just to offer some advice based on my own experience, though: it's not easy to find deep, strong, grizzled-warrior voices, and especially ones that can act. Some of the characters in this game sound like normal guys, yes, but you'd still need to get yourself 3 or 4 different actors capable of the deep-voice to make things convincing. That much could prove to be your greatest challenge in a dub project for Spriggan mk2.
Anyway, for a general update, I finished a first draft of the opening, pre-stage-1 and pre-stage-2 cinemas. There are already over 100 lines of dialog just from that much alone, but the going is easier in a way because the context is always totally clear. I've got real softsubs appearing over a long-play video of the game, so in a way, I can thoroughly test my translation already.
My goal is to do one cinema a day for the next week or so, then edit them over a few more days. After that, it's mostly up to Bonknuts.
:)
Outrageously wonderful developments! We are lucky to have so many folks working actively on this (and other) projects. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 25, 2012, 09:39:02 AM
I disagree that you need a lot of deep voiced, grizzled men. There really aren't that many of them in real life, and I don't think they are necessary to make certain characters convincing. Sure, you don't want everyone to sound like Mike Tyson, but deep voices are a bit overrated.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Arjak on March 25, 2012, 12:39:56 PM
For some reason, this talk of characters that should have deep voices reminded me of this:
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Keranu on March 25, 2012, 12:41:47 PM
I disagree that you need a lot of deep voiced, grizzled men. There really aren't that many of them in real life, and I don't think they are necessary to make certain characters convincing. Sure, you don't want everyone to sound like Mike Tyson, but deep voices are a bit overrated.
I agree. The Japanese love to overdo the grizzly voice, there's always at least one in every anime/game. Not to mention the high-pitched squeeky girl and the nerd.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 25, 2012, 05:06:31 PM
It's not just about pitch, it's also about young vs. mature, soft vs. rough, nasal vs. bellowing etc. The fact is, a lot of the younger guys who jump at the chance to volunteer voice-act in something like this are on the wrong side of some of these things.
The entire cast of the game is military personnel, and including small parts, we're talking about quite a few male characters with voice parts. Let me see what I can remember:
Greg, Conlod and Marvy are all young and have typical medium range voices, and typical young guys can do the parts just fine. After all, sounding normal makes them possible to identify with, right? Jarvis, Epsilon and Carse, however, all sound pretty damn tough in their own ways, and the latter two are inescapably older. Caningam is also halfway there, sounding distinctly like a late 30's/early 40's squad leader who has been in the military all his adult life.
Do you HAVE to make these guys sound mature and manly? Well, I guess not. Suffice to say, though, you want something unique, and getting masculine voices for these guys would give a dub its spice. Coming up with an a good alternative would likely be even harder.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 25, 2012, 05:51:53 PM
We have a number of folks on this board in their 30s and early 40s. I'm in my mid 30s. I think it's fine to have an expectation that certain characters should maybe have deeper voices because they did in the original Japanese, but I think you should be open to different interpretations, as long as they work.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 25, 2012, 07:53:52 PM
We have a number of folks on this board in their 30s and early 40s. I'm in my mid 30s. I think it's fine to have an expectation that certain characters should maybe have deeper voices because they did in the original Japanese, but I think you should be open to different interpretations, as long as they work.
*points to Son Goku* 0:21
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 25, 2012, 08:27:51 PM
Yeah, the fact that this forum has a few more middle-aged gents could be a big advantage. The point is that however it happens, it's going to be tough to get actors for Jarvis, Epsilon, Carse and Caningam that are convincing one way or another. If Bonknuts wants to record all of this in one location, he better have a wide network of acquaintances who can act. :wink:
True story: for the LoX2 dub, which is still going to be included when we finish the project BTW, I wanted some tough sounding guys for a few parts, but nobody who submitted anything had the kind of menace I was hoping for. I went with a kind of over-the-top guy for one part, a guy who could do a kind of smooth mysterious voice for another part, and myself for the third part.
I chose myself because I had by far the lowest voice of anyone who submitted, but it was a sobering experience. I think all men fancy themselves as having a certain amount of bad-assness in their voices, but I also think most people overestimate it. I myself sound fairly soft and nasal in spite of the low pitch, and I also sound squarely like I'm in my mid-20's (in fact, I'm 27). My plan for that is to eventually either recruit someone who has the real grizzled quality to their voice that I'm looking for, or else smoke a cigar, scream into a pillow for a few hours and re-record all my lines the next morning.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: ParanoiaDragon on March 25, 2012, 11:15:59 PM
Hmmm, sounds like I should've auditioned, I can go fairly low & threatening sounding.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: soop on March 26, 2012, 12:54:32 AM
One thing I was thinking; with the dub, you might also have to change things around with an eye to length, padding out certain phrases and clipping others, so that it follows who's speaking on-screen.
Then, if you don't have all the actors in one place and accept recordings, you'll have to get them to time the phrases somehow.
And the last thing, if Bonknuts has all that professional gear, I'd imagine he can probably pitch-shift a recording and keep it convincing.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 26, 2012, 03:05:44 AM
Trust me, I did all of that and more for my LoX2 dub. I made a script with time-measurements written in that were accurate to the 10th of a second of the original, I tested every line I wrote for readability, and I made the actors re-do any lines they didn't time properly.
The problem with pitch-shifting (which I have also experimented with) is that for most people and most situations, it gets really obvious if you do it more than just a half-step or a whole-step, which isn't much. They need to be most of the way there already. Well, unless you're talking about Daffy Duck or Zophar the god of destruction, that is, in which case, you can stretch it a bit more.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 26, 2012, 06:17:28 AM
Hey hey, got two short cinemas done tonight. Pre-stage-3 and pre-stage-4. They're coming right along.
Now it's time to check the latest work on text insertion in Zeroigar. I think it's pretty cool that soon the English speaking world can enjoy two story-heavy and content-rich Japanese shooters. :D
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: spenoza on March 26, 2012, 07:07:07 AM
I don't have good recording equipment, but if you can provide me with a couple lines and what they originally sounded like, I could try my hand at a couple and see if I can sound grizzled or tough enough for you.
Then again, very few people can truly sound like Elias Toufexis.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Bonknuts on March 26, 2012, 08:09:24 AM
I'm almost finished with writing the inserter (PC side util). I lost the source code to my old inserter, but that's ok. It didn't handle the embedded pointer system for the ADPCM strings anyway. Rewriting it isn't too bad, it's only about 600 lines of code in C++.
Been reading the script drafts and cinema subtitle drafts and damn... this game is just so much more awesome now that the story is coming through. This would have been a prime candidate for TTi to have brought over to the US for localization.
As for the dubbing, ... heh. I'm so used to the japanese voices that it's gonna sound weird dubbed. Once we get a more finalized script for the whole thing, work should begin on the dubbing side. I might do some test voices meantime though. I'm a little anxious as to how it'll come out.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 27, 2012, 04:11:37 AM
I did 3 goddamn cinemas today, and two of them were long. The subs are over 200 lines by now, most of them long. Plus I revised the stage 1 draft after seeing it working in the game (which was cool as hell).
A few more days of translating and a few more of editing, and I'll basically be done with my side of things. There are only 2 cinemas left, plus extra stuff that you only see in hard mode.
And now, I'm having a drink. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on March 29, 2012, 09:18:33 AM
All translations are finished at the draft level. :D
The in-game text is comfortably in its second draft, while the cinema-subtitles are just now complete in their first. I still have revising and tweaking work to do, but most of it is up to Bonknuts now. I think he and I are both excited about this.
Hopefully we'll have all the in-game text inserted and polished within a week or so!
Stay tuned.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on March 31, 2012, 03:39:38 PM
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on April 03, 2012, 03:38:55 AM
Hey Sam, this is probably too late but I figured I'd ask anyways. I'm looking for a translator for the PCE puzzle game Bazaru De Gozaru No Game De Gozaru (don't know what that name translates into) made by Game Freak. A very large majority of the games text is graphics and with the help of Dave Shadoff I was able to dump all them into BMP. Here is an early example of some graphics editing I've done... (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47184537/1.html) As you can probably guess there’s not that much text in the game. If you’re interested I can send you the graphics dump via PM. Though you may be swamped in translation work already so I understand if you don't want to work on it (it's probably not the most exciting game to translate anyways).
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Necromancer on April 03, 2012, 05:23:42 AM
I'm excited for a Bazzy translation. Very excited. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on April 03, 2012, 06:44:36 AM
I could do it quick and dirty style. It looks like most of the sheer quantity comes from the "how to play" explanations, and those weren't too much.
Here's a video on niconico: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm5838165
(note: you shouldn't watch this too much unless you don't mind a lot of solutions being spoiled for you)
If this represents most of what there is to be translated, I could probably have it all in a day.
The challenge in doing this is dealing with the punnyness of the title, and in the game itself. The "de gozaru" basically just means "I am", so the joke is that the monkey's name "Bazaru" rhymes with that. I'd be like making a character named Steinkald, and the joke is "I'm called Steinkald" or something like that.
And they stick this degozaru all over the place, too. It's really an old way of saying "is", believe it or not. The biggest question would be whether or not to try and make up other puns to stick in there, or to just do a plain-Jane translation and get it done.
Anyway, send me the stuff. Pre-organization is appreciated. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on April 03, 2012, 06:54:09 AM
Awesome! I already have the graphics in a organized pack, ready to be translated. I'll send it to you right away :D
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on April 03, 2012, 07:15:38 AM
Fire away. :)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: Burnt Lasagna on April 03, 2012, 07:23:16 AM
Sent. I forgot to mention in the PM that the pack does not include the text for the shop. Since that's actual text, not graphics. I'm currently trying to find a way to dump them.
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: SamIAm on April 03, 2012, 07:46:08 AM
Gotcha.
Looks like you've got half the title stuff (like Stage, Round etc) translated already. :D
Anyway, I'll have a look. Let me know when you've got the shop text!
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: esteban on April 04, 2012, 12:55:07 AM
I'm excited for a Bazzy translation. Very excited. :mrgreen:
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/cooks_transb.gif) Cook and Bazzy are kindred spirits. Cook wants to play game starring Bazzy, now. But does Bazzy have even the slightest interest in playing Minesweeper? Cook is not feeling particularly hopeful (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgsad.html)
Title: Re: Does anyone want to work on a translation?
Post by: soop on April 13, 2012, 03:30:42 AM
I'm excited for a Bazzy translation. Very excited. :mrgreen:
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/cooks_transb.gif) Cook and Bazzy are kindred spirits. Cook wants to play game starring Bazzy, now. But does Bazzy have even the slightest interest in playing Minesweeper? Cook is not feeling particularly hopeful (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgsad.html)
This is all super-awesome. I really can't believe how fast you're working. If we ever go back in time, maybe we can see how some extra localisations would have helped out the TG-16...