Xanadu II Translation Development Blog

[elmer]

I'll probably weigh in with my feelings on the stylistic aspects that we're talking about tomorrow, but I'm too knackered at this point to want to enter that particular stratospheric realm of discussion.   

In the meantime ... the SWD5 compressor is giving me lots of space left to hack stuff in on the Xanadu 1 Opening Visual (so-called, even though it doesn't appear until you've finished the 3rd level in the game).

At this point, I see no reason why it wouldn't be possible to get a 240x64 logo working in Xanadu 1.

It'll take a lot of work ... especially for a logo that's only on screen for approx 8 seconds in the entire game ... but "yes", it's worth it.

This logo is (to my mind) one of the graphical links between the 2 games.

And the "Legend of Xanadu" logo appears on both of the original game boxes.

If expanding on the original Japanese logo to allow for 64-pixels height will allow us to get a great English logo then I think that it is worth my time in trying to make it work.

I don't overly love the attempts to recreate the box-art logo when it's been compressed down into 32-pixels of height.

They're both amazing in their technical skill ... but that logo just doesn't look good when it is squashed down into those few pixels.

OTOH, Black Tiger's 64-pixel logo gave a hint of how good looking and well-proportioned the original box-art logo could eventually look on screen, if given a decent amount of space.

So ... the game is afoot! 

[Phase]

Some interesting views and opinions that are based on the game. My opinion having not actually played the game (yet) is more basic; that the cursive doesn't stand out too much to me, and compared to other rpgs doesn't bother me. When I briefly googled some rpg title screens (mainly SNES) about half seemed basic font like and the other half ranging from medium to heavily stylized. Also like I mentioned the cursive just seems rpg like imo for some reason.
Still like I said I can understand some of SamIAms views. But will let you guys discuss it since it seems more based on having played the game.

Good news on the 64 height  whipped up what I was thinking quickly in the past couple hours here. first one is kinda what I think of after reading SamIAms opinions though I could be way off.
made it kind of low contrast, glassy, basic/simple



Then did one with the cursive Xanadu higher contrast more like the J Title screen, side note I was able to make it fairly quickly since I originally traced the art with vector paths so just had to scale it up luckily.

[SamIAm]

I like where this is going already. The extra space is really changing things for the better!

First off, I am probably not going to be making more mock-ups just because I'm not an artist, and exploiting the extra vertical pixels is going to more about artistry compared to just the technical challenge of getting the title to fit into 240x32.

Besides, I need to get back to focusing on the script. 

Phase, your second pic does not cross the line for me like the previous 32-high cursives did. It's got more simplicity and class. It's probably my favorite of all of your submissions so far.

Can you bring down the brightness just a smidge? I fear that that's going to be partially white on-screen as it is.

I'd love to see any number of color variations you'd like to share, honestly. Fair warning: we'll probably want to stay in the blue-green spectrum for Xanadu 2 and the purple spectrum for Xanadu 1.

As for your first pic, well, even I think you can be a bit more daring on the font than that.  But you can focus on the second one for now.

Anyway, thanks again! 

[elmer]

A proper logo is admittedly preferable, though. If it's a choice between this and a moderately dysfunctional logo like elmer's mod of BT's old version, well, that's going to be tough.

Moderately dysfunctional, eh? Them thar's fightin words! 

One final set of changes to the old logo before it gets steamrollered by the expanded possibilities of a 64-pixel logo! 

I've made the leading "L", the "X" and the "II" one pixel taller to help them stand out more.

I've also moved the words apart more so that the "THE" and the "OF" are now properly separated from the other words.

I've also applied the interior drop-shadow to them and applied shading on their outlines.

I'd be happy to ship the translation with this version of the logo ... but I expect that we'll end up with something prettier. 

Once other thing ... I've ranted on about the use of drop-shadows to help small text pop off the screen and be readable.

Falcom put a side-only drop-shadow on the menu text on the title screen, and it's been bugging me for ages.

In this mockup I've expanded the drop-shadow to the bottom of the text too so that it's more readable.

I'm almost-certainly going to do this in-game as well, for both readability, and for consistency with the drop-shadows in the message boxes.

Unless there's some massive outcry about it ... which would surprise me, since the shadowing on that screen is inconsistent anyway.

[Black Tiger]

I've been meaning to try doing italic THE and OF for that version of the logo and maybe touch up a few of the letters.


If the 64 pixel high logo becomes a reality, will it still require a single palette?

[elmer]

I've been meaning to try doing italic THE and OF for that version of the logo and maybe touch up a few of the letters.

I don't think that there's enough space left for nice italic letters in there, but I'd love to see the attempt. 

There are definitely a few spots on the letters that could do with a little cleanup. 

If the 64 pixel high logo becomes a reality, will it still require a single palette?

At this point, yes. Expanding from 32-high to 64-high (in Xanadu 2) should just be a case of changing a bit in the sprite definitions.

Doubling the number of sprites to get a different palette in the bottom half, and adding a whole extra palette, would be rather more annoying to do. I'd really need to see some massive benefit.

[SamIAm]

Were these ever posted earlier in the thread? I don't remember, and it would take a long time to check, so let me put up some fresh ones.

This is what the title graphic looks like in Xanadu 1. It dissolves in on a totally black screen, and almost immediately after the panning background comes in, starts dissolving right back out.



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Also, this is from the credit roll of Xanadu 1. What happens is, the graphic dissolves in from blackness, just like the one above. Then it palette-shifts into becoming part of the stone background, over which the credits start rising.

I have to admit, in terms of sheer dimension, this is larger than I was remembering. It also makes me feel a little better about the prospect of using all-cursive in the title screen for Xanadu 2. However, I would still want it to be tight, whispy, and modestly colored. I think it would only work in 64-high.

Note that it does not appear in the credit roll of Xanadu 2, which I just checked, nor anywhere else in that game IIRC.

[SamIAm]

A proper logo is admittedly preferable, though. If it's a choice between this and a moderately dysfunctional logo like elmer's mod of BT's old version, well, that's going to be tough.

Moderately dysfunctional, eh? Them thar's fightin words! 

By no shortcoming of your skill or artistic sensibility do I find fault with your logo (I know you're just joking, too). I simply think, as you can probably guess, that since the base was not designed with THE in mind to begin with, it just doesn't work that well to put it in there. It's not particularly easy to read, and the whole seems off-balance. It's like whoever made it wasn't taking THE seriously. Plus, the II and the U still look cramped.

As important as looking "logo-like" is, I suspect that if you presented yours and mine side-by-side to various strangers, gamers and non-gamers alike, and took a poll, mine would get the greater number of favorables. Unexciting as it may be, it's a lot more harmonious.

We seem to be starting to refer to this title graphic as a "logo" now. One thing that occurred to me when I took those screenshots for my last post is that that golden cursive is The Legend of Xanadu's logo. In other words, it already has one. If we make another, it will have two. In the first game especially, the Japanese kaze-no-densetsu graphic is perhaps not really a logo so much as a title, which then wouldn't be meant to compete with the golden cursive.

All this really means, I suppose, is that we don't have to worry that much about making this graphic particularly logo-like. Let's just make sure it looks good, fits the part, and doesn't cause any huge conflict.

[SamIAm]

EDIT:

Ah, screw all this crap. It doesn't matter. Let's just get something that looks nice.

[Phase]

Interesting stuff, is there any further info we can get out of the manuals or art that could help?
Like is the cursive used much in it or just on the cover?

Edit: yeah after looking on google and pcengine.co.uk it's on most everything so why is not really in the game more prominently? (other than the first ending) and its not even in the second game.. that is weird.

I gotta take a look at that ending graphic thats pretty neat.

[Phase]

Quick mod darkened it up, added the J text from the ending graphic, raised it a little.

[Vimtoman]

Spot on.

[elmer]

Quick mod darkened it up, added the J text from the ending graphic, raised it a little.

It looks much nicer in darker colors! 

But I'm still not convinced (yet) about the thick outline on the letters. 

You posted while I was still messing with my test ... here's your logo that I recolored and reduced the outline thickness.

[SamIAm]

I don't think we need the Japanese along the bottom, which is partially illegible anyway.

Otherwise, that looks really, really good. 

It's hard to say about the outline thickness. I can see the appeal of both. It's probably worth a test on a real system/CRT.

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I could puzzle over the significance and balance and usage of the title/logo art that Falcom made across the two games for ages, but I guess all that matters is that what they did doesn't make a lick of sense, so we shouldn't worry about it too much.

Let's just get something really nice and appropriate for the Xanadu 2 title screen that also copies over to that Xanadu 1 cutscene without causing any major problems.

Is 240x64 a lock yet? Pressure's on, elmer. 

Black Tiger, if you want to bring your 64-high full-cursive version to the next level, I'd love to see it. 

[SamIAm]

I watched the whole Xanadu 1 credits, and when they're through, the logo fades back out of the wall to look like this:



It was cool to see that the director, Yoshio Kiya, was also one of the main programmers.