Xanadu II Translation Development Blog

[esteban]

THAT Xanadu illustration, tho...

  

[elmer]

That smiley could mean a lot of things...

 

.
.
.

or just nothing. It would be very cool of them if they were actually interested in, and looking forward to, the translation.

[Vimtoman]

Thought it was funny as I couldn't see them making a better conversion than Elmer's and SamIam's.

Whens the expected release date? Christmas?

[elmer]

Whens the expected release date? Christmas?

I have no idea.

Recording has been going a lot slower than we'd hoped, and we temporarily lost a couple of actors to summer vacations.

Good post-production and lip-sync will take time after all of the recordings are done.

Then there's final-testing to catch typos or mistakes that we've made.

I'll be really, really sad if we miss this year but, at this point, I just can't be sure.

[elmer]

Hahaha ... yep, that Inventory screen is pretty hidden. I only found out about it when I accidentally pressed "right" when the cursor was at the edge of one of the upper boxes.

That's pretty poor UI design on Falcom's part, and there really should be an arrow icon on the border of the box.

And so, now there is an arrow! 

But the next question comes, what color should the arrow be?

There are 2 potential choices in Falcom's color palette ... white, or orange.

SamIAm and I look at these screens, and have pretty-much the same reasoning for our personal preference ... but then come to opposite conclusions.

So, just for fun ... what do you guys think, and more importantly, can you justify/explain your preference in relation to Falcom's other use of colors on the screen? 

[Black Tiger]

White looks better and more natural, but could still be missed by some people.

Orange can't be missed.

[Michirin9801]

Can you make it change between white and orange every half second or so? I think that would be better than a static colour arrow...

[Mathius]

Can you make it change between white and orange every half second or so? I think that would be better than a static colour arrow...

This would be nice.

If that would be a troublesome addition than I second the Orange Vote. It's easier to see, and for whatever reason I like its "Vibe" better.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Yeah, Orange is not missable.  Maybe a slow blinking white/orange arrow as mentioned by Michirin!

[elmer]

Folks ...

1) Blinking isn't technically possible.

2) For gawd's sake, that would be lousy UI design! You're thinking of a modern UI with a mouse ... game UI designs with a joypad only flash/pulse/blink the current selection, especially in the mid 1990s when this game was made. Whatever happens, the color chosen has to fit in with the existing game, you can't go crazy!

So ... solid white or solid orange.

Nobody has yet actually advanced an argument as to how their choice would fit in with the existing color choices of the other on-screen elements, or why that color choice is preferable to the other.

C'mon folks ... this is an essay question, and not a multiple-choice! 


<edit>

In any translation project (or development project) that involves more than one person, there will eventually be a disagreement on some issue or another. How the people involved resolve that issue is going to be a great factor in determining how well they work together, and whether they will continue to work together.

So ... it's import that you can make an argument for the things that you believe in, and that you also know when you *don't* believe in something strongly enough to argue about it.

If you haven't noticed, SamIAm and I don't always agree on stuff. But we have managed to form a relationship where we can disagree, have a logical argument, and then come to a consensus and move on.

The color choice here is an example of something where you guys can consider a fairly small design/translation choice, and then figure out how you'd argue with your partner to put forward your personal preference.

[Michirin9801]

1) Blinking isn't technically possible.

2) For gawd's sake, that would be lousy UI design! You're thinking of a modern UI with a mouse ... game UI designs with a joypad only flash/pulse/blink the current selection, especially in the mid 1990s when this game was made. Whatever happens, the color chosen has to fit in with the existing game, you can't go crazy!

So ... solid white or solid orange.

If you say so...

In that case, while I like the look of the white arrow better, I'd say go for the orange one because, as it was said by more than one people before, it can't be missed, but not only that, there's already another orange arrow elsewhere on the screen, having this particular arrow also be orange would make the UI look more consistent you know what I mean?

[turboswimbz]

So here is my "deep but not that deep" take:

Falcom clearly expected the gamer to be familiar with the RPGs of the day (I'm guessing why no arrow at all).  As such it appears to me that they set up the menu screen to be intuitive that type of player. Health and resource information up top and other complex actions and menu items at the bottom.  Going with the blue background and white letters led them to use the complimentary Orange against the background to make anything they wanted to stand out do so.   

So the question becomes to me what is it that you and sam want the arrow to do.  stand back in the background as a reminder or is it to be a more obvious marker to the player to another screen.  there are merits to both.  As you want the player to be able to find it, but you also don't need attention called to every time after they know it's there.

I'm going to lean towards the Orange based both on its location on the screen and the fact that it donates an action the player can take.  and it just feels more intuitive to the design, almost like I don't have to think about it being an arrow, in the same way, you don't think hey there is a stop sign you just instantly stop.  that being said I find the white also appropriate and could be swayed perhaps to change my stance.

hope that helps. and clarifies my thought process.

 

[esteban]

L'arrow l'orange....

....because folks will have a 13% chance of noticing l'orange and 3% likelihood discerning its purpose (n=21).

The white arrow has a 4% chance of being noticed and a 0.000001% chance of inducing someone to manipulate it/figure out its raison d'etre (n=25).

METHODOLOGY: I showed these images to dozens of strangers in a public restroom at a local park. I recorded the results by keeping tally on a steamy mirror. At one point, I had to recreate the tally from memory (a patron inadvertently wiped away the data when he used the mirror to pluck some errant hairs from his eyebrows). Performing a linear regression analysis, I am 95% confident I recreated the data accurately without any errors (+/- 30% margin of error).

[Vimtoman]

Is an Orange arrow with a white surround possible?

[elmer]

Is an Orange arrow with a white surround possible?

Hahaha ... good try! 

Nope, there aren't enough pixels.