This pertains to specific details surrounding the immediate future of the Koitate Translation Project. Anybody who has been tracing the project knows that in late days, the last two weeks to be specific, there has been little to no progress made as far as translation goes, and since all other jobs extend from that root, there’s been a severe lack of any updates. Although I brought it up before, this is because the project translator Canikizu has been busy studying for his end of term exams, and pulling together his personal academic matters. I asked him today for a general date as to when he’d be able to return to work, and he indicated that on May 20th he’d be done with exams, and from that point forth he’d push himself and devote a lot of hours into translating the dialogue. Around that time, you can expect to see some more progress made. In the mean time, I’m probably just going to edit the files unrelated to the Yukino patch, just for a head start.
G Senjou- Potential Translation Opportunity
Ever since the G-Senjou no Maou thread died on /jp/, due to redundant bumps in a desperate plea to find a translator, anything pertinent to the original concept of the translation was approached with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Fair enough though, right? Who would want to slave away for hours on end translating a game so that other can people can play what they have already. It makes perfect sense that they’re hard to come by. So, although a little effort was placed by 3pies in the form of graphic editing, the overall progress was negligible, as no momentum had been generated. Well, fortunately, recently, things may have take a turn for the better, but as far as I’m concerned, until actual digits have been made, this is all still speculation. Nothing definitive has been decided, but I’d like to take a second to introduce a concept.
In recent times, some three or four days ago, I got an email from Luola, an individual working with the chinese project. Their patch is some 90% complete, and is going to be released on the one year aniversary of the game. It was indicated to me by Luola that the project manager of the Chinese translation project for the game has an expressed interest in creating an english release. After this idea was generated, I spent some time analyzing a draft of what could be done with this, and it was concluded that should we be able to generate all the technical staff [Not really hard or anything], it’s very realistic that the game could be released to the English population in the form of a Chinese to English translation. Details about this in specific will flucuate around May 29th, under the assumption that the Chinese release isn’t held up by China’s exceedingly critical censorship laws (Luola said it might be a problem). In the mean time, all we can do is wait and hope, but hey, the likely hood of success has increased exponentially, as prior to this, they were slim to none. I’ll keep posting developments as this gradually as things progress. Let me reiterate though. Absolutely nothing is set in stone.
Koitate and G Senjou Updates
On Koitate, there has been a negligible 30 kb entry from our translator. Currently, Canikizu has been busy with exams and such, and any culturally knowledgeable individual knows that within the east side of the globe, that carries slave like implications of thorough studying. After he’s done with that, you can expect to see a gradual burst of progress. Hopefully, we’ll get the patch released prior to the end of my freshman year [June 12th ish], but there’s no way that I can even back up that promise until I’ve seen a bit more consistent progress. In other news, the line breakers have all but finished that which has been edited and such, and beta testing for a good half of Yukino’s route will open shortly to those whom are interested. It’s not really a selective process, just email me and I’ll get you the patch, and hopefully you’ll follow suite with proof reading, but I don’t exactly have any high expectations. As far as public releases go, the teaser patch re release is eminent. I’ve just been a bit lazy. It’s not like many people bother with teaser patches anyways.
As for G-Senjou, continuing speculation. Here’s the current state of affairs. The initial wave of enthusiasm died alongside the /jp/ thread that I had initiated. The project page is up and running, but so far, all we’ve gotten is myself, as a quality checker, some guy as an editor, and 3pies [Seraph] as a graphics editor. However, I did get an email yesterday from a figure working with the Chinese translation project, and I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to organize some sort of collaborative effort with him to at least get a foot down on progress. Even if we move slowly at first, something is better than nothing. When we make progress, we’ll be able to get a degree of publicity, which will hopefully further propagate our momentum with more staff volunteers.
G-Senjou Project Speculation(Cont.)
Alright, so I’ve been talking to /jp/ and it looks like people are enthusiastic to ressurect the G-Senjou project started by that negligible guy back in the day. I’ve extracted the scripts, and I’ve talked to Moogy about making a project page on TL Wiki, which he responded to, in summary, with “Why are you asking me?” At the current moment, someone on /jp/ is putting together the Wiki page, since I’m no good with that kind of stuff. That same person is also going to slightly modify the text documents, so that they’re more aesthetically pleasing(?), and so that they’re easier to translate. Fortunately for us, G-Senjou uses the Kirikiri engine, which is extremely comforting, as a series of tools made by Insani are available to the public to edit. I have also contacted the person who attempted to translate the game before, to see how he handled things. When it comes to programming mechanics, I’m ignorant, but hopefully I can pull it together to avoid weighing down the project. Fortunately, there’s a multitude of other editors available in case I slack, so it’s not a predominate concern. This project’s success is extremely realistic, but for now, I still don’t feel comfortable claiming that it is official, as I won’t do so until we have some solid progress. None the less, I’ll be tracing it, and I’ll be sure to keep detailed updates posted here
So what we have so far/What will happen gauranteed:
-A Project page on TL wiki:
-An editor
-A graphics editor
-A hacker, and by that, I mean anyone who’s competent enough to repack stuff.
-Beta Testers/Quality Check
That means all we need to have a full blown project is a loyal translator. The chances of finding one aren’t terrible though. Like Never17, we’ll leave translation as an open spectrum to whoever feels like it. All script files will be available to the public. Hopefully, it won’t take very long before somebody comes around and helps us out.
Future Plans- G Senjou no Maou
One day, 8 months ago, Asceai of Gemot Encubed decided to initiate a translation project for G-senjou no Maou, or, alternatively The Devil on G-String. In that time, he managed to accomplish next to nothing, and has yet to release his translated script files to the community, as the community berated him for his refusal to follow through. In that 8 months, however, as it’s to be expected that only one translating entity can work on a single project at any given time, he had the game reserved, and a more competent staff failed to intervene, and pick up his slack. In recent days though, with the releases of stellar titles in 2009 in particular, I believe that it would be beneficial to everyone if a game such as G-senjou no Maou could be released in english alongside the others.
The Devil on G-String is amongst the most popular titles in the Japanese gaming scene, and as Chaos;Head and Sumaga proved, hype isn’t generated without a cause. Therefore, after discussing the matter with /jp/ I have decided to try to put together a team for the project. This is only speculation right now though. The first step will be getting the project on the TL wiki, which has been indicated as a relatively simple ordeal to me by the people of /jp/. Right now, I am downloading the game, and as soon as I get the script files extracted, you can be damn sure I’ll make the attempt. Should this be successful, I’ll follow suite as an editor while I wait for a translator to volunteer, and from there, things should proceed smoothly. This approach is vastly similar to what happened with The iDolM@STER SP translation project, and since I’ve seen it work, I’m not that worried.
Again, this is only speculation. I’m just going to get the ball rolling for now. Please by no means accept this as a formal claim until you see it on TL Wiki yourself. I’ll be sure to update when and if everything works out. I’d like to see this game get translated as much as the next person.
Editing Progress Update
Le sigh. So finally, as of today, I have caught up with the total content translated. For those of you paying attention, you’ll notice that the editing progress has been accelerating far faster than the translation progress. Well, I was pressing for time, especially now more than ever, cause I wanted to finish up before I played Sengoku Rance. None the less, I’d like to offer some insight and speculation into the future of this progress.
Right now, the translation is moving at an average of 80kb per week, just about. The translator isn’t exactly pressing for a quick release, but I have yet to apply any pressure onto the subject. I believe, personally, that rushing things is a bit unnecessary, given the fact that releases are coming out constantly this season. This doesn’t mean that we’re slacking off by any means, it just means that we’ll be moving at an average rate. This is temporary though. As you are aware, these things have a tendency to speed up near the end. I’d like to get the patch out and ready by the time I get out of college [June 12th, 2009]. And when we hit May, I’ll put pressure on our translator. Although, I do ask that you have a little sympathy for the poor guy, having the triple filter the translation into english.
Line breaking and beta testing will start today. I have gotten the contact information of the rest of the team, and the edited files will be distributed to them as soon as they log on. Beta testing will start at the first milestone, 50%. Don’t worry about the consistent progress of the line breakers though, it takes a lot less time to do that than it does to translate and edit, and there’s 3 of the guys on the team as well.
We have also recently obtained a graphics editor, Seraph, from the Pure Pure translation project, so you can expect the menus and details to be fully translated as well. Maybe we’ll even translate the sound effects in the little chibi animations, who knows. It’s still a bit early to have a lot of confidence in it.
As per usual, and I realize we certainly aren’t the only people in need, we REALLY COULD USE ANOTHER TRANSLATOR, PLOX. Any applicants would be appreciated, and will probably by all means be accepted by the team. If we can obtain one, even if it’s just part time, the release will come out so much faster. And really, wouldn’t that be nice? I’m fully prepared to put in work 24/7 in lieu of translation progress, so if you know anyone who’d be willing to help out, or if you yourself would be willing, please let me know immediately. As for other positions, beta testers are desirable.
Well, that is all for now I suppose. As for my own work from this point forth, I may lend the people translating Pure Pure a hand with proof reading and beta testing. Komidol has indicated that the Kirara and Sarara project is moving very slowly, so I can’t really expect to be particularly occupied with anything else. None the less, releasing Koitate to you guys is my highest priority, and the work done will be proportional to the work the team gets done.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me about anything pertaining to the project. Although I believe I pretty thoroughly answered every possible question related to the project, any abstract details or questions you’d like to ask will be answered post haste. Unlike some other projects, I’m not really one for absolute secrecy.
Thanks for all your support, sincerely,
Neko
Foreword: Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate translation project
Hello everyone,
I am Neko, the lead editor for the Koitate translation project.
Due to the Vietnamese nature of the original project page, I have gotten approval to recreate, restructure, and reorganize the translation project. Outside of a wiki, I found that a blog was the easiest, and simplest method of communicating information related to the Koitate translation project to those whom are interested. It also, although this is more hopeful than rational, may provide a more convenient method in which volunteers are able to submit themselves into the team, without the pain of having to surf through a foreigner’s forum.
Probably the only people whom are aware of the exact progress of the project at this point of time, is the people of the Nihonomaru Visual Novel Fanclub, who have been somewhat forced to tolerate my incessant bitching surround the details. As anyone who has played the teaser patch is aware, the grammar in the translation was abysmal, and it was littered with awkward wording. In order to prevent this project from being the elaborate Zero Wing it was fated to be, I have recently stepped into the position of Editor, in hopes of saving it. This process is proceeding very smoothly, as every fiber of my being, and every ounce of my free time is going into editing the script, but I implore to those of whom it applies, to be patient as I catch up with the translation. I will be done by April 24th at the absolute latest, and as I approach completion of what’s been translated at this point, the translation will continue to rise in progress. At this present point of time, Canikizu, the lead translator is taking advantage of the gap between that which has been translated and that which has been edited, and is working to stabilize a different Vietnamese Visual Novel project, however, he has indicated to me, through direct contact and scraps of submission, that he’s down to go all the way.
Please follow relative blog posts for statistical information regarding the release, and expect a fully emulated edited version of the original forum post related to this project sometime in the near future. As soon as I reach a milestone, I’ll provide updates. Progress will be posted at my convenience, but I can promise that it’ll be at least once per week. Probably more though, really, as frequent progress checks somewhat keep me going.
Thank you for demonstrating interest in the progress, my motivation would be shot if it wasn’t for you guys.
Sincerely, Neko
