Patch is up (v1.01 incoming)

Talk about Kojima's hard sci-fi masterpiece.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Artemio »

I believe that the default doesn't matter as much as having the choice. What matters is that players know they have the option, so either way the important thing is that we "advertise" the feature to players.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Kojima_Devotee »

Hey everyone. Still horribly busy, but not enough to stop checking from time to time. I'm looking forward to returning to the forums later in the year, but, in the meantime, I want you guys to know that you still have my support.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by DarkTetsuya »

slowbeef wrote:I think we can make telops optional. I just did a proof-of-concept and it's not that hard at all.

So you could turn them on or off. Now we get to argue about which one is default.
Well since they're always there in Kojima's games, how bout 'on' as the default? I forget if the other subtitles are on by default, I don't think they are.

Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by slowbeef »

I was kidding when I said we could argue about the default.

We'll decide on that when we actual have telop graphics drawn and inserted into the game.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Andrigaar »

DarkTetsuya wrote:Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!

Well that's as odd a statement as I've ever seen.
:D
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by DarkTetsuya »

Andrigaar wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!

Well that's as odd a statement as I've ever seen.

Why do you say that? :( Just looks like they're really putting a lot of attention to detail in all aspects of this translation project, when they could've just as well left things like the name/actor displays in Japanese.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by snatcher1996 »

DarkTetsuya wrote:
Andrigaar wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!

Well that's as odd a statement as I've ever seen.

Why do you say that? :( Just looks like they're really putting a lot of attention to detail in all aspects of this translation project, when they could've just as well left things like the name/actor displays in Japanese.
...which wouldn't have been a bad idea, either ;-)
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Andrigaar »

DarkTetsuya wrote:
Andrigaar wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!

Well that's as odd a statement as I've ever seen.

Why do you say that? :( Just looks like they're really putting a lot of attention to detail in all aspects of this translation project, when they could've just as well left things like the name/actor displays in Japanese.
It's more of a weight-of-the-world remark than anything.
:D
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by DarkTetsuya »

Andrigaar wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
Andrigaar wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:Looking to be very epic, it's going to be an exciting 2009 if you guys can get it done!

Well that's as odd a statement as I've ever seen.

Why do you say that? :( Just looks like they're really putting a lot of attention to detail in all aspects of this translation project, when they could've just as well left things like the name/actor displays in Japanese.
It's more of a weight-of-the-world remark than anything.
Looking at it now I guess it sounded worse than it really is, huh? Since there's only those few little things left, anyway....
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by 8bitsonic »

slowbeef wrote:I am a little worried that 88 pixels is not enough to contain "(Chiyoko Kawashima)" with parentheses. I played around a bit in GIMP, but I kinda suck at this.

This is my current attempt.

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Oh, that's perfectly fine, Slowbeef. Don't worry your sexy self.

Keep the telops and translate them.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Henry Spencer »

Thanks slowbeef. That's cool that you managed to get it to work for whether people want them on or off. Nice feature.

What else are you going to be implementing into the beta features?
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by slowbeef »

Henry Spencer wrote:What else are you going to be implementing into the beta features?
Options -> Bacon -> More/Lots More
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by JimboKudo »

Having the option will be nice, because it seems as if the english text will have to be bright white. If you look at one of the previous examples, the grey text is much harder to read, but having the white text might offset certain scenes (this one in particular) since they may have a darker setting. Definetly a good idea.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Andrigaar »

JimboKudo wrote:Having the option will be nice, because it seems as if the english text will have to be bright white. If you look at one of the previous examples, the grey text is much harder to read, but having the white text might offset certain scenes (this one in particular) since they may have a darker setting. Definetly a good idea.
I'm totally with you here, but I'm not such a purist that I'll ignore the "Lots more" bacon option. If there's anything Ingram needs to motivate him more here, it's borderline-excessive bacon consumption. Now if only games could dial up bacon delivery services for those moments when bacon is even more essential to the person playing the game than the protagonist.

Well it was still there the first time around, and it fades away after a short period of time if I recall correctly--been a handful of years. Don't look at it as a problem for the game so much as the hackers. Hell, if someone has a name that's longer than "Chiyoko Kawashima", then there's probably no way to make it legible in the 88x28 box. I already fear how that one will look when blown up a few factors on everyone's screens. Also given that the height stays the same, I'd wager that you can't actually increase the font size all that much with the extra 40 pixels.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Jack Stern »

The names could be shortened into "C. Kawashima", "H. Tanaka" and so...
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by slowbeef »

For the record, we can insert larger telop graphics no problem it turns out.

Legibility is no longer the issue - now it's just a matter of actually getting it done.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Zhukov »

More amazing progress, my thanks to everyone involved who is making this incredible project happen!
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by ShinjiPG »

Woops, I kinda disappeared from these forums :D
Well, I've been lurking from time to time, but don't really have anything meaningful to say.
Just wanted to mention, tho, that I'm very excited with the fact that this project is finally reaching it's conclusion. Great job guys! ;_;
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by cacetete »

epitaph wrote:
snatcher1996 wrote:Why don't you just leave them japanese, as they were before? Since the spoken text won't be altered, the game surely has a japanese feel to it, so they won't look out of the place. Also, I like the look of them.
As far as I understand, the idea is to try to get as close to what an official localization would have been like (hence the other graphical edits) and in an official localization you wouldn't have left untranslated text in the game; doing so would also be very sloppy IMO and reek of laziness.
Actually there are some japanese text in the official us versions of mgs1 (the alert level), mgs2 (locations) and mgs4 (online).
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by akor1108 »

everytime I read the updates and this thread, I feel so good on the inside I just want to cum all over everything.

yes.

As for the labels of the characters, I personally think they are not necessary. as you stated before, their names are pasted everywhere at all times and in terms of aesthetics, the name on screen just adds to the clutter. I am a very big supporter of art/aesthetics and quality, so much... you could compare me to a gay guy who likes to design clothes for women, I know art. and basically, the best art is the simple art that speaks multitudes. every small detail is important, too many details in one spot though can be overwhelming, which is why you need to balance it.

I think MGS2 is a good example of this. There were a lot of interesting peculiarities that you could spot out if you looked for them, but they were not blatantly shoved into your face.

Also, if it makes it easier to get this game finished and it does seem unnecessary to have the labels, I said follow the logical solution.

Kinda like an RPG. it's ? ? question mark for the name of the guy/girl until they give their names themselves or somebody else yells it out. it's cool. it adds to the mystery of the person, it adds to the sensation of "Hey! This person must be important!"

just like how the original Policenauts had some errors graphically, I think you can count this one as one of them.
A nice attempt though.

Please make this game happen! I know you will. absolutely know way this game cannot be finished within this year. hopefully soon. just make sure to always back up your info!

Excellent Raiden. Impressive Snake. You know what your doing.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Stratoslava »

Ha! It's great to see some updates!.
You know... I'm on holidays (here's summer, and I'm relaxing in a beach where internet is rare)
I could bypass checking my email
I could bypass chatting with friends
I could bypass the need of typing...
But even if I tried, I just couldn't manage to avoid visiting this forum for updates...

I can't believe I forgot my Policenauts' copy at home!, this just seems so... inminent :D (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong... I guess I'll check it out in a few days)

Keep it up and thanks for everything!
Titties & Beers!
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Marc »

If anyone's wondering what I'm doing at the moment, I'm playing through the game and tightening up the text while beta features are being worked on. The guys have been offering suggestions based on their observations too.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Anubis »

Has Alpha been completed?
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by slowbeef »

Alpha's ongoing - it gets completed when we call beta. One of these two things will happen first:

- Hey, no known bugs remain but not all beta features are installed
- All beta features are installed but there are still known bugs

I think the latter will happen first, just because... well frankly new features are more fun to work on than bug fixes. In a perfect world, we'll have no known bugs and all features installed when we call beta. Then it's the final matter of seeing if we find any last bugs in beta testing.

Then you get Policenauts in English.

Graphics - the telops especially - are dragging a little more than I expected, but to be frank, it wouldn't have gone all that much faster even if we completely removed them.
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Re: Current Project Status (12/19/08): Alpha Testing

Post by Harro »

I wait with impatience for your translation.
But I don't understand , bêta or alpha ??? and when it release ???
I read the old post but my english is bad sorry, and I didn't all understand, so can you briefly explain me
(Sorry fot my english)
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