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Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 10:06 pm
by Anubis
Thats an Earthbound Zero song
Win
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:12 am
by 87th
Since a few of us announced ourselves as Lupin III fans a couple of pages ago, I thought it would be a little topical to post this MGS/Lupin crossover video that just appeared on Kotaku-
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:38 am
by gatse_becker
Just saw the Lupin video myself... pretty funny stuff!

Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:49 pm
by Cyan Garamonde
EarthBound = win imho
Also, that MGS vid is awesome.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:32 am
by JimboKudo
Wow, that was awesome! It was really well done.

Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:49 am
by Kojima_Devotee
I am truly amazed by the animation and art of the MGS video. Easily the most clever fan movie I've ever seen.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:09 pm
by Jackafur
nice. I thought it was gonna be another "OMG check out this sweet fan made mgs video!" and its metal gear awesome.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:09 pm
by MetalGearAlex
that was amazing! thankyou for introducing me to a new hobby now.
um... watching them, not making them that is!
POLICENAUTS... REMEMBER! great things will come to those who work hard for it!
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:58 pm
by seraphssavior
I've been thinking about this for a while, and since I'm not much into programming, I never found an answer. When games are regularly translated into English, how is the text implemented? How do the people at the game companies get past these hurdles? I mean stuff like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear, games that started in Japan, and were translated into English. They have a way to make it fit, but what way do they use? I'm sure you guys have already thought of this, but it just got me thinking as to how the game companies themselves make the transition from Japanese to English, and get it to fit like you're trying to do.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 4:38 pm
by Artemio
An official translation goes through less hoops, since they have the original source code. Of course sometimes the text doesn't fit, but they can create a new routine to compress it or change the program in ways that will allow it.
In the best case scenario it is just replacing the strings in the source and a recompile... and done. Of course i am not suggesting it doesn't have work (backgrounds, images, etc). But it is a more straight line.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 5:02 pm
by JimboKudo
I keep hearing how it's WAY easier to translate Nintendo's games. Is it because they just don't care if fan translations are made? I know that Dragon Warrior 4 for the DS is gonna be done soon, since it's nintendo AND apparently it was almost completely translated anyway. Why do game companies care so much about fan translations? I'm pretty sure that it would only boost their sales of imported game (not by much, but still). It just seems to me that people have started giving up on regions. Maybe they should start giving up on protecting against fan translations.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 6:11 pm
by Artemio
I don't believe they protect against anything. It is just the natural result out of coding. When you program something you need to convert that to a language the target machine or console understands perfectly, that is called compiling. The end result is streams of 1s and 0s, binary code that is not meant to be read by people. And when by the platform's constraints (such as memory and disk space) and because of the original language (Japanese has way more characters than those used in a game such as Policenauts for instance) you end up creating a system that works for your specific game and the target platform. Hence, it is not standard. this is accentuated because the game consoles are not meant as general purpose computers. Thus, the resulting game uses a subset that is much more specific, and this tends to be particularly true about 90s games.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 11:56 am
by JimboKudo
Artemio wrote:I don't believe they protect against anything. It is just the natural result out of coding. When you program something you need to convert that to a language the target machine or console understands perfectly, that is called compiling. The end result is streams of 1s and 0s, binary code that is not meant to be read by people. And when by the platform's constraints (such as memory and disk space) and because of the original language (Japanese has way more characters than those used in a game such as Policenauts for instance) you end up creating a system that works for your specific game and the target platform. Hence, it is not standard. this is accentuated because the game consoles are not meant as general purpose computers. Thus, the resulting game uses a subset that is much more specific, and this tends to be particularly true about 90s games.
Why do people beat up sony for that reason then? I guess it's possible that the only people who say such things are Sony haters, but I've read it so many times. Maybe they're just referencing the fact that Nintendo often times half translate the game into english, and then leave it at that in the cartridge, making it seem like they are encouraging a fan translation.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 1:35 pm
by MetalGearAlex
have a good weekend and...
get that game finished! please.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 3:29 pm
by Artemio
JimboKudo wrote:Why do people beat up sony for that reason then? I guess it's possible that the only people who say such things are Sony haters, but I've read it so many times. Maybe they're just referencing the fact that Nintendo often times half translate the game into english, and then leave it at that in the cartridge, making it seem like they are encouraging a fan translation.
I've never heard such thing. I guess it is simply misinformation.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 6:23 pm
by The Spoony Hou
As far as I know, only Dragon Quest IV had an Engrish translation hidden inside. I don't think such a thing is common.
But I did hear DS games are very easy to hack... Probably because the system is so easy to program for.
Oh man, I hopr that didn't sound awkward... English isn't my first language :p.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 8:36 am
by Spike
Just a hunch : have you tried shortening the translation of the problematic gameplay parts (phrasing the dialogs in a more concise way) in order to overcome the programming problems ?
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:11 am
by JimboKudo
I guess that the guy who told me all that stuff about Nintendo's games being easier to translate was wrong. I looked for anything relating to that topic on google and I came up with nothing. Sorry about the waste of time. It all kinda sounded fishy to me, so it's good that I was able to get a straight answer from the people who've actually dealt with assembly code.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 8:35 pm
by Marc
Spike wrote:Just a hunch : have you tried shortening the translation of the problematic gameplay parts (phrasing the dialogs in a more concise way) in order to overcome the programming problems ?
Tried that... just wasn't possible. You had lines where you literally could not cut sentences down any more without ending up with an incomplete sentence.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:49 pm
by JimboKudo
Marc wrote:Spike wrote:Just a hunch : have you tried shortening the translation of the problematic gameplay parts (phrasing the dialogs in a more concise way) in order to overcome the programming problems ?
Tried that... just wasn't possible. You had lines where you literally could not cut sentences down any more without ending up with an incomplete sentence.
In that case, then i guess it would be better to wait than to miss half the story.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 8:15 pm
by fairuza
Marc wrote:Spike wrote:Just a hunch : have you tried shortening the translation of the problematic gameplay parts (phrasing the dialogs in a more concise way) in order to overcome the programming problems ?
Tried that... just wasn't possible. You had lines where you literally could not cut sentences down any more without ending up with an incomplete sentence.
actually, what percentage of the game can be translated to english in a normal way (complete sentences) vs what parts can't fit? if it was say 80% ok to translate, 20% not ok, you could do a temporary patch that for the remaining 20% just says stuff like "see line A1.1" or whatever and then release a small text file or pdf that contains the full complete sentences and we can reference them as we get to those parts.
then later you can do the final full patch once the problems are sorted out.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 3:22 am
by Charlie Johnson
How many Marcs does it take to change a lightbulb?
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:00 am
by 87th
I'm pretty sure that I know already, but give us your punchline anyway, Charlie.
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:08 am
by Charlie Johnson
I didn't think of any, just wanted to post something.
What was your idea?
Re: Current Project Status (English Screenshots & Trailers)
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:22 am
by Marc
fairuza wrote:Marc wrote:Spike wrote:Just a hunch : have you tried shortening the translation of the problematic gameplay parts (phrasing the dialogs in a more concise way) in order to overcome the programming problems ?
Tried that... just wasn't possible. You had lines where you literally could not cut sentences down any more without ending up with an incomplete sentence.
actually, what percentage of the game can be translated to english in a normal way (complete sentences) vs what parts can't fit? if it was say 80% ok to translate, 20% not ok, you could do a temporary patch that for the remaining 20% just says stuff like "see line A1.1" or whatever and then release a small text file or pdf that contains the full complete sentences and we can reference them as we get to those parts.
then later you can do the final full patch once the problems are sorted out.
It's hard to give a number, but trust me when I say too much.