A Status Update (or: in the name of all that’s holy, I swear nothing is cancelled.)

“Some people who don’t know about your Twitter might think all your projects are dead, though.”

“any chance of a blog post on how the EP translation is going along?”

“Is it alright to ask how the Devil Children translation is going though? (Also good luck with CCC)”
“e p p s p w h e n (actually did debisama happen? I’m out of the loop. I assume not yet)”

“Hi cj, is fate extra CCC english patch coming out?”

“Quick Question, is the Eternal Punishment project beeing cancelled or do you continue it? There has not been any update in quite a while”

You. get. the. idea.

So first things first, since I could fill the grand canyon with the requests for this and give E.T. a run for his money.

Yes, I know.

 

Fate/Extra CCC (PSP)

Unchanged. Not cancelled. Full stop. Do not pass go. Do not cut off Gilgamesh’s arm.

Actually, totally do that.

 

THIS SCRIPT IS MASSIVE AND WILL LIKELY TAKE MANY MORE WEEKS IF NOT MONTHS TO PROPERLY ORGANIZE AND FORMAT. Once this hurdle is passed, you’ll be the first to know. Give or take.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP)

Moving along nicely! Making solid progress with the remainder of the editing. I can’t say a 2017 release is a given, but it’s damn possible, at least based on the text progress.

Devil Summoner (PSP)

Well, I’m not involved in this, but as an intermediary for Esper, I can assure you it’s happening.

Devil Children: Red & Black Book (PS1)

I am involved in this! Well, as a tester and the editor. And EsperKnight is too. I can’t wait, and you best believe as a proud member of the Cult of Mirai, I will not let this go unreleased.

Sakura Wars (PC)

Translation is maybe 40% done. Stay tuned.

Shadowrun (Sega CD)

Just kidding. I have to keep lighting a fire under Esper for this one. It’s a bitch, let’s put it that way. But we’ll get there.

That’s all I got for now, hit me up on twitter or something if you’d like to know more, but probably not much to share  that isn’t here already, unless you want excerpts of Shikigami lore or EP PSP’s script or some junk.

Back to Disgaea 2. Ciao.

Progress Updates And Stuff

Due to a few requests for updates…

Okay, several.

Fate/Extra CCC

Organizational phases. @ItsumoKnight is currently laying out the script by chapter to match up with our translation. When you have a project this massive, translating things out of context just won’t do.

I’d say 20% organized. We have translation work going concurrently. Hard to explain. It’s one of those things that when I have something tangible to show, I will. But it is still a thing. Just don’t expect any reliable timeframe just yet.

On the bright side, I did retranslate the OPs to get my feet wet, so have an enjoy. As with my usual song lyric translations, I did my best to match the translation syllables to the JP pronunciation. So sing along! OR DIE. ❤

Male:

Female:

 

Sakura Wars

Just got a new scenario update. It’s sitting at somewhere between 40-50% complete, and we have a new organizational method, so expect things to progress faster from here.

You’re not the boss of me.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Waiting on more script extractions. Shop text is largely finished. I’d say it’s at 25%.

Shadowrun

In need of a new translator, also mired in bugs. Still on hold. NOT CANCELLED. NEVER. MARK MY WORDS. (Put it in Red, Beato.)

The Silver Case

Officially cancelled. In case you haven’t heard, Playism is officially localizing it, in conjunction with Suda51 himself.

http://thesilvercase.com/en/

Please give them your support.

 

See you next time.

 

iwakura.p’s state of the union

“When’s CCC?” “Where’s Sakura Wars?” “Give Shadowrun plz” “SILVER CASE WHEN!?”

And so on and so on. Just a few of the many questions I get on the regular, and understandably so.

To that end, here’s updates on each of the three projects that I’m actively leading, and one that I’m actively helping on, as well as others that I’d eventually plan to do but have not even come close to starting yet.

Fate/Extra CCC (PSP)

Translation Progress: ~10%

Team Members: Four(editor, two translators, programmer)

Script Size: Biblical (4000+ pages)

Difficulty: Fairly High (massive script, branching paths, unknown menu format)

Sakura Wars (PC)

Translation Progress: ~40%

Team Members: Three (editor, translator, programmer)

Script Size: Average  (300-400 pages)

Difficulty: High (due to very, very thin menu confines)

Shadowrun (Sega CD)

Translation Progress: ~20%

Team Members:  Variable (Editor, programmer, assorted freelance translators)

Script Size: Fairly Average (100-200 pages)

Difficulty: NIGHTMARISH (This is a very, very buggy game, and Sega CD hacking is fairly uncharted territory.)

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP)

(Not an iwakura.p project, I am assisting on this one.)

Team Members: Three (translator, editor, programmer

Translation Progress: 60%(majority of the script is translated, but it ALL needs to be edited)

Script Size: Fairly Large

Difficulty: Fair (it’s an Atlus project, always Luciferian to program, but we have a very skilled person on that job.)

Moonlight Syndrome (PS1)

Team Members: Three (Translator, editor, programmer)

Translation Progress: 30%

Script Size: Medium

Difficulty: Fair (mostly JUST text, but we haven’t delved into it yet.)

(Not officially underway.)

The Silver Case (PS1)

(CANCELLED DUE TO OFFICIAL LOCALIZATION

http://steamcommunity.com/id/cj_iwakura/recommended/476650)

Hope this helps answer some of your questions. Hit me up on twitter if you have more(@cj_iwakura). And try to positive thinking.

Shadowrun Update: less buggy, more talky

This update squashes a lot of bugs. Battles look normal, too!

There’s obvious glitches, but oh well.

Without further ado:

Shadowrun (Sega CD): In-game text, insertion underway!

Been a long time coming…

It has begun, chummers.

Esper managed to get the script inserted. We have yet to do any tweaking, but it’s there!

Basically at this point we need to fine tune it, correct any erroneous pointers(see the black screen in the battles), and hopefully apply a fixed-width font so the sentences actually fit.

Most of the cut-offs are due to the JP version having a three line limitation.

This is from one of my favorite scenarios. The runners are checking locations in Shibuya to find out the whereabouts of the Shadow Mage… and get more than they bargained for.

 

Shadowrun [Sega CD]: Chapter 1 reaches 60%

Konbanwa, chummers.

It’s hard to stay distracted when this project generates so much interest, so I hit the grindstone and got past the halfway point of Chapter 1.

So here’s some more of the script applied to some of the screens from before, now translated. Have an enjoy.

Stay tuned.

Post-mortem: Shadowrun Returns

Haven’t had much to update with as of late in regards to projects(though I do have a small update on Shadowrun SCD), so here’s some thoughts on something related that I recently finished.

 

Shadowrun Returns was the first kickstarter I backed, and also the first one I got to play. The gameplay is not what one would call innovative: you use cover, weaponry, and magic during turn-based combat to kill your foes with ease. It is, however, effective and enjoyable.

At least up until the crazy final battles which involve lots of nigh-unkillable beasts attacking en masse.

What most hopefully came for was a return to the Shadowrun universe, and all the character drama and rich mythos that entails.

Boy did Harebrained Schemes deliver on that front.

Shadowrun Returns has a plethora of well-written NPCs with their own motivations, character arcs, and intriguing dialogue leaving you wanting to know more about them, their backstories, and the universe of Shadowrun, everything good writing should do.

Even throwaway NPCs with one or two lines have more weight to their dialogue than certain game characters with paragraphs if not novels of dialogue to drone on about.

Better still is the campaign editor, offering creative designers an entire world of tools to play around with.

My ream is to take the script I have here for Shadowrun SCD and make a SRR campaign out of it using the editor. Given my inexperience with graphics and module editing, that could take a while.

But hey, it’s a nice dream.

Oh yeah, Shadowrun SCD.

The good news is that the script is 40% don, two campaigns out of five. The bad news is that we’re still waiting on an alpha to test the insertion, due to some technical difficulties. We’re currently isolating the deckers involved, and have dispatched some Black IC to remove them from our branch of the Matrix.

Short version: we’ll get there, and soon.

See you in the sprawl, chummers.

(Disclaimer: iwakura productions in no way endorses the unlawful use or distribution of urban pacification firearms and shall not be held accountable for any death, dismemberment, or stolen organs/limbs that results.)

The end of an era: Ryutaro Nakamura – 1955-2013

It isn’t often I post about stuff not related to translation projects, but if it wasn’t for this man, my handle(and this group’s moniker) would not exist.

Serial Experiments Lain forever changed my opinion of anime, and its creator has sadly left us behind.

See you on the Other Side, Nakamura. You’ll always be Omnipresent.

 

On a lighter note(and somewhat relevant to our readers interests, I hope), Shadowrun Returns is now available, and is quite enjoyable so far.

See you in Seattle, chummers.

A Beginner’s Guide To Kanji Tables

Oh wait, wrong Kanji.

There we go!

Kanji tables are integral to fan translations. This is currently the obstacle for Shadowrun. In a nutshell, they’re image-format depictions of Japanese characters that have to be transcribed into text to make facilitate the process of replacing Japanese text with English text.

That’s the Kanji table for Shadowrun Scenario 2. There’s one for each scenario.

We’re hacking away at it, so stay tuned.

It includes some hiragana and katakana as well, but mostly kanji. Hiragana & katakana are simpler characters, often used to spell out kanji for ease of pronunciation or saying non-Japanese words, such as “Ku-Ri-Su’ for Chris(see: Steins;Gate).

(She prefers Christina, I’m told. It’s not that she likes it or anything, though.)

If you’d like to know more about kanji tables, read here.

http://www.romhacking.net/documents/56/

If you’d like to know more about Kanji hitting people with tables, play Persona 4 Arena.

-cj

 

Shadowrun [Sega CD] Progress Update & Gameplay

Hey all. I’ve been getting a lot of contact about the Shadowrun project, which is awesome. Not sure if it’s the Shadowrun community or niche Sega CD/SRPG fans or both, but I’m not complaining.

Unfortunately, it’s proving to be a complicated task. The game uses some very intricate kanji tables, and though we have the first Scenario translated, implementing the script is gonna be a pain, chummer.

That said, I decided to get some screens up to and including the first few battles to tide you all over.

Our wayward posse of Runners decide to run around the city looking for clues, and they find a lot.

As well as a gang who need to have their faces smashed in.

And maybe, just maybe, the elusive Samurai Killer…

The gameplay as said, is SRPG format, and uses a fantastic dice-rolling mechanic to determine damage and defense, as well as chances of the attack hitting.

I had a blast playing it, and I hope you will too. Keep on runnin’.

If you’ve played Snatcher or Policenauts, the gameplay should feel very familiar. You talk to people, get ignored, talk some more, then bust some skulls and then they start talking. Expect a LOT of talking, this is a very wordy game. (This is a huge plus for me.)