Project status!

[Holy_Diver]

Almost there sort of... here (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/ex/lang/KING%E2%80%99S%20FIELD/) is an example of a directory page.

The translation system is fully functional as far as I can tell... Ie. if anyone wants to go ahead and start using it your work will not be dashed by future developments. I kinda wanna get the directories up, and eventually a good guide page (as much as I hate that sort of thing) ...but the big problem atm is whenever you start revising a translation the gettext utilities commonly installed on hosts really don't respect the context heavy comments generated by Exgettext (so basically the comments get shoved around) ...I have a very clever plan for this which will also make the framework in general very stable. I'm just not sure how soon I will get cracking on that (fairly soon I'm sure.)

I'm really ready to be completely done with all of this translation business. I always get the difficult/boring stuff out of the way first anyway, and internationalization is not something to put on the back burner, so it's cool.

The final plan will actually use the translation files on the server to translate the template on the fly. That way the translation page will always look like the template. And the template can also be edited via WordPress if necessary. Even if something is removed from the template it won't get lost, so the translation will come back if is added back to the template. Gettext is incredibly powerful but it was never designed for the world of online collaboration... wiki-like anything is a relatively new phenomenon, and the Linux world is pretty set in its ways. It's a shame the philosophy of the framework cannot be revisited. Most websites use it for on the fly translation, but editing the translation on the website is pretty damn cutting edge. The website itself will be translated in much the same way... only with tighter security and coordination / language selection.

[Holy_Diver]

I'm going to say this (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/wp-print.php/ex/lang/ja_JP/LC_MESSAGES/Diadem%20of%20Maunstraut/) is ready for anyone who wants to take a stab at it.

If you want to do a different language just replace ja_JP with anything else (es_ES for Spanish for instance) and go for it. I will put Trismegistus up proper like tomorrow. If there are newer scripts than the dumps I've available swapping them in at any time is very trivial.

I hope Coffee is still available/paying attention, if not someone might want to track him down. Todd is working on translating KF1 into English... I think he's nearly finished with that, but not positive. I think Todd intends to prepare a DD script asap.


This will get better, but the core everything is there and fully functional afaik. Translation doesn't get any easier than this. I hope a decade from now we can look back and see several games hosted and available in many different languages and counting.


PS: There are definite benefits to using this system with a project in process... for authors it's more powerful than mere translation, you can fully customize your game's text this way in ways far more interesting than just substitution of text. Many features will also be available in the future via marking up the translation so to automatically do things like substituting dynamic values and building an in game dialog log like you see in later KF games. It's also very wise to manage your script this way... a basic example is if you have some line that is always the same you can just change it in the script and it will change across the entire game (so you don't have to go back and edit every event in the editor) and frankly it's just much easier to manage a script this way (versus being spread out across maps)

PPS: Oh yeah, if you login you can translate the scripts and add your own. If you set a script to private only your account can see/edit it. If you're adding a public script you will have to wait for an admin (me) to approve (publish) it (like any post/page on the site)

[dmpdesign]

Very nice Holy...it is a damn shame that I dont know any cool (really the world cool isnt necessary in this sentence) foreign languages.

I will be updating the KF1 project probably all week next week so I can have the SOMex version of KF1 available for download and/or translation to any additional languages.  I dont expect it to take terribly long now that the translated game is completed ( I am double checking it for grammar/spelling errors though).

[Holy_Diver]

Well the idea is not a traditional one where the producer translates the product for a particular market. What we have instead is a place where people can translate the games for themselves, which is much more democratic, and can service many more language niches than any narrow "we serve you" approach ever could.

It's not so you can say per say your game is in so many different languages, but if so many people do feel like translating your game in to their own / their friends own language then that does say something I suppose. If you'd like to see your game in many languages just for the warm fuzzy feeling it gives you, I recommend doing what you can to help people understand that this is now possible, and see if gradually we don't see more people traipsing in from all around the world. You'd be surprised, their are actually more foreign language speakers on the internet than people who speak your language

I don't recommend translating a game before there is a demand anyway. When we put an advertisement up for translators at digitaldevildb.com there were several offers every day... probably 30 to 50 altogether. Of course they rarely panned out at all, but thus is also human nature (or apparently) ...for games though I think the prospect of people finishing the job to the best of their ability is much better. I honestly can't believe anyone ever finished a Gamefaqs style text guide. But there are thousands of them. So I have faith in random internet people to get things done if the task is very clearly defined for them.

EDITED: Don't forget it's also a super powerful tool for pre-translation project management; also @Todd (http://www.swordofmoonlight.com/bbs/index.php/topic,299.msg3374.html#msg3374)

[coffee]

The development status of the Japanese game title?

* Maleficia "Nekomimi's Field" (Not SoM Game)
Some demo versions will come out in summer.
The heroine is alternated for the adjustment of the story.
Development is progressing, but health condition of Mr.Kagura is not good.

* Hearts Collide (SoM Game)
Mr.Dark stopped padding it by many sub-quests, and he build up it into a small game to hurry release.
His hobby is DTM and is making BGM now.

* Title -- unknown (Not SoM game)
There was an anonymous post, he is developing a Shadow-Tower type RPG of the 2D system.
He seems to purchase SoM soon.
In the future, some SoM games may be made.

[Verdite]

I am hoping to have a demo of my project ready in around three to four weeks time. Its constant work though! During my spare time i often spend around 2 to three hours on it a day. It will be a medieval european style game, with emphasis on interaction (not so KF) and alot of options.  

One could liken the style to TES:Oblivion, but the story and items are far different.

Note that the majority of time taken up is on customs.

[dmpdesign]

Looking forward to seeing it!

[Hguols]

Intriguing!

I'm fascinated with your project Madison Lastriga, and I have been following it. 

....FROM THE SHADOWS.   

Maybe this is the wrong place to say this, but you have a ton of broken links on your dot com. 

[Madison Lastrega]

I do tom, I know it, I am no web master, I suck at it in fact, but this whole month has been horrible as far as progreess goes, I ran into money problem due to THE IRS....... So I have been working MAD overtime at work to make ends meet........ I have not  touched the site in 3 weeks ......I hope to fix them soon,........... and my Band that was supposed to work on music ..........has not approved the content I sent them......... therefor being sued by a band with 6 major albums is NOT my idea of having a good time.......... they are sorta screwing me up. and It makes me mad......if I post links that are not approved, by them , the nextr thing I know I will have a cease and desist order from Metropolis records.....and that would be BAD........... so I will be around :)
thanks for thre support as well..........ML

[Hguols]

I'll still check into the site regularly for updates!

Even though I don't post here, I still stop in at least every couple of days.