Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

The screens posted here and on the title page look great. Thanks for the update. Are you guys looking into doing a custom font that may be more amenable to other languages? I noticed the fonts were different on the title page in comparison to the ones here.

Thanks a lot of the huge update.

I'm really rooting for (and impressed by) you guys.
This is probably the project I'm most eagerly awaiting, even more than any "current gen" game!

Is this what you're using for intros these days? It looks really good - a far cry better than the text-laden cracktro-ish stuff from the past. I always try to incorporate team credits as seamlessly as possible, to make them look like they were originally part of the game. A non-invasive, classy intro screen is part of that :)

Actually, that is Bongo`'s "test" of the splash page code, but you have a point. Right now, we have a total of four (4) people on the BH team. That wouldn't crowd much, but that number will probably grow to about seven (7).

Ultpaladin: That font is already integrated into the Japanese ROM but just a few letters probably for the limited usage you see on the title page.

Yuka: Appreciate the support! The additional graphics below are for you.

Recca/Bongo`: Stby for update...

Character 5 (Ryoga written to Star Gate - did he really keep the Aqua Clean? That's Black Mask with Ryoga. This block is not translated, btw, just the Aqua Clean -- Add'l menu battle page work looming but low pri.)

I'm always impressed whenever I look at the sprites this game has (yes I'm drawn towards eye candy in any game, any gen, except maybe atari since...
well there wasn't much to do to begin with). Anyway this game seems like a blast in all areas so I'm eagerly waiting for when my time to work on it
comes around.

Is your e-mail functioning? There's no reason why you can't jump into the fray now and contribute general ideas. We're just not ready for alternative synonyms and commas yet. In a way, I'm glad we don't have all 69 blocks translated. I'm so caught up in this story, I wouldn't get any other work done!

That's so sweet! Thanks so much!

Yes my email is working, do you mean the team email?
I'd be glad to take a look at what we have so far and see what I could suggest from there.

Send me the files when you want Willbill

Ritchie just sent us six completely translated blocks yesterday morning, including Block 41, the pre-introduction I discussed in the story writing thread (more on that in the other thread). With these new additions, I expect that most if not all of World-I will be playable in English all the way to World-II now.

This brings the totally completed dialogue blocks all the way to 21 - just like that. And don't forget. Just a few weeks ago Ritchie finished working over all of the miscellaneous files (the menus, names, and such). Since that time, many of the monster names I've encountered make much more sense now. In addition, Ritchie appears to have stepped up his level and frequency of work on BH recently, and we certainly appreciate that! I'm trying to keep up with him now, especially in the formatting and semi-polished story departments.

For percentages of completed translations, I'm not using a very scientific method, even though I could if I wanted to take the time for detailed calculations. Instead, I'm doing estimates based upon how many of the 69 blocks Ritchie has translated. Block sizes vary greatly, from 2k to 49k, and one of the biggest 49k's has already been translated (Block 009). To give players an idea, one of the smallest 2k files contains four strings (nominally 1 to 12 lines of story that can display on 1 to 3 screens).

So, based on what I said, the story is 31% translated story-wise, around 100% translated miscellaneous file-wise (to the extent that we believe we have found all of them), and 100% translated graphics-wise. Thus, I'll elevate the overall English working ROM from V0.26 to V0.35.

Just for grins and giggles, here are the sizes the latest received files were before Ritchie added the English. This is a good representative cross-section of the whole list, and notice these sections of the game are out of order in the block numbering system.

Block 041 - 3k pre-Introduction
Block 053 - 3k Star Relic Trial Room
Block 054 - 15k Star Door (Ryuu and Ryoga)
Block 055 - 36k Star Door (Laila and Shen)
Block 056 - 27k Star Door (Gaou and Chocolate)
Block 057 - 17k Star Door (Naga and Mevius)

Recca and Red Soul, I should be updating you in about a week or so when I catch up with the formatting and a bit of story polishing in the process. If I don't, you will send me beta reports!

The graphics below show the Star Door room of the Star Relic complex that came to life with Ryuu in English for the first time ever last night! I will avoid the spoiler.