Gideon Zhi wrote:
Though if one of your ASM hackers would like to donate VWF voodoo for the main dialogue I would be quite happy to incorporate it
That would be entirely up to Bongo`.
As for localization, our approach to patch production is different. We don't edit translated scripts. We write stories.
Therefore, it's not important how polished a raw translation is when we receive it, as long as we have an iron-clad understanding of the plot elements. As for me, that is why I need about six months to write a story for an average full-blown RPG that requires 40-to-100 hours to play. I need that amount of time to write three or four drafts and play-through an equal number of times, not to mention conducting exhaustive subject matter research.
Moreover, the approach we're taking with
Slayers is unprecedented for me, and I'm having a blast doing it. Filler and I are collaborating on the story creation process together. This is not my first collaboration in a game or commercial product, but definitely the first time my partner has been THE translator. Together we are brainstorming and crafting key scenes together.
Filler's raw translation is technically accurate throughout, but like all translations does not always capture the full essence of a particular scene or develop the potential of latent drama, humor, or other expressive vehicles that reside within. Then again, that is not the translator's job, to write like a pro while pondering five or ten different combinations of words that convey essentially the same information and meaning. They labor mightily, sometimes, just to convert the Japanese to English and render context, correct gender, and proper verb tense.
It is also not the translator's job to set a tone or a style, or to identify and employ other constructive devices such as central metaphors in the crafting of a tale that crosses that line from a typical
fan translation to a product of commercial quality - our underlying objective with every single patch we produce, whether the process requires two weeks or two years.
Thus, our
Slayers writing teamwork is successful on two levels. I respect Filler's translation ability, and he appears to respect both my writing ability and style. Respect and trust in the writer's mastery of his trade craft is essential if a writer is to find the enthusiasm to keep going forward at a steady pace. Otherwise, a project coordinator should find a different story teller or try to teach himself the profession in a crash-course situation if wants the tale to read just a certain way, or if he doesn't appreciate an author's innate style, or he is overly critical and even demeaning, negative, and resentful toward the basic output of a writer's hard work.
Unfortunately, appraisal of writing quality is oftentimes similar to political polling. Some people will assess something fairly, while a few will always be negative due to self-induced polarization, but in due time, high approval numbers and a majority of positive responses may expose the pathological sourpusses for what they are. Nevertheless, a thoughtful writer who is not purely ego-driven will separate the constructive criticism from resentment because writing quality remains critical in our books (hee-hee...). We are always striving toward improvement because we know that oftentimes, players or readers will judge a work on the writing alone, even though most of them couldn't sit down and do the job "correctly" themselves in a million years, any more than they could govern a nation, state, or city! (hyperbole...! *Smile*)
Maybe our approach is overkill to some who download our patches. Perhaps many players would be basically satisfied with a work that received much less detailed attention and tender loving care. As for me, I will continue to try to achieve a level as close to perfection as I am capable of delivering, and I know that Draken devotes the same amount of effort to his work - as demonstrated in
Lennus-II,
Mystic Ark, and
Chaos Seed.
As for editing script, yes, we do that, too, as one of the final small but essential stages of polishing the product, a process that also takes us about one-to-two weeks. But within the lexicon of the profession, editing is NOT writing (and vice versa), a very basic concept that seems to have been lost on the amateur translation community-at-large since about 1997, made up at that time of mostly students ranging from junior high to undergraduate college level, many of whom possessed diverse but undeveloped talents but were driven by hard-headed dispositions, based upon the preconceived notions of their limited life experiences. (...an erstwhile teacher's frustration finally vented...)
Getting back to editing, we edit each other's scripts usually - after all of the research, brainstorming, and story writing is accomplished. Usually, the whole team goes over everything with a fine-toothed comb, except Bongo`. We can't get him to take a break from writing code long enough to play a finished work all the way through! But Taskforce is running final checks on
Feda as I speak, prior to our final, updated release, as performed by Red Soul, who now counts
Feda among his favorite games.
I could write on "writing" endlessly, but I'll stop here, so I can get some useful work done this A.M.
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