Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Nice Interview

This is just a brief note. There hasn't been anything noteworthy going on with the CFC2 translation lately, and I haven't been working on any other interesting projects. Real life is where it's at for the time being, I guess.

I did want to mention an article that I just read, though. It's an interview with Clyde Mandelin, AKA Tomato, who did the fan translation of Mother 3 (GBA). In it, he describes some of what goes into a translation, which is just like what I went through with this CFC2 translation. Give it a read. If you're here, I'd assume you'd find it interesting.

Gamasutra interview with, Mother 3 translator, Clyde Mandelin

Here's an excerpt.
"There are basically two major parts of a ROM translation, whether it's for the SNES or any other system: the hacking part and the translating part," he explains. "First, the hacker has to locate the game's font and produce what's called a table. Using this, the hacker can then start to locate the text data."

"Once it's been found and figured out, the hacker can then dump the Japanese text to a file. The translator then takes this file and translates it. The translator usually just types the translated text using something like Notepad, but for really big projects, the hacker might create a custom program to make it easier on the translator."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, if any of the crew are into software engineering - which it seems a lot like the answer is "yes" - you guys could try devising an IM-like frontend that simulates the game between clients, available in CFC1, CFC2, or "CFC 1+" format. (CFC 1+ = CFC rules/layout, but with the extra characters/action cards in CFC 2.)

You could also allow force-balanced or unbalanced life, so that players can openly choose 1000, 2000, 3000, or even 5000 HP; for different gaming lengths, or to give less strategic players a handicap.

Well, obviously, a deck-arranging and saving program would be key, as well; each game prompting you to load your deck of choice (something like a *.dck file).

It could be an AIM/YIM plug-in, even.

Flavor said...

Nightime: You mean something like this? http://www.personal.triticom.com/~erm/NGPC/CFCApprentice/
Somewhere, I think there's a version that has all the cards added. If you care and can't find all the cards, post here and I'll see if I can dig it up.