Infernoplex

You're writing in vain. None of the companies you mentioned give a shit about us.
Also... Fruitbat is not the one who fucked up Noratoto. It was Harukaze that decided to do the console version instead of adult one. Most titles that Fruitbat localized are all-ages to begin with.

I don't really care about r18 stuff tbh. To me, sex detracts from the vn experience.

You're writing in vain. None of the companies you mentioned give a shit about us.
Also... Fruitbat is not the one who fucked up Noratoto. It was Harukaze that decided to do the console version instead of adult one. Most titles that Fruitbat localized are all-ages to begin with.

You're writing in vain. None of the companies you mentioned give a shit about us.
Also... Fruitbat is not the one who fucked up Noratoto. It was Harukaze that decided to do the console version instead of adult one. Most titles that Fruitbat localized are all-ages to begin with.

You folks are talking about a mass move by Japanese VN developers toward mobage like it's a hypothetical, but from what I understand, it's pretty much a fait accompli. A large number of VN developers have already tried (and/or are currently trying) their hand at mobage. You just haven't heard much about it here since they've all have failed miserably thus far, aside from Type-Moon. So it's a bit late to be worried about that coming to suck away the attention paid to VNs—we're already in that boat.
To bring this somewhat back on topic... VN loc companies are similarly looking all around for ways to stay/become profitable. There are only two real strategies I've seen almost all of them employing, at this point: China, and console releases. For China: if you have a license for a worldwide release, why not sell to a market that actually has consistently shown they're willing to pay for VNs, enough to fund a localization effort? It's certainly profitable. For console: Switch ports seem to be profitable, maybe? Though I don't have as clear a picture on that, and there aren't a lot of data points yet. But you can look at lackluster games like Root Letter getting huge sales numbers on consoles and realize, oh yeah, there's probably something there if you play your cards right.
Now, neither of those is going to do the vast majority of people on this board much good, since we're mostly 1) not Chinese readers and 2) looking for 18+ content. As long as English 18+ release sales remain low (for whatever reasons, including but not limited to high rates of piracy), the only hope most of us have is that the VN loc companies both expand in some way that lets them make money (China, console, and/or some other means) and continue to subsidize English versions with 18+ content from those profits out of pure passion for it. That is effectively what they're doing today. Denpasoft, JAST USA, and Nekonyan are all on the China boat (Nekonyan through the Hikari Field partnership), leaving only MangaGamer in the lurch. Denpasoft and MangaGamer, at least, are both doing the non-PC thing, though MangaGamer is taking a galaxy-brain approach where they vomited up a buggy android app and then promptly forgot about it. I'd say if MangaGamer doesn't get in on the Chinese market in some way within the next year or so, I'll eat my hat, except they're so slow-moving that maybe they'll just keep trickling away dollars forever...
Anyway, subsidizing 18+ English releases like this is honestly both risky (all kinds of legal exposure they could easily avoid by just, not doing it) and bad business (because it's throwing away money with no hope of return), but all these companies are doing it anyway. And yet somehow a lot of the vocal members of the VN community treat all of them as some evil enemy, most of the time. Sigh.

This is the one, this is the post that will finally get us our anime titty back into VNs

You're writing in vain. None of the companies you mentioned give a shit about us.
Also... Fruitbat is not the one who fucked up Noratoto. It was Harukaze that decided to do the console version instead of adult one. Most titles that Fruitbat localized are all-ages to begin with.

He meant Daresora, not Newton, although I guess Newton is not a moege either.

Newton was a poor choice overall. 
From what I've seen of their releases, their choices for localization are almost exclusively mid to low quality charage, with the only significant announcements (from the games I've played, anyway) being HHG, Irotoridori, and Witch's Garden.  All three of these are also listed as TBA, so who knows when they will come out... and they are also ridiculously long and thus expensive to translate.  
The Western market is currently on a SOL craze, but the market is already saturated.  While there isn't a variety, there is enough SOL localized to get thoroughly sick of the genre if you don't have a natural aptitude for reading that stuff constantly.  Sol Press's poor sales are occurring because they've made poor choices of games to localize (the ones that have already been completely localized).  To be blunt, none of the games they have completed localization of so far were pushed by the community before they were announced, and none of them were anywhere near the top of anyone's list to try. 
While picking titles by little-known and low-budget companies, as well as old titles that are immensely forgettable probably let them keep the money they shelled out to the Japanese side to a minimum, the titles they chose weren't titles that could compete with the higher-end SOL titles already available here in the West.  As such, Sol Press doesn't really have my sympathy.  Their own poor business practices are what are killing their profits, not piracy, though piracy does harm the industry as a whole (though not nearly as bad as companies say it does). 
 

Think of it this way: who is the audience for English eroge?  Young males (mainly in the US).  What is the situation of young males with time on their hands these days?  Usually buried in student loan debt trying to get through university.  Do you honestly expect these people to buy eroge on credit?  As for the population that doesn't go through university, their wages are generally lower and they have less time--also not a recipe for spending on high-priced time-consuming entertainment that you can only enjoy alone.  Simply put, this is a demographics issue that doesn't have an easy solution.  A pirated copy isn't a lost sale.  Limiting piracy isn't going to increase their entertainment budgets.  They'll just find their porn somewhere else.
As for why Sol Press specifically might be having profitability issues: just look at their game lineup.  They're selling a bunch of medium to long length games that are expensive and time-consuming to translate (and consume).  They're all moege, appealing to more or less the same restricted audience.  It's one thing to be a developer and stick to what you're good at (creatively).  But sticking to one genre or game type doesn't do you much good as a publisher.  Diversification spreads your risk and drives traffic from different audiences.  That's good for business.
It's also important to point out that Sol Press is relatively new and doesn't have much of a following or brand recognition.  In addition, VN sales have a long tail in the West, and they don't have enough titles or sales history to benefit from that just yet.
As for the article itself, it seems to stumble from one bit of nonsense to another.  In what reality is releasing games sooner after the Japanese release going to decrease piracy?

Okay guys, time for some updates.
The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project.
But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way.
Thank you for your continued support.

Okay guys, time for some updates.
The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project.
But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way.
Thank you for your continued support.

Okay guys, time for some updates.
The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project.
But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way.
Thank you for your continued support.

Okay guys, time for some updates.
The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project.
But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way.
Thank you for your continued support.

Yeah, once you start going this way, it becomes strangely addictive.

Yeah, I am aware of those problems. That's why I am hoping that if it indeed gets localized, then someone capable of delivering the prose would be working on it.
I wish you luck in any case No matter how slow, it's always more fun to read the work at hand in its original language.

I'm glad you're gonna give it a try
I'm jelly. Maybe I should read it too, although my JP skills are still shit. I was kinda holding back from it because I believe it's gonna get licensed. It's a title I see loc companies fighting to get licensed (even though sales-wise it'd probably fare as well as this masterpiece is doing at the moment).
That's fair. Sometimes H-scenes feel forced and make no sense to be in the places they are. But there are VNs where I can't forgive the lack of H-scenes, forced or not. As you said, it depends on the story, how it's written, etc. I think I only read one VN so far where I didn't feel bothered enough to grab the adult release... and that VN is Dies irae. For me, the all ages release of it was a masterpiece enough.
Well, for the all-ages portable one, you would have to read it in JP. But seeing how you managed to complete Mashiro Iro Symphony just fine, I know you wouldn't have any trouble completing DameKoi in JP too.

Well, I think I'll manage somehow  
Recently I finished PC version of Mashiro Iro Symphony, and I loved it - including most of the h-scenes   (I'll write more about it once I complete additional routes from the console version)
So yeah, there are games where I prefer all-ages version, and the ones, when adult version feels better. It depends on how the scenes are written, and how they fit into the story.
But I still cannot decide which version of DameKoi to get - adult one from MG, or all-ages portable one (it's hookable from the emulator).
 

Seems there's no all-ages release for it. At least its VNDB page doesn't show anything. How are you gonna survive an adult release of it? xD

Or a VN like this one fits the description too.

Idk I think sites like DLsite and DMM look super legit despite the nature of their products.

Hmm, sounds more like a cheap excuse to avoid censoring trouble with Japanese authorities. I actually happen to have an art book from PeasSoft with all the game art including H-scenes and pretty much all of it is without mosaics. The sinful places are instead covered by little black bars which are so tiny, that they cover almost nothing and should be easily restored. But I guess they also 'lost' the sources for that as well and all phyiscal copies too.
I could lend them mine if they want though... 

See, this is why I keep my translation files saved in three different places when working, lol. (Updated daily.) Call me paranoid, but losing tons of work is never fun.
RIP non-pixilated penis power.

Thanks for your feedback and responses everyone! I haven't been able to find any tools for Sinsemilla, but it seems Applique's DRM removing patch may have also removed encryption (?). I tried out a few tools here and there like KrkrExtract and GARbro, as well as KiriKiri Tools, but XP3Viewer miraculously worked! I now have all scripts in plaintext, along with other resources for the game!
 
You certainly have a point, Infernoplex, but even so I'd like to try my hand at it. From what I've played so far, the language is not as hard and nuanced as Hatsuyuki Sakura, plus even if I fail, there are have been no active translation projects over the nine years since its release, so I don't think anyone will mind. It'll certainly be a fun learning experience, and a way to give back to the community if I do succeed (one day)!

@Plk_Lesiak I'm not sure if your original question was ever answered, so I'll hop in and see if I can help out
In regards to tools and resources, here's a list of some with small descriptions, in no particular order.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html Your one-stop-shop for literally anything grammar and writing. Great for both professional and personal work. https://app.grammarly.com/ I use this tool to help with the proofreading that word/google won't catch. 11/10, would recommend, but don't rely on it alone! https://www.thesaurus.com/ This site will help with both definitions and, well, anything any thesaurus would help with.  https://www.google.com/drive/ For EVNs, Google Drive is standard. Studios that don't use it are very rare. Touch up with how docs and drive works, if you haven't already https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/index.php The Lemma forums are great for stuff like this. Have questions? Looking for work? Here you go! https://github.com/ A tool many use for script implementation. Some studios require it as part of their editing pipeline. Good to be familiar with regardless. https://atom.io/ The best text editor you'll ever use. For real, use it! It even has Ren'Py in it as a recognized language. Here are some skills that are generally required:
Editing Specific: Firm grasp of the English language Understanding of story mechanics/tropes/themes/etc Firm grasp of character voice Understanding of how to prioritize changes Understanding of assets and how the Visual Novel medium works For example, VNs are a visual medium. You don't need to describe the trees if they're already on screen, unless it's for a specific weight. Knowing what natural dialogue sounds like, especially for voice-acted projects All edited scripts, time allowing, should be read out loud before turned into the lead writer/editor/director etc. Firm grasp of how people act and interact. General Skills: Time management Communication (specifically with writers) Including the ability to give constructive feedback  Firm teamwork skills/understanding of the chain of command To touch up on some topics mentioned in this thread:
I do not believe that non-native English speakers cannot or should not be editors for English games. They most certainly can, as long as they have a strong understanding of conversational English. If you've been part of the English speaking world for a long while, even if you didn't initially start with English, you still can edit. The important part is that you must understand how it works from a real-world perspective, both academically and conversationally.
Here's an excellent example: I've known people born outside of the US that moved over in their early twenties. Now they're in their fifties. I am not about to claim they can't edit. Another example: If you grew up in a multicultural/multilingual area, you're generally good to go. The internet is a wonderful place for that. Again, as long as you have a strong grasp of the language both academically and conversationally.
Also, to tackle another more controversial side of the debate I've seen here: VNs are not pure novels, they are not prose. They are specifically written closely to their cousins, the screenplay. In fact, the jargon is the same! We write a VN script. We are going to edit scenes. This jargon comes from both video game and screenplay verbiage.
Remember: in VNs, dialogue is king. Longform prose is not as useful, as VNs have a visual (and audio) element to them that novels do not have. Don't describe the tree in front of us if we can see it - unless it's important to the script in some way. The exception is, of course, for senses that we can't have even in games (smell, touch, taste, and if the VN doesn't have SFX or for accessibility reasons: sound).
Also: it is VERY BAD PRACTICE to have editors only proofread. Generally speaking, if I'm hired on to consult or edit for a studio, and they have editors only for proofreading, I see that as a massive, massive, MASSIVE red flag. I get it, we love the stories we tell. We want them to be our own, right? Well, actually, no. If we're releasing the VN to the public with the expectation that we'll get good reviews or sales (or if we want to make people feel something), then we need to understand that we must be able to kill our darlings. That is to say, when we make a game, it isn't (generally) a solo endeavor. If we have an editor just for proofreading, then we're shooting ourselves in the foot. Of course, if we don't care about how good the game is and just want to make something of our own, go for it! Everyone makes games for different reasons, and I am very fond of (most) any reason to grow the community!
Over the internet, there's a mountain of resources for editing, so I'm sure others can lead you to more useful resources. If you want to sit down and chat with me about editing, I'm always available! I've been working on (and editing) visual novels for half a decade. I also know a lot of bigger editors that you could talk to, should you have the need!
Feel free to catch me on our Discord: https://discord.gg/watercress (My name is WolfGameDev [Watercress]#1785)
 
Edit: Wanted to make sure I mention that these are just my opinions! We all have different experiences, and I don't want to devalue the other viewpoints. These are my opinions based on my experiences