Jump to content

Sol Press announces 'Newton and the Apple Tree'


Freestyle80

Recommended Posts

18 hours ago, Silvz said:

Since you guys are here, you could try bringing 07th Expansion games that are not translated yet (all after Rose Gun Days)

Expressing your interest in newer 07th Expansion titles to MangaGamer would be much more productive than trying to get a different party involved.  MG already has a relationship with 07th Expansion (Higurashi and Umineko), and have a proven track record of quality translations, and also doesn't rely on Kickstarter for every single title they want to release.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I'd highly recommend staying away from anything Sol Press does until they release Sakura Sakura, especially if it's yet another Kickstarter.  Remember the lesson we all learned from Libra?  I don't have it in me to place my trust in untested companies that try to get by on the goodwill of the community without providing any sort of proof of translation quality or good track record.  If I was to go off of their demo for Sakura Sakura, I'd be extremely hesitant to pick up anything they touch.  The demo was subpar at best (I've heard it described as "poorly translated" by multiple people that actually know Japanese, and it was also pretty bad in the English department as well), and if their final product is of a similar quality, it's not something we should be supporting, in my opinion.  I think we've gotten past the point of "any translation is a good translation", and can afford to be pickier.  I'd argue that abominations like SakuraGame are spawned from that unhealthy line of thinking, and even more copycats will pop up unless we advocate for quality releases and refuse to accept anything less.

Feel free to dismiss my worries as paranoia, but at the very least, please think twice before you pre-order.  Every purchase you make is a vote of confidence and support in the company that supplies the product, and providing that support before you can see the quality of the product typically isn't a good idea.  If Sol Press makes a quality product with a good translation, by all means, dump money on them, just try waiting for Sakura Sakura to be released and reviewed first.  The small amount of money you'll save via pre-ordering on Kickstarter (which is what, $5-10?) won't matter much if it's a piece of crap, because then you'll still have overpaid for a piece of crap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

Expressing your interest in newer 07th Expansion titles to MangaGamer would be much more productive than trying to get a different party involved.  MG already has a relationship with 07th Expansion (Higurashi and Umineko), and have a proven track record of quality translations, and also doesn't rely on Kickstarter for every single title they want to release.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I'd highly recommend staying away from anything Sol Press does until they release Sakura Sakura, especially if it's yet another Kickstarter.  Remember the lesson we all learned from Libra?  I don't have it in me to place my trust in untested companies that try to get by on the goodwill of the community without providing any sort of proof of translation quality or good track record.  If I was to go off of their demo for Sakura Sakura, I'd be extremely hesitant to pick up anything they touch.  The demo was subpar at best (I've heard it described as "poorly translated" by multiple people that actually know Japanese, and it was also pretty bad in the English department as well), and if their final product is of a similar quality, it's not something we should be supporting, in my opinion.  I think we've gotten past the point of "any translation is a good translation", and can afford to be pickier.  I'd argue that abominations like SakuraGame are spawned from that unhealthy line of thinking, and even more copycats will pop up unless we advocate for quality releases and refuse to accept anything less.

Feel free to dismiss my worries as paranoia, but at the very least, please think twice before you pre-order.  Every purchase you make is a vote of confidence and support in the company that supplies the product, and providing that support before you can see the quality of the product typically isn't a good idea.  If Sol Press makes a quality product with a good translation, by all means, dump money on them, just try waiting for Sakura Sakura to be released and reviewed first.  The small amount of money you'll save via pre-ordering on Kickstarter (which is what, $5-10?) won't matter much if it's a piece of crap, because then you'll still have overpaid for a piece of crap.

Nah, I understand your worries, and I do think in a similar way sometimes. But to try to get to MG at this point may not be good either, since their backlog is full of unreleased games yet and, apart from Umineko spin off and this retranslation (which was done by Witch Hunter), they did not show any interest on licensing other 07th games.

You can say Libra and SakuraGame are bad and are examples of how a new company may be crap, but wasn't that what Sekai Project did? Haven't they kickstarted their project for Clannad, I think, and then become one of the biggest companies nowadays? Or am I wrong?

I think that if SOL are interested on entering the market and listen to us, what harm can it do to tell them what we want? They may end up being another bad company and I can be completely wrong about this, but if we don't at least give them a chance, they'll never get better anyway.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Zenophilious said:

and it was also pretty bad in the English department as well)

I'd say Decay is a pretty amusing guy. Can someone explain what has he failed to understand here?

I also really like your way of thinking, it would sure be nice to see MG dead in the water after their first releases or Sekai failing to kickstart theirs. Benefit of the doubt or having faith in the improvement are certainly for the weak of spirit or just plain silly men.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Silvz said:

Nah, I understand your worries, and I do think in a similar way sometimes. But to try to get to MG at this point may not be good either, since their backlog is full of unreleased games yet and, apart from Umineko spin off and this retranslation (which was done by Witch Hunter), they did not show any interest on licensing other 07th games.

You can say Libra and SakuraGame are bad and are examples of how a new company may be crap, but wasn't that what Sekai Project did? Haven't they kickstarted their project for Clannad, I think, and then become one of the biggest companies nowadays? Or am I wrong?

I think that if SOL are interested on entering the market and listen to us, what harm can it do to tell them what we want? They may end up being another bad company and I can be completely wrong about this, but if we don't at least give them a chance, they'll never get better anyway.

If anything, the titles Sol Press have been able to obtain indicate that they have a short reach when it comes to licensing deals.  I think that they'd most likely be unable to obtain a license for a 07th Expansion VN, considering that both titles Sol Press have snapped up aren't very popular at all.  Now, that relies on 07th Expansion asking for more for a license than companies like Hiqo Soft and Laplacian, but considering that the former has actual name recognition and a series of popular titles and the latter don't (at least in the west, anyway), that's almost guaranteed.  MG is making actual progress on their backlog, and I wouldn't really say that's a factor against new acquisitions.  All the major TL companies are making new licensing deals pretty much all the time, regardless of their release backlog.  Hell, look at Sekai's backlog.  I'd still recommend communicating to MG that you're interested in newer titles like Trianthology.

No, you're not wrong, but Sekai has a track record of decent to great TLs.  With the experiences I've had, if Sekai Project was just starting up now, I'd say the exact same things about them that I'm saying about Sol Press.  There's no reason to assume that companies like Sol Press and OG Sekai Project are competent and will provide good products, and placing your trust in them is like playing Russian roulette with your wallet, you just have to hope that they aren't lying, that they aren't incompetent, and that they have the skills needed to deliver a quality translation.  Pre-ordering VNs is bad for the exact same reasons that pre-ordering traditional video games is bad: it encourages bad business practices and is typically a bad deal for the consumer.

I'm not advocating not giving them a chance, I'm saying there's no reason to throw money at them without results first.  Ultimately, your money is your money, and you're free to do what you want with it, but all actions have effects.

7 minutes ago, novurdim said:

I also really like your way of thinking, it would sure be nice to see MG dead in the water after their first releases or Sekai failing to kickstart theirs. Benefit of the doubt or having faith in the improvement are certainly for the weak of spirit or just plain silly men.

That's not what I said, though.  I'm saying that people in this community should be more wary instead of just tossing money at every VN translation company that exists.  More titles translated is always good, but I don't think it's worth it if they're poorly translated, because that almost always means that we'll never get a better one.  After Libra, Taisho x Alice, and most of all, Moenovel, I really wouldn't suggest that being skeptical about new players in the industry is such a horrible thing.

Feel free to imply that I'm a jaded, awful Negative Nancy, I really don't care.  Doesn't really bother me in the slightest  ^_^  I never claimed to be an optimist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, novurdim said:

I'd say Decay is a pretty amusing guy. Can someone explain what has he failed to understand here?

Incidentally, can someone explain what that actually means? Because I have no idea.
Afterwards, I'm all with you on laughing at Decay for any silly old reason I find. Hohoho.

 

57 minutes ago, novurdim said:

I also really like your way of thinking, it would sure be nice to see MG dead in the water after their first releases or Sekai failing to kickstart theirs. Benefit of the doubt or having faith in the improvement are certainly for the weak of spirit or just plain silly men.

I'll have to agree with the sentiment. Especially the sarcasm.

We can afford to "reject unconditionally" anything that is not of a "high standard" because we already have established companies. However, these, too, had to start somewhere, and fail along the way.
If a new company has no room for mistakes, they won't have any room to grow, or even continue existing. And I don't know about you, but I want more titles to be localised. More choice for me.

Putting aside your stance on all-ages titles, it is because of Moenovel's... unique translation of If My Heart Had Wings that they were able to localise further titles at all, and actually hire people who knew how to speak English while at it.
Even if Sakura Sakura ends up being subpar, if they can't localise anything else, they certainly won't be able to improve either.

Looking at it from a fan's point of view, I don't think one should assume the people behind these localisations want them to be bad. They obviously want to learn how to hire/manage/plan things out better, improve at what they do. And if they don't. If you want to assume they only want the $$$, you mustn't forget that mangling releases is a good way to kill a fanbase and reputation. They're obviously not looking for that either.*
If it's still commercially successful despite a, from your perspective, lacklustre quality, then you can generally assume it satisfies the majority of the target audience, in which you're not include. If the target audience just so happens to be illiterate... that's unfortunate for you.

*Admittedly, Kickstarter would be the go-to platform for this sort of one-shot con.

 

In short, producing a bad first product can kill a company, but producing a good first product is hard. Especially when the company is not full of experienced people, as is the case in an industry as niche and limited as this one. I mean, how many people can say they have experience in localising Visual Novels (whose amounts of text and anachronistic engines can present a real challenge to even the experienced)? But... if that's how it is, however will you garner that necessary experience? Will you forever be labelled as 'not cut out for this' and have your dreams of being part of the localisation industry squashed because the deadlines were badly planned or the monies were mismanaged? Probably, yeah. Though I don't like the idea.

But I think the consumer can't be blamed for this. Short-term, and so far as it directly concerns them, it makes more sense to not buy bad products as an "investment" for your "hopes in the future".

Edited by Mr Poltroon
can -> can't
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

I'm saying that people in this community should be more wary instead of just tossing money at every VN translation company that exists.

It mostly reads like you are saying not to support new start-ups or anyone who has failed before like Mikandi. But if we didn't, where would MangaGamer or Sekai be? The same MG you praised literally the sentence above. MG's first releases were plain atrocious and it's not like we had any indication that Sekai's work would be even decent. In this business the localization company could easily go down the drain while everyone waits for them to establish themselves as "good guys" first. Sure, you are not obliged to spend your own money but preaching this kind of philosophy to others feels somewhat... counter-productive?

6 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Incidentally, can someone explain what that actually means? Because I have no idea 

The genki girl long-windedly mentions that she wants to ask something but suddenly hesitates because it's probably something personal or unpleasant to that megane girl. And so the megane one says that after such a long introduction you should just ask what you want already and stop wasting her time. In all seriousness, is this not obvious to decay-people, it seems pretty straightforward even without actual context.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, novurdim said:

The genki girl long-windedly mentions that she wants to ask something but suddenly hesitates because it's probably something personal or unpleasant to that megane girl. And so the megane one says that after such a long introduction you should just ask what you want already and stop wasting her time. In all seriousness, is this not obvious to decay-people, it seems pretty straightforward even without actual context.

"That was a pretty long intro, you know." makes very little sense as a reply to "Argh". Because it isn't. It basically ignores it.
A better choice of wording would be "All that set/lead up for that?" or some such. Alternatively, turn the "Argh" into "..." (meaning that she's commenting that the other introduced a topic and then clammed up), though I'm not sure of what the voiced lines are like.
Anyway, "That was a pretty long intro, you know" is a sucky line because I don't know what tone she's taking or what exactly she means by that. It could be that she want the other to hurry it up, or that she thinks that intro was too long for just an "Argh", or it could be completely disconnected; which is what it seemed like to me.

 

Then again, I am not a native, though I'd argue this is a case where having a better grasp of English actively harms you interpretation of the sequence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

"That was a pretty long intro, you know." makes very little sense as a reply to "Argh". Because it isn't. It basically ignores it.

She still waits for the question and the "long intro" part is not applied to the "argh" but to the previous sentences so I fail to see how it's illogical, to be honest. Argh is the same as not saying anything in this regard, she's just making an incomprehensible sound, hesitant to continue with the question. It's not something that demands a direct reply.

21 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

A better choice of wording would be "All that set/lead up for that?" or some such.

Now that would be a weird choice as it randomly changes the tone to a sarcastic jab while the girl seems like a completely straight-laced type plus changes the meaning simply to follow your misinterpretation. The same with that "argh". If she's making an obvious sound, I'm not sure how can it become a "..." in the subs.

21 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Anyway, "That was a pretty long intro, you know" is a sucky line because I don't know what tone she's taking or what exactly she means by that. It could be that she want the other to hurry it up, or that she thinks that intro was too long for just an "Argh", or it could be completely disconnected; which is what it seemed like to me.

She wants to hurry it up, that's exactly what it says there, it leaves no room for interpretation. You have just had to change the whole line to somehow turn it to "she thinks that intro was too long for just an "Argh".

I'm obviously no native speaker either just as the wording is obviously subpar at best but I'm honestly not convinced how can someone misunderstand it to the point of "not understanding what's going on". Everything is exactly like it sounds, I can easily see this being a conversation anywhere.

Edited by novurdim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, novurdim said:

It mostly reads like you are saying not to support new start-ups or anyone who has failed before like Mikandi. But if we didn't, where would MangaGamer or Sekai be? The same MG you praised literally the sentence above. MG's first releases were plain atrocious and it's not like we had any indication that Sekai's work would be even decent. In this business the localization company could easily go down the drain while everyone waits for them to establish themselves as "good guys" first. Sure, you are not obliged to spend your own money but preaching this kind of philosophy to others feels somewhat... counter-productive?

I'm well aware that MG's earlier TLs were terrible.  It's a pretty well-known fact around here and r/visualnovels, and to everyone that was in the visual novel scene when they started business.  If they were still as bad as they were then, you wouldn't see me giving them a red cent.

I'm not advocating that you should never forgive companies like MiKandi for mistakes that they've made in the past, just that it's generally a bad idea to go wild and throw money at companies in the hope that they'll churn out something worthwhile.  MiKandi is making a seemingly good attempt to fix their reputation and translation, but quite frankly, I'm never going to give them my money again unless they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they've learned from their experience and won't repeat the same mistakes.  That was one of the worst pieces of writing I've ever had the chance to "experience", and it bums me out to think that I helped fund that garbage.  When you produce something like that, you damage your brand, and that has serious effects on the future of your business.  MG had to take drastic measures to fix their public perception, and rightly so.  Like you said, their translations were atrocious.

I'm sorry if I came across that way, because that wasn't my intention.  It just upsets me to see things like Sakura Sakura get funded with nothing but a reportedly poorly translated demo as proof of a quality product.  I don't believe in supporting companies that make a bad product in the hopes that they'll get better eventually, mostly because I value my time and money too much to do that, and it just feels wrong to me.  I don't want to reward the creation of a bad product, even if the company is just starting out.  All I'm suggesting is that people be slightly less trusting when companies have done nothing to earn that trust.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I try to make sure that I read every comment that I can on here, and I can guarantee that I understand the position that you and Sol Press are in.

Hopefully, I can provide you guys with some information real quick, and be as open as possible!

In terms of licensing, this is something we've even discussed with different partners of ours. We are still small, so it is difficult to actually acquire anything substantial. The titles we have though mean the world to us, and we wouldn't have picked them up if we didn't like them. It's a growing game, so hopefully, in a few years you'll see us up near the top.

For Kickstarters, I have the exact same worries as most of you. Translation quality, becoming reliant on Kickstarter, and reliability are all issues that are currently plaguing the industry.

I personally have read each and every complaint about the translation quality of Sakura Sakura. We hesitated to release a Kickstarter Update until just a few days ago because there were so many changes happening each and every day in Sol Press to fix this. It was literally a "Let's wait until tomorrow to announce this because this is happening tomorrow also" that would repeat every day.

In the Kickstarter update, we addressed the issue of translation quality by doing the following:

We brought on more experienced translators (TBAC and Ningen) to assist with the translation. We also brought on two very experienced proofreaders and beta testers, Kitty-tama and Haerts (whose names I think most of you will recognize). 

To address issues of becoming reliant on Kickstarter, we've already begun projects that are not reliant on Kickstarter. We don't plan on announcing any of them through until they're much closer to release, but I can guarantee you it is something we want to move away from in the future.

 

In summary:

We'll get bigger titles as we slowly grow our name, but in our personal beliefe, each one of our titles is special and worth a read.

I personally read all the criticism I can find, even if it hurts. We're actively taking steps to improve on our weaknesses.

We're going to be moving away from Kickstarter, although the first few Kickstarters are to Kickstart the company as a whole. They help to build a rhythm and structure our deadlines/timeframes.

alice is super cute.

 

I've always been available on Discord for any DM's. If you see an issue arising at our company, please let me know! It's a lot easier to fix issues before it becomes ingrained in company culture than after.

 

 

I also want to point out that we are trying to identify issues we see are arising as well. An example would be honorifics. To help alleviate this issue, I came up with the idea of a honorifics toggle system.

Our surveys have pointed out that there is a large demographic that was being ignored with this. 13% of readers prefer no honorifics, while 54% prefer honorifics (33% don't care).

Our entire goal is to make reading visual novels a more pleasant experience. From our review poll, this was a highly utilized and appreciated mechanic.

 

If anyone sees other similar issues, please let me know and we'll try to brainstorm solutions!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm... Putting aside my suggestions, which obviously come as a direct consequence of my interpretation, you can see that we derived different meanings and different tones from the same set of lines. And we both speak English.

I don't think that's a good sign. At least not when one of us thought there was a disconnect in the conversation, To bring up that it was a long introduction to a topic at that point does not follow to me. The only way I can connect it to what comes previously is to turn it into some sort of jab.

I certainly don't interrupt people to tell them that their intro was long. And how does she mean that? Does she mean that the first two sentences were long? Why? Because she wants her to hurry? In that case, she should comment on her silence, not on the sentences she already said. This is why I assumed the comment was aimed at the silence/hesitation, because it makes no sense to go "Let me interrupt you to tell you that I'm in a hurry and the previous two sentences were very long and you should make them shorter as if that were possible". You don't tell someone AFTER they talk that their sentences were too long and you want them to hurry up. It's too late for that! You interrupt them and tell them you don't need context or that you want the short version. Alternatively, if they're pausing too long you tell them that.

I still see no logical reason for anyone to go "Remember those sentences you said 10 seconds ago? Those were too long."

See? There are far too many rabbit holes that I can slip into for me to consider that a good, logical exchange. I mean, I can see how you arrived at your conclusion, but my mind simply does not take the same path as yours.

 

My apologies to the thread. My post is most definitely lacking in Newtons and apples.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for responding.  I'm sorry if I came across as overly negative.

30 minutes ago, Xeviax said:

In the Kickstarter update, we addressed the issue of translation quality by doing the following:

We brought on more experienced translators (TBAC and Ningen) to assist with the translation. We also brought on two very experienced proofreaders and beta testers, Kitty-tama and Haerts (whose names I think most of you will recognize). 

I'd highly recommend setting Kickstarter updates to public.  I can't see any of these updates because I didn't back your project.  As far as I knew up until now, the only staff working on Sakura Sakura are listed on the website you made.  Attaching well-known names to your translation does quite a bit to help perception, and hiding that from non-backers does nothing to help you.

Are there any plans to create your own distribution platform for 18+ VNs, like MangaGamer's site or Sekai Project's Denpasoft brand and site?  I don't really like downloading and patching VNs on Steam because I don't really want other people I know in real life knowing I read VNs, and I don't want the hassle of having multiple Steam accounts.  If the VN is good enough and there's literally no other option, I just buy it anyway, but having to do so irritates me.  With something like SubaHibi, I'm straight up refusing to buy it on Steam because of the content that's associated with it.  I don't personally care myself, but I don't want other people knowing that I consume that type of content.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

You don't tell someone AFTER they talk that their sentences were too long and you want them to hurry up. It's too late for that! You interrupt them and tell them you don't need context or that you want the short version. Alternatively, if they're pausing too long you tell them that.

We should probably stop the off-top, but I really don't follow your reasoning, man, it seems like a convoluted attempt to make the scene seem illogical when it isn't, you are even imagining the voiced lines you didn't hear to support this claim which is weird in itself. Yes, it makes complete sense to answer with "stop hesitating after such a long introduction" when a person talks for two relatively big lines about asking something and then suddenly stops with an "argh". I don't get how it doesn't. She doesn't interrupt anyone, where have you even seen that, she comments on her hesitation. I don't even understand where your confusion stems from, all your "rabbit holes" are knee-jerks. People can misinterpet even ideal sentences if only they have the desire to overanalyze them. 

And does it even matter what exactly she meant by that? Do you not understand what's going on too because of that sentence even if conclude that it can have two relatively similar meanings of "hurrying her up" or "commenting on the argh"? Do you think "get to the point already" has a myriad of meanings too? And I'm not even commenting on how the last line perfectly flows from the conversation logic I'm trying to show you here.

Edited by novurdim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Zenophilious said:

Thanks for responding.  I'm sorry if I came across as overly negative.

I'd highly recommend setting Kickstarter updates to public.  I can't see any of these updates because I didn't back your project.  As far as I knew up until now, the only staff working on Sakura Sakura are listed on the website you made.  Attaching well-known names to your translation does quite a bit to help perception, and hiding that from non-backers does nothing to help you.

1

 

We have a dev blog which we just recently released (although we've done a poor job of promoting it). It has a lot of similar info, but less detailed. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to link to it directly, but it can be found on our facebook announcement. 

 

3 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

Are there any plans to create your own distribution platform for 18+ VNs, like MangaGamer's site or Sekai Project's Denpasoft brand and site?  I don't really like downloading and patching VNs on Steam because I don't really want other people I know in real life knowing I read VNs, and I don't want the hassle of having multiple Steam accounts.  If the VN is good enough and there's literally no other option, I just buy it anyway, but having to do so irritates me.  With something like SubaHibi, I'm straight up refusing to buy it on Steam because of the content that's associated with it.

1

 

You're telling me you don't want your friends to know you just bought an eroge that just came out, and have been mysteriously offline recently? :^).

We technically have plans. The main areas we're worried about (at least me personally) are security, legality, and distribution. If we can handle all of those, I have no doubt our team can create an absolutely outstanding site. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Xeviax said:

 

We have a dev blog which we just recently released (although we've done a poor job of promoting it). It has a lot of similar info, but less detailed. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to link to it directly, but it can be found on our facebook announcement.

You can link sites here as long as they do not have pirated content and warn the user for possible NSFW materials.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Xeviax said:

We have a dev blog which we just recently released (although we've done a poor job of promoting it). It has a lot of similar info, but less detailed. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to link to it directly, but it can be found on our facebook announcement. 

You're telling me you don't want your friends to know you just bought an eroge that just came out, and have been mysteriously offline recently? :^).

I'd still really recommend setting the Kickstarter updates to public.  It's a good idea to let as many people as possible see this type of news in as many outlets as you can.  It's also easier for me to just find the Kickstarter, and I'm pretty lazy  : P

As Silvz said, linking to your dev blog is not against the rules.  As long as you don't spam the link in multiple threads over and over and over again without contributing anything else, I can guarantee that you have nothing to worry about.  Might want to do a quick read through of Fuwa's rules, btw, if you haven't already.  Only other relevant rules that might affect you guys, besides spam (which I doubt you'd even come close to violating), would be posting embedded NSFW content in the forums, and the loli/shota rules.  I'd hope you wouldn't post torrents or other illegal content, considering what your business is  :leecher:

12 minutes ago, Xeviax said:

You're telling me you don't want your friends to know you just bought an eroge that just came out, and have been mysteriously offline recently? :^).

We technically have plans. The main areas we're worried about (at least me personally) are security, legality, and distribution. If we can handle all of those, I have no doubt our team can create an absolutely outstanding site. 

I don't even tell most of my friends that I watch normal anime, man  :notlikemiya:  Publicly confirming I like anniemay tiddies would be unimaginable.

I hope that develops.  I'm definitely not alone in preferring a non-Steam distribution platform.  I don't expect anything anytime soon, considering how new you guys are, but I hope you invest in that eventually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

I don't even tell most of my friends that I watch normal anime, man  :notlikemiya:  Publicly confirming I like anniemay tiddies would be unimaginable.

 

I was once called a pedo because I said I liked anime. The argument was that "anime only have child-like girls doing erotic stuff". I totally get why people prefer not to be too open about it.

Obviously, this commend was made by someone who thinks anime = lolis and japan = anime, so I never took it too deep into my heart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did not back Sakura Sakura and I'll admit I was interested in checking it out. Unfortunately I've been burned quite a few times by kickstarter and things don't really change. My major area of concern lies in the translation as that will make or a break a game. I really think it would probably be more beneficial to wait until Sakura releases with a translation before doing a kickstarter for this one. I am also interested in Newton and the Apple Tree but I think you would have more clout if you waited for Sakura to release. It would show people the quality of your translations and your commitment to the entire process. The enthusiasm is grand and all but Libra's enthusiasm was also grand and the translation quality turned out to be pretty terrible (but at least they plan to attempt fixing it). I don't think the current state of things is prime for another kickstarter...on that matter itself please remember what month you are going to try and have the kickstarter in.

December/January is by far the worst time period to host a kickstarter. It's the holiday season for most people and most people don't have extra money for a month or two after the holidays because they spend it all prior on gifts for other people. Historically the holidays tend to be the worst time period for kickstarters in general. Please take in account the seasons and upcoming events because I would like to see Newton and the Apple Tree succeed (hopefully with an excellent translation)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, kyrt said:

I did not back Sakura Sakura and I'll admit I was interested in checking it out. Unfortunately I've been burned quite a few times by kickstarter and things don't really change. My major area of concern lies in the translation as that will make or a break a game. I really think it would probably be more beneficial to wait until Sakura releases with a translation before doing a kickstarter for this one. I am also interested in Newton and the Apple Tree but I think you would have more clout if you waited for Sakura to release. It would show people the quality of your translations and your commitment to the entire process. The enthusiasm is grand and all but Libra's enthusiasm was also grand and the translation quality turned out to be pretty terrible (but at least they plan to attempt fixing it). I don't think the current state of things is prime for another kickstarter...on that matter itself please remember what month you are going to try and have the kickstarter in.

December/January is by far the worst time period to host a kickstarter. It's the holiday season for most people and most people don't have extra money for a month or two after the holidays because they spend it all prior on gifts for other people. Historically the holidays tend to be the worst time period for kickstarters in general. Please take in account the seasons and upcoming events because I would like to see Newton and the Apple Tree succeed (hopefully with an excellent translation)

I'm actually not worried about Sol Press from a translation side anymore, since they announced the translators for Sakura Sakura on Monday in an update to Kickstarter backers. The two translators, TBAC and Ningen, are both well-respected VN translators (and I personally think they're both very good). The QCers they announced are also mainstays of the typical VN localization companies. The editor on Sakura Sakura is the only unknown, plus anything that might be left from the original translators' work, I suppose, but they probably can't screw it up that bad if TBAC and Ningen are in charge of the translation now. We'll see how it pans out, but I'm not expecting to be disappointed by this one.

That said, they haven't said who would be working on Newton and the Apple Tree yet.

Edited by Fred the Barber
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

We can afford to "reject unconditionally" anything that is not of a "high standard" because we already have established companies. However, these, too, had to start somewhere, and fail along the way.

If a new company has no room for mistakes, they won't have any room to grow, or even continue existing. And I don't know about you, but I want more titles to be localised. More choice for me.

Putting aside your stance on all-ages titles, it is because of Moenovel's... unique translation of If My Heart Had Wings that they were able to localise further titles at all, and actually hire people who knew how to speak English while at it.
Even if Sakura Sakura ends up being subpar, if they can't localise anything else, they certainly won't be able to improve either.

I don't hold new companies to the same standards I hold MangaGamer or Sekai Project.  New companies get slack.  But they don't get a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Some companies deserve second chances.  MiKandi screwed up Libra big time, but I hope they get up, dust themselves off from this, and move on.  And like you said, MangaGamer did the same thing with their first releases.  Hell, so did Atlus!  (Seriously, just read up on how screwed up the release of the first Persona was.)

Other companies behave in ways that make them seem like parasites, pushing the market in ways that are harmful for its long-term survival, or pushing it toward long-term changes that I don't want to see.  SakuraGame is just burning down everything to make a quick buck off the ashes. Without them, I'm pretty sure Steam's new ban on discussing patches would either have never happened, or it would have taken a lot longer.

As for MoeNovel, well, it's interesting that you should mention them. Because, I'm sorry, but you can't just say 'putting aside your stance on all-ages titles'.  It's relevant.  If MoeNovel had moved on and started putting out real releases, I would be interested in supporting them.  (After all, the reason IMHHW pissed me off so much is I like Pulltop; I liked Princess Waltz.)  But they didn't really change their plan.  Now, instead of openly announcing they're censoring releases, instead they're trying to dodge the bad PR by tricking people into not noticing it's censored.

MoeNovel wants to push the VN industry towards a direction I really don't want it to go in.  IMMHW sent very strong signals that was a key part of their plan.  Subsequent events simply confirmed it to be true.  So yes, it is true that it is because of IMHHW that MoeNovel has been able to bowdlerize more titles.  I just think this is a bad thing.  In that sense, not buying IMHHW was clearly the correct move, as I really do want MoeNovel to take their ball and go home.

3 hours ago, Xeviax said:

We brought on more experienced translators (TBAC and Ningen) to assist with the translation. We also brought on two very experienced proofreaders and beta testers, Kitty-tama and Haerts (whose names I think most of you will recognize). 
...

I also want to point out that we are trying to identify issues we see are arising as well. An example would be honorifics. To help alleviate this issue, I came up with the idea of a honorifics toggle system.

Our surveys have pointed out that there is a large demographic that was being ignored with this. 13% of readers prefer no honorifics, while 54% prefer honorifics (33% don't care).

Our entire goal is to make reading visual novels a more pleasant experience. From our review poll, this was a highly utilized and appreciated mechanic.

It's good to hear that you brought on more experienced translators.  That's a very good sign (especially since you did it before the game came out).  Too many companies release first games with questionable translations.

I think other people commented on the honorific toggle thing.  I might just be reiterating what someone else already said, but this is likely going to turn out to be close to translating the game twice.  You can't just have the honorific appear / not appear.  Very often the lines will need to be significantly rephrased, or else the honorific-free version will sound kind of robotic.  It might even introduce plot holes if someone (say) changes from using -chan to using -san.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...