ROM Hack [Translation] Puzzle Series Vol. 5 - Slitherlink

Dirtie

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Note: Currently looking for a translator, read further down to learn more.

Ok, this is the official topic for the translation of Hudsonsoft's DS game, "Puzzle Series Vol.5 - Slitherlink" (rom #0678) from Japanese into English.

The game
Slitherlink is a logic puzzle game in the same vein as sudoku (or suckodu as some people call it) except it's much better. An online version along with rules can be found at http://www.puzzle-loop.com/
This particular DS iteration scored 10/10 in a recent Eurogamer review (found here) - those guys tend to be pretty damn harsh on a lot of games as well.

Details
All text in the rom is stored in graphics, namely GBA/NDS tile format. This makes retrieving and reinserting the text a pain, as it relies on getting all the text through screenshots and tile graphics, then editing all the graphics by hand (and just a small tad of Photoshop) once stuff has been translated. Luckily this game works just fine in the most popular NDS emulators, so that eases things a tad.

What I need
So I've appointed myself as the editor, but having next to no Japanese knowledge I am in need of a relatively fluent translator. If that sounds like you, get in touch with me. I have already posted a "Help wanted" ad at romhacking.net
There is not loads of text - just menus, the interface, and some help/tutorial parts (help/tutorials make up the majority).

Also, I've set up a wiki page at http://wiki.gbatemp.net/index.php/User:Dir...ink_Translation. The purpose of the page at the moment is just to get a few of the main, simple things translated (like menus) so I can start working on editing ASAP. If there are people who can translate decently (no unsure people please
tongue.gif
), but can't commit to an entire project, feel free to add your translations to the corresponding screenshots. If there are people who can identify Japanese characters (yes there is some Kanji) but lack translation skills, you are most welcome to add what you can also - it's much more useful having stuff in text format rather than image format.

Progress
All the graphics in the rom that contain text that needs translating have been identified, and also ingame screenshots have been taken for almost all the text (screenshots are easier then exporting images that look correct from a tile editor - trust me).
As far as actual translation goes...

Images of the initial test I did:
screenop4.png
-->
screen3ra1.png

Worked fine and was very legible when I loaded it onto my DS as well
happy.gif

You may notice that I added my own little image in there - that's because of lack of space. In Japanese you can express things in a much smaller amount of room than with English - this is quite frankly the one major annoyance with this project, and because of the way the tiles are arranged (and "compressed") in the rom, this makes it doubly annoying (and could only be changed by hacking the assembly code for assembling the tiles onscreen - something which I have no idea about).
 

Squiffy

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That's really cool, the game is quite interesting. I've been playing Picross far too much and it's no challenge anymore, so this will be a nice diversion.

Anyway, I can't help with the translation, I'm afraid, so good luck.
 

TheStump

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i can help with the photoshop side of things, i have no clue how to translate but that doesnt mean you should have to be the only one photoshopping.
biggrin.gif

PM me when you need me
wink.gif
 

Dirtie

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Progress update: The correct palettes have been determined for the majority of the graphics, there's nothing stopping me from actually getting on with it and doing some editing now.

I'm thinking of releasing a sort of v0.5 patch for just the main menus and important stuff.
 

Dirtie

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I'm a bit annoyed, because I'm extremely limited in places, and it's giving me a hell of a hard time.

Take for example this screen:
menu1ww4.png


Now, for the top option, the gap between those two characters consists of 4 8x8 tiles - which use a different palette (seperate palettes for the button graphic and actual text). Luckily, I determined that those 4 8x8 tiles in the middle aren't used anywhere else, and that the palette they used had the black colour just like the text palette (none of the other shades however, that's why there is no anti-aliasing in my edit). I thought "I could work with that", and this is what I came up with (don't worry about the alignment):
screen1sy4.png


However, when another mode is selected, you can see my predicament:
screen2mx8.png

Very annoying indeed.

I was thinking that changing the palette for those particular 4 tiles to the one used by the text would do it, but unfortunately that kinda stuff is outside my level of expertise.

There's also plenty of unused room for adding my own tiles in, however, just like above, I'd need assembly knowledge to figure out how to replace the existing ones with my new ones when they are assembled on screen (and in this case it'd still require a palette swap).

My other option is to work with what I've got, but I can only get so creative, and haven't been able to come up with anything that might work, except for "In tro" :x

Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew
frown.gif

Any suggestions?
 

thegame07

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Looks like you have done a really nice job.Good luck with the rest of it.
happy.gif
there must be someone who can speak fluent japanese out there that can help the guy some more.
 

Dirtie

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Make them all black, and people can just use the red outline to see which option they're selecting.
The problem with that is, if another graphic anywhere else in the game uses the same palette (the one for the blue text), the blue colour in that graphic will also be changed to black, and could produce undesired results. Simply determining that fact would require assembly anyway, if I wanted to be anywhere near thorough.

...Plus I'm a perfectionist
tongue.gif


Edit: I've actually just found a way to do what you said that'll work and won't potentially mess up anything else, but it'll still only be my last option. I'm sure there's someone out there with good assembly knowledge that would be able to swap the palette for a few measly tiles
tongue.gif
 

Mewgia

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Don't worry about little things like color inconsistencies right now, as long as the text is readable on the DS it's fine. Worry about that after you finish everything else.
 

Dirtie

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Just added a second lot of images to the wiki page - just identification for these ones at this stage.

As always if someone is bored and has some spare time, it'd be greatly appreciated.
 

Dirtie

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At the moment it's sort of on hold. To do what I want to do I need to learn a bit of assembly - graphics hacking is a much longer process than normal script hacking unfortunately. Rest assured I will get around to it eventually though.
 

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