Translation Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable Translation Project
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So, seeing how a brand-new Madoka Magica movie has just been announced... Think you can finish the translation before the long-awaited sequel's official release? 
Yes, what wonderful news, it's finally happening!
Hey maybe they will release an entirely new game and we will require your service again, the ride never end!
Hey maybe they will release an entirely new game and we will require your service again, the ride never end!
Joking, no pressure Carlitos lol.
Oh man, I hope this brings new people to the game tooSo, seeing how a brand-new Madoka Magica movie has just been announced... Think you can finish the translation before the long-awaited sequel's official release?
Whew, I got a lot of work ahead of me then lol.
Signed up for these forums specifically to thank you for your efforts. I had thought I was going to be left to watching video translations. I also had a couple points of minor criticism:
I wanted to comment about current implementation of the new splash screen logo. I attached a screenshot of how it displays in game (in PPSSPP; it looks really blocky on my computer monitor). It appears that the game is just stretching the image to fit the screen, so it should be padded to PSP aspect ratio before being squished to a compatible resolution (512x512 or 512x256, I'd imagine). I went ahead and padded Mattzilla's original logo to Vita resolution to demonstrate.
Also prominent is the way in which the logo has been palettized to only 90 colors. I don't know much about how PSP texture formats work, but I do know they support at least full 256-color textures. I don't know what type of space limitations UMD ISOs have compared to actual UMDs, if any, but I'm sure there's room for enough colors to retain some edge antialiasing. I think some other custom splash screens also suffer from improper palletization (mostly just a lack of dithering), but they aren't as majorly affected.
As a minor nitpick, I don't care for the method in which the tutorial fonts are currently antialiased. The colorful subpixel rendering looks fine at native resolution, but makes the font more difficult to read at higher resolutions. A more traditional greyscale antialiasing rendering should suffice to balance legibility between resolutions (and look relatively vanilla), although asking you to clean up some of the images that Traduko did is probably a tall order.
My last suggestion, if there is room, would be to create a snd0.at3 to play music when the game is selected on the PSP's home menu. It goes in the PSP_GAME directory.
I wanted to comment about current implementation of the new splash screen logo. I attached a screenshot of how it displays in game (in PPSSPP; it looks really blocky on my computer monitor). It appears that the game is just stretching the image to fit the screen, so it should be padded to PSP aspect ratio before being squished to a compatible resolution (512x512 or 512x256, I'd imagine). I went ahead and padded Mattzilla's original logo to Vita resolution to demonstrate.
Also prominent is the way in which the logo has been palettized to only 90 colors. I don't know much about how PSP texture formats work, but I do know they support at least full 256-color textures. I don't know what type of space limitations UMD ISOs have compared to actual UMDs, if any, but I'm sure there's room for enough colors to retain some edge antialiasing. I think some other custom splash screens also suffer from improper palletization (mostly just a lack of dithering), but they aren't as majorly affected.
As a minor nitpick, I don't care for the method in which the tutorial fonts are currently antialiased. The colorful subpixel rendering looks fine at native resolution, but makes the font more difficult to read at higher resolutions. A more traditional greyscale antialiasing rendering should suffice to balance legibility between resolutions (and look relatively vanilla), although asking you to clean up some of the images that Traduko did is probably a tall order.
My last suggestion, if there is room, would be to create a snd0.at3 to play music when the game is selected on the PSP's home menu. It goes in the PSP_GAME directory.
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Wow... this is a bit to take in, but thanks for the great feedback. I do have to say that I am pretty puzzled by all the terminology, but I think I can bear with learning something new from this.
I think it makes a lot of sense to pad the images to Vita resolution to make it look more presentable in game. I did stretch Mattzilla's original image because it would look zoomed in if I were to encode it back into the game as is (the game likes it when the image resolutions are either 512 x 256 or 512 x 512). I do admit that it looks really grainy when playing with a higher resolution on PC vs an actual PSP or even a PS Vita. I will encode your padded image into the game in a future patch.
I did edit the tutorial images, and quite frankly, they're very rough and hardly polished pieces of work. Aside from working on the "colored" images, there IS another image that is paired with the colored image, and that image is a complete negative of it, displaying only in gray, black and white. I didn't get too savvy with editing them, but from what you're saying, I'm assuming that by making proper negatives of the colored images, I can make the colored images render properly at higher resolutions and look better overall. I would gladly work on that in the future. It would be daunting to do that anytime soon though, but it will be on my to-do list later on.
Creating that snd0.at3 file should be fairly easy. Now to think about what song I'd like to play...
Played through a bit of this and it's fantastic work all around. Personally, I'd recommend going with the obvious choice for the snd0 and just playing Connect. Maybe a shortened instrumental version?
Are there any plans to translate the guidebook, at least the more interesting bits? Seems like most of it is just, well, guides on how to play the game, but I heard that it also has commentary about the Portable exclusive witches and interviews with the creators. Naturally the actual game takes priority, but I'd be great if we could also read the extra materials.
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I'd vouch for having an instrumental version on there too.
Translating the guidebook would, of course, be done much later. I did take a look and there does seem to be an interview with the creators at the very end of it. Come to think of it, I'll probably do a raw scan of the guidebook first and then translate it as time goes on.
That looks pretty amazing. I think putting it as a splash screen might do well, but that's just an idea for now. Just as a heads up, I may have to shrink it 512 x 512 resolution, if that plays any consideration for you.
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Oh, and just a quick update for everyone... umm, things have been really slow on my end. I have started translating Sayaka's Chapter, but I haven't gotten too far with it. I'll be chipping away at this Chapter for some time before a more playable patch is released, I'd say a couple of weeks. This is just me saying, "hey, I'm alive, and still working on this".
Love the Work you are doing, recently bought a bigger Memorystick for my PSP (A bigger one than the 4GB i had) just to finally have more games on it, and found this while searching for other games (Hatsune Miku, Gundam etc). Can't wait for the upcoming translations to finally play this. I am a huge Madoka Magica fan and got Cristina Vee (Homura English VA) to sign my Rebellion CE Blu-ray a couple years ago just before Covid happened. Really excited for the new movie and Side story Season 2 later this month. It is a good time to be a Madoka fan.
Again thanks for your hard work.
Again thanks for your hard work.
Thank you so much for your efforts! I hope life has been treating you well. I really can't overstate how much I am thankful for the progress you've made on this, it's absolutely incredible (and the ways that the other folks here have helped out, too). I made an account just to post this, haha.
If you don't mind speaking on it, what's the status looking like now?
If you don't mind speaking on it, what's the status looking like now?
The thanks is very much appreciated. I can talk a bit about the current status of things.
I'm currently working on the Sayaka Chapter, near the end of Day 3.
I'd like to release a patch after Day 4, maybe? All I know is that soon enough, a certain major event in-game happens and I think it'd be best after said event happens that everyone should be able to play it. I'd hate to release a patch just for everyone to be left on a cliffhanger for months afterward.
I'd like to get some parts of the Guidebook scanned and perhaps translated. I'm thinking of the routes for Madoka and Mami's Chapters, and maybe the interviews from the staff/cast as well. It'll be a way to encourage everyone to explore the "hidden" Q-Button dialogues and get the different endings as well. They're worth it.
Patch 2.3 is here! Link:
https://mega.nz/file/Bodi1D7Y#Qh-erlszsbrFMxBUH74Ta27C4sMTkW9ViLHgE7Al5jA
Never mind that we skipped over patch 2.2. It was somewhat intentional.
This patch translates Sayaka's Chapter up to Day 5, with Day 5 not included. The Chapter is not fully translated. No other additions to the game were added, other than minor fixes to the in-game dialogue. For those who prefer to wait for a more complete Chapter, you'll have a couple more months before that happens.
In other news, I have a nice scanner coming in for scanning pages from the Madoka Magica Portable Guidebook pages. With OCR, it shouldn't be too hard to translate the pages in the book (I'll provide raw untranslated scans as well).
I will get all pages scanned at some point, but for now, I think a couple pages will suffice.
Enjoy!
https://mega.nz/file/Bodi1D7Y#Qh-erlszsbrFMxBUH74Ta27C4sMTkW9ViLHgE7Al5jA
Never mind that we skipped over patch 2.2. It was somewhat intentional.
This patch translates Sayaka's Chapter up to Day 5, with Day 5 not included. The Chapter is not fully translated. No other additions to the game were added, other than minor fixes to the in-game dialogue. For those who prefer to wait for a more complete Chapter, you'll have a couple more months before that happens.
In other news, I have a nice scanner coming in for scanning pages from the Madoka Magica Portable Guidebook pages. With OCR, it shouldn't be too hard to translate the pages in the book (I'll provide raw untranslated scans as well).
I will get all pages scanned at some point, but for now, I think a couple pages will suffice.
Enjoy!
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Yo, just wanna say thank you so much for this. Bought the game at a convention years ago because I figured the Tradukosoft patch was coming along, but I guess not. Really exciting not only seeing someone else pick this up, but make so much progress in such little time!
Okay, just another little surprise:
I've already scanned a couple of the pages from the guidebook and here's a little bit of progress on translating and editing them.
I'll release the translated scans in a form of a PDF in different pieces, with the first PDF covering the first 40 or so pages, which will include Sayaka's Chapter Guide as well (all the possible routes are shown, so you're more than welcome to getting all the possible endings and juicy dialogue).
I'll also release a raw, unedited version of all the scans as well.
Note: I uploaded the JPG versions of them here because of size limitations, but the PDF will have the images in either PNG or TIFF format (higher quality, of course).
The first two pages below are untranslated. Don't worry, I'll get to them.
Cheers!
I've already scanned a couple of the pages from the guidebook and here's a little bit of progress on translating and editing them.
I'll release the translated scans in a form of a PDF in different pieces, with the first PDF covering the first 40 or so pages, which will include Sayaka's Chapter Guide as well (all the possible routes are shown, so you're more than welcome to getting all the possible endings and juicy dialogue).
I'll also release a raw, unedited version of all the scans as well.
Note: I uploaded the JPG versions of them here because of size limitations, but the PDF will have the images in either PNG or TIFF format (higher quality, of course).
The first two pages below are untranslated. Don't worry, I'll get to them.
Cheers!
Thanks for going above and beyond with this project! There's one thing I've been meaning to ask: the wiki says that the limited version of the game comes with a video called "I will be pretty happy if I have some cookies" (お菓子が食べられたら嬉しいなって), I assume in the CD. I can't find any info on it beyond the fact that it exists, though. Would you happent to know what sort of video it is? It kinda sounds like a voice drama, from the title.
You mentioned that you'd check the bonus route for mistakes, are you planning to do the same for the pictorial and such? I found some mistakes in it:
-There are sentences missing. Itzli, Quitterie and her familiars, Patricia seems to be missing half a sentence, and while I can''t find an image of Elsa Maria's Japanese description, if it's the same as the anime's then it's also missing a clause in the last sentence
-Some of the familiar's names aren't translated correctly: The name of Elsa Maria's magic is Sahasrabhuja, a reference to a boddhisatva, the names of Walpurgis' shadowy familiars are parts of the stage, one of Izabel's familiars is refered as a an ambitious worker instead of work, the name's of Anja's subtypes aren't onomatopeias (Admittedly the last one would be a bit hard to put in English... Perhaps something like "Vroom (car)" would work?), and Blue/Red Flower were officially translated as Bluenose and Rednose in Magia Record. I also think that for the Pyotrs, "Hatted searcher" would be clearer than "Hat-searcher"
-Some of the witch natures are nouns when they should be adjectives. For example, Gisela is the "witch of Liberal" instead of the free witch*, and Elly "the witch of Covetous". There's also random words capitalized sometimes ("Silver" in Gisela's description, "School" in Patricia's, etc. Natures are also always capitalized)
*I know liberal is the translation that has spread most in the fandom, but imo it sounds too political.
I also looked at the tips and CGs, but keep in mind that I couldn't find the original Japanese so I'll just talk about things that stood out as weird to me:
-In the "Penalties/Drawbacks to Emotional Value", it says that "[it] makes Soul Gems easier to defile." Defile is kind of a heavy word, I think maybe 'dirty' or 'corrupt' would be less dramatic.
- On that note, it seems like the tutorials tips are meant to be one Kyubey speaking to another, which makes it a bit weird when he uses the second person when refering to magical girls (especially during the 'lost soul' tip, when he does that and inmediately afterwards makes an in-character comment). Maybe it'd be best to write entries about magical girls more impersonally, like "X status causes..." or "When X happens, magical girls...", in order to have it be a bit more consistent (very meta tips like how to save are probably fine to leave in second person)
-The tips say that Candeloro uses her familiars as accesories, but I believe it's the other way around. Her description in the Madogatari exhibition says as much, and we even have a picture of her turning into a brooch in the puella wiki.
-Rhapsody's description uses 'berserk' for the status effect it inflicts, but the tips say 'insanity'
CGs:
-"Once a magical girl" might be "magical girls of old"
-"I'll face it at night" -> "I'll face the night" (The CG looks like they're about to fight Walpurgis' Night)
-"Fall of the Beautiful Maestro" might be plural, since it shows several people.
Lastly, when one goes to the 'custom themes' menu, the text shown falls off the text box.
I should say that I'm one version behind, but since you didn't mention these issues I assume they're still here in the newest version.
You mentioned that you'd check the bonus route for mistakes, are you planning to do the same for the pictorial and such? I found some mistakes in it:
-There are sentences missing. Itzli, Quitterie and her familiars, Patricia seems to be missing half a sentence, and while I can''t find an image of Elsa Maria's Japanese description, if it's the same as the anime's then it's also missing a clause in the last sentence
-Some of the familiar's names aren't translated correctly: The name of Elsa Maria's magic is Sahasrabhuja, a reference to a boddhisatva, the names of Walpurgis' shadowy familiars are parts of the stage, one of Izabel's familiars is refered as a an ambitious worker instead of work, the name's of Anja's subtypes aren't onomatopeias (Admittedly the last one would be a bit hard to put in English... Perhaps something like "Vroom (car)" would work?), and Blue/Red Flower were officially translated as Bluenose and Rednose in Magia Record. I also think that for the Pyotrs, "Hatted searcher" would be clearer than "Hat-searcher"
-Some of the witch natures are nouns when they should be adjectives. For example, Gisela is the "witch of Liberal" instead of the free witch*, and Elly "the witch of Covetous". There's also random words capitalized sometimes ("Silver" in Gisela's description, "School" in Patricia's, etc. Natures are also always capitalized)
*I know liberal is the translation that has spread most in the fandom, but imo it sounds too political.
I also looked at the tips and CGs, but keep in mind that I couldn't find the original Japanese so I'll just talk about things that stood out as weird to me:
-In the "Penalties/Drawbacks to Emotional Value", it says that "[it] makes Soul Gems easier to defile." Defile is kind of a heavy word, I think maybe 'dirty' or 'corrupt' would be less dramatic.
- On that note, it seems like the tutorials tips are meant to be one Kyubey speaking to another, which makes it a bit weird when he uses the second person when refering to magical girls (especially during the 'lost soul' tip, when he does that and inmediately afterwards makes an in-character comment). Maybe it'd be best to write entries about magical girls more impersonally, like "X status causes..." or "When X happens, magical girls...", in order to have it be a bit more consistent (very meta tips like how to save are probably fine to leave in second person)
-The tips say that Candeloro uses her familiars as accesories, but I believe it's the other way around. Her description in the Madogatari exhibition says as much, and we even have a picture of her turning into a brooch in the puella wiki.
-Rhapsody's description uses 'berserk' for the status effect it inflicts, but the tips say 'insanity'
CGs:
-"Once a magical girl" might be "magical girls of old"
-"I'll face it at night" -> "I'll face the night" (The CG looks like they're about to fight Walpurgis' Night)
-"Fall of the Beautiful Maestro" might be plural, since it shows several people.
Lastly, when one goes to the 'custom themes' menu, the text shown falls off the text box.
I should say that I'm one version behind, but since you didn't mention these issues I assume they're still here in the newest version.
Thanks for all the feedback, it's really appreciated, especially since it sounds like you're pretty meticulous with these details.
From what I've seen with the "Limited Contract" Box version of the game, a DVD comes with it but the DVD does not contain any videos or media like you described (only interviews and Madoka and Mami's VAs). However, according to the Madoka Magica Wikipedia page, "Drama CDs were included with the first, third and fifth BD/DVD volumes." Someone translated the four CDs to English. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for their transcripts "Madoka Magica Drama CD:
https://sites.google.com/site/translationcd/home?authuser=0
There are YouTube links that also have them subbed with full audio, but CD 1 and CD 4 may be unavailable for you to watch:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWnAL82Pz50IvLFMwpzF4uP7gLBEcibLt
I will definitely fix the pictorials. When I first looked at the pictorial descriptions, the only thing I fixed from them were the spacings in the way they were displayed. I didn't modify nor gave them any special attention, and assumed that Tradukosoft did a fair job with them just from looking at them very briefly. I will definitely give them some love in the future.
The tutorial tips definitely need a facelift as well, and not just in terms of graphics. I think I confused myself when I translated some of the tips, because I noticed that the tips at the beginning of the game sounded like Kyubey talking to you and instructing you about Soul Gems (as if you were a Magical Girl), while other tips were more impersonal and solely there to help you play the game itself (status effects, what each button does, etc.).
There's also a mismatch between the name of some of the moves mentioned in the Tips and the Magic Tree vs the Pictorial. I'll fix those as well. Same goes with CGs, as I haven't made the actual titles of them match the ones in the Pictorial.
I just noticed that the "custom themes" text does run off the text box. I'll add that to my to-do list too.
It's possible "cookies" wasn't included in the DVD specifically, but I'm sure it came with the limited edition of Portable. If you go to the puella magi wiki and look at the Dengeki PlayStation 2012-01-12 article, roughly midway through the page there's a scan of a magazine article detailing the contents of the limited edition and mentioning this title (Sorry for not linking, I'm too new and the site won't let me). There's also an untranslated bit to the left describing it. It mentions Madoka and Mami, so maybe it's the non-interview track you mentioned with their VAs? Reading it a bit more closely, I think it's not a voice drama but a video of the VAs playing the game together.
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