ROM Hack Game Center CX : Arino no Chosenjo 2 (New Start?)

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

It looks great!

There's probably an easier way to get at the GCCX1 English enemy names, but if memory serves, that enemy is called "Froggy".
EDIT: Yes, yes it is. It's pretty easy to find a Bestiary, but I didn't see one that had the names next to the sprites.

This actually helps me a fair bit with enemy names, items and spells...and some battle messages, actually:
http://db.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/retro_game_challenge_guadia.txt

(That's SJIS in case the Japanese gets garbled for you)

I'm going to mess around merging that into the game, though I think I'm on my own when it comes to Guadia Abilities and class changes.

EDIT> Okay, I changed a number of the item, spell and enemy names to better match the original game. I haven't touched the weapons/armor yet, though. The skills are all new, too.

So yeah, this and the "Tower..." files are the top priority as I've mentioned before. Once that is done and I can line up the items and spells with their descriptions. That will complete everything for the first four challenges and then some light testing to make sure it isn't going to explode when you look at it funny or anything.

There are other groups of files the cover the story beyond the challenges to the end of the game...that can come after the rest, though.

Sora> Well, here is what it looked like before. Literally "Game Master Ariino" (elongated i but the first Retro Game Challenge didn't properly do this either, I don't think) "Challenges" and a series of check boxes to show what was "Completed". "Successive victories" and the like would just look strange.

Speaking of graphics, I remembered I still needed the title screen for the second Adventure game and the smaller title logo for both Adventure games as they appear in each game's intro...but there is no rush. I'm just putting it out in the open so I don't end up forgetting it when I read through this thread again.

I suppose I could start whipping up a quick FAQ/Readme, too. There are quite a few people to thank when this is al said and done...

 

[SubnetPie]

Here are some of the game release screens.

Hope to work through these and then get on to other screens soon.

 

[HBidoo]

Guys, the result is wonderful!

I'm really glad to see this is nearing completion.

It's incredible how fast you worked on this project.

Thanks A LOT for your time and efforts and keep up the good work!

 

[Pix3l]

Really good work, pal
I'm always available for pixel art localization works if you need

Here are some of the game release screens.

Hope to work through these and then get on to other screens soon.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay, quick update before bed.

I found some inconsistancies with the item and spell effects as well as the implied meaning behind why certain items and spells can only be used in specific circumstances (it's probably a spoiler if I say much more)

In any case, even though the game mechanics were working right, some of the phrases and labels were a bit ambiguous, and there was one serious typo that caused a group of charms that are supposed to "lower" enemy defense to say it was increasing it...oops.

So I have touched up the items, weapons and armor some more, especially with some of the weird and rare items that happen to be in the first Guadia Quest game as well.

The skills are all new but the bigger problem is just fitting them on the screen. It isn't a matter of adding extra pages of text in a dialogue or anything, these are the displayed name. There is a description window for the skills so that helps but I'm going to have to be pretty creative with these names. Mind you, in the magic spell lists there are moreso parody names for common spell names. Raise->Imup, Death->Dynow, Haste->Movit ... and so on.

I will have a fair bit of time this week to work on this so once the skills are out of the way I'll polish up the Tower dialogue as best I can and then I can do some light testing. The battles are working out better now, for what it is worth.

When I have a bit more of this done I'll post a few more screenshots for you.

 

[Sora de Eclaune]

In any case, even though the game mechanics were working right, some of the phrases and labels were a bit ambiguous, and there was one serious typo that caused a group of charms that are supposed to "lower" enemy defense to say it was increasing it...oops.

That's kind of like Lok2 in the original Final Fantasy, which stated it lowered enemy defense, but instead increased their defense. However, rather than a typo, that was a bug with the spell's effect.

It would actually be kind of funny to leave the typo in as homage to Final Fantasy, because it's still a useful spell...it's just got the wrong description.

 

[Rothiseph]

Signed up for an account here purely to post a comment saying your guys' RGC2 work so far looks astonishing! Seriously commendable effort to everyone that has worked on this, really impressive! I'm sure it's still early days with regards to it being finalised, but had you guys considered doing boxart and manuals etc? I'd definitely be keen to pick up a physical copy if they were on the go, and I'm sure there'd be some willing repro guys that could help you out if it was on the cards.

 

[droozilla]

OMG. Having played the first one before even realizing it was based off a show, and now having watched 50+ episodes, I went looking for the 2nd one.

This effort in this thread is heroic and I hope to play this.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Thanks, Rothiseph and droozilla for your comments. Oh, it would be incredibly cool to have a physical box and manual though legally I'm pretty sure I'm playing with fire as it is. Out of curiousity how many other fan-projects got such a treatment?

Also, kind of related, but was this thread linked somewhere else again? I've been getting more and more direct contact via mail and messages on Facebook as well as indirectly through this thread the closer I get to the end of this. (Which is almost there, though there is still a bit of work left with the RPG and general graphics in some random parts of the overall game...and then a lot of tedious realignment of the text to make sure it all fits nicely on-screen and all that)

Sora> Actually, I looked up the LBS files I made and realized I messed up and made the defense go "up" instead of "down". It's all good now, though.

In any case I'm working as fast as I can. I'm still tangled in the RPG mini-game but I am working through it. In the past day I have done the first pass in English of:

* All the Guadia Skills
* All the Skill Descriptions
* All battle-related phrases related to effects from the Guadia Skills
* All the Guadia "moods" from the NPC Guadia Meister <- It waits in battle and will react based on what happens in battle; the attitude and response is different depending on the Guadia
* About half of the dialogue for Heaven's Tower.

I have yet to make sure everything lines up and the skills/descriptions are in fact correct (I was using a strategy guide to try and piece together what I didn't know) but anyway, here are some screenshots for you:

I will be busy tomorrow but I am on a shinkansen to Osaka and back over Thursday/Friday and will have a bunch 'o' hours to try and finish off the Tower-related files. After that I can *finally* get into the initial testing (on a larger scale anyway) There are still files related to the story that goes on after the four challenges, however.

 

[octopus]

Also, kind of related, but was this thread linked somewhere else again?

http://tinycartridge.com/post/81907280474/the-new-game-center-cx-game-looks-great-not seems to be it.
BTW, thanks for your work. I’m looking forward to the translation. Kanpai!

 

[Celice]

Thanks, Rothiseph and droozilla for your comments. Oh, it would be incredibly cool to have a physical box and manual though legally I'm pretty sure I'm playing with fire as it is. Out of curiousity how many other fan-projects got such a treatment?

Not to be a downer, but generally any translation project that seems like it'd have an interested audience will get put on scrap carts if possible and sold out. Usually the prices are jacked up incredibly and there is no consent from the patch author for this sale--it's just done by whomever for their own pocket. It's been a contested idea in the scene for a while ago, these repros made without consent.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Ah, but when it comes down to it I can't stop anyone from doing that anyway. With something so large as this there is bound to be a patch or 12 fixing various grammatical errors or text running off the screen, etc. If an early patch/alpha (say, if I released what I did right now) made it to carts, people should know that it is subject to change and that it is their own fault if they pay for a bootleg hack cart with a partially finished project on it, but again, my hands are tied when it comes to some nefarious people putting others' work on carts for their own profit.

But back to Super-Happy-Fun-Translation Land (tm), I managed to get a lot done on the Shinkansen to Osaka as well as the hotel last night. I currently have all of the tower files done and I'm plucking away at the final sets of files, which are (as I look in my to-do folder)...

* Last of the Dungeon files
* The EX-Dungeon files
* Izumi...files
* Earth...files
* Hell...files

All in total there are about 85 files left to do and that will finish off the RPG (finally!) Remember that none of this has been tested properly yet and I am a bit unconfortable with some of the translations I made (read: ambiguity) and general consistency with things like spell and item names as they are used in dialogue...but all in all it is shaping up.

I'll also need to finish off the menus in-game for the RPG as well but there aren't too many to do/fix that I haven't already done. Maybe a half dozen or so.

One thing I forgot to do, however, is the Game Training Tool. I have the substitute title screen and I know what I want the instruction page to say, I just haven't gotten around to touching it (mostly because it is a large graphic)

That's it for the moment. I'm checking out from my hotel but after work today I will try to get more done on the Shinkansen home.

 

[Aeter]

You shouldn't worry about the way you translated it yet. When the first release comes out the general public here will test that for you and get all the quirks and typos out for you.

Seems like you're doing one hell of a job and with this and all I can say is that I can't wait. Had so much fun with the first game and hearing that this one is supposedly even better just gets me pumped up for this.

Keep up the good work and take your time, don't let anyone rush you.

 

[richterw]

wow, very good job of you and your entire "team" on this project.
This is being completed in a very short time. Impressive!
Some time ago, I was trying to translate the game Mizzurna Falls, for the PSX, but I tried to do everything on my own, which resulted in too much work, and I ended up leaving aside to focus on other things.
I wish I could have helped this project since the beginning, if it had known before.

Since it is practically finished, I look forward to play the game with your patch, and thank you for all your effort put into this great game.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay, I'm down to about 30 files left to do now. Just some of the Earth... and Hell... files. I wanted to finish it off last night but silly me is exhausted from not sleeping for 2 days and just kind of fell unconcious on the floor.

I know SubnetPie has been doing a test through all of the challenges in the whole game to test his game release screens so some testing has already been happening.

If there is any crash in the game during dialogue, it is most likely caused when my finger slipped and I put \m instead of \n for a new line code or \r for \e, etc. Spell check doesn't catch these things. As long as I know the dialogue leading up to the crash, I can find and fix it that way. If I forgot a new line code, sometimes a very long line will also crash the game. This was more a problem with the Adventure game, though.

Also, I gave SubnetPie the Game Training Tool translation guide but he has other things on his plate as well so this is just something in the queue. I will work on the RPG menus after I finish the text.

...and that is it for now. It sounds like other than text positioning and length issues, the game is generally working in English (the whole game). I heard one of the optional "Chat" dialogues crashed the game and the graphics copied over from the first RGC caused a few problems and had to be reverted/patched after but overall it is looking good.

When I finish the RPG text and debug some of the menus I'll post a few more screens for you, though they all start to look the same after a while, ha!

 

[Sora de Eclaune]

When I finish the RPG text and debug some of the menus I'll post a few more screens for you, though they all start to look the same after a while, ha!

Maybe a video is in order, then.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

A video is doable. I'll see when I can get some time after testing this a bit. And while I'm mentioning it:

* Milestone Reached *

All of the text in the game has now been translated or otherwise touched.

3,990 LBS files (conversations, chat, phone conversations, main story, challenges, Adventure and RPG text)
305 DAT files (magazines, manuals, items/spells/skills/enemy names and their descriptions)
And a few overlay files that needed to be hex edited directly.

There are still graphics to touch up and testing to be done but I was glad to finally get this done.

I'll touch up the RPG menus and do some light testing/debugging while SubnetPie works his magic elsewhere.

 

[Mirby]

Huzzah!!

 

[Sora de Eclaune]

Don't forget to test on multiple flash cards if you can! When I was testing Nanashi no Game, the game always froze at a couple of spots on only R4 (it's since been fixed), while all other flash cards the game was tested on ended up never encountering those freezes at all.

 

[Freqman]

damn you guys rule, i hope the patch comes out soon, i can't wait to play it..