Survival Kids 2: Escape the Twin Islands

[hattontown]

Hey everyone- my programming partner and I are actively pursuing a 100% localization of Survival Kids 2. (This may or may not include images, but any text in the images is not necessary for full enjoyment of the game.) I loved Survival Kids, so when I saw a preview for Survival Kids 2 in a video game magazine when I was a kid, I was psyched. Sadly, as you know, it was never translated. I waited for an adequate patch or guide, but none surfaced, and I realized that if anyone was going to do it- it would have to be me. I have now lived in Japan for a year-and-a-half, and in addition to working full time I have been studying Japanese. I am finally able to understand the original game and look forward to completing the translation with my programming partner.

Please note that hiragana is very compact compared to English. This means that even though I might understand the original Japanese, it simply will not fit into the space provided in English. As such, the localization will value meaning and player enjoyment over direct translation. It is possible that I may also release a PDF of screenshots and the English translation, but no promises.

There is no release date. I promise that we will release the fully translated and tested patch neither late nor early- but only precisely when we mean to My teammate and I both have other full-time jobs, but work on this when time allows.

These screenshots are NOT representative of the finished patch and may change, particularly to maintain parallel wording (in menus, for instance) with Survival Kids.

[Zynk]

Please note that hiragana is very compact compared to English. This means that even though I might understand the original Japanese, it simply will not fit into the space provided in English. As such, the localization will value meaning and player enjoyment over direct translation.

That's what I'm thinking when doing translations. Fitting texts in limited text space is always a challenge.
Btw, does your pardner know any DTE? Most advanced hack-translators know about it.

[USC]

@Zynk Oxhyde: I do, but so far haven't found it necessary; there are globs of unused space in the ROM to point to. For instance, the menu screen stats now look like this...



(Incidentally, the first game's English translation used a single letter for each stat instead, like 'L' for Life, so I think we're doing pretty good).

[ChronoMoogle]

Beautiful! I loved the first game and since the DS-Sequels are rather boring and pushed the franchise into a wrong direction (imo), the faithfull GBC sequel really needs a translation!
Looking forward to more updates 

[cobaltex]

Looking forward to this.

[Chpexo]

.

[justin3009]

He might mean the 'screen' space, not exactly the 'rom' space.

[hattontown]

Hey everyone- thanks for the support. Again, no promises regarding a release but I will work as quickly as I can. It's been a heck of a journey just to get here and I hope I can follow through; this would be a huge personal achievement.

[tammyads]

how far is this project? 

[USC]

It's moving forward. Hattontown and I are both pretty busy, but we're working tirelessly on it. No rest or breaks for us!



...well, maybe a small one every now and then

[hattontown]

Don't worry- with this project, no news is good news Just assume we are in a constant state of working on it. If we ever quit the project partway through, which will never happen, we will share what we have.

I thought about releasing period patches, like when a playthrough to one particular ending is finished, but the problem is that then it's not really a free experience for the player. Better to wait for a fully translated and tested patch so you can enjoy the game the way it was meant to be.

[warren]

thanks for your hard work, i love survival kids and i can hardly wait to finally play the sequel! 

[Inkerlink]

I created an account solely to reply to this topic.

The fact you are working on a translation for this game makes me and my friend EXTREMELY HAPPY!   

We have been fans of this series for a while now and have always wanted to play the sequel. I never played Lost in Blue but I think I would rather play this game first when it gets translated.

I really like what I see so far. I hope to see you guys make it to the end and make a ton of SK fans happy! Keep up the great work.

[hattontown]

Hey everyone. Someone (or a few people) have mentioned that they're excited to play SK2 because they think Lost in Blue (which is still known as Survival Kids over here in Japan, btw), has taken the series in the wrong direction. I couldn't agree more.

Anyways, if any of you are interested, here's the opening to the game. We have made significant progress beyond this, but I thought this would give you a taste of what the finished patch will be like. Subject to change, of course.

[Sonira]

You have no idea how happy you are making me with this fan translation. I pretty much just joined the forums to tell you that. I started playing the first Survival Kids game recently and I'm loving it, so it's so awesome to see this being done. <3

[hattontown]

Just a note to let you know that the translation continues. I really want to finish this project as soon as possible, so I am devoting more time to it. (NOTE: This does not mean it will be out anytime soon, so don't hold your breath.) Without spoiling anything, I do want to say that SK2 is very much a suitable sequel (so far) and SK1 fans will not be disappointed. It may be better than SK1, but I am waiting until I finish the game to declare that with certainty.

Point is- your wait is not vain; this is a game worth waiting for.

[USC]

And now, some random screens for your viewing pleasure. Just as proof that we're still working on SK2.

Literacy is crucial to a child's success...

...these kids still have a way to go.


Always a worrisome thing to hear.


Big Boss would be so proud...


No translation; it's just a nice view, I think.

[hattontown]

Just another note to say that the translation continues. I am almost at the end of one of the campaigns, and I guestimate that the game is 50% translated. No promises on a release date, but I wanted to let you know the project is very much alive.

[Sara-chan]

Not to nitpick, but I'd been watching this and thinking it might be better to get rid of the Japanese quotation brackets (the [ and ] type thingies, actually 「 and 」) and either replace them with English quotation marks or nothing (if nothing, probably have a colon after names in speech).

Either way, I've seen a lot of failed projects to get this game into English, and I wish you the best of luck. I'd love to see it translated. Keep up the good work!

[M-Tee]

I second the removal of the Asian quote brackets.