Clephas

Probably Dies Irae or Ruitomo...

Generally, one of the most common factors that causes a team leader to burn out is when people drop out or stop working and he has no way to find out why. Many leaders burn out as a result of the frustration of repeatedly hunting down replacement tls and other staff, as well as failing to meet the goals they set. Basically, burnout is an emotional phenomenon as well as a physical and mental one. The more frustration you experience on a project, the more apathetic you become and the closer you get to burnout. If the leader doesn't shift his burdens to someone else at this point, the group can collapse either from neglect or the leader losing his temper and saying something he doesn't really mean. Edit: The reason I included constant conversation with the members as a leader's job is because that is the only really effective method of maintaining members' loyalty to the project. Considering that most fantls start out with nothing but enthusiasm, something has to be there to hold them when the enthusiasm begins to fade or they'll vanish on you. Signs of this usually include a slowing in work, followed by unrelated complaints about relatively minor issues. At this point, most are trying to convince themselves they are somehow right to abandon the project by creating grievances in their mind. This is in the case of a 'moral tl' who feels a sense of obligation but who is on the verge of burnout. Ones who don't care what others think will generally just drop off without any prior sign other than a slow drop in the work rate. Regardless, taking care to remain engaged with your members is the job of the leader that is most likely to keep both sides from burning out completely. It reminds them they aren't alone and that someone is hoping for them to finish their work on a personal level, as opposed to the more general sense of the fanboy community. (this is basically psychological manipulation, but that is the essence of good leadership when you can't drag people around using your charisma) One last warning... do not ever put projects on complete hiatus. Your project will die, without a doubt if you do so. There are exceptions, but you should never be so arrogant as to believe you are that exception. Edit2: A few final words, then I'll stop lecturing. Holidays. While some fantls work harder over the holidays, the vast majority of your members won't have time to do the work on major holidays and at the very least you'll have to plan to reduce their normal workloads during such times. This is especially true for high-travel holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas in the US and New Years in non-Christian sphere countries. Reduce the personal workloads during those times but add in more scripts to the section you set aside for anyone to work on as they have time.

In my approach, the leader should first ask his translators what they think is a reasonable goal. New or enthusiastic translators will always set their goals too high to meet. This is no joke, this is talking from experience. Fantranslations take a lot more patience and effort than fansubbing. As a result, most of your translators will burn out if you try to enforce a pace they say is good. A good round number is a hundred lines a day or five hundred a week. A hundred lines in the hands of an experienced translator is forty-five minutes to an hour's worth of work, and in the hands of an inexperienced translator, it is generally around two hours of work. Most people with the time to translate at all can probably manage those two hours several days in a given week. This is knowledge you need from your team members: 1- Likely availability (specific days of the week, times of day in which they are available) 2- An email address they check regularly These are tools you should arrange or make sure your people have 1- A central area (non-public) such as a dropbox account where you can put together the scripts (finished and unfinished) 2- Separate folders for 'assignments' for each individual(basically, by calculating the time each person will potentially have available and dividing it in half, you can make a reasonable schedule for each individual tl) 2B- Also make a separate folder full of script assignments for those who have free time. You can always reassign them later as the project gets closer to completion or move others to this folder if it is emptied. 3- An IRC channel (any kind of central chat client where you can make individual 'rooms' will do, as long as all your people gather there) 4- If they don't have them already, suggest tools like Translation Aggregator's JParser function to aid in quicker and more efficient translation 5- Your replacement. Sorry to say, but burnout is possible even for a project leader. To be blunt, it is an incredibly frustrating position, and you would be wise to find a replacement or an alternate if you start feeling tired or apathetic. If nothing else, your sudden death or loss of internet access would not disrupt the project in a case such as this. Advice 1- Do NOT, under any circumstances create a public site until the actual patch is complete. In the case of fantranslations, it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission. The more popular the game, the more likely you will get a cease and desist request/order. This is a mistake almost every group makes, and there are always members who are unwilling to continue after such. 2- Recruitment should be done through intermediaries such as this site or in relatively anonymous places like IRC channels. 3- Recruiting translation staff can be (is almost always) difficult. My first advice would be to look at the credits of active anime fansub groups and fish for potential members... but that is only one of many methods. Many VN-related forums like this one have related irc channels that usually have a few lurker tls like myself around. If they have time, there is a chance they will be willing to help. 4- Keep talking to your members and keep them talking. Even if it is meaningless conversation, the act of speaking with them casually will create a sense of attachment that makes it less likely for them to drop out of sight without warning. 5- If something major happens to you irl, don't hesitate. Put your alternate in place and go take care of things. Letting your rl rot will only end your involvement in a more abrupt manner later. Edit: Really and truly, you'd be best off not creating a public site at all and putting your patch out through a third party like this site. To be blunt, people like Aaeru are perfectly willing to take on the risks you might not be willing to do in order to distribute translated games. Edit2: Make sure your people understand that the availability information they are giving to you is availability for translation, free of other pursuits, not free time in general. Most fantranslators are also VN and/or anime/manga junkies. Thus, if something interesting comes their way, some of that time will inevitably go toward those pursuits, if not the bulk of it. I felt a need to restate this as it is something that needs to be stated from the beginning, for the good of future work relations with your fellows.

That's why you should always pick a team leader who knows what is going on and has no other task but organizing the team. In addition, a second-rate translation is better than none, which is what most games get. Edit: Generally, teams break down for a number of reasons... but primary amongst them are burnout and team managers that try to do stuff other than manage things. The groups I've worked with that worked out the best inevitably had a plethora of members with a project leader whose only real job was managing the team and the project as a whole. Also, a leader should be able to nag his members, possessing their contact information (online, of course) and be prepared to find a replacement for any given member as needed. I may not have stated it strongly enough in my previous post, but if you don't finish the translation, there will be no patch and all your efforts will go to nothing. As a further note, setting reasonable goals for each member and enforcing deadlines inasmuch as is possible is part of the job. A manager who lets the translator decide what he will translate next inevitably ends up with nothing getting done. Providing clear beginnings and endings to a chunk of work is necessary for stress management, and a decent project manager will be aware of what is doable and what isn't. I once received a request to translate one thousand lines in a single day... needless to say, it didn't work out. (a hundred lines a day is doable for just about anyone with two hours or so of free time and a knowledge of Japanese though) Edit2: I should have added this earlier, but the editor's job in this kind of case switches from just transforming engrish to english to also unifying the basic writing style of the text. A raw translator's job is to get the gist of things down more or less accurately, the editor's job is to provide continuity between the various translators' work and turn that raw mass of material into legible english. To an extent, this part of the job can also be done by the translation-checker, by matching the english style to the Japanese style in tone... but to be blunt, asking for that level of results on a VN translation is a bit much.

Common sense combined with experience and an understanding of team-building leads to logical conclusions. Keeping the burden nice and spread out over as many people as possible leads to quicker results and more likely completion of projects. The problem is finding someone with the organizational skills and tools to keep people moving in the same direction who also is able to make certain he has someone available to pass the burden to if he hits the massive boulder that is rl. In other words, if you are the project leader, make sure you have a replacement or alternate (or three) lined up to take things over, with all your resources in hand so that the project doesn't die just because you get hit by a car or sent to jail for owning lolicon manga. In other words, if you want to get things done, discard your pride. You can always go back and fix things that go wrong on the 'quick and dirty' approach later if you aren't satisfied. That's where perfectionism really shines, if you have that passion. Perfectionism is a weakness in a fantranslation group where it is not a weakness in a fansubbing group (primarily because a fansub group can get away with it, as anime series just aren't as much work or as overall demanding on project members). I don't condemn idealists or perfectionists entirely... they have their place. They go around behind the 'quick and dirty' types and grumble while fixing things at a dogged pace for their own self-satisfaction, earning their place of respect in the community for that hard work. However, perfectionism should never prevent fans from getting what they want...lol

Izuna Zanshinken. Superviolent vigilante assassinations and psychopathic Romanian lolis.

Devils Devel Concept Dies Irae: Acta est Fabula

The main reason I speak for large numbers of tls is to prevent burnout. An intelligent translator should weigh his pride and the project on a scale and choose the project every time. If he wants to, he can always go back over it later, after the project has been released. VN translations are so rare and exhausting that it is idiotic to even attempt to do it on your own on a project of any scale. Edit: An editor's job is only to turn the raw translation into coherent English. The translation checker's job is to conform that coherent English to something matching the original meaning of the words without making it sound awkward (a primary reason why a tlc must not only have mastered Japanese but have good English writing skills). A project leader should never, ever be one of the translators. Translators are almost always the first members to experience burnout, due to the sheer volume of mental labor they undertake, and their work is also the most time-consuming. If a translator founds a project, one of his first jobs should be to find someone who is not a translator to organize and recruit members. To be blunt, the demise of most projects can be directly linked to translators taking on too much of the job of running the project themselves and being unwilling to hand over control to someone else. Editors are easily replaced, as are proofreaders. However, translators (and hackers) are relatively rare and difficult to recruit. All effort should be made to slow and prevent burnout of translators, as they are the keys to the project. To be blunt, 'if you translate it, it will eventually become a patch, but if you don't translate it, it will be nothing more than a bunch of words in a foreign language'.

Better is 1. translation 2. editing 3. TLC 4. Proofreading 5. QC NEVER do editing after TLC for any type of translation project. Editors by definition ruin translations by accident as they go, and an experienced TL (preferably more experienced and skilled than the one doing the raw translation) is going to be able to perform the job of a second editor as well, conforming the redone english text to the original meaning without making it sound weird. Also, for large projects, you should have as many as four raw translators, preferably having split the game more or less evenly based on route, with the common route given over to whoever has the most free time or whoever is available at the moment (file it as 'anyone who wants it' or something like that). Edit: The reason for four translators is that most VNs have around four or five heroines and the fact that a VN translation project of any size is just too much for a single translator in most cases. Nothing more certain to doom a project than a translator feeling isolated. Edit2: For a regular sized kinetic novel (VNs with only a single path and ending - other than bad endings) two translators or even a single translator and a tlc would be enough. The larger the project you are tackling, the more people you are going to need, as most people aren't going to be able to hang on for six months to a year on a single project without burning out.

Evolimit BGM's

Don't get chara-ge mixed up with regular moege or story-focused. In the case of the latter, the overarching story takes precedence and in the case of the former, visual aspects and blatant appeals to moe archetypes tend to take precedence. The Key games are mostly story-focused, despite having a cast with a strong impact. In games like this, the drama is minimal and when it exists it is personal. Suzunone Seven, Kamikaze Explorer, and Prism Recollection (all by Clochette) are of this type. On the other hand, Hoshimemo is most definitely NOT of this type, as it focuses as much on the overarching theme and story as on the characters. It's a really fine line... Another common aspect is the lack of a 'true' or 'central' heroine... It would be a lot easier just to give you a set of common moege that have a strong set of characters (in descending order as they are on my vndb VN list) Maji de Watashi ni Koinishinasai Marginal Skip Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru (both the first and second game) Chuning Lover Konna Ko ga Itara, Boku wa Mou! Anything by the company Whirlpool Mashiro Iro Symphony Sakura Iro Quartet (avoid anything else by this company) Strawberry Feels Tayutama Toppara Zashikiwarashi no Hanashi (despite having a true heroine, this is definitely a chara-ge) WLO Sekai Ren'ai Kikou Walkure Romanze Acchi Muite Koi Anata no Koto Suki to Iwasete Dolphin Divers Duelist X Engage Flag Heshiori Otoko

Games with great soundtracks Anything by Akatsuki Works or Propeller For something more recent: Hapymaher Yurikago yori Tenshi Made Hapymaher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4nlMwaCjjY

Homemade sushi and ice cream.

Akatsuki Works specializes in games with a faintly cynical undertone despite their apparently warm surface and seriously dark VNs with a philosophical undertone.. As an example, Ruitomo (one of the biggest classic VNs) is on the surface a fairly warm and easygoing VN, but as you get deeper into the game, it gets progressively darker. As an example of the other side, Devils Devel Concept is an outright dark killfest with an amoral protagonist who spouts philosophy on occasion. Propeller produces games that have strong tsukkomi-boke manzai comedy as well as serious action and very well-written stories. Akabeisoft2 (incidentally, Akatsuki Works parent company) produces a varied array of games, one of which was Sharin no Kuni along with less serious, far lighter games. Will, while it itself doesn't produce much in the way of unique games anymore, has many incredibly good subsidiaries who who produce games all across the various VN genres. Minori produces games that are slightly outside normal genre bounds, though its writing patterns are pretty predictable once you've played a few of their games. Light and pre-Sumaga Nitroplus tend(ed) to produce dark, twisted games that tend to leave you feeling emotionally numb. Navel produces relatively high quality moege (games focused on characters and ichalove as well as moe elements). Key specializes in nakige (such as Clannad and Little Busters, though Rewrite is outside of that). Alcot tends to produce mostly comedy games, though they have a few serious ones like Kurenai no Tsuki. Caramel Box tends to produce games with light sci-fi or fantasy elements, and most of those games are somewhat easygoing or 'chicken soup for the soul' games. Pulltop produces varying types and levels of quality in moege. Clochette produces somewhat propagandist (but well-written and fun) games that tend to have fantasy or sci-fi elements. Purple Soft produces mediocre to decent moege. Skyfish produces fantasy games, some with gameplay, some not. Eushully produces varying types of rpg/vns with fantasy stories. SofthouseChara produces light comedy but incredibly involved (and difficult to play) rpg/strategy vns. Alice Soft produces ridiculous (both story and battle-system wise) rpgs and strategy vns. Rosenbleu produces fantasy moege and fantasy vns with moe elements (Tiny Dungeon is the latter and is just generally fun). MeroMero Cute produces games that tend to escape being moege through their weird settings and storylines. 3rdEye produces straight fantasy placed in the modern era and its protagonists are generally easy to like.

I'm the opposite. I'm a writer, but I don't have any talent for visual art at all. Also, I don't have the patience to work through using any of the existing ready-made vn systems...

A lot of people find enforced playing orders irritating. However, in some games it is a necessity due to the degree of detail in an individual heroine's path or due to certain details in another heroine's path not making sense without playing the previous one. Ruitomo's story is a perfect example of a game with a legitimate reason for having an enforced playing order, and most of the best VNs have at least one heroine or path that is not available on the first playthrough. Almost all gameplay-focused VNs have an enforced playing order in the sense that they have at least one ending that can only be accessed on the second playthrough. This doesn't mean that your irritation is unjustified (it's really irritating to have an enforced playing order in a straight moege or a gameplay-focused that doesn't have new game+ that makes the second cycle much easier), but it does mean that when it is used properly in order to tell an overarching story, it can be a good thing.

Name: Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v776 No translation project No hack Reasons: First, this is a classic game and one of the few Akatsuki Works games that is 'accessible' to the average player. Second, it is Ruitomo. Third, this is easily one of the best VNs of all time and it always surprises me that a translation project has yet to appear. Other info: Honestly, this project might be a bit beyond the abilities of a translator used to moege text. Like all Akatsuki Works games, it is wordy and has a lot of long internal monologues that would be a pain to translate. Name: Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v7071 No translation project No hack Reasons: This game is a much easier project than Ruitomo, and it is absolutely hilarious while having enough superviolence to satisfy all but the most bloodthirsty. Also, it has a lot of hilariously messed up heroines: Ume - the indestructible girl who loves to break things... and people-, Tae, the ultra-masochistic angel who belongs to the protagonist, and Aria - a girl whose catchphrase is 'kimochiwarui'. Last of all, the game is surprisingly emotionally powerful, despite the psychotic setting and a protagonist who is so screwed up its hard to see what he has in common with humanity. Other info: This game is much easier on the translation front than Ruitomo, probably because it had different writers. As unlikely as such a being would be, devout Christian VN translators might have trouble with some of the themes if they take it too seriously.

Tsukihime was my first... and I haven't stopped since.

I figured that we need a thread for those just beginning to play VNs in Japanese to get recommendations, if only to avoid the danger of hitting a kusoge or five along the road. Basic rule is, recommend between three and ten non-english patched VNs that you think are worth playing, along with one or two sentences for each on why you think they are worth playing and are playable for beginners. 1) Draculius- This game is hilarious and interesting, but more importantly it has the advantage of being relatively easy to read for a beginner at playing VNs in Japanese. 2) Tayutama- Like most moege, Tayutama has very little in the way of difficult phrasing or unusual word choices (save for that involving the mystical elements) and it also happens to be one of the better works by Lump of Sugar. 3) Konata yori Kanata Made- The single best utsuge I've ever played and also a relatively easy read for beginners. 4) Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu- Though this game is not as easy as the choices above, it has the advantage of being one of the best VNs of all time, with a great set of characters and a well-written story. 5) Tiny Dungeon Series- Overall, this series is hilarious, has strong emotional appeal, and is very easy to read. For these reasons, it's ideal for beginners. 6) Yurikago yori Tenshi Made- A darker choice inserted for people who want some decent bloodshed without most of the the incredibly complex and melodramatic word choices that generally characterize the chuuni genre most of the time. 7) Tasogare no Sinsemilla- While not precisely an 'easy' choice, it's easy enough that most people could handle it after playing through a half dozen or so easier ones. Sakura Iro Quartett- For mimikko lovers, this is a great choice, inserted specifically for that type. The story is serious enough to keep it out of the 'pure' moege list, and the setting is interesting. 9) Toppara- My recommendation for youkai lovers who have just moved into the pure Japanese VN scene. All but one of the numerous heroines are youkai, and the story is good enough to set it above the average moege. 10) Evolimit- After you've gone through a few others, you might want to try this game. Propeller is one of the most consistently good action/VN makers and this game is a worthy addition to anyone's list.

lol... my total number of finished VNs went up to 283 the other day, so a pie chart made from my play habits would look like a mass of black lines with microscopic contents...haha

I'll wait until you are ready for the untranslated before I make a suggestion. Almost all my favorites haven't been translated, after all.

Also, another question - though it is not personally relevant (since I don't play translated ones anymore) - is whether someone will translate the remake... though that's getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Considering how long I've been using the original to introduce noobs to VNs, I can't help but be curious if someone will take it up when the time comes...

Since they supposedly intend to add in the Yumizuka path, I'm going for it... I already have the money set aside for whenever it comes out. I just hope they don't make me wait another ten years.