Chrono Clock Sudden Kickstarter Announced

[yorikbad]

21 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

That beats the necessary skill for any Nutaku fan: learning Japanese.  Not kidding.  I rewrote part of the in-game help section for Nutaku's Girls Kingdom, based on the Japanese wiki and my own independent research, because it was wholly inadequate and read like it was translated by an ESL student.  You'll notice because it's the part in English.

You know, it'd be funny if it wasn't... not... funny. But you're lucky to know Japanese, I'm still learning English.

Offtop: I really like you blog.

[finiteHP]

They've now said what they mean by Nutaku exclusive.  It will be on Nutaku a month before Denpasoft.  A timed exclusive in other words.

[Kaito1]

On 9/1/2016 at 5:48 AM, VLOCKUP said:

Breaking News:

 

That's good.  The game will have an Uncensored Version.

[kyrt]

While I agree an uncensored version is good news I do not think they meant it will be mosaic free. Sekai Project often misleads people into thinking one thing when they really mean the other and I'm not sure if it intentional or just poor wording but uncensored does not necessarily mean uncensored (no mosaics). Sekai Project previously stated that PurpleSoft had 'lost' the uncensored cgs for ChronoClock whereas we know Mangagamer has been able to get Hapymaher's with no issue. Sure some games might have them and others might not but I don't think we've seen one japanese game from Sekai Project that has been completely uncensored and without mosaics. Just something to bring up hopefully they have or will clarify a bit on what they mean. 

I don't plan to pick the game up unfortunately and it has less to do with censorship/mosaics/sekai project than it has to do with there are too many games (other vns and wrpgs/jrpgs) I have an interest in still for this and next year that I can't see myself putting money down for this. Maybe I'll purchase it in the further future.

 

[Soulless Watcher]

2 minutes ago, kyrt said:

While I agree an uncensored version is good news I do not think they meant it will be mosaic free. Sekai Project often misleads people into thinking one thing when they really mean the other and I'm not sure if it intentional or just poor wording but uncensored does not necessarily mean uncensored (no mosaics). Sekai Project previously stated that PurpleSoft had 'lost' the uncensored cgs for ChronoClock whereas we know Mangagamer has been able to get Hapymaher's with no issue. Sure some games might have them and others might not but I don't think we've seen one japanese game from Sekai Project that has been completely uncensored and without mosaics. Just something to bring up hopefully they have or will clarify a bit on what they mean. 

I don't plan to pick the game up unfortunately and it has less to do with censorship/mosaics/sekai project than it has to do with there are too many games (other vns and wrpgs/jrpgs) I have an interest in still for this and next year that I can't see myself putting money down for this. Maybe I'll purchase it in the further future.

 

I just saw on the faq on the kickstarter that the "uncensored" version will still have mosaics.

[RikiSanic]

To be fair, they never once used the word "uncensored." The exact quote on the issue is: "The Nutaku/Denpasoft digital and physical versions are the same version as sold in Japan just in English." I think they're pretty clear on what they mean.

I will admit I'm somewhat interested about what they have to say regarding mosaics, though. Not because it's a big deal for me, but because the only thing we have to go on is a comment on the Kickstarter saying Sekai Project responded to their question and said that the original assets were lost. Maybe they talked about it somewhere else and I didn't notice, but I don't think we have an official statement to go off of right now.

I do know that for the Ne no Kami campaign they got the artist to redraw the H-scenes, so it's not like it's impossible for Sekai Project to localize something without mosaics. It's probably unique for every partner. Who knows, though, maybe when they finally announce stretch goals one of them will be redrawn H-scenes (big maybe).

[XReaper]

1 hour ago, RikiSanic said:

To be fair, they never once used the word "uncensored." The exact quote on the issue is: "The Nutaku/Denpasoft digital and physical versions are the same version as sold in Japan just in English." I think they're pretty clear on what they mean.

errm ... you may you look like 3 posts above yours at what nutaku had twittered, and yes, the essence of nutakus tweet is pretty much equivalent to what sekai means, simply because they did team up and are buiseness-partners in crime coming to said title. granted the term "uncensored" should most probably refer to rated18+/unrated, but that´s poorly, or abit missleadingly worded as kyrt did already state. and before getting accused of whatsnot, nah, i´m not fond of mosaic-free because freaking 95% of all assets keep on looking like freshly deflorated buttholes. + that recent trend towards most pointless and bland ero-dlc content is something i find to be loathsome, and not worthy of getting anyone´s support.

[RikiSanic]

Eh, you're right. It's been ten days since anyone's posted in this thread so I forgot to see what kyrt might've been responding to. My point still stands that Sekai Project themselves have never called the Denpasoft version "uncensored" and that the Kickstarter page has been pretty clear as to what they're bringing over. It's best to refer to Sekai Project's marketing material for the most accurate information. Nutaku did call Baldr Sky "Baldr's Sky" in their blog post, after all.

[sanahtlig]

1 hour ago, RikiSanic said:

Eh, you're right. It's been ten days since anyone's posted in this thread so I forgot to see what kyrt might've been responding to. My point still stands that Sekai Project themselves have never called the Denpasoft version "uncensored" and that the Kickstarter page has been pretty clear as to what they're bringing over. It's best to refer to Sekai Project's marketing material for the most accurate information. Nutaku did call Baldr Sky "Baldr's Sky" in their blog post, after all.

This.  Nutaku can't even keep track of their own games, much less someone else's.  Nutaku's PR is basically Peter Payne's worst impulses given free reign with no dedicated following to call him on it.

I asked Nutaku yesterday whether putative Baldr Sky or Maitetsu adult releases would be welcome in their store, despite their objectionable content.  Their PR person's response was something along the lines of "What about these titles is objectionable?"  We tend to forget that the rank-and-file employees of English localization companies aren't necessarily hardcore eroge fans like us.  They know as much about the genre and the wider scene as your typical fan knows about their business: i.e., not much.  That's why hardcore fans are a valuable asset to any company: they provide a wide and deep knowledge base that the company itself might lack.

[ChaosRaven]

Just wanna bump this since the Kickstarter will be closed in a few hours.

It's already financed with more than 80.000$ so there's nothing to worry about. But if someone is still interested in some limited edition stuff, then time is running out now.

Got the physical edition myself even if it's damn expensive. Though otherwise I would have probably bought the Japanese version which isn't that much cheaper. At least this one has the OST and even a drama CD included.

[Nier]

On 2016/9/1 at 8:52 AM, WinterfuryZX said:

I don't think that's a great result, with base goals so low at least there are no risk of missing localizations.

84,441 USD and going.

You were saying?

 

2 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

Just wanna bump this since the Kickstarter will be closed in a few hours.

It's already financed with more than 80.000$ so there's nothing to worry about. But if someone is still interested in some limited edition stuff, then time is running out now.

Got the physical edition myself even if it's damn expensive. Though otherwise I would have probably bought the Japanese version which isn't that much cheaper. At least this one has the OST and even a drama CD included.

What tier did you get?

[WinterfuryZX]

1 hour ago, Nier said:

84,441 USD and going.

You were saying?

Still very bad

[Darklord Rooke]

Seems kickstarter fatigue wasn't as big a thing as people thought. People still seem willing to invest if the right project comes along.

[sanahtlig]

12 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Seems kickstarter fatigue wasn't as big a thing as people thought. People still seem willing to invest if the right project comes along.

$80k is well below most Kickstarter funding goals for professional VNs.  Libra of the Vampire Princess, probably a "similar tier" title, pulled in $180k, and most of SP's other Kickstarter campaigns attracted more funding too.

My guess is that only highly anticipated titles (Muv Luv series), novel and exciting partnerships (light), and companies with a rallying message (MiKandi JP) will succeed on Kickstarter (enough to cover all localization costs) going forward.

[Darklord Rooke]

1 minute ago, sanahtlig said:

$80k is well below most Kickstarter funding goals for professional VNs.  Libra of the Vampire Princess, probably a "similar tier" title, pulled in $180k, and most of SP's other Kickstarter campaigns attracted more funding too.

Libra of the Vampire Princess was shoved down everybody's throats until they got their 180k. Most SP's other successful kickstarters were already famous with fan-translations available.

But that's beside the point. The point is that a certain segment of the community though Kickstarter was borderline dead, then here comes SP with a title few people know of and almost zero advertising easily topping 80k and will probably end up over 100k. That's significant, it shows that Kickstarter is still a very viable route for people to go down.

[ChaosRaven]

1 hour ago, Nier said:

What tier did you get?

Cheapest physical one.

8 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Seems kickstarter fatigue wasn't as big a thing as people thought. People still seem willing to invest if the right project comes along.

Still not that much compared to the times of Clannad and Grisaia when they could get almost half a million. (Granted, Grisaia was the whole trilogy...)

I'm extremely curious how the one for Dies Irae will go though. It's one of those rare over-hyped VN's that could very well mobilize a lot of backers.

[Darklord Rooke]

Just now, ChaosRaven said:

Still not that much compared to the times of Clannad and Grisaia when they could get almost half a million. (Granted, Grisaia was the whole trilogy...)

That is true. But Grisaia didn't get much compared to Muv Luv, which topped a million. And Grisaia was funded in 2014, and Muv Luv in late 2015, which shows that if the planets align and Venus is in the right quadrant that I will get a Ferrari in the future  

Grisaia was a VN beloved by the community and translated by a person regarded as the top VN translator at the time. And are you really comparing the performance of Clannad, by Key with a successful anime and all, with little known Chrono Clock? xD

[sanahtlig]

9 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Libra of the Vampire Princess was shoved down everybody's throats until they got their 180k. Most SP's other successful kickstarters were already famous with fan-translations available.

But that's beside the point. The point is that a certain segment of the community though Kickstarter was borderline dead, then here comes SP with a title few people know of and almost zero advertising easily topping 80k and will probably end up over 100k. That's significant, it shows that Kickstarter is still a very viable route for people to go down.

Libra did well because MiKandi JP is a likable publisher.  They earned that support because of their attention to what fans wanted and their ability to galvanize fans to rally around them.

$100k is not good.  That won't cover costs for most professional VN localization projects for titles of any significant length.  It wouldn't fund Shin Koihime Musou, for example, which is a title that MangaGamer continues to avoid because they don't think they could recoup costs on it.

[Darklord Rooke]

3 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

$100k is not good.  That won't cover costs for most professional VN localization projects for titles of any significant length.  It wouldn't fund Shin Koihime Musou, for example, which is a title that MangaGamer continues to avoid because they don't think they could recoup costs on it.

It would depend on the developer. I can see it not being enough to make a deal with big name companies, but to be honest I think big name companies are looking more and more to bring titles over independently.

For smaller companies the localisation fees will be smaller which will make 100k more viable. If people expected 300k - 1million was going to be the norm for kickstarters based on how a few VNs did (which were beloved to the community with much hype surrounding them) then I would say those expectations were unrealistic.

[ChaosRaven]

15 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Grisaia was a VN beloved by the community and translated by a person regarded as the top VN translator at the time. And are you really comparing the performance of Clannad, by Key with a successful anime and all, with little known Chrono Clock? xD

I think the Kickstarter backers are usually amongst the more well-informed people of the VN community, and Purple Software is currently one of the most popular VN developers in Japan even if Chrono Clock is considered one of their weaker titles. Otherwise Dies might be in for a bad surprise since there are no translated Light titles or animes (yet) and the only thing that's currently there is hype.

21 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

$100k is not good.  That won't cover costs for most professional VN localization projects for titles of any significant length.

It doesn't have to since they'll sell the title on other platforms later. The Kickstarter campaign is just a way to get some extra money from high spending customers and also acts as a promotion campaign.

[sanahtlig]

41 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

It doesn't have to since they'll sell the title on other platforms later. The Kickstarter campaign is just a way to get some extra money from high spending customers and also acts as a promotion campaign.

Tell that to all the companies that presumably won't proceed with the project if the Kickstarter funding goal (meant to cover all costs ahead of time) isn't met.  I agree that demanding all costs be covered in "pre-orders" doesn't make sense if you're an established company that routinely invests money in projects that won't generate income for 12-24 months.  Yet that's exactly what most VN companies on Kickstarter are doing.

[ChaosRaven]

41 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

Tell that to all the companies that presumably won't proceed with the project if the Kickstarter funding goal (meant to cover all costs ahead of time) isn't met.  I agree that demanding all costs be covered in "pre-orders" doesn't make sense if you're an established company that routinely invests money in projects that won't generate income for 12-24 months.  Yet that's exactly what most VN companies on Kickstarter are doing.

Well, they certainly try to cover all the costs in advance which is just to be expected. If it works is another story though. The KS projects for ChuSingura and Sharin no Kuni paid the price for being too greedy and failed to reach their Kickstarter goal. And yet, they both started (or will start) a retry with a reduced KS goal. ChuSingura even gave up on the KS campaign completely and are now just selling one chapter after another on Steam. It certainly tells a lot about what to think about those 'minimum' required KS goals if they can simply lower it for the next try or just skip it completely.

[Hayashi]

Will this be another great game ruined?

[Mr Poltroon]

9 minutes ago, Kiso said:

Will this be another great game ruined?

Probably. It'll be, like, in English and stuff! All of a sudden the Japanese original will go, like, poof! Ruined!

[Hayashi]

Just now, Mr Poltroon said:

Probably. It'll be, like, in English and stuff! All of a sudden the Japanese original will go, like, poof! Ruined!

Not in that sense, but the accuracy and the quality of the translation are often questioned.