Tay Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 The Western VN world is kinda small, but it can feel pretty big at times. We're looking to compile a list of the key players, or "movers and shakers", in the Western VN world. Very Simply: Share who you consider must-follow figures in the Western VN scene (such as translators, websites, translator groups, licensing/distributing companies, and people of influence). Note: The Western VN world, not the Japanese people/companies making Japanese VNs. Please share as many sources as you'd like, but please take the time to include a little info for each one: The name of the person/group/company/site A brief description of what they do/did/are Links to websites, social media accounts, blogs (or whatever is relevant. If the person/group has a twitter, I'd prefer that you include it) Remember -- the more comprehensive this list is, the better! Please help us out! What will this do? This will be factored into the front site redesign, but will also likely find its way into several other projects (such as VN intro kit). Once the list is complete, we'll publish it here on the forums right away so you can have it for your own reference (figure out who to follow on Twitter!)
Rose Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Not sure if I can post already or if it's here, but... Koestl Name: Koestl Description: Translator JP > EN. Currently working on Liarsoft's "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning" for Mangagamer. Translated Grisaia no Kajitsu and is now working with Sekai Project to revamp the translation and futurely translate the sequels, Grisaia no Meikyuu and Grisaia no Rakuen. Links: Twitter Ask.fm tlwiki Sekai Project Name: Sekai Project Description: Licensing/Translatting/Distributing company (Can someone simplify this or does it have to be this mess?) Full list of releases on the VNDB link below Links: Twitter Facebook VNDB Tumblr (Only for answering questions) Website Forums MangaGamer Name: MangaGamer Description: Licensing/Translatting/Distributing company (Can someone simplify this or does it have to be this mess?) Full list of releases on the VNDB link below Links: Twitter Facebook VNDB Website Blog The Visual Novel Database Name: The Visual Novel Database (VNDB) Description: A comprehensive database for information about visual novels. Translation groups and companies included. Links: Website JAST USA Name: JAST USA Description: Licensing/Distributing company Full list of releases on the VNDB link below Links: Twitter VNDB Tumblr Website Blog Visual Novels subreddit Name: /r/VisualNovels or Visual Novels subreddit Description: A community for discussing visual novels, their development, and the medium itself. Links: Website Related subreddits and hot links TLWiki Name: TLWiki Description: A wiki dedicated to translating eroge, visual novels, and doujin games. Links: VNDB Website krill, Fiddle and Tay 3
Darklord Rooke Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Very Simply: Share who you consider must-follow figures in the Western VN scene (such as translators, websites, translator groups, licensing/distributing companies, and people of influence). Note: The Western VN world, not the Japanese people/companies making Japanese VNs. Is this limited to the translation scene, or did you want stuff from the English development scene also?
Tay Posted December 30, 2014 Author Posted December 30, 2014 Is this right/good enough or do I straight up have issues? In case it is, I'll try to get some more. Wow. More than enough and you did an impressively thorough and better job than I expected or could ask for! As long as I have a name, description and link, I'm happy! Is this limited to the translation scene, or did you want stuff from the English development scene also?Not limited to TL at all. RE: English VN devs: Oh, absolutely. They're the heroes we need, after all.
Rose Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Wow. More than enough and you did an impressively thorough and better job than I expected or could ask for! As long as I have a name, description and link, I'm happy! Not limited to TL at all. RE: English VN devs: Oh, absolutely. They're the heroes we need, after all. Okay, I'll see what else I can find. Btw, is this limited to english translations? I was briefly part of the brazillian VN translatting scene and I could get some of the big names here. Oh, and I believe Fuwa as a whole should get into "people of influence" seeing that even if it ain't extremely noticeable, it takes part as a mover and shaker in the western VN world.
Heizei_koukousei Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Ill just move from the biggest names to smaller ones in this list Mangagamer A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community http://www.mangagamer.com/ and here is a link to all the staff for Mangagamer JAST A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community http://www.jastusa.com/ Sekai Project A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community https://sekaiproject.com/ VNDB A site that catalogs all released visual novel titles, with descriptions ands a rating system https://vndb.org/ Lemma Soft A forum site dedicated to creating Original English Language Visual Novels http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/ Fuwanovel Gazette A blog dedicated to informing the western community about any visual novel related news http://visualnovelaer.fuwanovel.net/ Will find more, but its getting kind of late
ecchilover Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Will this list include unofficial translation groups e.g TLwiki, Amaterasu translations, etc. Visual Novel Translation Status Tracker A website that shows the current Translation progress of visual novels. http://vntls.org/
Zalor Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Doomfest is perhaps the most talented artist in the OELVN scene. Dischan are the only OELVN developers who produce works of quality in my opinion. Their stories are more western, and thus are more honest. A lot of the mistakes OELVN developers usually make that is pointed out in this thread, Dischan mostly avoids.
Zakamutt Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Aarinfantasy: BL stuff. Has much bigger scope than just VNs, but it does host a decent amount of translation projects, some of which don't list their progress in any more public place. You need an account to see most of the interesting bits. http://aarinfantasy.com/forum/ TLWiki: "feud" with us (not really an active thing now, lol) nonwithstanding, a lot of fan translation projects are listed on it. Started and led by Moogy. Their IRC channel #tlwiki on Rizon is sometimes frequented by people active on the scene like koestl etc, not the nicest culture though. http://tlwiki.org/ Rose 1
Down Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Welp. You said "comprehensive" so I'll throw in lots of people. Use those to grow your internet stalking power. First, websites: Kazamatsuri English-speaking Key fans community. Friends \o/ Website - Twitter Beast's Lair English-speaking Type-Moon community. Pretty big and encompasses anything TM, not just VNs. Website Nitro+ global Nitro+ has an international website. Website - Twitter Steam Curator page for visual novels I don't have Steam, someone add more links D= ---- Then, people: ('personnal twitter' indicates that those people should rather be reached through their company official ways about company-related stuff) Doddler Scripter/Programmer for a lot of VNs, mainly for Mangagamer but also JAST and Sekai Project. Twitter - Ask.fm - Blog (about VN hacking, etc) Moogy Founder of TLWiki, overall very knowledgeable about the eroge industry. Twitter, blog, etc - Ask.fm Tulip Goddess Translator, mainly (exclusively?) for Mangamer. Currently working on Kara no Shoujo 2, worked on other Innocent Grey games. Twitter - Ask.fm Good_Haro Translator, working on BL games such as No, Thank You and Ozmafia for Mangagamer Twitter - Ask.fm - Progress page Ixrec Leader and main translator of Amaterasu Translations. Kinda social-media-ded lately. Twitter - Amaterasu website Makoto Translator at JAST, mainly on Nitro+ games. Can probably be reached on the JAST forums. Cafe Translator for Mangagamer, currently working on Euphoria Twitter BlackDragonHunt Translator for Mangagamer and JAST Twitter Meru Freelance translator, onee-sama Twitter - Can't find her blog back D= Dovac/Raymond Qian CEO of Sekai Project Personnal Twitter Kouryuu Translator and PR guy at Mangagamer Personnal Twitter And have some VN-related blogs while I'm at it: Golden Sneer (Private twitter) Holy Church of Incoherence (Ariurotl) Gareblogs (garejei - twitter - ask.fm) Mimidoshima (kastel - twitter - ask.fm) ...I'm sure more can be added but that's already a lot. Chronopolis 1
Darklord Rooke Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Winterwolves - A giant sized developer and publisher of VN/sims and VN/RPG hybrids. Recent games he’s released have been written and drawn by others and he has a long line of people wanting to work for him to make games. This almost publisher like behaviour combined with his company being (probably) the biggest that focuses on VNs in the West make him an interesting one to keep an eye on. Website Twitter Planet EVN - All news about English VN development gets posted here. Website English otome games - A website which focuses on translated, or western developed, otome games. Many of these games are VNs. I believe it's valuable because much of the VN scene pay no attention to otome games, so it's a decent source of information. Website
Heizei_koukousei Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 Is it worth adding 4chan's /jp/ to this list? 4chan /jp/ A section of 4chan loosely dedicated to Japanese culture, which includes visual novels. There is a thread there regarding updates to translation projects.. http://boards.4chan.org/jp/
ecchilover Posted December 31, 2014 Posted December 31, 2014 Hongfire A forum site that has threads relating to visual novels. some visual novels can be download for Hongfire. (I think this require an account) http://www.hongfire.com/index.php Moenovel A company that translates visual novels and releases them as all ages. (only completed project is If My Heart Has Wings) http://moenovel.com/imh/ Denpasoft A new company that will distribute visual novels to the west. They provide physical copies for people who prefer physical version over the digital version. (only product so far is nekopara) https://denpasoft.com/
astro Posted December 31, 2014 Posted December 31, 2014 Fuwanovel fuwanovel.net Oh and I nominate myself. I'm the best. The Earth can't sustain life without moe. Pls follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/YakusokuTL and like all my photos on instagram. I'm not giving out my Facebook but for those of you who already have it pls like all my photos and comment "great party tonight!" on my wall so people think I have a life. Thx.
Ariurotl Posted December 31, 2014 Posted December 31, 2014 And have some VN-related blogs while I'm at it: Golden Sneer (Private twitter) Holy Church of Incoherence (Ariurotl) Gareblogs (garejei - twitter - ask.fm) Mimidoshima (kastel - twitter - ask.fm)
Lewycool Posted January 1, 2015 Posted January 1, 2015 Meru Freelance translator, onee-sama Twitter - Can't find her blog back D= http://merumeruchan.wordpress.com/ DOWN!!!! You're welcome <3
Kosakyun Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 Can I add these translators as well? 2.0 Translations (formerly Rance Translations) The team is composed of Ludo-Rathowm, Tulip Goddess Maria, Guyzoo, Aten Gnu, Aristotles, Oruore, Gekkou, Pi-R, Vodka, SLC, and Roven-Pan (MIA) Twitter accounts: Ludo-Rathowm (dead) Tulip Goddess Maria Guyzoo Aten Gnu Homepage is at http://rancetranslation.wordpress.com/ Arunaru Owner of Arunaru Translations. Has translated two of the Toushin Toushi games (I and II) and Kichikuou Rance. Translates Alicesoft games that he wants to translates. Homepage is at http://arunarutransl....wordpress.com/ Twitter account: Arunaru Aroduc Translator for JAST. Has translated some eroges in the past. Has a site called Seiha Translations (not sure if it's his site). Site: http://games.seiha.org/ DxS Editor for the Grisaia translation team of Sekai Project. Twitter account: DxS mirrormoon Translated a few titles. Most notable is their translation of Tsukihime. Currently translating Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, with ArchDemon as the project lead. Homepage: http://www.mirrormoon.org If I can add those from Beasts' Lair as well... Jacktheinfinite101 Leads the insertion of the translated text in the Realta Nua PC version of Fate/Stay Night. Works with Kotonoha to translate some of the new lines found in the all-ages version. Aims to create a better experience of Fate/Stay Night all in all. Worked with Meru in the past. Kotonoha Translates miscellaneous stuff from TYPE-MOON. Has helped edit a lot of lines in the Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua translation and in the recently released patch of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. Still editing F/HA. Those are some that I remember. Tulip Goddess is already there, after all. <3 I'll put some more if I remember some.
Funyarinpa Posted January 6, 2015 Posted January 6, 2015 Lemnisca Translations Website They are the people who translated Never7, I/O and Killer Queen. They're currently working on translating 12Riven to my knowledge.
Zakamutt Posted January 6, 2015 Posted January 6, 2015 Jacktheinfinite101 Leads the insertion of the translated text in the Realta Nua PC version of Fate/Stay Night. Works with Kotonoha to translate some of the new lines found in the all-ages version. Aims to create a better experience of Fate/Stay Night all in all. Worked with Meru in the past. That's MeruP, we also have a forum user called merumeru (well, she uses メルメル but still...) so might want to be specific. They had a falling out, MeruP is (or was?) also making realta nua patches independently of him afaik. DxS Editor for the Grisaia translation team of Sekai Project. If you're mentioning this guy you should mention herkz - the other editor for the Grisaia translation team (both DxS and herkz also worked on the fan translation). Twitter: @herkz2. Also tends to post inside info about Grisaia/Sekai Project stuff on reddit.
Kosakyun Posted January 7, 2015 Posted January 7, 2015 That's MeruP, we also have a forum user called merumeru (well, she uses メルメル but still...) so might want to be specific. They had a falling out, MeruP is (or was?) also making realta nua patches independently of him afaik. Didn't know about merumeru-san. I should've used MeruP then. I don't know if he's still making patches. For all I know, the HF Restoration Patch was his last. We can confirm by asking him though. And yeah, a falling out. Jack told me about it.
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