Neechin.net :: article :: News & Annoucements :: Possibly :: maybe :: someone translating Muvluv alternative

There had been a 4chan (yeah yeah, I know, great news source) thread around April 18, 2008, with some sample text and screenshots of what appears to be a Muvluv Alternative translation in progress.

For the moment, it appears at least somewhat legit to my eyes. I make this statement based on 2 factors.

First, looking at the screenshots, to my eyes, the text seems to be engine text, with proper anti-aliasing that was part of the actual rUGP engine. The font size is larger than I remember though (but there is a font zoom setting that might’ve been engaged). I didn’t do a detailed analysis of it, so I can’t be sure it’s not an elaborate hoax.

Second, looking at the text, it does fit my recollection of various scenes in the game, with proper associated art. This is from memory though, so again no guarantees.

Also, looking at the English text, it’s actually written by a competent translator. While I personally find some bits quirky, and feel an itch to edit them, it’s not on a level where I’m outraged. It’s more a “this can work, but this way would sound better” level. This makes me feel somewhat relieved. There’s nothing that gets me angry as seeing a work I like get put through a meat grinder.

IF all this is true, and it’s a big if, I have a bunch of reasons why we shouldn’t hold our breaths anyways.

First, Alternative is long. It took me 30 hours to simply play in 2006 when it came out. I know because I wrote it down, and it was over the course of 2 days. We are talking A LOT of text here.

Second, as with all translation projects, I don’t ever bet that they will come out unless 1 of 2 conditions are met: 1) I know that person, and have very firm trust that they will deliver, OR 2) I have a working copy in my possession.

The vast majority of projects die, at any point in the translation process. I’ve seen projects die with finished scripts, as well as projects that die with no script. The longer and larger the project, the more likely it is to fail just because time is a cruel mistress. That’s just how things are.

If the translator working on the project sees this post, I’d love it if they would drop me an email. As a longtime Muvluv fan, I’d like to know who was brave enough to tackle a project that I contemplated and decided not to pursue myself.

As for myself, it’s business as usual here. I plan on working on the Muvluv synopsis project, finishing Unlimted sometime this year… then, I’ll work on Alternative’s synopsis as time permits. If this mystery patch appears before I finish, I’ll decide what to do then, but I’ll work under the assumption it doesn’t exist until I hear otherwise.