Right, so it's been a while since I've posted any blog, and I probably will use this channel as an outlet for blogging things relating to the free Japanese indie game scene.

First of all, may I present to everyone the Japanese equivalent of Misaos, Furige (https://furige.herokuapp.com/), which literally means Free Games in Japanese! It's an annual voting contest held during the month of December where people simply vote for their favorite free Japanese indie game, and the one with the most votes win.

That being said, I want to highlight two particular games that won Furige 2016 and 2017 respectively. First up, New Super Hook Girl, which got 170 votes compared to 2nd place game which won 104 votes (https://furige.herokuapp.com/2016/). And this game certainly deserves accolades. It's a pretty fun 5-stage game where players use the mouse and only the mouse to control a girl who uses hooks to traverse across stages. There is a rather high difficulty spike as you progress through the stages, but it's still fun nonetheless. In fact, it's so popular that it's even featured in speedrunning events!



(Skip to 6:24 for the actual run)

The next game that recently won Furige 2017 is this strategy adventure game which roughly translates to Last Stage: End of the Stars. I haven't tried this game out yet, but it looks pretty sick with its horizontal bullet hell-style gameplay!




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Okay, so now, my future plans.

Currently, I'm translating a visual novel called Aiyoku no Eustia (you can check it out at https://forums.fuwanovel.net/topic/16982-aiyoku-no-eustia-translation-project/). So as of now, I'm not translating anything RPG Maker game-related. However, I do have future plans for 2 games in particular. First up is Seraphic Blue DC Altered! Well, from what I can see, this game is really highly requested for translation, so I will definitely look into it.

The other game is... Hat World Revamped (will be renamed Hatalonia: Revamped when I start translating this)! For those who don't know what this game is, you can find the original at http://rpgex.sakura.ne.jp/littleworld/. Yes, this game is targeted to be released in April 2018, and I'm definitely very excited about this game. Once it's released and I finished playing it, I will definitely look forward to translating this. Check out a gameplay video from Jaymonius below!




So yeah, these are my major plans for translation. So look forward to when I officially announce these projects (which I don't know when, but hopefully soon)!

Hey everyone,

Just want to say that I was pleasantly surprised to get the news on Twitter that Nocturne: Rebirth is getting a Korean translation which will be released soon! So cool! Glad to see that this game is getting more exposure :)







This Korean translation is by casw, who has also made Korean translations of several games from here on RMN such as Ratty524's Tina of the Stars and Long Gone Days (demo). You can check out casw's blog here: http://caswac1.tistory.com/

eplipswich

Hi everyone!

Well, since the other game that I've translated, Seraphic Blue, has its own list of OSTs on YouTube (48 OSTs so far), I figured Nocturne: Rebirth should have its own list of OSTs as well. As such, I've compiled and collated selected OSTs and put them into one video of 1 hour long which you can access below and also via the Media section for your listening pleasures:




Enjoy listening to the soundtracks!

eplipswich

Hello everyone!

Glad to see that this game has been very popular! :) Well, 4 months after the last patch, I bring you patch 1.5. This patch fixes a crash bug relating to enemies that are immune to poison plus a few other minor texts. You can download the patch below. Then just copy the file and paste it into the game folder:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/gu69n63bs0t3b36/Game.rgssad

Download this patch only if you have downloaded the game prior to 8 May 2016 08:01 am (GMT).

That's it, then. Have fun!

eplipswich

Hi everyone!

First of all, happy new year 2016! 2015 has been a fruitful year for me, especially with the completion of translating Nocturne: Rebirth. If anything, I'm surprised it took me only 6 months to complete this translation (in fact, it would actually have been faster had life not caught up to me). That's as opposed to 4 years that I took to complete translating Seraphic Blue (again, could have been faster, but it was my first project, and the old version was littered with errors, so I had to go back and re-translate).

That being said, what's next for me? Well, I have another 3.5 great games in mind to translate and bring to all of you (you'll know what I mean by the .5 soon enough). One of them is a game that is actually my top priority and that I initially planned to translate next, but it's currently undergoing a remake, so I've decided on translating the remake rather than the original. This game's title is directly translated as Hat World, but I may intend to use a different title for this game (I actually have a good and catchy title in mind, but I'll save that for when I officially announce this project).

So because the above game's remake is still in progress (it'll definitely be completed, so that's why I'm willing to wait), the next game that I plan to translate is pretty nostalgic and very old-school. Its original version was way back in 1999 and won an award in the Japanese Internet Contest Park in 1999. Heck, it even got its own English Wikipedia page! Which is kind of funny because this game doesn't have an English version, but the fact that it has its own English Wikipedia page says something about this game. Yes, this game is Moon Whistle, and I plan to translate the remake of it, Moon Whistle XP, which was released 12 years later in 2011. I actually was hesitant about translating this in the beginning, but seeing how popular it is in the Japanese indie game community, I gave the game a try (as in playing it), and it's pretty interesting to say the least. So I'm curious to see the international indie game community's reception of this game when it's released in English.

For the 3rd game, I'll keep it in wraps for now ;) And what about the 3.5th game? Well, it's actually the enhanced version of the enhanced version of the original. I'm talking about Seraphic Blue DC Altered. What makes this version different from the current version available here is that it has a major revamp on the gameplay, so much so that it feels like a different game. The story, however, remains virtually the same, so when I get to translate this version, it's only the extra text involving gameplay that I'll have to translate. And I'll probably translate this after I'm done with Moon Whistle. I'll also get my trusty proofreader to help out with this :)

Either way, Moon Whistle will most likely be my next project, and so whether or not it'll be completed this year, only time will tell. Hopefully I will, though.

Lastly, before I forget, voting for 2015 Misaos has officially begun: http://rpgmaker.net/misaos/2015/vote, and I must say, I'm actually rather surprised Nocturne: Rebirth has been nominated for 8 awards! If anything, I'm also surprised by just how well-received this game is in the few weeks after the release of this game, so I must thank all of you for all the support given to this game! That being said, if you feel that this game deserves to win some of the awards, feel free to vote for this game!

That's all from me, then. Here's wishing everyone a fruitful 2016 ahead!

eplipswich