June 2014 – TL Check

TL Check – Castle Shikigami 2 – Part 1.5: Character Limit Interlude

June 26, 2014October 28, 2014peteTL Check2 Replies

Hey, guys! We’re about ready to start actually looking at Castle Shikigami 2, but I wanted to get a word in about a special bugbear that lurks in every localization project…

THE DREADED CHARACTER LIMIT

For the uninitiated, the character limit is the amount of text you can fit onscreen/in a text box at once. It’s usually broken up to how many characters per line, plus how many lines fit into the box itself.

This is a very important thing to know about as a translator: if a game is coded with Japanese text in mind, the idea of having 20 characters per line and only 2 lines of text in the box isn’t too unnatural. You can fit a lot of Japanese text in 40 characters. English, on the other hand… well, let’s look at an example after the jump. Read More

TL Check: Castle Shikigami 2 – Part 1: Introduction

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014peteTL Check4 Replies

This is a game near and dear to my heart. Released as a budget title for the PS2 by a company that did not actually do localization work, Castle Shikigami 2 has a bit of a reputation.

It’s actually a solid little vertical shooter, but certain other things tend to overshadow its gameplay…

What went wrong? Read More

Hey there!

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014peteSite Stuff1 Reply

Welcome to TL check, my website for random translation stuff. Part translation dissection (as inspired by Glitterberri and Legends of Localization), part repository for my own translation work, and entirely fun. I hope.

This is something of a placeholder post, but real content and a legit About page — and a better layout — should be showing up soon enough. Until then, enjoy the monochrome!