[Adilegian]

Since there's nothing up here about SegaGaga yet, I figured I'd make a thread about it. It might come in handy.

For instance! Due to unforeseen (and enigmatic) circumstances, we have lost our programmer. I have no way to contact him despite his apparent health and access to the internet, and I now have no wish to do so. (I state this as a matter of public record; I am not bringing this up as a topic of conversation.)

This means that I'm on the lookout for anyone who can help me with the technical side of programming a patch for SegaGaga.

In other news, I'm experimenting with subtitles on some of the SegaGaga videos. I have two samples to share right now. They are subtitled versions of the first two Mogetan commercials.

Mogetan is the little Merman-zord hand puppet who appears with a girl hand puppet during the intermission videos. These are little fake commercials/skits endorsing Sega wherein Mogetan has a question for Miss, and Miss answers his question. Formulaically concludes with All Hail Sega Because Awesome.

Right click and Save to download:

http://www.adilegian.com/SGGG/Video024Sub.wmv

http://www.adilegian.com/SGGG/Video025Sub.wmv

Since I no longer have potential access to the raw video files from the SegaGaga disc, I have relied upon self-made AVI recordings of these videos during playback mode in the game. I made the subtitles with URUSoft's program, Subtitle Workshop, and I added the subtitles to the video using VirtualDub. I then converted the AVI file to WMV format (for smaller size) with STOIK's video converter program.

Questions I have:

(1) How does the timing of the subtitles feel? I have difficulty gauging exactly when the speakers begin to talk because VirtualDub starts to get really choppy when playing 640x480 resolution AVIs on my laptop.

(2) I would like to distinguish the speakers' subtitles with different colors: white for Mogetan, and yellow for Miss. However, every attempt to make Miss's subtitles yellow has failed, and the text reverts to white when it is processed in VirtualDub. Any suggestions on how to fix this are welcome.

That's it for now, I think! Thanks for anyone who's willing to help. We're pushing forward.
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[Adilegian]

Short update: figured out I can get more reliable start-stop times for the subtitles if I just extracted the audio file from the video in the AVI, then used that as a guide.

Couple more Mogetan videos.

http://www.adilegian.com/SGGG/Video026Sub.wmv

http://www.adilegian.com/SGGG/Video027Sub.wmv
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[Dark Age Iron Savior]

[v84j3gs2uc7ns4]

[Adilegian]

Thanks for this tip! I'll give it a shot.
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[Adilegian]

Good news, hi ho! We've got our programmer back! Everything's fine as a clear afternoon.

Now the only thing that's missing is LikSang, to sell us the Dreamcast-to-PC Serial Port Adapter we'll need to get everything tested. >:-|

I'm investigating how to build one, in the event that I'm unable to find at least two of them for sale at reasonable prices. Patrick directed me to this site, which has instructions on how to make your own....

http://mc.pp.se/dc/serifc.html

Problem is, I don't know where to look for the best prices on this stuff. Any console technophiles got any advice on this?
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[showka]

Serial adapter? Go to E-bay and invest in a broadband adapter my friend.

[Sushi D]

its good to hear that the SGGG is back on track even though the project has gone through some rough spots. i admire the work you guys are doing. hell if i could help, i would because back then, sega made heavenly games.
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X_X

[Persona-sama]

Video 26 is full of absolute truth about the history of videogames!

All the videos lagged on my computer but that might just be me. Also, the timing was a lot better on the last two than they were on the first two.

Man, I always wondered what they were saying throughout those skits. Did you notice that the video is actually the same for all of them, just replacing the audio instead?
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[dongle]

OMG this is amazing.

[Adilegian]

[skelethulu]

I find these hypnotic and enchanting.

[droog]

I'm trying to keep myself mostly virgin for when the final release is done, so I've avoided watching the videos. But from the little bit I did watch it looks like things are coming out great! Ganbatte ne!! :)

[Persona-sama]

Believe me, watching these videos isn't going to spoil ANYTHING.

Unless these videos were the only reason you were playing through each chapter or something.
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[Adilegian]

[FortNinety]

Just wanted to chime and say good luck and wish you well on your continuing progress!
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[Adilegian]

[FortNinety]

Was it over at Gaming Age? Cuz some folks there hate everything.
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[Adilegian]

[Persona-sama]

Watching those videos makes me really want to see the opening again.

Nice job on the subtitles. I think the size you chose is perfectly fine for television projection, though it's interesting that the Dreamcast up-filters movies for compression.

Also, is there a reason why you chose to put the subtitles on the top for the opening statement video? I think it could work just as well on the bottom, whereas I think you made the right choice of leaving it on the top for the tour video because of all the action on the bottom.
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[Ashura]

It amazes me how far you've taken this project without me. But then, you've always asked me for help when you've needed it. Either way, you've done a hell of a job so far.

[Adilegian]

[Adilegian]

I'd like to enlist the aid of some ears to verify what I've heard.... Of course, this will spoil one joke in SegaGaga, but them's the breaks. Anyone who helps will be appreciated.

One of the videos features a commercial for Dogma's next-gen console, the Pyramid. There's no Japanese spoken, but a bunch of Engrish. I've tried to pick out what I can over the music, but I'm still unclear on certain parts.

Here's the video with the subs:

http://www.adilegian.com/SGGG/Movies/26CM.wmv

It's a 6.04mb download.

Please let me know if you think I've misheard something. The voice is synthesized, played alongside loud music, and--to boot!--Engrish. I'd like as much assurance as possible that we've got the right words subtitled.
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[boojiboy7]

From what I could see and hear, it looked like you got the Engrish subtitles 100 percent perfect.

[Adilegian]

I appeal to Selectbutton for help. This has me scratching my head five ways past Friday.

Taro, the player's character, is going through the first area's "dungeon." He encounters an NPC who informs him that the Golden Flag connects the Programming and Design Wings of the dev studio.

The following dialogue occurs.

[Takashi]

Actually, are you sure he's not referring to the hexadecimal value 0xF6? Because F6 key is more of a IBM-PC thing - MSX's and most 80's computers didn't had them, and were more of a "soft-key" (Shift+F1 = F6)
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[Adilegian]

[Broco]

A flag in computing is a binary value (i.e. Yes or No). So the Golden Flag is a bit in memory that determines if the door is open (Yes) or closed (No). F6 is probably a hexadecimal representation of its address in a block of memory (it's pretty much a random, meaningless number they pulled out of their ass).

As for what is said after the fourth line of dialogue, it doesn't seem to make much sense, there is no obvious connection to any portable console, and actually it stinks of mistranslation to me -- probably some pun that flew over the fan translator's head. If you posted the original Japanese I could probably make sense of it.

[Adilegian]

[Broco]

Yeah, that's the next-to-last line, which is accurately translated per se. Could you post the three previous lines?

And oh yeah, you're involved in the translation yourself ;_; Sorry for forgetting, I thought this was some released translation.

[Takashi]

Well, the last part makes sense if the game pun itself is hidden in this section:

[Broco]

Okay, yeah, "back-translating" a bit, I am thinking it isn't so much a pun as literally rendered Japanese idioms. "just as the word's description itself" almost certainly simply refers to the flag's description as "Golden". Also the user-friendliness thing was probably sarcastic (that or, a negative "ja nai" that the translator wrongly interpreted as a positive emphasis "ja nai") but this doesn't come across in the English. Here's a more sensible rendering, although it remains only a guess without seeing the original text.


NPC: It's basically a key to unlock the door to the Design Wing.

Taro: [Now I see why it's called "Golden"!]

NPC: Not a very user-friendly interface though, I know.

Taro: [Doesn't matter, only experienced gamers are going to buy a game like this one anyway!]

NPC: Yeah, beginners can go play one of those newfangled portable consoles instead. I can't say which one, exactly, since it's another company's trademark... well, anyway.

[Adilegian]

[Takashi]

[Adilegian]

[ryon]

I apologize for the low content of this post, however I must state that I am gushing emotionally at the simple thought that this translation effort is still alive.

Adilegian, you are the man.

[Adilegian]

[Adilegian]

Alright. Did some research last night, and I think I've come up with a workable interpretation of the joke. Lots of thanks to ASHURA for some instant message brainstorming! I've posted the rationale on my 1up SGGG blog, http://adilegian.1up.com.
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[parkbench]

Holy crap. I had no idea what this was at all, and now after reading this I'm not only hot for the game, I want to see more translation-al quandaries up in here!

good stuff man.
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metafilter vs. youtube comments

[Ashura]

ASHURA is stunned.
ASHURA may not attack!

[Takashi]

I'm not very convinced... F6, for the 8-bit Master System (and SG machines) will map to this: