Alka Translations Monthly Status Report: March 2020

Hello hello! It has been some time. We’ve had quite the month of February, haven’t we? As the title suggests, it’s time for another Monthly Status Report, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

So, for the final time for at least a few months, let’s talk Summer Pockets. As most, if not all of you know, Summer Pockets got its official release on Steam in February. I’ll say this one more time, right here, for posterity’s sake and as a final statement. Our translation is unavailable, and we are honoring our word of keeping it that way since the official release is out. I know some of you definitely prefer ours, and we appreciate the high praise. Should we decide to translate Reflection Blue, it will be our translation accompanying it, as we’d prefer consistency above all. But for this version of Summer Pockets, please support the official release. Whether you like ours better or not, it’s still really good.

However! If you check the Downloads section of the site, you WILL find a small patch we developed that adds subtitles to the OP Alka Tale, the ED Lasting Moment and Pocket ED Pocket wo Fukuramasete. It works with the Steam version and shouldn’t cause any problems, so if you’d like subs to your songs, go ahead and download it and apply it to your Steam installation directory for Summer Pockets! For filetype reasons, we were unable to apply subs to the Alka ED Hane no Yurikago. Gomenasai.

Now onto the main focus, Angel Beats. Right now we’re just shy of 40% completion for the VN as a whole. The Common route & side content are what we’re focusing on first, as they’re all more or less tied together. And boy, what a NIGHTMARE it’s turning out to be. It hasn’t been “difficult” per se, aside from the occasional impossible-to-translate joke. Just very time consuming, as our translators are constantly having to cross-reference and double-check pretty much every single file to make sure the constant references and throwbacks to very specific jokes, names & gameplay choices remain consistent. There’s part of an enormously long file where Otonashi gets hit in the mouth and it’s literally the ENTIRE first part of the file all over again (we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of lines) WORD FOR WORD, except we have to make it sound silly because he’s talking with a mouth injury. Yes, the Common route is THAT convoluted. I feel genuine pity for the testers. This is gonna be a month-long descent into translation hell for them because of how many various ways scenes can be executed. Honestly, once we do the full release for you guys, I expect to release a follow-up patch or two just because you guys will probably find stuff we missed. But all in all, it’s coming along much faster than I think anybody expected, and we’re all having a very fun time with the project as well as with each other. I cannot say enough good things about these guys. I think the reason we’ve stayed together this long and work at this pace is because we all just genuinely enjoy each other on top of the VNs themselves.

The last bit of news I have to report is that once our other translator Log is done with all of 1st Beat’s side content, he might start working on a non-Key project that I’m gonna keep a secret for now. Those of you who enjoy slice of life romance eroges, this may interest you! It won’t be something that will take terribly long to do and we’ll likely release it long before 1st Beat is done, it’s just a fun little thing that will come as a surprise for many, and a welcome one for a few of you, I hope! What could it be? You won’t get that answer out of me. Perhaps try looking up and asking the stars for guidance?

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for you with this monthly report! I know the waiting game that we’re all stuck in right now is a bit of a pain, and we appreciate you all sticking with us. As always, give us a follow on Twitter @alkatranslation if you want to see snippets of translation development or smaller, more concise updates. March is gonna be a month full of work for us. I look forward to sharing the latest with you all in April! Until then, have a pleasant rest of the day, wherever in the world you may be.

13 thoughts on “Alka Translations Monthly Status Report: March 2020

  1. Akane710 says:

    Good luck guys💜💜
    +you’ll be releasing 1st beat patch before completing it or not? (like summer pockets)
    Also so excited for that XD 👀

  2. Jimmy Wijaya says:

    お疲れ様.
    Looking forward to 1st Beats in English and certain side secret project.
    “Perhaps try looking up and asking the stars for guidance?”, is this a hint? Something with “星” in title, perhaps? Hoshikaka and Eternal heart come into mind but with Eternal heart probably released soon and Hoshikaka is not exactly fit “a fun little thing”, it’s probably not either. You got me very curious indeed.

  3. Masshiro says:

    I am so glad that someone decided to pick the 1st Beat project up. You guys have no idea, as a long (can’t even remember how many years at this point) time fan of the franchise, this fills me with happiness to no end, especially after just rewatching the series and finding out that the state of things with the novels was still stale.
    I truly hope that with this a new breath of life will be given to this franchise, and that maybe people will come to love it so that the folks at Key decide to continue the series as they should have.
    Thanks guys, really 🙂

  4. B_hav_ says:

    I’ll go Mad if the secret project you guys are talking about is Sky full of stars’ Fandisk or even Interstellar focus. The original is one of my first VNs. Its been more than 2 years and no talk about MoeNovel ever translating it.
    Even if its Eternal Heart like someone about pointed out. I am excited.

  5. Holo says:

    When you are done with side stories, would you consider working on drama cd? うみのチャーハン伝説 in particular is very well done in my opinion.

  6. Holo says:

    Holy shit, the production value. I imagined you would use color code and call it a day but this, wow. Based Miki and Tenzen. Eventually is good enough, no problem, godspeed.

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