Though I haven't talked much about it publically, I've been helping my friend Ink with relocalizing/retranslating Danganronpa Another 1 for a long while as part of a project we've started calling a DRA1 Remaster.
I've been away for a bit, but this is an art piece I've been working on for a very long time and which I drew for the title screen. It's pretty much a redraw of the original title screen made by Linuj. (see below for a full alt and the other title screens this game has had prior) I drew the new character art and made the new bg/other assets from scratch, with the exception of the logo, which was designed by weez/houndsofdenial)
Since things are getting closer and closer to completion, and there's been a bit more shown off/shared lately, it seemed like the right time to talk about it here. I might explain more about the project in a later post if people are interested, but if you haven't heard about it, the goal is to create a more complete and accurate English translation for the original release than is currently available. There are some other additions/goals as well (such as QoL changes, fixes, and so on) as well. When done, the game will be fully playable in English from ftes to fluff dialogue to CGs to trial minigames like Hangman's Gambit.
The project is still in progress right now, but if you're interested, check out Ink's Youtube channel. Though nothing playable has been publicly released yet, Ink has already started creating a playlist of everyone's retranslated FTEs over there. Who knows, you could find out something new about your favorite character thanks to errors/mistranslations being corrected.
I'll go into a little more detail about the piece + show the alts below the cut.
Danganronpa Another 1 has actually had multiple title screens up to this point.
The one most English-speaking fans are probably most familiar with is this one made by Zephrium. (Zeph was single-handedly responsible for the build most english-speaking fans got into the series with ofc)
It uses the HD sprites, and presumably all the other assets were edited or made by Zeph. It has a brighter tone and features Hope's Peak Academy in the background.
However, the game's original features art drawn by linuj specifically for the title screen. If you've never seen footage of/played the Korean release, you might not know about it.
It actually has a similar vibe to the one used in DR1/DR: Trigger Happy Havoc. That title screen uses black for the logo and has more of a blue hue, so it's a bit reversed which I find neat.
A long while back, when I was still daydreaming about doing translations myself somehow, I looked through a lot of the original images and sprites used in the Korean release and this title screen really stuck with me... After I connected with Ink and started helping out, I definitely still wanted to see an English version this title screen used in the remaster. After volunteering to work on the title screen and credits images, I felt a bit stumped by the title screen for a long time...
I guess when it's something you know will be the first impression people get when they open the game, it feels important to get it right.
I knew that going in, and to be frank, that's part of why I wanted to do the title haha. It felt and still does feel like a big contribution and it's still a little surreal knowing art I drew is gonna end up on the title screen of a game, especially DRA1...?
I think that feeling is part of why, when I was sitting in front of my computer, redoing and editing to make an English version of that original title screen, that something kinda clicked in my brain... What if I drew new art?
I don't think I would have had the confidence to try and take this on if I hadn't done that Yuki omake edit somewhat recently. (which. tbh in retrospect compared to this is a lot worse LOL and less accurate) (consider it a stepping stone haha) But it was definitely still a beast to take on for me because of how high my standards were for it and the fact that I was trying to replicate Linuj's art style, which I've not really done before.
But in the end, (and after sitting with it for a long time to make sure I didn't have any weird things or errors I hadn't noticed before finalizing lol) I ended up really proud of it...
I think I captured the style fairly well, and my confidence might have been boosted a bit at somehow managing to draw and finish this. (I couldn't resist making their hair 'fluffier' in a way that's closer to my own style though haha)
Anyways, I wanted to share my thoughts on this so I can look back on them later. If you've read all this, thanks! I know things have been a bit quieter than usual, I've been a bit overtaken with other things.
Back in the RPGMaker 2000 days (and very briefly, RPGMaker 1998), I used pretty much mostly FFVI soundtrack midis and sprites based on FFVI sprites for all my games
Terra just the PERFECT ponytail for ponytail characters to re-use
All in one easy-to-use installer that doesn't require any sort of AppLocale crap. (The Japanese games still will, until I can finally fix my launcher program.)
HOW TO RUN ANY JAPANESE RPGMAKER 2K or 2K3 GAME PERIOD
To ensure proper filename character encoding, please use 7zip instead of alternative file archivers.
Step 1: Download this program. It's a nifty bit of software I've been secretly developing that offers a complete replacement to AppLocale, amongst lots of other features. I won't document them here. Put RPGLauncher.exe and RPGLauncher.dll in the same folder as RPG_RT.exe.
Step 2: Download this. It contains the Japanese RPGMaker 2k and 2k3 RTPs with Unicode filenames, as well as the English 2k3 RTP. Follow the install instructions within.
Step 3: Run RPGLauncher.exe. Tada! It works!
Step 4: If it doesn't work, please send me an ask, and I'll do my best to resolve your problem.
EDIT: It seems that any MP3s with Japanese names result in a crash. I'll try to resolve this as soon as I can.
