Translating Magic School Lunar

I guess I didn't have a thread about this? Huh.

Anyway, yes! I'm working on Magic School Lunar with Suppertails. Since there's no official translation to port over, this is going to be a brand-new English translation, which is being done by Video Game King.

Current status:

  • A full first draft English translation is complete. This needs editing, but does cover all dialogue and menu text in the game.
  • Script editing and playtesting haven't been started yet.
  • All graphics that need to be translated are complete, except for the end credits, and have been inserted into the game.
  • We have tools to insert the new text and graphics into the game. These work but have some bugs that are still being ironed out.
  • FMVs haven't been started. Tools aren't a problem, it just needs someone to a) transcribe the dialogue, and b) translate it.
Here are some screenshots of the current status:

mahou_gakuen_lunar-0012.big.png

mahou_gakuen_lunar-0022.big.png

mahou_gakuen_lunar-0025.big.png

mahou_gakuen_lunar-0015.big.png

mahou_gakuen_lunar-0026.big.png


And as a fun bonus, here's an amazing bug I ran into where the girls abandon their normal dialogue and start threatening the player instead.

 
So happy to hear an update and see how close this is to finally being playable! I've been in love with the series ever since the PS1 remakes first came out back in the day. Lunar-Net forum must be over the moon right now! (there was actually no pun initially intended there, haha)
 
Looks fantastic. I have flashbacks to this game's evil battle frequency, so part of me wishes you could fix that, but I'm glad to see Studio Alex's last game get proper treatment all the same.

Do you have a discord and/or twitter presence on this? Also, if you need an editor, I'd be happy to help. I own the game and have played all the other Lunars.
 
Thank you so much for this!

As you probably know, Studio Alex tried to pad the playtime for this game as long as they feasibly could, resulting in two major annoyances for the player: Unskippable long FMV scenes, and a very high encounter rate. IMO they really ruin the game. Is it possible to include those in this project's scope as a side patch?
 
Do you have a discord and/or twitter presence on this?

Looks like you've found me on Twitter already! I don't have my own discord server, but I am in yours already.

Also, if you need an editor, I'd be happy to help. I own the game and have played all the other Lunars.

Thank you! I have an editor lined up, but I'll let you know if that falls through. My plan is to do a pass of editing myself for readability / characterization, but after someone else who knows Japanese is able to do a pass of checking the translation.

As you probably know, Studio Alex tried to pad the playtime for this game as long as they feasibly could, resulting in two major annoyances for the player: Unskippable long FMV scenes, and a very high encounter rate. IMO they really ruin the game. Is it possible to include those in this project's scope as a side patch?

IMO the FMVs are fine; they're not really worse than the other two Lunars. I agree about the encounter rate though, which is very distracting and intrusive. I think it would be a good idea to make a secondary patch which can be applied after the translation (or to the Japanese version) to reduce the encounter rate to something reasonable.
 
Looks like you've found me on Twitter already! I don't have my own discord server, but I am in yours already.



Thank you! I have an editor lined up, but I'll let you know if that falls through. My plan is to do a pass of editing myself for readability / characterization, but after someone else who knows Japanese is able to do a pass of checking the translation.

Appreciate the consideration, I wish them luck.



IMO the FMVs are fine; they're not really worse than the other two Lunars. I agree about the encounter rate though, which is very distracting and intrusive. I think it would be a good idea to make a secondary patch which can be applied after the translation (or to the Japanese version) to reduce the encounter rate to something reasonable.

The battle frequency is so bad that it almost makes the game unplayable, I totally agree that you should adjust it from jump street, but it's your call. I'm pretty sure anyone who's played it will be very glad you did, and those who haven't will be better off not knowing, lol.


I think the cutscenes are fine too, apart from a certain one... and I think you can guess which one if you've been a chapter or two in... (The painting.)
 
I think the cutscenes are fine too, apart from a certain one... and I think you can guess which one if you've been a chapter or two in... (The painting.)
Um... While certainly respectful for the project lead's answer, and thought that would be it, I think I'm being misunderstood here, so I feel compelled to clarify my stance.

My initial argument is that I don't think the cutscenes are a problem on their own. Only that they lack a way to skip them, which the developers enabled for the opening (you can skip it with Start) but disabled for everything else. That's about what I meant with that. I'm okay of course with the decision this isn't that important of an issue, just to reiterate.

As for

that one cutscene, I would certainly welcome another "relocalization" patch by someone else that edits that specific Cinepack file... You do see a lot of these patches recently on romhacking dot net as compaignon patches to the main translation projects. But I still think it would be very callous and censorious of my part to request that change as part of the main translation project.

Everyone should still be able to experience any work of that period of time the way it was conceived, and it's no worse than stuff you'd see in old-school Sailor Moon. The translator is only responsible for the translation bytes inserted in the game and shouldn't really answer for that. Of course, if the translator does whatever with that, it's fine too by me.

That's why I need to make it clear here that's not what I meant by my initial post. I also apologize for indirectly casting undue attention to that aspect, or unnecessary drama, with that comment.
 
Um... While certainly respectful for the project lead's answer, and thought that would be it, I think I'm being misunderstood here, so I feel compelled to clarify my stance.

My initial argument is that I don't think the cutscenes are a problem on their own. Only that they lack a way to skip them, which the developers enabled for the opening (you can skip it with Start) but disabled for everything else. That's about what I meant with that. I'm okay of course with the decision this isn't that important of an issue, just to reiterate.

As for

that one cutscene, I would certainly welcome another "relocalization" patch by someone else that edits that specific Cinepack file... You do see a lot of these patches recently on romhacking dot net as compaignon patches to the main translation projects. But I still think it would be very callous and censorious of my part to request that change as part of the main translation project.

Everyone should still be able to experience any work of that period of time the way it was conceived, and it's no worse than stuff you'd see in old-school Sailor Moon. The translator is only responsible for the translation bytes inserted in the game and shouldn't really answer for that. Of course, if the translator does whatever with that, it's fine too by me.

That's why I need to make it clear here that's not what I meant by my initial post. I also apologize for indirectly casting undue attention to that aspect, or unnecessary drama, with that comment.
Well, Sailor Moon 'just' has nudity, that one scene...
involves an older male putting his hands on a nude younger girl, which was all kinds of 'uhhh...' even back then.
 
Was just wondering if there was ever going to be an English version of Lunar Magic School, and up this popped. Awesome to see so much has been done so far. Is this the best place to check back for progress updates, or is there some place better?

I would love to contribute to the project, but I imagine if you needed help you would have asked:)
 
Last edited:
Well, Sailor Moon 'just' has nudity, that one scene...
involves an older male putting his hands on a nude younger girl, which was all kinds of 'uhhh...' even back then.

If this is the scene you are talking about I fail to see what is wrong with it that would require censorship:



Dialogue translation:
Dadis explains that this spell requires placing makeup all over one's body.
Ellie agrees and starts removing her clothes (much to the surprise of everyone).
Dadis starts applying the makeup when she laughs.

DADIS: Ah, don't laugh! It will distort the patterns!
ELLIE: I'm sorry, it tickles!
 
hows the Progress going with this translation? I'm a Huge Lunar Fan. had Lunar 1 and 2 on sega cd, psx, and now own the saturn versions. I always wanted to play this one!
 
Since it has been over a year since the last update, it seems like this is on the back burner (I would love to be proven wrong).

It's understandable. These things happen. Priorities shift, people find new passions, burn out on old ones, deal with family and work problems, microscopic pathogens cause the governments of the world to spiral into ever-increasing panic and turn the global economy inside out, people get new jobs, get sick, start families - that's just life.

The project owners and participants don't owe anyone anything. They don't owe anyone a translation, a timeline, a progress report or even a response.

Nevertheless it's impossible to announce something like this project without creating excitement and expectation among fans of the material and the medium. While people like me who are not actually contributing to the project (believe me I'd love to) are owed nothing at all, we still have a strong desire to understand when this expectation might be fulfilled.

So as humbly as possible, acknowledging that my expectations are my own fault and that you don't have to answer, can you pretty-please with sugar on top provide a status update?
 
I'm surprised their no GoFundMe page for translations or is there? Or is that kinda illegal? Lol I guess you can say "donation"
 
Back
Top