RKSF Developer Diary #2 - Hey, That's New!

Just one pipe, huh?
Well, at least we have infinite time.

...And we're back!

In our last Developer Diary entry, we had a look at some of the changes made during the localization of the original Rosenkreuzstilette that we carried over to the English version of Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel.  This time around, we'll be looking at some of the little tweaks in the English version of Freudenstachel that you'd be forgiven for not noticing.

To start things off, let's pay a visit to everyone's favorite pajama-clad shut-in, Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle.  While her Metalman-inspired "The Black Playground" stage featured a brief homage to Super Mario Bros., Freudenstachel's "The Zeppy Ruins" goes even further with its tribute to the Mushroom Kingdom, featuring blue skies, sentient clouds oddly resembling a certain cephalopod, marching mushrooms, blocks, pipes, and even a flagpole and fort at the "end" of the stage.  With the presentation practically screaming Super Mario All-Stars, it goes without saying that we just had to match the presentation of the 16-bit version of the retro classic, reusing the Super Mario 64 font from the original RKS as appropriate.

It looks like someone forgot the ball
finial on the top of the flagpole...

Amusingly enough, there are a few minor oversights in this segment that made their way into the final version of the game.  First off, the flag and flagpole are white and green, respectively, in the original version of Super Mario Bros., whereas their colors are reversed in the Super Mario All-Stars remake.  Curiously, the Freudenstachel rendition uses the NES color scheme.  Since the background is modeled after the All-Stars version, the flag unintentionally appears to fade into the clouds.

For the English version of Freudenstachel, we added a subtle gray edge to the flag itself to help it stand out against the background.  If you have a decent monitor, you don't even need to expand the image to the left to notice the difference.  Should we have reversed the colors instead and made the stage consistently follow suit with All-Stars, or do you think this understated tweak a better solution?  Let us know in the comments below.

For obvious reasons, we also updated the "World 1-8" to reflect that this is effectively Rosenkreuzstilette 2.  Was it necessary?  Not it all.  Was it worth it?  For anyone who notices the little touches in their games: absolutely.

Message From Mr. Zeppy.

Once we begin exploring the depths of the Zeppy Ruins, a familiar face can be found carved in the walls alongside a message written in archaic script.

Wait, did I just say "archaic"?  I take that back.  It's retro, not archaic...

Anyway, well-seasoned gamers may recognize the images of a top, a shuriken, and a needle at the bottom of the mural as the icons of particular armaments in the Blue Bomber's arsenal: namely, the Top Spin, the Shadow Blade, and the Needle Cannon from Megaman 3.  The inscription itself is modeled after the transmissions sent by Dr. Light whenever the good doctor completes one of his new inventions in Megaman 2.

It was a bit of a challenge to get the wording of the English rendition just right, accurately conveying the meaning of the riddle on the wall while preserving the nods to both games.  The screenshot to the right depicts the "question" that the player needs to solve in order to proceed.  An "answer" engraving can be found two screens away from this one (of course, if you find it, that likely means that you chose poorly and cost Freudia her life...).

For a second, these two screenshots looked
like they had naturally merged together...

Let's skip ahead a considerable bit and check out Schirach's Sandstorm Stage.  Naturally, the Count Bombs in this stage are modeled after their explosive counterparts from Megaman 6.  Curiously, WOMI decided to take the seven incarnations of the upright bomb, rotate all seven sprites, one at a time, to create the other three detonator variants, and apply shading and highlights to all thirty-five sprites individually.

For the English version of RKSF, we decided to remake the Count Bomb graphics, keeping the timer facing the same direction no matter where its detonator was located.  The reason for this change was two-fold.  First, the source material always had the timers facing the same direction; it's only appropriate that the RKSF renditions follow suit.  Second, graphic designers in video games have a responsibility to ensure that all graphical elements are user-friendly and easily-legible.  For example, when you look at an HP gauge, you should be able to figure out how much HP you have in an instant.  In this case, the fraction of a second needed to tilt your head and read the timers properly could mean the difference between the bombs exploding in your face or not.

Whoa, it's past midnight already?  It looks like I spent too much time gathering screenshots for this post.  Well, I'll just have to wrap things up here for now.

In the next Developer Diary, we'll be meeting the new members of the Rosenkreuzstilette universe.  See you then!

Provisional RKSF Developer Diary - O Captain, My Captain!

It's been an honor serving under you...

Hello, everyone.  It's time for the next installment of the RKSF Developer Diary.

Before we get started on today's entry, there's a proverbial elephant in the room that I need to address.  Many among you may be aware of the fact that I work as the de facto assistant manager of a Thai restaurant to pay the bills, keep a roof over my head, and replace any equipment I need for my localization work (whether it be my glasses, my hard drive, or my entire computer system).  To borrow a phrase from Spiritia: "But people... people aren't the same.  People can't be replaced."...

Two days after my last blog post, Betty Toye, the owner of our restaurant, suddenly passed away.  The story of her passing is a tragic one, and one that should give fans of Angel Beats a serious case of déjà vu.  In all honesty, this story isn't mine to tell.  If I mention that Betty's death felt too close to Masami Iwasawa's for comfort, I'm sure the vast majority of you will be able to piece together what happened and how.
 
Let me be completely serious for a moment:

If you ever take a blow to the head, for any reason, go see a doctor immediately.  It doesn't matter if you feel alright or not, if you're part of a sports team and that head injuries "just come with the territory".  It only takes a moment of misplaced bravado to give yourself a death sentence.  Even if you do try to get help, the doctors might not be able to get to you in time...

It goes without saying that things have been rough at my day job without Betty around.  Unlike most bosses, she was pretty hands-on with everything.  Friendly, outgoing, and in terrific shape for someone her age (she was 67, but had the energy of someone in their thirties).  As you can imagine, as the de facto assistant manager, it's been my duty to step up and take charge of things at the restaurant while my manager (Betty's son-in-law) tends to his family.  It's been a rough couple of weeks, and there's nothing we can do but move forward on our own.

I'm sorry for starting things off on a depressing note, but this is something I really needed to get off of my chest.  Betty wasn't the first person close to me to have died this year (my friend Richard passed away in March), but this is the first time someone so integral to my day-to-day life has died.  It's no exaggeration to say that there's a dark void at the restaurant that we're doing our best to fill.  It's only a matter of time before we're back to business as usual (pun not intended).  If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know exactly where I am and what I'm doing.

I suppose it's perfect timing that I was able to hand off the revised source code to our publisher before this recent slew of developments.

Now that I've said what I needed to say, let's get back into the swing of things.  Join me in a few hours for our regularly-scheduled programming...

(Oh, who am I kidding?  We've never had a "regular" schedule...)