The Interview

TinFoil

<Aaerul> The game was released in october of 2009 and in the same month, the project had already begun. why was there a consensus to
<Aaerul> begin translation so soon after the game’s release? Was it a title you had been anticipating for a while?
<TinFoil> After someone posted the character page imagery for Osadai (specifically of Putina) on /jp/, I looked forward to its release after perusing the game site, but I didn’t have a translation in mind.
<Aaerul> so whose idea was it to translate?
<TinFoil> I played the demo when it came out and was flat out impressed by the fun of the game, and when release time came, VDZ and I uploaded the scripts for shits
<TinFoil> And then Kugyuu started translating.
<TinFoil> And then I found myself a little bored with my current eroge workload.

<Aaerul> current eroge workload. do you mean working on osadai?
<TinFoil> in terms of editing and translation workings
<Aaerul> or do you mean your previous project
<TinFoil> the previous projects I was in basically entered a long haitus, ie: Teinai and I think Total Eclipse
<Aaerul> I see
<TinFoil> gckc was also taking it easy with Sumaga, so I was in chillax mode for a month or so until osadai released
<Aaerul> what is teinai and total eclipse?
<Aaerul> other project’s names I assume
<TinFoil> 天使のいない12月 and MuvLuv: Total Eclipse

<Aaerul> According to 104 votes on erogamescape, osadai got a mean score of 66. Does that affect your motivation to complete the project?
<TinFoil> Short answer: no. Long answer: things like ratings and popularity don’t affect my decisions to get involved in projects, but they do increase a sort of positive pressure to complete

<Aaerul> Is there a lot of racism in the game?
<TinFoil> Besides the fact that you’re fucking eroge-ified Obama and Putin as Koizumi Junichiro, they keep it surprisingly PC.
<TinFoil> In one of the routes however, a reverse Pearl Harbor happens with the USA, and it’s interesting to see how it gets handled.

<TinFoil> Oh yes, and they get a core concept of the American federal government wrong when explaining how Federalism works
<TinFoil> which saddened me

<Aaerul> Most other projects do not have nearly the amount of QC that you guys have.
<Aaerul> What is the difference between editing and quality control? What are some tips you could give to aspiring fan translators?
<TinFoil> Well, there are several types of “editing” that currently goes on, and it sorta depends on style and your knowledge of Japanese
<TinFoil> the first is the Ixrec style of editing, which is actually quality control.
<TinFoil> The second you see when Moogy modifies a lot of Sharin no Kuni – I don’t want to say “rewrite,” but when you compare the original to the edited, lots of things are arranged differently
<TinFoil> that style requires almost translator-tier knowledge of the original, since you have to mirror the writer and all that
<Aaerul> so how does TLC fit into this
<Aaerul> I suppose QC is in a way, TLC
<TinFoil> I try to stay in the middle, since first of all I don’t know much Japanese and have the kanji identification of a newborn, and secondly because of a translator’s personal style
<TinFoil> gckc, Ixrec, and Kugyuu all have their own “way” of translating, and I try to keep the flavor that they inject into their translations
<TinFoil> gckc for example is very free and is the epitome of 80s-90s culture, while Ixrec is a stickler for what he first decided
<TinFoil> as for TLC, uh
<TinFoil> they just exist to make sure you’re actually translating correctly
<TinFoil> Quality Control people make sure that things don’t sound really odd and do spell/grammarcheck
<TinFoil> yeah, I found that the best way as a TLC is to write those swaths of “original intent” explanations that then00bavenger does with G-Sen
TinFoil> because you just correct the original and leave suggestions for editors to do their stuff
<TinFoil> yeah, like what vibe the original writer had in the line and stuff

<Aaerul> Do you have a release timeframe for the project now that it is in its final stages?
TinFoil> Release timeframes on such a casual project like this is pretty vain
<TinFoil> sometimes things pop up irl, sometimes you just don’t feel like doing anything for a week
<TinFoil> it’s sorta like 1.5x Wanko to Kurasou
<TinFoil> in terms of length

(Post Interview chatter)

<TinFoil> and the individual projects on TLWiki aren’t so much of groups a la fansubbing, but like a conglomerate of project-hopping individuals
<Aaerul> That is true.
<Aaerul> TLWiki is a very diffirent culture than the people I am speaking to
<Aaerul> the guys outside are usually much less talkative, and they mostly work alone

…
<TinFoil> piroko is from Ayako Fansubs if you want to go hit him up too
<TinFoil> as is Moogy, but that’s a looong time ago
<Aaerul> piroko is the other guy doing Osadai?
<TinFoil> yeah, he’s the new QC person dude
<TinFoil> oh and about the Amaterasu/Ixrec version of editing
<TinFoil> I understand Sheeta is more liberal and Ixrec is more accepting of her edits, so my comments were about my stint with muvluv extra and Spin/Raide/whoever’s edits

Thank you for the interview TinFoil. Hope you guys enjoy it.