The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante - obscure Russian narrative RPG

[Whimper]

I have no idea what the going rate for Russian to English translation is, but for 500k words that has to be quite significant. And those translators are not working on some sort of Russian regional pricing model. A translation job of this size for some shitty Chinese mobile game without any quality concerns easily cost you 30k$+.

It depends, I would imagine that an English teacher could be found happy to supplement their income in helping an indie game with a project like this, and as the game isn't inexpensive for what it is they may earn quite a lot in any case.

Do you really need to hire a translator if you know Russian and English very well? The way I see it, the main reason to hire a translator is to do it when you don't have the skill, or when you don't want to do it yourself.

Of course if one of the team was able and willing, or one of their friends etc. (with indie games that get attention it's not absurd to imagine people volunteering just to be a part of something like this) I was just pointing out that there are people who could translate to a reasonable standard who aren't translators and would be relatively cheap. Language teachers are but one example.

 

[Antigoon]

According to this recent article on localization (warning, Russian language), the game contains 500 000 words in total. It was translated into English by two professional translators (I didn't manage to play the English version yet, so don't know how it went).

Of course if one of the team was able and willing, or one of their friends etc. (with indie games that get attention it's not absurd to imagine people volunteering just to be a part of something like this) I was just pointing out that there are people who could translate to a reasonable standard who aren't translators and would be relatively cheap. Language teachers are but one example.

Even hiring English teachers in Moscow to do that has to be expensive. I do some freelance translations from Chinese/English to German and I get 0.4-0.5CNY per word (~75USD per 1000 words), and I am fully aware that rate is very low compared to agency work. Same rate for QA/proof reading. Of course you get less paid for repetitions and such.

 

[Whimper]

According to this recent article on localization (warning, Russian language), the game contains 500 000 words in total. It was translated into English by two professional translators (I didn't manage to play the English version yet, so don't know how it went).

Of course if one of the team was able and willing, or one of their friends etc. (with indie games that get attention it's not absurd to imagine people volunteering just to be a part of something like this) I was just pointing out that there are people who could translate to a reasonable standard who aren't translators and would be relatively cheap. Language teachers are but one example.

Even hiring English teachers in Moscow to do that has to be expensive. I do some freelance translations from Chinese/English to German and I get 0.4-0.5CNY per word (~75USD per 1000 words), and I am fully aware that rate is very low compared to agency work. Same rate for QA/proof reading. Of course you get less paid for repetitions and such.

They could be provincial teachers (or whatever) which would lower the costs dramatically. I don't know how much they paid and certainly not insisting that the translation was low cost, but it's quite possible that professional translators weren't employed. I think with projects like this, unlike for large companies, people often do work for lower wages.

 

[ghostdog]

Translating isn't easy stuff and it's not enough to just have a decent knowledge of the language, especially when it's a game that's all about text and story.

Translating from Russian to English is even more difficult since the two languages have very different intricacies. Having a text you can understand isn't enough, this game is by and large a literate work and it wants to sell to the English audience, it's not some free Russian fallout mod.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I think translation expenses were covered by team's newfound publisher 101xp who is interested in English-speaking audience. So it was mostly like Pathologic 2 situation when initial sum was fundraised and then they found publisher to finish the development.

Spoiler

Except in Pathologic 2 situation the game was killed by stupid publisher in the end.

 

[Antigoon]

Alright, finished my second playthrough. Up until mid-chapter 3 its not too different, but from the moment you make your profession choice its vastly different. Some stories/parts remain the same though, so the second playthrough can be rather quick. I think it took me about 3-4h.

 

[Zer0wing]

I think translation expenses were covered by team's newfound publisher 101xp who is interested in English-speaking audience. So it was mostly like Pathologic 2 situation when initial sum was fundraised and then they found publisher to finish the development.

Spoiler

Except in Pathologic 2 situation the game was killed by stupid publisher in the end.

What's the story behind publishing the Pathologic 2?

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I think translation expenses were covered by team's newfound publisher 101xp who is interested in English-speaking audience. So it was mostly like Pathologic 2 situation when initial sum was fundraised and then they found publisher to finish the development.

Spoiler

Except in Pathologic 2 situation the game was killed by stupid publisher in the end.

What's the story behind publishing the Pathologic 2?

Well P2 was intended to be developed on $330 thousands kickstarted+$2 million from undisclosed publisher, but then 2014 financial crisis happened and IPL left with just kickstarted money that also lost half of its value. For 3 years the project was adrift, then tinyBuild publisher happened...which as it seems fucked up the marketing and legally forbade IPL to discuss it which lead to publishing only first campaign of Bachelor, poor sales and negative publicity, so now while studio is still obliged to deliver 2/3 of the game it feels like Dybowski actually hates this project and suffering from writer's block.

 

[toro]

I have no idea what the going rate for Russian to English translation is, but for 500k words that has to be quite significant. And those translators are not working on some sort of Russian regional pricing model. A translation job of this size for some shitty Chinese mobile game without any quality concerns easily cost you 30k$+.

It depends, I would imagine that an English teacher could be found happy to supplement their income in helping an indie game with a project like this, and as the game isn't inexpensive for what it is they may earn quite a lot in any case.

Do you really need to hire a translator if you know Russian and English very well? The way I see it, the main reason to hire a translator is to do it when you don't have the skill, or when you don't want to do it yourself.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

2 final deaths so far while trying to finish Chp.4. Family in shambles.
Oof.

Spoiler

I should have let that little girl get trampled way back or else let my best bud get killed/

 

[Gradenmayer]

I wonder if Numenera would have been better if the word count had been in half

You could cut it down to 100k and the it still would be a slog to go through. Whoever wrote that shit cared more about slinging his smart words around than writing an engaging stylish text.
Every degenerate writer knows the founding rules of writing taught in the middle-school, like "keep it simple", "if you can make it shorter without loss of effect-make it shorter" "show don't tell, use evocative text" (achieve that by using less adjectives and more verbs/adverbs), but whatever idiot wrote Numenera ignored all of those.

Just pick a passage from Numenera and compare it to one from Disco, you will get the gist of it.

 

[V_K]

I do some freelance translations from Chinese/English to German and I get 0.4-0.5CNY per word (~75USD per 1000 words)

Russian translators are much cheaper than that. A going rate for an agency that does business translations for example would be more to the tune of $25-30 per 1000 words.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

I expected more chatter on this game.
There are definitely no Hollywood happy endings in this thing, and it's no trivial thing to even make it to the end of Chp5. Doubleplus suffering indeed....it's right there in the name.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I expected more chatter on this game.
There are definitely no Hollywood happy endings in this thing, and it's no trivial thing to even make it to the end of Chp5. Doubleplus suffering indeed....it's right there in the name.

Well, the game is virtually unknown and its marketing budget is a tiny-tiny fraction of Disco Elysium's (for example), so you wanna spread the word, do it!

 

[Salvo]

I suggest you try out the Inquisition path for (arguably) the most interesting ending. (provided you follow the right path)

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

I suggest you try out the Inquisition path for (arguably) the most interesting ending. (provided you follow the right path)

Oh I tried, but failed the final, very high willpower check, if that's the one you're referencing. Restarting from chp4 was not enough to get it so far so I may have to go earlier.

I abandoned my Inquisition/old order run and started a Legal one, and at least made it to the end.

Spoiler

I died.

There are a few all or nothing 'rocks fall' choices, and some failures (usually family related) are a vortex for others.

It could take at least a 6 to 10 runs from childhood's end to see all the major endings.

Buy this game.

 

[harhar!]

I played through the game 3 times, not a bad game for CYOA fags. Even if you can see the consequences of your actions, it's quite difficult to get a good ending. I would have liked to see partial success/partial failure based on your stats rather than these binary win/lose choices. Currently, if you didn't make the right choice at every point, you can be locked out of endings very quickly. It would be nice to have some forgiveness there and maybe even some RNG.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Extended OST by The Void Brother is FREE on bandcamp now.

https://thevoidbrother.bandcamp.com/releases

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Not sure if 1st April joke.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Well, at least I have 20 Theology

 

[Marat]

Got Shadow of a Will, which arguably was worth all the celibacy vows. Higher plane of existence, here I come! In other playthrough I killed Otton in a duel and led to Arknian extinction in another - all power to the councils!

Setting is interesting, characters are fleshed out - devs show potential and I'm curious where they will take this next. One of them alluded to Aylis being the subject of a potential DLC. Whatever the case, they have my attention.

My one gripe is the low impact of skills on the game. Valor is a particularly vexing offender - there are several situations where combat skill would have come into play, if not to allow you to win then maybe at least to save you from a lesser death, but you're destined to die anyway.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Developers are hiring for artist-illustrator for their next secret project (described as "deep and unusual RPG").

What is to be created:
- separate illustrations (2d);
- character concepts;
- figures of characters in the form of 2d-sprites (and keyframes for their animation).

Painting style:
- realism / classic illustration (but with a lot of symbolism, surrealism and mysticism).

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Today (October the 19th) there will be some talk during livestream about some COLLABORATION between Sir Brante's and Pathfinder's developers. Probably that new project that was hinted several weeks before.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Their new game got annouced, apparently it is an occut mystery 2D choose-your-adventure RPG with cards, more info here

 

[Nano]

Jeez, this game is long. A lot longer than I thought it'd be.

It is fun though. Got to the part where Brante fucks Octavia on her daddy's throne and it was p. hot.