Fan Translation please! - > Now English is officially supported as of Oct. 2021!

[tatamibeya2017]

Hi everyone,
I'm more than happy that so many of you are interested in this title and want the English version!

I originally wished to release the official translation patch.
However after looking at the revenue for a month since it's released here (as you can guess from the number of the user review, it was not a big hit unfortunately...) and discoved the pro-translation for such plenty amount of texts appearing in this title would cost much more than I could afford,
I was wondering what's the best for everyone, then an idea came to my mind.

I've decided having this title NOSTALGIC TRAIN open for fan translation.
As of the update on Jul. 15,
If you are the one who know how to, you'd find the Localization folder with Game.locres in the .pak file.

As usual fan-translation, I'm glad if you would share the know-how if you are familiar with such process, get the text file translated by someone who wants to contribute, then share the language file with others.

I'm sorry that I coudln't manage to publish the official version, but it's my best I can do now and I hope you still like my decision!

Best regards,
Tatamibeya.

[Master Kyodai]

Thanks for adding the locres support! If i find some time i can hopefully at least start with the translation this week, but family always keeps me busy... -.-

Maybe if other fans are interested we can work together?

I plan to translate it to English first since that is a great base to translate into many other languages. Obviously i would focus on menu and free mode first since that is not so much work. If other fans also want to help on the English translation maybe we can split up?

[Rainer]

Hi, Tatamibeya

Please don’t get me wrong, and with all due respect, but your game is way too expensive and short, for the asked price. On top, no English localization. No good conditions for a success. (sales figures)

Regards, Rainer

[Master Kyodai]

I can see Rainers point here. Actually I got the game rather cheap being one of the original supporters - but the Steam price here in Germany is 16 Euro which is a price that many people are reluctant to pay.

I do remember one of my first projects as a freelance game designer and I was so surprised about the pricing policy of my boss - he set the price at 4.95 USD which I thought was very low. It was not an AAA title but a rock solid indie adventure game so I asked him why he released it so cheap. The development cost were already somewhere around 30.000 USD so the game was not just pretty professional it was also expensive to make.


He told me like "Boy - we tried this before - and trust me it is better to sell a game 10.000 times for 5 dollars than 1000 times for 20 dollars."

And to my surprise they sold it nearly 30.000 times in the first 6 months.

I talked to him afterwards and wondered about the success. The game was pretty good but classic adventures and the theme of the game were not so popular so i was amazed by the sales figures, so he explained to me the psychological aspect of pricing. he said something around this:

"If you price the game 4.95 USD it is under the magic 5 dollar barrier. For that price most people don't even think much, so even if they don't like the game or don't play it much they will neither complain nor return the game in most cases. Their expectations are rather low so usually they will have a pleasant surprise and give the game a good review - which attracts more customers. It is also a price where most people don't even bother pirating the game, many people are willing to spent less than 5 dollars for an experiment."

"If you price it at 9.95 USD you are still under the magic 10 Dollar barrier and people start thinking that the game costs more than a good pizza or a budget game. You still get that Under-10-Dollars bonus but people will be more critical really considering to return the game and spend their 10 Dollars on something else and leaving a negative review if they didn't like your game. Many people don't mind losing 5 dollars, but 10 dollars is that magic barrier where they start caring about money, so for that price you really must make them happy for quite some time to make them feel like that money was spent well."

"if you price it at like 19,95 Dollars you must offer really quality entertainment for a long time. Sure there are titles for 60 Dollars - the top notch AAA games that everyone wants, like GTA IV and such, but to make people spend more than 10 dollars it really has to be good and entertain them for literally ages or you'll just collect negative review about how short or dull it is and lose most potential customers. Most people are willing to waste 5 dollar for an experiment, some spend 10 dollars for an experiment and nearly noone spends 20 dollars for an experiment. For a price of 20 Dollars you need to have a hype going on to even get a moderate number of sales."



In the end it is a bit like with art. It is very unfair that some paintings from Picasso cost 100 Million Dollars while there are very talented artists that struggle to get 50 dollars for their painting.

Nostalgic Train is a bit like the Picasso. There is just no other game likethis, it is unique. No matter how much money you spend on other games, there is no other one that is like Nostalgic Train.

In my review i compared it to "Everybody's gone to the rapture" - since technically it is somewhat similar. EGTTR is of course much bigger from the area and play time, but in EGTTR i spent most time just walking around areas that didn't interest me. I always wanted to run because areas were so dull. There were a few houses and gardens that really interested me, but my long play time just resulted from the long walks from one location to the other and i always hoped the story would have some witty or surprising turn which never happened. So i was quite disappointed from EGTTR... With Nostalgic train the experience was different. It was pleasant to just hang out at all areas and I spent some quality time to just hang out, listen to the sounds, looking at the ocean and such.


In the end of the day - yes Tatamibeya would probably have made more money with a lower selling price. The irony of economy... But is it worth the 16 Euro? Yes definitely if you like Japanese rural towns and want to hang out there in games.

And unlike many other games Tatamibeya is still constantly upgrading the game, fixing bugs and adding features which i can't tell about many other indie projects.

Yes there is no English Version yet, but it will come. And probably a German version. And French. And Spanish. Just give it some time.

[noob168]

Is there currently any fan translation available?

[Master Kyodai]

There's the first alpha version of the English translation available, but so far it only works for the menus and Free Mode. I think story mode localization is still bugged. I will write to Tatamibeya.

[Master Kyodai]

OK I got info from Tatamibeya. It is an easy fix, you just need to replace 3 files then the English locres will also be used for the rest of the text. I have updates the guide accordingly. :)

Hopefully some people can help to improve the translation. Most of it is understandable, but by far not perfect. Keep in mind I am just German and my Japanese is also very poor. -.- So any help appreciated.

[noob168]

Thanks!

[Master Kyodai]

Big kudos to Tatamibeya for helping to fix the translation. So right now it is like 95% better than my original version. Still some sentences that could use a bit of rewording to improve the general wording (Not sure if English will ever be 100% of the amazing poetry the Japanese version offers), but let's say that we're now getting much closer to an amazing English translation.

[F_Fillet]

I think Master Kyodai's point on the price is right.
On my own case, I do LOVE Japanese rural trains and landscape, train models and dioramas,
I brought the game in full price just for the train and village theme, but I still think the game is a bit overpriced for the content.
Even train and Japan village fans like me think like this, I guess average players will sure be much more hesitating on buying the game. This is very bad In the sense of making reasonable reward for game makers.

Also, just my 2 cents, there's a few things other then translation that can improve the attractiveness:

1. Optimization
The game seems to be a bit too demanding for it's graphic performance, especially for all those
obviously low poly count environment objects.
My PC can run new AAA FPS in mid to mid-high with decent effect and fps, but feels quiet laggy in this game.
I was enforced to use low settings, which is disappointing for those want to enjoy the atmosphere.
This is quite a turn-off for the majority of potential customers.

2. VR mode
This game's style is very, very suitable for a VR immersive experience. It even don't need VR controller, a game pad or even keyboard (may with mouse) is much more then enough.
If the optimization and frame rate can be improved, a simple 3 dof VR display support would be a very attractive feature for this title.

==

Please don;t get me wrong, I do like this game much, the train and rural environment is very relaxing, even "healing" for me, but I do wish the experience can be even more perfect for this lovely game, and be much more popular.

[APeacefulWarrior]

Just replying so I can keep an eye on this thread. I'll probably pick it up if\when the translation is finished. :-)

[Gramoph0ne]

games like this have made it big in the west such as dear esther and everyone has gone to the rapture and lastly edith finch,but its gonna need at least english subs built into it 1st.

dear dev,i know you said low sales have stopped you from bothering adding english support but if you do the work and add it in i gurantee you will get more sales.

ill put this on my watchlist and and check back ocasionally to see if you did it,the game looks amazing but i cant read japanese lol

im willing to pay the price for the game but not without english and i suspect most westerners feel the same.

[APeacefulWarrior]

I agree; there seems to be an interest in "nostaligic" Japanese stuff among American otaku, particularly those who are older - those who grew up on material from the 80s or 90s. Just look at the new interest in City Pop that's appeared in recent years.

Although the game would need decent outreach or marketing to reach its new market.

[Gramoph0ne]

Originally posted by APeacefulWarrior:

I agree; there seems to be an interest in "nostaligic" Japanese stuff among American otaku, particularly those who are older - those who grew up on material from the 80s or 90s. Just look at the new interest in City Pop that's appeared in recent years.

Although the game would need decent outreach or marketing to reach its new market.

indeed,most games set in japan are always in the cities its rare you get to see the rural areas

if this got a built in english option it would probs sell ok hell one of us westerners could even dub it if we got a script...im sick of missing out on tons of cool games since the NES era due to the bloody laungage barrier.

[Gramoph0ne]

ok lads i have a plan

there is a big youtube/twitcher who is a dutchgirl who can speak fluent japanese,this game hasnt been covered by any westerner yet..if the dev needs money to give us a translation then we can help advertize it,and getting this youtuber to play it while she plays osbscure japanese only games and translates on the fly this will help get it to be more known to the sort of crowd who would be interested in it.

this is her twitter,if you have one inbox or just leave a comment asking her to play the japanese only "nostalgia train" game and hope for the best.

https://twitter.com/GirlGamerGaB

dev if you are reading this try offering her a free steamkey you are more liekly to get a good result...if she makes a vid on this it will help you alot.

[将我的繁文缛节,弃置于此]

Hi edittors,
Why don't you contact some translation team? At least you can get Chinese version. I learned about this game from Shirakami Fubuki(白上フブキ)'s video and I like this game. Here are the Chinese video about this game.Maybe you can find other version from youtube.

白上フブキ's video with Chinese version.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av78229703 (Ep1)
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av79053053 (Ep2)

Thanks a lot , ありがとうございました!