My mother speaks fluent Japanese (she grew up there), I'm pretty sure she'd be fine with doing a quick translation. EDIT: but tbh, if it involves money I would rather not get involved in this. idk, I'll tell her about this once I see more replies if people really want me to.
Mykonos literally just said it would cost money to pay someone to translate it. I doubt she'll do an entire 2-3 paragraphs for free (that's longer than you'd think, of course it all depends on the letter). But I'm not mentioning anything to her until a letter is written first. I don't know if she'll do it for free or for a small fee, and personally I don't want money involved at all, especially when there's a chance someone else in the community can do it for free. (Not me, my Japanese is terrible.) But like I said, I'm not saying a word until the letter is written so that I know the length of it.
I was just throwing an idea out since nobody had come forth yet. I don't even know if that's an actual business process.
I'm trying to find someone to translate it, but not had any success so far In the mean time, I've put together a little website that offers all the info in one place (as I think expecting people to go through this thread for info will be off putting). The site still needs a lot of work as I didn't have much time. Of course, it's not much use without a translated letter....
Only mobile? C'mon, you should mention consoles too. Sonic 3 & Knuckles never got a release on PSN and Sonic CD was excellent on the PS3 so why not propose a console port too?
I'm not sure at this point we should push out luck. Start out with the minimum demands, deal with getting PC/console ports if we're actually able to succeed. Remember the stingy people we have to deal with, here. Here's my proposal for the letter:
I would personally leave out the details about added features. Rumor has it SOJ was furious with the addition of Hidden Palace Zone.
I can totally understand why sega would be pissed off by the addition of HPZ. The level wasn't featured in the original game, and was never intended to be inserted after that. It strays from the original gameplay, and reduces its value as a perfect remake. Not that I support that opinion, HPZ is one of my favorite levels :3
It ceased being a 'perfect' remake when widescreen was added. If they wanted perfect they would have emulated it.
Haha I appreciate the concern, but no SOJ is not "furious" at HPZ :v: With the new additions to the remasters, there certainly is a lot of work and push-pull that goes on to get approval, and not everything gets through for various reasons (e.g. Desert Dazzle, Egg Gauntlet). HPZ had to be approved by the current Sonic Team, Iizuka-san and also Naka-san, since it was a new/revived level appearing in the original game. If there was a big problem, it wouldn't have happened. At the end of the day, our relationship with Sega as contracted developers means we'll always respect the wishes of our client. Sonic is their baby and they're protective of it, understandably so.
So where is my misinterpretation from? I was sure up until now that either you or Stealth mentioned that some of the SOJ team were fighting against the idea of putting HPZ in.
This is a nice letter, but it's far too wordy and so the meaning would get lost in translation. I think the shorter version I posted earlier would be less prone mistranslation: We could then include a link to the protoype video (Or the Sonic 3 website I put together which I will update to give more information). EDIT: I might have found some one who can translate the letter, but they won't be able to do it until next weekend, so if any one has any suggestions for the letter contents, please provide them!
Stop contradicting yourself! :U About HPZ and the whole SOJ reluctance speculation, in Japanese work ethic, isn't one person improving on another's work considered a personal insult; the equivalent of saying "I can do better than you"?
