Announcements

al|together is back for 2006, with a very simple mission:

Love translation. Love stories. Spend a month sharing them together.

We are pleased to announce another phase in the increasingly inaccurately-named al|together 2006. This comprises two new games.

There are still a couple more titles to come; we apologise once more for the lack of foresight which has led to these considerable delays.

After a delay that has proven far, far longer than intended or expected, we are pleased to announce that centralised releases are beginning at last.

The releases page now contains the majority of this year’s submissions, ready for you to enjoy. There are a few more titles that we have not yet finalised, so if you submitted work that does not appear in the list, please continue to be patient – we hope to get the remaining work out in the near future.

For those who are wondering how it can have taken three months to test and package games that only took a month to translate, I shall be writing an analysis of what went wrong (and what went right!) over at my personal site.

The last day of the allotted translation time has begun.

This seems an appropriate time to note that the final deadline is not going to be enforced in a draconian fashion. Since I’m unexpectedly busy, it will take me a while to get everything tidied up and ready for release. When the release happens, I shall include details of how long each project took to complete (so those who made the deadline will get the credit they deserve), but I shall not relegate everything that arrived a day late to the extended phase, which is intended more for projects that arrive weeks late.

In other words, if you’ve nearly finished your project, you can probably afford to finish it properly, since I’m probably not going to be ready for it anyway. Quality is key, so relax and don’t spoil your hard work by rushing it.

If you don’t know if you can quite meet the deadline, please contact me sooner rather than later so we can discuss the issues you’re facing.

The time is 2006-07-19 00:00 (UTC). al|together 2006 has begun!

If you’re involved: good luck! And don’t forget that help is available for any problems you may have, via email, the forum, or IRC.

If you’re not involved but wish you were: it’s not too late! You can join in at any time. See the ‘about’ page for details.

And if you’re an onlooker: sorry, there won’t be much to see for a month, but we look forward to presenting you with the fruits of our labour in August! You’re also very welcome to join us in the forum or on IRC if you want to observe and encourage anyone making use of those facilities.

質問のある日本人は、これを読んでください。

It’s been pointed out to us that many people had not previously realised that anyone outside Japan might be interested in Japanese free games. So we’ve written a brief introductory page to explain what all this is about, and cover a few common issues. Participants may wish to point authors to it when requesting permission.

Also, there’s now an al|together IRC channel for anyone who needs real-time help. Join us on #al|together on irc.zirc.net.

There is now a dedicated al|together 2006 discussion board here. Drop by to discuss potential projects, look for teammates, or work out technical issues before the festival starts. This is a public forum with optional registration.