Alright Lunar fans, I’ve been promising a surprise for you all for a while now, so I think it’s time I came clean! I, and the rest of PK Bloggin’! are excited to say that Jessica Chavez of XSEED Games was kind enough to make time for us to do an interview, and even provide some great exclusive Lunar: Silver Star Harmony screenshots just for us! (I’ve never conducted an interview before, how exciting!) Even if you aren’t a Lunar fan, please enjoy it, since there’s a lot of great information here about the localizing process, and being part of the game industry in general.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us who you are, and what you do at XSEED Games?

My name is Jessica Chavez and I am a localization monkey at XSEED Games.  I am the company’s sole editor at the moment and I oversee the translated text in some of our games. Mostly I smooth out rough translations, fix spelling errors and adjust for formatting, but for some titles I also go to the recording studio and, as you’ve seen lately, I manage some online community stuff like the blog and facebook.

I am female, hopelessly fond of the phrase “clowns taste funny” and addicted to coffee.

How long have you been working in the video game industry, and how did you get your start?

I’ve been at XSEED for nearly two years come September, and I owe my start here to a bittersweet combination of ill-timing and pure luck.

I actually started off first in comic books (I worked for TokyoPop previously) and through unhappy circumstance (TokyoPop’s subsequent downsizing in 2008) I made the happy transition to video games. A prior three-year stint in Japan also contributed to my move to niche Japanese game publishing.

Were you a “gamer” prior to working in the business? If so, has having a career related to gaming made them less enjoyable?

I was a gamer prior to working in the industry and I’m afraid I have to say “yes” to the, er, being less-inclined to play part of that question. Most of my work is done staring at the computer screen until my eyes bleed as I wrestle text into shape, but I do have to play our games quite a bit here as well. As a result, when I go home the last thing I want to do is play anything… But, I am still a big fan of RPGs and my love of those has made this career choice very desirable despite the drain on my own personal enjoyment of games.

I still haven’t touched much of Dragon Age Origins since I got it…

What’s the localization process like? For RPGs, especially, there’s a lot of text, and usually a lot of cultural references. What kind of work goes into making the game accessible to a Western audience?

Brace yourself, this might be a bit long…

The localization process is actually extremely complicated and depends on the coordinated efforts of a lot of people. Bare minimum you need,

1) A trusty translator, 2) a cutthroat editor, 3) a go-between the publisher and the Japanese dev team (my boss, Kenji, does this), 4) Marketing/PR gurus, and 5) suffering interns. we don’t actually have one of these right now but they’re such a staple of the gaming industry that I thought I’d give a nod to their stoic plight.

There are other steps prior to the translation of the game, but the translation stage is the approximate start for my role in this so I’ll begin there.

First the text is sent via file format (.xls, .csv, etc) from Japan and the translator will begin laying the groundwork for system text. We’re talking character names, locations, menu text, etc. I’m usually in communication with the translator during this period and together we settle on naming conventions and the general feel of the game. After that, the files start getting tossed back and forth between myself and the translator as he/she finishes it and I take a scalpel to it.

For my part, I go through chapters and chapters of roughly translated text at a time and sift out spelling mistakes, grammar issues, even graphic problems. I do rewrites where cultural clarification is required or make outright changes that are needed for the NA audience and also insert quotes from “The Tick” where I see fit. Additionally, I spend a lot of time getting the script to fit into the nice, clean little speech bubbles you see in-game. That’s probably the most tedious aspect of the job.

After a few rounds of that, the edited files are sent to Japan and implemented into the game. A few days to weeks later (depending on the Japanese dev team) I’ll have an English build of the game to look at. With this ‘beta’ version in hand I’ll start playing through and doing more minor rewrites, check that names/places/spells match up and clean up any mistakes that I missed previously. This is the beginning of the QA (Quality Assurance) period of game localization. After we think we’ve caught most of the problems, the final files are given to Japan and those are what end up in-game.

At the end of the process, essentially the game is still what it is in Japan, just now in a language that makes sense to you, and presented in a way that’s also going to make sense to you. We do take liberties here and there but we also have a deep respect for the Japanese team and their intended vision of the game. It’s a balancing act for sure.

The XSEED, Lunar, Ragnarok, etc. Facebook pages are one of the only times I’ve really seen a company strive to actively converse with, and touch base with their fans. It’s really great to see. Is that mostly your doing, or is it a team effort?

Well, we had always hoped to be big enough to expand out and reach more fans, but prior to the Facebook push we’ve only had a blog or two for a few games. It has always been a matter of having enough people/time to be able to manage a community, and even though we still don’t have that luxury, we really want to develop a relationship with our fan base.

For my part it seemed natural for me to take control of the Lunar Facebook, because I’m the one who worked on the game. I like talking with fans and it’s nice to have a chance to explain what’s in the game and what we’ve done to make it special for you. I want people to know that we care and that we’re working hard. I want you guys to know that you’re supporting something worthwhile and that we appreciate it. As a gamer myself I’ve always kind of felt like I was nothing but a dollar sign to companies, and personally, I believe that you enjoy your purchase more if you know what went into it, who’s behind it, and that they’re listening.

Honestly though, the Lunar Facebook has been really fun. It’s hard for me to budget time for it but I’m actually quite obsessed. It delights me to see it grow so exponentially over the last few weeks and in return I try to post as often as I can to make it worth your while.

I’ve talked about the Lunar: Silver Star Harmony release a lot on the site. Do you have any funny anecdotes from the translation process, (or anything interesting really,) that you could share with our readers?

Well, there was definitely a lot of shock and amusement when we played the SSSC version to prepare for it (that book in Vane still has me gaping) (yes, you know the one I’m talking about) and it gave me no end of opportunities to slip in my own stuff…so I’ll leave you with this. See if you can pinpoint where all these things are in-game. A treasure hunt, if you will.

ALL-NEW Lunar: SSH inserts

1)      Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference
2)      Cameo of the infamous “graveyard duck” from Castlevania
3)      The unfortunate adventures of Mr. Tiddles
4)      5th Element nod
5)      The best children’s book title ever
6)      Monty Python stuff
7)      Buffalo Bill, is that you? (X 2)
8)      Jaws reference
9)      Nivea commercial gag (props if you know what this is or noticed it)
10)     Breaking of the 4th wall a la Jessica

For readers unfamiliar with the game, (though if they’ve been reading this site at all I don’t know how they could be!) what would you say makes Lunar stand apart from other RPGs?

Lunar stands apart from other RPGs on the strength of its story and the depth of its humor. It’s one of the few RPGs today that doesn’t take itself too seriously and yet packs such an emotional punch for not just one character, but all of them. It’s no hack and slash, fetch-quest, generic RPG. Yes, the story is familiar but it’s done so well that it’s classic, not clichéd. It doesn’t try to coax you out of your money on pretty visuals or gimmicky undress. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony is bacon, folks. Pure, unadulterated salty goodness.

We’ve been commanded to inform people that there are bath scenes in the game. Who are you most excited to see there?

I’m excited for Jessica and Nash because I have two killer outtakes for those scenes! Coming soon!

A lot of people on the internet are concerned that this new version of Lunar for PSP is not going to hold up to the older versions on Sega CD and Playstation. Is there anything you want to say to ease their concerns?

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony will be both familiar to you and yet wholly new. It will comfort you with its recognizable humor and charm and surprise you with the fresh coat of paint the visuals, history, music and characters were given. It’s worth buying because it adds to the richness of the series. It doesn’t try to subvert the old Lunar that you love, it just adds another facet that you’ve yet to see. And more of Lunar is never a bad thing.

Lastly… how about that Lunar: Eternal Blue? ;P

I’d love to see it too, and I know Japan is watching the American response very closely. I have my fingers crossed the same as you.

I cannot thank Jessica enough for taking the time to answer all of these for us (and so thoroughly/wittily, to boot!) and for being among the first interviewees for PK Bloggin’! ..and for the exclusive screenshots, of course! I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to talk with her. (…in the metaphorical-internet-typing sort of way.) It is really interesting to read about the whole process (I had no idea about quite a few things that she mentioned!) and her writing is always fun to read! (I really like parentheses!)

I’ve come across a few of the new references in Lunar that Jessica’s mentioned here already, and will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for the others. Everyone should keep an eye on their Facebook page for those outtakes that she is going to post, too… I bet they’ll be hilarious! (There’s some great ones uploaded already, if you’ve got time to check them out.)

As you should all know by now, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony was released March 2nd for the PSP, and March 4th for the PSN for those unfortunate enough to have been suckered into a PSP Go. Whether you’re a Lunar fan, or an RPG fan with a PSP and a penchant for classic themes with added personality and charm, I think you’ll really love it!

(For those of you wondering what else XSEED Games has done that is awesome besides Lunar, or wondering if I even know or have played anything else that they’ve done, some other great games they’ve localized include Half-Minute Hero for the PSP, Ragnarok DS and Retro Game Challenge for the Nintendo DS, and Little King’s Story and the upcoming Fragile Dreams (which looks stunning) for the Nintendo Wii… just to name a few. See, I can totally talk about games that aren‘t Lunar!)

I’ve known Gavin Verhey for a few years now from various message boards. We’ve talked a lot, even played games online together a couple times. I’ve always thought he was a pretty cool guy, but I learned a couple of days ago that he’s even more awesome than I had thought. Gavin, you see, is a professional gamer.

Gavin plays in professional tournaments for the game Magic: The Gathering. Magic, for those of you who have lived under a rock for the past 17 years, is a collectible card game (CCG) where players construct decks of cards with various abilities, and compete to deplete the other’s life points. It sounds much simpler than it actually is, with an infinite amount of ways to customize your deck and formulate strategies. The game is popular worldwide, with a thriving pro circuit and tournaments held all over the world.

My personal experience with Magic consists of buying a premade deck and getting ripped off when I was 11, so I can’t even begin to do justice to the depth and complexity of the game with my feeble words. Gavin, however, has written several articles for different publications, and his passion and love for the game is apparent whenever it comes up in conversation. To call his knowledge “encyclopedic” would be an injustice; that implies that it was learned, studied, artificial. Magic is a part of who Gavin is, and talking to him and reading his articles even has me, someone who has no investment in the game whatsoever, hanging on his every word.

Gavin, who currently resides in Seattle and is a creative writing major at University of Washington, began playing video games when he was four years old, which led to tabletop and CCGs as well. He currently co-hosts podcasts frequently at MTGcast.com, and pens a weekly column for Starcitygames.com. His next tournament is in Oakland next weekend, and San Diego the following weekend.

Gavin has been a huge supporter for PK Bloggin’!, so it was a great pleasure for me to have the chance to interview him for this article. Questions from me are bolded, and his responses will be in normal text.

How did you get started with Magic: The Gathering?

Like many players, I started through the phenomenon that is Pokémon. Like most cool people (yourself included,) I was hooked on the Game Boy games from the start. Having played a lot of board games and card games with friends and family, not to mention wanting to devour everything that is Pokémon, I naturally wanted to play the Pokémon card game. The very first day the card game was released in the USA, I picked it up. I was never very good, but I just had fun playing and being ripped off in trades at that age.

A few years later, in January 2001 at the ripe age of ten, I was shown Magic by an employee in a Wizards store when I had went there for a Pokémon tournament. I came home, started to play with my brother, and have been hooked ever since.

How did you become a professional player?

By spending every minute of my day thinking about the game.

Okay, so maybe that’s only half true. I think it mainly took perseverance and patience. When you’re starting out and new, you’re not very good and you really have no idea what’s going on in the world of Magic. Slowly, you begin to learn Magic theory, meet people, become part of a community, and devour information.

It can be a long process, though, and many people become discouraged and give up somewhere along the line. But by continually playing with players better than I was and learning from them coupled by dedicating the time to study the finer points of strategy. It’s kind of like learning how to ride, say, a velociraptor. It’s exciting, difficult, and you really need someone else to show you how to do it. But man, once you learn how, it sure is rewarding.

Has video gaming impacted your skills as a CCG player, and vice versa?

Definitely! Aside from launching my CCG career through Pokémon, the skills from both have found their way into the other. I played (and still play) a lot of RPG’s, so when I was starting out I was able to transfer the resource management skills to how I played. Many of the same concepts you learn in video games I still commonly use when thinking about Magic today.

For example, you know how when you’re going through a dungeon you want to conserve all of your potions for when you really need them, and save your Pokéballs just in case you run into a rare Pokémon? That’s the kind of resource management Magic is all about. You know how, over time, you quickly begin to figure out which materia are best to equip, or which armor is going to be best for the upcoming boss battle? That’s the kind of card evaluation and metagame foresight that you use in Magic all the time. Growing up and being constantly reminded of those kind of concepts really makes them second nature.

It definitely works the other way too. When I play through video games now, I use Magic concepts like tempo and “Who’s the Beatdown” to aid my play. Right now I’m playing through Chrono Trigger again and I am constantly fascinated how much the strategies I used when I was playing through the game at eight years old has evolved now that I’m almost twenty. Sure, you can attribute some of that to age. But many choices in the game, especially involving resource management and long-term strategy, I’m positive have been improved by playing Magic so intensely.

What’s the best thing about playing competitively?

There are a lot of great things about playing competitively. The competitive atmosphere. Watching the hours of time spent working building and tweaking decks pay off. Travelling all over the country and the world. But by far, it has to be the people. Every time I go to a tournament, it’s like a reunion of all of my closest friends. I’ve met some of the most intelligent, clever, hilarious, and enjoyable people to be around in my life through Magic. The game brings us together, but the friends and community keep us there. No matter how bad I do in an event, I always have fun at the dinners we go out to, and the crazy adventures we go on. (Like the time we spent almost 12 hours trying to find a slice of cake in downtown Austin… it’s harder than you think!)

What was your best tournament experience?

Whenever you are on a winning streak or do well, it always feels like it’s your “best.” But the thing is, those feelings of being the best is ephemeral. Winning a tournament is great, but eventually it fades into the backdrop of a hundred other tournaments like it. With that in mind, I’d say my best experience was Pro Tour Berlin in 2008.

The tournament didn’t go as well as I wanted it to. In fact, I lost the last game of day one to not advance to the second day. But the experience was incredible. I had never been to Europe before, and my entire family came along for this trip. It was my first real experience spending time in a country where English wasn’t the primary language. My family and I spent an extra week there sightseeing all around Germany, and I’ll never forget the places we went and the adventures we had.

Has becoming a professional Magic player taken some of the (pardon the pun) “magic” out of the game, or is it still more fun than work?

There are definitely days, especially in tournament crunch time, when you’re playtesting game after game and it begins to feel more like a level grind in World of Warcraft then a fun game. What I’ve learned over time is that when it stops being fun you need to take a break. If you’re not having fun, not only does it feel like work, but you begin to burn out quickly. It’s important to pace yourself so the game is always fresh and fun, and so that you’re playing optimally instead of sloppily due to boredom and frustration.

Regardless of how fun Magic can be in playtesting, tournaments are always a lot of fun. When you drop the chains of preparation and let yourself play your best game against some of the best players in the world, it’s always exciting.

Remember when you would play Monster Rancher and spend tons of time training your monster and perfecting its skills? That could be kind of a repetitive grind, right? Well, that’s playtesting. Then remember how exciting it was to send your monster into battles? Yeah. That’s what playing in a tournament is like.

Do you have any kind of training regimen, or what goes into getting ready for a big tournament?

It really depends on what kind of tournament it is, and how much work I have already done for that format in the past. Magic has different tournament formats, and you have to put in a lot more preparation if, say, you’re in a Constructed tournament and have to bring your own deck as opposed to being handed six boosters in a Limited tournament and being asked to create a deck on the spot.

In general, if I feel underprepared I’ll put in extra time to understand the format. If I already have a lot of experience, I’ll spend time tweaking and experimenting with the pieces I have faltered at in the past. In general, I try and have several playtesting sessions of between five and nine hours in the weeks leading up to the tournament, as well as spending a lot of time practicing on the Magic Online computer program. But really, it differs every time, and sometimes the ideal turns into what will suffice as school beats down on me while I’m trying to prepare. And sometimes, well, I think Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes said it best: “There’s no inspiration like last minute panic.”

Are there any big rivalries in the pro circuit, or does everyone get along pretty well?

Heh. Good question. For the most part, people get along. But there are definitely a lot of cliques that form within the community which exclude others, and often players from the same country bond together. While there are definitely a lot of people across countries who are very close, there’s nothing like displaying a bit of home country pride when it’s someone from the USA versus someone from Japan in the finals of the event.

The only time people are really ostracized is when it comes to cheating or being a general scumbag. Information travels in Magic communities very fast. If you’ve leaked information from one group to another, or were suspended from Magic at one point for cheating, or are a very poor sportsman, people are going to find out and might not want to associate with you.

What’s a typical day for you during tournament schedules?

If it’s a tournament day, usually I need to be to the event site at around 9 or 10 in the morning. I wake up about two hours prior, eat a good breakfast, shower, then show up to the event a little early so I can socialize and do something to wake my mind up, which is usually to play some practice games. Then the event starts. Each round of a Magic tournament consists of best two out of three games against a single opponent with the same record as you and lasts 50 minutes. After those 50 minutes are up, each outstanding game is given five more turns to complete before being called a draw, then shortly afterward the next round is put up.

At a major tournament, each round works out to being about 60 to 75 minutes by the time everything is said and done. While small, local tournaments held in card shops might only last four rounds, pro level events are often somewhere between seven and ten rounds! You’re there for most of the day, usually somewhere between nine and twelve hours. Then, if you’re at a major event like a Grand Prix – an event anybody can play in with a total prize pool of $30,000, happening every weekend or two – or a Pro Tour – an event you have to qualify to play in with a total prize pool of $230,795, happening four times a year – you get to wake up and do the same thing the next day. It’s definitely draining, but it’s a lot of fun.

How long do you see yourself doing this, and do you think it could lead into a career in the gaming field in some aspect?

As long as I can! Magic is so deeply entrenched in all aspects of my life that I can’t see myself quitting anytime soon. Many of my best friends, the way I think about life, and the choices I have made are all crafted by Magic. I wrote an article about this that was well received and explains, in detail, how much Magic has effected my life. I wouldn’t be where I was today without Magic. My goal is to work for Wizards of the Coast, the company which produces Magic. We’ll see if that happens, and I’m going to try everything I can to try and end up with a job making the game I love. I can’t imagine a better job anywhere.

What tips can you give people who are looking to go pro?

If you want to excel at anything, whether it’s Magic, school, or your job, you need to dedicate yourself to it. I feel like dedicating myself to Magic and making the decision to do everything I could to improve and put myself into positions where I could qualify to play on the Pro Tour is something a lot of people just don’t do.

Additionally, when you lose, it’s important to know why you failed. Too many players gloss over their losses, but if you lost you almost always made a mistake somewhere. Look over the game closely enough and you will find something you could have changed, however slight, that would have put you in a better position to win. If you can’t beat Brock, you’re not going to get any closer to winning by continually challenging him with Charmander again and again, It’s like repeatedly hitting your head against a wall. Figure out why you lost, adapt your strategy, understand how the matchup works, and then come back in with a grass Pokémon and take him down.

I’d like to very sincerely thank Gavin for taking the time to do this interview. If you have any questions you’d like to ask, please leave a comment! I assure you I’m not going to let him get away with only contributing to one article, so look forward to more from Gavin in the future!