Kickstarter program goals summary added
We've received feedback from a LOT of helpful fans evangelizing this product on our behalf asking that we clarify the goals of the Kickstarter so it's clear that funding the Kickstarter will benefit both Digital Download Vita and PSP fans as well as those that want the physical Deluxe Pack. So we're adding the following bullet-pointed list to the beginning main Kickstarter page:
Meeting the Kickstarter funding will allow:
* A Physical Deluxe Pack to be made
* English Voice Acting in the Digital and Physical releases
* English Opening Song and Video in both releases
* Extended game fixes and features (extra save slots, better controls, etc)
* Translation and release of Class of Heroes II webcomic series
Exceeding the funding limit by 15% will allow:
* Additional language localizations
* Clear license to retain Japanese audio option
As fans of the game as well as of the work we did as Working Designs, your feedback has been great. We're listening and implementing those we can in the project to help make it the success we all want. The next update should be the video of gameplay in action as well as showing our work at Working Designs that many of you have suggested will help.
Thanks, and keep spreading the word so this can be the beginning of something great for English JRPGs!
882
Backers
$96,951
pledged of $500,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on April 27, 2012.
Funding period
Mar 28, 2012 -
Apr 27, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 1 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: monkeypawgames.com
Pledge $5 or more
36 backers
You'll receive an earnest thank you email, suitable for printing, forwarding, or screen-grabbing, acknowledging your support of our project and contribution to the funding threshold that will allow us to increase the depth and quality of the localization of both the physical and direct download releases. As a supporter, your name will be compiled into the game code, and though it won't be viewable in the credits, you'll be a part of every game shipped and downloaded in the US and Europe. THIS IS A SUPPORT TIER AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A GAME OR GAME DOWNLOAD.
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $10 or more
21 backers
Instead of an email, you'll get an earnest CoH2-themed physical thank you letter suitable for framing acknowledging your support of and contribution to the funding threshold that will allow us to increase the depth and quality of the localization of both the physical and direct download releases. As a supporter, your name will be compiled into the game code, and though it won't be viewable in the credits, you'll be a part of every game shipped and downloaded in the US and Europe. THIS IS A SUPPORT TIER AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A GAME OR GAME DOWNLOAD.
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $20 or more
36 backers
Same as reward level 2, but now includes a complete downloadable version of the arranged soundtrack and Limited Edition Game Poster as well. We understand your support for Deluxe Packs, but preference for buying the download version when we release, and that's okay because your contribution at this level will allow the localization of both physical and digital releases to be expanded to make them even more enjoyable. THIS IS A SUPPORT TIER AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A GAME OR GAME DOWNLOAD.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $59 or more
453 backers Limited (3547 of 4000 left)
First reward level including the soon-to-be-legendary physical Deluxe Pack of the PSP® system Class of Heroes II game. Includes same as reward level 3, plus the physical Deluxe Pack of the game, and a limited-edition bronze commemorative lapel pin.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $100 or more
1 backer All gone!
Same as reward level 4, but you're upgraded from the Limited Edition poster to the Deluxe, and your lapel pin is now Silver (well, okay, silver-colored!) instead of Bronze. In addition, you get access to the forum where we will discuss and show pics of in-process pack-in development (including concepts and prototype samples that may be changed or abandoned - it usually happens, you just never SEE the process - now you have the option!).
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $100 or more
222 backers Limited (3778 of 4000 left)
Same rewards as base Deluxe Pack level, plus you get a digital download code to go with the physical UMD in the Deluxe Pack. You're also upgraded from the Limited Edition poster to the Deluxe, and your lapel pin is now Silver (well, okay, silver-colored!) instead of Bronze. In addition, you get access to the forum where we will discuss and show pics of in-process pack-in development (including concepts and prototype samples that may be changed or abandoned - it usually happens, you just never SEE the process - now you have the option!).
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $200 or more
31 backers Limited (1969 of 2000 left)
Same as reward level 5, plus a Limited Edition exclusive character plush from our ultra-top secret Class of Heroes II assortment made just for this project. Yours will be carefully chosen by throwing a thoughtfully-selected dart at our shipping department's custom, CoH II plush chart. Our shipping department will be blessed with a carnival midway-like experience all day for weeks when it's time to ship, and it's all thanks to your generous spirit.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $250 or more
32 backers Limited (968 of 1000 left)
Same as reward level 6 but Deluxe poster has staff signatures on the back, the Deluxe Pack has US Staff signatures included on a premium insert, and you get a gold-colored Commemorative pin instead of silver.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $500 or more
13 backers Limited (187 of 200 left)
Same as reward level 7, but you are now actually in the game supporter credits that appear when you finish the game. You'll be between positions 86-285 (depending on your pledge order), possibly higher depending on how many higher levels sell out.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $1,000 or more
9 backers Limited (41 of 50 left)
Same as reward level 8, but your credits position range is 36-85 (depending on your pledge order), possibly higher, and you get a Limited Edition "Class of Heroes 2" Pocket Watch to help you be on time for the job that's paying for your gaming largesse.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $5,000 or more
1 backer Limited (24 of 25 left)
Same as Reward Level 9, but your credits position range is 11-35 (depending on your pledge order), possibly higher, and your Limited Edition Pocket Watch is now engraved and numbered. Oh, and we're throwing in a sweet Class of Heroes 2 Limited Edition custom music box, suitable for encouraging restful sleep or impressing like-minded gaming dates and mates.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $10,000 or more
1 backer Limited (1 of 2 left)
This level nets an expense-paid three day / two night stay in LA, one day at E3 2012, a special dinner, plus you get the Reward level 9 stuff with your supporter credit in the game between positions 9-10 (depending on your pledge order), too! We'll fly you to E3 from the major continental US airport nearest your home, put you up in a hotel, then show you around the annual ground zero of gaming - the Electronic Entertainment Expo. After the show we'll treat you to Monkeypaw / Gaijinworks double-team at a special dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in LA. E3 delivery is in June, the other rewards are Sept 2012. NOTE: YOU MUST BE 18 OR OLDER AND PHYSICALLY ABLE TO TRAVEL UNASSISTED TO CLAIM THIS REWARD.
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012
Comments
Creator Silmina on April 3, 2012
@DestructoDisk: Same here in a lot of ways XD Most of my games are portable these days for real life reasons, and I grew up with JRPGs too. There are a lot of people from the NES era whose first game was Super Mario Bros., but mine was Dragon Warrior XD And characters are more important to me in a game than story.. I just can't get into something if I don't care care about any of the characters.
Creator DestructoDisk on April 3, 2012
Yeah i can't get enough Jrpgs. Im an Illustrator and work from home, but have to travel alot as well for meeting's and Con's so portable gaming in general just really sealed the deal for me. Jrpgs have really been with me my whole life They're great to play all in one go as well as in bit's and on the go. The stories they have really drive you through the games as well as really get you attached to those characters you've grown with. I traveled dungeons, flown through space defeated monsters and giants alike, rescued princesses and saved worlds and galaxy's.
All With 8bit/16bit/32bit friends in party's of 2 or more.
Menu -> Save -> File -> Heart +1
Creator Silmina on April 3, 2012
@DestructoDisk: Yeah, Zero no Kiseki does look awesome ^^ There are soooo many games I want to play in English on the PSP (and DS, to a lesser extent), it makes me want to cry.
Creator DestructoDisk on April 3, 2012
The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki looks soooo good! but it also makes me feel a little bit down that i'll probly have to wait a good 2/3 years before i get to play it. I really need to learn japanese and just import games :(
Creator DestructoDisk on April 3, 2012
Im in joshuaH's camp on this one. Leaving the dubs vs subs debate alone, finacially it's far more efficiant to just translate the Text and release that to have to re-dub the whole thing. Over the years there have been ton's of games that have done this with most people not even realising.
Take the street fighter series for example, it's pretty much all japanese audio up until SF4 the only exception being SNK vs capcom which had the option to have either japanese audio or American.
If more japanese companies took this approach of just translating text for games and then releasing, we might have already had games like Valkyria chronicles 3, the entire legend of heroes games ( although xseed have done an amazing job with LH:Tits ), Ys series, Disgaea, Robot Wars ( any of them! ) to name a few. we could be getting them within months, instead of waiting 3-5 years before we actually get to play them.
Creator Silmina on April 3, 2012
There are indeed thousands of JRPG fans interested in the Japanese audio, which is why a lot of niche publishers try to include it ^-^ But you're trying to use that as evidence that no one cares about English dubs, which is a very different thing. If no one cared about English dubs, why would small companies like NISA spend so much money and effort trying to produce good English voicework? Personally, I like having both a high-quality dub and the original Japanese audio so I can compare them ^^ I'm not going to tell you I've personally spoken to thousands of people who definitely agree with me, but what I can safely tell you is that the facts I mentioned suggest I'm not alone.
Creator JoshuaH on April 3, 2012
"Unless you're saying you have a mouse in your pocket named "Many"?"
No, I have encounters with multiple thousands of jRPG fans who feel this way.
Creator JoshuaH on April 3, 2012
"you can only speak for yourself."
No, I have reason to believe this is what the vast majority of jRPG fans want. As I'm continually coming across thousands upon thousands of people who feel this was.
And just in an extremely recent example in the many years of this thing happening. The majority of comments on the scea trailer for Tales of Vesperia were by users wishing they could have original Japanese voices.
Creator Silmina on April 3, 2012
@JoshuaH: I respect your opinion that NISA is awesome, but keep in mind that you can only speak for yourself. Unless you're saying you have a mouse in your pocket named "Many"? ^-^ Maybe you don't talk to very many people who like good English dubs, but they do exist, and there are more than ten of them. If the market was as small as you suggest, publishers would hardly spend so much time and effort to dub games. Even NISA, whose fans are quite vocal about their preference for Japanese audio, takes the time and money to dub, and they have some good ones to their credit. So there are two sides to the issue ^_^
Creator Jared Trezise on April 3, 2012
15% over the goal is $575,000.
I know anybody could just calculate that, but I thought putting the stretch goal into a number format might give people something to aim for.
-
That said, I can see why getting English voice acting is a good idea for English localization, as only the more invested fans of Japanese products (or foreign in general) would prioritize an original language over their own.
-
But then again those kinds of invested fans are the kinds of people that would be putting their money down on this Kickstarter project in order to try and help fund the future of English localizations of Japanese games.
-
But then again the point that's trying to get made is that English localization in it's entirety is profitable in a Western market, and not just to those more hardcore fans, and so by making a product a lot more people in general might use might fit that better.
-
Either way, I watch my anime with subs at the moment.
-
That said, I haven't played Class of Heroes 1...
I don't really play jRPGs all that much actually. I don't even own a PSP...
But my brother does, and he plays jRPGs on the 360 a lot too, and I've played various RPGs on handhelds in the past. I just like the idea of helping fund this industry, so at the moment I'm backing $59.
-
All that said though (once again) I always wanted to play an obscure game called "Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus" on DS, but there's no English version at all. I wanted to try and make an unofficial fan-patch at one point, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't even know if the game is any good, just that it has anime characters like Shana in it that I know... :P
So if this project in any way pushes to a future where such games might start to see more localizations, I'm in!
Creator JoshuaH on April 3, 2012
Nippon Ichi is considered by many to be the "leading Western localizers" because of their tendency to include the original Japanese audio. Above Atlus, creators of one of the most beloved jRPGs in the West, Shin Megami Tensei, now in its sub-series "Persona". Nippon Ichi generally does what Western fans want, even if it is risky. And only engage in not doing it, when absolutely necessary.
And what Western fans want, is Japanese language options. Something of a subtitled anime equivalent in video games. Because, as a whole, hardcore fans of jRPGs seem to be major fans of Japanese voice actors themselves.
I appreciate the ability for English voices, for those out there who want it. All ten of them...
But I don't think this is going to be much of a selling point for this Kickstarter. I suppose it's a good thing you're trying to clarify things that will happen if this Kickstarter succeeds, though. The thing I'm looking forward to on that list, is the Class of Heroes webcomics.
Creator RocK_M on April 3, 2012
@Andreas: The rights to retain the Jp Audio basically means that they can play the original Jp audio over the cut scenes and event scenes. I assume the text in the in game boxes would be in english =P.
The best part of hitting the target is that we can swap that audio to english dub for those who prefer english because they would have actual funding to get a proper voice cast. Otherwise I assume if we can't get the funding for at least the Jp Audio we will get the unfortunately standard "silent" heroes.
Creator Aletheides on April 3, 2012
The point is to get japanese publishers/devs to consider localization. And that wont be possible without the games having a chance to sell overseas.
The dub vs pure debate has raged for years with each camp as passionate as the other. Dont let it overshadow the true purpose of a funding drive like this. If we are sucessfull we have room to satiate both sides in the future is my hope.
Creator Aletheides on April 3, 2012
If theres no subtitles for japanese voices this game will only sell to hardcore fans unfortunately. The ideal is to have both english and japanese voices and let the player choose.
Creator Kimiko on April 3, 2012
Oh yes, that's a good idea, switching the Japanese and English audio goals. This being a Japanese RPG with lots of Japanese cultural details already, Japanese audio makes more sense/feels more natural than English audio. Subtitles are enough, if they're even necessary (the first game only had voices for the opening movie and the battle shouts).
Creator Dean Tran on April 3, 2012
I agree with Eric's point as well. I'm personally quite against dubs, though I do understand the ideas that go towards audio dubbing of games. However, if feedback's what's important to you then I thought I'd put my thoughts out as well.
As Eric pointed out, mediocre (and outright bad) dubbing will only hurt a series and its affiliates, and may cause any future localisations to be halted. I always love the idea of dual-audio in games, but as we know many of the localisers just can't afford to do it, can't find enough room in the media disc to store it in or maybe don't understand there's a market out there that prefer the original Japanese voices. However, with the age of digital distribution, the problem of space now has a solution. Looking at the funding list though, it seems this time it's a problem of monetary funds than anything else.
One suggestion I want to say is that I think an English version of the opening song could be put towards the back of the list of things to do. There are plenty of games that are localised without the opening song in English, and I don't think it's something that gamers are annoyed about that much. Finding the right song to replace it or arranging the same melody in English is likely to be one of the harder things to perfect, and I don't think it's worth investing so much money and time into it.
I've bought many games, anime, etc to show my support to the makers. However, I don't like to the idea of paying for dubs I almost never enjoy. That is why there's a lot of games that have been localised in English that I don't play, as they did not retain the Japanese audios and in the case of anime, I buy the original Japanese DVDs instead (which ends up being a ton more expensive). If this project does go underway but cannot keep the Japanese voices, I'll most likely end up with a Deluxe copy of the game I'll never use, but I'm more than happy to be able to help fund your cause.
Creator Phil Irwin on April 2, 2012
I'm gonna have to agree with Eric on this one. Even being a dub fan myself, I just want the game more than anything else.
Focus on game tweaks and improvements and THEN extra goodies later.
Creator Eric Bright on April 2, 2012
As an alternative idea: what about using the Kickstarter money to license the Japanese audio and then only dub the game if it goes 15% over? I mean, I don't want to start a dub vs sub argument, but if one of the goals of the project is to show Japanese devs that English localizations are feasible, why not show that it can be done without them having to risk money dubbing the voices? I'm sure most fans would appreciate subs of games rather than sub-par dubs. Now, I'm not saying that yours would be sub-par, but there have been such games in the past, and the negative reception to the dubbing quality may make those Japanese devs and publishers less likely to localize a future game.
It also seems like just translating the dialog to subtitles in the game is significantly less risk than spending the money on a dub which may be sub-par if not enough money is put into it. A smaller company may not be able to afford a full dub, but could at least do a translation. I think it'd be great if they could see such games being accepted over here.
Creator Karsing Fung on April 2, 2012
Oh man, I really hope those post funding goals are reached. Would really enjoy Japanese audio with French/Germain text.
Creator Alan Rawkins on April 2, 2012
I think it would be great if you did a video or update specifically addressing how this game fixes the problems of the first game. You could even call out negetive points from reviews from enthusiast sites (rpgamer, rpgfan, etc.) and explain (or show) how the new game addresses them (or how you would address them with your kickstarter funding).
Creator Antonio Garcia on April 2, 2012
This will definitely help to make it clear to everyone what this Kickstarter is all about, since some people love to conpare ir to others for games on PC or iOS which does not make sense since we're talking about different models.