New Zine For Translated Games

#1

Hey all,

I’m setting up a Patreon for zine that collects games, hacks, poems, LARPs, etc. that were previously unavailable in English. Smaller stuff is preferred since I’ll be aiming for a 32 page, B&W, digest sized zine.

I’m looking for an army of translators active in game scenes that can pitch me games they’d like to see translated so I can pay them to do that. I don’t mind helping with editing and localizing so you’d by no means have to be a professional translator.

I’d pay translators to translate games they’re psyched about and then give the original authors a royalty cut from copies sold.

If you or anyone you know is interested in being a translator who can approach game authors to get their works translated for me I’d love to hear from you! On here, email is samjokopublishing@gmail.com, twitter handle is kylejsimons.

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#2

I can heartily recommend the work of Sangjun Park (@heofonkoppe on Twitter) who is a translator by day and games designer by night

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#3

I reached out to him already and he does seem interested so here’s hoping I can put him to work!

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#4

Work is good. Work is nice. I wish I’m not overstepping lines when I say this is an honestly great opportunity for multilingual RPG folks - practically speaking, too! If you have other languages than English and you know people who want their games to be played by more people, I would definitely recommend you to talk to Kyle about this.

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#5

Kyle,

Are we talking about translating only free/open/CC games, or would you consider licensing games?

I am really interested in contributing, but only good Polish games I can think of were released for sale and would probably require some sort of licensing from the publishers.

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#6

I would definitely be wanting to make a contract with the game author for right to publish and to detail a royalty agreement.

So, yeah, I’d be willing to talk to a publisher for sure. I’d also be willing to pay to translate a free and open source thing (as long as the author allows for it and are ok with that happening). My main stipulation is that the game text cannot yet exist in English.

If you could tap into the indie community/Twitterverse and find individuals making game poems, microgames, game supplements, experimental stuff, too, that would be super cool as well.

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#7

I just launched the Patreon for this! Check it out if you’re interested: https://www.patreon.com/samjoko

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#8

Kyle I’m so excited about this! I have a copy of Joy’s game, and the pitch is so tantalizing, but mine is in Korean. This is such a good and useful idea and I applaud you for doing it.

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#9

Thanks! I’m really excited to see all this cool stuff come in! I’m hoping as more time goes on we’ll be able to get way more languages represented and that we’ll get to see all kinds of little indie gems designers in other countries have sitting on their desks and hard drives.

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#10

I love this idea. Heck, if I run across a cool game in Russian, I’ll dust off my translation skills and give it a try…Till then, I’m here for this!

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#11

Definitely needs more Russian!

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#12

I would check out games that get made for Fastaval. Most of them are in Danish and there are a lot of great games there. You can find most of them at https://alexandria.dk/.

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#13

Oh, just thinking of games I’d love to see more widely available, Mike Pohjola’s Tähti
image

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#14

How big is this one, Jason? I’m looking for stuff that’s 8,000 words max. If it’s small enough I’ll hit him up!

#15

This looks pretty perfect! Any ones in particular that you like?

#16

Tähti is the size and thickness of a comic book and lavishly illustrated, so I think it would work.

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#17

Awesome, I’ll get in touch with him!

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#18

The first issue of Babel is out and it is amazing! Non-English game designers, presenting their work in translation.

My friend Joy Min’s game Fallen Lobelia is a really surprising mashup of Gumshoe and an escape room!

In Katatamuri’s game Preserved Blossoms of Love, you play a character with three stats: Trowel, Watering Can, and Shears!

And Tina Trillitzsch’s game Dear Distant Stars is a melancholy two-player space tear-jerker! If you like The Skeletons, or 183 Days, or being sad and lonely, this is for you!

Please support this and similar projects; roleplaying is such a monoculture and there are so many interesting people working in languages other than English right now.

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#19

I’m part of a really good Solo RPG community in Brazil, so i can help you with games in Portuguese, if you have interest. We produce many cool things! But I’m no profissional, but I would love to help

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