So I´m sure the big burning question on most peoples´ minds is, "What took you so long?" The short version is that while most of Shin Megami Tensei: if... (hereafter SMTif) is technically identical to SMT2, one crucial part of the game is different: font storage. While SMT2 stores its font right out in the open, SMTif´s is compressed. This by itself would not normally be a problem, but instead of unpacking the entire thing to RAM like some games do, SMTif unpacks individual letters - making my usual workaround for these sorts of things largely ineffective. I´ve had project files (including a complete script dump) for if sitting on my hard drive since 2008, but it wasn´t until May of last year that we got the font stuff fully sorted out, thanks to veteran romhacker Neil_ who you may know from the Partial Translations version of Dragon Quest 5, among other things! So not only has it been a long and arduous process getting it even this far, it´s been an interesting job keeping quiet about it :) I initially wanted to announce work on this much sooner, but didn´t have anything to show for it until recently.
Ian Kelley returns to do the script, so stylistically it´ll be similar to SMT 1 and 2. We´re largely adopting official naming conventions for spells, items, demon races, etc when available. There are a few notable deviations (we´re considering Fey or Fae for the yosei race due to its largely celtic membership, as opposed to Fairy) but by and large we´re conforming. I also elected to go with a fully proportional font for this one; compare the screenshots below to SMT2 to see the difference. There are a few other technical improvements I´d like to look into, such as expanded item and equipment names in subscreens, that´s going to come after I´m done with the rest of it.
So don´t expect this immediately, or possibly even soon. It´s a process, and it´s not nearly done yet. But I´m hoping that despite SMTif´s distant ETA, this announcement will make a lot of people happy.
