Thank you for a lot of comments.
We read them all.
Well today, let’s talk about Playism, the platform of PC version.
We know many people think “Why isn’t it Steam?”
But, it’s difficult for us to tie up with Steam.
Because it is a trouble for us to communicate with Steam in English.
We don’t want to delay the release because of it.
Considering the situation of Japanese indie game industry, we chose Playism.
In Japan, download contents is not here to stay.
On the other hand, it is here to stay in overseas.
We have heard the success story of indie game developer in overseas, however the number of sales in Japan is very limited.
We’d rather say it is the absolute condition for Japanese indie game developers to release their games in overseas.
But Japanese are weak in English.
It is hard to translate all texts in game and communicate with foreign companies.
Besides, it is very hard to contract with them in English.
Playism does translate indie games into Japanese, and there is a lot of English native speakers in the company.
Anyway, we just want to create the games.
For the sake of concentrating on creating better games, we want to leave someone to deal with translation, contract and so on.
If Japanese indie game developers leave their works to Playism, Playism releases them overseas. This aspect is great.
That means we are able to concentrate on creating games.
And more, Playism’s principles is “Wanna enliven Japanese indie games.”
Their principles are same as ours.
If things go well, Playism may negotiate with Steam or other platforms, and may possibly get a offer of porting to major platforms.
We think the PC version will be released on other platforms someday.
However, we will release our games on Playism first.
Please enjoy not only our game but also other Japanese indie games.
We can’t let go someone says “Japanese games suck.”
Japanese game industry may decline, but as a former game power, great game creator’s children are still alive.
We want to come to say “If you want exciting Japanese indie games, you must access Playism.”
We work hard to release next game for that reason.
By the way, we uploaded three more promotional videos that were made for Japanese WiiWare version, and translate them into English.
Festival!
Latest Movie
Product Information
Special Contents
Links
You have no idea how excited I am to finally play La-Mulana. I am truly sorry it has taken so long for you guys to release the game over here, and I have waited patiently for the release date because I know you guys would deliver. And you did! Thank you for this wonderful game!
THANK YOU for releasing this wonderful game!! I hope you can release it on Steam and Good Old Games (GoG) soon as well to expand the market for the game. Good luck!
Thank you NIGORO for your trust in us!
No, we did’t translate the videos. The game will be in proper English.
We’d like to mention that most western gamers don’t know us, because http://www.playism-games.com will start this week. Until now our service was to localize western games for the Japanese market.
We thank all our supporters and NIGORO! Please enjoy La-Mulana and other games as well!
Thanks. Surely, we are trying to release at Steam, GoG, and so on besides Playism.
But It is hard without good connections
Anyway,we do our best.
Has your team considered distribution through http://www.GoG.com? They are a game site that has recently branched out into carrying indie games. They are very popular and if their communication with developers is as good as it is with customers, I think it would be a great fit for LA-MULANA.
I know for a fact that Playism did not translate the videos above! Just FYI 🙂 I’m looking forward to the english release!
@LaMulanaStaff
For Steam, you might want to also consider Carpe Fulgur, who localized “Recettear – An Item Shop’s Tale”, “Chantelise – A Tale of Two Sisters” and “Fortune Summoners” (though this one had a lot of typos). Sales were comparable to selling refreshments on the Sun.
I was waiting 3 years for this game… I think the game is awesome. I want it.
I’ll don’t buy the game via PLAYISM. If you tell us this game go out overseas,
i don’t understand why you put the game on Japanese web site.
If you really want, a global success, put the game via STEAM.
Oh man I’m PUMPED to finally play La-Mulana 😀 I’ve been waiting many years for this to come out on WiiWare but I’m happy to play it on PC anyway. Day 1 buy for sure!
It was probably some ten years ago I waited for a game release with such anticipation.
Much love for your work!
アドバイスをありがとう。
ゲーム本体の翻訳はプロがやってるから大丈夫です。
ゲーム以外は自分たちで翻訳しているのでネイティブの人から見ると変な所も多いと思います。
ですが、良い翻訳ができるよう努力しているので見守ってください。
“Youngs don’t know aged, show our history”の部分は是非、最適な訳を教えてください！
よろしくお願いしますね。
Thank you!
その翻訳はクソ！
そんな翻訳がゲームに入れたなら、僕は買わないぞ！僕の日本語は完璧じゃないけど、そんな英語よりもいいよ！
I’m sorry if I come off a little strong, but yeah…I’m a native English speaker, I do know a fair bit of Japanese, and I gotta say that if these translations are representative of what’s in the finished version, I’m going to keep my $14.99, even though I’ve been waiting years for this. Sorry. “Youngs don’t know aged, show our history” is just plain gibberish.
Why don’t you call in the people who handled the fan translation? I’m sure they’d let you use their work if they asked.
I hope these are your own attempts to translate and not Playism’s cuz they’re sorta….
Well..they’re bad. I hate to say it, some phrases make no sense.
No prob guys, We will all give Playism a shot !
I love indies, and I think i’ll buy some Japanese indies on Playism if I find my taste of game 😉 !
While I certainly understand the desire to get the game out ASAP, and do not mind seeing an alternative to Steam as the means of release if it means we get to play La Mulana sooner, I do hope you all consider Steam as a potential release platform all the same. A least a few smaller Japanese companies have had their titles released on Steam with good sales, such as the RPGs of indie developer EasyGameStation, as well as two of the popular Ys titles from Falcom.
If the concern is due to a language barrier, consider reaching out to the community. I’m sure you could find someone willing to act as a go-between/translator to help in dealing with the language barrier issues.
I honestly think La Mulana would benefit heavily from seeing a release on Steam down the road, even if it’s not the first distribution platform used. Plenty of games see digital release on multiple platforms here in the states, so the idea of La Mulana being distributed by both Playism and Steam is hardly an impossible one.
Sadly, I don’t really speak any Japanese, so I would hardly be the person to ask in terms of helping with getting a release on Steam. However, I do have a few friends who do, and furthermore, might I be so bold as to recommend contacting XSEED about localization on Steam? XSEED has been responsible for bringing out a lot of Falcom’s titles in the states, including the PC versions of Ys Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, both of which were released on Steam exclusively.
All that said though, we’re all looking forward to La Mulana, and I understand and support whatever decisions can help get it to us sooner! But again, please consider additional distribution platforms down the road after release, it might help increase the game’s popularity!
While I do like seeing La-Mulana coming to market, that it would only be available on Playsim makes me uneasy. Part of that is because I never heard of Playsim before, but also because distributors like Steam are the best way to make people know about a game. I really recommend finding someone to speak on Nigoro’s behalf with Steam and other distributors, because sticking to only Playsim is likely to not end well. Here is a short list of distributors to consider:
Steam
Gamestop Impulse
Good Old Games (GOG). They also include extras like soundtracks and such.
Gamersgate
Desura
You should mention in the post that Playism is launching their western site at http://www.playism-games.com/ on July 13th. For a minute there I was worried it would be a Japan-only release.
Anyway, Playism sounds great, I definitely want to see more Japanese indie games and La-Mulana will be a big draw for the site.
Thanks for the game guys, I’ve been waiting a long time, really happy to see it finally arrive. Hope wiiware makes it as well! Most people playing games for longer than 10 years probably really like Japanese and indie games. I wouldn’t worry about anyone saying they suck, the people that truly matter enjoy titles like these far more than typical game “entertainment”.
Modern games (basically every AAA title made in america) appeal only to gamers that want their victory handed to them on a silver platter. It seems current gamers don’t want a challenge anymore, they want to complete the games basically clicking “next” the whole time. The easy difficulty of most non-indie games has become boring, and without any difficulty the success isn’t fulfilling, just entertaining movie sequences and dialog.
Thanks for creating this game, I hope it’s challenging enough. 🙂
Ah that makes sense now. I guess it would be easier to manage a Japanese indie game through a partially Japanese site.
I don’t mind that it’s on playism and not on steam, and I’m glad that you didn’t want to let the fans waiting because of translation issues. All I care about is that the game will be released, but I’m glad that you told us the reason why La-mulana isn’t released on Steam.
I hear Steam is prohibitively expensive. A shame, but one day, you will be able to revisit it.
JUST 6 DAYS LEFT
(No I am not DeceasedCrab. I got the catchphrase from a certain bar of soap in cave story. I have given up trying to stop stealing it)
Please, If you can spare the time go posting these videos in facebook and generally SPREAD THE WORD. I contacted DC to see if he can mention it in his LPs, but no reply.
I’m glad the game is released on a platform other than Steam, since I don’t like using their client.
Thank you.
We were very worried about DRM,but we had decided La-Mulana PC ver. is DRM free.
Your reasons are right.
And thanks a lot for sharing them with us.
I think, no one can say the indie japanese games sucks.
The release of the original La Mulana, and for it’s remake (or Cave Story and Cave Story +, only to bringing one examples), by quality, prove doubtless that the japanese developers are very greats!
By the way, La Mulana remake will be DRM free?
Playism English website is here.
http://www.playism-games.com/
Thank you.
You screwed my day. I don’t see any ENGLISH option in the Playism website to buy your great game… Anyway I understand your point and I cheer you up to keep on with the good work.
The irony is that the guy who made that comment about Japanese games “sucking” made a game that is very similar to this, La Mulana. And the original version of this game came in 2005. So if he feels that way about Japanese games, why did he copy one?
I sure hope those videos do not reflect the quality of translation of the actual game.