Beaker

If anyone is interested, I can do some work on prototyping an application for this, what I would need is somebody to generate some training data. First, to deal with the "shadow problem:" If someone can generate screenshot pairs of game screens with lighting turned on, and lighting turned off, then we can use that to train a model to de-shadow an image, producing a texture layer and a shadow layer. This should be done programatically so the screenshots match up exactly - so you would record a demo of walking around a map, and then on playback get the engine to screencap the original screen once and then again with lighting disabled. This can also be done to the spectral highlights as well, but it's best to start off basic first. I'm not familiar with photogrammetry algorithms, be we can give that a shot. Off the top of my head, we can create another model to add depth information to a screenshot (and perhaps even better if it's from a video, but for now it's better to focus on just the screenshot case first), with the dataset again being generated the same way as in the above, just with a depth-based shader being used instead. Stitching together the depth-based images into 3d space should be easier. Otherwise, there are tonnes of other algorithms to look into as well (eg: https://github.com/natowi/3D-Reconstruction-with-Deep-Learning-Methods ). So if anyone wants to take the dataset task on, or if anyone has old gaming hard to devote to this, post here I guess. For anyone interested in the deep learning side of things, trying to implement some of these algorithms could be a good way to get into AI stuff.

I agree with everything you mentioned Schneider. I read your comments about the translation on the forums from 2016, but the fact that the cutscene texts were in image format made me think of going the OCR route. Only after that did I realize that the intro didn't have subtitles for the voice over either. The points where ZTranslate broke down were from me not sourcing the screen caps of them beforehand. I tried my best, but I straight up missed talking to the Mindoor guy the second time. As well, the second point where the translation broke was because of that relationship variable that changes as you play. I never saw that dialog, so I couldn't translate it. Even at that though, I was able to get Maomi to love me, leave me, or just be like "meh, I'll stick with you I guess," all by just changing the dialog choices at the end. Incidentally, anyone who thinks "semi-insane infinite looping conversations" are bad, try mapping one out to make sure you got all the possibilities. Though there was one thing he didn't quite get to in the video, which I hope he'll cover in the follow-up episode. I guess he ran out of time and couldn't add it in. It was pretty good, so I'm looking forward to it. Also, Schneider, if you're interested in translating other adventure games, maybe I could help out. As Ross mentioned, there a lot of them out there that were never translated.

I really did not expect to ever see a Pie in the Sky game ever again. Seeing that circulatory system hud element in the bottom right made me think "I've seen this before, somewhere, but it was a long and drawn out experience, and fairly unpleasant. Kind of like a medieval execution, but not as deadly." Then I saw the doubled-barreled shotgun firing one barrel at a time and the reload animation, and said "Oh, it's Pie in the Sky." That single neuron keeping my memory of that alive for that last 25 years was on life support after all those years of boxing, drinking, and mobile games. At the time it was interesting for the creative types - you could make an FPS without programming, and unlike with a doom mod, you could sell your creation as a standalone copy. But I think "selling" implies that someone would have to buy it, so that might have been misleading advertising. Anyway, I remember buying it in the mid-90's and making some stuff with it. I'm pretty sure all of that is gone now, and that's probably for the best.