Period

Introduction

Mitsuki is a bright young man who can't apply himself to school, and an event in his past keeps him from getting close to anyone. Then, just before summer, a series of events gets him involved in the lives of eight girls at school...

Period is a school-based, true-love ero ADV from Littlewitch, the creators of Episode of the Clovers, Quartett!, and Romanesque.

Walkthrough

Main Article: Period:Walkthrough

How to pick up chicks. May contain spoilers.

Translation Notes

Main Article: Period:Translation Notes

A few notes on foreign words and the like. Mostly food. May contain fried chicken - I mean spoilers.

Final Release Notes

Well, here you go. Hope no one minds that it's a little early :) The result of a good portion of my free time over the past two and a half years. 370k words, which is roughly a 1000-page book. Was is worth it? To me, yes - the sense of accomplishment is huge. I've started multiple attempts at translating a visual novel over the years, and based on past experience, I never expected to finish one. This one just grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

Although I have a very strong preference for single translator/editor (preferably the same person) translation projects, I don't know if there's any such thing as a one-man project. Huge thanks go miruki, forceonatr and Dan. for quality checking and stylistic suggestions over the course of the project (and anyone else who gave suggestions), Moogy for letting me host what was essentially a non-community project on TLWiki, and everyone who encouraged me along the way.

So what's next? First I plan on translating the extra scenario that was released with the Fan Club Edition of Period, and release that (along with fixing any problems that may have popped up with the full translation). After that - yes, I do intend on jumping into another translation project, probably after a little break to work on some of my VN backlog. Although it was the longest, most difficult single project I've ever worked on, and I'd have to be crazy to want to do it again, thankfully I AM crazy. When I start, I'll likely announce the project on Hongfire and Gemot.

A few notes about the game itself, in passing:

• Once again, there are three releases of the full translation, of which you need only one to play:
  • The 6.0 to 7.0 update patch - You should use this one if you've been following along with the partial patches and already have 6.0 installed. Just install like all the previous partial patches. A note on the partials - although I did an editing pass over the whole game and fixed probably hundreds of little things (and a couple of larger gaffs), I didn't fix anything major enough that you should feel obligated to re-read what was already in the partials. Unless you want to because you love the game that much, of course.
  • The full installer - You should use this one if you're installing the game for the first time, or you want to re-install, and you want ero content. Just pop the game's install disk into any drive (キャンセル the Japanese installer if it starts automatically) and run the English installer you downloaded. It takes the place of the Japanese installer, and will install and patch the game for you.
  • The full installer for Summer Sky (the non-ero version) - You should use this one if you're installing the game for the first time and you DON'T want ero content. It works exactly the same as the full installer above - just pop the disk in and run it. While I provided this version as a service to people who don't like ero content in VNs, I do have to recommend you try the full version. Some of the cuts in this version are a little abrupt (because I didn't change any content, only removed the ero scenes), and who knows? Maybe you'll like it, and it'll be the first step on the road to corruption degradation fully enjoying ero visual novels. This version has the sex scenes removed, but still retains references to sex, as well as language, casual nudity and fan service, and in some cases, passionate kissing.

• What should you expect from the game? If you've never played a Littlewitch game before - Lots of emotion and drama, but with humor in there too; flat, slender girls; top-notch (in my opinion) art, music, story, writing, and characters; not much sex, but the scenes are (again in my opinion) longer and better written than average. If you have played a Littlewitch game before, chances are it was Quartett (if you can read Japanese, then you should go read Period in Japanese - it's better than my translation). Don't expect Quartett. Only the first three Littlewitch games used the true Floating-Frame style used in Quartett; after that they switched to a more standard ADV format. I'm not saying this to try to warn people off of playing Period - even without the unique interface, it still has the fantastic art, music, characters and writing; and it has a good deal more content than Quartett. I just think people shouldn't be surprised when it doesn't look exactly like Quartett, thinking that's the only thing that Littlewitch does.

• What about route order? The game enforces that you can't go immediately for Asahi or Koto (see the beginning of the walkthrough if you want exact details), but nothing beyond that. I personally suggest that you do Rin before Yukina. Also, some parts of Yukina's route will make little sense without context from Tsuzumi's route - I'm not saying you should do one before the other; just something to be aware of.

• About suggested game settings - I think the music is a little loud compared to the voices, so I usually turn the music down to 80%. Also, the FFD system that Period runs on has some nice features. If you like to play fullscreen, it has a Virtual Fullscreen setting that should get around the problems some people have playing 1.33 aspect ratio VNs in fullscreen on widescreen monitors. If you prefer to play in windowed mode, you can resize the window to any size, which looks fantastic on larger monitors:

1. Go to Config->Detailed Configuration (Windows menus at the top, not in-game), and click on the System Cfg tab
2. Un-check 'Fix window size'
3. Either put in a size manually, or click 'Apply' to exit and drag the window to resize it yourself
4. When it's set to the size you want, go back to the System Cfg tab and check 'Fix window size' again

I think the engine does a very good job of scaling, and I personally like it better when it's scaled up because it makes everything just a little softer.

You can also go to the 'Ext Cfg' tab of the Config->Detailed Configuration menu, and:

• Check 'Remove mouse cursor when mouse is inoperative' if you want to hide the mouse cursor after a few seconds of not moving
• Check 'Remove inoperative controls from the adventure window' if you want to hide the side buttons (skip, auto, q-save/q-load and system) after a few seconds of not moving the mouse
• Check 'Display simplified controls' if you want to remove the text from the side buttons (I find that cleaner and less distracting)

There are a lot of other options in the Ext Cfg, Controls and System Cfg tabs, so play around. The BasicCfg and Voice Detail tabs aren't translated, but all of those options are available in the in-game config screens anyway.

I guess that's about it for now. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I have!

News

• 2012/09/09 - I've released the translation for the Mini Story Disc, as well as a small update (7.1) for the translation of the main game. It mostly fixes the diary/phone call line breaks/indentation, a few minor typos, and a few things for the Mini Story Disc. I highly recommend you update to 7.1 if you want to install the Mini Story Disc. To install one of the updates, and/or the Mini Story Disc installer, just run the installer and select the directory you installed Period into (the default is the default directory for the full installer, so if you didn't change it, you're good to go). If you haven't installed 7.0 with one of the full installers, you'll have to do that first.

Okay, NOW I'm 100% done with Period ^_^

• 2012/09/04 - I finally got around to translating the Mini Story Disc. It's a cute little story; not long or dramatic in the slightest, but worth playing, I think. Now I'm working on the various patches - a version 7.1 to fix a few issues with the final release, and also to better support the Mini Story Disc; and the Mini Story Disc installer itself. Once again you'll need an actual copy of the Mini Story Disc to install (it came with the Fan Club edition of Period; not sure if it was available anywhere else). Just a reminder - this is not the fan disk, Sweet Drops, which would take me considerably longer to translate.
• 2012/08/14 - It seems some people have problems and questions about the installation. First of all, it's my fault for not mentioning it (I always have my computer's region set to Japanese), but in order to install and play the game your computer has to be set to use Japanese for non-Unicode programs (or you might be able to use AppLocale, but I've never used it and know nothing about it). If it's not set and you try to install, the installer won't find the disk, because the path to the files on the disk includes Japanese characters.

Second, if you install using one of the two full installers (Period_English_Installer_7.0 or Period_Summer_Sky_Installer_7.0), that installs all the updates you need, so you don't need to install any other patches. If you install using the update patch (Period_English_Patch_Update_6.0_to_7.0), which you should only do if you've been following the partial patches, then you already have all the other necessary updates installed, so you don't need to install any other patches.

• 2012/08/13 - Final release is out, two days early! Check it out in the download section, and the release notes above. Also, I just noticed this page has 100,000 hits; that's pretty good timing.
• 2012/08/06 - Editing is complete; working on the final patches.
• 2012/07/21 - Editing is progressing well. A couple of minor announcements:
  • I've set a tentative release date of August 15th, for both the regular and non-ero versions. That should give me more than enough time, even with padding the schedule, but as with anything, something could always pop up that would prevent me from keeping that schedule...
  • I've decided that, to help ease some of the inevitable confusion around there being two releases, I'd name the non-ero version something different - Period ~Summer Sky~. (It's not too unusual for a game to get a subtitle like this when it gets ported to a console and has the ero scenes removed - for example, Quartett and Romanesque. Hopefully, people won't think it's so strange to do that for a translation release.) How did I arrive at that name?
    • Long version - I originally wanted something to convey the idea that it had the ero scenes removed; but everything I tried to come up with sounded like a bad romance novel, so I ditched that. Anyway, the sky is a common theme among several of the heroines, and of course much of the game takes place in the events leading up to, and including, the summer. Plus it sounds neat (to me).
    • Short version - I pulled it out of my ass.
• 2012/06/21 - A quick clarification. When I make the final release, there will be three different patches, of which you need only one:

1. An English installer for the full game - this will install the game from scratch, instead of running the Japanese installer from the game disk (the game disk must still be inserted). This is the one you would normally use when installing for the first time.
2. An English installer for the full game with ero scenes removed; otherwise the same as 1 above. This is the one you would use if you want to play the game without ero scenes. There's no option to turn them on in this patch, or turn them off in the patch above; the two are completely separate.
3. An incremental patch, exactly the same as the incremental patches I've been releasing (i.e. you must already have the game and the previous incremental patch installed). You should only grab this one if you've been following the incremental patches, and don't want to re-install the game.

Also, after that release, I'll investigate translating and adding the extra scenario available in the Fanclub edition of the game. This will be released afterward, so I don't delay the real release for those who don't have/want the extra scenario.

• 2012/06/20 - Translation complete. Wall of text when I actually make the final release, probably, but for now, translation complete. Wow. Anyway, miles to go before I sleep - there's still QC of the last two routes; I want to make a quick (I promise) editing pass over the whole game and rebuild my long neglected translation notes (editing % added to the progress indicator below); finalize the installer; and make the ero-free version. If/when I can come up with a semi-reliable release date I'll update VNDB or something.
• 2012/06/07 - Asahi's route is complete! As I said before I won't be making another release until the final one. On to the home stretch!
• 2012/02/18 - Yukina's route is complete! And a few other announcements:
  • There are now only two routes left to complete, Asahi and Koto. Since Koto's route is much shorter than the others and kind of an extra, I'll be releasing the last two routes together when they're both done. That means the next patch release (barring bug/grammatical fixes) will be the final one!
  • After I release the last patch (or concurrent with it, if things turn out well), I'll also be releasing a new patch or an option to the existing patch to remove ero scenes. I'd like everyone to be able to enjoy Period, and I know some people are uncomfortable with ero games. I'd hesitate to call it an "all-ages" version since it will still contain salty language and casual nudity... so maybe 15+ or 17+? Age ratings are kind of silly anyway...
  • I'm also considering other conveniences like a combined English game/patch installer, and a translated demo (if I had somewhere to put it).
• 2011/12/17 - Tsuzumi's route is complete!
• 2011/10/20 - Kohane's route is complete!
• 2011/10/01 - Aoi's route is complete!
• 2011/07/17 - Two more big milestones - the last summer (Kohane, Aoi and Koto) is complete, and the whole game is now 50% complete! It's all downhill from here (in a good way) - I'll be able to make releases twice as quickly because I don't have to translate any more summer events, just the girls' routes. Now, let's go convert a lesbian!
• 2011/06/12 - I've made the second release of the translation!
• 2011/05/24 - I finished the intelligent patch program, and the translation patch went from 300MB to 10MB. I'll start on the next route while I wait for proofing results. I can almost taste the 50% mark...
• 2011/05/08 - Rin's route is complete!
• 2011/03/13 - I've reached two milestones - Rin's and Yukina's summer is complete, and the entire translation is now over 1/3 complete! Now on to Rin's route proper...
• 2010/12/27 - I've made the first release of the translation!
• 2010/11/14 - I've sent the patch to a couple of people to check; no word yet on progress. I created the final installer (barring any last-minute fixes), and since it's over 300MB, I'll probably be torrenting it. In the meantime I've started on Rin's route. I also added a detailed progress indicator with percent complete for each portion of the game.
• 2010/10/30 - All image/UI editing, and all translation for Miyu's route (including the beginning of the game common to all characters, the middle common to Miyu, Tsuzumi and Asahi, and Miyu's ending) is complete. Subsequent releases will be done one character at a time.

Error Reports

Main Article: Period:Error Reports

Found anything wrong? Let us know! (Warning: contains spoilers.)

Studio Oshaberi Nyanko Staff

• Translation: nekoyasha
• Reversing: nekoyasha
• Tools: nekoyasha
• Editing: nekoyasha
• Special Thanks: miruki and forceonatr for initial QC, Dan. for ongoing QC, Moogy &co. for hosting

Progress

Route name	Size (kB)	Translation progress	Editing progress
Common	331	100%	100%
Summer 1 (Asahi, Miyu, Tsuzumi)	103	100%	100%
Summer 2 (Kohane, Aoi, Koto)	183	100%	100%
Summer 3 (Rin, Yukina)	219	100%	100%
Asahi	277	100%	100%
Kohane	231	100%	100%
Rin	290	100%	100%
Tsuzumi	296	100%	100%
Aoi	226	100%	100%
Yukina	281	100%	100%
Miyu	303	100%	100%
Koto	88	100%	100%
Total	2829	100%	100%
Mini Story Disc	22	100%	100%

Patch History and Downloads

To install a full patch, you must have an original copy of Period installed (with no previous translation patched), patched with the official 1.1 patch available from Littlewitch (see the links below). To install an update patch, you must have the previous translation patch already installed. To install using a full installer, just put in the game disk and run the downloaded installer.

• 1.0 - Initial patch; Miyu's route translated. No longer supported.
• 2.0 - New efficient patch mechanism; added Rin's route. No longer supported.
• 2.1 - Fixed a crash introduced into Miyu's route. No longer supported.
• 3.0 - Added Aoi's route. No longer supported.
  • Full patch
  • Update patch - 2.1 to 3.0
• 4.0 - Added Kohane's route. No longer supported.
  • Full patch
  • Update patch - 3.0 to 4.0
• 5.0 - Added Tsuzumi's route. No longer supported.
  • Full patch
  • Update patch - 4.0 to 5.0
• 6.0 - Added Yukina's route. No longer supported.
  • Full patch
  • Update patch - 5.0 to 6.0
• 7.0 - Added Asahi's and Koto's routes; edited all text. Full release.
  • Full installer
  • Full installer (non-ero)
  • Update patch - 6.0 to 7.0
• 7.1 - Fixed diary line breaks/indentation, minor typos, a few improvements for the Mini Story Disc
  • Update patch - 7.0 to 7.1
  • Update patch - 7.0 to 7.1 (non-ero)
• Mini Story Disc
  • Mini Story Disc installer

Links

• Game Developer Homepage
• Game Page
• Official 1.1 Patch Download Page
• GetChu
• VNDB
• Promo Movie

EULA

By downloading and/or installing this translation patch, you agree to the following (don't worry, this is all common sense stuff):

• Period is the copyright of Littlewitch and Monochroma; I make no claim to any part of that. I'm merely providing a service for people not fluent in Japanese to play what I consider to be a great game. This translation patch, and any other files that come with it, are not to be associated, released, packaged, bundled, or hot-glued to any downloaded, shared, or otherwise illegal/immoral copy of the original game. The patch, of a necessity, contains certain portions of the games files, but does not contain enough to play without a full, original copy of the game.
• The translated text itself may not be used in any other English translation of the game, whether free (as in freedom or beer) or paid, without express written consent of Studio Oshaberi Nyanko. The use of the translated text as a springboard for non-English translations is expressly permitted; notification and credit are nice, but not mandatory.
• The translation patch may not be uploaded to any online file share service (including, but not limited to, Filesonic, Easy Share, Hotfile, Fileserve, Bitshare, Duckload, or any similar service) without express written consent of Studio Oshaberi Nyanko.
• The game Period, as well as the translation patch, contain adult content and are restricted to those 18 years of age or older. By installing the translation patch, you assert that you are 18 years of age or older, or the legal age to view adult content in your country of residence.