==========================================================
==========================Dead Zone=======================
===========================V 1.00=========================
Genre: Text Adventure

Source language: Japanese

Platform: FDS

Patch language: English

Author: Pennywise

E-mail: antoniusblocko@protonmail.com
		
http://yojimbo.eludevisibility.org/
 
======================================================
About Dead Zone
======================================================
Project History:

I had discussed working on Dead Zone as a project all the
way back to when I finished JESUS with Niahak. I was looking
for similar games as a potential followup, but it never
panned out. Fast forward to when Metal Slader Glory was
nearing the finish line, I had asked the translator for that
one if he'd be interested, but it never panned out as well.

So, I decided to do the project on my own and seek translation help
elsewhere. I posted a help wanted ad and someone volunteered
to help me. I got a partially completed script and I eventually
had someone else complete the preliminary translation. I then
eventually started my playthrough and refined the translation with
Ryusui and then I handed off the script to Eien ni Hen for
a final check edit.

It should be mentioned that I completely botched this project
and I made things way more complicated and harder than they
had to be. As a result, the project kinda stalled out and never
got anywhere. What was expected to be a quick side project
ended up taking a few years to finish. My choice of emulator
in FCEUX also exasperated matters and really slowed the
project due to how its FDS emulation was setup. It wasn't until
I switched to Mesen that work sped up.

Now for the technicals, FDS games have a limited disk space
and PRG-RAM space to work with. Some games completely fill up
all the available space making a good English translation very
difficult, but I was very fortunate that the game had plenty of
unused space for me to take advantage of. All I had to do is expand
one file. The game also used an inefficient dictionary compression
scheme that I hacked to be a little more flexible and efficient.
I also expanded commands from 7 to 8 characters, which helped
for most of them. This is all in addition to the hard coded
crap I had to hack.

As for the game itself, you could probably say it was one of the
first text adventures to be released on home consoles. I believe
Portopia preceded it. There's no in-game music aside from the
title and ending music. The story's on the cliche side, but it
isn't terrible and it can be funny at times. There's also the
most random minigame you never would have expected and some
puzzles that might drive you nuts. But the work has been done
to put everything in English for you, so do try to enjoy it.

The game also has no in-game introduction and puts you in an
area with no context, but Eien ni hen has graciously translated
all the backstory and background stuff.

"Congratulations, Mary."
"Congratulations, Kirk."

Kirk and Mary were celebrating. Mary had just been appointed Chief Engineer of a new colony called "Lionex."

Our story takes place far in the future, in Galactic Year 0385. Earth had become unable to sustain its vast populace, and so humans began building colonies in space. They constructed 523 colonies over the following 385 years. At present, most humans live in space and can only dream of visiting Earth.

With the colonization of their own solar system nearly complete, humankind expanded outward to the Sirius Solar System. Experimental warp travel--once used solely in emergencies--became commonplace, allowing them to venture to the outskirts of the galaxy.

Kirk, the hero of our story, recently finished his stint as Chief Engineer of Sirius Colony 3. He and his fiance Mary had eagerly awaited their wedding day, which would now have to be postponed because of Mary's new job. "I can't believe we have to wait even longer."
"I know. But I'll try to complete the job as soon as possible."
"I guess that'll have to do. By the way, I made you a robot as a gift. He'll keep you company while you're away."
"Oh, how cute! What's he called?"
"I haven't named him yet. Hmm. How about 'Carry'?"
"Where'd that name come from?"
"...It just popped into my head."

While Mary worked on Lionex for the next five months, Kirk spent this time designing a spaceport for Sirius 3 that would support human life and facilitate interstellar migration. One day Kirk received a message from Mary. She'd gotten Lionex up and running a month ahead of schedule. She was having a party to celebrate, and she wanted him to attend. Three days later, Kirk arrived on Lionex. It was dead silent. The construction work seemed to be finished, and there wasn't a worker in sight. "She probably just wants to surprise me. Besides, the quiet is kind of nice." Kirk thought. Suddenly, the area around him was illuminated by laser gun fire. Then all went black.

Kirk awoke in a dimly-lit underground room. Well, not a room, exactly. More like a scrap heap with broken robot parts scattered about. "What the hell happened?! How'd I get here?!" Kirk shouted. His voice echoed throughout the empty chamber; he was completely alone.


Space Colony 524 - Lionex

A colony 54,000 km away from Sirius, located roughly halfway between Sirius 3 and the Sapphire satellite. The Space Development Bureau plans to place 100,000 people on it--a small number for a colony. However, Lionex will function as a sort of testing ground to help prepare for mass migration to Sirius 3. After full-scale migration begins, it will function as a space station.

Lionex has a huge spaceport, as well as facilities for farming and agricultural research, which are vital to its food supply. It's also equipped with a new self-repair function. If hit by a meteor, for example, Lionex will immediately identify the source of the damage and fix it.

Lionex has three types of robots: workbots, which collect waste and do farmwork; secubots, which function as a security force; and repairbots, which perform maintenance around the colony. These robots receive orders from the Lionex supercomputer through radio waves. The colony's main system is powered by standard nuclear energy, but its sub system is solar-powered.

If nuclear power is lost, the supercomputer will continue to run on solar power. The colony has four nuclear power plants, two of which are located in the main system. The supercomputer is housed in a building in the center of the colony. This building also contains living quarters for inhabitants like Mary, along with an agricultural research lab, a robot factory, and a power chamber.

======================================================
Patching Instructions
======================================================
Due to limitations in the IPS format and the changes I
made to the disk image, the patch is in BPS or xdelta format.
You can apply it with a frontend such as:

http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/893/
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/

Before applying the patch you need to remove the header
from the FDS image if it has one. In a hex editor it will
show up as:

46 44 53 1A 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Then apply the patch to the Japanese image:

Dead Zone(Japan).fds


We would be highly grateful, if you find some time to 
contact us with proposals or corrections. Information
on found bugs or corrections would be highly 
appreciated.

P.S.

Support the game industry by buying used games!

Even if the money doesn't go to the developers
directly, as the games become rare and harder
to find, the price goes up, and people become
more inclined to buy new releases "while they can!"

======================================================

Credits go to:

Pennywise - hacking, text editing

OneVurfedGwrx - initial translation

TheMajinZenki - completed initial translation

Ryusui - additional translation

harmony7 - misc translation help

Eien ni Hen - final editing and translation checking, manual story translation

FlashPV - title screen design and misc graphics

cccmar - testing

Xanathis - testing

Trickless - testing

All those who contributed into this process.

======================================================


Compiled by Pennywise. November 2019