Kris Knigge – Localization Specialist

Lead editor, voice casting

Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Arc System Works
Platforms: PS4, Switch, PC
Release Date: June 5, 2018

Responsibilities: As a crossover fighter, Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle was a balancing act. I had to ensure both character and terminology consistency with the established Blazblue, Persona, Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY universes, while still finding new and fun ways for the characters to express themselves and interact with each other in battle and in the game’s extensive story mode.

I also took point on the casting, particularly for the never-before-dubbed Under Night In-Birth characters. It was incredibly satisfying to see Japanese players switch to the game’s English dub for the EVO finals!

New text editor

Developer: 5pb./MAGES
Publisher: Spike-Chunsoft
Release Date: February 19, 2019
Platforms: PS4, Switch, PC

Responsibilities: While Steins;Gate already has a sparkling localization, the slightly remixed story and additional animation in ELITE called for a not-insignificant amount of text editing. I worked to match the style and tone of the original localization and tweaked the old text so that it would flow more smoothly into the new.

It was also a lot of fun to embrace my inner shitposter and bring the “@channel” online message board posts screaming into English.

Lead editor

Developer: 5pb./MAGES
Publisher: Spike-Chunsoft
Release Date: February 19, 2019
Platforms: PS4, PC

Responsibilities: Included as a first-run bonus for Steins;Gate ELITE, Linear Bounded Phenogram is a full-fat visual novel made up of what are effectively short stories in the Steins;Gate universe. Knowing how closely tied the game is to the original Steins;Gate, (but not knowing how the it would be released) my co-editor and I were tasked with recreating the original game’s style guide and creating an edit that would feel like a natural companion to Steins;Gate in its original form. Because Phenogram has nine separate narrators across ten stories, we divided the routes and worked to express each character’s interiority in distinct and fitting ways.

Lead editor

Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Aksys Games
Platform: PS3, PS4, Steam
Release Date: May 26, 2017

Responsibilities: As the sole editor on Guilty Gear Xrd Rev2, I had to quickly match the style and tone of the previous two Guilty Gear Xrd titles to ensure that the new story content and characters were consistent with Guilty Gear’s established world and voice.

I also stepped into the cutthroat world of modern business to devise the English version of Answer’s “Business Ninjutsu” moveset.

Lead editor

Developer: Gust Co. Ltd.
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Platform: PS4, Steam
Release Date: September 26, 2017

Responsibilities: Blue Reflection is truly unique. One part magical girl anime, one part exploration of the societal pressures on young women, and one part snapshot of high school, Blue Reflection’s localization carried with it an assortment of creative challenges. However, by working in concert with the dev team (and doing a lot of research on Kabbalah, ballet, and blood cells), I managed to bring this uniquely heartfelt game to life in English.

First-pass editor and bible writer

Developer: LEVEL-5
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: November 6, 2015

Responsibilities: I was one of the leaders of the team at LEVEL-5 International America tasked with getting Yo-kai Watch's localization off the ground. I worked on establishing the series' bible, which involved naming the game's 220+ Yo-kai, writing style guidelines for all of them to ensure cross-media consistency, and reworking the game's myriad of stores and characters to fit LEVEL-5 Japan's vision for the game's localization.

I also handled the first pass edit of the game's main scenario before handing it off to Nintendo's Treehouse team.

NPC and side-event editor

Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Platforms: PS3, PSVita, PC
Release Date: December 22, 2015

Responsibilities: I was tasked with handling NPC dialogue (including an assortment of quests and bonding events) in this behemoth of a game. From the game's military academy, Thors, to the streets of Heimdallr, if you talked to an NPC, you've read my work.

The challenge was twofold. Because the game updates its NPC dialogue regularly (typically after major story events), I had to work to ensure consistency and believable emotional arcs for each character across the course of its 100+ hour story. However, I also needed to make sure my approach to the NPCs melded with the style our lead editor took on the game. Fortunately, through regular conversation and collaboration, we managed to make the player's transition from story dialogue to NPC dialogue a seamless one.

In addition, I edited my share of the voice script (including the battle dialogue, which was punched up quite a bit from the Japanese version of the game) and helped supervise voice recording.

Editor, VO supervisor

Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Platforms: PS3, PSVita
Release Date: September 6, 2016

Responsibilities: Much like the first Trails of Cold Steel, I was responsible for editing the majority of the NPCs (and a sizable number of bonding events) in this game. Given that most of them returned from the original game, consistency was key.

I also took a much more hands-on approach to the game's voice recording this time around. Not only was I more involved with supervising the recording sessions, I even voiced a couple of characters.

Main scenario editor, VO supervisor

Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: ACQUIRE
Platforms: PS4, PSVita
Release Date: May 16th, 2017

Responsibilities: In addition to editing the game's main scenario, a few of its side quests, and NPC chatter, I took point on the voice recording process for this game.

XSEED's biggest dub to date, the game has more than 20,000 voiced lines spread across just over 180 characters. I took point on casting these roles and helped supervise voice recording over the course of two months. It was a doozy, but I think the actors really brought out the best in their characters. I'm very proud of the dub.

Subtitle editor

Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Platforms: PS4, PSVita, PC
Release Date: March 15, 2016

Responsibilities: Because the Senran Kagura series uses the Japanese dub, callouts during battle or in menus are given subtitles. I edited Estival's making sure to follow the lead editor's style guide and base my edits off of the approach he took to the previous games.

Promotions and events

Publisher: XSEED Games
Developer: EXAMU, Nitroplus
Platforms: PS4, PS3, PC
Release Date: September 6, 2016

Responsibilities: This was an unusual project for me in that I didn't do any editing (that was handled by the developer, EXAMU). Instead, I worked with a team at XSEED to bring the game to different events across California to get the fighting game community interested. I also showcased the game on XSEED's company stream, playing against an assortment of people online shortly after launch.

Editor

Developer: Wright Flyer Studios
Publisher: Crunchyroll Games
Platforms: iOS, Android
Release Date: March 30, 2018

Responsibilities: I familiarized myself with Is it Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon and worked with Crunchyroll Games’s team to bring an experience matching the anime and light novels to life. There was a lot of lore to keep track of, but by working closely with the game’s project manager, I was able to meaningfully (and accurately) contribute to this massive mobile game.

In 2013, I was fortunate enough to intern at a company that many consider to be the best in the localization industry, 8-4.

Aside from typical intern duties (such as fetching coffee for the office), I had the chance to do some organizational work on two projects of great interest to me: Drakengard 3 and the Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter.