Matthew B. Alberts
Lifelong language learner with 15+ years of experience in Japanese. Translator, interpreter, former educator, self-published author, musician, voice actor, and now game developer.(日本語は一番下の地球をクリックしてください！）
Translation/Interpreting
This is my bread and butter. I work mainly in video games, but also work on manga, anime, TV shows, and movies. I've also done interpreting work at industry events like BitSummit and Tokyo Game Show. Biggest accomplishments include:
Working on the Dragon Ball Super Card Game for two years (Series 6-Series 13), including working closely with the card design team to occasionally help fix card designs or provide suggestions for features/enhancements.
Being part of the team of 20+ people who translated Phantasy Star Online 2 (and also being part of the 5-6 person group of lead translators who decided on important terminology).
Translating and voice acting in a Japanese superhero game called Ultraman Fusion Fight.
Working on the Doraemon: Story of Seasons games (iterations in what used to be the Harvest Moon series, a personal favorite of mine).
Working on an as-of-now-unannounced game by Square-Enix.
Interpreting for IGA and SWERY several times at industry events.
Work in Education
I spent three years working in Shiga Prefecture as an English-language educator, working alongside Japanese coworkers to teach English at the biggest elementary school in the prefecture: Nagahama Elementary School. During my third year, I assisted at Yuta Elementary School as well. During my tenure, I taught over 2,500 students, and taught Grades 1-6 as well as Special Education classes.
Self-Published Author
This is something new I decided to do because of my passion for language, and wanting to pass that onto others. I created a workbook series based on learning the fundamentals of Japanese through coloring. The first book is titled Learn Basic Japanese Through Coloring: Hiragana.
Sold over 60 copies in less than 4 months.
Reached #1 Best New Seller in Amazon's Teen & Young Adult Language Arts Books
Got as high as #34 best selling book in the same category.
Future books planned, with at least one more for Hiragana and two for Katakana.
Game Development
In February 2024, I decided (inspired by Thor of Pirate Software) that I would finally learn to program through game development. I've been using the Godot Engine to do so, and am close to releasing the demo of my first game, a Vampire Survivors clone called Crimes Against Slimes. Once complete, the demo will be released for PC and Android for free on itch.io with a minimum suggested donation of $1. The goal will be to reach $100 USD raised with the demo so that I can publish the game on Steam and add more to it. I initially used a single 2 1/2 hour tutorial to get started, and have added many features to the game since.
It is a Vampire Survivors-like, with automatically firing weapons, infinitely spawning mobs, boss fights, and upgrades.
Added features include sound effects, an animated health-bar, damage numbers that appear above mobs when damaged, a pause menu, a score system, a level up system, a status menu, upgrades, critical hits, a temporary buff, a global timer (and a best time/high score system), mob wave changes, a boss fight, a feature-packed options menu (Graphics, Sound, customizable Controls, and Language Options), achievements, a fully-featured main menu (Start, Character Select, Achievements, Options, Credits), and fully-functioning controller/keyboard support (you can play the game entirely without use of the mouse).
Japanese translation provided by myself.
Every single person who has helped, or whose tutorial/assets I've used is in the credits.
The demo version will contain two character classes, with one locked at the beginning.
Voice Acting
This has been a passion of mine since I was a child. I've always found myself mimicking the voices of my favorite characters. Characters I've provided official English voices for include:
Ultraman Geed
Jugglus Juggler
Alien Nackle
Music
I've been a musician since I was a young child. Mainly focusing on vocals (for which I won numerous awards during school), but I also play guitar (23 years), drums (6 years), and trombone (4 years). I can also play piano if forced and provided with sheet music and plenty of practice time.
日本語版は下の地球をクリックしてね！