Battle Memories
Not too much done this time, but I want to at least talk about it/show stuff before I get too busy that I forget about it.
Jeffman kicks butt and hacked a VWF for the enemy list screen. He deserves way more credit than me for most of the hacking stuff done in the last month or two. He takes on the more complicated stuff while I sit here fiddling with text insertion tools and simple hacks. So he rocks!
Anyway, I think this might be the last font routine that needs a VWF hack. Luckily, it doesn’t involve sprite text or any ugly stuff like that.
As you can see on the picture on the left, even with the VWF, there’s no way these long enemy names are going to fit, so I did a quick test based on a suggestion from Gemini last month and tried using a modified EarthBound font to try to get a little more space, since it has slimmer letters. I quickly made an 8×8 font based on the EB font and tried it out. That’s what the picture on the right is. The text does look nicer, but there’s still no way the long names will fit on the left menu.
While I had the new test font in there, I decided to take a look at other instances where the 8×8 font is used. It actually looks pretty sweet!
Anyway, getting back to the stuff at hand, the enemy name list only prints half of the enemy names because it still counts the lengths of the enemy names in 16-bit, but the names are actually stored in 8-bit. So that left two problems: 1, Long enemy names obviously aren’t going to fit in this menu; and 2, we need to make the program read the names in full.
We’re still toying with stuff, but the best idea I could think up was to make this enemy list menu load a list of abbreviated names that we would make from scratch. We’d need to hack the game to load the new list, too. After maybe an hour, I got this working, using the enemy names I used in the menu patch. Then, rather than code some stuff, I tried another “cheating” way of getting the names to display fully. It’d still be possible (and easy enough) to go back and write the proper code at some point, but I just wanted to see if things would work.
But coolest of all, while I was messing around with the enemy name loading code, I found an easy enough way to make these abbreviated names be longer (sounds kind of ironic, huh) — before they were restricted to 12 characters (including the string terminator), but I changed it so they can be 20 characters, and everything seems to work just fine and dandy. What interests me most is that this same thing MIGHT be possible to do with item names… so if we’re really really really lucky, expanding item names might be easier than we thought. But this is MOTHER 3 and ROM hacking, so you can’t get your hopes too high. But I think there’s a decent chance it might work.
That aside, the main problem right now is trying to find how to make the game load the abbreviated names for this menu, but the full names for everything else. The way this stuff is organized is pretty straightforward though, so with a little time, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Anyway, aside from Jeffman’s cool new VWF, most everything I did is still just me testing stuff, so things may (and probably) will change soon. Like the 8×8 font, I expect that to change in one way or another.
Oh yeah, here’s a funny “outtake” screenshot while I was doing some hacking. Somehow I got the text to go vertical AND upside-down! π―
jeffman indeed does kick butt
if is dose not work out perhaps you could call hem a “Cariborg”
Cariborg sounds nice π
Good luck, Team! we’re rooting for you!
God, this stuff looks amazing. I would’ve died for Earthbound as a child, and the more I look at what you guys are doing, the more I wish I was still a care-free 3rd grade student, instead of working my ass off in college. Oh well. I’ll probably blow everything off to play the game anyway. XD
These names that the enemies have been given, are they the literal translations of the enemies? I don’t think that Earthbound used literal translated names of Mother 2. Like the post before me said, call him a Cariborg.
CANT. . .hold. . . on. . . much longer. . ..
You guys are my heroes! I like the Cariborg idea. And Elestrich sounds cooler than ostrelephant. You guys kick so much butt. If I was a chick, I’d totally have your babies.
Alternate option, though. Sorry. I just thought of this. Do the enemy names have to be on the left menu? Couldn’t you put an ID number on the left and list the name in the right? Kind of like a Pokedex. Just a thought.
You guys rock so much im gunna vote for you to be president(s)…
hmm. so, not so good hackers with a very good cause
Im so excited for this. Keep up th amazing work!
Looks great! Abbreviations are no problem, especially with the number of letters you have to work with right now. At least you’re not trying to abbreviate everything to 4-6 characters like the old days of game localizations. π
Through all of this, there’s still the nagging problem of the line break after a set number of characters, right? Out of the entire project, that seems like the most serious problem. Any progress or planning going into that currently?
I’ll dance a little jig (seriously) when all that’s left to do is go back to polishing the script, as I suspect that is the most enjoyable part for you!
Heh, funny, I was going to suggest using abbreviated names until I saw you already came up with it. >_>
I got the idea from the Tales of Phantasia translation Nintendo did… I bet Nintendo would’ve done the same thing for this game.
sweet
This is looking awesome! My only suggestion (and I know this isn’t the final product, so I really mean “suggestion”) is about the letter “t” in the new font. It’s one pixel shorter than all of the other tall letters. It looks like it just needs another pixel on the top. I really like the “p”s “y”s and “g”s though!
Man, it’s amazing to think of all the progress you guys have made. Congrats to Mato, Jeffman and the rest of the team for getting this far so soon.
Actually, I just wrote some quick assembly code to get the game to use the abbrevations only in that menu but the full names everywhere else. Probably still need to test it a little more, but that wasn’t too bad.
I also tried out the same trick for the items, but no luck, the results were the same as back in November. It’s gonna take some really heavy-duty work to get those item names expanded.
And yeah, the problem with the script is still there, that’s something harmony or exophase or gemini or byuu or someone will have to hack, it’s way too complicated. The same with the battle text, the programmers designed the battle text WAY too insanely, and we’d run out of stack space if we tried to do things the way they designed it. So that’s why me and Jeff have been tackling all these lesser problems. Hopefully one of the super hackers will come to save us soon π
You know, considering how much work you’ve had to put into even the tiniest junk in this game…
Is anyone else surprised the game even works at all in its original form? LOL
!!ΩΩΩ Ψ§ΩΨ¨Ψ±
!!Ψ¨ΨΨ¨Ω ΩΨͺΩΨ± ΩΨ§ Ω ΩΨͺΩ
Everyone knows that the tiny Genie inside each copy of M3 only speaks Japanese, so once Mato and Co. started the translation, the Genie stopped making things work, get it?
BTW Steve, thanks. I was messing with the t the other day and I guess I forgot to draw it fully. I fixed it and it looks better now π
It does look much nicer. You guys rock! By the way, where did you get the original, non-Earthbound font? It looks pretty neat!
FWIW, my vote goes with Cariborg or whatever if it saves you guys any work π
So, where are the other hackers these days? Are they still alive?
FWIW, there’s a series of “Reconstructed” animals, so I’d like to keep that naming scheme intact.
Everyone on the project has busy lives and other projects that take their time, byuu’s got his emulator and other programming projects of his own, exophase has his own emu and such, Gemini’s always got projects going on, harmony’s overworked to death, etc. etc. Other people got school, other people got work, blah blah. This is just how volunteer projects go.
Mato: Perhaps you could just use a synonym for “reconstructed” which fits with all the different animal names. “Rebuilt Caribou” looks like it should fit. I guess it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it though – it would sound like the Caribou was a robot to begin with.
Would there be any way to just make the enemy names scroll when they were highlighted/selected? I know nothing about programming, so sorry if this is a bad idea. Great job guys, this is a great thing you are doing.
I really appreciate what you guys are doing. I cant wait for the final product, more power to you.
man I am surprised so meny people ran with that Cariborg thingy
hahaha in case anyone’s wondering what that arab dude ali said, it’s : “god is great! god loves you Mato!”
I’m not familiar with programming but would it be easier to change the text windows themselves? Make them separated horizontally instead of vertically and you won’t have to worry about the length of the name. Maybe call it Cyborg Caribou or Robobou? Cervidae is the family Caribou belong to, maybe Cervid Cyborg?
It’s looking great guys! As someone who just recently beat Earthbound for the first time (why I didn’t do this earlier is beyond me), I’m now joining everyone on the wait for this translation.
Keep it up!
who cares? make up names for all I care. The caribou could be named poop-chute. I just want to understand what people are saying and play out the plotline. If I have to fight poop-chute to save the world, so be it.
It’s hard to believe there’s still so much to do when these screens look so great already! Good work, guys! =D
How about..
“Converted Caribou”? Or “Converted Cervid”, like Jack suggested..?
Love the outtake pic haha XD. Its fun seeing everything in the game explode but I’m still patient for the final patch!
“hahaha in case anyoneβs wondering what that arab dude ali said, itβs : βgod is great! god loves you Mato!β
Well that is definitely true. God is great, it would be arrogant to assume to know whether or not he loves Tomato but since he is a good man he probably dose
Giga-Caribou! π Mecha-Caribou! π
Either way, w00t, Mato and Jeff! Hopefully Gemini or another person will come and rescue you guys before the day’s over. :
Mecha doesn’t work, as there’s also another series of “Mecha” enemies.
I appreciate the suggestions and stuff, but I think we’re okay for most of the names for now π There ARE some names that are still waaaaay up in the air, but this isn’t really the time or place for that yet.
Not that I know what I’m talking about, but I’ve seen other games that use a smaller font size for items with longer names. Is it possible to shrink the text smaller, or the point size limited?
This seems to really be coming together now. Its looking more and more professionally done with each update. Good job you guys!
Wait a sec, you got the guy behind bsnes to work on your project?
Wow.
And I thought this M3 project had heaping helpings of talent in it before… π
W00t, continue with that great Mother 3 hack! Amazing work, I can’t wait when you finish it!
Hey, I’ve been following this for some months now, just decided today to post and say that it has really come a long way. π I’m excited to see it completed someday. Me and my friends are holding out for the full patch. We used to play Earthbound when we were younger. It is still one of my top favorite games ever. Beat it like, (warning exaggeration ahead) a billion times! Anyway, thanks for you and all the rest of the guys working so hard. I’ll be here watching for updates nearly everyday like usual! π
Mato: interesting stuff, many a thanks for many an update … and I hate to nitpick or whatever, but 1.thank you for considering 7ucky’s thing with the “t” height .. it shows you care π and 2.notice the curve at the bottom of the regular “t” which isn’t in the 8×8 “t”? (perhaps some other letters are different like this, too — I don’t know, I didn’t investigate, it’s not that important) .. Again, thank you and the rest of the team for all your hard work — the rest of the team might be the superhackers, but Mato especially is practically the fall guy here for every little tiny thing that each visitor finds. Mr. Mato, you have much patience; thank you for that.
everyone in the let’s-name-it-anything-other-than-Reconstructed-Caribou camp: what’s wrong with R.C. ? Having never played the game, I loved the name when I saw it some months back. It was like, wow, what an awesome simple name (I know *I* had no better names for it) — and it sounds perfectly EarthBound. (note, these are EB names other than R.C., I’m not spoiling stuff, I avoid M3 spoilers like an uncomfortable disease) “Mole Playing Rough” – “Mr. Batty” – “Slimy Li’l Pile” – “Unassuming Local Guy” – “Reconstructed Caribou” – “Extra Cranky Lady” … I mean, Mr. Itoi could’ve given us “Caribou Behaving Badly” and I’d be just as pleased (considering the R.C.’s in-game textual description). And now that the notion of enemy-series has been spoiled, we have further incentive to keep it just the way it is. …Btw, I’d guess some 99% of the population would not get a joke with Cervidae in it… (On the other hand, it is amusing to see people brainstorming randomly like that! heehee ..and ha ha jack “Cervid Cyborg” *does* have a nice(amusing) C-sounds-like-S alliteration to it..)
butt: One doesn’t have to assume or be arrogant. God has love for every human He created, whether the person is a sinner-in-the-world or a child-in-Him-and-IN-His-love; it might be arrogant for one to *assume* someone to be good and in His love, but it’s perfectly good for one to *judge* such things using the Word and logic. Matthew 5:45; Romans 5:8; John 7:24; 1 John 4:1-10. Interesting point you made, though, thanks!
~ Brandon Horton
heh, oh and thanks to ali and Moriarti for bringing the fact out to begin with!
Yo, thanx 4 your work dogg.
Ya’ll G’s be rollin’ DEEP in that bitch, hittin’ switches and flipmode all up in dem chinese words makin’ them english and shit.
respect son,
holla
I have followed this project since Mother3.org, and thank god someone has taken it and is still working on it. Great job and I cant wait till the finished project is done!! Will continue to check up on this. Thanks Oodles!
Pete
I agree with mecha-caribou that’s somthing that is easily applied to the whole “series” of reconstructed enemies. and shortens it a bit.
-ALX
For some reason this reminds me of when I was messing around with PK Hack and screwed up the item names in an EarthBound ROM. (I changed the Yoyo weapon to “Donut”, the Trick yoyo to “Super donut”, the Combat yoyo to “Giga donut”, etc.)
I seriously wish someone would drop a huge sack of money on your doorstep to get this finished sooner. Each of these updates is like the Smash Bros. Brawl website updates in that they make me feel like I am waiting in a restaurant for hours while I smell and see tasty food all around me. I sincerely hope there is a breakthrough in this project ASAP.
@ thuglife : hahahahahahaha
ParodyKnaveBob: Thanks a ton about the letter “t” thing. When I converted the EB font to 8×8, lots of things got left out, and I guess I forgot there’s the little mini-hook at the bottom of the lowercase t.
Here it is working now. Looks really nice.
Here’s a pic of the full 8×8 font, if you guys wanna look through it to see if I missed any other little things, go ahead. I think most everything should be fine now, though.
8×8 pic
holy crap Tomato, it looks freakin great! keep up the good work. IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS
and then it brings me to a simpler time where i wander around in fourside and then suddenly, Ness felt homesick. I love this game and i love you guys for bring the Mother 3 translation to us. THanks.
You guys need to get over to http://www.rpgone.net
There is a group of hackers, like yourselves, working on a Mother 1+2 translation. They are in disarray, however, because their leader, Christopher Patrick O’Neill (ChrisRPG) died of a stroke on October 27, 2007. They need help. The community would appreciate it.
Mato and Jeffman spent a lot of time fixing the font in the enemies menu, just so they could fit “Reconstructed Caribou” into it. And after all their long hours of hacking labor, all that the adoring public can say is “we don’t like the Reconstructed Caribou as a name, please name it something else.”
Oh, for shame. Shame. Shame on all of you fools. May you be eternally trapped in the nightmarish Moonside, fighting Dali’s clocks and having a unibrowed, invisible man following you and opening a text box every now and then where he makes snide comments.
On a much lighter note, Brawl has been delayed again to March 9. By the way things are going, I’d say that, even if the translation isn’t finished this year, there will still be no danger of people getting Brawl first and finding out all the spoilers.
Um, I see no instances of us complaining about the names. I see the community trying to make life easier for the hackers, so they are not pulling their hair out, trying to make things work. We care for the people who are putting their hard work into it, and we are praising them for their work.
Maybe the Coconut of Enlightenment needs to be trapped in Moonside.
“Good” news smash brawl has been pushed back to Sunday, March 9th.
probley wont be done by then but its more possiple
Heh, if you guys wanna suggest enemy names that badly, here’s one for you.
Its Japanese name literally means “Snake That REALLY Bites When It Bites”, and its description is something like, “And it doesn’t bite when it doesn’t. blah blah blah”.
Old names of it include Bite-Bite Snake, Bitey Snake, and Chomp Snake. I don’t like any of ’em. So if you wanna suggest stuff, suggest away π It’d be nice if the word “Snake” was included, though.
and I do not think anyboady said they did not like Reconstructed Caribou
^I like this new game let see what I can come up witih
if you have any outhers you could post them also
Strong jawed snake
Munch snake
Snap snake
Tooth snake
Snakey the strong jawed snake
I will contimplate this more
Maybe “Snake that means it” Description: “We’re serious, he does!”
Not the greatest, but it’s a shot. Keep up the good work guys! With the Smash Bros. delay, maybe we will have something before the release. Either way, job much appreciated.
How many characters can the snake name have?
Fang Snake / Fanged Snake
Snapjaw Snake
Claptrap Snake (Claptrap Cobra would sound cool but wouldnt fit the snake in the game)
Snake Bite (Doesn’t sound very earthbound really)
Strike Snake (Strike Cobra would still sound cooler, cobra just makes everything cool :P)
Lockjaw Snake
Super Snap Snake
Snappy Snake
Vice Jaw Snake
Bitey Chompy Snake (im just getting bored and rediculous but it’s pretty fun)
Depends, because depending on the letters in the name, it might not fit in the battle box. I’d say 17 at most is a good limit, 20 would be pushing it, and 23 or 24 is the technical storage limit.
@Mato
“Snake Bitin’ Hard”
Maybe include the word “fangoriously” in the description.
Oh well, it was worth a shot. π
Way to go, looks SO good…every time you guys update I see the push ever-so-slightly closer to finish.
Name: Fickle Biting Snake (if this is too long, then Fickle Snake maybe?) The description could read, as the original did, “Snake that REALLY bites when it bites. And it doesn’t bite when it doesn’t.”
Then the joke is preserved (albeit delivered in a slightly different way), something that I remember the EB localizers tried to do as well as possible.
I don’t know, “Bona Fide Snake” maybe.
I really like the japanese name now.
Chompy the Snake!
sorry for the double.
Albite Snake
@ Mato:
Mastisnake?
Hey, just in case it got passed up earlier…I was wondering if it was possible to just make the enemy names scroll when you highlighted them. I know nothing about programming so sorry if this is a bad idea.
Snake??? SNAKE!!!!! π
I’m wondering what the original intent of the words was here… does it mean ” when he bites he bites hard, but when he doesnt he doesn’t”, or a more american like “bites” where “it sucks when he bites, but doesnt when he doesn’t”?
Hard Bitin’ Snake sounds the closest to Earthbound-style to me, but that’s just IMHO.
Hmm, “Snake on a Plain” would work, too, but only if we can guarantee that they only appear on plains (or planes), not deserts or elsewhere…
I know it doesn’t preserve the original as much, but there’s not much to preserve to begin with π
gotta say its pretty hard to get a good name witch fits this monster
all the ones so far includeing myne suck
Perhaps if this monster is the regular snake simmalar to the one found in EB just calling it Snake would do. and include the rest in the discription
It was recently announced in the February 2008 issue of Nintendo Power that MOTHER 3 isn’t coming stateside because, quote, “It would take ages to translate”. Well, not really announced…it was just mentioned in an article about Japanese Nintendo games. Knowing this, you guys must feel really proud with this large undertaking. Keep up the good work! We believe in you!
P.S. Brawl has been delayed to March 9th π
if thats the prioblem just hire these guys moto is not hard to find
Maybe they mean the programming? Mato obviously has the translation pretty well under control, I thought he said it was all done and just needed a couple of revisions for quality control and such π
Now, reprogramming that stupid thing, that might be hard even with the source code if you have to redo how it handles fonts and such…
But if they keep moving SSBB back, maybe this game _WILL_ get translated before it’s released… You don’t suppose the SSBB guys are M3 fans eager to play the translation, do you? π
the developers of SSBB can play the game already in there native language
I’ve been wondering about the snake naming thing and maybe we should think less about chomping or just biting since all snakes bite and look more at since the translations means it bites hard when it does and doesn’t when it doesn’t bite. This could then mean that it can be vicious but can also be unpredictable so maybe just an adjective might do just like several of the other enemies in the game. This could include things like Vicious Snake, Unrelenting Snake, but prolly a simpler word like um.. another word that would mean all or nothing since either it bites really hard or not at all. Sorry its a long description.
No, they said it would take too long because it is so text-heavy, and that was the easiest part of the translation for Tomato so far (as best I can tell).
Out of the suggestions above, I like Hard Bitin’ Snake the most. Or even the Snake Bitin’ Hard mentioned.
Reminds me of Struttin’ Evil Mushroom. Or even Mole Playing Rough by the second one.
I’m thinking “Serious Snake”. Nice alliteration, kind of gets the idea across. Description could be something like “Will bite! Seriously!” It’s not perfect, but it sounds Iotish to me.
Gah, typos. *Itoish, obviously.
Very Chompy Snake? i dunno…
Snake That Bites
Its 16 characters… and adding “The ” would make it 20… unless you already have something like that going on like in Dragon Quest where the game handles whether the monster is a “the” or not.
Snake Means Business
Solid Snake. haha j/k
snake bitin rough sounds good tho
Death to the pig-mask infidels!
Great work, guys. Rock awwwwnn!!
I really like
“Snake that Bites”
and I really like the description
βSnake that REALLY bites when it bites. And it doesnβt bite when it doesnβt.β
just my two cents
How about:
The Snakenator (open for alternate spellings)(doesn’t need the)
Solid Snake
Snakefang
THE Snake
Bob the Snake
the snakifier (doesn’t need the)
Rowdy Snake
Sir Bites’alot
Sir Snake
uh ya i think thats it…and as far as the item names being too long im not sure what game it was (dragon warrior or one of the “Tales of” series)but i noticed if a name was two long they just used two lines like this
Potion
Ether
Fire Bomb
Phoenix
Feather(text for this was italic to make it stand out)
Giant Bag
Ice Bomb
etc.
not sure if that helps but just though i would mention it π
anywho woot on the move back of SSBB not that ill play it anyway i cant afford another system…its for the wii right?
oh there was supposed to be a couple spaces before the word feather in my list i guess it decided it didnt like the spaces
Other people have said it before, but…
Tomato’s a professional translator.
Let’s trust his judgment about these kinds of things.
The more I think about the description, I have to believe that it’s one of those enemies with a high critical hit rate, but also a high miss chance.
Vorpal Snake or something like that might work, but I still have to go with Hard Bitin’ Snake, just because it feels more Earthbound-ish.
uh hey Damien if you read up a bit Mato ASKED for suggestions besides everyones just trying to help,most of em’ (including me) dont know much,if anything about programming and I don’t think it bothers Mato..like that “t” thing that helped him out…maybe some of the other ideas people are posting here will help..if not who cares?..so unless you got something productive to say like maybe a name suggestion for the snake don’t post k π
kalbtrombone: That’s a possibility, but it’d be a lot of work to get the #s to appear there, and the text on the right is already limited (and is sprite text), and I’d prefer to use all that space for descriptions, which are already going to be tough to fully include there as it is.
David: I’m not sure what you mean. If you’re talking about the previous 8×8 font, that’s the 8×8 font that was originally in the MOTHER 3 ROM.
Stephen: That would require INSANE amounts of hacking and reprogramming. It’s a neat idea, but I don’t think even Nintendo would’ve tried to attempt that, and they’d have the source code π
jack: That would be a ton of work, too.
pauyasfyla: Console/handheld games don’t use Truetype fonts or any kind of fonts that personal computers do, it’s just static data with no way to automatically enlarge or ensmallen. We *could* draw the font to be a little smaller, but it’d only save a few pixels in the long run, and we’d still have the same problems fitting stuff in the space allotted. Plus it’d make things look ugly and harder to read on actual GBAs/DSs.
Thug Life: word.
kalbtrombone: See the FAQ page.
The King and Queen of Cheese: Yeah, it’s a bunch of BS. It took me a month and a half doing it in my spare time. A Nintendo employee being PAID to translate it full-time would’ve taken even less time, I’m sure. It’s not any different than your regular RPG script these days.
A Fan: No, the programming wouldn’t have taken long, they got people working for them who do ONLY that kind of stuff. The amount of stuff we’ve hacked isn’t that much at all, to be honest, and it’s already come a really long way. Also, the snake is just a normal, early enemy, it’s not like the Rowdy Mouse. It can poison you sometimes, but that’s it really.
Failedlegend: The “use an extra line” thing isn’t really an option, and it’d take extra work. Plus we already got the abbreviations hack working anyway π
Everyone else: Thanks for the suggestions! Feel free to keep posting them in this post if you want. As you can see, sometimes naming can be tough π After some of these suggestinos, the name “Chompers the Snake” sounds like a funny nickname ala “Smokey the Crow”, but I don’t think it’d be a very good in-game name π If it helps any, maybe try other words that means “snake” or words that are types of snakes?
I still stand by Fickle Snake
But I will also recommend some of the others, or synonyms for Snake (i.e.: Fickle Viper, Fickle Slitherer, etc.)
All or nothing Snake?
98 comments in 2 days?
Not bad, not bad at all.
As usual, you guys are still doing a fantastic job. (Am I the only one who is going to miss this updates once the translation patch is available? It sure is a lot of fun reading this blog. BEST BLOG EVER!).
Serious Snake is good. Perhaps even Seriously Snake.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl calls it a ” rope snake”
Hey, Mr. Mato, you’re welcome on the “t” — and thanks for the font graphics — any chance you could give the 16×16 (and even the temporary 10×10 maybe) for easier comparison? I’ll d/l and look it over at home if ya do.
But the real reason I’m posting in *this* outdated post is for the snake. Take your pick,
“Hardly Biting Snake”
“HARDly Biting Snake”
“HARDLY Biting Snake”
This pun especially assumes that the snake doesn’t bite all that often necessarily, but when it does, watch out! Since I haven’t played the game and am avoiding spoilers, I don’t know, but there’s my suggestion. Nineteen characters long, twenty with a terminating string if needed.
possible abbr. name:
“Hardly Bit. Sn.”
full description:
“The snake that REALLY bites when it bites–and doesn’t when it doesn’t. [blah blah blah]”
Hm? Hm? $:^ ]