Hey Guys, new to the forums (Kind of. Registered years ago but forgot the username and password but never posted!)

Anyways, I write tutorials (C++) over at Epic Games for Unreal Engine 4 and help people out on the AnswerHub and work on projects all the time with this Engine. I've done so for quite some time now. Why am I telling you this? Because hopefully I can provide a little insight on what you're seeing and why.

The reflective properties on Ryo's Jacket is just the material. The material hasn't been properly adjusted yet and even so let's not forget about the lighting that goes into a scene. Typically it's something you'll want to play with over and over again until you can get it just right. I'm assuming they're going to have a day to night cycle and that means a scene will have dynamic lighting. This can effect a material whether it's on a character, a static mesh actor( Think of an object) or general decals (assuming they want them lit or not.). This means it will constantly be tweaked from now until release.

The jacket will probably be toned down abit but it is obvious that they're still experimenting with the lighting. They're also not utilizing any Post Processing at the moment and if they are it's only for a slight color node but I don't think they're using any in the second and fourth screenshot. I think it goes without saying that this will change and right now they're experimenting with an engine that they probably never used before so it takes abit of time and energy to figure these large frameworks out.

It's an exciting time for all of us as Shenmue fans and of course we want this to be the best it can be but try to remember that this project is going to see alot of changes from now until release.

The reflective properties on Ryo's Jacket is just the material.

About that, Ryo original jacket does not only not work because the material seems to reflect as it has smoothing, but because it seems that even the regular texture seems like a pretty much default leather.

Like:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/mcockshoot/Leather/PICT6420.jpg

And kinda this:
http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/photos/18534bb937dc3c1_August%20front-500.jpg


I think I understand what you're trying to say.

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091031182428/shenmue/images/1/17/Ryo_Character_Model.jpg

The diffuse texture on the jacket (Note the sponge tool being used to highlight certain 'light' spots) is simulating a reflective property. Now, I haven't explored anything with the Shenmue 1 and 2 files using an emulator but i'm pretty positive the Dreamcast did not utilize bump maps or normal maps which meant that reflective properties would have to have been drawn on manually. Very talented artists worked on Shenmue 1 and 2, especially given the resolution limit that the dreamcast likely had.

Anyways, regarding Ryo's current jacket:

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/798/593/1b8baa8d7135a6f01314d673d24ec04c_original.png?v=1446170936&w=639&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=545d3ef641cadeba1bcf8d3933280f23

You can see quite abit of reflection here but let's assume for a moment that there is only one light source going on. This is bound to create distortions and the fact that there is hardly a scene in that screenshot. Light isn't being reflected properly because I can assure you that in that shot they're not using any Reflection Nodes. Why would they? They're still working on the levels so it only makes sense.

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/798/591/6a08ce2f305c9f2133688924b333e545_original.png?v=1446170914&w=639&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=a8f172c10132ddfd06f702fc208f7229

This shot is taken in one of the various demo levels that utilizes nothing but reflection and lighting. It really makes an exaggerated effort with emissive lighting (Glowing details) that is further embellished by a post process effect. The same jacket is less reflective except for the spots that it should be. The scene (Level) really makes a difference and depending on how some of the reflection nodes are used along with Post Processing effects it can really shape something.

Phew, sorry for all of that but... hopefully that should clear it up for you guys.



Good points, just one problem, Yu has "chosen" to adamantly force a release date of the end of 2017 sigh. He's refusing to budge at all on such, so sadly he doesn't have much time.

A Shenmue 3 of all things, without the unlimited resources that Yu is used to working with, should be planned out as a 3 year project, not 2.

Glad to see someone who knows the engine extensively, go in detail about what's causing things to be that way, and such though.

Yu Suzuki has never striked me as a guy to release something that isn't finished or at least that he feels is unfinished. We've waited over a decade for Shenmue 3 and if Yu Suzuki wants to continue the series after Shenmue 3 he will want to rely on more then kickstarter investments which means a possible re-invitation to Sega or opening up the company publicly for investors (Or privately but that is pretty risky and less cost effective for a company to maintain control) and that option is only desirable if the product is well received.

True, Yu Suzuki has been out of the gaming world for quite some time but... every developer knows the pressure never changes.

The jacket will probably be toned down abit but it is obvious that they're still experimenting with the lighting. They're also not utilizing any Post Processing at the moment and if they are it's only for a slight color node but I don't think they're using any in the second and fourth screenshot. I think it goes without saying that this will change and right now they're experimenting with an engine that they probably never used before so it takes abit of time and energy to figure these large frameworks out.


Hey, welcome. So in your personal opinion, do you think there's plenty of time for Yu and his team to master Unreal and learn to use it to its fullest (or at least to a high degree of proficiency) before Shenmue 3 releases? I know Yu has been out of the loop a while, and I don't think refusing to play modern games helps that, but, I'm curious to ask, from someone who has experience in UE, how realistic it would be for Yu and his team to catch up fairly quickly? What do you think?

Thank you for the welcoming! Oh of course! It took me about a full year to learn everything and that was me going in with very little game development experience. Team Yu will be able to figure it out quite easily i'm sure. Even if it takes a year to learn the minute details it will still leave them with plenty of time for polish and effort.

If I had 6 months, a full animation set and the 3d models necessary and a few level designer's I could probably re-create Shenmue 1's systems entirely from the cutscenes (Minus the voice acting and lip syncing), to a combat system to the general movement and transitions in Unreal Engine 4.

Working with C++ in UE4 is great. Typically with alot of Engines you end up with some sort of... well, a high level language but a minor scripting language at that without the ability to use pointers. I won't turn this into a programming lesson but let me just say that pointers is why C++ is still around after all these years which makes everything pretty easy!

It's true Yu Suzuki has been out of the modern game market for a while... but Shenmue wasn't really like any other game was it? That could've been why it did so poorly but it was easily the best to me. Mixing RPG elements into a fighting game while taking HUGE risks on an emphasis of building an atmospheric environment (Not just the levels but the NPC's) while giving you a variety of options on how you wanted to perform. Shenmue was way ahead of it's time by a decade at least. I don't know the specifics but if I had to speculate i'd say the budget went over originally because of the technology switches from the Saturn to the Dreamcast, the re-creation of thousands of textures and hundreds of models and easily thousands of lines of code. People seem to forget that building an engine (A stable one anyways) takes years to do and is easily one of the hardest type of frameworks to make that requires huge teams.

So what is my point? If I could do this then Team Yu should have no problem. I wouldn't worry about it at all... plus we're all forgetting one important fact here. IT'S SHENMUE 3!!!

If I had 6 months, a full animation set and the 3d models necessary and a few level designer's I could probably re-create Shenmue 1's systems entirely from the cutscenes (Minus the voice acting and lip syncing), to a combat system to the general movement and transitions in Unreal Engine 4.

Do you know many people do it took, how long to make the Infiltrator cinematic? Some serious work there.. but an amazing result. To think Shenmue 3 is made with the same tech is very reassuring.


So what is my point? If I could do this then Team Yu should have no problem. I wouldn't worry about it at all... plus we're all forgetting one important fact here. IT'S SHENMUE 3!!!

I know right! \:D/

I'm sorry I don't know the answer for the Infiltrator cinematic question... but if you'd like to read on i'll explain a little bit about the process.

I know the same result could be achieved by at least 5 people. You'd need at least one director and four artists. 2 for particle effects who can work on textures and level design, 2 for character modeling and animations (And rigging) -- assuming both people are together and can make use of two or more kinect cameras for motion capture data and lastly a camera manager / director to over see the matinee cycles. From there you could record it and throw it in something like Adobe Premier or Vegas to give it anything extra that you might want.

Edit: But I can assure you that the Infiltrator Cinematic was done much more professionally and more then 5 people had contributed to it. After all, they were going to present it to the GDC.

Is it easy to do? No way! But if a team of people are dedicated enough then really anything can be done it just depends on how much time you've got and how much you're willing to put into it but I think that could be said about anything really.

Hey Community,

So i'm still relatively new here and I thought i'd introduce myself this way. I like to Develop games for fun which includes both 2d and 3d. I'm a programmer first and foremost.

So in commemoration of Star Wars and it's return I thought i'd try to make a little game in about a month's time just to see how quickly I could put something together. I don't really feel like releasing it elsewhere and I seem to have grown quite fond of this community so I thought why not share it here?

http://www.MarkJamesG.com is where you can download it.

The game is by no means perfect and should / could be completed in less than 5 minutes, so expect some bugs and a lack of polish for obvious reasons. It isn't a commercial project after all so i'm not going to painstakingly correct every little thing. Since i'm abysmal at 3d modeling and the likes...i'll pre-warn you. Collision boxes are not perfect so there is a chance of falling out of the level.

This project was made in Unreal Engine 4 using nothing but C++ and the standard editor and worked on during the weekends for a month. So in total it has about 8 days worth of work. Modeling and textures were worked on with Maya and Photoshop. The assets used in this come from Epic Games, JKA, KOTOR and Shadows of the Empire.

The textures/materials use only a diffuse map (except for the rocks) and as a result it might appear flat.

Phew. Anyways, enjoy.

P.S

I am a terrible level designer and artist! Haha. But this was just for fun so it isn't a big deal. \:D/. Though if I really wanted to make this a commercial level type of product I would have brought more people on the team then just myself onto the team to split the workload and add much, much more.

http://s23.postimg.org/99homid3d/Highres_Screenshot00000.png
http://s23.postimg.org/la34n8ki3/Highres_Screenshot00001.png
http://s23.postimg.org/7iynl0vkb/Highres_Screenshot00002.png
http://s23.postimg.org/u007o31zd/Highres_Screenshot00003.png
http://s23.postimg.org/r238udubt/Highres_Screenshot00004.png
http://s23.postimg.org/mu8glmswb/Highres_Screenshot00005.png
http://s23.postimg.org/hb5x4evux/Highres_Screenshot00006.png
http://s11.postimg.org/wgudghecy/Picture1.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/69t6kiw36/Picture2.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/7z29slbsi/Picture3.jpg

Can we guess how many will likely buy this game considering it's so niche? Let's consider the popularity of the PS4 and it's ever growing console user base, which will likely be around 50-60 million by 2017. Then there's PC gaming and steam platform which provides a easy digital distributional platform.

The fanbase hype will only take it so far. This includes word of mouth and sharing multimedia on popular sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. As a third party title let's also factor in how Sony is going to promote this game. Assuming we get some really eye catching cinematic teasers/trailers at future E3 shows. Also consider the possibility of Shenmue 1/2 HD by SEGA which we think might happen.

Taking all this into account what should be our most realistic expectations? Will it be enough to guarantee a Shenmue 4?

That's the real question, isn't it? I asked a good friend of mine who is an economist in training and had him run over the sale figures. He says that "The Shenmue series is not widely known and although it has a die-hard audience it'll do mediocre in sales and will likely break even. Though it depends on the actual game; if it appeals to a wider audience or is designed in a way to attract a mainstream audience it has the chance to surge. If it's designed for the hard-core players in mind then it'll make just enough to cover the costs."

His interest in it is only because I have interest in it. So really we'll just have to see the direction Team Yu goes with this game and how it's molded.

It's interesting to me that so many people can care so incredibly about the canon, what "actually happened", in a fictional universe -- myself included. But in actuality, these events never happened but we treat them as if they did. Why is it that we put so much emphasis on stories having continuity or real-world relevance?

Honestly, for me, I have certain hierarchies in which I care about the events in a story. The top tier, and the canon in which I care the most, is my personal canon. If a video game has particular choices that affect the story, whatever choices I made on my original playthrough are the choices that make up my personal canon. For example, in my personal canon for Mass Effect, my Shepherd is a Male, romances Jack, and if a certain character dies, they are unfortunately dead. My personal Canon takes precedence over any other.

The next tier would be "authorship canon". This is whatever the author deems as actually happening. If authorship canon conflicts with my personal canon, then I choose to align with my personal canon. For example, in KOTOR my character is Female but in the authorship canon, the main character is Male. In this case, I choose to disregard the author's choice in favor what was established in my personal canon.

Last, and lowest in the hierarchy, is other's personal canon or disregarded authorship canon. These consist of playthroughs from people other than myself, and canons that differ from my personal canon but are no longer considered canon by the author. For example, if Jim played Mass Effect, was a girl, and sexed up Liara -- or if an author wants to abandon a certain work in a franchise in favor of a new one (aka Retcon).

Anyway, what are you personal thoughts on Canon? Do you care at all? At what level do you care?

I think it depends on the context in which you're using canon. For example; if you were to setup a Role Playing community and wanted validation inside of this theme you're creating you would want to appeal to like minded people by enforcing rules around canon elements. Otherwise you end up with something that is really the furthest from.

In other instances it helps establish some kind of ground rules for a setting which may or may not be grounded in any kind of reality, either way this world / creation needs to have something wrapped around that people can understand to some degree.

There really isn't anything wrong with shake-ups if you're feeling stale with it but again it totally depends on the context of where it is being applied and why. I'm a half in the bag kind of guy myself. I'm a stickler for aesthetics but otherwise you could throw in all kinds of nonsense my way and if it fits the aesthetic then i'd be willing to accept it. If I find myself not accepting some kind of canon then I typically just lose interest.

pragma once

#include "GameFramework/HUD.h"
#include "MyHUD.generated.h"

/**
*
*/
UCLASS()
class SHENMUE3_API AMyHUD : public AHUD
{
GENERATED_BODY()

public:
AMyHUD();
virtual void DrawHUD() override;

class USoundWave * Ryo_English_01;
class USoundWave * Ryo_Japanese_01;

int LanguageSwitch = 0; // 0 - English
// 1 - Japanese

bool PlayOnceForTesting = false;

}

// End of .h
// MyHUD.cpp

AMyHUD::AMyHUD()
{

static ConstructorHelpers::FObjectFinder<USoundWave> ryo_eng(TEXT("(FOLDER_DIRECTORY_FILE_HERE"));
Ryo_English_01 = ryo_eng.Object;

static ConstructorHelpers::FObjectFinder<USoundWave> ryo_jap_0(TEXT("(FOLDER_DIRECTORY_FILE_HERE"));
Ryo_Japanese_01 = ryo_jap_0.Object;

}

void AMyHUD::DrawHUD()
{
if(PlayOnceForTesting == false)
{
PlayOnceForTesting = true;

if(LanguageSwitch == 0)
{
UGameplayStatics::PlaySoundAtLocation(GetWorld(), Ryo_English_01, GetActorLocation(), 1.0);
}

else if(LanguageSwitch == 1)
{
UGameplayStatics::PlaySoundAtLocation(GetWorld(), Ryo_Japanese_01, GetActorLocation(), 1.0);
}

}
}



Well, if it's voice acting that is the budget concern then that is a shame. If it is code related then here is some quick UE4 C++ code I made that should solve the problem. :P