Lessons Shenmue III can take from recent indie game failures

[Hazuki00]

There is no need to worry because we apparently don't see "real progress" or advanced content, that doesn't mean they are behind the schedule. I'm sure they don't want to show how advanced Shenmue 3 is and they are showing old prototipes they used and such. They must be very advanced in the project and only show dated material.
Besides, maybe they are waiting for the next Magic Monaco or E3 (this specially) to show an actual "work in progress" trailer with the new model of Ryo and more things..

[Spaghetti]

It's not so much they're purposefully showing us old material, it's just more efficient to build the game start to finish (i.e lock down the content) using prototype assets.

It's perfectly normal for game development. We've also had enough little glimpses in the past months to know they've got sections of Chobu playable and they're designing the main Baisha 'puzzle', so it's not like they're falling behind or anything.

Honestly, I thought they wouldn't even be at this stage when Yu said they'd been prototyping only in earnest since January. I guess fully staffing up helped accelerate the project pretty significantly.

[fittersau]

Well, Bloodstained just got pushed back to Q2 2018 from Q2 2017, yep a whole year delay. Bloodstained being a 3D side scroller while Shenmue 3 a full reactive eyes entertaining game. So if there's anything to be learned by KS / Indie games... be prepared for a delay.

http://www.pcgamer.com/bloodstained-rit ... d-to-2018/

[killthesagabeforeitkillsu]

I'm not surprised, I don't know why KS devs put themselves in this position.
It's impossible to have a realistic release date when you start a project. There is so much preliminary work that goes into getting things into place that by the time you have an actual pulse of when the game is dropping, you are still years away.

[Hazuki00]

Well, Bloodstained just got pushed back to Q2 2018 from Q2 2017, yep a whole year delay. Bloodstained being a 3D side scroller while Shenmue 3 a full reactive eyes entertaining game. So if there's anything to be learned by KS / Indie games... be prepared for a delay.

http://www.pcgamer.com/bloodstained-rit ... d-to-2018/

Is Bloodstained using an own developed engine or is using an external engine just as Shenmue 3? Making your own engine cost much time.
Shenmue 3 using unreal engine 4 (being so efficient) can save much more time so that they can use time doing other task. So it doesn't mean that Shenmue 3 could take ages for being finished..

[Centrale]

Is Bloodstained using an own developed engine or is using an external engine just as Shenmue 3? Making your own engine cost much time.
Shenmue 3 using unreal engine 4 (being so efficient) can save much more time so that they can use time doing other task. So it doesn't mean that Shenmue 3 could take ages for being finished..

Bloodstained is also being developed with UE4.

[punkmanced]

I for one would actually welcome a Shenmue 3 delay.

Last thing I’d want is a game full of cut corners to meet unrealistic deadlines. If it would ensure us a better experience (which it would), then I’d have no problems with YS taking an extra year to polish everything.

[Spaghetti]

I think we'll probably get our inevitable delay notice at least six months out from release, much like Bloodstained. Who knows though, maybe whatever issue Bloodstained has ran into is more dire than anybody actually knows? I only briefly checked out the details, but wasn't searching for an additional developer part of the reason? Staffing can be a long process to get things really moving, so that might have caused the delay.

[mrandyk]

Are Kickstarters required to give an estimated delivery date for their projects? Large projects like the development of a full retail video game are so difficult to give an accurate release date for prior to the project's actual development.

[fittersau]

I think we'll probably get our inevitable delay notice at least six months out from release, much like Bloodstained. Who knows though, maybe whatever issue Bloodstained has ran into is more dire than anybody actually knows? I only briefly checked out the details, but wasn't searching for an additional developer part of the reason? Staffing can be a long process to get things really moving, so that might have caused the delay.

Bloodstained showed gameplay back in E3. It was funded only 1 month before Shenmue 3. It's a side scrolling platformer so its level of complexity is much less.

[fittersau]

Someone mentioned Kingdom Come for the In Game backer faces..

On the topic of Kingdom Come, it's interesting to note they had around USD $2 million funded. Considering the amount of work Warhorse have put into the game, they've stretched out that $2m pretty well.

Shenmue 3 has USD $6.6m gross, Ys should be able to stretch their budget out well too.