DoubleFine Kickstarter Campaign

[Xandui]

I'm sure many of you have seen the news of the game developer Double Fine (psychonauts, brutal legend, etc) turning to kickstarter to fundraise for a new game instead of relying on publishers/loans. Obviously any similar effort for Shenmue would need to be owned by Yu himself but after seeing this campaign (theyve raised over $1,600,000 for an unknown adventure game, were originally asking for $400,000), i honestly believe there is enough goodwill in the gaming community to fund a future shenmue title.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667 ... -adventure

My reason for posting is that there are clearly people in this community who have the ability to get in front of Yu himself from time to time and it might be worth considering this as our new approach in requesting a conclusion to this franchise. I know this is all very naive and that if shenmue has a future, it is probably dependent of a lot of political bs within Sega, however know that i genuinely love this franchise and only post out of an undying hope to see Yu finish his masterpiece.

Update:

Hey guys, IGN has an article about what all this could mean for other gaming projects. Shenmue 3 is deliberately mentioned at the end of this list as the one thing everyone at IGN agreed this could have real meaning for.

There's also a little poll at the end of the article for which project people want most. Never hurts to remind people we're out here: http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1218389p1.html

I'll post any other articles here:
The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/ga ... -developer

[Bluecast]

Another useless campaign? How many more are people going to do?

[Xandui]

Well this is a bit different. It's a case of a game developer using the community to fund a project they want to work on. This isn't about making gestures to Sega, more about a way Yu could independently find money to work on this through crowdsourcing. It would have to come from Yu himself though, we can't do it for him. I just think it's awesome that we now have a successful example to point to when considering a similar scenario for a future shenmue title.

[Who Really Cares?]

Another useless campaign? How many more are people going to do?

This one will actually work and they nearly have the money allready to make the game. Shenmue needs a lot more than 400K so its not going to happen.

[Kenny]

Seems like a big thing now for indie people to ask for donations from fans and they get something in return. I like Tim Schafer's projects too so I donated. Fucking nuts that some random person donated $10,000.

As for this pertaining to Shenmue, realistically they ain't gonna get millions and millions of dollars this way. Maybe if Yu gets the license for the series and does this to raise a portion of the budget for publicity purposes AND it goes well...it could mean all the difference. Money talks. I'm not close to being the biggest Shenmue fan but I think it has a good chance of working compared to all other efforts.

[Bluecast]

You would need 25+ million$ to even get Yu to want to get the license from Sega. 400k That would not even cover the cost of printing the labels for it. If I had a bank account I would throw something in but at this point I have to save up to be in poverty.

[Stocke]

Saw this today. I think it's a brilliant idea. Fans have always said they would pay money just to see shenmue 3 made, and i am one of them.
However it would have to be set up by Yu himself or someone of a simular position for this to actually happen. But if the opportunity ever came up, i'm sure people would donate big.

[Peter]

I understand the concept, but this is of no more use than sending toy capsules to Sega. No one here will ever question the goodwill of us gamers, specifically Shenmue fans. But the problem is the size of fans that Shenmue has. Its always been its problem. Look at this "Shenmue" community. It consists of no more than 100 posters per year on average, and around no more than 30 regular members. Shenmue has a community, yes, but its the size of the community that demonstrates the problem has had since its inital release.

Numbers are all that matters. Numbers of units sold, and the number of units predicted to sell. Thats the reality, and the difference between realist Shenmue fans, and Shamoo fanboys. Its not the passion thats ever in question, its quite simply a question of money. You can petition/protest/campaign all you want, but a realisitc Shenmue fan will ultimately say with a heavy heart "Shenmue 3 is unlikely at this time".
If you want to want a future for Shenmue, then campaign and raise money for a developer to convert Shenmue and Shenmue II to HD DLC for the current generation of consoles. Accumilate small, and predict big. Dollar signs are what will get Shenmue 3, and if you invest a little into Shenmue and Shenmue II conversions, then try and make a profit..... then maybe theres a realistic chance of Shenmue 3. But stop wasting time with petitons and campaigns for a sole Shenmue 3 game. 8 years, and with help from the internet, TV and almost every novel idea conceived it has been proven that it has been a total waste of time and energy.

[sylentknyte]

Unfortunatly, I think the Shenmue fan-base is too disjointed. I'd say 95% of the fans left it in the past, and the only thing that will get them back is a Shenmue 3 announcement. A perfect example of this is Zimming's Youtube page, and the Dojo itself. Although we have a nice little community, it seems like only a few thousand people still have Shenmue on their mind, if that.

[Kenny]

If you want to want a future for Shenmue, then campaign and raise money for a developer to convert Shenmue and Shenmue II to HD DLC for the current generation of consoles. Accumilate small, and predict big. Dollar signs are what will get Shenmue 3, and if you invest a little into Shenmue and Shenmue II conversions, then try and make a profit..... then maybe theres a realistic chance of Shenmue 3.

Probably a better idea. I don't know what the costs are for something like that but I would imagine its more cost effective than funding an entirely new project from scratch. But the idea is still the same: the funds are going to the budget and is more used as a publicity stunt to gather more attention and cash in the long run.

[Bluecast]

I understand the concept, but this is of no more use than sending toy capsules to Sega. No one here will ever question the goodwill of us gamers, specifically Shenmue fans. But the problem is the size of fans that Shenmue has. Its always been its problem. Look at this "Shenmue" community. It consists of no more than 100 posters per year on average, and around no more than 30 regular members. Shenmue has a community, yes, but its the size of the community that demonstrates the problem has had since its inital release.

Numbers are all that matters. Numbers of units sold, and the number of units predicted to sell. Thats the reality, and the difference between realist Shenmue fans, and Shamoo fanboys. Its not the passion thats ever in question, its quite simply a question of money. You can petition/protest/campaign all you want, but a realisitc Shenmue fan will ultimately say with a heavy heart "Shenmue 3 is unlikely at this time".
If you want to want a future for Shenmue, then campaign and raise money for a developer to convert Shenmue and Shenmue II to HD DLC for the current generation of consoles. Accumilate small, and predict big. Dollar signs are what will get Shenmue 3, and if you invest a little into Shenmue and Shenmue II conversions, then try and make a profit..... then maybe theres a realistic chance of Shenmue 3. But stop wasting time with petitons and campaigns for a sole Shenmue 3 game. 8 years, and with help from the internet, TV and almost every novel idea conceived it has been proven that it has been a total waste of time and energy.

[Peter]

Put it like this, £800000 wouldnt cover the salaries of the staff involved in a future Shenmue game, never mind research, pre-production, development, marketing, post production, promotion....


What. You think games developers make games for fun and live on milk and cookies?

[Spokane]

What. You think games developers make games for fun and live on milk and cookies?

Only Santa does.

And hes not real. Sorry kiddos.

[Xandui]

I dont disagree that the fanbase is too small or the budget too large (though a downloadable shenmue made on yesterdays technology doesn't have to be a 50 million dollar project), but look at with happened with this DoubleFine project.

These guys are on their way to successfully raise over a million dollars for a point and click adventure game. I donated to them, do you know why? It isn't because im a fan of the studio or even any of their past titles (though im aware of them), it's simply because i loved the story of this independent studio trying to make something they love for their fans.

I guarantee most people who donated aren't hardcore fans, but simply nice gamers who wanna support what seems to be an earnest attempt at fan service. The same way this is working out, i really believe if a similar approach was taken for Shenmue, if the story of the series got even half the press this campaign did, most donations would come from people who have never played before. I know it's a long shot cause Yu would have to have Sega's blessing, but i can dream the dream.

Now all that being said, i do agree that they need to release Shenmue 1 and 2 in some digital distribution outlet. The thing is, if that happens we'll probably have most sales coming from fans of the series (an unfortunately small number of people).

The most powerful thing this franchise has right now is the almost tragic story of one of video games greatest minds never getting a chance to finish his masterpiece while a legion of loyal fans still post on forums like this 10 years later. I know we're all bitter and jaded, but am i really the only person who sees this as something infinitely relatable? (at least within the video game community)

[Peter]

I kept an eye on the kickstarter fund..... it just jumped $100000 since this topic was created to breach the 1 million mark. What am i missing here, is this game a COD or WOW app or something because $100000 in a couple of hours is bizarre


Not to get too excited, but how does this work? Is it like how we would donate to the Dojo, except this Kickstarter holds the funds? If you think about it, instead of petition signing, if each of those people who signed the SIII petition donated just £15/$20 each then to date, the current total raised would be £986,445 / $1,315,260. Just sayin......