Kickstarter Update #65: Dev room update

[ChiefNeo]

> AAA games

> depth

Sure there's some exceptions but ahahahahaha what

Not to argue the point but...I don't see the joke?

AAA:
- breath of the wild
- skyrim
- fallout
- The witcher series
- Horizon zero dawn
- The last guardian
- the last of us


And these are just recent examples?

Usually AAA means quality. They are not all call of duty.

[Himuro]

I said there were exceptions and I'm mostly talking about story depth. AAA games are so expensive that their main goal is to ruffles as few feathers as possible. This tends to sacrifice story and gameplay depth they other wise would have. I'm not seeing how that's controversial. But the overall point is that so few AAA games have stories worth talking about that hoping for AAA quality in Shenmue III seems like a joke. There are far more games outside the AAA landscape that have better story and gameplay than the average AAA game.

[ShenGCH]

> AAA games

> depth

Sure there's some exceptions but ahahahahaha what

Not to argue the point but...I don't see the joke?

AAA:
- breath of the wild
- skyrim
- fallout
- The witcher series
- Horizon zero dawn
- The last guardian
- the last of us


And these are just recent examples?

Usually AAA means quality. They are not all call of duty.

'AAA' always refers to the budget and being part of the mainstream, not the quality, otherwise the likes of Super Meat Boy and Braid could be considered AAA.

Skyrim and Fallout 4 were as deep as a flea's grave.

[Monkei]

Usually AAA means quality. They are not all call of duty.

Usually AAA means 'generic'. The high budgets and the targeted mainstream audience (that's needed to cover the costs) don't leave much room for risks, experiments or pushing creative boundaries. IMO truly remarkable AAA titles are the exception, rather than the rule. A lot of AAA titles are getting good reviews, but in the end still feel hollow and soulless and you've seen it all a thousand times. They're really the equivalent to mainstream blockbuster cinema.

[ManoTemple]

If Shenmue 3 looks anything like "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter," it's in good shape. I could never find Ethan Carter's budget, though...anyone know?

[Himuro]

Ethan Carter is indie.

[Telekill]

To me, AAA means, "not indie, flash, phone/tablet, etc.".

Definitions sway according to one's perspective or view point.

There are some games that go from what could be considered AAA (definitions varying) to what could be considered timeless. There are so few for me that fall into the Timeless category that it's almost sad but very understandable. The Shenmue series is one that has made that list for me.

[SlySpy]

The definition of an AAA game is not something that should be a matter of opinion. Quality is a matter of opinion, but the factual requirement of an AAA game is that it was created with a high budget, with an expected high return on investment. It doesn't matter what you think of its quality, it's about the budget and that is it. You can have a bigger budget than an indie title and still not be an AAA game. Those are called middle-market titles (a dying breed these days).

And yes, Shenmue was AAA at the time of its release.

[Himuro]

To me, AAA means, "not indie, flash, phone/tablet, etc.".

Definitions sway according to one's perspective or view point.

There are some games that go from what could be considered AAA (definitions varying) to what could be considered timeless. There are so few for me that fall into the Timeless category that it's almost sad but very understandable. The Shenmue series is one that has made that list for me.

That's not AAA at all. AAA is a game with a budget of 10-300 million.

[ChiefNeo]

To me, AAA means, "not indie, flash, phone/tablet, etc.".

Definitions sway according to one's perspective or view point.

There are some games that go from what could be considered AAA (definitions varying) to what could be considered timeless. There are so few for me that fall into the Timeless category that it's almost sad but very understandable. The Shenmue series is one that has made that list for me.

That's not AAA at all. AAA is a game with a budget of 10-300 million.

I bet I could name more "deep" AAA titles than you could non AAA

[Himuro]

To me, AAA means, "not indie, flash, phone/tablet, etc.".

Definitions sway according to one's perspective or view point.

There are some games that go from what could be considered AAA (definitions varying) to what could be considered timeless. There are so few for me that fall into the Timeless category that it's almost sad but very understandable. The Shenmue series is one that has made that list for me.

That's not AAA at all. AAA is a game with a budget of 10-300 million.

I bet I could name more "deep" AAA titles than you could non AAA

Uhhh, okay. Go ahead and try.

[Skillz]

Yep and look really hard at the size of the character models in relation to the size of the area, and buildings. This game will not be a small game. Choubu is bigger than this, and Baisha is bigger than Choubu. Can you imagine walking down from that path on the left, just walking around this little area, listening to the sounds of the environment, interacting with NCPs.

This is fucking Shenmue 3 right there.

Hey Peter,

Wondering if you saw any of this in the trailer shown to you at the Japan dinner? And if so, how much more than this did you see if at all?

No this all seems to be ingame development, specific to details, placement of 3D objects, mechanics etc. The trailer we seen was a lot of the cutscenes that would take place on the game.

Take the opening of Shenmue 2, meeting Joy, going on the bus to Kowloon, meeting Ren, the cave, the rooftop etc... Take all those cutscenes and mash them together with a musical overlay as a trailer for Shenmue 2, and that's more or less what we got for our trailer of Shenmue 3.

where is this trailer!

[Spaghetti]

where is this trailer!

The trailer Peter saw in Japan?

We're probably never going to see that exact video because of how outdated the footage would be now.

[FlagshipFighter]

Anyone notice that when Ryo is standing there and it's dark there's a transition? Nightfall perhaps?

[ShenmueTree]

My personal definition of AAA game would be a game made by a multi million or billion dollar company that can freely decide what project they'd like without relying on crowdfunding or worrying about going bankrupt if the game doesn't sell well enough.

YSnet, is not that kind of company and had to rely on Kickstarter, as well as Sony for marketing. IMO YSnet is an indie studio.

BTW game quality mostly has no relevance as to whether a studio is indie or not. There are tons of indie studies that release amazing games as well as a ton of AAA studios that release shitty games.