Shenmue – 2000 Developer Interview (Shmuplations)

[Ziming]

Shenmue – 2000 Developer Interview: With Yu Suzuki, Manabu Takimoto, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and more



http://shmuplations.com/shenmue/

[Giorgio]

It feels like they are excavating ancient artifacts from an advanced prehistoric lost civilization.

[johnvivant]

amazing find.

[Supa]

We found out more about Shenmue in this interview than we did in the two newest Shenmue III interviews...

[johnvivant]

it answers my question about the title and the tree not resembling the sedge. they liked the 'euphony' of it which is what i'd guessed it might be.

i'm intrigued about 'the Mysterious Wind' - but again i think its more about their liking for the euphony rather than the literal meaning.

the boat name easter egg is amazing. yu suzuki or one of the other developers should right a whole book about making this game, it would be amazing.

most interesting info about the original game in AGES!

[Amir]

Man, that GSLA archive sounds amazing, who knows what other Shenmue treasures are buried there?!

[BlueMue]

Wow this totaly came out of nowhere. I can't believe all the previously unearthed info this thing holds.
The thing about the name particularly struck me. How was this not brought up anywhere else, especially at the GDC last year.

I really loved the bit about the cat, how the kitten is based of one that was actually called Sasuke.
Now it makes sense why the name is there and it makes the whole thing even funnier!

[Yokosuka]

Shenmue 2 will be the next evolutionary step for the Shenmue series; I think of the first game like an egg, in that sense. The egg of a new genre. I want to take this new direction and go further for Shenmue 2. I also want you to be able to carry your data over from the first game. The things you do in Shenmue, therefore, will affect the events in Shenmue 2. Of course you’ll be able to start from the sequel too. If you’re someone who has played this first chapter, though, the sequel will deepen your experience. That’s our plan.

What "events" he thought when talking about Shenmue 1 & 2 connections ?

For Shenmue, we actually created detailed backstories for all the characters and locations. With the Shenmue Passport players can learn about the details and connections that we couldn’t show in the game. There’s a lot of hidden relationships, for example.

So how did they intend to put all these backstories in the original game if they had more time ? What could that mean for Shenmue 3 new ambitions ?

A lot of new things and a lot of new questions.

[johnvivant]

i assume that when he gave this interview shenmue 2 was still in production. maybe these 'events' that would be triggered by the players actions from the first game got cut.

some things like Iwaos relationship with the woman standing outside Bar Yokosuka obviously couldn't be shown in-game since iwao was dead. also you never hear npc's talking to each other, so you would only know about their relationship from what they told you directly. also - as they said - they had a very limited amount of memory available, so more dialogue could not be accommodated.

this time shenmue 3 is not so much limited by memory but perhaps by the budget. i hope detailed npc back stories/relationships return for 3.

[Centrale]

It's interesting that they mention they had to hire an outside firm to come up with a lot of the sound effects. I wonder if that is a factor that has delayed the rumored HD re-releases?

[Yokosuka]

It's interesting that they mention they had to hire an outside firm to come up with a lot of the sound effects. I wonder if that is a factor that has delayed the rumored HD re-releases?

I thought the same, it sounded like a possible remake of Jet Set Radio copyright issues.

[Switch]

Man, that GSLA archive sounds amazing, who knows what other Shenmue treasures are buried there?!

Good news, there's also a 2001 interview about Shenmue II on the site. I've put it on my translation hit list.
http://chibarei.blog.jp/gsl/words/shenmu2/shenmu2.html

[Giorgio]

[...] yu suzuki or one of the other developers should right a whole book about making this game, it would be amazing. [...]

That would be another dream come true. But that book should be multipage and include every detail about Shenmue's development etc.

[kuwakodono]

But to the extent that there is a melody, after listening to it for 3 or 4 hours, it will start to wear on your mind and annoy you… as such, my closest image for the music of Shenmue was buddhist sutras. There’s something mysterious about them, and I asked Mitsuyoshi to try and match that image.

Wow, that's pretty illuminating. I don't know much about music theory, but would have loved to hear more about how the composers created the music with this directive in mind. On the surface, the music doesn't sound much like sutra chanting, but the concepts of nostalgia, mystery, and serenity do come through.

Examples of sutra chants:

phpBB [video]

Not traditional, but one of my favorites:

phpBB [video]

[shenmue852]

Shenmue 2 will be the next evolutionary step for the Shenmue series; I think of the first game like an egg, in that sense. The egg of a new genre. I want to take this new direction and go further for Shenmue 2. I also want you to be able to carry your data over from the first game. The things you do in Shenmue, therefore, will affect the events in Shenmue 2. Of course you’ll be able to start from the sequel too. If you’re someone who has played this first chapter, though, the sequel will deepen your experience. That’s our plan.

What "events" he thought when talking about Shenmue 1 & 2 connections ?

For Shenmue, we actually created detailed backstories for all the characters and locations. With the Shenmue Passport players can learn about the details and connections that we couldn’t show in the game. There’s a lot of hidden relationships, for example.

So how did they intend to put all these backstories in the original game if they had more time ? What could that mean for Shenmue 3 new ambitions ?

A lot of new things and a lot of new questions.

i have a feeling they just made all the backstories first, then decided on which of them they'd portray in the game (i.e Eileen and Fangmei's friendship)

I kind of get the feeling Shenmue II was *slightly* rushed, in that it seems like they were planning to put in more optional content in Wan Chai and Kowloon and decided not to.