Kickstarter Update #60: Dinner in Japan Reward Report

[Spaghetti]

I really hope they get the hires they need quickly.

It'd be amazing if they really could work on something that gets shown at PSX this year, and silence who people who believe the game has sunk without a trace.

[Hazuki00]

Thinking about it, I'm impress about how efficient Unreal 4 engine is...and of course, they are a great team!
I think even Suzuki couldn't imgine how fast they would work with this engine, they make huge progress each month. At the start Suzuki thought they would need more money and time to acomplish some tasks that now they are finished. I'm sure even with much less money than the 11 million he suggested he needed for a real Shenmue experience, now with the budget he has can do much more things than originally planned.

This is what I think based on what suzuki has said in some interviews..

[FlagshipFighter]

The concern i always had was whether or not they would be able to capture the spirit of the original games. When I eventually play Shenmue 3 i want it to feel like i'm authentically re-entering the world of 1&2, as opposed to just playing a generic Unreal 4 game with a shenmue skin, albeit with good graphics but still at some level an imperfect imitation. Unfortunately that original Ryo model didn't inspire confidence, but as we all know, making a judgment at such an early stage of development was completely unjustified.

I feel reassured when Peter says that, from what he has seen, this will be 'the full-on shenmue experience'.
I am glad that Suzuki is giving so much attention and taking such care in delivering to us the authentic Shenmue experience.

[ChiefNeo]

I think one thing thay can be said is what Yu mentioned about the look.

It was a very good conversation, that really made me feel good (this was said before we seen what was on the laptop). Yu went into a bit of detail about the colour of Shenmue, which I found very interesting. He said about how Shenmue has a specific look, which all stems from the colour pallette. He wants Shenmue colours to feel "wet", or "moist", in that you can feel the colours on the screen. Taste them even. He said that Unreal has a great colour editor but they didn't quite have the Shenmue colours he was looking for. But eventually they did crack it and in what we seen, it was completely Shenmue.

That's what I meant by when I was asked about if this game was essentially "Shenmue". It really is. This is where the brilliance and importance of Yu at the helm of this is so vital to this being a true Shenmue 3. Another director may have thought something looked well, but wasn't quite Shenmue. But it really is.


Another thing to mention is Matt is 100% completely right. He made the point of saying this was a little old. This was backed up by Yosuke who cut it. Now that means what we seen was completed around June, which is just 4 months after MAGIC where we seen a cut of Shenhuas home and the fishing pond etc which Yu confirmed was completed the day before. Now with that info, and seeing what they can do in 4 months..... I swear when you see it you will drop a bollock. Not only that, but they are now hiring more staff? Sweet Jesus this game..... I can't wait until all of this stuff is public so we can all be on this level of excited that we are.

Thank you so much for this description. One of my many "concerns" was exactly this. The look, and how it would be captured. Shenmue does not shoot for utter realism. It was a very specific look. Glad to hear they pulled it off!!!!

[FlagshipFighter]

Oh good lord, hearing Yu talk about trying to get the smallest details just right... sends chills down the spine. And to think, the footage we saw was all pre-Keiji Okayasu arrival. I'm really curious how much more Shenmue it looks now.

What I personally want to stress for my part, is what makes Shenmue, Shenmue. - Keiji Okayasu

Beautiful times we live in.

You don't know me, but I've been on this site for many, many years. I've always admired your passion for this game and I remember you as a beacon of light in the old dark days.

I just want to say man, I'm as happy for you, as I am for myself that this game is being made, if that makes any sense. Enjoy it. We all deserve to.

[FlagshipFighter]

well ChiefNeo I am feeling the same thing for LanDC as well. In fact he helped me make my first music video of shenmue! We are happy we are getting the game guys. but we are also happy for the old veterans here , LanDC , Kiyuu, Peter and to all the others: THANK YOU, you deserve it more than us. Now i am off to watch LanDC's shellshock shenmue video

[PILMAN]

The concern i always had was whether or not they would be able to capture the spirit of the original games. When I eventually play Shenmue 3 i want it to feel like i'm authentically re-entering the world of 1&2, as opposed to just playing a generic Unreal 4 game with a shenmue skin, albeit with good graphics but still at some level an imperfect imitation. Unfortunately that original Ryo model didn't inspire confidence, but as we all know, making a judgment at such an early stage of development was completely unjustified.

I feel reassured when Peter says that, from what he has seen, this will be 'the full-on shenmue experience'.
I am glad that Suzuki is giving so much attention and taking such care in delivering to us the authentic Shenmue experience.

Have you seen some of the games made with unreal engine? This is nothing like a unreal game, the engine has been used from everything from RPG games, fps, top down games, etc. There has been some amazing work and there's not much in terms of limitations.

[FlagshipFighter]

The concern i always had was whether or not they would be able to capture the spirit of the original games. When I eventually play Shenmue 3 i want it to feel like i'm authentically re-entering the world of 1&2, as opposed to just playing a generic Unreal 4 game with a shenmue skin, albeit with good graphics but still at some level an imperfect imitation. Unfortunately that original Ryo model didn't inspire confidence, but as we all know, making a judgment at such an early stage of development was completely unjustified.

I feel reassured when Peter says that, from what he has seen, this will be 'the full-on shenmue experience'.
I am glad that Suzuki is giving so much attention and taking such care in delivering to us the authentic Shenmue experience.

Have you seen some of the games made with unreal engine? This is nothing like a unreal game, the engine has been used from everything from RPG games, fps, top down games, etc. There has been some amazing work and there's not much in terms of limitations.

Also I believe you can much better tailor the look of your game better on UE4 to achieve something very bespoke, so it's not like UE3 last gen where it had a very common/distinctive look and behavior across all games that were using it.

Thankful in this case that it wasn't a game made for last gen systems as well, otherwise UE3 would basically be their only choice.

Also thankful that it's not being made in the unity engine because all of the more ambious 3D games using it seem to really suffer from poor performance. I recently went to EGX and I was talking to the dev of 'Aragami' and the art style looks beautiful etc but the unity engine really lets it down as it can barely hold 20-30fps on PS4 atm which is a huge shame to see. I know it ain't a twitchy game, but the dev was just telling me how much of a struggle it is to optimise it for PS4 and that there is no way around it. Still, it's impressive that this was all done as part of his masters degree studies to land that kind of opportunity with Sony. Might get it if it indeed hits on xbox one after its 6 months exclusivity...

[FlagshipFighter]

UE4 is incredibly versatile, it can be tailored to any developer's needs.
If by chance you don't like the out-of-the-box settings/shaders, you can write your own. The UE4 source code is available to the public... You can edit or add anything you want, provided you have the skill.

Seems YSnet managed to write their own Shenmue-esque shaders that resembles the previous games vibes... I'm excited to see what they achieved and how different it looks compared to the footage we've already seen.

[FlagshipFighter]

December really can't come soon enough, can it?

[Hazuki00]

I feel more relieved because of what Peter and LanDc said. We don't have to worry, Yu has come back with his team!

[Peter]

That was what I was hoping for. As long as I can make at least one fan feel better with the privelidged position I was in, then that was a success for me. I certainly don't want to be that guy who is like, "yea I seen stuff but I can't speak about it" for an ego boost or out of satisfaction. I'm not that way inclined. LanDC more or less covered what we seen. But at the same time, Harry and Yu said to please keep it to ourselves so it's a hard position for us to be in.

That's one side of the coin, like I said I don't like being a secretive guy, but on the other side, we know what's coming in terms of what each scene details, so our surprise is ruined. It's a situation where you make a sacrifice either way. So I just played the fence by trying my best to get you guys reassured and excited. That's what I took away from the entire experience, and not just a few minutes of non finished footage. Not what was on the screen, but the sheer fact that this really is a proper Shenmue game. Not a 15 year later interpretation, or a watered down Kickstarter game. This is as if you got the Dreamcast game in 2006 and it's just been made with a better engine. I cannot emphasise that enough, and I am counting down the days to December when I am sure we will all feel the same way.

[Spaghetti]

That was what I was hoping for. As long as I can make at least one fan feel better with the privelidged position I was in, then that was a success for me. I certainly don't want to be that guy who is like, "yea I seen stuff but I can't speak about it" for an ego boost or out of satisfaction. I'm not that way inclined. LanDC more or less covered what we seen. But at the same time, Harry and Yu said to please keep it to ourselves so it's a hard position for us to be in.

That's one side of the coin, like I said I don't like being a secretive guy, but on the other side, we know what's coming in terms of what each scene details, so our surprise is ruined. It's a situation where you make a sacrifice either way. So I just played the fence by trying my best to get you guys reassured and excited. That's what I took away from the entire experience, and not just a few minutes of non finished footage. Not what was on the screen, but the sheer fact that this really is a proper Shenmue game. Not a 15 year later interpretation, or a watered down Kickstarter game. This is as if you got the Dreamcast game in 2006 and it's just been made with a better engine. I cannot emphasise that enough, and I am counting down the days to December when I am sure we will all feel the same way.

I imagine the talk with Yu was possibly more enlightening and encouraging than the footage, would I be right in thinking that?

[Peter]

Yea I mean Shenmue is fantastic, but it's a game. It's a work of fiction, and people can get lost in the world of Shenmue, and video gaming. Talking with everyone there gave a great sense of reality, and that it's the result of creative human beings that make Shenmue a quality piece of entertainment. It's inspiring to listen to people with such a passion. It makes you want to be a more creative person, and inspire others.

[PILMAN]

Also want to say thank you LanDC and Peter for the details. I bet meeting Yu Suzuki was a unique experience.