Shenmue 3 (PC,PS4)

BAISHA

Concept art and photos: https://imgur.com/a/Urtpj

Yu Suzuki : "Baisha will show off what Shenmue is all about. Live out a siege game reminiscent of the Warring kingdoms. See what strategist will come out on top. May possibly feature an 'infiltration mission' into the Chi You Men's Guilin branch. The buildings shown in the concept art are called Tulous. They are between three and five stories high, can house up to 80 families and are easily defensible."


CHOUBU

Concept art and photos: https://imgur.com/a/eU3uV

Yu Suzuki : "Choubu is a riverside village with lots of shops, souvenir stores, hotels and temples. The quests in this village should be very enjoyable, I think. Amidst the mystical scenery of the Li River, Choubu lies in a water colour painting come to life. The port of call will be filled with souvenir shops and hotels, shrines and village dwellings. Expect to meet a sage master of Nanquan there. This area may feature the 'Magic Maze' technique of generating building interiors. It could also feature a part time job of some sort."


BAILU

Concept art and photos: https://imgur.com/a/YBRqA

Yu Suzuki: "Bailu is the village where Shenhua was raised and also a place that Ryo's father, Iwao, had visited when he was younger. Here as well the quests will play an important role as Ryo and Shenhua start their journey. Shenmue 2 ends at Shenhua's house in the outskirts of Bailu village. Bailu village is waiting to be explored for real."

Update #16 - Jun 26 2015 a écrit:

Twitch Stream Going Live Soon!

Hello Everyone!

Yu Suzuki will be on Twitch to talk Shenmue 3 in about 2 hours at 7:00PM PDT (2:00AM GMT).

The official Shenmue 3 Twitch channel is at: www.twitch.tv/shenmue3official

See you there!

gatsuforever a écrit:Tsubasa tu es l'admin de ce topic.

Yu Suzuki's Twitch a écrit:
Q: What is Sony’s involvement with Shenmue III?
YS: Sony is providing us with support in various ways including marketing, funding and promotion, and they’re our most important partner; they’re also our largest and most valued backer.

We plan to invest all the money collected from everyone through Kickstarter on development, excepting the Kickstarter fees and costs for the rewards. No portion of the collected money will flow to Shibuya Productions or Sony.

Q: PS4 physical reward?
YS: This is one of the most requested rewards, and it’s the reward I most want to make happen. Um... Please be patient!

Q: How will Kickstarter funds be spent?
YS: Please take a look at this pie chart which I’ve prepared.
[Fees: 8 - 10%, Game development: 65 to 72%, Backer rewards: 20 - 25%]



Q: Ryo’s appearance...
YS: We’ve had a lot of comments about how Ryo’s face looks, but we’ve just got started and so it is still under development. Personally, I’m not satisfied at all either, and so even now we’re continuing to improve it. Today I’ve brought a slightly improved version to show you – it’s not the final version, and we’ll be improving it even further, but I wanted to show you it.

For comparison, we’ve included two shots of Ryo from Shenmue II.



The one at the front is the slightly improved version for Shenmue III. Again, I’m not completely happy with this Ryo – the shape of his mouth is not quite right – and I’d like to make further refinements.

As well as the shape of his face, his facial expressions and his actions also add to his personality and his attractiveness. So going forward I’d like to work on facial expressions and movements in making an attractive Ryo.

Q: Will the original voice actors reprise their roles?
YS: I auditioned Masaya Matsukaze and Corey Marshall for Shenmue I & II, and I believe their voices are perfect for Ryo’s voice. So I’d definitely like to have them reprise the role again this time. We’re currently in negotiations and I’m sure they will both be happy to do so, so please look forward to that.

Q: Can PayPal payment be added?
YS: I’m considering funding methods other than Kickstarter, including PayPal.

Q: Will a DRM-free version be made available?
YS: It’s something that is under consideration at the moment. However it’s not something Ys Net can decide by ourselves, and so discussions are taking place with various parties.

Q: Will HD versions of Shenmue I & II be released?
YS: I think that if Shenmue I and II could be released before Shenmue III, people would be able to understand the backstory and enjoy Shenmue III even more. And so I also personally strongly want this to happen, but as the rights are held by Sega I’m not really in a position to be able to comment. However I will also express to Sega that that I really would like for them to be produced.

Q: Details of new rewards?
YS: There has been feedback that there are not enough rewards, and so we have added additional rewards. We have prepared $1000, $2000 and $5000 grab bags. The bags will continue various items of Shenmue merchandise, and I think these will be quite exciting. And also at the $5000 level will the one-only prototype of the watch worn by Ryo in the Shenmue games. I have it here to show you... This is the Timex watch worn by Ryo, and it has the YS and Shenmue logos on it. It’s a very rare item.

Q: Details of the grab bags?
YS: It includes various things such as special figures of Ryo, watches... these watches are not quite as valuable as the one-of-a-kind one mentioned before; they’re more casual and they also have the Shenmue logo. Anyway, there are a variety of different items included.

Also, we have prepared some of the original art drawn by our main character designer, Miyawaki. These are quite valuable, and are a great reward I think.

In addition to the rewards we have added today, we will be continuing to add further ones in the future, so please look forward to them too.

Q: Tell us about the stretch goals up to $3.6m?
YS: Firstly, I’ll talk about the stretch goals up until around the $3.6m mark, which are the most basic goals. The stretch goals up to $3.6m will achieve a story-oriented Shenmue. As further goals are reached, the content for various areas will be correspondingly expanded, but even with the story-oriented version, the plot will develop to reach a confrontation with the 4 leaders {of the Chiyoumen}.

Also, game features like the Rapport system and the Skill Tree system will be included.

Q: Rapport system
YS: With the Rapport system, various data on your interactions with Shenhua will be tracked, such as her level of trust and rapport with you and so on, according to your actions toward her and the way your conversations progress. Later, this will affect how cooperative Shenhua is toward you, for example. I think we’ll be able to express a new and exciting angle to Shenmue that wasn’t present in the previous games.

Q: Skill Tree system
YS: In Shenmue 3, you will be able to obtain move scrolls {“technique scrolls”} in various places – for example, in shops, mini-games, part-time jobs, gambling, quest events. You’ll be able to make immediate use of move scrolls in battle QTEs – for example, once you get a new scroll, you’ll be able to use it straight away as a QTE appearing during a fight. Being able to use it as soon as you have collected it will make it easy and satisfying to use. I think it will be fun to have it appear and be used when fighting. Advanced moves and Arcane scrolls will be managed in a tree structure; these will not become immediately available after obtaining them. Instead, a likeness can be drawn with learning of actual martial arts, where you build up to reach an advanced move through the accumulation of several moves; in a similar way, you will need to build up moves in the tree in order to reach the advanced moves, and I think filling the moves in the tree will be fun.

But you won’t have to build up to the advanced moves by actually participating in fighting (which can become tiresome); instead you just need to accumulate the necessary move scrolls to fill the tree.

Q: Stretch Goals up to $5m
YS: If the $5m mark is reached, we will focus on the area of Baisha There will be new types of play here which were not present in Shenmue I & II. Typical classical war strategies from the historical Three Kingdoms period of China, such as seiges and infiltration, will be incorporated.

Features such as “infiltration” may sound as if they will make the game too complicated, but they will be implemented in a way that is in keeping with the feel of the Shenmue games and will be easy to enjoy and engage with for anyone.

As another feature, I am planning a Character Perspective system. To put it simply, it is being able to change the character you play, but in Shenmue it will be done a little differently from other games that have this: in Baisha there will be an event where you will be able to change character in order to accomplish the mission. The player will be able to control not just the character of Ryo, but also other characters such as Shenhua and Ren; Ren has his own distinct personality, and Shenhua as a female has her own viewpoints and decisions; the choices will be different depending on the character you play. So it won’t simply be changing of character, but rather each character’s personality will be expressed and I think this will make for an enjoyable experience.

Q: Stretch Goals to $11m
YS: Currently further stretch goals have been announced through to $11m (such as the expanded battle system and so on), I’d like to leave it until next week to talk about these.

Q: Shenmue III at the Current Funding Level (around $3.6m at time of Twitch) vs $10 million
YS: At the current level of funding, as I mentioned earlier the game will be focused on the story. However once we reach $5 million we will be able to introduce aspects such as the Three Kingdoms “war strategies” mentioned earlier which will set it apart from the first two Shenmue games. This is actually the part I would most like to accomplish. If we can go above $10 million, the town of Choubu will be significantly enhanced. The town of Choubu has scenery that is somewhat like, for example, the Dobuita and Yokosuka areas of Shenmue I, and this will open up various options for amusement there. So, above $10 million, we will be able to include both game features that I would like to take on the challenge of including, as well as making the game “open-world like” with an even wider range of choices available.

Q: When is Shenmue III going to be reLEEEAASED?
YS: By the end of 2017.

Q: Will Shenmue III end the story?
YS: In terms of the 11 chapters that form the basis of the Shenmue story, we have only traversed a little way through these in Shenmue I and II. I did consider completing all the remaining chapters within the third game, but it would mean skipping a lot of the good parts and would not result in a satisfactory game. There were a lot of people who want to know the ending of the story, but in order to make the game as high quality as possible, the end of the story will not be reached in Shenmue III.

Q: Release Date of Demo Version
YS: Providing this at an early stage will be difficult because we need to develop various systems and the game to a certain extent first. It is likely not to be until the latter half of the development period.

I think it won’t be until 2017.

Q: Final Comment
YS: I always love doing new things and taking on new challenges, and so I would like to aim for the goal of $10 million in order to produce a Shenmue that is both the one I want to create, and one which everyone wants. I really hope to somehow bring it to reality, and so I would like to ask for everyone’s continued efforts and cooperation. Thank you.

Update #17 - Jun 28 2015 a écrit:

Twitch Recap

Hello Everyone! Thank you for joining Yu Suzuki on Twitch on Friday! Many of the big questions from the campaign so far were addressed, so here is a rundown of questions and Mr. Suzuki’s responses:

Will there be a physical reward for PS4?
This is the most requested reward, and one I personaly would like to see the most. For right now though, I would like to ask everyone to hold on a little while yet.

How will the funding from the Kickstater be used?
There is a Kickstarter Budget Estimate graph on the project page, so please have a look there for the details .

Will we see an improvement in the graphics?
Especially concerning Ryo’s face, I am not satisfied with how it looks right now. We are still in the development stage, and you can expect improvements as we go along.



The background images of Ryo are from Shenmue 2 and in the foreground, is the updated version of Ryo. I am still not happy with this current model, and will continue make improvements. Ryo’s personality will come out not only in the character model, but also in how he moves and in his facial expressions.

Will the original voice actors for Ryo also be in Shenmue 3?
I think that (Masaya Matsukaze for the Japanese language version, and Corey Marshall for the English version) are the best match for Ryo and I would like to see them back. We are currently in negotiations for them to come back, so please wait a little while until we can give you all of the details.

Will payments through PayPal be accepted?
Now I am currently looking into PayPay other payment methods to help fund the project. We are still considering other options, but do not have an answer for you right now.

Will there be DRM-free version for Windows PC?
We are still looking into that option as well, but it is not something that we can decide on our own, and will need to discuss it with the other parties concerned.

Will there be Shenmue 1 and Shenmue 2 HD Remastered versions?
I personally would like to see remastered versions come out before Shenmue 3, so fans can really get to know the story and enjoy 3 even more. I really hope this could happen. The rights to Shenmue 1 & 2 belong to Sega, so I am not in a position to comment on it. However I would like to talk to them about it.

What is the Rapport System?
It will be a feature that governs Shenhua’s attitude towards you, depending on your conversations or actions you take. I believe it will provide a new twist to Shenmue.

What is the Skill Tree System?
There will be many different ways to obtain Technique Scrolls from—from the shops, mini-games, betting games, and quests. Those technique scrolls will allow you to use those techniques right away in battle as a QTE event. The Advanced Skill Techniques and Arcane Skill Techniques are managed in a tree diagram where you fill up the tree to complete your martial arts learning.

What are the Baisha Stretch Goals?
The $5 million Srtetch Goal will focus on the area, Baisha. This will be something new and fun I would like to include for Shenmue 3. It will include siege and infiltration events based off the Warring Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The events will be very Shenmue-like and will fit into the game naturally and will not be difficult to grasp. There is also the Character Perspective System. It is a character change system, but in Shenmue, it will work a little differently. It will allow you to play as Shenhua or Ren, besides Ryo. The choices that Shenhua or Ren would make would be different from those of Ryo’s because their personalities are different. It will bring out their individual character and add another element of enjoyment to the game. There are Stretch Goals up to $11 million, and I would like to explain those next week!

How will Shenmue 3 be different at $3 million, $5 and $10 million?
At the $3 million level, Shenmue 3 will be more story oriented. Going to $5 million, there will be features not present in 1 & 2, features that I really want to see in Shenmue 3 like the Warring Kingdom scenarios. At the $10 million level, the area Choubu will get a big expansion, and be like Dobuita in Yokosuka where you will have a lot of options to explore and have fun. I hope we can shoot for that goal and make Shenmue 3 more open world like.

Is Shenmue 3 the end of the story?
The initial story line contains 11 chapters. I thought about condensing the story in 3, but I thought that necessitate cutting too much of the story out, so I decided not to go that route. Many fans really want to see the whole story.

When will the Trail version come out?
The Trial version will require many of the basic systems to be functional first, so it will be released in the latter half of the development process. I would most likely be looking sometime after we get into 2017.

There are so many questions that you would like to have answered yet, and we will do our best to answer what we can at this stage of development, so please keep asking away, There will be more Q & A with Yu Suzuki to follow!

Update #18 - Jun 29 2015 a écrit:
Interview with Shenmue’s Main Character Designer

Hello Everyone!

Shenmue has a diverse and huge cast of characters. Hundreds of unique personalities, each with their own story, each going about their own lives in the world of Shenmue. Giving these people shape and breathing life into them was artist and designer Kenji Miyawaki. His work with the character concepts and character design helped populate Shenmue with many of the colorful and unforgettable characters that made the story so inviting.

In today’s interview, Miyawaki-san gets into how he had come to work for Sega, what it was like being involved in the production of Shenmue, and elaborates on how a certain character came about. Please welcome, Kenji Miyawaki!



Thank you very much Miyawaki-san! Your art has ignited the imaginations of all us Shenmue fans. We all look forward to what you have in store for us next! His artwork will most certainly be included in the printed artbook reward, as well as with the grab bag rewards.

Kenji Miyawaki's artwork from Shenmue:

Spoiler:

gatsuforever a écrit:

Update #19 - Jun 30 2015 a écrit:

When Shenmue Got its Name

Hello Everyone!

Today we introduce Masahiro Yoshimoto, the script writer for Shenmue. He has written scripts and screenplays for film and TV, from dramas, to crime, to suspense, to mystery, to period dramas, and for just about every genre there is.

He talks about how his experience writing for, and playing Shenmue, and reflects on his life now that he will be involved with Shenmue again. And! Yoshimoto-san recounts the day when Yu Suzuki pitches him the title for a story. No spoilers here, but if you are a Shenmue fan, you don't want to miss it!

Please welcome, Masahiro Yoshimoto!



That was one for the record books! Thank you so much Yoshimoto-san for helping to bring the Shenmue story to life!

Coming Up...

Suzuki-san has heard the many requests for additional rewards, and they are in the works as we speak. Thank you for all the great ideas everyone!

Plus, there are more behind-the-scenes interviews with the Shenmue project members on the way, so stay tuned!