110 Industries & Yu Suzuki

spud1897 said:
I don't think the wider media would take so kindly to it. In fact I expect they will shit on it from a great height. That said because the base assets are all there it might be easier for them to sell the idea as the concept/groundwork is all done.
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I agree on both points. The latter is why I think it could work, but it is certainly risky and probably something that can only be considered as a last resort. Then again, a cost of living crisis isn't exactly the best time for it.

Some serious budget cuts would probably need to happen though and fans would most likely disagree with what those should be. The English dub would be my first vote, particularly as that technically already happened for the second game as far as some of us are concerned (I mean those who grew up on the European Dreamcast release), but I know for some people that's just something they do not want to happen and they view it as adding an additional hurdle in terms of appeal and accessibility in the West.
 
I guess one way around that is having an English dub as a stretch goal. I think I remember during Corey's livestream during lockdown that there were some famous fans who voices some characters for free or for peanuts on condition of anonymity (I think it was a union thing), so there are ways around it.

I'm not averse to going down the crowdfunding route on the proviso that it won't get as much as S3. If that is the case, they must, must, *MUST* do a better job of communication. You're always going to get idiots who treat Kickstarter as a pre-order store and people who will shit on the game regardless. In 2022 when crowdfunding has lost the wind in its sails compared to 2015, then you can't afford complacency.

A fairly recent example that comes to mind is Platinum Games with The Wonderful 101. The game was essentially complete and the crowdfunding was just a tiny step over the line and they dropped the ball for various reasons. I think it would need to be a streamlined campaign where the options are essentially the game and perhaps a few more bells and whistles. Nothing like Shenmue III where they added a new option every day for two weeks (that got confusing quick).

110 or a similar publisher would 100% be the better option, but i'm willing to crowdfund if needs be. As mentioned, use Unreal 4, have similar graphics and just give us a new game in the same way Shenmue II was to Shenmue I.
 
bcdcdude said:
I guess one way around that is having an English dub as a stretch goal. I think I remember during Corey's livestream during lockdown that there were some famous fans who voices some characters for free or for peanuts on condition of anonymity (I think it was a union thing), so there are ways around it.

I'm not averse to going down the crowdfunding route on the proviso that it won't get as much as S3. If that is the case, they must, must, *MUST* do a better job of communication. You're always going to get idiots who treat Kickstarter as a pre-order store and people who will shit on the game regardless. In 2022 when crowdfunding has lost the wind in its sails compared to 2015, then you can't afford complacency.

A fairly recent example that comes to mind is Platinum Games with The Wonderful 101. The game was essentially complete and the crowdfunding was just a tiny step over the line and they dropped the ball for various reasons. I think it would need to be a streamlined campaign where the options are essentially the game and perhaps a few more bells and whistles. Nothing like Shenmue III where they added a new option every day for two weeks (that got confusing quick).

110 or a similar publisher would 100% be the better option, but i'm willing to crowdfund if needs be. As mentioned, use Unreal 4, have similar graphics and just give us a new game in the same way Shenmue II was to Shenmue I.
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I entirely agree with all this. They should definitely streamline the campaign if they did go down the crowdfunded route again. In particular, I don't think all those Kickstarter exclusive DLC rewards would really help this time around,

Obviously I hope it doesn't come to that though.
 
Reprise said:
I entirely agree with all this. They should definitely streamline the campaign if they did go down the crowdfunded route again. In particular, I don't think all those Kickstarter exclusive DLC rewards would really help this time around,

Obviously I hope it doesn't come to that though.
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As great as the physical rewards were, I do think the money that was put toward manufacturing and sending those out to backers would have been better spent on development.
 
Sonoshee said:
As great as the physical rewards were, I do think the money that was put toward manufacturing and sending those out to backers would have been better spent on development.
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Yeah, I agree. And I have backed a lot of Kickstarters now and, to be honest, most of those physical rewards have ended up shoved in a cupboard somewhere in my house, never to be used or looked at. Generally, it's all just junk and tat to me that I don't need. I am not criticising the Shenmue 3 rewards, some of them were pretty cool, but overall I do find I am not that interested in KS physicsl rewards once I actually receive them.

It's a catch 22, because without a lot of those rewards, a project like Shenmue 3 might have not gained quite so much money, because it entices not only more backers (because without the "exclusive" rewards, people might be more inclined to sit out and wait for the retail release, assuming the funding goal is reached), but it also encourages existing backers to increase their pledges because they keep thinking "oh, but just an extra 20/30/40/whatever dollars I could get these cool items" and it can spiral. I know I often back projects and end up increasing my pledge up a tier or two.

That said, it adds additional pressure and potential problems for projects. Not only can costs increase by the time they come to manufacture and ship those rewards, but backers can become increasingly impatient when waiting for them, particularly if there are production delays, which just adds drama that the studios really do not need. Then you get people complaining that their rewards go missing in the post or get damaged in transit
As you said, all that time and money is better spent on development.

My gut says just keep it simple, but there would definitely be even more risks with crowdfunding this time.
 
Many game developers are already making use of assets generators and AI assisted tools for cutting production times and costs (and human labor force).

For example, Yu-san is able to tailor his own texture generator and feed it with the whole S1-3 raw textures library. Same for other assets, including levels and characters, each with its own dedicated tool. Then enter some parameters and get +20 Baisha possible layouts, and hundreds of different NPC variants with equal set of different skins. In addition, the AI can be included as mechanic as well.
Remember that OpenAI started even outputting nice code prior to Yu Suzuki's researching into AI. He owns like the Shenmue dataset.
 
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Perhaps, I'm just wanting to stay hopeful, but I think Suzuki is trying his best. It could have been some 110 social media person wanting to spill the beans, and they had to be silenced.

When Air Twister was announced, the first thing I thought was, maybe Yu Suzuki is making this game with Apple to raise money for Shenmue 4. As much as I hate NFTs, I also thought he could be raising more from that as well.

My biggest source of hope is the fact people mention here that YsNet still has an office with employees. They have to be doing something to keep them busy. Now that Air Twister is released, I highly doubt that the staff are spending all their time on that game making updates. Who knows, maybe the Apple deal was for more than one game though and they are working on the next title?

Has anyone been on the look out to see if YsNet is still hiring for positions?
Lastly, I can't help but think his comments about AI would fit Shenmue the best. So many NPCs!
 
My biggest fear is that Shenmue IV doesn't happen at all because of the widespread bombing of Shemnue III. I was actually up for another game similar to Shenmue III. I loved just about every minute of it. I'm a big player in the DOA community and the same thing was done for DOA6. Widespread bombing of the game from the community even though it wasn't that bad.

Now we've gotta wish upon stars for it to ever happen.
 
deathofaninja said:
My biggest fear is that Shenmue IV doesn't happen at all because of the widespread bombing of Shemnue III. I was actually up for another game similar to Shenmue III. I loved just about every minute of it. I'm a big player in the DOA community and the same thing was done for DOA6. Widespread bombing of the game from the community even though it wasn't that bad.

Now we've gotta wish upon stars for it to ever happen.
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See this is what i'm talking about.

What's DOA btw?
 
Sput Vas Normandy said:
You know, I wrote a long reply. But I can make it shorter.

The game apparently didnt sell as expected, BECAUSE of:
1) it was a niche game and the "cult game status" didnt turn into sells when we got the port of Steam. On this point, nothing we can do about. We cant put a gun into people's head and tell them to play a 20 year old game.
2) the hate train of internet made a lot of people to not try S3. And on this point there were stuff to do.

One thing we should do in the past was to stay united and make a fucking wall defending the game and series. And I know a lot of us did it, but some didnt. Some people decided in S3 release, critical moment that decides the sells, the future of the franchise, THAT MOMENT its the moment to throw stones into the train and to discuss creative decisions. And Seaman, you werent talking about Reprise in that aspect, but I do, because he was one of those criticizing the game. You can do that? Of course. But if you want to KEEP FUCKING ALIVE THE SERIES TILL ITS DONE, you have to admit thats not the smartest move to do, specialy if you want to keep the series going.

I hope the people who "were honest" and throw stones to their own fucking train are happy now with this situation. You guys couldnt keep your mouth shut, you fucking pieces of shit. You gotta give arguments against the series to haters.
We needed to secure the series, then you can discuss if S3 was that great or not. But nope. Some people decided to help youtube videos, resetera and so on, and now this is the situation.

That's the situation. No news. No nothing. Only some clowns teasing us, playing us like a damn fiddle. Hope you guys are proud.
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This is the only truth, not what people want to hear but the truth nonetheless, and I also complained about this many times.

A lot of damage was done since kickstarter, and a lot more damage was done during the critical moment of Shenmue 3 release, when instead of making a wall to defend the game from all haters, a vocal portion even joined the hate train on era, socials etc.
So it wasn't destiny, the niche nature of the game or something completely out of our control, it was just the simple stupidity of people.

Focusing on today, we aren't in a critical situation yet, if there will be an announcement this year, we'll be fine and the series can still have a chance.
However if nothing happen this year...
Now that Wanted Dead is released, let's see what 110 industries are up to.
 
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polyglot said:
It could have been some 110 social media person wanting to spill the beans, and they had to be silenced.
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i doubt it. aren't these social media peoples job mainly to interact with people/fans and maintain hype around products etc... i mean they were playing along initially but they went pretty quiet when shenmue fans started making a lot a noise.

edit- spelling
 
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Reprise said:
It's a catch 22, because without a lot of those rewards, a project like Shenmue 3 might have not gained quite so much money, because it entices not only more backers (because without the "exclusive" rewards, people might be more inclined to sit out and wait for the retail release, assuming the funding goal is reached), but it also encourages existing backers to increase their pledges because they keep thinking "oh, but just an extra 20/30/40/whatever dollars I could get these cool items" and it can spiral. I know I often back projects and end up increasing my pledge up a tier or two.
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Personally I'd have liked some kind of "Fan tier" which would have literally just let the hardcore fans dump a set amount into the development pot. That would keep all parties happy. I guess there was the slacker backer but you were still sent tshirts for backing that way. Don't get me wrong, I cherish my physical rewards because they are Shenmue merc. But between a set of backer rewards or more money going into development, my choice would always be development.
 
Sput Vas Normandy said:
2) the hate train of internet made a lot of people to not try S3. And on this point there were stuff to do.
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I had this debate with someone only yesterday on Twitter. They loved the first two games but wouldn't touch 3 because they'd heard "bad things". I tried to tell them to play it anyway and to make their own mind up about whether they enjoyed it or not. I can't tell you how many fantastic games I'd have missed out on if I'd listened to every bugger else instead of just playing them. :rolleyes:
 
Sonoshee said:
I had this debate with someone only yesterday on Twitter. They loved the first two games but wouldn't touch 3 because they'd heard "bad things". I tried to tell them to play it anyway and to make their own mind up about whether they enjoyed it or not. I can't tell you how many fantastic games I'd have missed out on if I'd listened to every bugger else instead of just playing them. :rolleyes:
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A old friend of mine did what you said and he used to love Shenmue 1&2.
Later, another friend who is extremely casual gamer (UFCs, FIFAs, PES, GT, NfS... Sports and Races) and his nickname is "cow" fell at the feets of S3 after playing It without recommendation.
I still daze over it.
For the record, the former called S3 looking like a "costra" (spanish for healing skin wound or dry layer of shit).
The "Cow" said, was the best game he ever played.
 
Sonoshee said:
I had this debate with someone only yesterday on Twitter. They loved the first two games but wouldn't touch 3 because they'd heard "bad things". I tried to tell them to play it anyway and to make their own mind up about whether they enjoyed it or not. I can't tell you how many fantastic games I'd have missed out on if I'd listened to every bugger else instead of just playing them. :rolleyes:
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See.

This damaged the game

Would this be enough? Maybe not, but the image, the "brand" of Shenmue is heavily damaged now because of it, so we're only us now, no new people, we dont have the "niche outstanding underrated game" card anymore if we fan throw stones to the game.
 
I actually met a guy in a social media group last year who I got chatting to and he brought up Shenmue III at one point, going on to say that he played about half an hour of it and had to turn it off, because he thought it was shite. Funny story, I tried to encourage him to give it another try and really tried to sell him the positives, but apparently he visited the Shenmue Dojo at some point and this guy called "Reprise" was complaining about the crap story and rubbish pacing in the second half, so he didn't bother 😱
 
Reprise said:
I actually met a guy in a social media group last year who I got chatting to and he brought up Shenmue III at one point, going on to say that he played about half an hour of it and had to turn it off, because he thought it was shite. Funny story, I tried to encourage him to give it another try and really tried to sell him the positives, but apparently he visited the Shenmue Dojo at some point and this guy called "Reprise" was complaining about the crap story and rubbish pacing in the second half, so he didn't bother 😱
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I ate the whole bait, you little... Please don't do a reprise of trolling now.
And if you call crap the story of S3 again I, I...
 
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