[Ended] Call for Questions: Shenmue 3 Developers Interview

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Shenmue analysis at www.phantomriverstone.com
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Location
Japan
The purpose of this thread is to gather interview question ideas from the fan community, for some of the developers who actually worked on Shenmue III.

Background:
Recently in the Shenmue 3 Credits thread, an idea was proposed to set up an interview with some of the developers who worked on the game.

The good news is that permission has been granted to interview developers from Implausible Industries who worked on the game (two as Level Designers, and one as a Shader Artist).

https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2020/02/submit-your-questions-for-shenmue-3.html

Questions Wanted!

Leave a question you'd like to ask these developers in the blog post, or in this thread below (by Feb 26th).
 
So awesome. These are the folks outside Yu that I am the most interested in, honestly.
 
Was Chai always supposed to be in Shenmue III or was it just fan service?

Why doesn't Ryo seem to recognize Chai?
 
I dont know how to ask this question but here it goes. Please clean it up if you get what am saying.

Was Shenmue 3 in game story more "complete" at an earlier date with slightly off graphics.?.?.

Did Yu want to delay the game further but didn't due to people's bitching and moaning?

An example would be that with some of the KS updates close to the original release date. People were making fun of how ryo looked or just the general Graphics as well.
So did an over haul of the graphics contributed to the cutting of assets.

I apologize for my lack of typing skills.
 
My question is how much optimisation did they do with the different hardware (PC & PS4), and any plans to further optimize for ps5 etc when that's eventually out
 
To the level designers:
- Did Yu already had the basic layout of Bailu and Niaowu for them to work on ?
- What they took into account to create the level flow of the areas ?
- How did they work with the architect and how it influenced them?
- How modular were the assets used, were there many assets left unused ?
- There were some places like the rice fields and the Niaowu temple that had a lot of work put in but didn't get very utilized in the final game, was there some cut content ?
- What was their biggest challenge ?

To the shader artist:
- The first pictures of Ryo show a more "realistic" type of character
625967_446x230.jpg

When did the change occur to a more stylized type of characters ?
- Were they aware of the some of the criticism of the fans about the characters being too glossy at some point in the development ?
- Why it seemed to be so much iteration of the characters even late in development ?
- How was the weather system created, what were the technical challenges and why did they chose that solution ?
- Is the rain shader using triplanar projection ?
- Did they rely only on the UE material editor ?
- What was the biggest challenge on working on the game ?
 
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What exactly does the 'shader artist' do?
 
mjqjazzbar said:
What exactly does the 'shader artist' do?
Click to expand...

Here’s the definition from Google-

Shading and Effects artists are responsible for implementing the look, style, theme, and aesthetics of the game. Artists with these core skills implement real-time and baked lighting, create and customize shaders and rendering systems, and create particle systems and effects that interact with other assets.
Click to expand...
 
(My english is bad if you understand correct me) did you use some unreal engine 4 base asset or did you made everything all by yourself
 
-- Considering the ever changing budget, what were some of the more difficult challenges faced in making Shenmue III?

-- What was the one thing you took from your time on Shenmue III?

-- For the level designers; Do you have one particular favorite locale/area in Shenmue III?

-- Was there ever any material work created for Baisha or was Baisha completely excised before work could even begin on it?

-- If you could remake one locale from either Shenmue 1 or 2 in the Unreal Engine, which environment would you choose?

-- The most important question. Shenmue IV...IF it happens, would you do it again? ;)

-- IF Shenmue IV happens, what would you like to see improved moving forward? Or let me rephrase the question; given the experience gained from making Shenmue III, what areas would you improve upon moving forward with the franchise?


----------------------------------------

(yes, I'm trying to trip someone up into mentioning Shenmue IV and giving us confirmation :D)
 
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Why was Shenhua's house changed from its depiction in Shenmue II? For example, an extra room was added and the picture of Luoyang was changed to a picture of Bailu Village.

Were there ever any reservations about including things such as capsule toy machines, gambling areas, and an arcade in a rural village like Bailu? Their presence there seems to contradict Shenmue II.

Did you intend for the tree in Ternary Spring to be a Shenmue tree, as opposed to a regular cherry blossom tree? Ryo called it "a large Shenmue tree" in his notebook, but this was never elaborated on or referenced anywhere else.

Were there ever any thoughts about recreating Langhuishan or making the stone pit/quarry explorable?

Did you have fun coming up with all the different places to hide Chobu Chan?

How challenging was it to make the game more closely resemble the art style of the original Shenmue games compared to Unreal Engine 4's default aesthetic?

How did it feel to be working on the revival of a legendary game franchise that was dormant for so long?
 
How often were the original games referenced by the team, and what type of things did they want or not want to bring forward into III?

I doubt they can answer questions related to work that may or may not appear in IV, or even get too deep into Baisha, but we'll see.
 
Once DS (maybe Shibuya too) entered the picture did the development or progress of the game/story/Graphics/Yu vision change in anyway?
Did the partnerships add the helping hand needed or did it bring on slightly more stress to the job.

From complaining fans to the crap reporters blackballing/doing hit pieces on YsNet. Did that have an impact on the development of the game story or direction.

With some of the hit pieces or the miss direction from the YouTube or the the press. what was Yu thoughts on them and the teams thoughts and Morality.

Am hoping Yu was all "fuck them, they dont know whats up!" 😉
 
Do they have any information why there was almost no plot progression in the game? Was it intentional? Was the storytelling always gonna be that weak?

Let me stress that I am not talking solely about Baisha here but also the countless plot holes /weaknesses the storytelling has. Such as Ryo not asking Sun and the other Grandmaster who lives by the second Shenmue tree and the Huaxiao Temple priest about Iwao. Also Ryo and Shenhua never discuss Yuan's letter, the Prophecy and the fact that there are at least two Shenmue trees. Not even after saving Yuan. Why? Why doesn't Ryo seem to recognize Chai and why was he in the game?

In short, is there a more refined, well-written version of the story somewhere which didn't make it into the game for some reason?

Also one more question : Why was Niaowu in the game. Baisha stretch goals came above Niaowu stretch goals during the Kickstarter, so one would think Yu would deem Baisha more important. Yet Niaowu, which is almost completely irrelevant to the plot makes it into the game and Baisha doesn't. How did that happen?
 
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