Shenmue Dojo is 20 This Year!

[spud1897]

Hard to believe but the Shenmue Dojo is 20 this year!

With such a rich history we thought we should do something to commemorate this wonderful milestone.

Therefore we are asking you, the users who keep this place ticking along, for your favourite memories of the Shenmue Dojo. It can be anything from when you first signed up, the Shenmue III announcement, meeting new friends and more.

The best ones will be chosen for a mainpage feature in November.

Keep it clean please

 

[code l name]

Amazing milestone! There’s been so many fond memories that would be impossible to categorize or even remember at this point.

I did want to give a specific shoutout to member @LanDC who’s amazing mod work really quenched the thirst for knowledge and resulted in many discussions during those dark years before announcement of Shenmue 3. A favourite discovery of his was finding all the work done modelling road to Amihama and the video he created. I just remember my teenage mind being blown away by all the detail that never really was available to be seen by players and that really encompassed the amazing detail the series contained. I can’t find the original topic, so perhaps those more savvy can find it but this was one of the videos he made-

 

[Rusted Gold]

I'm trying to remember my first encounter with the Dojo but its hard since I can almost always remember a time about the Dojo.
I was never a super active user back in the day, nor would I consider myself super active today, but for as long as I can remember the Dojo was there. Rather it was spreading rumors or leaked information of the canceled Shenmue Online. Or getting everyone to post a picture of themselves on twitter with a bandage on their face like Ryo with money in hand to support a future Shenmue 3, it has always been a place to come, gather, and talk.

The Dojo has always been a place where I could step in for a bit read something or sometimes post something and have something new take away Shenmue related or not. Its more then just a fan site it is a Dojo filled with people from all walks of life with a common interest in story telling and how the story of Shenmue has impacted them.

 

[blixt]

This is the Best community ever!
It's amazing how quickly the years pass by.

My favorite memory is discovering this place in my teenage years and realising that there were other people who love the series. Since none of my friends understood Shenmue.

It has truly been a joy to see how everything has evolved.

 

[ShenmueTree]

Well, it's 20 as a concept, through various forms and interations. Still tho, congrats, it's an amazing success.

 

[xatruio]

Definitely will be a special stream for the 20th bday!

 

[Mittens2317]

Not even sure where to start...

I definitely have fond memories of driving away annoying members and imposing my will on the place back in the day. Even in my early 20s, the Dojo made me feel like a kid leading the occasional revolt when I could be arsed, almost as if we were all playing a game of Lord of the Flies or some shit. It all proper came to a head when a few of us overthrew Ryudo.

I guess it's a similar feeling to when I play Sea of Thieves. It's all kinda make believe, but in a really fun way. On the Old Dojo, I sorta became like an unofficial self-appointed spokesperson for the community. Following numerous bans, of course.

It was a different time.

A fun time.

Things have changed now though, which was inevitable following the rise of social media, the influx of members from the 500k group, and the gradual return of Shenmue itself. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and we all have to grow up sometime, even move on, but I don't half miss those days.

When it comes down to members on here, I've got a lotta love for the likes of OL (points awarded to anyone who remembers the OL 4 ADMIN campaign), South Carmain, wude, Kyodai, Hazuki_san (hell, everyone who helped me with my ill-fated "project"), Erin/Yusuke, Hazuki Legend, Araviel, Clint, Martin, Spencer, Ziming (a proper Dojo legend), and Riku grew on me massively over the years too.

There's obviously gonna be people I've left out of that, but it's people like them who kept me coming back. I won't get into what makes each of em so mint, but they are, so just take my word for it and leave it at that.

There are two in particular who've had a significant impact on my life though. Two people who - in addition to the Dojo as a whole - can honestly make me say that Shenmue has had a massive impact on my life. No Shenmue, no Dojo. Anyway, those two are Kenny and Manny (Segata Sanshiro Jr)

I've had a working relationship with both of them, and still do with Kenny to this day, who I credit with keeping my creative spirit alive.

It's defo Manny though that I'm gonna go with as being my best Dojo-related memory. We never really interacted too much on here (or the old "here", "there", whatever...) Anyway, he was offering an audio contract for a prototype/game concept he came up with. As someone who went to college specifically coz I wanted to get into the music scene as a techie/producer, I threw my hat in the ring, he liked what I sent, and I got the contract. Even came up with some basic stealth designs and a concept trailer for him.

As he was working on another project at the time (Treachery in Beatdown City, available now, go fucking buy it) he couldn't offer me another contract once it was up. What he did offer though was a GDC pass and hotel room for the length of the convention. All I needed was to pay for the flight and take spending money (most of which I blew in the first couple of days getting utterly shit faced)

The contract and the GDC pass came at the right time for me, as I was in a really fucking dark place, and he helped yank me out of it.

This was the back end of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014.

Now, unfortunately, I just had a basic entry pass, so no, I didn't get to see the Shenmue post mortem, but I did hang around afterwards to chat to Suzuki through his interpreter (who could understand my accent like a wheely bin understands general relativity) I also recall a brief exchange with Cerny (who's ridiculously fucking tall btw) where I got accidentally invited to summat. Can't quite remember what at this point, but I didn't go. Think I got lost, went off lookin for Manny, or got distracted by all the free beer they were handing out.

Either that day or the one following I went to a section that was essentially a job fare. I wasn't expecting much from it, but felt increasingly more drawn to getting into the game industry, so I had a mooch about looking for something in Manchester. After much browsing, I can across one with "Manchester" noted as its location.

As many from this city will know through either general knowledge or the number of complete idiots on Facebook who have the wrong city set as their location, there's a Manchester in the US (New Hampshire, I believe) so I went in quite cautiously, approaching a guy with an American accent.

Side-note: How thick my accent is became very apparent on this trip, as it was noted to me several times by pretty much every cunt I came across.

This guy though, he was the spitting image of Meat Loaf. I asked:

"Alright mate, is this Manchester as in England, or...?"

To which he interrupted with:

"Huh? What? You from Manchester? Oh, I love Manchester, lived there for years! Hey, lemme do an impression of someone from Manchester!"

He gestured to myself and a small gathering to move back a little, cleared his throat, then suddenly sprung forward, aggressively pointing his finger in my direction, shouting - rather convincingly - "You're a fucking nob ed!"

The small crowd were pretty startled by that, but I was buzzin my tits off. What a geezer! We had a laugh n chatted for a while, before I got into asking about how I might go about getting a job. He was quite honest, saying I'd basically need three years of experience (which I didn't have) or a degree in game design (all outta those too) How long for a degree in game design? Three years, of course.

There was absolutely no chance I'd be able to cobble together three years of experience whilst knowing next to fuck all, so it sent me down a four year return to education, which I completed when I graduated last November.

I should also mention that this job wasn't really in Manchester, but Wilmslow. A lot of game studio jobs get advertised as being based here when they're not really. Annoys me that...

Back to GDC for a second though, I learned a hell of a lot, saw early prototypes for many things, picked up little nuggets of knowledge, and met some top people (also witnessed Romero cheat at Doom in a LAN death match, what a loser man...) Those people included Manny n his mates, a few randoms I'll never remember the names of, Lucas Pope, and Erin/Yusuke (creator of Shenmue Zero) who kind enough to give me a room for my final night so I didn't have to miss a City match. Also met up with the SF supporters branch who helped me through the slightly difficult time of bein in America (the GDC thing was a good experience, but I didn't necessarily like being in San Francisco) Aptly stayed in a hotel called the Oasis too, which was a plus.

But yeah, that Dojo-related memory (that wasn't necessarily on the Dojo) was perhaps the most significant time of my adult life, as it set me down the path I'm on now, and I'll be eternally grateful for it. Never woulda happened if this place didn't exist, so yeah, cheers for that

 

[spud1897]

Not even sure where to start...

I definitely have fond memories of driving away annoying members and imposing my will on the place back in the day. Even in my early 20s, the Dojo made me feel like a kid leading the occasional revolt when I could be arsed, almost as if we were all playing a game of Lord of the Flies or some shit. It all proper came to a head when a few of us overthrew Ryudo.

I guess it's a similar feeling to when I play Sea of Thieves. It's all kinda make believe, but in a really fun way. On the Old Dojo, I sorta became like an unofficial self-appointed spokesperson for the community. Following numerous bans, of course.

It was a different time.

A fun time.

Things have changed now though, which was inevitable following the rise of social media, the influx of members from the 500k group, and the gradual return of Shenmue itself. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and we all have to grow up sometime, even move on, but I don't half miss those days.

When it comes down to members on here, I've got a lotta love for the likes of OL (points awarded to anyone who remembers the OL 4 ADMIN campaign), South Carmain, wude, Kyodai, Hazuki_san (hell, everyone who helped me with my ill-fated "project"), Erin/Yusuke, Hazuki Legend, Araviel, Clint, Martin, Spencer, Ziming (a proper Dojo legend), and Riku grew on me massively over the years too.

There's obviously gonna be people I've left out of that, but it's people like them who kept me coming back. I won't get into what makes each of em so mint, but they are, so just take my word for it and leave it at that.

There are two in particular who've had a significant impact on my life though. Two people who - in addition to the Dojo as a whole - can honestly make me say that Shenmue has had a massive impact on my life. No Shenmue, no Dojo. Anyway, those two are Kenny and Manny (Segata Sanshiro Jr)

I've had a working relationship with both of them, and still do with Kenny to this day, who I credit with keeping my creative spirit alive.

It's defo Manny though that I'm gonna go with as being my best Dojo-related memory. We never really interacted too much on here (or the old "here", "there", whatever...) Anyway, he was offering an audio contract for a prototype/game concept he came up with. As someone who went to college specifically coz I wanted to get into the music scene as a techie/producer, I threw my hat in the ring, he liked what I sent, and I got the contract. Even came up with some basic stealth designs and a concept trailer for him.

As he was working on another project at the time (Treachery in Beatdown City, available now, go fucking buy it) he couldn't offer me another contract once it was up. What he did offer though was a GDC pass and hotel room for the length of the convention. All I needed was to pay for the flight and take spending money (most of which I blew in the first couple of days getting utterly shit faced)

The contract and the GDC pass came at the right time for me, as I was in a really fucking dark place, and he helped yank me out of it.

This was the back end of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014.

Now, unfortunately, I just had a basic entry pass, so no, I didn't get to see the Shenmue post mortem, but I did hang around afterwards to chat to Suzuki through his interpreter (who could understand my accent like a wheely bin understands general relativity) I also recall a brief exchange with Cerny (who's ridiculously fucking tall btw) where I got accidentally invited to summat. Can't quite remember what at this point, but I didn't go. Think I got lost, went off lookin for Manny, or got distracted by all the free beer they were handing out.

Either that day or the one following I went to a section that was essentially a job fare. I wasn't expecting much from it, but felt increasingly more drawn to getting into the game industry, so I had a mooch about looking for something in Manchester. After much browsing, I can across one with "Manchester" noted as its location.

As many from this city will know through either general knowledge or the number of complete idiots on Facebook who have the wrong city set as their location, there's a Manchester in the US (New Hampshire, I believe) so I went in quite cautiously, approaching a guy with an American accent.

Side-note: How thick my accent is became very apparent on this trip, as it was noted to me several times by pretty much every cunt I came across.

This guy though, he was the spitting image of Meat Loaf. I asked:

"Alright mate, is this Manchester as in England, or...?"

To which he interrupted with:

"Huh? What? You from Manchester? Oh, I love Manchester, lived there for years! Hey, lemme do an impression of someone from Manchester!"

He gestured to myself and a small gathering to move back a little, cleared his throat, then suddenly sprung forward, aggressively pointing his finger in my direction, shouting - rather convincingly - "You're a fucking nob ed!"

The small crowd were pretty startled by that, but I was buzzin my tits off. What a geezer! We had a laugh n chatted for a while, before I got into asking about how I might go about getting a job. He was quite honest, saying I'd basically need three years of experience (which I didn't have) or a degree in game design (all outta those too) How long for a degree in game design? Three years, of course.

There was absolutely no chance I'd be able to cobble together three years of experience whilst knowing next to fuck all, so it sent me down a four year return to education, which I completed when I graduated last November.

I should also mention that this job wasn't really in Manchester, but Wilmslow. A lot of game studio jobs get advertised as being based here when they're not really. Annoys me that...

Back to GDC for a second though, I learned a hell of a lot, saw early prototypes for many things, picked up little nuggets of knowledge, and met some top people (also witnessed Romero cheat at Doom in a LAN death match, what a loser man...) Those people included Manny n his mates, a few randoms I'll never remember the names of, Lucas Pope, and Erin/Yusuke (creator of Shenmue Zero) who kind enough to give me a room for my final night so I didn't have to miss a City match. Also met up with the SF supporters branch who helped me through the slightly difficult time of bein in America (the GDC thing was a good experience, but I didn't necessarily like being in San Francisco) Aptly stayed in a hotel called the Oasis too, which was a plus.

But yeah, that Dojo-related memory (that wasn't necessarily on the Dojo) was perhaps the most significant time of my adult life, as it set me down the path I'm on now, and I'll be eternally grateful for it. Never woulda happened if this place didn't exist, so yeah, cheers for that

Cracking story man. Thanks for sharing :)

 

[ShenGCH]

The amount of time I would spend on the old Dojo on any of the computers at my dad's workplace (circa mid-2005, when I began lurking) downloading cutscenes from Shenmue IIx because I was so eager to hear the English dub - I didn't have an Xbox - was ridiculous. The number of times the files were either unavailable, the downloads shit the bed halfway through, or Windows Media Player didn't have the correct codecs (or some bullshit) was ridiculous, too, but this was during a time before YouTube was the go-to and the likes of Kazaa and Limewire were still a thing. It was so, so, so worth it, though.

A couple of months after we got our new computer, to replace the one that had died about three months before, and I once again had access to the internet whenever I so desired, I signed up in January 2006, fresh-faced and dumb as a doorknob, and I've loved the community since.

In short, I used to treat Shenmue Dojo as my personal, albeit janky and often unreliable, YouTube

Here's to another fourteen years!