Hello fellow Shenmue-fans.
A lot has happened since I joined the Dojo in 2005, but as far as Shenmue goes, we're still waiting : (. Back in '05, I was just another youth with an unsure future, but my favorite games of all time were, like most f you, the Shenmues (still is, to this day).
Now, almost 10 years later, I'm a professional 3D-artist, working in the video game industry. Fate, right? Anyways, since Yu and the Boys (and Nagoshi, and the Yakuza-guys) can't seem to do neither a remake of Shenmue I&II, nor shenmue III I've decided to take it upon myself to recreate the whole of Shenmue I in 3D, so everything's done for them the day they decide t actually do a remake! Handy right? : D

I posted this thread almost 2½ years ago, some of you might remember that, it was my intention back then to start this project, but work, life, and everything else came between. Now however, I've got a solid job, many interesting sideprojects running, and a lot of time to kill during the weekends! So, thus, the saga begins ;)

Hope y'all like this!
Every model is 100% custom made from scratch , no Shenmue-assets used at all, every texture is custom made, every painting and kanji based on screenshot/photos of my TV, which I've then painted on for maximum accuracy! It's not much.. yet, but it's something!

Everything's default rendered in the fancy Unreal engine atm, which I'm not yet really familiar with.. but I will be! : D

(I think it all looks kinda crap atm , the light is off and so on,but bear with me, I'll learn as I go and I'll see this through : ) )

http://imageshack.us/a/img694/6946/4qmd.jpg
The Dojo, for Shenmue Dojo! : D Lacking a roof atm.. working on that!
http://imageshack.us/a/img821/5779/ec9w.jpg
Gonna light the candles later too!
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/4632/ytat.jpg
All the scrolls and stuff are based on the game's! Still missing the sword-box, working on it!
http://imageshack.us/a/img580/2827/nshg.jpg
The door, with a red-brown inside, and dark brown outside, just like in the game : D
http://imageshack.us/a/img5/5527/em9j.jpg
Really happy with how that hose and bucket turned out : D
http://imageshack.us/a/img801/7669/06ou.jpg
The garden lantern! I added some kanjis, anyone recognise them? : ) I try to stay as true to the original look as possible, while adding "logical" details that current gen tech can handle but the DC could not : )
http://imageshack.us/a/img600/8026/5ip4.jpg
Some bushes and stuff, all very WIP! Note that the fence is now modelled, and not a polygon plane lik in the game ;P
As John Hammond said in jurasic park.. Spared no expense!

I'm working on this a bit every weekend, and sometimes during the wekdays. I'm fulltime employed at Paradox Interactive, and I spend a lot of my freetime developing games for iOS and such, so time is kinda slim but, as you can see, I'm getting somewhere! : D I'll update this thread every now and then when I get the time : D

And I'll see this project through! Probably before Shenmue 3 is released, anyway! xD

Also, thanks to Ziming who posted a lot of Shenmue screens last time I asked for them, without them, I'd have a really hard time creating all this in 3D (I do look in-game a LOT but, some things you just cannot get a good view of xD)

Also, last but not least, I'm ALWAYS in need of good reference material . If anyone got texture packs (i don't use the, but I look at them : )), hi-res screen, screens of weird angles (like, a skyview om Hazuki residence and such) it would be REALLY helpful to get my hand on these : )

Just amazing!
Thanks! Appreciated : D

"You met quota, son. Keep up the good work."
That’s what you would hear for your work at the harbour. Your doing amazing work!
Thanks! Do I get a raise too? : D

This looks absolutely fantastic.
Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks! I will, updates will come every now-and-then, probably somehting new this week, depending if I have the time to sit down with it : ]

Didn't get as much time as I was hoping for, but managed to build some more on the dojo, added some beams and roof modules, still very WIP, but anyways : D Tweaked the stone a bit too. Gonna add some grass and the stone paved road and the mud texture on the ground and stuff soon I think.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/6452/l4gn.jpg

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http://nobiax.deviantart.com/gallery/24853853
Hey, for textures here there are some great ones, I use some of them as well, great job btw :D
Thanks for the tip, I'll check that out! And thanks : D

3 years later
Indeed! Better late than never!


Also, y'al, I've worked some on the project again.. spent all day yesteday making.. rocks! Pavementrocks, gardenrock, you name it. I'll post pictures soon again, when I've got all that in game and some new stuff to. Probably gonna work on it this weekend, so stay tuned~

As you can see, this project will be an on-and-off thing for me, due to work (work in the industry) and other gaem projects (on the side) taking a lot of my time. But I did manage to whip this up the other day, thionk some of you might recognise it!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n1qsakwogvv4eak/Mailbox_Preview_01.jpg

Thanks guys! Hopefully I'll have some more time to work on this over the summer, but as noted before, this will be a long-time project xD

This is a true story:
In 2010 I started a separate bank account called Shenmue 3, just in case it would ever be a Kickstarte-project. Every month since then I've put in about $~50-100 on it just in case this would ever be a reality, and thus choosing not to buy that extra video game or that food at a retsurant so I could motive now spending that money.
I work in the game industry and have a decent salary, and I don't drink beer or smoke or travel much or anything like that so I could kinda motivate it by that.
Two days ago, that bank account held about $4500. The SECOND the Kickstart hit I plunged it all right into the Kickstarter.
I have 0 regrets, the only thing I regret is that I didn't start it earlier or that I didn't save more, if so I'd taken the 10 000 dinner with Yu one : )

People around me think I'me crazy spending the money of a decent car on a video game, but really, nothing means more to me than this.