Shenmue Dojo

Thanks to mjq jazz bar for finding this out. It seems to have slipped through the net.


A few days ago Corey posted a status on Facebook, and a fan asked him when VO recording for the English dub begins. Corey replied that currently the plan is for him to begin in late May.



While it's possible things could slip, seems the intention is to begin recording ASAP.

Where does this speculatively put us in terms of how far development truly is? Could it bode well for an E3 bombshell? Hope so.

Valascaziel wrote: Where does this speculatively put us in terms of how far development truly is? Could it bode well for an E3 bombshell? Hope so.

It's probably too close to E3 to have English VO showcased, if Shenmue III turns up there at all. I'd hazard a guess Japanese VO sessions may have already begun though, so there's that.

In terms of development, VO recording differs from game to game but for the sake of cost effectiveness it's probably loaded towards the back end for Shenmue III, so they don't have to pull the talent back in to re-record if something in development changes that requires new dialogue.

Can't wait to hear from that baby faced little Ryo again!

Spaghetti wrote:

Valascaziel wrote: Where does this speculatively put us in terms of how far development truly is? Could it bode well for an E3 bombshell? Hope so.

It's probably too close to E3 to have English VO showcased, if Shenmue III turns up there at all. I'd hazard a guess Japanese VO sessions may have already begun though, so there's that.

In terms of development, VO recording differs from game to game but for the sake of cost effectiveness it's probably loaded towards the back end for Shenmue III, so they don't have to pull the talent back in to re-record if something in development changes that requires new dialogue.

Do they make the mouth animation once they have the voice recorded or the other way around?

Having in mind they are recording in japanese, maybe they have already made the animation for the japanese voice and they will apply the english voice in the same animation?

After all, we may see the release of the game this year!

Hazuki00 wrote:Do they make the mouth animation once they have the voice recorded or the other way around?

Having in mind they are recording in japanese, maybe they have already made the animation for the japanese voice and they will apply the english voice in the same animation?

After all, we may see the release of the game this year!

While it's not been confirmed, I feel fairly confident based on some snippets of test animations seen in the Gamescom progress video they're using some kind of lip tracking technology for main characters like Ryo or Shenhua. So the mouth animations will be generated at the same time they do the VO.

As of right now we don't really know if they're doing lip tracking for both language tracks, or if the English VO will just be a straight dub over the Japanese mouth movements. An optimistic guess is they'll be doing it for both languages.

Spaghetti wrote:

Hazuki00 wrote:Do they make the mouth animation once they have the voice recorded or the other way around?

Having in mind they are recording in japanese, maybe they have already made the animation for the japanese voice and they will apply the english voice in the same animation?

After all, we may see the release of the game this year!

While it's not been confirmed, I feel fairly confident based on some snippets of test animations seen in the Gamescom progress video they're using some kind of lip tracking technology for main characters like Ryo or Shenhua. So the mouth animations will be generated at the same time they do the VO.

This could mean they already have finished all NPCs and main characters as Ryo or Shenhua? If they use lip tracking they "can't" update the bone structure of the face later without redoing this again I suppose, so this could mean they have finished the characters.
I find it hard to explaining myself...

I can't put into words how happy I am that Corey is reprising his role as Ryo. Nobody else would do (at least, not in the English dub).

It's also probably better to take this as more of a sign that things are progressing well rather than using it to make guesses on how far along development is.

Almost time to get sweaty.

Man I hope he's allowed to release some samples of him voicing Ryo, curious how his voice has been affected by a decade and a half.

He posts videos occasionally - fortunately his voice still sounds the same. It would be weird if he sounded obviously older. I remember a Dukes of Hazzard game years ago in which Bo and Luke had some grandfatherly, gravelly texture to their voices and it was definitely off-putting.

Thank you for catching this and thanks to Corey for sharing the information.

This is awesome news and the kind of detail that I wish the kickstarter updates would give us. Just knowing their schedule plans (or a simple status of various objectives) is something I wish they had shared long ago, even if they need to revise it later. It gives us a good indication that things are happening and if they're able to stick to this date late 2018 or early 2019 still seems possible.

Hazuki00 wrote:This could mean they already have finished all NPCs and main characters as Ryo or Shenhua? If they use lip tracking they "can't" update the bone structure of the face later without redoing this again I suppose, so this could mean they have finished the characters.
I find it hard to explaining myself...

I don't really know enough about the technology or process myself to say for sure, but I would assume it's not impossible for them to change the character models even after the lip tracking data has been recorded. Maybe they'd have to be re-rigged?

Sappharad wrote:This is awesome news and the kind of detail that I wish the kickstarter updates would give us. Just knowing their schedule plans (or a simple status of various objectives) is something I wish they had shared long ago, even if they need to revise it later.

It's probably best this sort of info is kept off Kickstarter, IMO. People may overreact if things have to be rescheduled.

I wouldn't be hugely surprised if there's an update after recording has started, though.

Knowing that the voice recording usually takes place towards the end of a development cycle, this is really a great and exciting news!

I can't help but think (already) about E3 2018.
We all have hopes for a new trailer at E3 this year and I was wondering if part of Corey's initial work could be used in a trailer in June? Even just for a few words like "I'll have my revenge!" or "So, this is Bailu Village?".

What do you think? Is it technically possible?

I'm still a bit uncertain about an E3 showing, but if there is and they do something with Shenmue III specific voice lines then my hype will probably be kicked into overdrive haha.