Monaco Magic 2016 - Official Discussion Topic

[Spaghetti]

I interpreted that comment as that they'll be making Ryo and Shenhua look more like they do in the Dreamcast-era art, not that they're LITERALLY going to use the old models.

How easy would it be to use the old models on UE4? Is it even possible?

You could probably find a way to make it work, but those models are going to be nearly 20 years old by the time the game releases. They'll just end up looking dated. I know people hold the passport model in high regard but they're better off starting from scratch and aiming to fulfill the vision of what these characters look like as depicted in the designs and art from the original games.

Honestly, just using the old models would be the easy way out.

[fittersau]

Just means staying true to the original models. Since the best highest detailed models are from the passport its an assumption those will be the standard they want to aim for.

[fittersau]

I interpreted that comment as that they'll be making Ryo and Shenhua look more like they do in the Dreamcast-era art, not that they're LITERALLY going to use the old models.

How easy would it be to use the old models on UE4? Is it even possible?

You could probably find a way to make it work, but those models are going to be nearly 20 years old by the time the game releases. They'll just end up looking dated. I know people hold the passport model in high regard but they're better off starting from scratch and aiming to fulfill the vision of what these characters look like as depicted in the designs and art from the original games.

Honestly, just using the old models would be the easy way out.

I don't think they will use those passport models, they aren't well optimised for a game engine and characters trying to do a whole bunch of things in a complex interactive environment.

[Spaghetti]

I interpreted that comment as that they'll be making Ryo and Shenhua look more like they do in the Dreamcast-era art, not that they're LITERALLY going to use the old models.

How easy would it be to use the old models on UE4? Is it even possible?

You could probably find a way to make it work, but those models are going to be nearly 20 years old by the time the game releases. They'll just end up looking dated. I know people hold the passport model in high regard but they're better off starting from scratch and aiming to fulfill the vision of what these characters look like as depicted in the designs and art from the original games.

Honestly, just using the old models would be the easy way out.

I don't think they will use those passport models, they aren't well optimised for a game engine and characters trying to do a whole bunch of things in a complex interactive environment.

It's moot point really. I mean, we actually KNOW they're not using any old models for a fact. The image your display picture is based on is proof enough of that.

[FlagshipFighter]

I interpreted that comment as that they'll be making Ryo and Shenhua look more like they do in the Dreamcast-era art, not that they're LITERALLY going to use the old models.

How easy would it be to use the old models on UE4? Is it even possible?

You could probably find a way to make it work, but those models are going to be nearly 20 years old by the time the game releases. They'll just end up looking dated. I know people hold the passport model in high regard but they're better off starting from scratch and aiming to fulfill the vision of what these characters look like as depicted in the designs and art from the original games.

Honestly, just using the old models would be the easy way out.

I don't think they will use those passport models, they aren't well optimised for a game engine and characters trying to do a whole bunch of things in a complex interactive environment.

Perhaps they have a better direct file of it as part of the data/assets collection Sega gave to Yu?

Personally, I would like a fresh reinterpretation of the character native to UE4, I thought the they were close with the screenshots model. But hey, if they rejected the one before it can only get better.

For me, I'd take as much priority ensuring his animations are detailed when talking (I know he's pretty stoic) and interacting with the environment...

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[Peter]

Dear all,

My name is Rob Scharr, and I am one of the Kickstarter sponsors joining with Yu Suzuki and Shibuya productions this weekend here in Monaco. It was also a great pleasure to meet Peter and a few others from Shenmue Dojo last night. I hope to fully become a part of this community going forward and hope to speak with as many of the other Shenmue supporters as possible.

I studied Japanese for six years and Chinese for three years, but I am a political scientist by trade, and I will have earned my PhD in that field after a few more months. As wild and wacky as the political situation in my home country- the United States- has become, I will have plenty of reasons to do my best in this field going forward. But a prominent US political figure said something a few years ago that stuck with me. He said, "People don't succeed because they are smart, or wealthy. They succeed because they have passion for what they do. Passion is what really makes all the difference." And as soon as he said this, the first thing that came to my mind was Yu-Suzuki and Shenmue, and I hoped that someday, I could translate my latent passion for Shenmue into results.

I should come clean about one thing. With only a handful of sporadic exceptions, I have not gotten deeply involved in gaming for the past 15 years, and therefore I probably know much less about the ins and outs of the Shenmue universe- and gaming in general- than just about anyone in this community. In fact Shenmue I was one of the very last games that I delved into on any meaningful level, and for reasons I will go into another time, the game changed my life. A couple years after that, my college gaming friends all went their separate ways and I for the most part lost the community with whom I had shared then Shenmue experience in 1999/2000. I was also deeply demoralized by the way Sony and the gaming press dispatched the Dreamcast simply by lying about how much more powerful the PS2 was supposed to be; all Sony had to do was say "55 million polygons per second," and all of the third-party developers flocked to the PS2 like stupid sheep. I was furious at Sony for years, and since Sony had basically remade the entire gaming industry in their own image and I frankly wanted no part of it. Given how much Sony is doing to support Shenmue now, I don't quite hold a grudge against them like I used to, but that's another story. Bottom line, I basically removed myself from the gaming world after the Dreamcast's early demise.

On top of that, Aspect, Sega of Japan's publishing arm, released a book under Yu Suzuki's name that was heavily autobiographical in 2001, entitled "Game Works: Volume I.". Yu Suzuki himself didn't sit down and write the book himself; rather, he was interviewed by a man named Akira Nagae, who in turn compiled a series of interviews with Yu Suzuki with some brief commentary in between. There was never a "Volume II" and I had no idea what plans they had- they might have gone back to Suzuki for more material, or they might have gone to Yuji Naka or someone else at Sega. The book, as it was put together, had a few quirks, the cover was bland as could be, and I might have chosen a different title had it been up to me. From what I can tell, the book sold extremely poorly in Japan, even though it was packed with good information. If Shenmue taught us anything, it is that we cannot necessarily rely on the collective senses of the Japanese gaming masses to know a good thing when they see it, and if the book had have been released in North America and Europe with a few adjustments, I believe it could have easily sold tens of thousands of copies.

With this in mind, shortly after finishing my undergrad in 2002, I translated the entire book into English. Despite Aspect's and my best efforts to find a U.S. publisher, it never happened. At that time, the only gaming-centric publishers (such as Prima) focused only on strategy guides, and mainstream publishers, none of whom knew the first thing about games, all refused to touch it. Efforts took place on-and-off over the years to revive the project, but nothing ever came of it, and after that disappointment, aside from a brief stint teaching Japanese at DigiPen Institute of Technology (which is Nintendo of America's school), my involvement in the gaming industry went back to zero and pretty much stayed there until last year when Shenmue III was announced.

With that announcement, the passion very suddenly began rushing through my veins again, and I made the decision to stretch myself to my financial limits and make the $10,000 contribution on Kickstarter so I would have the chance to thank Yu Suzuki in person. And so here I am in Monaco ready to spend the day with Suzuki-san and my fellow contributors Chao and Amir, both of whom are outstanding people from the UK. Today, I plan to discuss with them what plans they have for voice acting, and I will ask Yu Suzuki- who himself knows much about history, how the end of the Cultural Revolution in China and how the beginning of the economic reform era will manifest itself within Shenmue III's environment. And when the Japanese script for Shenmue III is finalized, we will need people with have not just good language ability, but with a deep and visceral connection to Shenmue in order to do justice to the game's message. Whether I will be one of those people that makes this happen is entirely up to Suzuki-san and his team, but at any rate, I don't feel that we will be well-served if this game's translation is left entirely to contractors with no real connection to Shenmue, as is the case with most games these days.

We all have our own professions, and going forward, I will be the most competent political scientist I can be. But also, going forward, I will go above and beyond whatever is asked of me by Suzuki-san and his team for this game and others that follow; at the end of the day, this isn't about me, but about realizing Yu Suzuki's vision, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that we will do whatever it takes to make this game the kind of success it can be. Even post-release, our work won't be done. It will especially be up to sites like Shenmue Dojo- and in particular, people like Peter, to make sure the press treats Yu-san fairly and also to make sure we pull out all the stops in spreading awareness of (and providing word-of-mouth publicity for) this magnificent endeavor.

Therefore, I hope to become part of this community, even after my long hiatus from the scene.

Thank you.

Rob Scharr

Excellent insight, and thank you for joining Rob! It was awesome to meet you, Chao and Amir last night, one of the many memories from the trip! That and also chatting to you outside the Grimaldi Forum for the first time, waiting on the doors to open!

I hope the day with Suzuki-san goes well, and keep us updated on how it went! I have a sneaking suspicion the next Kickstarter update will be all about your day, but it will be nice to hear from you guys as well, from a personal perspective, how it went.

[SMDzero]

I like the passport models... they're basically perfect but if they can make them even more detailed I'm all for it.

One thing that is super annoying is the length of Shenhua's hair. Her ponytails look too long on her current model.

[Hyo Razuki]

Yes, please let us know how your dinner with Yu-san went.

[Yokosuka]

In video game, characters often get a revision or a new version from the charadesigner to be suited with the modern aesthetic trends. For instance, you can see differences between Virtua Fighter 4 and Virtua Fighter 5 characters. The most flagrant was Vanessa Lewis and her skin change. Pai Chan looked also younger and cuter. Perhaps Yu only meant that the charadesigners will simply respect the Miyawaki's original idea reflected in the 2000's results.

As said before, that does not mean they would have to reuse directly the Shenmue Passport models, but just to be inspired massively by them. I suppose importing the old models into UE4 and modify them might be too much complicated rather than starting from scratch.

[FlagshipFighter]

I interpreted that comment as that they'll be making Ryo and Shenhua look more like they do in the Dreamcast-era art, not that they're LITERALLY going to use the old models.

How easy would it be to use the old models on UE4? Is it even possible?

Possible? Of course it is. You can import any model in UE4. ( I was playing around with UE4 and imported Vyse's model from Skies of Arcadia)




I don't think Yu will be satisfied with it, though. (And the media will have a field day with it: "YsNET are to lazy to model next gen models, so they are using 15yr old models instead)

[Peter]

Ok, so i am at the airport now, ready to fly back to Ireland and the reality of mundane life. Of course, i don't want this weekend to end! But it must, and since i have quite a bit of time to kill i will try to go through an entire play by play of the weekend. I have no ides where this post will go, how long it will be, or if its even interesting. I just hope it gives you all an insight what it was like to be here in Monaco, and also at such an even like MAGIC, where Shenmue 3 was presented.

So, Thursday morning - 3am. I left Belfast by coach to Dublin where i flew to Nice from. The usual no sleep related fatigue, mixed with adrenaline and excitement! I arrived in Nice airport around... 10 i believe, and David DeVille had messaged me beforehand and we had worked out him and Maki (his wife), would be arriving from Paris around the same time! So i waited outside the terminal and shortly after, David and Maki arrived! It was great to finally meet David aster talking for so long online over the years. We spoke for quite a while, about the conference, and other things. So much so, that they missed their bus to Nice! Oops lol. So we came back inside and sat for a while longer chatting, but we all knew how tired we all were so we said our goodbyes and let him get to Nice to prepare for his bay day on Saturday.

Getting the coach to Monaco was pretty standard, and the Hotel was decent enough. I knew i hadn't splashed out top dollar for a 5 star hotel, so it was fine by my standards. So after getting settled, it was time to do the whole trail run practice, to the Grimaldi Forum, but since i was pretty tired i didnt make it that far on Thursday. Monaco is small, but its very elevated per road and street, so the walking was very demanding, even for 0.5km. I will be the first person to admit that i am not a fitness guy, so my legs are killing me right now in the airport lol. I had researched the quickest way to the Forum, and essentially walked about 3/4 of the way there. Getting lost of course the first time. Monaco is all very hidden, from winding roads, to every shop being underground or inside an unmarked building. Trying to find a place that sold toothpaste or body deodorant was a nightmare!! Plus, Monaco is of course, home of the rich. Its extravagance can be seen visually everywhere, with the same amount of car show rooms on every street corner as much as there is a pub/bar on every street corner in Ireland. Bentley, Ferrari, McLaren. They are all here. As well as property shops, with their ad cards in the windows, escalating from 3 million to 250 million was the most expensive looking in the window i can remember. Think the cheapest place i did see, was an apartment with a monthly rental of 30,000 a month. Alrighty then! You also have the fashion labels at every corner. Prada, St Laurent, Rolex, Gautier, Hillfiger, Vuitton, Armani..... More of these shops, and easily more recognisable than a shop where you can buy a loaf of bread thats for sure.

Anyways on Friday, it was finally time to meet the Grimaldi Forum. Inside the foyer, having my picture taken beside the MAGIC banner out of the corner of my eye i seen someone who looked like Yu Suzuki on the escalator going up to my level. He went past a pillar, and i was like, "nah. I hope thats not him" As i froze on the spot, Yu Suzuki and Cedric Biscay walked towards me and i shat enough bricks to build a house in Monaco. I wasnt ready to meet them! I turned the opposite direction and pretended not to notice them as they walked out of the Forum, behind me lol! After pacing around not knowing what to do, and with the shock of seeing them for both the first time, i decided to visit the Japanese Gardens across the way from the Forum, and as i entered, i seen them again!! They were having their pictures taken for the local press! Fuck that, i just turned around and left lol!

Friday night was when shenmuemaster.fr guys, Remy, Emmanuel, Catherine, David, Arnaud, and Mickael were to arrive and we had arranged to meet. But i knew they would be tired so we arranged to meet up at the Forum in the morning.

Then finally the big day arrived. With little/zero sleep, 6am hit and i was awake and ready. Met up with everyone from Shenmuemaster and it was great! Just being with other Shenmue fans who you have talked to, known of, or seen over so many years of posting online within the Shenmue community was an experience merited of making the trip as awesome as it was already. As we were standing at the door, Rob introduced himself and it was great to finally meet someone who was not only going to one of the Kickstarter dinners, but also the on in Monaco! We also then seen David and Maki arrive so it was great to have a quick chat with them again before letting them get inside before us since he had a lot of work to prepare for.
So skipping over a few details, we get inside, and head downstairs to the Conference Hall. It was great, being greeted by a HUGE projection screen with the MAGIC logo on it. (You can use the instagram pics for reference lol). I completely forgot to get one of those translation earpiece devices, so i legged it quickly outside to grab one. We all sat relatively near the front and before long Sebastian Abdelhamed appeared for the introduction. All of the guests were brought out individually, from Kavinsky, to Peter Cross, as well as Yu Suzuki! Also Cedric have a brief speech. Following that, the stage was set up for the Shenmue presentation, and away we went! You guys probably can remember it all right now, more than i can, because i havent watched any footage i recorded on my phone, or Shenmans posts here yet, and its all a blur. But the emotions felt sitting there listening to Yu and then his translation work by Kenji is as you can imagine. No words. Instead of watching an E3 video, or GDC video.... you are really there. Its insane.

After that, we left and of course were all in shock at what we had just seen. Yu Suzuki, Cedric Biscay, Shenmue 3 HD screens, videos, the music as loud as you could want it bellowing around the auditorium. It was amazing. We walked over to another area where interviews and the signings would be happening later, and as we were hanging around there, Cedric walked past and i gave him a shout. We shook hands, and when i said Peter he knew who i was, probably from annoying him on Twitter all the time lol. We chatted, and i had brought him a gift for all the work he has done for getting Shenmue 3 going. He looked surprised by it, so i hope he liked it. We took a picture and i let him get back to the event, since it was his day and i knew he would be busy lol. But before he left, he said to "make sure" to attend the "Crazy Time" segment he was presenting. It seemed strange, but it was easy to begin to think he was saying that specifically since there may be more Shenmue material to come! After that, i met quite a few Shenmue fans in that area, of course wearing a Shenmue 3 t shirt helped. It was great! So many enthusiastic people just as happy as i was. I wish i was more composed and organised to have taken pictures and get their names written down, but it was so chaotic all day, with conversations jumping from between 3 -10 people in quick succession! I still cant even keep up now!

Skipping some more details again, we went up to ground level and we all chilled out. Grabbed some fresh air etc, and i met Julien from gamerblog.fr. A really nice guy, and we had an in-depth chat about all things Shenmue, the gaming industry, our backgrounds, the dinner, Shenmue 3, his visits to friends in Ireland and e-cigarette advice which we went outside for a while to partake in lol. He gave me his business card and also exchanged details so hope to see him the next time he travels to Ireland!

We then went back downstairs to where Yu was doing the signing, and it was great to stand before him and get a few items signed. Although it was only 2 items per person, i went twice as i had stuff for other people to get signed who couldnt make the trip lol. Suzuki-san still seemed very jolly and laughed as i approached for the second time, and also commented on the specific pen i gave form him to sign something. It was a great interaction.

After some sitting down and relaxing, time came to attend the "crazy time" event Cedric had told us about. When we got in, the results of the Cosplay competition were being held, so it was great to watch that. There were some AMAZING outfits, so hats off to those guys!! The event was running late, and i looked at the manual to see what was going on. Crazy Time was next, so pretty soon, Cedric appeared on stage, and they started off with bringing out Peter Cross (played Spocks Father in the Star Trek remakes) to talk about his directed feature with Shibuya. He seemed like a nice man, and spoke in English which was always appreciated lol. It was confusing sitting there, since we didnt know what was coming! But then, after him, we heard Shenmue being mentioned and the excitement welled up inside! Suzuki-san was brought back on stage by Cedric, along with the interpreter, Kenji, and thats when we seen the Shenmue House trailer in full HD with the music cranked up to the max. I swear, thats when it hit me the most, like a tonne of bricks. This game is really, really going to justify Shenmue. It was unbelievable. I could not get over it, seeing the Shenmue tree, the cows and woks outside the house, then as the camera panned inside thats when my heart pounded and i could feel my eyes well up. Shenmue music is so emotional on its own (i have the soundtrack on right now, blasting in my headphones as i type this), but combined with how faithful, and BETTER Shenhuas home looked was simply astonishing! Yes, its not a full blown trailer, but we are only 7 months into full development, and my expectations were on such a level of what to expect and what not to expect. The new weather trailer, as well as the fishing pond trailer were excellent, and i expected something like that, which i was more than happy with. BUT that second trailer really went above anything i expected to see. Just, no words....

After that ended, the shenmuemaster guys had some things still to do, so we hung around for a little while longer and i seen Suzuki-san with them. David called me over for a picture, and after that i chanced my arm to get a picture of just me and Yu. Wow!!!! Where do i begin? I cant. I cant even speak about it, when i look at that photo each time...... maybe one day i will be able to tell you more lol.

I forgot i had to return the headset and get my passport back, so i went back downstairs and after returning it, Cedric was walking by again, so quickly said goodbyes, shook hands and said thanks for coming! Awesome ending! It wasnt too late, and despite being tired, i took everyone to McCarthy's Irish bar (hey, its what we do!!) and we all had a beer. Mostly everyone had a Guinness which was amazing lol! We then all said our goodbyes, and that was that. Back to the hotel to lie in bed and try to get my head around everything that had taken place that day. Rest assured, there is more information to come about the day, but not quite right now... i just wanted to give you guys an initial update on how the day went, and an insight into some of the thoughts and emotions of attending a live event with Suzuki-san present, and new Shenmue 3 material announced. I am now at the airport and all good things must come to an end. But fortunately we still have a very long road ahead, so enjoy it! Dont get bogged down in Shenmue HD, or wheres a full trailer! Or voice actors, or logos. Try and enjoy it, because one day this will all be over!


Final thoughts, i have to give heaps and heaps of thanks to all of the shenmuemaster gang. Trent was fantastic to chat to, and i hope again we can meet again in the future, and have more time to just sit down and relax instead of it being such a chaotic day! David is so jolly, and great to be around. My go outside for a smoke buddy lol. So passionate and motivating, it was great sitting beside him during the conference, and seeing the fist pumps of excitement and thumbs up when we got good info lol. Kenji and Catherine were a delight, and it was great to finally talk with Kenji after seeing his interview videos over the years! Mickael was great, and like Trent, a great balance to talk total Shenmue on a more intimate level. Last but certainly not least, Shenman (or Arnaud). You guys already know him from the guy having 4G inside the conference and posting the updates to twitter! He did such an amazing job, and it was great to meet him! He was so helpful during the day, taking my photos with Cedric and Yu, as well as being a huge Shenmue collector, and has also been to Tokyo! All of the guys were amazing, and hope to meet them again soon! Next year guys??? ;)

Of course, David DeVille was a pleasure to meet, and of course his wife. I wish them all the best in the upcoming months with their new addition to the family! He did a fantastic job, not just onstage, but the entire conference, working behind the scenes all day helping out Suzuki-san during his schedule. I hope he can get some kind of work in the Shenmue 3 team, and he is as passionate about Shenmue as anyone i have met!

Also have to say good luck, and enjoy, to Amir, Rob and Chao at today's dinner! It was great meeting you guys, and again i wish the day wasnt as chaotic as it was to get a more relaxed chat with you all. Today will possibly be one of the biggest days of your life so enjoy it!! Also to all of the Shenmue fans i met, it was amazing, and hope to do something like this again! E3?? Who knows! But this trip has definitely given me the thirst to attend more gaming events across the world if the money allows it.

Hope you enjoyed the write up. Any questions, i will do my best to answer, and stay tuned for more to come over the coming weeks!

[Shenman]

Tl;dr :p

[Monkei]

Nice read Peter, thanks!

[Shenman]

Well I finally read everything and what to say, my eyes are wet and I sure can't wait to see you and Yu again E3 would be amazing ^^

[Yokosuka]

Awaiting the Shibuya Productions direct feed release, the teaser without cut :

phpBB [video]

It's really the kind of cinematic I'm excepting for the Shenmue III intro.