Q: What is Sony’s involvement with Shenmue III?
YS: Sony is providing us with support in various ways including
marketing, funding and promotion, and they’re our most important
partner; they’re also our largest and most valued backer.
We plan to invest all the money collected from everyone through
Kickstarter on development, excepting the Kickstarter fees and costs for
the rewards. No portion of the collected money will flow to Shibuya
Productions or Sony.
Q: PS4 physical reward?
YS: This is one of the most requested rewards, and it’s the reward I most want to make happen. Um... Please be patient!
Q: How will Kickstarter funds be spent?
YS: Please take a look at this pie chart which I’ve prepared.
[Fees: 8 - 10%, Game development: 65 to 72%, Backer rewards: 20 - 25%]
Q: Ryo’s appearance...
YS: We’ve had a lot of comments about how Ryo’s face looks, but we’ve
just got started and so it is still under development. Personally, I’m
not satisfied at all either, and so even now we’re continuing to improve
it. Today I’ve brought a slightly improved version to show you – it’s
not the final version, and we’ll be improving it even further, but I wanted to show you it.
For comparison, we’ve included two shots of Ryo from Shenmue II.
The one at the front is the slightly improved version for Shenmue III.
Again, I’m not completely happy with this Ryo – the shape of his mouth
is not quite right – and I’d like to make further refinements.
As well as the shape of his face, his facial expressions and his actions
also add to his personality and his attractiveness. So going forward
I’d like to work on facial expressions and movements in making an
attractive Ryo.
Q: Will the original voice actors reprise their roles?
YS: I auditioned Masaya Matsukaze and Corey Marshall for Shenmue I &
II, and I believe their voices are perfect for Ryo’s voice. So I’d
definitely like to have them reprise the role again this time. We’re
currently in negotiations and I’m sure they will both be happy to do so,
so please look forward to that.
Q: Can PayPal payment be added?
YS: I’m considering funding methods other than Kickstarter, including PayPal.
Q: Will a DRM-free version be made available?
YS: It’s something that is under consideration at the moment. However it’s not something Ys Net can decide by ourselves, and so discussions are taking place with various parties.
Q: Will HD versions of Shenmue I & II be released?
YS: I think that if Shenmue I and II could be released before Shenmue
III, people would be able to understand the backstory and enjoy Shenmue
III even more. And so I also personally strongly want this to happen,
but as the rights are held by Sega I’m not really in a position to be
able to comment. However I will also express to Sega that that I really would like for them to be produced.
Q: Details of new rewards?
YS: There has been feedback that there are not enough rewards, and so we
have added additional rewards. We have prepared $1000, $2000 and $5000
grab bags. The bags will continue various items of Shenmue merchandise,
and I think these will be quite exciting. And also at the $5000 level
will the one-only prototype of the watch worn by Ryo in the Shenmue
games. I have it here to show you... This is the Timex watch worn by
Ryo, and it has the YS and Shenmue logos on it. It’s a very rare item.
Q: Details of the grab bags?
YS: It includes various things such as special figures of Ryo,
watches... these watches are not quite as valuable as the one-of-a-kind
one mentioned before; they’re more casual and they also have the Shenmue
logo. Anyway, there are a variety of different items included.
Also, we have prepared some of the original art drawn by our main
character designer, Miyawaki. These are quite valuable, and are a great
reward I think.
In addition to the rewards we have added today, we will be continuing to
add further ones in the future, so please look forward to them too.
Q: Tell us about the stretch goals up to $3.6m?
YS: Firstly, I’ll talk about the stretch goals up until around the $3.6m
mark, which are the most basic goals. The stretch goals up to $3.6m
will achieve a story-oriented Shenmue. As further goals are reached, the
content for various areas will be correspondingly expanded, but even
with the story-oriented version, the plot will develop to reach a confrontation with the 4 leaders {of the Chiyoumen}.
Also, game features like the Rapport system and the Skill Tree system will be included.
Q: Rapport system
YS: With the Rapport system, various data on your interactions with
Shenhua will be tracked, such as her level of trust and rapport with you
and so on, according to your actions toward her and the way your
conversations progress. Later, this will affect how cooperative Shenhua
is toward you, for example. I think we’ll be able to express a new and exciting angle to Shenmue that wasn’t present in the previous games.
Q: Skill Tree system
YS: In Shenmue 3, you will be able to obtain move scrolls {“technique
scrolls”} in various places – for example, in shops, mini-games,
part-time jobs, gambling, quest events. You’ll be able to make
immediate use of move scrolls in battle QTEs – for example, once you get
a new scroll, you’ll be able to use it straight away as a QTE appearing
during a fight. Being able to use it as soon as you have collected
it will make it easy and satisfying to use. I think it will be fun to
have it appear and be used when fighting. Advanced moves and Arcane
scrolls will be managed in a tree structure; these will not become
immediately available after obtaining them. Instead, a likeness can be
drawn with learning of actual martial arts, where you build up to reach
an advanced move through the accumulation of several moves; in a similar
way, you will need to build up moves in the tree in order to reach the
advanced moves, and I think filling the moves in the tree will be fun.
But you won’t have to build up to the advanced moves by actually
participating in fighting (which can become tiresome); instead you just
need to accumulate the necessary move scrolls to fill the tree.
Q: Stretch Goals up to $5m
YS: If the $5m mark is reached, we will focus on the area of Baisha
There will be new types of play here which were not present in Shenmue I
& II. Typical classical war strategies from the historical Three
Kingdoms period of China, such as seiges and infiltration, will be
incorporated.
Features such as “infiltration” may sound as if they will make the game
too complicated, but they will be implemented in a way that is in
keeping with the feel of the Shenmue games and will be easy to enjoy and
engage with for anyone.
As another feature, I am planning a Character Perspective system. To put
it simply, it is being able to change the character you play, but in
Shenmue it will be done a little differently from other games that have
this: in Baisha there will be an event where you will be able to change
character in order to accomplish the mission. The player will be able to
control not just the character of Ryo, but also other characters such
as Shenhua and Ren; Ren has his own distinct personality, and Shenhua as
a female has her own viewpoints and decisions; the choices will be
different depending on the character you play. So it won’t simply be
changing of character, but rather each character’s personality will be
expressed and I think this will make for an enjoyable experience.
Q: Stretch Goals to $11m
YS: Currently further stretch goals have been announced through to
$11m (such as the expanded battle system and so on), I’d like to leave
it until next week to talk about these.
Q: Shenmue III at the Current Funding Level (around $3.6m at time of Twitch) vs $10 million
YS: At the current level of funding, as I mentioned earlier the game will be focused on the story. However
once we reach $5 million we will be able to introduce aspects such as
the Three Kingdoms “war strategies” mentioned earlier which will set it
apart from the first two Shenmue games. This is actually the part I
would most like to accomplish. If we can go above $10 million,
the town of Choubu will be significantly enhanced. The town of Choubu
has scenery that is somewhat like, for example, the Dobuita and Yokosuka
areas of Shenmue I, and this will open up various options for amusement
there. So, above $10 million, we will be able to include both game
features that I would like to take on the challenge of including, as
well as making the game “open-world like” with an even wider range of
choices available.
Q: When is Shenmue III going to be reLEEEAASED?
YS: By the end of 2017.
Q: Will Shenmue III end the story?
YS: In terms of the 11 chapters that form the basis of the Shenmue
story, we have only traversed a little way through these in Shenmue I
and II. I did consider completing all the remaining chapters within the
third game, but it would mean skipping a lot of the good parts and would
not result in a satisfactory game. There were a lot of people who want
to know the ending of the story, but in order to make the game as high
quality as possible, the end of the story will not be reached in Shenmue
III.
Q: Release Date of Demo Version
YS: Providing this at an early stage will be difficult because we need
to develop various systems and the game to a certain extent first. It is
likely not to be until the latter half of the development period.
I think it won’t be until 2017.
Q: Final Comment
YS: I always love doing new things and taking on new challenges, and so I
would like to aim for the goal of $10 million in order to produce a
Shenmue that is both the one I want to create, and one which everyone
wants. I really hope to somehow bring it to reality, and so I would like
to ask for everyone’s continued efforts and cooperation. Thank you.
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