Anecdotes & Insights - Shenmue Devs on Crunch & Debugging | Famitsu Dec 2024 [Part 2]

In this post, we continue our English translation of Famitsu’s 25th anniversary roundtable with the original Shenmue developers. In Part 1, the team recalled the brutal work culture, the “general election” that decided the lead programmer, and how some staff turned themselves into NPCs.

Part 2 turns to the harsh realities of debugging, with stories of cardboard naps, 24-hour shifts, bizarre bugs, and the obsessive attention to detail that made Shenmue both a nightmare to create and a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

The Harshness of the Development Environment

Hirai: You really shouldn’t be starting meetings at 10 p.m., right? We did have a nap room, though. That said, my previous company wasn’t very different, so I thought, “Ah, it’s the same here too.” That was just the era we were in. Still, during Shenmue’s development, I felt way more pressure. I remember seeing my timecard showing "XX" hours for a single month.

Note from Switch: The original article did not provide the exact figures; “XX”/“YY” are placeholders for the actual numbers.

Kasahara: If we’re talking about work hours, then it has to be Wada. Like we mentioned earlier, when you looked at his timecard, he’d barely gone home all month. And he wasn’t the kind of guy to fudge the numbers or cheat the system either. His recorded hours for one month were something like "YY" hours.

— (We could only laugh.) I mean, there are only about 720 hours in a month, assuming 24 hours times 30 days.

Hirai: Wada was known as the ‘mainstay’ of the team. He was always present in the office - that’s how dedicated he was. And he wasn’t even a full-time employee! (laughs)

Kasahara: No matter when you showed up, he was always there.

— Mr. Wada, why were you working that much...?

Wada: I was a contract employee, and I originally worked at another company doing various types of development, but I was brought onto Shenmue under contract. And the content of that contract was to “see Shenmue through to release.” So I felt that unless the game shipped, I hadn’t fulfilled my responsibility. I was just doing what I believed was required of me.

To put it simply, I just didn’t go home for two months. (laughs)

Especially toward the end of development, we had about two solid months of debugging, and the team had to operate 24 hours a day. There were times during debugging when the game would crash, and the testers would be stuck, unable to do anything, until morning. That happened several times, but with no programmers around at those hours, the bugs couldn’t be fixed.

Once someone said, “We can’t do any debugging because there’s no programmer here,” I realized I had to be available around the clock. After that, I basically worked 24 hours a day.

Ryo catches some sleep... unlike some of the developers [Image added by Switch]

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Shenmue 2 Interview with Yu Suzuki | DoriMaga May 2001

This interview with Yu Suzuki about the upcoming release of Shenmue II for Dreamcast was published in the May 2001 edition of Japan's DoriMaga magazine. It took place following Sega's decision to cease production of the Dreamcast a couple of months earlier in March 2001.

The translation begins below.

DoriMaga: There was a huge turnout at SEGA's recent event, Game Jam*, reaffirming the great anticipation for Shenmue II. What plans are there for the Dreamcast in future, and what is the significance of Shenmue II? Let's hear a message from Yu Suzuki to the readers of the new-look DoriMaga magazine and users of the Dreamcast.

*Note from Switch: Game Jam was a trade event held in Tokyo by SEGA the previous month, in April 2001, and featured preview gameplay of Shenmue II.

Suzuki: Game Jam was fantastic. While we apologize for any inconvenience caused due to the crowded space, we are delighted that so many people attended. Seeing such a large number of attendees makes us very happy. Seeing so many attendees on that day made me think, "It's a shame we're giving up on the Dreamcast..."

DoriMaga: The event featured the first-ever demonstration using actual hardware, but how far along is the development of Shenmue II at this point?

Suzuki: Well, as of the end of March, it's mostly been bug fixes. That means we've essentially locked in the program code, and from there, it's mostly about replacing data and focusing on debugging. Since April, we've been diving into that work, and at the moment, we're at a stage where it's nearing the finalization process. At this stage, if we are able to iron out any critical bugs, we'll be looking at finalization in just a few weeks.

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Examining Shenmue II Storyboards | Design Documents

In the Spring of 2022, a promotional event was held on location in Yokosuka to celebrate the anime adaptation of Shenmue, Shenmue The Animation, which was organized by Yokosuka City in collaboration with SEGA and IGN Japan. Various pieces of concept artwork were exhibited at a number of shops in the area, some being from the anime while others were sketches and illustrations from the time of development of the first two games.

Among the artwork were reproductions of certain storyboards from the game, detailing the camera shots and spoken lines to guide creation of cut scenes in the game. 

The three storyboards exhibited at the event which we will cover in this post are from Shenmue II and are entitled:

1. "Encounter with Joy"
2. "Xiuying's Tears"
3. "Encounter with Shenhua"

We will be looking at these in more detail and translating any written notes and characters' lines, noting differences of interest between the storyboards and the final implementation of the cut scenes in the game.

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[Part Eleven] The Secret of Miao Village: Working Cut Scene & Team Battle Event Discovered!

It is time to add to our Miao Village series with the announcement of an exciting discovery of a working section of cut game play, making this the first time we have ever experienced Miao Village cut content in a playable form!

This incredible finding was discovered by Brian Park, who runs the Shenmue Park account on X/Twitter, after intense efforts. On a recent Shenmue Dojo stream, Brian commented that he had "checked through thousands of entry points" (referring to the debug menu available on certain prototypes of the game) over the last few months before finding it.

The part of the story relates to Ryo's meeting with Zhang regarding the whereabouts of Yuanda Zhu, and Brian has made a video that captures everything. Not only does it contain a brand-new cut scene and QTE event, but (depending on the outcome of the event) it can even develop into a team battle with Ryo and Zhang taking on a gang of thugs!

The dialogue in the ending cut scene matches exactly with the Zhang meeting subtitle text for the Miao Village storyline that we examined previously. However we now see additional interactions between the two prior to this discussion - and it also reveals that their meeting place was not the Dou Jiang Diner, as had been assumed, but Lotus Park in South Carmain Quarter.

Video

Watch the incredible footage of the full cut scene from the Game Jam prototype, from Brian Park, which includes the QTE success & fail scenarios as well as other variations of the scene found on Disc 2 and in the unreleased US Shenmue prototype:

You'll note that the voices are not those of the official voice actors for the release. Due to the scene being still under development at this point, stand-in voices were used (for example, those of staff or developers) as placeholders until the scenes were finalized.

Credit for screen shots in this post to Brian Park (taken from his video).

Cut Scene, QTE and Team Battle: Synopsis & Dialogue Translation

Here is a synopsis of the interactions that occur in this extended cut scene, which also includes a QTE interaction and - depending on whether you succeed or fail at this - a team battle together with Zhang against the loan sharks!

Ryo enters Lotus Park, which appears to be empty, and looks around as if searching for someone.

A few seconds later, a man in a brown suit walks out from behind a tree, and bows. It is Zhang.

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Hidden Yu Suzuki Model Unearthed in Shenmue 2 | "Game Jam" Prototype Release!

 

A Yu Suzuki character model has been discovered among the files of a Shenmue II prototype that has been recently acquired by members of the Shenmue community. He is dressed in Ryo's classic clothing - leather jacket, white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers - but is otherwise the spitting image of Yu-san. The character even has a somewhat (ahem) "girthier" look compared to Ryo!

Although the character is not available by default, after some adjustments made to the game files, it is now possible to play the game proper entirely as this hybrid "Ryo Suzuki"! The effect is hilarious, as can be previewed in the trailer below.

The existence of a Yu Suzuki character was first mentioned in a tweet from a former Shenmue developer ("ashizuka16bit") back in 2019. It was created by the developers as a fun Easter egg, but unfortunately the idea was rejected by the senior manager and did not make it into the release!

"Shenmue often features developers as general NPCs, but Yu-san actually appeared in Shenmue II as a hidden character. I had a good laugh when I was shown it late at night, but the top development manager found it and put it on hold. If it had been released as it was, it would have caused a stir. By the way, he could be discovered if you searched a certain place [on the way to] Bailu Village"

(Note: the original tweet said "at Bailu Village" but the developer clarified this as meaning "somewhere on the way to Bailu Village", which would suggest during the walk with Shenhua.)

This is just one of the findings that has come out of analysis of an early prototype of Shenmue II that is now in the hands of the community thanks to the generosity and determination of a small group of Shenmue fans: the "Game Jam" prototype.

The "Game Jam" Prototype

This prototype was listed on a Japanese online auction site in March 2022 as a set of four Dreamcast discs, and quickly drew attention.

Photos in the listing showed hand-written labelling on the 4 discs making up the set with the words "Game Jam" and a date of "4/11", indicating that it was used for demonstration at Sega's Game Jam event.

Game Jam was an event was held in Tokyo on the 14th and 15th of April 2001, some months prior to the game's eventual release in Japan in September of that year. Yu Suzuki himself demonstrated the game on stage, and was joined by Masaya Matsukaze and Takumi Hagiwara (Ryo and Ren)

A small group of fans banded together to produce a winning bid on the listing, and in this way have saved it from disappearing once more into a private collection where it might never be seen again.

Not only that, but this group has worked together to analyze the contents in detail, carry out reverse engineering to add and unlock special features, and finally to share not only all their findings but to make available the game prototype itself for all of us to enjoy.

The prototype acquisition was brought about thanks to the following people. A huge shout-out on behalf of the whole Shenmue community for their generosity in procuring this valuable and historical item, as well as their hard work on in-depth analysis.

• Comby Laurent (owner of the Sega Dreamcast Info site)
• Skill Jim (co-owner of the Shenmue Dojo)
• Sappharad
• LemonHaze (lead of the Shenmue: Dragon & Phoenix Collection project, who also has extensively reverse-engineered the prototype code to add some amazing new features)
• Iniche

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