Technology

Posted on May 22, 2018 by staff

Studio resurrects classic Shenmue video games

Technology

d3t Ltd has confirmed that it is the development studio responsible for resurrecting two 20-year-old video games, the hugely popular and boundary-pushing Shenmue and Shenmue II.

The project remained top-secret until the news was announced in April at SEGA Fes 2018 in Tokyo.

“We can finally reveal that the d3t team have been resurrecting Shenmue from the original source code written over 20 years ago!” said d3t operations director Noel Austin

“We are bringing Shenmue and Shenmue II to modern platforms: Playstation4, Xbox One and PC.

“It’s been a journey of discovery, delving into the original code, also an honour and a privilege to work on such high-profile titles, delivering this classic franchise to new platforms and new audiences.”

d3t is a growing tech company in the North West of England. Founded in 2011 it has grown year-on-year to its current team of 50, and was acquired by Keywords Studios last year.

The company is forecasting continued expansion and has recently moved to a larger HQ in Cheshire.

d3t stands out in the UK game development sector because it strategically does not develop its own IP, instead it exclusively delivers game and interactive projects on behalf of international clients.

Household names like SEGA, Sony, the BBC and independent studios worldwide regularly engage d3t on projects and it provides invaluable, confidential support across the games and interactive media sectors.

This technical port of Shenmue I & II represented an enormous technical challenge for the team at d3t.

The company has referred to the process as ‘digital archaeology’ and says the re-release of Shenmue 1 and 2 will be available together as a single package later this year, and will remain true to the originals.

Studio head Richard Badger added: “A lot of the work we undertake stays under wraps, so it’s great that we can actually talk about this amazing project.

“The global Shenmue gaming community have shown us incredible support and we are really excited about the launch of the games later this year.

“We are extremely proud of our team and being able to showcase the remarkable software development talent that can be found right here in the North West of England.”

d3t does not just deliver when it comes to resurrecting well-loved cutting-edge games. The company also provides the same level of expertise to the museum and heritage sector and has recently been involved with real life archaeology, working as a technology partner for an installation opened at Yorkshire Museum by Sir David Attenborough.

d3t worked with lead designer Bright White to develop a set of digital museum exhibits for the highly esteemed ‘Yorkshire’s Jurassic World’.

It animated a lifelike raptor and an augmented reality window giving visitors a unique opportunity to view some of the world’s most amazing extinct dinosaurs and sea creatures as they would have looked when they lived on earth.