Yandere Simulator: Past, Present, and Future

It’s the start of a new year! In Japan, it’s traditional to visit a Shinto shrine on the first day of a new year. The extremely skilled Namie has created a gorgeous illustration demonstrating what Yandere-chan might look like on Hatsumōde, the first shrine visit of the new year:

Because a new year has just begun, I feel like this is an appropriate time to reflect on the last 20 months of Yandere Simulator’s development, and then talk about the future.

I’ve created a YouTube video about Yandere Simulator’s history, its current state, and what remains to be done before the game is complete. Check it out here:

In the above video, I attempt to accurately estimate Yandere Simulator’s release date using math. The year that I arrived at was 2019. This is likely to be very disappointing to many people; I’m sure that most of you want to get your hands on the finished game as soon as possible, and don’t want to wait three long years to eliminate Yandere-chan’s rivals.

I’m not pleased with this estimate, either. I enjoy working on Yandere Simulator, but I wanted to be done with this game in 2014. This game has already eaten 20 months of my life, and I really don’t want it to eat the next 40 months as well.

I’ve been working as fast as I can – 12 hours a day, not taking the day off on weekends or on holidays – but despite the fact that I’ve poured so many hours into the game, one man simply can’t develop a complex game like Yandere Simulator in less than 5 years. It really hurts to spend so much of my time working. It hurts to not have enough time to play video games, watch anime, or hang out with my friends anymore. I haven’t even played Fallout 4, or watched the latest Star Wars film! It hurts to have tons of game ideas, and actually have the ability to create them, but be unable to create them because one project is sucking up all of my time.

Everyone who tells me “You should work less hours! You shouldn’t work on weekends! You should take vacations!” doesn’t seem to realize that if I were to do any of those things, the 2019 release date would get even farther away. Do you want Yandere Sim to come out in 2022? No? You don’t? Well, that’s exactly why I can’t take days off or go on vacations.

In the above video, I proposed three potential solutions that could reduce the amount of time it would take to release Yandere Simulator, and now I’d like to let you vote for the solution that you prefer the most:

http://strawpoll.me/6478658

If you hate all of those ideas and have a completely different suggestion, then you’re welcome to let me hear it in the comments below.

In closing…

The matter of Yandere Simulator’s release date isn’t the only issue that has been weighing heavily on my mind. There’s something else that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about, and it’s going to be the focus of my next video. That video should be coming out within the next few days. It will also involve a poll. I hope you’ll vote on it, because it’s going to be a very important issue.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for following the development of Yandere Simulator.

January 3rd Bug-Fixing Update

Yikes, the last build had some weird bugs! Here is a new build with some bug fixes.

To read a list of everything that was fixed in this build, scroll down beneath this beautiful artwork by Danny-chama!

• It is no longer possible to put on new clothing in the locker room if you’re wearing a club uniform. (It may be possible in the final game, but not for now.)
• If you become bloody while wearing a club uniform, you’re allowed to take off the bloody clothing in the locker room. The bloody club uniform will appear on the ground as a pickup. It will not be possible to change back into your club’s uniform for the rest of the day.
• You can no longer equip gloves while wearing a club uniform. (It may be possible in the final game, but not for now.)
• You can no longer change into a club uniform while you’re covered in blood.
• Adjusted the text that appears if a teacher discovers the corpse of a girl who seems to have committed suicide (but was actually pushed off the roof by Yandere-chan) so that the text is accurate no matter what time of day it appears.
• Fixed bug that would cause the player to slide along the outside of the changing booth when attempting to change clothes inside of the changing booth.
• Fixed bug that would cause weapons and other small objects to drop through the floor of the Martial Arts room and land inside of the Occult Club.
• Fixed bug that would cause Kokona to walk around holding a knife if Yandere-chan distracted her during her “preparing food” animation.
• Fixed bug that would cause weapons and other small objects to fall inside of the mat and cushions inside of the Martial Arts room.
• Fixed bug that would cause the “A teacher discovered a corpse” text and the “Police Investigation” text to appear simultaneously.
• Fixed incorrect text on the sign above classroom 1-2’s doors.

By the way, guys – please remember not to report bugs that can only happen through the use of debug commands. You won’t be able to use debug commands in the final version of the game, so there’s no reason for me to fix any bugs that can only occur through the use of debug commands.

January 2nd Bug-Fixing Update

Oops! There were some weird bugs in the previous build. I’ve prepared a new build with some important fixes. You can download it here.

Scroll down below this gorgeous illustration to see a bullet-point list of everything that I fixed in this new build! (I only wish I knew the name of the artist!)

• In previous versions of the game, when the schoolday ended, Yandere-chan would drop all weapons that she was holding. If the player had committed murder, but had not been witnessed, had cleaned all blood, had disposed of the body, and had disposed of their bloody clothing, but had a bloody weapon in her possession, the police would still be called at the end of the day. This makes no logical sense, because there is no reason for Yandere-chan to drop a piece of incriminating evidence on the ground if she had successfully gotten away with murder earlier in the day. I have adjusted Yandere-chan’s behavior so that she will no longer drop weapons on the ground at the end of the day; she will simply bring the weapon home with her, which will count as disposing of the weapon. If the police are called to school and Yandere-chan has a bloody weapon in her possession, Yandere-chan will not drop it, but the police will still find it on her person. As a result, you can now kidnap a girl without having to dispose of the syringe that you stabbed her with…as long as you didn’t commit any OTHER crimes, and as long as there isn’t any OTHER incriminating evidence around school.
• Removed circular saws. You weren’t supposed to be able to pick them up yet. They will be re-implemented once they have functionality, and/or proper animations.
• Fixed bug that would cause an unconscious girl to teleport to the classroom beneath her usual classroom when Yandere-chan attended class.
• Fixed bug that would allow the player to apologize to a student, even if that student had not witnessed Yandere-chan doing anything wrong.
• Fixed bug that would cause two students to become unable to sit down at their chairs in the computer room.
• Attempted to fix the “students get stuck and spin in circles when walking up or down stairs” bug.
• Removed images of unfinished future content that you weren’t supposed to find out about yet.
• Attempted to fix the “students get stuck when entering and exiting the changing booth” bug.
• Fixed bug that would allow Yandere-chan to compliment NPCs more than once per day.
• Did a better job of hiding the hidden girl.

Reminder

PLEASE read the Known Bugs List before sending me a bug report! It’s a pretty big deal!

The Club Update

Happy New Year, everyone!

This gorgeous illustration from Noxina gives me an idea. I bet the sound of exploding fireworks could be used to mask a dying schoolgirl’s screams!

But enough about that; watch this YouTube video about the latest feature in Yandere Simulator: Clubs!

Clubs aren’t the only thing that’s new in this update. Here’s a full list of everything in this new build:

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some incorrect text that would display during the End-Of-Day / Police Investigation text while the police were investigating a murder-suicide.
• Fixed bug that would prevent a mind-broken slave from killing her victim unless the victim had stopped moving.
• Fixed bug that would cause dead students to emit hearts from their heads while dead.
• Fixed bug that would cause some “Student Info” portraits to be inaccurate.
• Fixed skirt clipping and eyebrow deformation in the Cirno easter egg.
• Fixed some more typos in the End-Of-Day / Police Investigation text.

Additions

• Added 6 new hairstyles and 3 new accessories for Yandere-chan, and also two new hairstyles for Senpai-kun. These hairstyles and accessories were commissioned by fans of the game, and modeled by Druelbozo!
• Added a special sequence somewhere inside of the school building.
• Added a tool shed with a new weapon inside of it.
• Added a hedge maze to the school grounds.
• Added more props to the Occult Club room.
• Added props in the Student Council room.
• Added a garden for the Gardening Club.
• Added 10 new collectible manga books.
• Added two new easter egg modes.
• Added props to the Art Room.
• Added 5 new students.

Changes

• A student who witnesses Yandere-chan commit murder will now refuse to speak to Yandere-chan in the future, and will damage Yandere-chan’s reputation on all subsequent days…until they die.
• Replaced the copyrighted song that played during the “Sukeban” easter egg with original music.
• Replaced the old small town test environment with a new small town test environment.
• Examining the cheese now causes something to happen somewhere else in the school.
• Changed the year that the game takes place in.

Clubs

• Club Leaders now wear a “Red Armband of Leadership” on their left arms.
• Some clubmembers will now enter a changing booth and change their clothing before engaging in a club activity. This was only possible because of help from Saracen!
• If the player speaks to a Club Leader who is in their clubroom, club-specific dialogue options will appear.
• The player can ask a Club Leader for information about their club, ask to join the club, ask to quit the club, or ask to participate in club activities.
• If the player asks to participate in club activities between 5:00 and 5:30, they will be shown a scene that features Yandere-chan participating in the club’s activity, and the day will end.
• If the player reduces the number of students in a club to less than 5, that club will disband. The club members’ daily schedules will change, their appearances may change, and the doors to the clubroom will be locked.
• If a clubmember witnesses Yandere-chan commit murder, but Yandere-chan is not arrested for murder, that student will warn the club’s leader about Yandere-chan, and Yandere-chan will be kicked out of that club, or disallowed from joining that job in the future.
• If the player murders the leader of a club, that club will disband.
• If the player quits a club, they won’t be allowed to re-join.
• If the player takes an action that would result in a club disbanding (such as reducing the number of students to less than 5, getting kicked out of the club when the club only had 4 other members besides the player, or murdering the club leader) then the player will be shown a message at the end of the day in which Yandere-chan is informed that she has been kicked out of the club.

The Future of Yandere Simulator

I didn’t expect Yandere Simulator’s development to last this long. I think that this is a good time to make a video announcing how many features remain, how long it will take to implement those features, how I plan to carry out the rest of the game’s development, how I plan to secure funding, and how people can help me out.

 

Yandere Sim 2015 Annual Report

2015 is almost over! Let’s review some data about the blog!

• In 2014, this blog was viewed 184,000 times.
• In 2015, this blog was viewed 30,000,000 times!
• In 2014, the busiest day of the year was July 2nd, with 10,441 views.
• In 2015, The busiest day of the year was August 22nd with 216,504 views!

(That’s probably because of a very popular video that Markiplier uploaded on August 21st!)

My longest “posting streak” was during the first 5 days of December, when I updated the blog 5 days in a row. In fact, I’ve probably made more blog posts this month than any other month!

The most-viewed blog posts were “Please Stop Sending Me Stupid E-mails!” “E-mail Problems and Download Problems” and “Things You Should Not E-mail YandereDev About“. Wow! I really did try my hardest to push that message, didn’t I?

The next most-viewed blog post was the School Atmosphere Update post. Before that, the most-viewed blog post was the Sanity In Yandere Sim post, waaaaay back in January!

Here’s where most of the blog’s traffic comes from.

Wow! More traffic comes from YouTube than all other sources combined. Yandere Simulator’s popularity can be directly attributed to Let’s Players. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone who plays this game on YouTube!

This blog received a lot of traffic from AlphaBetaGamer. I think that’s because, for a very long time, this post on AlphaBetaGamer was the top Google search result for “Yandere Simulator Download”.

A lot of this blog’s traffic comes from Facebook. Why are you telling your friends and family that you bully schoolgirls and take panty shots?

There’s also a lot of traffic coming from VK, which is basically the Russian equivalent of Facebook. Wow! It looks like there’s a very active Yandere Simulator community in Russia!

I wonder why there is so much traffic coming from a Brazilian site called Baixaki? Probably because someone is hosting a really old build of the game there. But that build is from June! How embarrassing!

People from 223 different countries have viewed this blog! Here are the top 10:

Mexico, Brazil, France, Argentina, Spain, Chile, Thailand…wow! There are a lot of non-English speakers that enjoy Yandere Simulator! I’m looking forward to the day when I finalize the English script so that I can begin to provide the option to change the language that the game is displayed in.

Hmm…so, what are the countries that have viewed this blog the lowest number of times? Let’s take a look.

There is ONE dude in Samoa who knows what Yandere Simulator is. Who is it? Is it this guy?

Wait a second! This blog has been viewed 25 times in North Korea. But, Internet access in North Korea is limited to government usage only. Does this mean that someone in the North Korean government is a fan of Yandere Simulator? Could it be…Glorious Leader Himself?!

In 2015, the people who made the most comments on this blog were:

• Glb Jlznv, with 462 comments.
• Irosuhana, with 359 comments.
• poofymushroom, with 312 comments.

Wow! Thank you for taking such an interest in Yandere Simulator! But…I wonder…what have they been commenting about? I hope they weren’t just spamming “YandereDev is a loser!” the whole time…

Over the course of the past year, the latest debug build of the game has been hosted on several different websites: Mediafire, Mega, yanderesimulator.com, Google Docs, and yanderegame.com. So, how many times has the game been downloaded?

• Downloads from Mediafire: 3,722,039
• Downloads from Mega: 865,744
• Downloads from YandereSimulator.com: 242,564
• Downloads from Google Docs: 97,681
• Downloads from Yanderegame.com: 63,290

If we add up all of those numbers, then we can conclude that…

WOW! I’ve created a game that has been downloaded almost 5 million times! That’s pretty awesome!

(….most game developers probably would have started charging for the game by this point…)

Just imagine: What if I had received $1 for each download? The entire game would definitely have been funded by now!

So, what did I write at the end of last year’s Annual Report?

“I’m hoping to release a playable demo by March 1st, and launch a Kickstarter by April 2nd.”

…well, that sure didn’t happen. I’d love to finish implementing all core gameplay mechanics by March 1st of this year, and launch a Kickstarter by April 2nd of this year, but I definitely don’t want to make any promises. (After all, it didn’t work the last time…)

The only thing I CAN promise is that there will be a new build of the game uploaded on January 1st!

Here is the last time you’ll hear me say this in 2015: Thank you very much for following the development of Yandere Simulator!

Yandere-chan Is Coming To Town

It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that you’re all having a wonderful day! Yandere-chan certainly seems to be experiencing some Christmas cheer in this beautiful illustration by Valeria S-Martin:

I hope you’re not tired of Christmas-themed videos yet, because I’ve got one more to share with you!

And with that, I think I’m officially out of Christmas-themed content to share with you all. I hope that these videos and illustrations have brought a little extra happiness into your life!

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Murder

It’s Christmas Eve! Long-time fans of Yandere Simulator might remember last year’s blog post, in which I expressed a desire to create a yandere-themed Christmas carol. Well, it’s been a full year, but my dream has finally come true!

I hope that everyone out there is enjoying the holiday season. Here’s some artwork from Noxina depicting Yandere-chan in a particularly festive mood!

I still have one more surprise planned for Christmas. If everything goes according to schedule, then I’ll have something else to share with you tomorrow. I hope that it works out!

Until then…Happy Holidays!