June 17th Edit: Did you encounter any game-breaking bugs in the latest build? If so, scroll down to the bottom of this blog post for some important information!
Yes, it’s true – at long last, the time has finally come! This is the final build of Yandere Simulator that only contains 1 rival. The next build of the game will have 10 rivals.
You might be thinking, “Is it going to be Custom Mode, where the player can designate any student at school as a rival?” or, “Is it going to be Endless Mode, where the game randomly generates students and designates some of them as rivals?” The answer to both of these theories is, “No.” However, I’d prefer to avoid giving out any further information, so that the big reveal can be a surprise.
It’s a bit difficult to predict how long it will take me to release the next build. I know exactly how much work will be required, but I don’t know whether or not I’ll run into unexpected problems halfway through the process that will make it take longer than initially predicted. Will it take one month? Two months? Three? I’d rather not tell you my estimate, so that you don’t get disappointed if it takes longer than expected. However, I already have all of the assets I need to implement what I’m planning, so I feel very confident that I will accomplish my goal in a timely fashion.
I always hate to go for long stretches of time without releasing an update or showing progress, because it leads to misconceptions that the game’s development has come to a halt. However, I want the “10 rivals” feature to be a surprise, so releasing regular updates/previews is not an option this time.
Potentially, I could release blurry screenshots and silhouettes of the content I’m working on, so that people know I’m still working on the game, even if they can’t see exactly what I’m working on. But, if the screenshots give too much away and spoil the surprise, then there wasn’t any point to keeping it a secret in the first place. So, this is something that I’m very hesitant to do.
I’d like to reassure my most important supporters that I’m still working on the game, while keeping spoilers and surprises away from the general public. One potential solution is to start posting updates/previews on my Patreon page. I’ve basically ignored and neglected my Patreon page for 7 years, and it feels like it’s about time I actually started doing something meaningful with it.
If I do decide to start posting exclusive sneak previews of upcoming content on my Patreon page, these updates would probably only be available to certain Patreon tiers. Currently, the only tiers are $1, $3, and $100. A new tier would probably need to be created that is higher than $3, but much lower than $100.
The people who donate to me on Patreon probably don’t want to see me get screwed over, so they probably wouldn’t leak my posts. However, there is still a possibility that someone might join my Patreon purely to leak everything. So, I have to consider that when deciding what price to charge for the Patreon tier that would enable people to see exclusive previews of upcoming content.
I’m considering the idea of bringing back the Trello checklist that I used to keep people updated while I was working on Osana. I could write a list of all my tasks – keeping any spoilers as vague as possible – and put a checkmark next to them as I complete my work. The problem is, since I’m deliberately keeping the nature of the work a secret, you wouldn’t really know if anything on the list is meaningful or not…until the update finally drops, and you get to see what I was working on the entire time.
Anyway, the bottom line is that today’s build is probably going to be the last build for a while. Because you could be stuck with this build for quite a few weeks, I decided to make sure that the build is as stable and bug-free as possible. I also included a new feature in this build that is, believe it or not, actually essential for the upcoming feature that involves 10 rivals being added to the game.
To learn about the new feature and see a list of everything that is new or different in the latest build, please scroll down past this beautiful artwork by OMGayano!
