It’s important to me to make sure that the game’s protagonist has a unique and memorable appearance. I’d like her to be easily recognizable so that people can say, “Oh, I know that character, I know what game she’s from!” and tell her apart from other anime girls. I’d like Yandere-chan to be the “face” of the game, appear in the promotional art, etc.
I’ve teamed up with a talented artist who goes by the name of “aea” to produce some character designs for the game. I’m not sure how many revisions we’ll go through before we nail the final look of the main character, but I think the first draft looks absolutely awesome, so I wanted to share it:
I’m hoping to wind up with a character who has a signature trait that makes her easy to identify; her personal trademark. I asked aea to design a character with unique silhouette, and in this design, he’s given her tufts of hair on her head that resemble horns, or perhaps bobcat ears. It definitely achieves the desired effect; I can’t think of another character she could be mistaken for!
The “horns” also carry the added bonus of making her look slightly devilish, which suits a serial killer. However, is that too on-the-nose? “She’s a bad person, therefore she gets devil horns.” Is that how it comes across? Or, is it subtle enough to not invoke that kind of reaction?
My philosophy towards the school uniform is the same as my thought process regarding the character; I want it to be unique from other school uniforms, so that people can instantly recognize what game it’s from when they see it.
I’d like to ask you what you personally think of this design. How do you imagine this character? How do you think she should look? Keep in mind that her primary objective is to be stealthy and inconspicuous. With that in mind, should she look as plain and non-threatening as possible? Or would a sinister, almost “predatory” appearance suit a stealth game about hunting and killing? I think this design strikes a nice balance between the two – but what do you think? What would you change about it?
What does this mean for character customization?
My desire to have a main character with a memorable appearance runs contrary to the concept of allowing the player to customize the character and design his own Yandere-chan. I understand how fun character creation is, but I would highly prefer to give the game a “face”. Ask yourself this: If someone sees a screenshot from Yandere Sim, how will they be able to tell what game it’s from? If someone sees a customized Yandere-chan, how will they be able to recognize what character she is or what game she is from?
This doesn’t mean that character creation / customization is entirely out the window, but it’s not the option I’m currently leaning towards.
Please share your thoughts and suggestions!
Yandere Simulator Development Blog 
I like the look.
My suggestion would be to make character customization unlockable after certain in-game criteria have been met.
But placeholder-chan is my waifu.
I think it’s a little too complicated of a look. I also think you could achieve what you want while still keeping some customization in the game.
The hairstyle is pretty obvious but it gives me an idea. Give us some hairstyle options but keep the horns in each one. The hair tufts can be the the main thing that stands out about her while still giving us options! As for other customization eye colour, skin tone, breast size, butt size, and height are all pretty minor. She would still look roughly like the same character because of her uniform and special hair tufts but we’d have a couple of options to make her our own.
As for the uniform I agree that you need a totally original concept that stands out but I think the current one is a little too complicated looking. It might be ok if you want to make it seem like she goes to a high class school but I think one of yanderechans key features is that she’s pretty regular on the outside. I would suggest a slightly simpler design with fewer buttons and less piping.
Think of the hitman series. The protagonist has a very simple design but he’s instantly recognizable to anyone who knows of the series. His trademark tattoo on the back of his neck isn’t even noticeable most of the time. So don’t feel that you need to make the character look super flashy to make her recognizable. The hair horns might already be enough. A game about murdering people yandere style as a girl is already pretty unique int he gaming market.
Also lastly I would suggest you make our beloved placeholder chan + hair horns an optional look for either people that supported you or as an unlockable.
I know I just posted above but I forgot to add that if you make yandere chan customizable you still have Senpai, your rival, and the other yandere to give great designs to.
I personally think senpai should be plain harem MC tier stuff and have a switchable female option for fun. He could also be partially customizable by suggesting he wears his glasses or not or suggesting him to dye his hair. That leaves your rival and the other yandere.
We all know the second most memorable character of any videogame is the villain. So your rival should have a very memorable design. I suggest you give her a halo like braid as a counterpart to your horn hair. As for the other yandere you can really go nuts with her and fill her with every memorable yandere trope possible. Constant dead eyes with a big grin, nearly unnoticeable blood splatter on her clothes, a special knife, you name it.
The best part about your uniform idea is that since they’re all going to the same school they should in theory all be wearing the same memorable uniform. So the uniform should be the thing you focus on the most! Or you could give them special uniforms kind of like the video game Bully. In that game everyone has uniforms but each of the groups have a different variation of the uniform.
I think there should only be some very small details. The basic design(the face) should be the one that is unique, not details.
1. A slight heterochromia.
2. The ring finger and the middle finger should be the same in length.
3. The sleeve on her left arm should be slightly pulled up.
Thank you for reading this.
Grettings from Spain! ^^
I like the ideas you have for the game; moreover I wish I can make a cosplay of Yandere-chan xDDD
However, I think the actual design of Yandere-chan is better than the one of this post because Yandere Simulator is becoming too popular thanks of the gameplays of YouTube; and Yandere-chan can be more recognizable, specially if she has a toast in her mouth!
I think there should be a male version of Yandere-chan. He wouldn’t be in the promotional art, but it would be a nice touch for the final product. They could look very similar. I think it would be cool if Yandere-chan ended up looking like this. The male version could have the same little tufts of hair. I personally don’t care about the customization. I think it wouldn’t be that bad of an idea to completely abandon the character customization and just ask what gender the player wishes to be and what gender the player wants their senpai to be. It’s okay if you don’t consider any of my ideas, you’re the game developer, it’s entirely your choice what you’re doing with the game.
I know that this post is really old now, and possibly this design was already scrapped long ago, as character customization became a decided feature, but after seeing this post, I can’t help thinking that yandere chan’s default appearance could still be made unique and recognizable, and not just a model with a hairstyle that’s a store bought asset.
I actually think that the idea of the ‘tufts’ is a really good one, because they can both look like devil horns or cat ears, and since cat ears signifies innocence while horns represent evilness, I think that it would be a very fitting and clever addition for a yandere character.
I do, however, just like most commentators, don’t approve of the rest of the hairstyle or the uniform.
Short hair for a girl in anime usually implies that the character is either badass, tomboyish or sporty, which doesn’t really fit yandere-chan’s characterization.
Like many others have stated, I think that she shouldn’t have hair obscuring her face, as it’s important that her yandere expressions are visible.
Maybe keep at least the bangs from her current hairstyle (the pre-made asset, I mean), or a slightly modified version of it. For the rest of her hairstyle I suggest either a generic hime cut or maybe a ponytail similar to her current one, as that’s how most people recognizes her.
Having the tufts combined with a generic hairstyle in a neutral color (the current one, I think) would fulfill the purpose of both giving her a unique and memorable appearance while still looking somewhat plain, especially considering what kind of complex hairstyles most female students in the game and anime characters in general commonly have.
The option of character customization doesn’t have to interfere with this suggestion, as those who like the default appearance and wants to play the game as the original yandere-chan can do that, while those who wants to customize their character can do that.
I agree with the other comments saying that the uniform should have a light color scheme that blood will look good on.
Since Yandere Simulator (or LoveSick) is a dark game disguised as a cute and girly game, I think the uniforms should be designed thereafter.
The current uniforms and the option to choose which uniform the characters should be wearing isn’t bad, but I’d rather see a specific uniform that’s unique to yandere simulator and that isn’t a store bought asset.
I don’t think that the uniform has to be completely overdone in order to be distinctive, it should be possible to make a quite natural looking uniform that’s still recognizable.
It’s possible that no one will see this comment, let alone care for it, but I still felt like stating my opinion.
I just think that the idea of the cat ear/horn tufts hairstyle on a yandere character is too clever and original to be thrown down the drain without further consideration.
I just saw it…
still here in 2020 !!
Its 2016 currently and i looked at this and I swear I thought this was posted sometime in 2015 i was so shocked it was posted 2 years ago! I seriously thought it was posted sometime ago in 2015! XD #FUTUREMEMEMORYPROBLEMS #TIMEFLYS
#timereallyflys
I think you should use this as Yan-chan’s default hair,
It’s 2017 now, and I still love this.
2021🫀
lol I forgot about this😭
THIS IS PRESENT ON 1980 MODE AND SINCE IT’S 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 1980 MODE I REVISITED IT
What happened to this design?
Is she going to stay with her usual ponytail?
I like this one, the only problem is that she is supposed to look like a normal calm girl and this appearance doesn’t help with that.