I got pathfinding working. Now a frightened schoolgirl can find her way to a specific place inside of a school environment with multiple floors. It may not be the most exciting feature to look at, but it’s one of the only features I felt worried about, so I’m really happy that I got it working. This feature enables a lot of other features, such as giving each student a set “routine” and having them follow a schedule, allowing you to stalk students and learn when they are alone and vulnerable.
Here, a schoolgirl witnesses murder and then flees the school in terror:
To continue working on the game, I’ll need your help. I need you to answer some polls for me. I need you to tell me how you think NPCs should behave. For example, if a classmate witnesses a murder, should she…
- Take out her phone and snap an incriminating photo of you
- Call the police
- Run a specific distance away from you, then call the police / send the photo
- Run and try to warn other students
- Run to the nearest teacher
- Run out of the school
- Try to fight you
It’s easy to say “Every student should have a different personality, and should react differently! Some might try to fight you, others might flee!” but that’s not what I’m focusing on right now. Instead of thinking about students having multiple personality types, let’s decide on the “standard” response for now. Maybe I can add multiple types of reactions later.
If a student can instantly snap a picture of you and send it to the police, that’s a 100% guaranteed immediate game over. That might be fitting for the hardest difficulty mode, but an instant game over upon being spotted sounds really harsh to me.
Most people probably don’t think fast enough to instantly take out their phone, snap a photo, and send it to the police, all within seconds of witnessing a murder. But if the school atmosphere is extremely tense and the students are aware that a serial killer is on the loose, they might be expecting to find a killer, and they might be prepared to whip out their phones at a moment’s notice.
What do you think? http://strawpoll.me/2348435 (This poll allows multiple answers.)
Calling the police and reporting you without evidence might have different consequences. The student might call the cops on you, then run away, allowing you to clean up the crime scene before the cops arrive. The cops arrive, find no crime, and assume that the “witness” just hates you and wants you arrested. Or perhaps eyewitness testimony is all that is necessary to lock you up, regardless of whether or not there is any evidence lying around.
How do you feel about this? http://strawpoll.me/2348528
If a student witnesses a murder, what should their immediate response be? http://strawpoll.me/2348561
AFTER a student reports you to the police, what should they do next? http://strawpoll.me/2348608
How should teachers be different than students? http://strawpoll.me/2348670 (This poll allows multiple answers.)
If you can think up any other behavior that students / teachers should have, let me know. Just keep in mind that, for now, I would like to implement ONE response that ALL students will have. Student “personalities” and multiple types of reactions is something to consider later, after I have one response working properly.
Thank you for your help!
Yandere Simulator Development Blog 
First! 😀
And don’t worry, I’ll still have my phone and my laptop at my university… you won’t get rid of me that easily! XP
I think running into an open area and calling the police is the most realistic option, you’d have to be awfully ballsy to try and snap a picture right after seeing a murder or to stay still while calling the police.
I suggest taking a look at civilian behaviour in the GTA games and more recently Watch Dogs. In Watch Dogs, when an NPC calls the police there’s a HUD icon shown above them so you know that you need to deal with them. Additionally the game allows you to stop them in multiple ways; Kill them, Take down (You just grab their phone and smash it on the ground), Threaten them (With a weapon), Run into them (which causes them to drop whatever they’re holding), Ignore them and try to avoid the police. You could possibly have it that if the player approaches an NPC making the call they drop their phone and flee. I suggest the most common response be too flee, with a small chance of fleeing to a ‘safe area’ (dark corner, change room, inside locker etc) then attempting to make the call while trying to hide themselves (Crouching down etc). Also another possible response you haven’t listed is being frozen with fear, either just standing there gawking or dropping into the fetal position/crouching.
In any-case though, state machines are easy to build having multiple behaviors is be a lot easy then you think (I’m speaking from experience). Example states you may use; Roaming/Patrolling (Default), Fleeing from player, Searching for place to hide, Frozen (could be timed then switch to another state), Calling police, Fighting, Chasing player.
Anyways hope this helps, and I look forward to future progress.
Well, the thing about Watch_Dogs is that the player is an anonymous vigilante hiding his face who constantly moves across a city, often on the run from the cops, with many different ways to evade the cops. It doesn’t really matter if he is spotted committing a crime, and it doesn’t really matter how he deals with NPCs.
Yandere-chan has got to visit the same school and see the same people every day, who are all going to recognize her and remember her. If the police are aware that she is a criminal, that’s game over. She can’t just hack into ctOS and then keep going to school like nothing happened.
If Yandere-chan grabs and smashes a classmate’s phone, or threatens them, that classmate will still remember the fact that they witnessed a murder, and so they should still try to report Yandere-chan to the police. Tackling a student making a phone call or slapping the phone out of their hands is kind of a pointless gesture at that point, since that student is going to try and get Yandere-chan arrested from that point forward. They have to be killed.
Either that, or Yandere-chan can just let that student go, and clean up all evidence before the cops arrive, so that the student’s eyewitness testimony seems like a big lie.
Great job on this pathfinding/behavior update by the way, it’s true that it may not seem as flashy as some of your previous ones, but it’s definitely more integral to gameplay, by far.
I’ll start out by listing my responses to each strawpoll, and also my explanations and reasoning behind them:
1. “Should students be allowed to snap pictures of you committing a crime?”
I chose “Only on the hardest difficulty level”, but that’s not as simple as it sounds. Realistically, nobody would EVER take the time to pull out their phones and go through the rigamarole of taking a picture (let alone immediately sending it to the police), because the shocking situation of finding someone stabbing another person to death would almost certainly invoke a fight-or-flight response, or in this case just instant (or possibly delayed for a few seconds because of shock) running away to tell a teacher without bothering with pictures. I feel that students immediately taking pictures could be justified at all difficulty levels with some caveats though, so read on.
I also chose “Students should not reflexively snap a picture unless they have reason to believe a murderer is in the school (corpses have been discovered previously)” because it would act as a logical justification for picture-taking at all difficulty levels, especially at the lower ones.
I also chose “Yes, but they have to run to a safe spot before they send the photo, so you have time to kill them first.” because nobody would have the time or nerve to actually send it to the police in addition to taking it on the spot (except for on the hardest difficulty). Note that running away to send photos should only happen if there are no teachers around when the student searches, or their initial attempt to call/message the cops on the spot failed (if you’re playing on the hardest difficulty).
*WARNING: RAMBLING BELOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*
I feel that my time with Payday 2 has influenced my thinking somewhat on these responses, mainly because of the nature of the game (crime, stealth, civilians who call police, alarms, cameras, etc.). In Payday 2, there are several levels of difficulty: Normal, Hard, Overkill, and Death Wish. Depending on the difficulty, there may be more civilians, guards, tougher enemies, and more complicated security systems.
In regards to phones and picture-taking in Yandere Sim, Payday 2’s precedent for their mechanics would be guard pagers, as well as the civilians similarly calling the police upon seeing a crime/criminals.
In Payday 2, when you kill a guard during stealth, his pager will go off, leaving you with about 15 seconds to respond or else the police will be called. However, the pager system has it’s limits, as you are only able to respond to a certain number of pager calls (5 or so, depends on difficulty), which effectively limits the amount of guards you can kill while trying to stay under the radar.
Civilians in Payday 2 will become alarmed if you spook them, but will rarely immediately call police. Instead, they sport a similar bright red “!” above their heads, as they either stand/cower in shock or run for their lives. If you don’t take action (shoot them or scream at them to intimidate them) fast enough upon them seeing you, they will start taking out their phones and calling the police, regardless of if they ran to a safer location or are still standing still.
So, let’s assume that you implement various difficulties for Yandere Sim, namely “Easy”, “Normal”, “Hard”, and “True Yandere”, with “True Yandere” being similar to the highest difficulties of other games (Nightmare, Insane, Hardcore, Death Wish, etc.)
As far as Easy, Normal, and the Hard difficulties go (pertaining to phones/pictures), I feel that students should *almost* never take pictures of you committing your deeds, and should just immediately run for the nearest teacher. The *only* exception to this should be if the school is already on high alert because of dead bodies or other evidence found previously, in which case the students will automatically snap pictures of you (but not call police themselves) before running away to a teacher.
If you’re playing on the “True Yandere” difficulty however, things get mixed up a bit. *All* students will *always* stop to take pictures of your crime, and will *also* take the time to call/message the police the pics on the spot before running away to a teacher, *unless* you take a threatening action to stop them.
This is where Payday 2 comes in… just as you can interrupt a civilians call to the police by shooting them or by yelling at them (whether the yell is successful in scaring them enough to stop the call depends on your “intimidation” rating), so too can Yandere-chan scare a student enough to stop the call and/or picture-sending. The only three ways to do that are as follows:
1. Immediately start running from whoever you were just stabbing to death towards the student calling the cops, which will most likely startle them and interrupt the calling process as they begin to run away for safety or to tell a teacher.
2. The other way which could work is again closing the gap between yourself and the caller fast enough to *kill* them, but that option would heavily depend on the distance between the two.
3. The last option, my personal favorite, doesn’t involve immediately running at them to scare or kill them, but instead would invoke one of the only positive effects of having the Yandere Meter filled up. Depending on how high the meter is, Yandere-chan could be able to scare the witness out of the call or make them flee just by looking their way, OR even better, could spam her Yandere Laugh button to emit an AOE or targeted maniacal laugh/scream at the witness(s) to make them stop calling cops and immediately cower or flee in complete and mindless terror, with absolutely no thought to cops, pictures, or telling teachers, just getting away! This last option would most likely be for fun or as a last resort, to be fair.
Take note that there might be 3 phases of calling the cops, assuming that anyone can:
1. Student or general witness is shocked, begins to pull out phone and type the number (was it 011?) and/or take a picture…
2. They then complete the dialing to the cops and begin to talk to them or they proceed to snap pictures…
3. They then run away to tell a teacher, this last phase is still up in the air (more on that later).
The only problem I see with interrupting calls to the police is *if* the police will take the dropped call as simply a prank call and *ignore* it, or if police policy is to physically respond to all calls, regardless of their content or intent.
As an example, let’s say Yandere-chan either scares or kills a witness student and obtains their phone in some way…
1. If the call to the police had already been completed, she’s shit outta luck.
2. If the witness managed to get into a call with the police but Yandere-chan interrupted it, then Yandere-chan might have a chance to fake a response to the police to reassure them that everything is juuuuuuuust fiiiiiiiine… much like the pager system in Payday 2, though the cops may only accept 1 or 2 alleged “prank” calls from Yandere-chan before they come for *real*.
3. If she was lucky or skilled enough to take the phone by force or kill the witness before it was used, no harm, no foul.
*RAMBLING OVER… FOR NOW*
2. “If a student reports you to the police, what is the consequence?”
I chose “If you kill the witness before they speak to police in person, AND remove all evidence of your crime, there is no consequence.” because you have to be both realistic and thorough to avoid screwing up, otherwise it’s a bit too easy.
As of now, that particular strawpoll question is trending more in favor of the “living witness = still absolutely no consequences”, which I disagree with but am willing to compromise on.
For those who chose that particular response, do you *really* expect there to be ZERO consequences for murdering someone in front of someone else, even if you manage to clean up everything and make the witness look like a liar? I’ll put it this way, that *might* work the first time, but if you get the police called on you again, it’s three (or two or one, depending on difficulty) strikes and you’re out!
At the very least, covering up your crime but *failing* to eliminate the witness should have some negative consequences depending on difficulty, like reputation loss and greater suspicion, etc… that’s some real-talk from me Dev, imo you can only bullshit so much before the game becomes bullshit.
Oh, and this:
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
3. “If a student witnesses a murder, what should their immediate response be?”
I chose “Run to nearest teacher”, because that seems like the most logical thing to do, and would probably have been the same thing I would’ve done if I had encountered someone stabbing another person to death in a bathroom in my high school.
I also chose “Run a certain distance away from you, then call the police” if there are no teachers around to report to.
4. “After a student reports you to the police, what should they do next?”
Well, assuming that it’s a student that calls the cops on you because they couldn’t find a teacher…
I chose “Run to the nearest teacher and tell them about you.”, though they might have to run a while to find a teacher if there wasn’t one in the immediate area to tell before the 011 call.
I also don’t think it makes much sense for the witnesses to actually run *off* the school’s property, but whatever works. In addition, I guess witnesses should just give a warning to everyone they run by, not just teachers, just for simplicities sake.
5. “How should teachers be different from students?”
I chose “If notified about your murders, teachers will attempt to restrain you until police arrive.”, because it makes a lot of sense, and I myself have seen teachers and administrators at my high school grab and try to restrain violent fighting kids on numerous occasions.
I also chose “Teachers can be defeated, but it requires more effort than killing a student. (Killing a student takes one button press.)” because they are adults after all, and can take somewhat more punishment and are stronger.
Stealth-kills should kill everyone one-hit imo, though the whole thing with “button presses” would probably make most sense if you implemented a system similar to my suggestion on the Yandere Meter’s negative effects regarding maniacal vs. concise killings, or the “X Button Debate”, as I referred to it.
Lastly, I chose “Teachers are the only NPCs who can report you to the police.”, but only as a possible setting that would apply to lower difficulties, as it would be easier but more unrealistic. By killing all the teachers, you would essentially have free reign of the school, and the cops could technically never be called, but that’s up to you.
A couple last questions before I go:
1. That’s a pretty spacious-looking school environment you’ve got there… how long have you had that, and would that be what we would play in the demo? Or is that a placeholder? Either way, I like it.
2. Are the schoolgirl NPC’s programmed to dynamically respond to Yandere-chan’s movements towards them, or do you just have them on pre-set paths for now?
Well, let’s think of different things here: If you suddenly see someone kill someone else, well not immediatly everyone would call the police on the spot — One half would likely freeze in fear and/or try to run away, while the others would attempt to hide (aka stay out of the player’s line of sight) then call the police.
Then, if the NPC is already at a safe location but still notices the player (example see them from a window), a lot of people who wouldn’t have been noticed yet would immediatly try to take a picture or, again, run away. I think the majority would escape the school for sure, unless a very high level of stress and fear that causes them not to think properly makes them hide somewhere.
Everything looks awesome at the moment, I can’t wait to see the results.
This may be a bit of a silly idea, and I don’t know if you or anybody else has mentioned it yet, but in addition to destroying evidence, could it also be possible to plant evidence on other students/teachers to frame them for your crimes?
Also, if the police appear as actual NPC’s within the game, could it also be possible to approach them and them false testimony to further incriminate the character you’re trying to frame?
If this idea has already been discussed and/or it’s too complicated to implement into the game, please disregard this post.
I’m almost positive that planting incriminating evidence and framing others has been talked about before, and I’m also pretty sure that the Dev liked the idea, as far as how useful it would be if you were going for a non-violent or super-sneaky playthrough.
Still, that kind of stuff tends to get buried in the comments of previous updates, so thanks for bringing it back up.
Speaking of previous updates… I made a post a few ago when talking with the Dev about a certain “Zero-Q” whose “YunoInbox” YouTube channel first linked me those update videos that the Dev had previously posted, and that the Dev could perhaps enlist the voice-acting skills of the said “Zero-Q” for the Yandere Sim game in some fashion…
I don’t believe I’ve seen any posts with your name attached to them so far besides this one… and based on the structure and tone of your comment (it sounds just like mine used to), I’d venture a guess that you’ve just decided to start posting suggestions of your own on this blog, much like I did not so long ago…
Am I also right in assuming that not only have you been following this game for longer than I have, but are also *THE* Zero-Q of Mirai Nikki Abridged and Higurashi Parody Fandub fame??? :O
Or are you an IMPOSTER to the great and sacred name of Zero-Q?
Only one way to find out…
How’s your progress on the next episode of Mirai Nikki Abridged? XD
You’re right, Jron. This is indeed the first time I’ve posted here. Though I have been following the Dev for about three months now, ever since a kind soul sent me a link to this site.
I have messaged the Dev once before, trying to pick their brain about the overall game structure, but sadly they never got back to me. T_T
By the way, yes, I’m THAT Zero-Q… OR AM I!?!?
*suspenseful music*
I never responded? I’m so sorry! T_T I try to respond to most messages I get, but some of them slip through the cracks. You’re more than welcome to re-send that message; I’ll try to answer this time!
how about if you get caught by the police, the first 2 or three times you could be interrogated. if you fail its insta-game over. yes/no?
That’s plausible, the Dev could even make the interrogation segments like visual novel parts of the game, where you have to choose your responses carefully to avoid being fingered as the culprit, and carefully craft an alibi as well.
Hmmm…
No answer about Mirai Nikki Abridged Episode 11 = Story checks out! XD
In all seriousness though, I’m a big fan of your work with those parodies of Mirai Nikki and Higurashi, and I also played through that yandere visual novel you did which had it’s very own “Yandere-chan” in it like this game does, very well done…
… I should probably stop fanboying over you before the Yandere Dev gets murderously jealous…
I also have a feeling that you and your overall voice-acting, video game, art, and audio/visual expertise could be a big help to this games development in some way, if you were willing to help and if Dev-senpai would finally notice you…
*HINT* *HINT* ;D
Man. Hard to believe that this is coming along. I’m still excited about this game!
I don’t think it’s that hard to believe, after all, the Dev’s said that the only thing that would stop his love for this game would be death itself, which I find to be quite fitting, given the nature of the game…
And to further prove my point:
“Don’t you know? I really, really, really love you to death, Yuki.”
— Yuno Gasai
Amen. XP
Man, this is looking good! I’d just like to contribute a write-in answer for what happens when the police are called but all evidence/witnesses have been eliminated. I think there should be a global ‘tension’ meter (or perhaps “rumor mill meter”) where small, unexplained incidents increase the overall tension of the school body.
Stuff like unexplained disappearances of students, blood pools/footprints, maniacal laughter would raise the meter. A higher tension meter would result in students being more aware of their surroundings, having more hysterical reactions to scary events, and even staying home from school?
Problem with a game like this is that whether it’s good or not is 99% AI. And AI is notoriously difficult to get right. Having only one behaviour will make the game laughably easy, allowing the player to treat bystanding NPCs as static threats – sorta like gun turrets – rather than actual adversaries. Also, you’re basically going to have to write a full-blown school simulator for this to go on in, including NPC-NPC relations. You’ve bitten off a big project, yanderedev. I wish you the greatest of luck!
Cute.
I would like to see some sort sort of shortcut to intercept the girl’s escape route (eg windows and hidden corridors.)
/* If a student can instantly snap a picture of you and send it to the police, that’s a 100% guaranteed immediate game over. That might be fitting for the hardest difficulty mode, but an instant game over upon being spotted sounds really harsh to me. */
You do know how long it is to open a flip phone, select the camera app then aim the camera to the target while waiting for the autofocus to snap to her face?
Lol, don’t worry about it, YandereDev. I figured that was the case anway. ^_^
I was pretty much just going to ask how you made the visual novel scene in Unity engine. Everything after that was just me expressing appreciation towards you and your project. :3
Anyway, getting back on topic.
In addition to being able to change into clean uniforms, what if Yandere-chan was also able to put on simple disguises (eg, a wig) in order to prevent suspicion from falling on her, or even to elude capture after a kill? Think in terms of the “Hitman” games.
Sorry if this suggestion has already been made.
One of the main differences between Yandere Sim and the Hitman games is that Agent 47 is visiting locations where nobody will recognize his face and he will never be seen again, but Yandere-chan is attending school, where people will recognize her and remember her. Perhaps it might be possible to hide her identity if she wears a wig, but it would have to be a wig that covers her face. At that rate, it might as well be a mask. But if the player can just put on a mask…well, I wonder if that’s a bit too “broken”. If the police search you and find a mask, that would look highly suspicious. But maybe carrying a mask in your inventory isn’t suspicious as long as you’re a member of the drama club? Hmm…
This is one of those things where I’ll have to consider if it’s balanced, and what it might potentially break…
Well that’s mainly why I said “simple disguises”, like a wig.
People would notice if a person in a mask walked down the hall, but they wouldn’t likely take any notice of a girl in a wig and glasses. They’d simply think it was a student they’ve never seen before.
But yeah, I can see where it could cause some errors in the code.
Speaking of visual novels again, and since you yourself are probably above shameless self-promotion…
Here’s some links to Zero-Q’s Yandere-related work and qualifications, for those of you who might be interested:
His “Yandere-chan” visual novel:
PC Version:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7dm62egjw6mmpd8
Mac Version:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?un7pcq91apn98ks
His YouTube channel: https://m.youtube.com/user/YunoInbox
His DeviantArt page:
http://zero-q.deviantart.com
Some of his quality content might keep you guys entertained between Yandere Sim updates, and might also serve as good examples of how he could help the rest of us, and especially the Dev, with the great progress this game is making! 🙂
I think some students should drop down in fear, like just drop on their knees and start acting scared… But since we have only having one student reaction at the moment I don’t think it would be practical to have every single student just drop down when someone dies. Unless we are going to have a relationship meter and if someone has a close relationship with a murdered victim they drop down. Or maybe victims would drop down and if Yandere-chan walked closer to them (Walked. Not Run) they would end up running away if you got to close. I dunno it’s something to think about, I guess.
For one reaction would be probably best to let them run away while screaming. Given fact, that most witnesses will be probably girls with some relationships betwen them it is probably best reaction available. Screaming could also alert others in specific distance. Im not aware of behavior of people in Japan, but in my country this would be most common reaction.
*They would probably try to inform teacher and teacher would call police.
With the teachers, are you planning on having multiple teachers around at a time, or simply have one type of teacher patrolling the grounds? You could make a few different teacher personalities or types patrolling to make it harder as the game progresses. Having patrolling teachers could have them act as the ‘elite’ enemies that would make the game more difficult as the game progresses.
For instance, when you start the game and nobody has been killed/gone missing, only regular teachers would walk around, and they could be killed as easily as any student. Once tension is a bit higher, a P.E. teacher or two could walk around, and they could be killed without stealth, but would take longer/more button presses than killing a student. If things are at maximum tension, some disciplinary teachers (possibly armed with a wooden sword or something of the sort?) could make rounds, and they can only be killed through stealth. There could also be students that are members of the disciplinary club, and would patrol in groups and be difficult to kill head on.
That said, I understand that the normal students would be what you’re working on right now, but adding people in the school that would act completely different from regular students would help with adding difficulty as the game progresses, especially if one opts to play through the game in a very violent and aggressive manner.
Great job on the pathfinding by the way! It seems that in a lot of indie games I’ve played, pathfinding seems to be one of the main problems the devs have to deal with, with AI getting glitchy and running into walls or doing stupidly long detours and the like. With a stealth game like this good pathfinding and AI is definitely important in making it feel like a completed game.
If i may suggest a few accurate measures.. (yes i already voted on the polls).
If we’re to simulate a real-life school murder situation in Japan (or any other country for that matter), first of all.. I wish to expand the choices to real-life sequences.
First, Usual responses when students see a murder is, yes, screaming and running. But, they’re all also gonna shout for help in any matter. Notifying any close students or teachers..
Scenario 1: Student saw you murdering someone.
Procedure 1- Student will run away screaming, leaving the school.
Procedure 2- Student will tremble while rushing to get their phone out of their pocket, snap a picture of you, then run away.
Procedure 3- Student will run while rushing to get their phone out of their pocket, and try to snap a picture of you while running away. It might come into advantage since a running target cannot take a clear picture, thus, making your picture blurred.
Procedure 4- Student will call the police while running away. (For your reference, Japanese police is 110).
Procedure 5- Student will run to an open place where a lot of witnesses can see you (and might as well restrain you).
Police Information- In Japan, it is a routine to tell the operator exactly the following..
What happened?
When did it happen?
Where did it happen?
What did the suspect look like?
Where is the suspect right now?
Was anyone injured? who?
That is the formal routine into making an emergency call.
Pre-Police Information- The operator may ask for further information on the suspect..
Age of suspect
Height of suspect
Build of suspect
Shape of the suspect’s face
Suspect’s Hair Style
Is the suspect wearing any accessories?
What is the suspect wearing?
What type of shoes?
Is the suspect holding any weapon? if so, what is it?
Do you personally know the suspect?
Do you know the name of the suspect?
Is the suspect a Male or Female?
Post-Police Information- Usually asked after an emergency call, and the police didn’t find any evidence.. the police will ask this usually.
What is the suspect’s motive for committing such a crime? (This is your chance to look innocent).
Are you in good terms or bad terms with the suspect?
Are you on any medications?
Are there any other witnesses?
If a student fails to make you guilty, the student will be held under false testimony and will be sent to the precinct or directly home to question the parents or any liable statement on mentality.
Let’s move on to Scenario 2- When a teacher is notified of the crime.
Procedure 1- Depending on teacher’s morale, he or she will either restrain or back away slowly and call the police.
Procedure 2- The teacher will ask you questions and try to calm you down.
Procedure 3- The teacher will fight back.
Procedure 4- The teacher will call for more backup. (Hall monitor, Maintenance staff, etc.)
Scenario 3- After student notifies the police.
Procedure 1- The student will try to hide somewhere in the school.
Procedure 2- The student will notify everyone he or she sees.
Procedure 3- The student will run to the school security guard post. (For protection).
Procedure 4- The student will notify the teachers and or staff. (Same as Proc. 2)
Procedure 5- The student will run away from the school.
Procedure 6- The student will tell you that the police is coming and you’re given a chance to surrender.
Scenario 4- In case of police capture. (Warning, this is to the extent of authority violence.)
Procedure 1- False testify and hope that your statements are true.
Procedure 2- Escape the police officers, run away from the school, and change your identity and/or make-up.. this will reset ALL relationship levels for all students. Including senpai.. you’ll be considered a NEW student now.
Procedure 3- Kill the police officers and follow Procedure 2. Or live your life as a fugitive (Game over?)
Procedure 4- Try to testify AGAINST the witness, stating that the witness is in bad terms with you and is crazy. (Success will depend on number of evidences).
Procedure 5- Admit your guilt, get sent to jail. (Game over).
Other information on authorities and teachers.
P.E. Teachers are usually your most toughest opponent. (Depending on how well you’re physically trained).
The school security guard is also a hazard.
Police vehicles and officers differ; A police caravan (Vans), A toyota crown (Common), or on serious cases.. The Japan Special Assault Team.
Police rankings; in case needed. (From lowest ranking to highest):
Normal Patrol Officer (Junsa)
Senior Patrol Officer (Junsa-cho)
Patrol SGT. (Junsa-bucho)
Patrol LT. (Keibu-ho)
Captain (Keibu)
Superintendent (Keishi)
Senior-Superintendent (Keishi-sei or sensei)
Chief Superintendent (Keishi-cho)
Superintendent Supervisor (Keishi-kan)
Superintendent General (Keishi-sokan)
General of Patrol (Keisetsu-chokan)
SWAT (Japan Special Assault Team (or Special Unit SU) ) or the Martial Arts Attack Team (MAAT, only in Osaka.)
Well, that’s all the information i can give to the extent of my knowledge, i don’t know much as a high school student in Japan.. but if you guys need further help, i can ask teachers.. Hope i helped enough though ; w;
Good luck and best wishes, YandereDev.
I can just imagine an inevitable Payday mod for Yandere Sim that would call in cops, riot police, SWAT teams, and Bulldozers…
The “KawaiiDozer” being Yandere-chan’s most challenging opponent, of course. XD
Anybody else up for some Yandere: The Heist?
I guess we’ll just have to wait for that one ;))
KawaiiDozer be like… notice me.. :v
Wow! That is a lot of very detailed information.
If a student is in the vicinity of a murderer or a serial killer, they probably won’t just want to report the crime, they will want police officers on the scene right away. I don’t think they will really just patiently answer a string of questions. They might only be able to say “I just saw Yandere-chan kill Victim-chan! Please send the police to _____ School right away!”
That one statement answers all of the following questions:
“What happened?” Murder.
“When did it happen?” Right now.
“Where did it happen?” The school.
“What did the suspect look like?” Like Yandere-chan.
“Where is the suspect right now?” She can’t possibly have left the school if the call happened immediately after witnessing the murder, so the suspect is still at school.
“Was anyone injured? Who?” The person who got murdered.
The student might stay on the line to answer some other questions if they are in a safe place and Yandere-chan is not within sight, or they might just hang up and flee because they are scared of being murdered. Do you think that such an extremely brief phone call would result in the police being dispatched, or do you think a call that short wouldn’t be taken seriously?
I think that as soon as the police arrive, the game makes a snap decision based on unhidden evidence + eyewitness testimony and decides if Yandere-chan loses.
The first time a murder is reported, the police will take the fingerprints of every student who was present at the school at the time. From that time forward, any loose murder weapons with Yandere-chan’s fingerprints on them will lead to her arrest.
“Is there evidence of a murder, and evidence that Yandere-chan was the killer?” She is arrested.
“Is there evidence of a murder, and only eye-witness testimony of Yandere-chan being the killer?” She is brought in for questioning, but not arrested. If this happens multiple times, there will be some kind of consequence. (The most obvious one being a huge hit to your reputation, potentially such a huge hit that you get a Game Over because your reputation is too low for Senpai-kun to love you.)
“Is there evidence of a murder, and no evidence or testimony linking Yandere-chan to the murder?” You get off scot-free! Although the school day ends immediately.
I’m thinking that as soon as the cops show up, the game cuts to a “Here’s the result of the police visit…” screen. The school day is cut short while the police do their investigation, the students give testimony / fingerprints if necessary, and you may or may not be arrested / brought in to the police station. I don’t think there will ever be any opportunities for Yandere-chan to fight against the SWAT or Martial Arts Attack Team.
Yea, the SWAT and Martial Arts Attack Team is a tad bit too extreme xD. And that idea of the police visit screen is great! nothing beats seeing how well you did in that day. How about some witty titles on how well you did, just like in the Hitman Series. Like Ninja for stealthiest and etc. etc.
And so far, based on the nature of this game, it’s really starting to simulate real-life! good work~
I also forgot the most important student defense system in Japanese High Schools..
Kendo Club. ;))
The police shouldn’t be able to arrest you without any evidence. Maybe they can if they’re called to the school multiple times, so only after the third or so time, you’ll be arrested. Whether this is a game over, I dont know. Getting arrested with evidence is probably a game over, but just being arrested and then released (due to lack of evidence) a day later may just make you far more suspicious. Also, I think you’re right that most people wouldn’t be able to react quickly enough to take a picture, but they might if rumours spread too far.
Additionally, Didnt you say there was something about Senpai not liking you anymore if you’re caught?
That could be another thing where if Senpai hears you’ve been reported to the police too many times, he’ll get suspicious and may start avoiding you. Is there a system where your reputation is kept track of? So letting students live can make your reputation (around the school and with Senpai) get progressively worse until she’s gone.
Actually, this raises the question about Senpai’s path, since his schedule would be important to know. Maybe you should just have a generic notebook feature which allows you to write down paths of characters on specific days of the week (although, you may have already thought of this)
I definitely plan for reputation to be a part of the game. Yandere-chan’s not like Agent 47 from Hitman, an anonymous featureless person who will appear and then disappear, never to be seen again. She’s going to a school where she will be recognized and remembered, so she can’t act like too much of a weirdo or else she will harm her reputation.
Examples of things that lower reputation:
1. Spotted stealing
2. Spotted trespassing
3. Spotted carrying around a club’s equipment without belonging to that club (evidence that you stole it)
4. Taking panty-shots of girls
5. Carrying around a weapon
6. Having blood on your clothing
7. Being a murder suspect
8. Being late to class? (According to my Japanese teacher contact, truancy is highly frowned upon.)
So, will the reputation system be as dynamic and influence things as you go like the Yandere Meter will?
By that, I’m mainly asking if it will show up on the screen as a numeric counter (0-100), or will it be a bar on the UI that gradually drains or fills up depending on your actions at school?
Also, since rumors spread quickly in school environments (but not that quickly), how long will it be before Yandere-chan’s reputation takes a hit after being caught doing something bad, instantly upon the action being seen, or does it take a day or two for the information to be passed around to students and faculty, etc?
Assuming that you go for a point-system of 100 max rep, would rep-lowering things have values similar to these below, or perhaps more/less? (They’re also ordered by which I think are most egregious)
1. Being a murder suspect -50
2. Having blood on your clothing -40
3. Spotted stealing -30
4. Spotted trespassing -25
5. Carrying around a weapon -20
6. Taking panty-shots of girls -15
7. Spotted carrying around a club’s equipment without belonging to that club -10
8. Being late to class -5
Would this be a decent list of things that would possibly increase rep?
1. Win beauty pageant (or similar school function/competition) +50
2. Score really high on important exams or be top of your class +40
3. Become the leader of a club (think like being the guildmasters of the various guilds in Elder Scrolls games, for example like the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood, but Drama and Kendo instead) +30
4. Pay News-chan for biased article +25
5. Sign up for extra volunteer work (Like “cleaning” up the school…) +20
6. Be a teacher’s pet (in a good way) +15
7. Do a kind and “selfless” favor of some sort for Senpai-kun +10
8. Talk with and compliment other NPC students +5
And lastly, how far (at this point) would you be willing to take the school sim and “mean-girl” aspects, at least as far as they relate to Rep?
I’ve been imagining a rep value that goes from +100 to -100.
+50 to +100 : You’re a popular girl. People are willing to turn a blind eye if they spot you doing something suspicious (still carries a penalty to rep, but there is no immediate consequence).
+50 to -50 : You’re nobody. Just a face in the crowd, a brick in the wall. Nobody knows or cares who you are. People react when you do something suspicious.
-50 to -99 : People think of you as a juvenile delinquent. When you enter a room, people keep their eye on you and won’t turn their back to you, because they fear what you might be up to.
-100 : You are the most hated girl in school; everyone thinks you’re complete scum. Senpai could never love you. Game Over!
Your list of ways to lose reputation is EXACTLY what I was imagining. As for ways to gain reputation, the only two ideas I’ve had are paying Newspaper-chan for a biased article and complimenting passing students (similar to the way it is done in Bully, which had a great system for highlighting NPCs and complimenting them).
You made a great list of suggestions for other things that could improve rep, but I don’t really know how to work most of those into the game; I don’t really know when the player would get the opportunity to do most of those things. It might actually be okay if there’s only two ways to increase rep; it’s not like a girl should go from the most hated delinquent in school to the Queen Bee overnight, or without a bunch of effort from the player.
Oh, sorry, I didn’t answer your last question.
As for school sim aspects, I’m just thinking that the player will have to make it to class in time, possibly choose which subjects to major in and which subjects to neglect, pick a club and at attend it once a week, and not use another club’s property. What other school sim aspects could I include?
As for “Mean Girls” aspects, I’m thinking that Yandere-chan will be able to highlight NPCs and select “Spread Rumor about Target-chan” from a menu, but only if her reputation is high enough for other students to care what she says. Once Target-chan’s reputation is low enough, only then would other girls start to bully her. What other “Mean Girls” aspects could I include?
4. Taking panty-shots of girls
Now why would I do that I wonder :3
Concerning student behavior when they detect you, I’d like to see them running off to other students to induce yandere sprees. People at that age and disposition may be more likely to find safety in groups rather than run off alone. More importantly it can drastically increase the workload required to remain undetected, but not to the point where its irrevocable like having a student run off the map.
I’ve been meaning to ask, does the game take place exclusively within the school? Can actions take place on the way to/from school that can affect your reputation as a whole?
As of now, the game will only take place at school and at Yandere-chan’s house. I can’t promise other environments, because that would require a lot of work from my environment modeller, and right now they are making models for me purely out of the kindness of their heart as a favor, and I don’t want to be too demanding and ask for a bunch of different environments.
If the game gets a Kickstarter and gets funded, then I would be able to pay some 3D artists to make all kinds of environments.
Although you are probably aware, I think we need to actually play the game in order to figure out what witnesses should and should not do. I imagine its very difficult to figure out balance at this point. I Imagine witnesses running away may be very difficult for the player to manage if the school is a certain size (realistic or not).
Yeah. Making the game fun is more important than making the game adhere to reality.
Can you imagine if all bullets were one-hit-kills in all video games? Or if Mario had to crouch for a second before he jumped, and could only jump half his height? Or if guards actually had peripheral vision in stealth games?
Ultimately, I probably won’t make all NPCs choose the most “realistic” response; instead, they’ll do something that works well within the framework of the game and balances / improves the gameplay experience.
I’m probably exaggerating a little bit, and I can’t speak for the Dev’s standards, but I feel that this most recent update with pathfinding has propelled the game (in it’s current state) MUCH closer to a playable demo than the other ones have, so Brend Forve’s (and everyone else’s, me included) dream of a playable demo is even closer to being realized than ever before, in my opinion.
The last time I asked, the Dev mentioned these things needed to be done before a demo is released (his opinion on what is “done” and “unfinished” or in progress may be different, but it’s still *playable* that matters here):
1. The mop/water bucket – DONE
2. Concealed/concealable weapons – UNFINISHED
3. A basic (but playable) school environment level – DONE
4. AI pathfinding programming – DONE
6.Cell phones, and stealing them – UNFINISHED
7. School sim aspects – UNFINISHED
8. NPC behaviours – IN PROGRESS
9. Dismemberment – DONE
So, the main things he has left to do before he releases a *playable* demo are concealable weapons (relatively easy), cell phone mechanics (more complicated), school sim aspects (varying in complexity), and more advanced NPC behaviors (not as tricky with only singular reactions).
Although he may blindside us with some other random low and high-hanging fruit as he goes, this is what we have to work with so far and expect, and we’ll hopefully have the demo “SoonTM” rather than “WhenIt’sReadyTM”… but that’s completely up to him (unless we scream *really* loudly).
Now, for my suggestions concerning school sim and “mean girls” stuff (forgive me if I repeat some things, I’m also summarizing some things that have been mentioned before):
School Sim Stuff:
1. Timely classes (like you said, don’t be late)
2. Subjects (emphasis on the “psycho” in psychology)
3. Clubs (Kendo, light music, Go, baseball, drama, occult, anime/manga, student government, etc.)
4. Actual tests and exams that test the players knowledge (from Japanese/American history to popular animes)
5. Volunteer work (community and school stuff, creates opportunities and possible rep increase)
6. Minigames (can be similar to “Bully”)
7. Afterschool (opens up new options/possibilities)
8. Vacation days (includes holidays, weekends, snow days, “sick” days, field trips, etc.)
9. Fundraising (bake sales, car washes, or the famous school cultural fairs, complete with haunted houses, food and game booths, and maid cafes!)
10. Other school areas (library, track and field, gym, various faculty offices, roof, basement, etc.)
“Mean Girls” Stuff:
1. Spread rumors (like you described is fine)
2. Bully (look and act the part)
3. Threaten/insult to face (more direct)
4. Gain trust of rivals and their friends (turn friends on each other for example)
5. Dress up or make yourself look better than others (set trends and turn heads)
6. Attend parties or other social functions (see and be seen)
7. Participate in things like proms, beauty contests, and pageants (be faaaaaa-bu-lous)
8. Shopping (pick out some new knives to “gift” to your rivals)
9. Use phone and computer social media (send and receive juicy info on rivals)
10. Have a “burn book” list of all your rivals at home (“MarySue-chan is such a stuck up, prissy, egotistical, know-it-all, vain, backstabbing, WHORESLUTBITCH! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE… something like that)
As an afterthought for possible game locations besides the school and Yandere-chan’s house:
1. Water Park (not too wet and wild)
2. Theme Park (not Deadman Wonderland, sorry)
3. Bath House (ecchi galore, bring your own mist)
4. Senpai-kun’s House (watch him through the window at night, Shiki-style… fun fact about that, there’s actually two animes I know of that did that, one called “Shiki” in which a pink-haired yandere vampire girl (not Yuno-who) watched a guy named Yuki, and another one called “Kara no Kyoukai” in which some guy watched his yandere girlfriend who’s name was Shiki to make sure she wasn’t going out at night to kill people… confusing, no?)
5. Rival Houses (kill some time with your new besties)
6. Beach (bury your rivals in sand… for fun)
7. Walk to-and-from school (don’t play in traffic)
8. Mall (a yandere girl’s third favorite thing is shopping, right after Senpai and murder)
9. Train station (make sure your rivals reach their last stop)
10. Shrine (say your prayers)
And, lest we forget the purpose of the demo, here’s a fitting quote from the Dev:
“I predict that players will find a million bugs / exploits, but what I would most be interested in hearing is feedback on what is not fun, and how to make the game more fun.”
Although the demo may or may not *seem* fun in a relatively buggy/unpolished state, I’m sure we’ll still find enjoyment in playing it as is, so keep that in mind, too. You could also consider quietly releasing a private or closed demo for your close fans and followers before you unveil the “true” demo that you’d show on a KickStarter or something… 🙂
Actually I was asking mainly because I’m curious as to how time functions within the game. What is the length of a single day? Will it be timed? Or does the player need to trigger an event in order to move on to the next day?
That’s another thing I might adjust once I get feedback or see how the game feels. To make the game feel like a school sim, I would need to have a timer running that dictates when classes start, when lunchtime ends, when students have to go home, etc.
When the timer runs out, I suppose Yandere-chan stops what she’s doing and rushes to class / gets booted out of school. This would result in dead bodies just being left wherever they were, so it might result in the day ending prematurely because someone finds a dead body / finds Yandere-chan standing next to one. Again, it’s something that will probably be adjusted during playtesting.
It would be nice if player could have choice of being late to class or even skipping class. He would recieve penalty, but it could make preparations for next murder much easier. With noone at halls you could carry large weapons and other equipment you will need in relative safety. (There could be some teachers/students passing once in while but chance of them spotting you would be small)
Then you could make excuse by stopping at nurse office. It could be effective once in a while, but freqent skipping class would result in teacher visiting your house, he would see your room and it could create huge rep. lose. Also, would taking pantyshots have same reputation lose effect every time? It could start at 15 and slowly go down to 5 as rumor become well known. Or fill your yandere meter with yellow collor and after filling it animation would change from something discrete to you throwing your self under bunch of classmates. Rep lose from this should have some cap. Around 30 or so.
Wow, I’m so happy that you are making so much progress in making this game. I remember when you made a thread in /v/ when you first mentioned this game, I honestly have never followed updates on a game this much before.
So Dev, I know it’s only been five days since you first posted the polls, but have you decided upon what the “standard” set of reactions for the NPC’s should be yet? I know that some of the polls answers are pretty closely split among some things, so you may have to just choose which reactions you feel are better of the two or three most popular, or maybe compromise in some way?
On a side note, I was looking into and answering some other polls that Payday 2 put out recently concerning certain music and tracks that play during missions, and I found that they used an interesting and arguably superior polling application than Strawpolls, called Polldaddy:
Polldaddy site: https://polldaddy.com/?ad=com
One of the Payday 2 poll questions: https://polldaddy.com/poll/8252586/
The reason I feel this site may be more helpful to you is for a variety of reasons, the top 10 of which I’ll just copy and paste from it’s sign-up page (specifically for the “free” version, not the “pro” ($29 a month) or “corporate” ($99) packages):
1. Also free (but comes with much more options overall than Strawpolls)
2. Add images, videos, and content from YouTube, Flickr, Google Maps, and more (THIS IS KEY imo, you could give audio/visual examples of the poll questions in the poll itself!)
3. Unlimited polls, surveys, quizzes, responses and votes. No limits. (set much more than 5 different possible responses, etc.)
4. 19 types of questions (more flexibility and stuff I guess)
5. All languages supported (English and Japanese polls, pretty sugoi, no?)
6. Full WordPress Integration (the Polldaddy site seems to work straight out of WordPress like this blog, so that’s a plus)
7. Send your survey via weblink, email or post to Facebook and Twitter (very useful for if you make other social media promotion sites for the game)
8. Embed surveys on your website (just have the polls posted on the sides or at the top of your blog rather than in a new post, for example)
9. Brand your survey with a logo (adorn your polls with the loving face of our lord and savior Yuno Gasai, or maybe use one of the fan-made logos/designs that’s been floating about)
10. 15 pre-set visual themes (make the polls look more professional than the basic yellow Strawpoll paper)
So, sound good?
I’ve used Polldaddy in the past. It’s pretty nice.
Polldaddy has more bells and whistles, but I don’t need any more functionality than what Strawpoll provides. I think Strawpoll is something that people are familiar with / comfortable with, and that Polldaddy is a bit more obscure and not as recognizable / inviting as Strawpoll. For this reason alone, some people might be less likely to touch a poll if it’s hosted by Polldaddy, but would be willing to click a link to Strawpoll.
I really HATE Strawpoll’s color scheme and font choice, though. Yuck.
As for the actual poll results, I think they were pretty clear cut:
Students should not reflexively snap a picture the instant they see a murder. That’s just too unrealistic. If they strongly believe that there is a murderer in the school, and everyone in the school wants to see that person dealt with, they might walk around with the expectation of turning a corner and seeing a corpse. In this scenario, they would be prepared to snap a picture of a murderer, and might actually do it. However, even if they DO snap a picture, they should have to run to a safe spot before they send the photo, so you have time to kill them first.
If a student witnesses murder and reports you to the police, and there is no incriminating evidence present, the player won’t be arrested on the spot, but will suffer a severe penalty to their rep. If the player can kill the witness before they speak to the police, and the police also can’t find any evidence, there will be no penalty to their rep.
If a student witnesses murder, they should try to call the police on you, instead of running to a teacher first or another student first. After witnessing murder, the student will then attempt to flee the school. If they encounter other students on their way out of the school, they will inform those students that they saw you commit murder, and to be wary of you.
If a teacher witnesses you commit murder, they will report you just like a student, but they will not flee the school after reporting you; instead, they will attempt to restrain you until police arrive. Teachers can be defeated in “combat”, but it requires more effort than killing a student.
If I was allowed to simply disregard the results of the poll, I would mandate that only teachers can report murders to the police, and that students run to teachers after witnessing a murder.
I’ll probably program in every possibly variation of behavior (student calls police on spot, student flees and then calls police, student flees to teacher, student flees school) and then allow the player to dictate student behavior from a “playtesting menu”. Then players can tell me what behavior works best.
Talking about student behavior i think it would be awesome if you added students who were are able to become so scared they committed suicide for either seeing you commit a murder and/or having you chase them with a bloody knife (or anything else which is bloody), which would take an impact on other students or teaches who have found that person dead and change their behavior and become suspicious of you or someone else, which would either end up them following you and finding out that you are a yandere and seeing you kill someone which forces you to kill them quickly before they tell everyone or having them take revenge of someone who didn’t kill that person and you being able to take a picture of it and show the teacher (a chance to frame someone for your murder hehehe) oh and one more thing, customization yandere! >o< ooh i can't wait for this to come out!
Talk about run-ons lol
I second the idea of customization though. How else would we make Yandere-chan’s hair the color Pink(TM), the official hair color of professional Yanderes everywhere? 😀
Although the Dev said that he prefers a singular and iconic Yandere-chan that people would recognize the game by, I think he could go both ways. For example, the default “Boss” main character in Saints Row III and IV is used in the pics and ads for the game, but you can still change him (or her) however you want, you aren’t forced to play with that default look.
It would be good if customization at least changed things like eyes and hair, with corresponding colors like PinkTM, blue, black, orange, green, purple, yellow, grey, white, brown, red, etc.
Going one step further would be outfits, unlockable and otherwise, like the default school uniform, casual clothes, gym clothes, beach/school swimsuits, maid uniform, cat costume, magical girl outfit, Hitman suit&tie, hockey mask, BDSM wear, etc… please don’t take all of those seriously. They also wouldn’t have to have any gameplay effects or be like Hitman disguises, just for fun.
I doubt more in-depth character customizations (except for skills and/or traits) would be necessary like in Elder Scrolls and Saints Row… except for this of course:
[video src="http://webmup.com/VtrSW/vid.webm" /]
You said it Dev, not me. ;P
Although I like the idea of the game having a specific protagonist with a specific identity – like Mario, Link, or Agent 47 – I will bow to whatever players say they want the most, and whatever people say would be the most fun.
With that said, I think the most character customization I could implement would be:
Hair color
Hair style
Eye color
Stocking color
Accessories
I don’t think I can outright put Gasai Yuno into the game without infringing on somebody’s copyright. If I offer a ton of customization options, and the PLAYER re-creates Gasai Yuno using the options they were given, does that actually put me at fault? I’m really not sure if it does. Until I know the answer to that for certain, I can’t promise any Yuno hairstyles, although maybe the character could have a hairstyle that somewhat resembles Yuno’s hairstyle.
Then again, Yuno has long hair, and I’ve always struggled with cloth physics / hair physics. I might need to get someone’s help to implement that.
I do not belive you would be at fault if a player recreated a commercial character using your game’s customization options. Not unless the options available were designed specifically for the sake of creating that character, and you didn’t have the permission of the original creators to do so. Just look at some of the characters people have managed to make in Soul Calibur V. Sure they don’t look EXACTLY like the intended character, but they still bear enough of a resemblance that the imagination can fill in the rest.
Here’s my thoughts on that (with Wikipedia sources!), assuming that Yuno Gasai’s (or Gasai Yuno’s, whichever) name and “likeness” are copyrighted in some way by their respective owners/creators:
“Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. In the United States (idk about Japan), the fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U.S.C. Section 107, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright holder or payment to same. The statute does not clearly define fair use, but instead gives four non-exclusive factors to consider in a fair use analysis.”
Those factors are:
1. “The purpose and character of one’s use”: The conceptual likeness, but not the name, of Yuno Gasai could possibly be created/customized by a player in Yandere Sim, and even then, would not have to be available as a preset nor the default. In addition, *nobody* can have copyrights on hair color (PinkTM), hair styles (Yuno’s semi-iconic quad-braids included), eye colors (also PinkTM), or general clothing (her school uniform and black dress), so you might as well just stop reading here…
2. “The nature of the copyrighted work”: The original character of “Yuno Gasai” has been used in both the Mirai Nikki manga as well as in the anime adaptation, but as far as I know, there have been no video games made that include her likeness or name verbatim or otherwise, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use their character customization systems to make yourself a digital doppelganger like in Saints Row.
3. “What amount and proportion of the whole work was taken”: Absolutely none. Again, you aren’t making an anime or manga here, you’re making a video game, there would be no accurate way in which you could completely copy her image from the manga and anime in digital form, at least no way that could be considered infringement. And also again, many other animes throughout the years (Shiki, Elfen Lied, Rosario Vampire) have proved that nobody has any true claim over pink-haired, split-personalitied, school-age girls.
4. “The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work”: This is literally the only potential snag with including customization options that would allow you to make a character that “looks” like Yuno Gasai. In a sense, you would be enticing potential buyers of this Yandere-themed video game with the ability to “play” as the most (in)famous and recognizable yandere girl of all time… except that’s not what you would actually do. As long as you don’t slap the Yuno-lookalike’s face and actual name on the cover of the game or prominently featured her in any advertisements, there’s no possible way that any person or company in Japan or the USA could take legal offense, let alone legal action.
One last thing:
“In order to qualify for protection, a work must be an expression with a degree of originality, and it must be in a fixed medium, such as written down on paper or recorded digitally. The idea itself is not protected. That is, a copy of someone else’s original idea is not infringing unless it copies that person’s unique, tangible expression of the idea.”
Degree of Originality = Playing as a girl named Yandere-chan in a video game, that’s original enough, her general appearance is irrelevant in this case.
Fixed Medium = Digital character model in a video game using the Unity engine, also completely different from a paper manga or an anime.
Idea Itself Is Not Protected = That works both ways, nobody has copyrights on the trope of “yandere” girls, nor the idea of girls with pink hair and braids.
Unique, Tangible Expression = You are merely enabling players to customize their “yanderes” as they see fit, and the digital representation of said “yanderes” in your Unity game lies far outside the specific artstyles of both the Mirai Nikki anime and the tangible manga, case closed.
I’m not a scholar on copyright law, but all that seems pretty cut-and-dry to me… and since it’s not exactly possible for you to make an “outright” copy of Yuno to put in the game anyway, just about any and all other actions you take regarding her likeness (but not name) is fair game, including those lovely quad-braids… satisfied?
That does make me feel a lot better about including a Yuno hairstyle in the game. Again, it’s not something I’ll promise right at this moment, and I think I should probably ask for official legal counsel before pulling the trigger on this decision, but now I’m definitely not as worried about it as I was before.
From the choices you gave above, the most realistic reactions for me would be the student immediately running a distance from the player.
Some additional points, regarding reactions.
-Rather than immediately running to warn other students or a teacher, it seems better to have the student “warn” the nearest npc within vicinity. in example, running in fear, the student would take a random path running away from the player. immediately going with another student, group of students, or a teacher for protection.
-distance from the actual murder could help determine the reaction. A student witnessing a murder from far away could calm down quicker than a student who witnesses cold blooded murder right in front of them and therefore would be most likely to call a teacher/phone the police.
-this is only based on what I see in anime, but don’t they usually close the school gate? how would the students run?
-Fighting would always be the last resort. When cornered or etc. Rage seems to be one of the few things that triggers fighting as the initial reaction.
Some other stuff.
I’ve been following your blog for some time now, looking every now and then and peeking through updates, and really this is good stuff, just with the initial concept its also nice and unique. So keep up the work.
On some game mechanics. Have you ever considered, having like another yandere in-game competing for Sempai. Another yandere npc who will also commit murders, and you or possibly the Sempai would be in danger.
I like the idea of a “final boss battle” featuring another Yandere girl who has all of the protagonist’s abilities, and has laid traps throughout the school. However, programming an NPC to commit murders and hunt Senpai is almost an entirely different game mode. It’s not out of the question, but it’s one of those things that I don’t really see as being an essential part of the game, just a cool idea.
I think the various options will work only depending on the surrounding gameplay. At this point I think it’s reasonable to go ahead with some sort of compromise (whatever the polls come up with), but in the end it shouldn’t necessarily be set in stone. These gameplay mechanics are there in the first place to make the game challenging (and rewarding if you pull it off).
As such, I think the more important question should be how you define the core gameplay more accurately.
Should leaving absolutely NO evidence and never being seen be standard procedure (even necessary all the time?)
or should the whole thing work a bit more lax (maybe the school is just weird like that – murder is an everyday thing – new students come and go all the time)?
Should gameplay focus on planning ahead, scheming and slowly acting out on some complex keikaku?
Or should the gameplay be more spontaneous?
Questions like these should be answered before attempting to define exact AI behaviour, I believe.
Honestly, the Dev could do it both ways, much like it was done in Dishonored.
In Dishonored, you can do “High Chaos” playthroughs that usually involved more killing and destruction, as well as “Low Chaos” ones that typically involved more stealth and more merciful actions.
For comparison against Yandere Sim:
“Low Yandere” – You would probably get this rating if you stuck almost exclusively to stealth, absolutely no evidence, or only used social engineering and alternative non-violent approaches to dealing with rivals.
“Medium Yandere” – This is the in-between, where you might use both murder and social engineering to get Senpai-kun to love you, and you strike a balance between clean stealth and sloppy murder.
“High Yandere” – This would be reserved for those who almost always dealt with their rivals in-person, and in the messiest and most violent way possible.
On another note though, the “core gameplay” elements of this game include things like stealth and assassination, but it’s important to remember that Yandere-chan is no Corvo Attano, Agent 47, or Solid Snake… while those previous 3 had more explosive options for dealing with enemies if stealth failed them, Yandere-chan is arguably more fragile, and thus her options are more limited.
In the end, we should probably just wait for the Dev to put in those single “standard” responses, and see how those work out. Like he said, the more complicated things can come later.
By the way Dev, are those standard reactions going to be featured in the next update? I’d assume so, considering how you said you wouldn’t be able to progress further without our input on them…
I couldn’t program “standard reactions” until I had gathered the necessary information, but there are still a lot of other areas on the game I can work on. I don’t actually plan to implement NPC reactions right away; there are some other features I’d rather put in first.
For the next update, I think I am going to focus on implementing phone-related features. The ability for the game to recognize that a panty shot has taken place, the ability to snap a picture of a specific student and get info on that student, and the ability to take a picture of Senpai and later take out that picture and look at it to lower the Yandere Meter.
I think the “evil laugh button” should become the “Yandere button”; tapping it does the laugh, but holding it down puts you in Yandere-vision and changes the functionality of a few buttons. During Yandere-vision, you can highlight a specific student and display information about them, or do Yandere-specific actions like taking out a picture of Senpai to stare at him, etc).
To implement that feature, I’ll have to designate a specific NPC as Senpai. So, while I’m doing that, I may also implement the “If Senpai watches you commit murder, it’s game over” feature, and implement the playable game over sequence where you must chase and kill Senpai, then kill yourself.
Come to think of it, the cell phone can probably be used as a menu of sorts for information that you have gathered:
“Victim-chan has a crush on Senpai-kun and Jock-kun.”
“Jock-kun has a crush on Victim-chan.”
“Victim-chan’s locker is number 123.”
“Jock-kun’s locker is number 321.”
This information would be used to help set up Jock and Victim by putting love letters in their lockers.
Of course, all of this may be too much for me to implement with the time remaining before the next update, because I’ve got a non-Yandere things to do, so I can’t make any promises on what I will and won’t have done…
That’s a very good point. If I want the game to be about a serial killer indiscriminately slaughtering schoolgirls left and right, then the player shouldn’t be punished too harshly for it. If I want the game to be focused around stealth and never getting caught, then I should implement harsh consequences and punishments for slopping gameplay.
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t going to be that clear-cut; I want to make a game where the player can choose how they’d like to play, and how they’d like to get past any obstacle. The game can be a serial-killer-simulator, or a stealthy-social-sabotage simulator, based on who is playing it and how they’d like to play it.
I’d like to give the player a bunch of different options and then just let the game react to whatever the player has done, rather than encourage a specific playstyle by implementing punishments that are designed to force the player to play a certain way.
It would definitely be *easier* to design a game that is meant to be played in one specific way, but I’ve decided that this game should allow for multiple approaches. I suppose I’ll be following the Hitman game design philosophy; getting spotted and can have short-term consequences and long-term consequences than can be fatal (game over), serious (day ends early), or merely inconvenient (reputation loss) depending on how the player reacts and covers their ass (kills witness, disposes of evidence, hides body, etc).
So, phone-related features, huh? That’s actually what I was secretly hoping for…
So far, you said you’d like to do the following things by the next update:
1. Panty Shots – Does this mean some basic groundwork on the implementation of achievements then?
2. Snap a picture of a specific student – Do the students or teachers care that you take pictures of things, like do you have to be in the Photography Club to take an excessive amount or does that matter?
3. Taking pictures of Senpai-kun – Would you have to do it when he isn’t looking to avoid weirding him out or losing rep? Also, how many “uses” can you get out of a single picture of Senpai-kun when you want to reduce your Yandere Meter?
4. Cell Phone Info – How detailed would the information be on a student? You mentioned things like locker #’s and crushes, so might other things include their other relations to students, their personality, their suspicion level/opinion of you, their schedules, etc.?
5. Designate a specific NPC as Senpai-kun – Does this mean a new male NPC, or are you using that placeholder one from before? What kind of information should show up for him?
6. “Evil Laugh Button” should become the “Yandere Button” – Would this button have to be held or would it be toggleable like crouching? What button would it be on the Xbox controller and especially on a keyboard?
7. Yandere-Vision – Would the tint/color of the HUD/environment and the physical look of Yandere-chan change whenever she “switches on” Yandere-Vision? We talked about colored objects, glows, and auras before. Perhaps Yandere-chan could develop more Yangire-y eyes as her Meter fills, but when you toggle her Vision, they darken in that Yandere fashion I’ve gone on about? The best example of this was from that episode of Mirai Nikki when Yuno and Yukki are being held in the police station, and her eyes suddenly darken when she starts searching around for a weapon to use on the cops…
8. A “game over” feature – How would you go about this? Wouldn’t this mean new animations and maybe cutscenes to dramatize your failure and mistake of scaring Senpai-kun?
9. A playable game over sequence – What would be your favorite way to murder Senpai-kun? Or will you leave that to us? I believe the animations required for that might be reminiscent of Sekai’s excessive stabbing of Makoto in School Days… or just copy Yandere Clicker, whatever works. And would we kill ourselves in a similar fashion, or could we be creative with that too? The bloodier the better!
10. Yandere-chan’s phone can tell her the future… DEAD END. – Ha. 😛
If you run into time constraints before the next update, I would suggest focusing on a top 3 of sorts:
1. Cell phones/taking pictures
2. Yandere-Vision
3. “Game Over” sequence or screen
I would personally prefer Yandere-Vision over the phones at this point, but we’ll see if you have time for both or more/less.
Just because I’ll be working on panty shots, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be implementing achievements. I think it would be fun and useful to teach the game that a certain thing has had its picture taken. How do I get the game to realize that the player has used a camera to take a picture of some panties? How do I get the game to ignore pictures that were taken of a girl’s skirt, even though the panties are technically “in” the shot because they are behind the skirt? I think it should be fun to figure out how to program in this feature. But not for achievements. Achievements will be trivial.
I’ve been wondering how students should react to having their picture taken. I think it makes sense that students should react negatively if they see you taking their picture (“Hey, what are you doing? Cut that out.”) and it might result in some rep drop. I think that you’ve made a great suggestion; being a member of the Photography club should grant the player the perk of being able to take pictures without it being considered suspicious.
If Senpai sees you taking a picture of him, your school-wide rep will go down just as if he was any other student. Senpai’s opinion of you is the same as the school’s opinion of you.
I think you should only be able to “use” a Senpai photo once. As for how many unique pictures of Senpai you can take per day, I think 5 is a fair amount (each photo lowers the Yandere Meter by 20 points, so 5 photos of Senpai can take you from Full Yandere to nothing.)
The information you get about a student is mainly meant to help you know how much of a threat they are, and how to use them. Stuff like:
What club they are in (if a member of the light music club catches you with a stolen guitar case, you’re going to be in trouble for theft).
Their personality (determines how they react if they witness murder)
Coward – Flee school, notify police.
Teacher’s Pet – Flee to nearest teacher, tattle on you.
Social Butterfly – Flee to nearest crowd of students, call police while surrounded by them.
Hero Complex – Attack you.
Hateful – If they hated the student you killed, they will thank you for murdering them and never speak a word of it to anyone.
I just made that last one up on the spot, it’s something that hasn’t ever been discussed before, and I don’t know what other gameplay features might revolve around that personality type, but there you go.
All of the information that shows up in a student’s profile should be relevant to gameplay, such as where to find their locker, who they like, or how they might otherwise be used to dispose of your target.
Senpai’s model will be the same placeholder from before. I don’t know what will be in his profile yet; I haven’t even decided all of the things that will go into a normal NPC’s profile. I might make it significantly different than the average NPC’s profile, or it might just be the same type of info. Perhaps taking Senpai’s picture and acquiring his profile will be part of the tutorial.
Tapping the Yandere Button is what causes a creepy laugh, so holding down the Yandere Button is how to enter “Yandere Vision” mode.
I think that Yandere Vision should put some kind of post-processing effect over the screen, but I haven’t decided exactly what kind. I’ll probably experiment with several effects before I decide what works best. Changes to the physical look of Yandere-chan’s model would be a nice touch, but it won’t be a proirity until after all of the important stuff gets in. If there isn’t a picture-in-picture view of Yandere-chan’s face onscreen at all times, then it might be pretty hard to notice whether or not her eyes have darkened in a Yangire fashion; little things that the player might not ever get a chance to notice are among the lowest of priorities, but it wouldn’t take much effort, either.
A “playable game over sequence” has been a feature I’ve been advertising since the first or second thread I ever had about the game. It may be as simple as displaying Yandere-chan’s previous objectives onscreen as FAILED and then displaying
NEW OBJECTIVES:
Kill Senpai-kun
Kill youself
…without ever breaking out of gameplay. I’m also imagining the “Kill Senpai-kun” objective as being as simple as possible; just find him and kill him like any other NPC. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it might be better to go the extra mile and make it completely unique, almost like a minigame where you stab him excessively, Yandere Clicker-style. However, this is another one of those things that I will implement as simply as possible in the beginning, and polish up later on during the polish phase.
Wow, most of those answers were “I don’t know yet” “It’s subject to change” “I won’t work on it until the polish phase”. Sorry!
So, are you the only programmer for this game, or are there others? Because if it’s the former, kudos to you for your impeccable programming skills! Heck, even if it’s the latter, well done. ^_^
It’s just me at the moment. I’m most comfortable working solo; in my experience, the complexity of a project increases exponentially with every programmer added. You gotta check with someone else to see if their code is in, or wait for them to get online if they have a bug in their code, and make sure that your code doesn’t step on their code…I definitely prefer to work alone.
(Of course, there are ways to minimize the above situations, but there’s always going to be some wires getting crossed at SOME point.)
Instead of a global school reputation meter, it may be better to simply judge reputation on a per student basis. Why? It opens up a whole slew of new gameplay opportunities and allows some elements of school life to be better emulated.
Let’s let every student in the school be a node in a weighted graph. Attached to each node is it’s neighbors and some value we call “relationship strength” (we can think of this as the ‘distance’ between the nodes).
This allows for the following:
1) Gossip and Rumors
By having relationship connections, we can emulate the spread of rumors (either rumors started by Yandere-chan or rumors about Yandere-chan) at more realistic speeds (friends only talk with friends, not enemies, and very rarely among acquaintances; also, with a school schedule implemented, such gossip can take place during the classes when friends have direct contact with each other or during events in the hallway which could be interrupted by Yandere-chan) and judge whether or not each individual believes a rumor to be true (I was thinking we check the severity of the rumor against the relationship strength since a you’re more likely to believe your close friends than distant acquaintances; in addition, a good value to check would be the one against the rumor’s target as well since people who spend lots of time the rumor’s target would know the true behaviors of said target and be less likely to change their opinion). This opens up more interesting opportunities for trash talking a certain girl. Perhaps Yandere-chan’s relationship with senpai isn’t good enough to make him avoid the target directly, but via a friend of a friend of a friend, you can strengthen the validity of the rumor. You don’t need to have the whole school ostracize the target, just senpai. It should be noted, however, that rumors through the same channels should be less and less effective each time since rumors are without evidence. Making the rumor appear as fact by planting evidence should give a boost to effects. Perhaps negative views toward Yandere-chan should occur if she starts too many rumors without planting evidence. This is to prevent an abuse of the system.
2) Reactions to Yandere-chan’s Actions
In short, the closer the NPC is to Yandere-chan, the less severe the consequences of her actions. Of course, murder is going to completely thrash any relationship the NPC had to Yandere-chan, but lesser acts are better committed among friends rather than enemies. With sufficiently strong relationship numbers, her friends will just ignore the act entirely; otherwise there will still be a hit, but it’ll be less severe. The severity determines how far the rumor spreads and how much damage it does to each person’s image of Yandere-chan along the chain. This could also be used when Yandere-chan is under interrogation. Her friends would come to her aid saying that ‘Yandere-chan would never do something so horrible’, etc.
3) Civil War
Why do the dirty work yourself when you can get fellow students to eliminate a target? Get two targets or groups sufficiently mad at each other and a fight breaks out. This could be a new way to physically remove the target without dirtying your own hands. Naturally, the target probably won’t be killed in this situation, BUT injuries may be too severe for the target to return to school within a reasonable time frame, essentially eliminating the threat from the game. For best results of Civil War, completely polarize the school into pro-Yandere-chan and anti-Yandere-chan, then pit them against each other. Note that the participants in the battles shouldn’t be determined by their relationship to Yandere-chan, but the relationship to those participating. Person A enters the brawl. Person A has a strong relationship with Person B. Person B joins the brawl. Person B has a strong relationship with Person C. Person C joins the brawl, etc, etc. Civil War should also cause a wild flux in relationship values between everyone in the school based on relationship levels between non-involved students and their relationships values with those involved, so the tactic could be used indirectly as well to weaken the true target.
4) Clear Victory Conditions
‘Winning’ the game simply becomes a matter of raising Yandere-chan’s relationship level with senpai-kun 1) to a higher than any other girl and 2) to some sort of ‘love’ threshold. Winning the game could be blocked if both Yandere-chan and some other girl are within the ‘love’ threshold since senpai-kun can’t decide. Getting multiple characters into the ‘love’ threshold can be implemented as a King of the Hill scenario where the ‘Hill’ must be held for so long in order to win.
5) Replayability
By using random generation, the school populous could be generated at the start of each game and connected to each other to form a different web each time. Connect them based on “personalities.” (Which can be defined however you wish. The simplest version would be to roll a random number between 2 arbitrary values and connect each student based on how close one student’s number is to another. If true personalities were included, they could influence all sorts behaviors for NPCs and how information travels in the school.) The most interesting aspects to come out of this would be the addition of ‘loners’ or NPCs who aren’t connected to the graph at all, and the possibility to build new relationships passively based on schedules and clubs. The loners have no friends. No one will here them when they cry that Yandere-chan stole their prized guitar case. This makes them perfect targets if Yandere-chan doesn’t want her reputation injured. She could also recruit them to her cause since they’d only be connected to the graph via Yandere-chan, and no bad rumors about Yandere-chan get by Yandere-chan. In regards to naturally changing relationships, classmates and clubmates can either strengthen their ties with ‘good’ events or weaken them with ‘bad’ events. This could be a help or a hindrance to Yandere-chan, so timing will mean everything.
Provided you can set up the relationship graph properly, it’ll open up a ton of other opportunities. Who stands with whom during lunch? In the hallway? During club meetings? What path does the NPC take to class? (Clearly whichever one has friends along the way.) Who should accompany the NPC to the nurse’s office? Whose phone numbers does this NPC have (there could be some sweet subterfuge with this one)? There could also be people in relationships besides Yandere-chan and senpai-kun. A lot of these things are really fluff at this point, but it would add a very immersive atmosphere to the game.
If anything, this method should at least be used for rumor spreading since it’s a confirmed feature at this point. It’d just be really odd to have the whole school instantly know of Yandere-chan’s dirty deeds. It could be slimmed down to spreading to X neighbors per ‘turn’ (where a turn is calculated whenever there is a class/school ends) until it reaches the whole populous. The global meter should be adjusted according to the spread. The same method would be used for other people’s global reputation when Yandere-chan spreads rumors about them.
On an easier-to-program note, I very much like the idea of clubs and having perks associated with them. Even if the game doesn’t have random generation, choosing different clubs could make a person play very differently. I imagine they’d work as a sort of class system where each club lends itself more toward a specific style of gameplay. One allows for easier stealth kills, one allows for easier rumor spreading, etc.
At the very least, I hope you like the idea. Whether or not you decide it’s worth the time to program is up to you. This game shows promise, and it most certainly will be good. I just hope it’s great! (See Civil War section again, that’d be hilarious! I want to make my minions fight to the death! What if the target that you’re trying to eliminate is actually fighting on YOUR side?! Become a friend only to stab her in the back. Genius!)
Some of those ideas have occurred to me, as well. I like a lot of those ideas, although I’m hesitant to promise to include them. I think these kinds of ideas could flesh out the “school sim” and “social sim” aspects of the game and differentiate it from the likes of Hitman, but it may be extremely complex to implement.
I think it makes sense to give each student a trait like “Social Butterfly” or “Loner” or even “Outcast”, since it would determine if their claims about Yandere-chan are taken as fact, taken as rumor, or outright ignored. However, what other work does this add to the game? I wouldn’t want it to just be random, since a stealth game is meant to be beaten by skill, not luck. I would have to strategically place specific students in specific places, based on their influence. For example, should I evenly disperse students of varying degrees of popularity across the school, or cluster the “cool kids” in one area of the school? Should the early targets hang out near outcasts, and the later targets hang out near the popular crowd, changing the difficulty of the game as it proceeds? There would be so much design work and consideration to go into that feature. It’s one of those things I don’t want to even think about until all of the core mechanics are working.
It does make logical sense that an entire school wouldn’t instantly know something overnight. In the Elder Scrolls franchise, it always frustrated me when EVERY guard psychically became aware that I had done something wrong, even though there was literally NO time for word to spread of my misdeeds. However, it might be that way intentionally. It may be a game design decision, rather than a “realism” decision. It might be about punishing the player for specific mistakes, rather than emulating real life perfectly.
Giving each student a level of influence to determine how many students hear about the rumor, and spreading rumors during “turns” such as homeroom / lunchtime / club time, does make logical sense. But can this system be abused? Can the player exploit it? Would players think the game is stupid, if they misbehave and the rumors aren’t spreading fast enough / aren’t being taken seriously? I can’t agree to this idea without considering all of the angles first.
In short, those are all great suggestions and I’ve considered some of them myself, but I think it’s something to consider adding after getting feedback on the playable demo and hearing if the game needs to be more punishing / less punishing / more realistic / less realistic.
I like the idea of *multiple* victory conditions, beyond just simply violent and non-violent playthroughs.
You know how in the Civ games, you can win by violent domination victories, coerce the other nations to win a diplomatic victory, win a cultural victory through artistic and architectural prowess, win a scientific victory by going to another planet, or winning from being the most powerful civilization (score-wise) on the globe after a set number of turns?
Obviously, the end goal of any victory in Yandere Sim would be to get Senpai-kun to love you and become your boyfriend (or girlfriend for Yuri mode). However, getting Senpai-kun requires the player to obtain the highest “relationship level” out of all her rivals, like “i418c” said.
In effect, this relationship level could be increased, bypassed, and changed through many means, including killing the rivals outright (domination), manipulating school opinion of both you and your rivals to make you the most popular and attractive to Senpai-kun (diplomatic), being the captain/president of clubs and winning school contests like cultural fairs (cultural), doing really well on exams and/or being the top of your class (scientific), or an overall combination of domination, diplomatic, cultural, and scientific scores that would put you at the highest relationship level overall (score victory).
Just like a game of Civ might include the player completely destroying a nation or two, being friends with some city-states, having some wonders built in their capital city, and developing more advanced tech ahead of some other nations…
… so too could Yandere-chan kill off a couple of rivals, spread rumors, be in clubs and contests, and do well in her classes. She wouldn’t necessarily have to go all the way down any of the victory condition paths, just whichever ones the player feels would be most fun or would get them the highest relationship level the fastest/easiest.
I’m not trying to turn this game into a strategy game per se, those are just some realistic possibilities that could be modified and worked into gameplay in some fashion.
One type of reaction just won’t cut it I’m afraid. Since firstly, the reaction would depend on the position of the witness. Let me rant for a bit.
If she is near the murder and in the protagonists line of sight – shock or running away would be natural reactions. Nobody is going to snap a picture when the murderer is right in front of them.
When running away, a more likely scenario would be running to safety (some kind of hiding place) or another person (a teacher/person of authority or a very close friend), then deciding with the help of others if they should call the cops. Running away from the school is unlikely, since that is a long way on open grounds, in sight of the murderer, which the panicked person assumes is following her. If the murder happened on open grounds (way home) though, running home is much more likely.
People will act differently when they think the murderer didn’t see them. While snapping a picture is still unlikely, due to clouded thoughts from witnessing a murder, instead of running away, the witness would try to sneak away as not to alert the murderer and find someone close to them, notify the teachers of what has happened. Most likely the teachers will want to make sure the student is not lying before calling the police also, further delaying it.
There is also the 1%, who after witnessing a murder and thinking the murderer didn’t notice them, keep quiet but this is certainly not something you need to prioritise, though I imagine it would be pretty easy to do.
As for fighting the murderer, guys are much more likely to confront the killer, even more so if they are confident in their skills and the assailant is a girl. When not discovered by the murderer, the chance of confrontation drops (contrary to stealth game logic where this would be a good time to sneak up on her, in real life, sneaking doesn’t really work that well).
If there are multiple witnesses, taking a picture is much more likely as is fighting, as you might imagine. There a lot of thing that could develop from this but as the murderer takes out witnesses, it brings the moral of the remaining witnesses down considerably, resulting in people fleeing (Assassin’s Creed did this good) and then everything goes as described in the running away when noticed scenario.
Bear in mind that Japanese society (which I assume the game follows) might differ from what I’ve written. Perhaps quickscoping pictures is more common there. Maybe calling the police is no big deal. Might be that Japanese guys are big pussies. Up to you.
I think using Metal Gear Solid alerts as a base might be a good start.
In MGS if you are discovered enemies go a safe distance away then call for backup.
If you kill them while they’re doing that then the people they called will track it back and investigate.
If you avoid detection when that happens, then you can avoid being caught, and they think it’s a false alarm.
So that would translate like this:
– You kill someone and someone witnesses it. They run away into like the bathroom, and call 911.
– While on the 911 call they tell the police where they are first and then what’s going on.
– If they tell them where they are, and what’s going on, then the police will arrive really fast, which will give you a hard time to cleanup/avoid detection.
– If you kill them after t hey say where they are, but before them mentioning they witnessed a murder, the operator will hear the violence and what’s going on, but the police will arrive less quickly, which gives you a little more time to cleanup.
– If you attack them and kill them before they say where they are, since the operator will hear people getting hurt in the background, they will attempt to trace the call, then they will investigate. This gives you the most amount of time to cleanup.
Police Phase:
If the witness is killed but the police arrive, then the police start searching. It becomes a very light search in the beginning, but detecting any bodies will put the police on high alert, which doesn’t let you do very much. High alert is more guards, and suspicious actions become harder to hide. Also, without exception, the police will inform your school that there are murders going on, which becomes a “first strike”.
That first strike changes the game and makes students take photos on sight, and also scream if they discover you doing future murders.
THat’s my idea anyway.
I went and dredged up a couple of your updates from a few months back, but only because it pertains to some of what you’re working on now, and because I had a couple questions. To everyone else who hasn’t seen this before, I guess it could serve as a bit of a refresher and appetizer, since the Dev has finally come full-circle back to pictures and stuff:
“Current Features as of April 4th, 2014” – Roughly 5 Months Ago
“None of the following features are especially impressive, but I’m just going to post some screenshots to prove that I’m working on this game. You can click any of the images to see a bigger version.”
You can walk around in third-person:
Or first-person:
“As you can see, there are some post-processing effects going on in first-person mode. I can throw all kinds of effects on the screen in first-person mode, such as making the screen turn red when you see Senpai-kun talking to another girl.”
Someone came up with this suggestion and I loved it, so I decided to implement it…a camera:
You can take screenshots and save them to a folder on your PC. Here’s why:
“The game reads the screenshots from that folder and populates a corkboard in your home with the pictures you’ve taken of your beloved Senpai-kun. I had so much fun implementing this feature!
(Yes, you can abuse this feature by filling that folder with whatever images you want, and they will appear on the corkboard. Have fun with that!)”
Also this:
Alright, so here’s my questions on that stuff:
1. What is your current opinion on playing Yandere Sim in first and/or third-person? Is having “seamless” transitions between *both* perspectives still viable? Or would something like a first-person view only be usable in Yandere Vision, and not just for walking around?
2. You’ve mentioned post-processing effects both in that post and in this update for both a first-person view as well as Yandere Vision, any other comments regarding those?
3. Will Yandere-chan have to use an actual photography camera, or just the camera function on her phone? Or both? It’s not quite clear to me, at least. Also, will the phones be flip phones, smart phones, or both?
4. Will the camera function be similar to how it was portrayed in that early alpha video?
In addition, I came up with some achievement ideas that could be used for things like phones, cameras, and Yandere Vision:
The “Laughter” in “Slaughter” – Use your full Yandere laugh at least 25 times in one playthrough.
…And the World Laughs At You – Spend at least 5 minutes Yandere-laughing in a single playthrough.
Hung Up – Kill 5 witnesses before they’re able to call the cops in one playthrough.
Dropped Call – Kill 10 witnesses before they’re able to call the cops in one playthrough.
Dead Zone – Kill 15 witnesses before they’re able to call the cops in one playthrough.
Don’t Leave A Message – Completely clean up a crime scene before police arrive to investigate.
Bad Reception – Completely clean up at least 3 crime scenes before police arrive to investigate.
1-800-YANDERE – Completely clean up at least 5 crime scenes before police arrive to investigate.
Shudder-Bug – Indulge your artistic side by photographing at least 10 corpses in one playthrough.
Exposed – Photograph at least 10 pretty panties in one playthrough.
Candid Camera – Photograph at least 50 prevalent panties in one playthrough.
Professional Pervert Photographer – Photograph at least 100 particular panties in one playthrough.
Photographic Violence – Kill at least 10 people that you’ve taken pictures of in one playthrough.
Photogenocide – Kill at least 20 people that you’ve taken pictures of in one playthrough.
Photogeneric – Take pictures of at least 50 people in one playthrough.
Picture Perfect – Take pictures of at least 100 different people in one playthrough.
High Resolution – Take pictures of all your rivals, and kill them all personally.
Yandere P.I. – Take pictures of all your rivals, but get rid of them via non-violent means.
Beholder – Use at least 10 pictures of Senpai-kun to calm your nerves.
All-Seeing Eye – Willingly use Yandere Vision for 5 minutes straight.
Oculus Infinitus – Remain in Yandere Vision for an entire school day.
Soul Windows – Do some soul-searching with Yandere Vision for at least 10 minutes in one playthrough.
Dead-Eye – Use those darkened peepers of yours for at least 30 minutes in one playthrough.
Abyssal Gazer – Gaze into the Yandere Vision abyss for an entire hour in one playthrough.
Btw, like my new profile pic? I figured it would help me keep a closer “eye” on the game’s development…
;P
Right now (and this can be changed in the future) going into first-person-view instantly brings up the camera. I imagine that first-person view will only be used for camera stuff, and not normal gameplay. Unless a lot of people are clamoring for first-person Yandere-ing, I’d rather keep it all third person.
As for post-processing effects, I’ve been picturing something similar to Hitman Absolution’s “Instinct Mode” : http://www.dealspwn.com/writer/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/hitman-absolution-002.jpg
Add film grain, dim the lights, change the contrast, put a blue filter over everything, blur the distance, highlight targets in red, highlight things of interest in yellow, just stuff like that.
If Yandere-chan is a member of the Photography club, she will have a fancy professional camera. If not, then she just uses the camera function on her smartphone.
The camera function has changed slightly from how it was portrayed in that early video. In 7 days, I will post a new video that shows off how the new camera function works.
Yesterday I finished getting the camera to acknowledge when the player has taken a picture of:
1. Senpai’s face
2. A student’s face
3. Panties up a girl’s skirt
4. Evidence of a crime (such as blood, a corpse, or severed limbs)
Can you think of anything else that the game should specifically attempt to identify?
Sure, I don’t mind being put on the spot a bit… XP
Like you mentioned, the camera/phone should be able to recognize faces, panties, and criminal evidence, but I also feel that some other things deserve consideration:
1. Recognizing locations, landmarks, and other scenery.
2. Identification of photographic “ambiguity”.
3. The ability to take “selfies” with your phone/camera… hear me out on this on, please.
Some of these things may require more work on your end in regard to other potential uses of pictures.
1. For example, recognizing locations, landmarks, and other scenery could be useful for remembering exactly where the crime scene was located, where a rival was at a certain point in time, and where various objects were located. If Yandere-chan took a picture of the Nurse’s Office, the camera could recognize the sign on the door, the medical equipment within (bone saw, needles), etc. If she took a picture of a certain classroom. it could include a “tag” or label on the photo that designates it as “Classroom 2-C” or “Music Room”. It may be a bit more advanced than the usual facial recognition software we usually have on our phones, but still possible.
2. By ambiguity, I mean the picture isn’t clear enough to positively establish the who’s and/or what’s in it. For example, if you took a picture of a student with their back turned to you in a darkened room, the camera/phone wouldn’t be able to accurately tell you who or where the picture features. This could possibly be used to your advantage however, as you could take a picture of one of your rivals standing over the body of some random student *you* killed, and then use that photographic *evidence* to frame them for the murder, or something like that.
3. As for “selfies”… I’m not asking you to pander to the younger and/or trendier demographic here, I myself don’t even take selfies with my phone. However, this game could possibly benefit from their inclusion (kinda like GTA V did), as they could act as a fun way to display Yandere-chan’s insanity, adoration of Senpai-kun, murder of rivals/NPC’s, and act as a possible way to give yourself an alibi or frame/blackmail someone. Please take these with a grain of salt, they sound pretty humorous, to me at least.
Example 1: Yandere-chan takes a selfie with herself and a bunch of weapons, or at 100% Yandere Meter – Captions might read “Just getting ready for work” #laboroflove or “I’m feeling kinda crazy today!” #justyanderethings
Example 2: Yandere-chan takes a selfie with herself and it also includes Senpai-kun unintentionally photo-bombing in the background… this picture in particular would please her even more than a regular picture of Senpai-kun, as the pic has the both of them “together”. She might even put something like “Just me and my sweetie…” #together4ever #bf #tilldeath #noticemesenpai
Example 3: Yandere-chan takes a selfie with herself and the head/body/limbs of an NPC or rival “Curtain call for me and Drama-chan!” #drama #encore or “Hanging out with Senpai’s lil sis!” #loli #kawaii #imouto
Example 4: Yandere-chan takes a selfie with a rivals head, but in a way that makes it seem as if the rival was still alive at the time the selfie was taken “Me and Swim-chan swimming some laps at the pool!” #dontdrown #redtide
Example 5: Yandere-chan takes a selfie which also happens to include a rival in an embarrassing situation “Mary Sue isn’t wearing any makeup!” #omg #totesugly #badgurl
At the very least, they would just be funny (albeit corny) things to post onto that corkboard thing at her house… or they might even be uploadable to the player’s social media site of choice, if you made allowances for Facebook and Twitter synchronization for the game… not that I would want to post such gory pics on my page but… 😛
Btw, does that mean we’ll be having an update on the 29th *and* the 1st, or what?
I do think that the game should be able to identify whether or not a photo is related to a scripted event that is meant to assist in taking down a rival. Catching Mary Sue without makeup on, or catching the shotacon teacher alone with a male student, or catching the president of the cooking club buying pastries from a bakery when she claimed to have made them herself, etc. That won’t be too hard.
I do updates on the 1st of a month and the 15th of a month, regardless of the number of days in that month. Sometimes that means an update every 2 weeks, sometimes it means a couple of extra days for me to refine and polish an update.
Thinking about the phone/camera and Yandere Vision buttons got me wondering about the control scheme when you make the switch from Xbox controls to PC (also assuming you won’t be making an Xbox port of Yandere Sim, though that remains to be seen)…
As of right now, these are the control defaults I’ve seen/am waiting for:
Start Button – Will it pause the game? Can you bring options up from it, save, etc.? Would the PC equivalent be the “Esc” key?
Y Button – Interact (Pick up weapon/chop up body/pick up mop/wear uniform/open and close guitar case, carry limbs/remove body part from case) Would the PC equivalent be the “E” key?
B Button – Other Interactions (Drag/Drop Body/equip guitar case/store body part/cancel) What would the PC key equivalent be to this?
A Button – Even More Interactions (Dump body in incinerator/turn on incinerator/Sweep with mop/dip mop in bucket) What would the PC key equivalent be to this?
X Button – Attack. Simple enough. Would the PC equivalent be right or left clicking near a target?
D-Pad – Inventory Selection (Weapons/no weapons/guitar case) What would the PC key equivalent be to this? “Tab”? “I” for Inventory? Numerical keys?
Bumpers and Triggers – Do you plan on using those for anything?
Left and Right Sticks – Movement/Looking around. Also simple. Would the “WASD” keys/arrow keys plus the mouse work for these?
So, based on the controls I listed above, which button/key would the Yandere actions of the Laugh and Vision be controlled by? And which buttons/keys for the camera/phone and taking pictures?
I don’t believe the exact controls for those have been explicitly mentioned yet, so that’s why I’m asking. I saw the video of you doing the Yandere Laugh, but I didn’t see exactly which button you were pressing to do it…
I probably should have mentioned that earlier, oh well. 😮
Those are some questions that would take a long time to answer (listing every button on the 360 controller, and listing every equivalent button on the keyboard+mouse), and are probably pointless to answer since I’ll probably change the control scheme multiple times based on feedback from players, so I’m having a hard time getting motivated to type out an answer for this one…
I’m going to start off by using Hitman Absolution’s control scheme for both controller and keyboard, and I’ll change the functionality of some buttons depending on the differences between the games.
For example, left trigger in Hitman is “aim gun” and left trigger in Yandere Sim is “aim camera”.
Right trigger in Hitman is “shoot gun” and left trigger in Yandere Sim is “shoot photo”.
Have you played Hitman Absolution? If so, I can answer your questions by simply saying “It’s that exact control scheme.”
Yeah, I actually beat Absolution long before I had even heard of Yandere Sim, but I might replay it a bit to get a feel for the controls and such, thanks for the comparison.
Could you tell me what kind of programs you are using to create this game plz ☆* o(≧▽≦)o *☆
I’m using Unity3D as the game engine. I bought the 3D characters online, but occasionally I use Maya to adjust one of their animations.
Thanks so much (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ
If you wouldn’t mind, could you please see about implementing a playable senpai? As in, playing as the yandere’s target?
I believe the Dev has already given a decent amount of thought to a “Senpai Mode” of sorts, but it would be something that would probably come after the game’s release as a bonus.
I see, thanks for the fast reply, I hope it really does get released some day.
I really don’t like that idea. Yandere Sim is supposed to be about being a predator; being the slasher in a horror film; stalking and executing your targets. It’s not about being prey, it’s not about being a victim, it’s not about running away from danger. In this game, you ARE the danger.
(Breaking Bad reference.)
Playing as Senpai-kun would completely change the focus of gameplay, and require entirely new game design and game mechanics. What’s the objective? Stay alive for _____ amount of time? Throw off a stalker trailing you? Expose the Yandere’s crimes? How do you win? How do you lose? What abilities do you have? It’s not like I could implement this feature by just swapping out the character model of the protagonist.
If a sufficiently large number of people express interest in the idea of a completely separate gameplay mode where the player is threatened by a Yandere girl, and I eventually crowd-fund the game, then perhaps one of the “stretch goals” of the crowd-funding campaign can be a separate Senpai gameplay mode. But I’d need to see a completely though-out design scheme for how it’s supposed to work, before I could even consider it.
Ah… so you’ve somewhat changed your mind since then, Dev?
As far as I can remember, the only other person who came up with the idea of a “Senpai Mode” was *you*, back in the “Yandere Meter and Evil Laugh” update. In fact, a “Senpai Mode” was #1 on the list of things you said you’d like to potentially add if the game did well, so it *was* already under consideration at that time, contrary to what you just stated:
“I’ll definitely update the game with bug fixes, but beyond that, updates depend on how popular the game is. If I release the game and absolutely nobody plays it, likes it, or cares about it, then I probably won’t follow up with additional updates. But if there is a lot of interest in the game, then I could continue updating it.”
“In the event that I sink serious money into the game, and need to make a profit off of the game, I’ll probably charge some small sum of money for it ( $5 or so ). In the event that it would be costly to update the game, my ability to update the game depends on how much of a profit it made.”
“So, IF there is interest in the game, and IF it is financially feasible, here are some of the gameplay modes I’d like to add:”
“1. Senpai Mode (play as Senpai, try to avoid being killed by a yandere girl, you don’t know which female student is the yandere.)”
2. Extra targets (perhaps a cute rookie policewoman who is investigating the murders surrounding Senpai. Initially suspects Senpai of being the killer, but eventually falls in love with him. This doesn’t belong in the game, because the player is not required to murder anyone. That’s why this would be optional DLC.)
“3. Free-roam / open-world / sandbox mode (no permanent consequences, just spawn weapons / spawn schoolgirls and experiment with the game engine to see what happens.)”
“4. Challenge mode (kill your target using [weapon] at [location] in under 5 minutes. Can you do it?)”
“5. Multiplayer (You look like a generic NPC, and so do all the other players, so nobody knows who is a player and who is an NPC. Your objective is to kill the other players by pretending to be an NPC until just the right moment, and then striking.)”
I realize that your post had very limited reservations behind it at that time, and that you may have only recently realized the enormity and intricacies of some of your ideas, but I just wanted to make it clear to you and everyone else (especially Dude24760) that the idea of a “Senpai Mode” that you *now* say you “really don’t like”, was originally one of your own favorite ideas in the first place.
I hate to sound like a nit-picking lawyer with all that talk of precedent, but I don’t really like it when someone’s suggestions or ideas are taken in such a negative light by a Dev, even if they have an explanation behind why that idea isn’t (now) so feasible.
“Dude24760” seems fairly new to commenting on this blog, as I once was. How would I have felt if you had turned down my long-winded suggestion, achievement, and idea posts in a similar fashion?
I can’t speak for how much use they’ve been to you, but I know that I’ve always enjoyed lending my creativity and thoughts to the development of this game. I also know for damn sure that you spurning me like that would have shut me up pretty fast and fizzled my interest in the game.
Like I said before, I don’t like having to take people to task for things like this, but I can’t be your “Dev-senpai can do no wrong” cheerleader all the time…
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
The list from the “Yandere Meter and Evil Laugh” update was compiled by reading requests from people who posted in the threads I made about the game. At the time, a “Senpai Mode” was something that people were suggesting quite frequently, so I included it in the list of potential features, without considering what it would actually entail. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone mention it since then, and my vision for the game has become more solid since then, so now I’m much less receptive towards the idea.
In the past, I’ve met some of my favorite game developers in person. Sometimes they come off as quite rude, which leaves me feeling bitter towards them and even causes me to lose interest in their games. I’d never want to give someone else that experience, since I’ve been subject to it myself. If I came off as disdainful or nasty in that last post, I apologize.
I’d say it was the way your reply was initially phrased that bothered me, but “Dude” was also partially in the wrong in the way he phrased his post, to be fair.
He said “If you wouldn’t mind, could you please see about implementing a playable senpai?”
Although “If you wouldn’t mind” and “please” seem to temper his request/suggestion, it still sounds a bit too much like a demand, in context. I guess he could have simply made his wording a bit smoother or added more detail.
I’ve also noticed that people like Zero-Q and I started off our first suggestions with claims of ignorance and an apologetic tone, which we subconsciously thought would make our ideas more palatable to you as Dev, and would also somewhat protect us from possible ridicule if you didn’t like said ideas.
I happen to be going for a Major in Communications Studies, so this kind of thing just sticks out for me, it’s not that I’m super thin-skinned or anything. I just wanted to reassure “Dude” in some way so that he didn’t feel rejected, if at all. It was also because it was somewhat out of character for you as well, though I’m sure the stress/anticipation of the update in a couple days might be getting to you as it does to me.
On a lighter note, any teases for the camera update? A picture is worth a thousand words… 🙂
Here’s a preview of some of the things that will be featured in Monday’s update:
I agree that my wording was a little off, and I am sorry for coming across that way, I should have explained more clearly. I was only trying to provide an idea, I never meant to sound rude, nor did I intend to demand the feature. I wouldn’t mind the game without the feature, I just thought it would be something that would appeal to others, as well as myself.
Don’t worry about it, your suggestion and the Dev’s response were both fine, I was just trying to find a way to guilt-trip him into leaking some pics… mission accomplished! 😀
Just kidding… kinda.
Hmmm… questions on the pics:
Pic 1: If you had caught the faces of all three students rather than just the middle one, what would change/happen?
Pic 2: Concerning those 4 symbols at the top… what do they represent? They look like a head, an identity, some pink thing, and blood.
Pic 3: Will the names, looks, clubs, personalities, and crushes be randomly generated or unique for all the NPC’s you can take pictures of?
Pic 4: What is the effective distance on Yandere Vision? Will you be able to see Senpai-kun and your specific rival from anywhere with it turned on? Will NCP’s only show up when they’re relatively close to you? I’m asking because seeing a whole bunch of yellow figures walking around on multiple levels of the school could get a bit disorienting and/or cluttered.
I’ll answer all of these questions on Monday, with videos to supplement the explanations.
Sounds good, looking forward to it! 😀
Also a great day to have an update, this game is a “labor” of love after all!
Ba dum tss…
Can fans expect Oculus Rift support later in the game’s development?
Even in my most optimistic state, I don’t think I could expect the Dev to do that…
Especially considering that most of the game will probably be in third-person anyway…
But you never know… 😛
I can’t wait for the Oculus Rift to become available for consumers; I REALLY want to check it out and play games with it. I’m very interested in developing a game that uses the Oculus Rift, although I’m not sure if Yandere Sim will be that game.
Yandere Sim is meant to be played from a third-person perspective, and I’m afraid that I might have to re-design and re-program a lot of stuff to make it feasible from a permanently first-person view…but as soon as I get the ability to develop for Oculus Rift, I’d love to create something badass with it.
Those are good reasons to why not to do it, but the Rift could still be very cool with Yandere Sim.
In the first person view, yes Rift support could in a way, streamline the controls. For example the leaning around corners would be that much more stalker-ific, but it could work well in third person. At the games convention I was at this weekend, there was a third person game for the Oculus Rift that worked quite well. It worked better than the first person game that I tried out earlier in terms of control.
This game doesn’t need Rift support, but I believe it would work better than most would expect. It’ll be bloody awesome either way.