Halloween and DLC

Happy Halloween! This isn’t a normal Yandere Sim update. This is a

 Yandere Sim Spooktacular!

In other words, this update is frivolous and superfluous. I’ll be posting a normal progress report tomorrow on November 1st, but today, I’m going to discuss some ideas I’ve had that carry the spirit of Halloween.

In recent years, the term “DLC” has become a dirty word that puts a foul taste into gamers’ mouths. When people hear “DLC”, they imagine developers who lock out 25% of their game’s content and then charge players money to access that content, even if it was already on the game disc.  A lot of people associate the idea of “DLC” with pointless skins, maps, and hats that only exist in order to milk as much money out of the consumer as possible. “DLC” has become synonymous with “greed”. It’s like something out of a horror story!

As a thought experiment, I asked myself whether or not Yandere Sim is a game that would benefit from DLC, and how I could possibly incorporate DLC into the game without spurning the collective hatred of the entire gaming community. This is what I came up with:

1. The DLC must be developed after the game is released, not prior to its release.
2. The DLC must be something of actual value, and not something pointless.
3. There must a good reason why the DLC couldn’t simply be included in the base game to begin with.

I came up with the idea of allowing the player to purchase a pack of additional “rivals” for Yandere-chan to take on. These rivals would be non-canon, and/or function differently from the other rivals, requiring a lot of brand-new programming to be done for them. Examples:

1. A cute rookie policewoman. She is investigating the murders occurring at Yandere-chan’s high school. She meets Senpai-kun, develops a crush on him, and sticks around at high school to protect him from the murderer. Unlike other rivals, she is actively searching for the murderer, and will attempt to link evidence to you.
2. A pair of twins. Both of them fall in love with Senpai-kun, and agree to “share” him. Having two rivals at once would change the dynamics of the gameplay and present the player with a new challenge.
3. A yandere girl. She would be able to do anything that the protagonist can, and would do everything in her power to eliminate Yandere-chan. She would run around the school collecting weapons before you get a chance to do so, murder NPCs and try to plant evidence in order to frame you, and spread rumors to damage your reputation.

While considering other potential “DLC Rivals” I came up with some ideas that involve supernatural and paranormal characters. I think of these characters as being “Halloween DLC”.

1. A succubus. A male student at Yandere-chan’s school is desperate to lose his virginity, so he summons a succubus. The succubus takes no interest in the student, and begins to prowl the school searching for better prey. She finds Senpai-kun, and instantly falls in love, an experience she has never known. She hides her wings and tail using her magic, and begins to attend the school as a “foreign exchange student”. Keeping up her disguise requires her to spend magical energy, and the only way for her to restore that energy is by sucking the life force out of male students. Unlike other rivals, she cannot be killed using normal weaponry. To defeat her, Yandere-chan must expose the succubus’ true colors, force her to run out of magical energy by preventing her from feeding on male students, or perhaps approach the occult club and devise an unconventional way of stopping the demon…
2. A ghost. Those of you familiar with Yandere Sim’s backstory may be aware of the ghost easter egg. Yandere-chan’s mother was also a yandere girl in high school, and killed a female student in one of the school’s bathrooms. The player can actually see the ghost of the girl that Yandere-chan’s mother killed by walking into the bathroom and taking a picture. But what if that ghost had a chance to take revenge on Yandere-chan’s mother, by thwarting her daughter? The ghost might decide to channel all of her energy into gaining a physical form, and romancing Senpai-kun before Yandere-chan can confess to him. Like the succubus, Yandere-chan would not be able to “kill” the ghost, and would have to expel her using unconventional methods. Once again, perhaps the occult club would hold the key to getting rid of her.
3. A shapeshifter. This character would be some kind of witch or supernatural being who could change her appearance at will. She might impersonate other students or pretend to be a harmless NPC in order to throw you off her trail. She might even impersonate Senpai-kun himself in order to get close to you and kill you before you have a chance to kill her!

Some of these ideas are, admittedly, more interesting than others. What do you think of the idea of adding DLC to Yandere Sim? Are you opposed to the principle of DLC altogether? Do you think that it would be possible to enhance the game through downloadable content? What would you like to see added to the game post-launch? And what kind of crazy, non-canon rivals or supernatural rivals would you like to take on? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

BONUS

Yandere Sim’s development began after two events. First, I noticed that someone was selling a Japanese schoolgirl on the Unity Asset Store. Second, I asked a question: “What would a game about a Yandere girl be like?”

I saw this succubus character model in the Unity Asset Store, and wondered: “What would a game about a succubus be like?”

What kind of game would take advantage of the characteristics of a succubus? What kind of game mechanics would be most suitable for a succubus character? What is “succubus gameplay”? The only time I can recall playing as a succubus in a video game is Gunbird 2, which featured Morrigan was a secret character:

I started imagining a top-down shoot-em-up game starring a sexy succubus. As for her enemies, I suppose anything “holy” or “angelic” would be the antithesis of anything demonic, so I think she should be defending hell from the forces of heaven, or something like that. The idea stuck with me, so I made a simple prototype featuring the Succubus character from the Unity Asset Store:

What do you think? Would a top-down SHMUP featuring a succubus be cool? Or is there another genre that a succubus would be better suited for?

Box Art Parody

(This post has absolutely nothing to do with gameplay; this is just for fun.)

The box art for Amnesia: The Dark Descent is notorious for looking absolutely hideous and terribly misrepresenting the game.

Someone suggested that it would be funny to see a Yandere Sim parody of the infamous Amnesia box art, so I asked an artist to whip this up for me:

I’m very pleased with how it turned out. What do you think of it? You might prefer this version, without the blur and yellow glow.

Perhaps, once this game reaches the “Kickstarter” stage, one of the backer rewards can be a physical boxed copy of Yandere Sim, adorned with this glorious illustration, signed by me and addressed to you personally.

(In the astronomically improbable event that Yandere Sim actually DOES get a physical release, the box art would not be a ridiculous parody, and would look way different!)

Senpai Customization Concept

I have a vision for how the game should begin. Since the last update, I’ve been working on making that vision come to life. This is just a rough work-in-progress, but here’s how it’s turning out so far:

What aspects of your Senpai would you like to be able to customize? Right now, the only things I can think of are skin color, hair style, hair color, eye color, and eyewear. In the case of a female Senpai, bust size will definitely be customizable. What else would you like to be able to customize?

Previously, I put together a “visual novel” style of cut-scene where Yandere-chan meets Senpai-kun for the first time. The next thing I’d like to do is make a cut-scene engine that makes it easy for me to have more elaborate cut-scenes with multiple camera angles. Then, I’d like to re-create that old video with my new and improved cut-scene engine.

This update seems a little bare-bones compared to some of my other updates, so here’s a screenshot of a new incinerator model:

On a side note, the Japanese high-school teacher that I consult with has told me that students actually aren’t allowed to carry cell phones around at school. I guess that means that Yandere-chan’s high-school is a special school that has a somewhat lenient cell phone policy; as long as you’re a well-behaved student, you’re allowed to carry around a cell phone.

Title Screen, Class, and Benchmarking

Title Screen

This is the concept for the title screen of Yandere Simulator. It lacks polish, but it should convey the general idea.

I think the title screen should become progressively more disturbing depending on how many NPCs you have killed, and any rival you’ve killed should appear in the background of the title screen as a corpse. (Towards the end of the game, maybe Yandere-chan could experience a nightmare in which she is haunted by the ghost of every NPC and rival she has killed!)

Classroom, Studying, and School Subjects

This doesn’t have to be final, but I’ve implemented the classroom feature the way that I envisioned it. You enter a classroom and allocate some “Study Points” into whichever subject you prefer. Each subject will grant you buffs once you’ve put enough study points in. Here’s a video:

Here are some more details about the way this system works:

• The game takes place over the course of 10 weeks. Each week is composed of 5 school days. The game is composed of 50 school days.
• Every day, there are 2 opportunities to invest 5 “study points”; the player can invest a total of 10 study points points every day.
• If there are 5 school subjects, it should take 100 study points points to max out one subject. If there are 10 school subjects, it should take 50 study points to max out one subject.
• In other words, if you never miss a single class, you can max out every subject in a single play-through. Being late for class means that you lose your opportunity to invest study points that day.
• Maxing out every subject might grant you an achievement or a bonus cut-scene at the end of the game, but it’s not necessary to complete the game.

How do you feel about this system? Do you like it? Dislike it? Would you rather see minigames, like in Bully?

Would you rather see trivia questions, like in the Persona series?

Let me know how you feel about this subject.

http://strawpoll.me/2677242

Benchmarking Test

I have something to share which has an “.exe” extension! However, it’s not a playable demo; it’s just a benchmarking test.

I’m interested in learning how well (or how poorly) the game will run when displaying a classroom full of students.. This is a small environment with very few scripts running and almost nothing going on, so if people report a low framerate here, then I know I’ve already got some serious problems.

If you’d like to help me out, please download this .rar and run the .exe inside of it.

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=_I1z&id=0B8Xb4Pl1gykjQTEzWmY0RzcyemM

Then, use this poll to report the framerate (displayed at the top-left corner of the screen).

http://strawpoll.me/2677222