Yandere Sim 2016 Annual Report

This super-pretty illustration is from the talented Haruka-nee!

Happy New Year! It’s 2017! …in some time zones, that is. I still have 2 hours left to go, here in California. So, for me, it’s not 2017 just yet!

At the end of 2014, and again at the end of 2015, I posted an “Annual Report” about the blog’s activity. With just 2 hours left to go before 2017 begins, I’ve chosen to keep the tradition alive by writing an “Annual Report” for 2016, too!

Click “Continue Reading” to read some interesting bits of data about this blog’s activity in 2016!

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A New Nemesis for 2017

In 2015, I saw this illustration. It was an extremely memorable illustration, and I fell in love with it right away. While I was still just considering the idea of adding a “Hunter” or “Pursuer” to Mission Mode, and trying to imagine what she might look like, the girl from that illustration was the first thing that came to mind. I used that illustration as reference when I asked for the first official concept artwork of what Nemesis might look like.

A few days ago, I was contacted by the artist of that illustration. He told me that he felt uncomfortable with how similar Nemesis’ design was to his original design, and politely asked me to differentiate Nemesis from his character. I want to be respectful towards an artist whose work I admire, so I’ve decided to honor his request and modify Nemesis’ design.

The artist of the illustration that inspired Nemesis told me that it’s okay for me to keep Nemesis’ current hair color and eye color, but that she requires a new hairstyle. I’ve asked kjech, Yandere Simulator’s character artist, to design a new hairstyle for Nemesis. Here are the designs that he came up with:

(#1 and #5 may look very similar, but there are differences; #1 is more shaggy, and #1 is more tidy.)

(The artist of the illustration that inspired Nemesis told me that he’d approve of any of the above hair designs.)

I’d like to ask the Yandere Simulator community to vote on what hairstyle we should use for Nemesis moving forward! But first, there’s one other thing I’d like to mention…

While we’re waiting for one of my 3D modelling volunteers to model a new hairstyle for Nemesis, she will need to wear a temporary placeholder hairstyle on her head. A new build of the game will be released very soon; either on January 1st, or on January 2nd. In that build of the game, Nemesis will be using the following hairstyle:

(You may recognize this as a modified version of Yandere-chan’s original hairstyle from 2014. The “bobcat ears” have been removed.)

Okay! Now that you have all of the information required to make an informed decision about this subject, here is a link to the poll so you can vote on the hairstyle that Nemesis should use from now on:

http://poal.me/vqa5ru

I’m aware that many people have become attached to Nemesis’ current appearance, and will very disappointed that her design needs to change. Please try to understand that I don’t want to do anything that would cause ill feelings between me and an artist that I respect. It’s a little sad to say goodbye to her previous hairstyle, but ultimately, it’s the right thing to do.

Thanks for understanding!

Merry Christmas!

Last Edit: 4:50 PM PST (Added another video to the list of Christmas-themed Yandere Simulator videos!)

It’s Christmas!!! Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Last year, I set aside some time to work with some talented composers, artists, vocalists in order to create two Christmas-themed videos to celebrate the holiday. This year, I’ve decided to dedicate all of my time and attention to Osana, so I wasn’t planning to upload anything special for Christmas…but then, something unexpected happened!

The wonderful and amazing Michaela Laws – the voice actress of Yandere-chan – has surprised me with something delightful! She used her amazing singing voice to record a jazzy yandere-themed version of a well-known Christmas tune. I wanted to share it with as many people as possible, so I quickly put together a video…and here it is!

Thank you for the Christmas miracle, Michaela!!!

I have even more goodies to share with you today! Click “Continue Reading” to take a look!

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Launcher Update

I have been receiving a lot of reports that there are problems with the game’s official launcher. The architect of the launcher, NoxCaos, has recently made some changes in an attempt to resolve the problem. A new version of the launcher is now available. If you were encountering problems when attempting to use the launcher in the past, please download the latest version here!

There is also a new build available tonight, with just one bug fix. Previously, in Mission Mode, if the player chose to play a mission featuring Nemesis wearing a randomly-chosen disguise, there was a chance that Nemesis would choose your target for her disguise, which would make the mission unbeatable! Whoops! That bug has now been fixed; you can download the latest version of the game to get the fix.

If, for some reason, the launcher fails you, then you can download the game from any of these other sources:

Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/viciqzzv01kna3q/YandereSimulator.zip

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!Q5ogjbiD!0fGTimUyIU8AEqgW4W4SV_SAIQzdTenrGlSPMYLyr4M

Official Website: http://dl.yanderesimulator.com/latest.zip

December 19th Bug-Fixing Build

I thought that yesterday’s bug-fixing build was going to be the last one, but there were still a few more bugs that needed to be addressed. I feel really confident that this one will be the last build I’ll need to release between now and January 1st. We’ll see what happens!

To see a list of everything that is new in this version of the game, scroll down past this gorgeous portrait of Nemesis by clearlyoriginaljellyfish!

You might remember clearlyoriginaljellyfish as the artist behind this series of portraits! She has drawn even more portraits since the last time I linked to her artwork, so be sure to give her gallery a look!

Fixes

  • It is now possible to use a screwdriver to disable metal detectors, allowing the player to pass through a metal detector while carrying a weapon. (This allows the player to complete the “Kill target with katana” objective while metal detectors are active.)
  • To resolve an issue that would prevent the player from being able to complete missions with certain combinations of criteria in Mission Mode, I have changed “Cannot speak with students” to “Cannot speak with any students except for club leaders”.
  • Fixed bug that would cause the Mission Mode pause screen objective list to fill up with “Kill Musume Ronshaku” if the player’s target was a randomly-generated student.
  • Fixed bug that would cause the Student Info screen to not accurately display a randomly-generated student’s persona or strength level.
  • Fixed bug that was causing Yandere-chan’s body to be rendered on top of the Mission Failed screen if she was apprehended by a teacher.
  • Fixed bug that would cause Yandere-chan to continue gripping objects even after being killed by Nemesis.
  • Fixed bug that would cause weapons to get trapped underground when dropped in the gardening area.
  • Fixed bug that caused the safe key to spawn in school, even if the safe was not present at school.
  • Fixed bug that caused Yandere-chan’s camera to lower her reputation outside of Mission Mode.
  • Metal detectors will no longer detect non-metal weapons.

December 18th Bug-Fixing Build

Even after the last build, the game still had some bugs lingering in it. Some of them were pretty serious bugs, too! So, I’ve decided to release another bug-fixing build!

To see a full list of everything that is new in this build, scroll down past this super-stylish artwork from cyangalaxy!

Those delinquent girls look ready to crack some skulls, and look good while doing it!

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the script controlling the “Sakyu Basu takes off her ring” script which may have actually been causing the game to crash after the player took her ring. Please experiment with stealing Sakyu’s ring, and tell me if the game crashes a few minutes after stealing her ring!
  • Fixed bug that would prevent the player from killing a victim summoned by the turtle, unless the player de-equipped and re-equipped their weapon first.
  • Fixed bug that caused Yandere-chan’s laughing sound effect to play after death if she laughed before being killed by Nemesis.
  • Fixed bug that was preventing Nemesis’ outline from being disabled if the player chose to play without character outlines.
  • Fixed bug that allowed the player to design a custom mission that involved weapons which cannot be used in Mission Mode.
  • Fixed bug that would prevent Yandere-chan from lowering her camera if she was aiming her camera while caught by Nemesis.
  • Fixed bug that would cause errors if the player used the “Go Away” command on a randomly-generated student.
  • Fixed bug in Mission Mode that caused the syringe to disable sanity-based animations.
  • Fixed bug that made Yandere-chan invincible to Nemesis while laughing.
  • Fixed bug that made it possible to dismember Nemesis.

December 17th Bug-Fixing Build

There were some bugs in the previous build, so I made a new one!

To see a list of everything that is new in the latest build, scroll down past this beautiful artwork by Ralunix!

I really love the concept in this illustration! It’s beautiful, yet morbid at the same time. It’s a very appropriate portrayal of Yandere-chan’s desires!

Change Log

  • During Mission Mode, the player is no longer able to aim a camera at a student’s face to make them stand in one spot forever, because the Awareness meter will now quickly rise for every second that the player spends aiming their camera at a student.
  • Fixed bug that would cause Nemesis’ hair to glow in Yandere Vision when she was disguised as a female student, giving away her identity.
  • Fixed bug that would cause the Mission Mode timer to count down at a lightning-fast speed when the “Pass Time” command was being used.
  • Removed one of Nemesis’ spawn points, since it was too easy to figure out who she was if she was coming from that direction.
  • Fixed bug that was preventing stolen documents from disappearing after they had been removed from the safe in Mission Mode.
  • Fixed bug that caused the mouse scrollwheel “zoom in” functionality to focus on Yandere-chan’s hips instead of her face.
  • Fixed bug that would cause the “Nemesis: Off” text label to not update after using a Mission ID to load a mission.
  • Fixed bug that was preventing Yandere-chan’s feet from creating footstep sound effects while on staircases.
  • Changed the color of the caution symbol, subtitle label, and top-of-screen notifications in Mission Mode.
  • Fixed bug that caused errors if the player attempted to access the Settings menu in Yandere-chan’s home.
  • Fixed bug that caused the game to permanently freeze if the player tried to use Pose Mode.
  • Added new voiced lines for Info-chan in the Mission Mode menu screen.
  • This isn’t actually related to the game, but I also added Nemesis to the Characters page on the official website!

What’s Next?

The plan hasn’t changed; full-steam ahead on Osana!

Osana Progress Report and Mission Mode Update

It’s finally here! Sorry for the month-long wait between updates!

Here is a list of everything that is different in the new build:

General Improvements, Additions, and Changes

  • Addressed issue that was causing “bald spots” to appear in the back of male students’ heads, thanks to help from Saracen!
  • Fixed bug that would cause students to sink into the ground during a low-sanity knife kill animation.
  • Fixed bug that would cause students to walk “into” Senpai when he sits down at the fountain.
  • Attempted to improve the smoothness of the school music loop and the bedroom music loop.
  • Fixed bug that was causing the “Distract” command to be completely broken.
  • Fixed bug that was causing the tape recorder menu to not be displayed.
  • Changed the appearance of the game’s HUD during Mission Mode.
  • Added bushes in the tree corridor outside of the school.
  • Footsteps can now be heard when Yandere-chan is running.
  • Corrected typo in debug menu.

Mission Mode

  • Changed “REPUTATION” to “AWARENESS”. Bad behavior raises AWARENESS. 100 AWARENESS results in a mission failure.
  • Changed the appearance of the HUD in Mission Mode.
  • Changed the layout of the Random Mission screen.
  • Added Nemesis, and three options to control how challenging she is.
  • Added “Can’t let any students witness bad behavior” condition.
  • Added “Unable to speak with students” condition.
  • Added “Find key and steal from safe” condition.
  • Added “Avoid security cameras” condition.
  • Added “Avoid metal detectors” condition.
  • Added the ability to create your own custom mission.

What’s Next?

As I said in the video above, I am finally able to make huge leaps of progress with Osana that I wasn’t able to make before, so I intend to dedicate all of my time to Osana at least the next two weeks. There are still some remaining assets that I need, so please don’t expect Osana to be 100% done by January 1st. Right now, I want to theorize that she’ll be ready by February 1st, but I am also nervous about making any promises, since the past 3 months have taught me that I usually under-estimate the amount of time it will take to create the assets that I need…

Message To Contest Artists!

I have a message for anyone who was a “Runner Up” in either of the two recent fan art contests! One of Osana’s elimination methods will involve Yandere-chan entering a room that is full of anime posters. If you would like to see your artwork featured inside of Yandere Simulator, please contact me, and I’ll describe the type of posters I need!

As always, thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator!

Update still coming soon, but probably slightly less soon than previously expected

2:00 AM (PST) UPDATE: Video’s done! I’m encoding it now. Now I just need to upload the build and the video, which takes about 1 hour.

I’m sorry, I don’t think that the next update will be ready in less than 3 hours! I’ll try to calculate how long it might take:

I’ve recorded 10 minutes of narration for the next video. Creating a video usually takes me about 1 hour for every minute of audio. I predicted that it would only take me 10 hours to prepare this next video, but the first half of the video involved a lot of motion graphics, so it took me a lot longer than usual. It took about 8 hours for the first 4 minutes of the video. That’s 2 hours per minute, is twice as long as it usually takes.

I currently have 5 minutes of the video completed. In a best-case scenario, the video will be ready within 5 hours, but I’d also have to create and upload a new build, which takes about 1 hour. In a worst-case scenario, it’ll take me 10 hours to complete the video. 10 more hours would be too long to stay awake, so I’d have to finish the video after getting some sleep. In summary…

Best-case scenario: 6 more hours

Worst-case scenario: Sometime tomorrow

Sorry again for the delay! …it seems a bit strange to call it a “delay”, though. My completely arbitrary, self-imposed “1st and 15th of every month” deadlines are really stupid, since it is almost never possible to accomplish something meaningful within only 2 weeks. Those deadlines really only exist because of tradition, not because they are a reasonable/realistic timeframe to create a good update, so it’s honestly a stupid schedule that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Maybe I’ll be able to come up with a better schedule in 2017…

Once again: Thanks for your patience!

Update Coming Soon

I always aim to update the game on the 1st and 15th day of every month. I don’t have a new update prepared for you right at this very moment, but I feel very confident that a new update will be available within the next 27 hours.

Normally, in “Update Coming Soon” posts, I post an exciting preview of upcoming content – but today I’d like to show you something else. Recently, a fan of the game from Russia sent me some of their artwork. I was really impressed by the illustrations that they drew, and I’d love to share them with you!

I find this series of images so fascinating! It’s hard to find the right words to explain why I love these illustrations so much. For one thing, I think it’s really impressive that the artist created all of these drawings using pen and paper, in a world where digital artwork is so much more common. Black and white artwork always has a certain charm to it, too. The cross-hatched shadows really show how much time and effort was put into these illustrations, as well.

But, I think what I like the most about this artwork is how it shows the characters in their every-day lives, doing the things we don’t see them doing in the game itself. Info-chan using her computer at home, Ryuto and Pippi riding a bike together, Yandere-chan looking at a map of the school while she plans her next kill…it’s so nice to see these characters outside of normal gameplay situations! Each illustration also has a title written in one of the corners of the page; each title is a single word, but some of them are quite poetic!

Back to the original point of this post: I’m sorry that the next update will be a little bit late. Thank you very much for your patience, and thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator!