The second half of my “Let’s Examine Persona” series is ready! You can watch it below!
Yesterday, I said that I’d make a blog post about Osana today. However, I feel like there’s something more important that I need to discuss. I’ll talk about Osana tomorrow. Here’s what I want to talk about today…
Unfortunately, my first “Let’s Examine Persona” video wasn’t received as well as I hoped it would be. A lot of people commented that it seemed like the entire focus of the video was about stealing from Persona.
In most cases, Persona 5 simply:
- Provided me with good reference footage of something I was already planning.
- Reminded me of things that I had already considered in the past.
- Gave me an excuse to talk about something that I’d always wanted to talk about, but never had a reason to mention in any of my previous videos.
Just take a look at the things that were mentioned in the Part 2 video…
- Low-Detail Students – I pitched this idea last year.
- Morning Conversations – Gave me an excuse to talk about one of Yandere Sim’s potential game design flaws, and one potential solution.
- 2D Backgrounds – A clever way to have story cut-scenes without modelling environments. (Persona wasn’t the first to do this, either.)
- Headphones – Seeing students wearing headphones in Persona gave me inspiration for students that couldn’t be distracted by noises. This is not an actual game mechanic in Persona, but is a game mechanic in another stealth game.
- Book Bags – Something I’ve considered for over a year, but never had a reason to mention.
- School Store – Something I’ve considered for over a year, but never had a reason to mention.
- Culture Festival – Something I’ve considered for over three years, but never had a reason to mention.
- Student Stalkers – Something I’ve discussed with fans for years, but never mentioned in a video.
- Streets and Stores – I pitched this idea months ago.
- Umbrella Technology – Obviously, this bit was a joke.
In other words, this was a “Persona-themed” video where I discussed a bunch of concepts that Persona reminded me of, or provided reference footage of things I wanted to do in the future. This wasn’t a video about stealing features that Persona invented.
Now, let’s examine the previous video:
- Chatter Effects – The idea was pitched by Furipasart last year. It was a good idea, but I forgot about it until I saw something similar in Persona 5.
- Student Reactions – An original concept from Persona 5 that might benefit Yandere Simulator.
- Memorial Services – An aspect of real life that would be an appropriate addition to Yandere Simulator.
- Better Transition Screen – “My screen is boring, Persona 5’s screen is exciting, I should also try to be more exciting” is not an idea I should have to defend.
- School Props – “My corridors are empty, Persona 5’s corridors are not empty, I should try to decorate my corridors” is not an idea I should have to defend.
- Third Eye – “Yandere Vision lacks polish, Persona 5’s equivalent has a lot of polish, I should also try to have a lot of polish” is not an idea I should have to defend.
- Uniform Variety – Something I’ve wanted for over three years, but never had a reason to mention.
- Opening Animation – Something I’ve discussed with fans for years, but never mentioned in a video.
- Student Comments – An original concept from Persona 5 that might benefit Yandere Simulator.
- Art Style – I never said that I wanted to directly copy the Persona art style, I said that I was considering something similar. The reason why I’ve taken an interest in the Persona art style is because it’s very difficult to find an anime art style that translates well into 3D models. Persona 5 has proven that its art style works in 3D, which is why I feel confident that a similar art style would work out for me.
Most of the things I discussed in my previous video were features that I was already considering, or aspects of Yandere Simulator that currently lack polish. Only two of the things I discussed in my previous video were actually original concepts from Persona 5 that I think would be very beneficial if directly transplanted into Yandere Sim.
Obviously, I’m aware that what makes a game special is how unique it is, and that if a game copies too many elements from other games, it’s no longer unique, and thus it’s no longer special. I know that it would be stupid to take another game and start copying all of its features until I’ve made a replica of it. However, if you look at the list of everything that I discussed in this video and the previous video, you’ll see that there were extremely few times when I actually discussed the idea of taking any original concepts from Persona 5.
Considering all of the above information, I feel like the reaction to my previous video was completely unjustified, and so I simply had to take the time to write a blog post defending these two videos.
Tomorrow, I’ll write and post the Osana-related blog post that I said I’d post today.
Thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator.
Yay, I’m the first one! I want to take this opportunity to wonder why that mirror is in the light music club. Wouldn’t it make more sense in the drama club? Does it have something to do with the light music club leader’s sudden transformation? Also, I think it’s use will be to change your persona, which will give you certain buffs and disadvantages. Example: Choosing evil make make your sanity lower at a slower rate, but people notice you from longer distances, etc.
Also, I want to say that it’s totally fine with me if you want to take inspiration from other games. I’m not sure if you should be making 2 15 minute videos about it, though.
Sounds good. Might even provide a basis for Yandev to give a few students their own personas!~
I heard that Kuu Dere might have her own “Apathetic” Persona, where she doesn’t react to murder. That might be just a rumor though.
Change your…….. Persona? ¬‿¬
I think it’s actually the animations that other students play depending on their persona. For example: kokona haruka is a Social Butterfly so her idle animation is the happy one
Estaba viendo y creo que seran las formas en las que caminaran los estudiantes
Yandere Dev, I want to say that the way people had reacted to your last video was not acceptable. There are many games that follow a concept and borrow ideas from other games to create some new concepts; Mario Kart 8 and Sonic & Sega Racing All-Stars Racing Transformed being the major example, then after is Friday the 13th: The Game and Dead By Daylight after. I believe that people have high hope for you or rather that they are expecting something completely new and breaks all the genres instead of having some ideas and concepts of other games. I am sorry some people do not understand that video games borrow ideas from one another, and I am sorry that some people enjoy being negative instead of trying to see the positive ideas you thought of and proposed or are proposing.
Talking about different game is more important than talking about Yandere Simulator? Something is wrong here…
Did you even watch the videos? Every single point aside from the “umbrella technology” joke was directly talking about ways to improve and update Yandere Sim. That’s what every single video on this blog is about. No wonder Yandere Dev has to make posts defending himself, because he has to deal with idiots like you
Improve. By adding completely unnecessary features stolen, oh sorry, inspired by AAA game. While the core mechanic (rival) is still not implemented. All this things are fine, improvements are ok, but they are meaningless. There are more important stuff to add – like win conditions, freakin’ save/load option. Not to mention students still don’t react to the blood stains on the floor. And what is this video about? About making video opening. You really can’t see this is like low priority stuff? Also don’t be so quick with calling someone idiot, kiddo, first you need to get your facts straight.
shobusenpai
the “unecessary” stuff you are talking about is also easier to implement than that stuff
and he has stated he isn’t going to release a single win condition or a rival until the game is good enough for a croudfounding
shobusenpai
I don’t think he is talking about adding all these features right now, but rather pitching a bunch of ideas to us and letting us know what to expect. I don’t think he’s going to be adding these things now.
Also, only two of the things he talked about where original things to Persona. Some of the things he talked about we’re completely unimportant background things that gave him ideas that could be implemented in YS. For example, the students wearing headphones doesn’t change your experience of walking down the hallway in Persona, but he gave examples about how that could affect YS’s gameplay.
These Persona videos were just for him to talk about part of the game that he thought should be addressed and Persona just happened to have a lot of visual examples to help him explain it. Also, not all of this stuff is “low tier” stuff. Things like the town street and shops are big things that he’s not even sure he’ll be adding to the game.
He said he’ll be talking about Osana tomorrow, at least here on the blog. He’s also said that a crowdfunding campaign would begin not too long after Osana is implemented, so these things are important to address before then.
You are so obnoxious
Did you even read the blog post?
O-ok I don’t wanna take up time but maybe there’s a time where the school store person is on break
(if you end up adding it in) or taking out the trash / old food…
Sorry for taking up your time.
Sounds like a good idea! He should do it. 🙂
I would suggest a fanny pack instead of the book bag if you’re looking for something to carry weapons in. I’d think you’d have an easier time avoiding clipping issues.
Plus, the more you stuff in it, the bigger it can get, thus giving us another “Woah, technology” moment.
I don’t think that the chatter effects are a good idea
Sorry for asking, but somthing is bothering me. As far as I know, most schools hold culture festivals on autumn (around October or November), usually after the sports festival (around September). Isn’t Yandere Simulator set on spring? Isn’t this a discrepancy?
Also sorry for my bad english.
It’s not just autumn, it’s often around the end of spring as well.
I think stores in Dishonored 2 can be good reference point for the school store. You can use them as usual to buy stuff or you can perform a set of actions to stealthily break into it from the backdoor to eliminate the shopkeeper or to steal something.
I actually commented the same on his video. He should definitely study dishonored 2.
um..no osana?
We’ll be getting a blog post on Osana tomorrow, so don’t worry! 🙂
Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be ready by 2078!
*2017-18
He’s not taking forever on purpose!! The only reason Osana is not out yet is because he wants her to be high quality so people don’t complain. He wants his game to be up there in high ranks LIKE Persona and Danganronpa, two games that have very high quality animation. If he showed us anything else than what he shows us now, that would be spoiling the game
I wasn’t expecting to see Mysterious Girlfriend X… 10 out 10!
Talking about a game you love isn’t something that should be reprimanded, honestly. A lot of game developers can take inspiration and gain new ideas from other like-minded products that have the same theme or setting. Inspiration is not in the same category as copyright and it baffles me to see how many people confuse the two. Look at Tomb Raider, and the games that have taken inspiration from that concept and even Tomb Raider was loosely based off Indiana Jones which is a movie, so calm your tits when you say the poor guy is ‘stealing ideas’. I personally enjoyed these videos. They were incredibly informational and I think I’m getting a better grasp on what Yandere Simulator is going to be like in the future and to be honest, I’m stoked! I’m so excited! Thanks YandereDev, keep up the amazing work, you’re doing an awesome job, mate!!
Exactly!! 🙂
Glad to see I’m not the only one who feels that way
So just think. If people hadn’t complained about yesterday’s video, he would have talked about Osana today! Ah, the sick irony.
He wouldn’t because Osana is still not ready lol. Those videos exist only to kill time.
Um, no.
YandereDev is an adult, not some guy with serious emotional issues that YOU people continue pampering on.
Pretty sure there are reasons why he saved the Osana-talk for tomorrow. Your comment is not one of them.
I love your game, Yandere Dev! These ideas sound awesome. I can’t wait until they’re implemented 🙂
Here’s my idea for the school store – my school has one that’s just a couple of tables in the cafeteria with a few cabinets set up next to them. That way, you could go around the table and attack the store owner, or hide under the table when it’s classtime, because the storekeeper would be a student, and would therefore have to go to class.
Hey Yandere Dev, I believe I know how you can make the store clerk in school work. Have either Info-chan or someone who is an ally to Yan-chan run the store. There you can have the clerk sell/given items that are prohibited to Yan-chan via by a secret store. You probably thinking me as a Midori for offering a suggestion, so I like to say sorry if I annoyed you. Anyway, keep up the amazing work on Yandere simulator.
That’s actually a really good idea
For the 2D Cutscenes/Backgrounds, you could maybe look at Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc; various scenes within the game have a detailed still image with speech at the bottom – and voice acting, but this could be optional – (I.e. transition from daytime to nighttime). This could be used for certain scenes in Yandere Sim (I.e. the memorial services). It may be easier to be able to skip the cutscenes after the very first one though, as it can get tedious for the player. (Like on danganronpa, where you can skip the day to night transition)
i think you should make the reputation work like the karma in the fallout series so some characters will only help you if you have lower (or higher) reputation
How lame is it that Yandere Dev has to explain the simple concept of inspiration/influence to the people whose immediate reaction is to accuse their Dev of wanting to steal ideas? A Yandere in itself is a highly specific and detailed trope that comes from somewhere else. This is exactly what professionals do. The creators of Persona scour like material (games, anime, movies, tv dramas etc.) in order to find new inspiration just like every other creator in the world.
About that school festival, loving the idea of being how we’re introduce to Senpai’s sister. I’m suggesting that instead of being a week, it’s still only one day where time doesn’t go by the same way. You could as much stuff in the day of the school festival as you would do in a week because you don’t have classes to attend to.
Because having a festival out of nowhere and having the school looking different from one day to the other, having the differents props or elements of the festival appearing gradually during the week before the day of the festival would feel more natural. Also, if that pest Senpai calls a sister doesn’t attend the same school, having her passing by at the start of the week of the festival, announcing to him that she’ll be there with him the entire day of the festival could help Yandere chan to prepare herself for the day of the festival. She could then start rigging some attractions, during the week following what Senpai likes and what she knows they’ll be going to during the day itself.
I see where you are going, and that is actually really smart. Something else that could happen would probably be that Yandere-Chan would be able to help out at the attraction for her class(or another, they might be low on students and they need help). Not to mention that if Yandere-Chan kills someone there and someone sees the corpse, they’d shut down the whole festival, ruining any activity planned. You could also make Senpai’s sister get lost/seperated from Senpai. When she’s not near him, you can offer her to help her find him.
(Obviously that would lead you to either kidnapping her or killing her)
There are actually a lot of things that can be done with just this simple idea, and I think that it will be a very valuable asset to the game. Nice job! 😉
Wow thats an awesome idea
I always, no matter the situation, carried around a pink bookbag similar to anime high school girl’s tote bags in my own high school- although it was due to my anxiety and me needing to hold something to keep me stable. I don’t think a character carrying a bag would be odd at all. ^^
Mostly I’m worried that Yandere Simulator would begin to look a bit too much like Persona, and that people would call it plagiarism, which is a difficult thing to address and defend yourself against as a game developer when the only evidence you have is, “I thought of it a year ago but just didn’t mention it”. Personally, I feel like some mechanics from Persona would benefit Yandere Simulator, and I agree with your logic of using Persona 5 as a sort of visual aid to describe your ideas for your game. Some aspects are universal in games, such as opening animations, 2D cutscenes, NPC chatter, etc., but using too many unique Persona concepts might be flying close to the sun. I would just be careful not to accidentally make Yandere Simulator TOO similar to other games, because that’s when the question of plagiarism arises, even if your intention wasn’t to copy other developers’ work.
Well, so far he’s only mentioned using two of Persona’s unique aspects, which should be okay.
Games take time, especially since he’s still working out the Tiny Build thing and how they can help him. If you’re easily impatient I wouldn’t suggest following a game developer. Most games take years. Dev is just one man. Give him a break.
Thanks to all those staying positive.
Honestly I like the idea of invincible store clerk. I say make it so its instant game over if the store clerk discover you. Even give her a personality that would make her a badass. Don’t mess with the lunch-lady of doom 😉
The idea of an invicible store clerk is not a bad one. She would have access to a phone next to her in the store and if you would kill someone in front of her, she would rush to it, calling the cops on you.
I can see the store clerk being used as an obstacle. You could distract her by ordering something, and when she turns around to fetch the item, you could drag a body past her or stab someone who was in her line of sight.
As someone who has studied game design and created games, no game is 100% unique. 90% of games had at some point take a concept of another game and used it to build upon their game. People saying that “Yandere Dev is stealing from Persona” are people that don’t know how the process of creating games is actually like.
Yandere Simulator is going great and I’m excited to see more things you can do in it.
Agreed. The same with books and movies.
I get how characters with lack of detail could really help you, Yanderedev, but I think the idea would overall take away from the experience. In Persona 5, the students with the lack of detail serve mostly as decorations, things added to create or enhance an atmosphere, but in Yandere Simulator I think this would come across as too… I dunno, flat? I have a hard time explaining it, but I feel like having the low-detailed students around would really take me out of the experience. I guess it works in Persona 5 because they’re mostly there in the background and are basically a part of the background and you are kinda just meant to see them like that, but in Yandere Simulator you have to be aware of every single student in the area in order to get away with murder, so having students that mostly just act as part of the background, but still reacts when you kill someone or do anything out of the ordinary, wouldn’t be the best idea
The idea of low detail students in yan-sim is stupid, because you need to be able to identify a witness so you can mess them up before they run for help. If they all look the same you’re screwed
Oka x Yandere-chan = Creepy Female Student
can you share the art that you use on the thumbnail??? I like it a lot 😀
On ‘Low Detail Students’; The way they’re used in P5 makes sense, since from the main characters perspective they’re nobodies who’ll never be important in his life or at best minor gameplay quirks. But at Yandere sim’s school everyone(!) is a potential witness who could impact gameplay and Yandere-chan, so having faceless students wouldn’t work, since she needs to keep tabs on everyone in her school. You could have the students start out faceless, but get Info-chan to reveal them for you, which would benefit gameplay significantly, since knowing how a students ticks makes it easier to predict their movements and act accordingly.
Also ‘Student Reactions’; this might work if you pin the text boxes to specific students, so that on the following day Yandere-chan can interact with them to “coerce” them into a more beneficial reaction [example: “Is it even safe to come to school?” -> Yandere-chan then convinces that student(s?) to stay at home -> less potential witnesses] . Again, if you start out with faceless students there’s no way to interact with this. [penalty for not revealing more students?]
yandere dev about that umbrella i think that it could be used for murder how? well i remember seeing a scene of one of detective conan films where the killer used an umbrella to cover himself from the victim’s blood i hope my idea reaches you and also i love your game
I don’t know why people are getting so antsy about taking some inspiration from a game you like. You’ve taken inspiration ideas from other games in the past. Every game developer does that. It’s how anyone improves their own project; getting inspiration and building on it.
Anyway onto the topic at hand: A lot of the ideas do work well and would be nice for YanSim. Unique character models for each student with their own way of wearing the uniform will be interesting. I’m psyched for the eventual updated character models, though I know they won’t be for a little while yet. The current ones aren’t bad, but they don’t look great especially compared to the 3D model you featured in the video. Also keen to see the school with actual props because to be fair it does look pretty barren. Hoping the windows will eventually have some translucency as well. Being inside the school feels very enclosed.
Yandere Dev, you probably aren’t ever going to read this since you don’t really like “fan suggestions” about your game, but take this of more like a opinion about the topics you suggested on part 2
About
Low-Detail Students
Maybe this isn’t that bad of an idea but keep in mind that the school hallways are quite small and empty, so if you are in a corner of the hallway there are 2 long hallways where someone could see you carrying a body around, and sometimes it would be too many people there. If you make it so by each floor maybe 1 or 2 people would be ok.
Also during certain times and after classes (during the club’s time) maybe there aren’t so many people in school so the hallways would be more empty.
And finally if you are going to make it like that at least make a bunch of different animations to each action (to represent different personalities, like shy unknown students could just walk with their hands tied looking to the ground while social butterfly students might hold their backpacks on their shoulder, etc…)
Morning Conversations –
At least give people a “penalty” for following the strategy right away. I mean if you heard a conversation about a student who committed suicide and got into the news wouldn’t it be weird that someone did the EXACT same thing on your school? Maybe it could just start rumors and if you kept using the strategy a investigation would start and you had to be more careful.
Headphones –
Make it so it just lowers the audition AoE, if someone was yelling in your ear or right behind you while you were listening music, you would probably still ear it (and even get scared). But smaller sound (like footsteps) could vanish from the detection radius
Book Bags –
Maybe using it to store some weapons, you could even drop your bag and hide it or even use the victim bag to forge evidences, but make it so that each personality wears it differently
School Store –
Maybe you could lockpick the door and enter the school store, maybe you could make a “friendship” with the store employee and offer her a drink that you drugged so she falls asleep or something, there are many ways you can make it work, but maybe making it in a optional corridor that could be a fastest route to the incinerator or something.
Or you could make it so she would get distracted by something (like asking a “friend” to buy something). In my school my shop has 2 sides, one to buy the tickets for lunch and the other to buy school material. Maybe you could ask someone to buy you a pencil or something while to drag the body across the lunch tickets area.
Culture Festival –
I like the idea but 1 day is not enough and 1 week is too much, maybe during the first 2 days of the week the students would be helping to prepare everything after school (where they would be in groups), the last 3 days would be the “celebration days” and the last day of the week would be a special event where the school could stay open during night since there would be a event going on like a Halloween Party or something.
Student Stalkers –
I love this idea, but i think lowering your reputation would make more sence then people following you because you are popular. I mean if everyone started earing rummors about you (because you have a low reputation) they would probably follow you to try to know the truth
Honestly, you really don’t need a school store if you have the outside venders on the streets that can sell you items. But if you have your heart set on it, you could make the clerk a student that would run to get help or would need evidence to convict Yandere-chan. Which might be interesting as a unique character model and even a possible rival. If you go such a route, it might be fun to add special items that could only be purchased there so to reward no-violent elimination.
Also your chat effects are white, which gets lost in your bright color palette, you might want to change it to a darker color, and use larger characters
I’m totally hyped for the kickstarter!
what I think about the ideas:
low detailed students: if there is too many students, the game could become really too hard. but if the numbur of that things is not too high, that may be cool.
morning conversation: info chan alreaddy help with her scheem, but the morning conversation seems to be a good methode too. I just hope you plan to do something quite RP (for example with the letter suicide, the player could talk about a prank that a guy made with his fake suicide note but didn’t killed himself, and not some one say “for a fake suicide letter you must be good in language” (I think that was already planned))
2d backgrounds: for cinematics, that’s the best option.
headphones: I like the consept but could we interact with them?
book bags: the idea is good, keep it.
school store: that’s sounds intresting, especially if you don’t wanna traid with Info-Chan. (to make her vulnerable, a simple table for her shop instead of a room could make the job I think)
culture festival: that could be fun, but could we only kill Anako witout being spotted during such a event. I think that could be a great challenge.
stalkers: the three ideas seems cool:
high reputation, you’re a celebrity like kizana and megami so yes
the wrong cruch, what a poor guy but it could work (will it also work with girls? 😉 )
the witness, I’dd act the same way (if I had balls)
street and stores: you said it, that’s the best idea for an exterior.
umbrella technology: hum … wow technology … I guess?
I like that book bag idea. And the thing about the culture festival is also really cool. I’d like to see that in the final game.
Oh. By the way. [The following is addressed to all idiots saying something along the lines of”oh yanderedev is stealing”] I would like to mention an example of your stealing: My favorite game is Dishonoured. A stealth game that heavily took inspiration from Bioshock and Thief. The similarities are very noticeable and the devs weren’t hiding it giving those games a nod in form of some easter eggs. And yet it wasn’t stealing. Why? Because Dishonoured had its own theme. You could see it as its own thing not a copy of those two games. Same with what Yandere dev is planning. You can see the similarities between Yandere sim, Hitman and Persona. And he’s even explaining it in these videos. But you don’t look at yandere sim and see it as a hitman clone or a persona clone. It has its own theme for now. We can only start raging at Yandere dev if he starts to do something that obviously copying an important aspect of the other game (for example if he had yandere chan strip another character and wear their clothes as a disguise like in a hitman game). For now he’s not doing anything other big gaming companies hadn’t done. And usually this sort of things results in a good game. Granted I too was quite disappointed expecting update on Osana and getting an advertisement about a game series I could not give two shits about. If you are mad about yandere dev accidentally over-hyping this video I agree. But if you’re mad that yandere dev is “stealing” you are probably 8 years old and should not be playing a game about killing people
Putting it here in case it is seen more often than the previous comment: I like the idea of invincible store clerk. I say make it so its instant game over if the store clerk discover you. Even give her a personality that would make her a badass. Don’t mess with the lunch-lady of doom 😉
I don’t want to trigger anybody.. but Osana probably won’t come out for a good while now. First off, I can’t wait to see these features that YanDev has proposed, I like em, and if he added textboxes and character art for cutscenes/conversations, I would be ever so grateful. Second, Osana probably won’t come out for a while because YanDev has already stated that he wants YandereSim to have a new artstyle with new models. He’s probably gonna wait until the new models are done, and then he’ll add her, rather than putting her in and then editing her later.
I forgot one..
Third, YanDev has forgotten what truly makes a Persona game a “Persona” game…
THE OST!!!
YandereSim needs a wonderful soundtrack, that touches the hearts of its players. Make us feel the mood with the OST of the game. The song could help set the time of day, or set the mood between characters. When situations are dire, set our hearts ablaze with brazen sound full of dark terror. Make us shiver with anticipation at our demise should we near failure, and in contrast, make us feel happy to be at school with songs that might fill hearts with joy. The school is after all supposed to be normal and carefree until Ayano falls upon it like a night storm. When the afternoon comes, lull our spirits into weariness and drive us to head home or maybe take the scenic route. When we’re on a job, give us the peppy “I can do it” song that makes it all worth it, and when we’re murderous, give us the “You’ll never get away” song that makes us tremble with dark hate.
Ahh… Music makes all the difference.
Thus, Sir YanDev, you must absolutely improve the OST of YandereSim.
I do plead, good sir XD
Now that I’ve seen both videos of proposed ideas, I’m ready to respond with my thoughts about them! I’ll go point-by-point, so that you get actual feedback that I hope will be useful to you!
Chatter Effects – Yes. I love this idea. It gives the illusion of the world being alive without too much noise, like you said. It’s great.
Student Reactions –
Memorial Services – ABSOLUTELY. Not only is it an emotional punishment (or a reward, if you want to cause tons of mayhem) but it being a gameplay punishment is only so if you miss certain events in the morning. If you’re playing to kill people, you’re not going to lose the opportunity to murder, so I feel like losing the Before Class portion is an acceptable punishment, as it punishes the player only if they’re playing a specific way– those going on a gleeful killing spree will still get enjoyment out of it, and those who only target specific people get a slap on the wrist for being too careless.
Better Transition Screen – Eh… I actually really like the transition screen as it is. It’s clean, it’s crisp, it’s simple. And it’s cute or kind of creepy depending on school atmosphere. I don’t find it boring at all.
School Props – Yes, absolutely. I doubt you’ll get this done anytime soon due to the framerate, but this should absolutely be on your to-do list at some point.
Third Eye – Also yes! Ayano should react to using her mental image of where everything is as much as the player is. A contemplating look would be perfect.
Uniform Variety – You have actually mentioned this in earlier blog posts and it’s super realistic, so another yes from me.
Opening Animation – Lukewarm about this one. Do it if you’d like, but this one doesn’t seem much of a priority to me.
Student Comments – Another one I’m not big on. I think I’d prefer to see them react when walking through school and seeing their conversations. To point to Persona 5 series: in one of the many gameplay scenes you showed of the boy walking down that one hallway, one of the text boxes coming from a talking student mentioned that ‘he was very arrogant; I’m sure there’s people glad he’s gone’ which I can only infer means the students are reacting to someone’s death. I like that rather than a cutscene seeing reactional conversations, but I also don’t think I’d be ANGRY if you chose to make those cutscenes, as long as the students still talked in gameplay about recent events.
Art Style – A long time ago someone made you a 3D model of what Ayano may look like (it’s in your blog posts here). I preferred that model to the Persona style art, but I do understand that at the core of the matter, you just wanted to give us an idea of what a new model may look like.
Low-Detail Students – This one I have the strongest feelings about. I was promised 100 unique students and faculty, and that is what I want. However, if the low-detail students is something you want to do to fill out the remaining 70+ people the school is currently still missing and you intend to replace them with fully unique characters as the game continues to develop, then THAT is just fine with me. You need to test things with a full school population, such as game difficulty, and low detail people would be perfect. Low detail people would also be perfect in the final game for the single street, since not only students would be visiting that street.
Morning Conversations – This is a clever idea to fix one of the game’s very bad flaws. I wouldn’t use it to tell the player EVERY hint on how to eliminate people, but it would definitely work as a way to impart hints on a variety of things to players, like how to eliminate people peacefully– maybe two students gossiping about other students’ crushes or problems that Ayano could help them with.
2D Backgrounds – I like this idea. Definitely try it out.
Headphones – This is a GREAT idea for an obstacle in a stealth game, and who knows? There may be other gameplay reasons for headphones to be a thing, like a quest to retrieve headphones for a student that may bite the player in the butt later in one way but reward them in another way.
Book Bags – I do like the ‘inventory skirt’ more than I like the bookbag idea, and I also feel like bookbags would vary depending on the student. Some would carry their bookbags around and others wouldn’t, because some students like having all their stuff close and others just don’t care to carry the thing around all day.
School Store – My Catholic high school had a school store, so I agree with this! I sadly don’t have any suggestions about the clerk, though, but many of the comments here do.
Culture Festival – I love this idea and I hope that it comes to pass!
Student Stalkers – I remember you discussing this with fans. I love it. Especially the new idea about the students who become infatuated due to using seduce on them too many times.
Streets and Stores – Yes. I love this idea.
Hey, I’m glad your into P5 it does have a lot going for but please don’t forget it’s faults.
Being able to walk right threw a character and not being able to interact with them takes away immersion.
There are many more faults …If you want I could do a detailed list.
Have you took a look at googles cloud API?
It was democratized a little while ago, its free to use and a huge benefit, I think?
https://cloud.google.com/apis/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2015-q2-cloud-na-storage-bkws-freetrial-en&gclid=Cj0KEQjwxbDIBRCL99Wls-nLicoBEiQAWroh6md2FlZl3pkOyXwd-Q-ZqNC74sGdHyYFqixKJ8E-Zg4aAp-U8P8HAQ
I wan’t you to bring this world to life, people are just scared your just going to copy and paste when we know you have a vision that will far exceed anything created thus far.
Not sure about low-res students. If a student snitches on me, and I want revenge, do I go after faceless clone #14? Yandere Simulator is very much about making a conflict personal. How do I do that with witnesses who aren’t persons?
As for getting info for the player, we’ve got Info-chan to purchase schemes from. Though panty shots are limited in number and difficult to get so it may be difficult.
also the descriptions of the different stats give you this information – the language skill literally tells you “write fake suicide/love notes”
I really like the idea of book bags, but for some reason they look odd to because of how they stick out from the back.. It seems really uncomfortable, and I feel like it could easily fall off of Yandere-chan’s shoulder as she’s killing someone… I wonder if longer straps would be better, because then Yandere-chan could have the strap on one shoulder and the bag on the other side, preventing it from falling off or looking a bit odd? Maybe it’s just me
Just a few thoughts from me:
1. I still don’t think low-resolution filler characters are a good idea. Persona 5 gets away with it because you’re never supposed to do any significant interacting with them (compared to Yandere Simulator which basically rewards you for interacting with more people). I think that if you really wanted to do this to give the school more life, you should only use low-resolution characters in situations where Yandere-chan would not normally be able to interact with them (For example: someone running through the halls with an important message. Two characters having some kind of argument or heated interaction. Someone asleep in the halls.)
2. Seriously, do not do the whole” got the idea from a conversation I heard” angle. It comes off way too much as hand-holding. I understand ,though, that seamlessly implementing a tutorial is hard, but I have an idea. What if you had thought bubbles like that, presented as Yandere-chan’s own thoughts. Maybe set up a “think session” during classes where Yandere-chan is thinking to herself about how to dispose of the rival of the week. (“Doesn’t she eat lunch on the roof? It’s a long way down…” “You know, there is that giant trunk in the gym I could stuff someone in.” “If I bury the body in the garden, what’s to stop police dogs from digging it u-wait..lightbulb, dogs are still animals, so I’ll bet if I leave a rabbit or something above the grave, they’ll stop there.” Things like that.). It would sell Yandere-chan as an intelligent killer then and could definitely addto her personality. You could even add a “pay attention” quick-time event that would reward Yandere-chan with additional stat points if she makes it and/or take away stat points if she doesn’t. And of course, you could add the option to disable hints and still do the quick-time event.
3. Wouldn’t it be easier to play the cutscenes in the actual play environment (like Dragon Age or early Call of Duty games do) rather than create entirely new, dedicated animations and backdrops?
4. Headphones could be useful. You could also make having headphones on against school policy, so students with headphones would get flagged down teachers…or Yandere-chan herself could purposefully wear headphones and walk into a room she needed to get into but needed to get rid of the teacher, who would then call her out on the headphones, and lure her out by running away. That way, Yandere-chan, when caught, would be let off with a warning since she couldn’t reasonably hear the teacher, and then while the teacher goes to the main office to put them up to be claimed later…
5.. Make the person running the school store info-chan, but have only Yandere-chan know who she really is. She leads a double life, and can be bribed to either make up a story, “forget” something bad happened, or discreetly sell Yandere-chan things off the record (for an appropriate price increase, of course) so the police don’t start wondering why she’s bought 7 school uniforms.
6. Love the stalker idea.
7. Here’s an idea for bookbags: Have it so that Yandere-chan can carry maybe one or two things on her person (plus a cell phone) but have the norm of the school be that everyone keeps their bookbags in their lockers or in their classroom for most of the day. If Yandere-chan is nearby at the site of a murder and is carrying her bookbag, it would be highly suspicious and, if not searched right there, at least noted in a police report. Also, perhaps have her bookbag be an actual weapon (strap strangle and/or use the heavy books to beat down attackers). This could actually tie in really well with your idea for the photography club; since the club pretty much requires you to carry around a bulky camera that can only be reasonably carried in a bookbag (or maybe give the camera a specialized case she can carry that no one will bother to check or note in any reports), and they are trying to be detectives, so would naturally be the first ones on the scene of a murder, Yandere-chan showing up with her bookbag would look perfectly normal; maybe even removing evidence from a scene would go from “admission of guilt” to “stupidly accidentally destroying evidence”, and incur a much less sharp penalty.
i love all of this
Honestly though…the ideas you want to implement are really good and would really up the quality of the game but the majority of them are just “cosmetic” changes that don’t actually affect gameplay. I think you’re being a little too harsh on the quality you want to have. Persona 5 took years to make, with a high budget and quality staff working 100% on it. Yandere Simulator is an indie game being made by essentially a first-time developer whose skills that are not up to par (that’s not too say Yandere Dev is terrible, but he’s said himself that his code is not exactly the best and the majority of assets are made by volunteers, who’s quality variates from one to another and may suddenly leave the project without a word).
I understand the point of this video, to demonstrate ideas that you wanted to include and have a bit of fun yourself, but I think you need to understand too that the fanbase is getting restless with no updates on Osana (until soon after this) and no date of release to look ahead to. I think you need to tone down your expectations of the quality you want for the game a little bit.
yes this!
i don’t think the beginning of the day conversations that unlock game mechanics is needed – there are two ways to learn about writing a fake note in-game > info-chan and the in description of the language skill; if he really wants the moring convos, then make them a stretch goal, but they’re not needed
the headphones idea i’m iffy about – in certain place i think they can work, like during lunchtime or morning when students are hanging out on the roof or when they’re in the library studying, but not just standing there in the hallway
the low-detail student idea was always cool with me, but i do think it makes getting away with murder almost impossible because you wouldn’t know which student called the cops; so maybe all low-detailed students could have the coward personality and they just run away but don’t call the police
i like the idea of students following you for different reasons it makes them feel more alive and adds another layer of difficulity to the game
i want a book-bag inventory!! fuck the skirt idea! fuck the slot-based system! I WANT A BOOK-BAG INVENTORY!!!! DO IT YANDEV DO IT!!!!
I agree with adding most of these, so I’ll just remark on the ones I think should be handled differently.
Memorial Services: Honestly this sounds like a Tier 1 Punishment. More severe time-eaters should happen to punish consecutive or mass sloppy murderer.
Opening Animation: Kickstarter Stretch Goal. Done.
Art Style: I’m in favor of a more mature artstyle 100%. Heck, I don’t even mind a Persona Knockoff. Just don’t go the Danganronpa route.
Low Detail Students: Currently, you have drawn an expectation for a more fleshed out school. I don’t personally mind the low detailed students, but they have to be added in a way that makes it feel like you aren’t taking anything away. (Adding more classrooms perhaps).
2D Backgrounds: This doesn’t make sense for this type of video game. Anywhere should be a potential hiding spot. Even an unoccupied principal’s office or places where story cutscenes typically make sense.
School Store: You’ve made all other rooms accessible before, a potential store shouldn’t be any different. That being said, it’s a nice obstacle and helps reinforce the players drive to avoid where adults hang out during murder-time. You’ve designed this game very heavily around the idea that obstacles should begin appearing reactive to the players actions, leaving very few naturally occurring obstacles. A lady behind a counter helps fill that gap.
Umbrella Technology: WOAH, TECHNOLOGY.
As a fellow up-and-coming game developer, I’ll give you the same advice my partner gave me as far as “borrowing another game’s mechanics” goes: “Everything is derivative. Don’t be original, be good.”
You could kill someone then loot the book bag for special items (because info Chan can’t have everything)
Yandere Dev you can use the umbrella as a weapon
The store clerk should be sleeping M.W.F
I was actually going to suggest Earbuds instead of Headphones: Earbuds are far more portable / concealable and likely won’t get students in trouble unless they are in class, but between classes or after school they could pull out their earbuds from their pocket and listen to some music or something akin. They also don’t require any sort of Hammer space explanation. If you are worried about visibility, you could use a model like this for clarity: https://images.sonicelectronix.com/images/1385976/main/mdras200-blk.jpg
Additionally, having a messenger bag instead of a book bag might be better seeing as messenger bags are typically larger, both good for school materials and possibly concealing items like a knife. Here’s an example: http://www.plsbag.com/430/vintage-canvas-messenger-bag-canvas-messenger-bag-for-women.jpg
One more thing I was thinking about was the Store clerk should be connected to Info-Chan and have a ‘secret inventory’ available if Yandere Chan meets a certain requirement (like X amount of panty-shots)
”This girl… Has issues.” That was priceless! xD