I’ve made progress on Osana, but not enough progress to justify a whole video about the subject. It feels wrong to let two weeks pass without a video, so I’ve decided to make a video about a subject related to the game’s development.
Occasionally, I hear people say that they find Yandere-chan to be a boring character because of her lack of emotions. I felt a need to explain what led me to create that type of character, and that’s what made me decide to create this video. Over the course of this video, I also discussed related subjects, such as whether or not the other characters in the game will be simple or complex, and whether or not the statements in my videos are set in stone, or subject to change.
Spending so much time thinking about these subjects has made me wonder whether or not it would be appropriate to change Yandere-chan’s identity. It feels strange to suggest making significant changes to the protagonist after 3 years, but if the majority of the fanbase is disappointed in her, then it seems like the wise thing to do would be to change the type of character that she is.
In the above video, I proposed the idea of changing her identity from “a girl who can’t experience emotions” to “a girl who can’t experience happiness”. It’s tough to find the right words to describe exactly what I am imagining; I tried to phrase it a few different ways:
- “A girl who has felt like something is missing for her entire life.”
- “A lifelong sensation of having a craving that cannot be fulfilled.”
- “Being unable to ever truly experience happiness.”
- “A perpetual state of listlessness.”
It’s easy to summarize her current identity with one word: “emotionless”. But, unfortunately, there is no one word that adequately describes the new identity that I’m proposing for her. Terms like “something’s missing” and “perpetually craving” and “never happy” just don’t adequately describe it. I can communicate the concept pretty effectively with a speech in a video or with a bullet-point list, but not with a single phrase or word.
The condition that I’m proposing isn’t something that exists in real life, and it’s also possible that what I’m proposing is something that hasn’t ever been featured in fiction before, either. This would explain why there’s no pre-existing word for it, and no way to succinctly summarize it. It’s almost like we’d have to invent a new word just to describe the condition that I’m proposing.
The closest I can come to summarizing her condition is by calling her an “Empty Girl”. For her entire life, she’s felt hollow and incomplete – but she can’t even explain what’s missing, or what’s wrong. She craves something and yearns for something, but she can’t even explain what that “something” is. Then, on the day she meets Senpai, she finally feels “complete” and “whole” for the first time in her life. There’s no one word that accurately describes exactly how she feels before she meets Senpai, but “Empty” might do the trick for now.
You might be wondering, “Why go through the trouble of changing her identity into something that is difficult to define? Why not give her an identity that is easier to summarize?” Well, if it’s difficult to summarize or explain something because of a lack of comparisons, then it’s clearly something original. If I could summarize it in one word, then it would be something that’s already cliche. This is why I don’t want to take the easy way out and give her an identity that is easy to describe. Get it?
If you’re worried that it’s going to be jarring to adapt to a completely new Yandere-chan, I don’t think you should worry about it. What I’m proposing isn’t too different from her previous identity. In both cases:
- She cannot experience life in the same way as other people.
- She’s had an inexplicable, incurable condition her entire life.
- She pretends to be normal around others in order to avoid negative attention.
- She doesn’t realize what’s been missing from her life until she meets Senpai.
You might be wondering, “What’s the point of changing her identity, if so little is going to change?” The difference is that an “emotionless” character is like a machine; no personality, no desires, no reason to care about anything. This type of character is boring and uninteresting. But if she can feel emotions – but cannot ever experience satisfaction, fulfillment, or happiness – then she can have a personality, have desires, and care about things, which gives her waaaaay more potential as a character.
Crafting a believable serial killer requires more of an explanation than just “she lacks emotions” or “she felt empty and then found someone who made her feel whole”. I think that Yandere-chan’s nature can be attributed to the way that she was raised by her parents – specifically, her mother.
Yandere-chan’s mother (Ryoba) has gone through the same experience as her daughter – feeling “empty” for nearly two decades. So, she is the only person who could possibly relate to Yandere-chan or give her more information about her condition. Yandere-chan would seek answers from her mother, who would tell her, “One day you’ll meet someone who will make you feel complete,” These words would become a point of obsession for Yandere-chan. She would obsess over the idea of meeting her “prince charming” for over a decade, which explains how she could “fall in love” with a boy after just one meeting, and why she’d be willing to commit multiple homicides for his sake.
Yandere-chan’s father, having knowledge of his wife’s true nature, would do everything in his power to raise his daughter into someone who wouldn’t dare to spill a single drop of blood, which is why Yandere-chan would be willing to consider the possibility of eliminating her rivals in non-lethal ways…but, ultimately, it’s up to the player how Yandere-chan decides to solve her problems.
I don’t want to make any decisions that would anger the majority of the fanbase, so I’d like to ask you to vote on a few polls for me. Please note that the outcome of these polls won’t guarantee my next course of action, so if an option that you dislike is “winning”, don’t freak out about it.
Do you disapprove of Yandere-chan’s current identity as an “emotionless” character?
Which of these two identities would you prefer for Yandere-chan?
In your opinion, is it too late to change Yandere-chan’s identity?
I’ll look forward to reading your feedback!
Thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator!
Yandere Simulator Development Blog 
Who else thought this video was about Osana Tuesday pool event.
In the back of my mind.
My opinion is that I don’t really mind if she’s emotionless or not, but then again the idea of her only not feeling happiness before senpai, would be a little better than no emotions at all before senpai. Then again it’s this is just an opinion and in the end it’s your choice Yandere-Dev.
Hey! This is a good video!
I like the new personality idea.
So I’m just sorta a passing comment but awhile back I made this picture: http://sanvi-leawesomeone.deviantart.com/art/Ayano-Aishi-669925936
and I feel like it goes along with the “Empty Girl” theme o3o
Welp its officail everyone Can alot more better boobs than me
ahah~ thank you, i guess o3o
This is a really interesting topic, considering what a “yandere” is. You mention that if someone is being strict, yandere is someone who goes insane for love. But I’ve always thought of Yandere-chan as similar to Yuno Gasai. Someone who is more or less normal on the outside, but deeply disturbed or unstable inside. Yuno’s object of affection gives her stability, much like you mentioned Senpai does for Yandere-chan. I don’t think its “necessary” for a yandere to be “cute” in order to fulfill the requirement and you can STRONGLY argue that no yandere is actually experiencing love but rather an intense obsession.
I don’t think it’d be bad to make Yandere-chan a little deeper. People who complain about a little backstory will most likely complain that she has none as well. It’d be nice to have something canon to latch onto to at least hope they have a happy ever after at the game’s conclusion. It would also explain the general emotionless-ness of Yandere-chan, especially juxtaposed against the rivals. While she is emotionless and a great avatar for the player in that respect, it does make it hard to care about her. I don’t care that she gets caught, I care that I don’t lose the game. I don’t care if she wins Senpai, I care that I am successful in the objective. While that works for Hitman type games, for a game called “Yandere Simulator”, I should want the character to win her object of affection. I should care a little more about her, which is hard to do when she’s just so empty. I wouldn’t kill people to be with my boyfriend, so it’s not relate-able as a stand-in me. But if I was playing Yandere-chan, the husk of a girl that found her true love, that is a much more enjoyable experience. However, if I was just looking for a “kill the target and escape unnoticed” game, altering her emotions slightly wouldn’t affect gameplay that badly. So it helps one group of players and doesn’t seem to actively harm another.
—- TL;DR —-
Yandere-chan can definitely be a yandere by definition. I feel she would be more relate-able but still a good avatar with a little more depth to her. Keeping her as a blank avatar feels like it would be a mistake with the rich personalities of the rivals.
Thank you for making Yandere Simulator. The development has been a fascinating process and the idea behind the game is so fun. I cannot wait until I can also support the development via Kickstarter.
I agree with them im not a fan of changing her personality by her being a blank canvas lacking emotions. She can be whatever person i imagine her to be. However if senpai makes her feel all these emotions a think the aura around him should be more expressive so that the players can get more of a glimpse into her world. And also want to be next to senpai.
For example: one week when she gets to close to senpai she laughs uncontrollably, or gets shakes all over
Or the colors get brighter something different keeps happening to her out of the normal around senpai
I second this suggestion for refining Senpai’s aura.
I haven’t worked in game development, but I work with stories and characters, and, some characters I’ve had for years are still changing. It’s never too late to make a change to a character if it will better the story!
A protagonist where you pick the choices still needs to be memorable. I definitely think changing Ayano from emotionless to feeling that some thing is missing is a wonderful idea that will add depth into the character, and allow players to remember her more. You never want someone to remember a protagonist as something simple. With her missing some key component in her life and yearning for it for years, it really adds more value to her meeting Taro. Ultimately, the player can still choose her means of keeping him, (or ruining the relationship), so it doesn’t change the gameplay components. It’s a big change, and some people may not like it or complain about it, but unfortunately, in the creative business, there’s always bound to be someone who hates the character or, in your case, hates the gameplay. Currently, I see Ayano as simply an idea, a name, “yandere”, and that’s all there is to her. I think it would be a wonderful change to really make her into a person. Someone with memories and a past that feel incomplete to her is much more telling and intriguing than simply saying “Ayano is a yandere” because that’s all people will get out of it. As the main character, she needs to have even more structure and story than the rivals, in order for her to be a proper anti-hero.
It’s ultimately up to you, but I feel the change is necessary and important. Don’t stress over the time. Characters develop in all sorts of ways at all sorts of times. It’ll be an improvement. It should happen before Osana, since it may or may not change her ineractions (up to you, again) but I think adding more to her will allow her to have thoughts, inner monologues, and the like, making her deeper and allowing the player to understand who they’re controlling more.
I think playing it as a condition is strange and unrealistic and makes it less believable that she’d be willing to commit murder, but it’s not like her current personality is particularly realistic anyway, and neither of those problems would be impossible to overcome. Rather than just feeling like she’s missing something and can’t be happy, maybe it would be better to portray her as unable to feel attached to other humans at all, except for senpai.
Keep the idea of her being customizable. But Personality would be nice. How we eliminate our rivals could still reflect us despite her personality because we could decide what that darker side of her is if she does have that much darker side. (I say if because we could just befriend and matchmake rivals which depending on what you have to do, befriending them isn’t that dark.
So like a more fable styled character are okay the chocies we make shape her
Now I’ll just be dwelling on what the words for her condition are, haha.
I wonder if ‘partial’ could fit somewhere? Like she has a part of her soul, but it’s not whole.
Hold on, let me go look up root words!
“Pars” is the root word for partial, and it means “part”.
“Absens” means “to be away from”.
So maybe a combination of the two, because some part of her soul has always been somewhere else – with Senpai!
I think it would be nice to have a sort of combination of all of these ideas, be it possible. If YandereDev decides to give her a lengthy backstory, I think it would be cool if her past was more expansive, like this isn’t the first instance of her “love”, but rather the strongest. She’s had crushes, or her equivalent of crushes, in the past and was willing to get rid of them, possibly with less than conventional but non violent and maybe a little less manipulative means. It just seems like being empty or emotionless doesn’t really fit the Yandere character, because overall, Yanderes do what they do because of a strong sense of emotion, which YanChan doesn’t really have with either of those personality types. Even after she meets Senpai, it’s not so much a rush of emotion of any kind, or even infatuation, but…well, it’s like eating chocolate for the first time. You don’t love or admire that chocolate, but you experience a brief sense of euphoria (putting it extremely). If she was simply a seemingly innocent girl with a violent side, or even a girl who felt no happiness until she met Senpai, wouldn’t she be more of a Yangire?
Why not both?
The reason why Yandere-chan lack her emotions is her permanent thirst.
If you keep getting “thirsty” no matter what you do, being unable to satisfy yourself, you wouldn’t be able to truly feel emotions, since everything happens to you is all resulted in continuous thirst.
When encountering Senpai, her thirsty disappeared, and her emotion came back, a little.
Speaking of emotionless, I always find it strange to have an “emotionless” girl to drop her sanity. If Yandere-chan is really emotionless, why is her mentally state changing after killing?
Thus, I do think the old personality have to be changed.
The way Yandere is currently is preferable to this empty girl concept, but couldn’t it be possible to combine the two? I like the idea of her father providing her with a moral compass. Perhaps her mother has reared her to be more emotionless and with the idea that only a “special person” can make you feel complete, and one must obtain that person at all costs. If you play the game without murdering anyone, it is because Yandere was better influenced by her father. If you kill, lie, steal, etc-it is because Yandere turned her back on his teachings.
You can be a sociopath without being awful. You learn to act a certain way to be normal, as you have stated in previous vids that Yandere has done. She may lack empathy but still choose to abide by a code of ethics. A more sane Yan chan. Maybe she even lets senpai go…?
But if you go the murderous route, it is because she has fully embraced ruthlessness. She doesn’t even pretend other people are “real”, just obstacles. I’m sorry I am not being very convincing!
I like the idea of empty Yan chan, but I also like the idea of a sociopathic girl who can believe (even if she doesn’t feel it) in her father’s teachings and NOT murder, instead manipulating and adapting to turn senpai’s lovers away without ruining them. Or, she’s a psycho who maybe gets a thrill out of killing? Or it is just empty business, murdering rivals because she feels she MUST have Senpai, obsessed and encouraged to be obsessed.
I will enjoy the game either way though! Probably minus the murder mostly! : )
As a writer, I’m all for deeper characters. Planning a book is pretty much the same as you described, a rough idea refined over time, and I can say for certain that the story I started last year is no longer the same story it was, and very few characters kept their original traits. One character went from ‘Tough’ to ‘Emotionally Scared’. Another went from coming from a rich, spoiled background to being locked in an Asylum because she believed her life was a lie (which it was, kinda. Spoilers).
If you think a character should change because it would be beneficial to the final product, go for it!
I certainly agree the creator has a right to change things as he sees fit. But sometimes a character can be made strong by being simpler, and in this case, Yandere-chan as she’s been portrayed so far strikes me as having that kind of strength.
Yandere Dev, it’s definitely not too late to change her personality. Look at The Legend of Zelda series. The player character was originally created to be a completely blank slate, a silent protagonist with a player chosen name, no backstory, and zero personality (beyond the obvious courage and selflessness it took to save the princess and defeat the bad guy). 20+ years later, Link is still the player character, but his name is canonically recognized, and he has a personality and role within the community created by the game.
Zelda is an extremely popular franchise, and while they changed things over the course of several games, they still made the change in Link’s role in the series. Therefore, I don’t think it should be considered a big deal for Yandere-chan to undergo a personality change if you really want to go that route.
I have always compared Yandere-chan’s emotional ability to a psychopath in similar vein to the character Dexter from the TV series of the same name. Yandere-chan has never been able to feel any strong emotion her whole life, but meeting Sempai makes her feel real emotion for the first time and she gets addicted to it like you described in your first explanation.
Also, doing some quick googleing shows that some studies have found that some psychopathy disorders are genetic based and could be inherited from mother to daughter, so the whole family thing still works.
To let you know here as well as elsewhere, I like the current Yandere-chan. Whether intentionally or not, she’s come off as a pure sociopath who for the first time feels something strongly – lust towards a boy during the height of her puberty. It’s comprehensible, it makes sense, and it allows the player to control her any way they like, without any sort of contradiction from her characterization.
Same i like the idea of you chose or shape her personality with choices and interactions closer to a role-playing game. And you chose her priorities like walking dead game
I never felt from your videos that the two personality types were mutually exclusive. Calling her “emotionless” and “empty” just feel like different ways of expressing the same idea that there was something missing from her life up until she met Senpai. An emotionless girl may have always been aware that her life was missing something and an empty girl may have been unable to process the few emotions she does feel. Her exact experience may actually fall somewhere between the two, and if the trait is something inherited within her family, it may be that each of her ancestors describe it in different ways. If you feel like there is a strong difference between the two personalities maybe it could be expressed through the players’ actions. Like if they choose non-violent elimination methods more often any cutscenes or dialogue that discuss her personality would use the term “empty” while violent eliminations would describe her as “emotionless,” or vice versa.
Guessing our feedback is limited to the pools, and though you’ll probably never read this I won’t send you an email so: how about letting the player’s actions decide her character completely, like how some games handle multiple endings?
In your video, you mentioned that the player killing people brutally would establish her as a sadist and etc. Instead of just looking at how players choose to eliminate a rival, you can also look at what they do in the rest of the time; how their corkboard at home looks (do they like taking pictures? Putting them up? What kind of pictures?), what type of job they choose to do if that becomes a thing (would they choose one that requires lots of talking to customers, or one that happens without need for conversation?), etc. and gather the implications of that into a personality. Does she talk to people she doesn’t need to, use social media a lot, and get a job in the customer service industry? Then maybe she’s trying to be happy by attempting to fill the gap within her with companionship, thinking that those activities can give her the feelings she’s missing though it’s never to any effect. Does she also kill people brutally? Then maybe she’s truly emotionless, attempting to act like what she thinks is a model image of a kind, outgoing girl and letting out the stress of keeping up that image out on her victims. Even things like whether or not the player killed someone and then restarted without saving can build up the idea that she secretly /wants/ to kill people, or dreams of doing so, but doesn’t because her moral values (or fear of getting caught) precedes her desires to go through with murder.
By giving her multiple possible personalities to develop into, you can make her as deep or shallow as you want, and as kind or sadistic a person as the player wants. I personally think that it would be really interesting if a blank slate for the players to project themselves onto actually end up reflecting the player in-universe with her dynamically determined motivations and emotions (or lack thereof) instead of staying blank for the whole game. Exactly how her mother raised her, and how she responded to those times (did she listen with interest? Did she agree? Did she already have yandere desires before they were passed onto her? Did she think her mom was a crazy ho and was scared, making her cowardly in regards to killing? But later found out that her mom was right?)–her past in itself can become player-determined. It would be really cool seeing those catered cutscenes play out.
That said, the only thing to be careful about no matter what you end up choosing, it’s hard to title your game LoveSick if the character isn’t actually in love! Why does she act like a blushing schoolgirl around Senpai if it’s not a schoolgirl crush? There are better visual effects to use if she needs him on an existential level, as opposed to liking him for who he is, instead of what he can give her. If the player’s actions can determine what she feels about him too, then that’s another complaint worry gone.
I would love that …
There’s a story on fanfiction.net that has a decent characterization of Ayano. Basically, it mostly retains her “empty” status, but also makes her impulsive, reckless, depicts her as incapable of “normal” behavior when in Senpai’s presence (to the point of becoming a stuttering, klutzy mess), and shows her as ungrateful towards Info-chan. If you want to read it for yourself, look up “The Mind of a Yandere”.
About whether or not it’s too late to change her character- she honestly has very plain and basic interactions in most scenarios right now anyway. Even the more complex ones don’t actually show that much of her personality aside from being threatening. I think that now would be a great time to begin implementing a new personality before more of the story is set in stone, seeing that the game is still so flexible.
You can have an emotionally void character that still has depth. Early season Dexter is a prime example. I think it actually makes for a very interesting character.
Look up the traits of Schizoid personality disorder:
“Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy. Affected individuals may be unable to form intimate attachments to others and simultaneously demonstrate a rich, elaborate and exclusively internal fantasy world.”
I think that description heavily invokes the traits of Yandere-chan; an empty emotionally void girl who despite her infatuation with a boy, is completely unable to form an intimate relationship with him and instead possessively stalks him from the shadows feeding her obsessive internal fantasies.
I agree she shouldn’t be able to be pinned down to any one disorder, or any, but the idea behind them can make for some pretty interesting characters, ones that can still serve well as a multi-purposed blank slate.
I love this well thought out and well said
The word “saudade” came to my mind when I was reading the description of the new personality
Bu-bu-but…. Kokona! You will always be the original Big Titty Committee, Twin Drill, and Insecure Rival for me!!!
Pingback: MY FIRST DEVIANTART DRAWING (+Redesigning my First OC!) | Craft Idea
Earlier in the video, you said the reason you gave yan-chan an emotionless personality was because you didn’t want to have to deal with the complains that would come up should people not like her backstory and because you wanted majority of the feedback to be about gameplay. Personally i think story is just as important as gameplay so i don’t think you should worry too much about the various complains you might possibly receive because it’s still apart of that process of refining the game into something great.
As far as her personality goes, i think it definitely needs to change from emotionless at the very least because with the current gameplay mechanics it doesn’t quite make sense. Currently when yan-chan kills someone her sanity levels drop with each drop of blood split. If she’s supposed to be truly emotionless then she should feel absolutely nothing when killing someone so her sanity shouldn’t really drop. Even if you try to separate sanity from emotion, sanity is still heavily influenced by emotion and vice versa. Personally i like the idea of combining the two options (empty and emotionless) together.
Because she was so empty her entire life she felt no particular strong emotion towards anything. However after meeting senpai, he “unlocked” all the emotions she had never experienced before. You could go two different routes from here, either she becomes drunk off this feeling and like you said she needs to continue to feel this or she feels like she will return to being an empty husk for the rest of her life.
Or because of this new surge of emotions she’s never felt before, she becomes confused about her own new feelings and starts acting on all of them at a whim, and the one that fuels her after her meeting with senpai and osana is jealousy, which pushes her to become a serial killer. Personally i like the latter simply because, it allows the player to still have a heavy influence on her character in the game. Should the player decide they don’t particularly hate one of the rivals, it would actually make sense if yan-chan decides she doesn’t want to kill this specific person, because she’s just acting on a whim. And if the player absolutely hates one of the rivals, it now makes sense why she would try to kill them in the most sadistic way possible (that’s in the game). Making yan-chan simply acting on whims and letting the player basically act as her emotions would allow her to stay a simple character while still giving her a deep enough backstory that she doesn’t feel like a completely blank slate. This also fixes the problem with her sanity levels, now that she has emotions, going on a mass killing spree would definitely negatively influence her sanity, so personally i think this is the best option. If anyone has feedback or noticed any flaws with this suggestion i’d love to hear them.
I’ve always though Ayano could use more cuteness, still an innocent school girl deep down who tainted her own innocence for Senpai. She gets nervous near Senpai, collects his trash, she definitely seems like she does it for affection but she does it in a twisted way. Plus being more “cute” or sympathetic would make players want to root for her instead of her current husk like personality.
I think her personality is like a girl who feels she’s missing a key component to her life, she has no passion, no drive. She has feelings (frustration, sadness, boredom) but cannot feel positivity or motivation. As proposed her mother explains that she just needs a spark. Ayano probably cannot make friendships due to this inability for “happiness” (explaining her awkwardness and her blank face view of the world) but when she sees Senpai she is instantly driven to make him hers because it’s the spark her mother explained, he’s a reason she’s living and breathing. With new passion this opens players to persue emotional sabotage and befriending, it’s now in her nature to open up to people.
I realize this is just rewording but maybe it helps illustrate a difference…like she’s still feeling just a little dead inside
I think Ayano would want to impress Senpai if she ever got the chance and would want his reassurance. If she ever got him in the end she’d always ask if he loved her and would need a constant yes even if it’s against his will. That shows her insecurities, her obsessive passion for him and a “soft” side to her.
Emotions Ayano could have are
Happiness exclusive to Senpai’s presence
Embarrassment if Senpai catches her acting weird
Anger when she sees a rival
Shame when something goes wrong, like if sabotage fails
Accomplishment when something goes right/elimination of rival
Fear when witnessed coming murder
And sadness when rival succeeds
But if Ayano wins there’s always this
Those expression gifis are amazing i would love to see yandere chan with these when experiencing new emotions
I don’t see why you should worry, there’s a trope called “deadpan lolis” that’s exactly an emotionless person and sometime’s they are well implemented. Also, many yanderes just have apathy for the rest of the world but the person the infatuate with, that brings joy and psychosis depending on how the relationship is and if there are obstacles.
That said, I like the idea of an empty girl, always longing for something so she’s apathetic from everybody but it does not mean she’s inept at dealing with others. Also, having this be connected to her mother is fantastic! One thing I dislike a lot is to be completely oblivious on about a protagonist’s family, this way she would have more depth as a character but still be a deadpan girl! Also, it would make the decisions that the players make plausible (because why would a complete husk care for someone else? The fastest and the logical answer to her problems would be murder and she wouldn’t even care what happens to senpai as long as he’s with she) and then it becomes even a better way for the player to play as they’d like and fit the story either way, as you stated.
Lastly, remember YanderDev, that we are fans and we want a great game as much as you do, but you have a lot more of information about it than us! So I appreciate you let us contribute, but ultimately the one that knows what’s best for the game is you! You’ve done great so far, and hope you’ll be doing so in the future!
Thanks for reading,
Pepe.
I think yandere chan shouldn’t have emotions because of a childhood event then her mom tells her he disease that runs in there family and she began to be like that because of that dramatic event that happened in her childhood then she feels that she’s missing something until she mets senpi
That would be a cool insight into her past i would like to unlock her memory’s as a part of collectibles in game play gradually
Yanderedev I love the video and how much effort you put into it however I’m disappointed you held off Osana AGAIN you will never get her done if you keep doing this
I think you should make a video about Yandere-kun… There’s a bunch of stuffs about him that should be explained.
I never imagined Yan-chan to be completely emotionless. I pictured her as someone who does sometimes experience emotions, but on a way lesser scale than others. And doesn’t really understand them and how to deal with them, nor how to deal with other people. I imagine that she learned to fake being normal for others just to get by, but has gone through life with a sense of being broken in some way, and developed a reclusive personality as a result. It seems like a medium between emotionless and that feeling of lacking something emotionally, just a sort of constant low-grade frustration with her inability to feel satisfaction or enjoyment. I know some people who are like this, so I guess I just projected them onto Yandere-chan, just as intended.
There is a personality trait that describes how she is now actually.
It’s called Alexithymia.
People who have it (about 10% of the population) typically don’t feel emotions, or if they do, it’s usually so trivial they might as well not feel at all.
They have the oddity of social attachment, though. Perhaps Yan-Chan could have a family history of this, and, because it’s a personality *trait*, she can overcome it after she fulfills herself when she has Senpai by her side, and his presence is pushing her to desire him for the first time.
This would allow for her to disregard student’s personal lives, have the desire to be with Senpai by any means necessary, and give her a variety of methods, murderous or otherwise, to secure Senpai as her companion. This would give her a huge amount of character potential, while minimizing her actual changes.
But, I don’t know if you read these, so, yeah.
Sorry to be a wet blanket here, but this is not even close to an accurate description of Alexithymia. Alexithymia is a trait than CAN put people at risk for certain personality disorders or psychiatric illnesses that can affect empathy and understanding of emotions. Alexithymia itself only refers to a difficulty in understanding how to express emotions, and how to convey and describe them properly. By no means does this mean the person “doesn’t experience emotions.” That’s a gross oversimplification.
As well as this 10% of the population is not correct. Under multiple different control studies I believe it was found to be a rule out diagnosis/risk diagnoses in less than 8% of people, not accounting for error, which is statistically dodgy, if not insignificant.
I’ve been a bit of a fan of Yandere Dev for a while now, i have not agreed with everything he has implemented into the game in the past…. but now I love it! I grew to understand his vision for the game and I’m really excited to see where his vision takes him next. I think whatever Yandere believes would improve the game would be really beneficial to the overall product, so if he wants to change it… do it! 🙂
Since I’ve been following your progress as a game developer working on “Yandere Simulator” (seeing as this is the game’s title for now seeing as you will want to change it in the future), I’ve developed my own understanding of Ayano-chan as a character.
Seeing as you described her as an emotionless girl in the beginning, not much of her as a character was shown in the game so I want to explain to you how I saw her as a character from a followers point of view.
Her back story never needed much, that’s what drew me to Yandere-chan as a character in the first place. What matters is the present.
See, Ayano Aishi felt little to nothing, she could understand the concept of emotions though, watching her classmates play in the playground since she was little, but she couldn’t feel them really, she didn’t care anyway. Since she felt nothing, she felt like it was useless to hold onto memories in a sense of nostalgia so she let them slide to the back of her mind. Which is my explanation as to why she doesn’t have much of a backstory. Because she couldn’t care less about it. However she knew she needed to get by in life by talking to people, “Befriending them” so she developed a façade. A sweet girl character.
The day she met Taro Yamada, she felt this sensation in her chest. A warmth. She then thought maybe that was what everyone called love, and it drove her insane. She wanted to feel it again, she NEEDED to, she needed this boy, her senpai, to be with her. Is that what everyone calls a relationship? must be so. If anyone were to try to take him away from her, she’d have no quarrels about killing. How DARE they?!.
Why I truly believe Yandere-chan lives up to her name is because of what she thinks. She thinks she loves him, but in reality, he’s just a tool for her to make her feel like a normal person. She doesn’t truly care about him. She only needs him for the sensation she feels around him. She thinks it’s love. But it’s truly a psychotic obsession over him. She can’t feel love, her now true nature is a monster.
I don’t think she needs much of a backstory, that’s what makes her so special to probably many people who love this game you are creating. What matters is now, before she was a hollow being, but now she’s met her “senpai” she’s a vulgar creature who wants to keep Senpai on a leash, because she thinks that is love.
Love from Australia ❤
I like this but i guess ill say it sometimes it ok to root for the bad guy and i like that about yandere sim. The fact that the good girl dosent always get the man its the bad girl real life isnt fair either but at least in the video game you can kill the mistress. It gives me a deathnote vibe and i like it
I understand that this might not occur to you because you don’t know, but to say “conditions like this don’t exist” is completely untrue. These can all be common symptoms of multiple different personality disorders. Lack of fulfillment without depression, obsession, etc.
Not saying that depicting a mentally ill person as a serial killer is a good idea, and I’d much prefer it being presented vaguely, the fact stk stands that low/no empathy people exist. As well as people who chemically cannot experience certain feelings.
i still want Kizana to be a bitch
she’s a character i want to hate, really.
I think she’s bitchy on the outside but really insecure on the inside about her place in the world. She lashes out to distract herself from the truth.
Dido
I like the idea of making Yandere-chan an “empty” character. It gives her a more plausible reason to be with Senpai no matter what, and makes her a more relatable character because finding any kind of fulfillment and happiness is a normal part of life. It may be a little difficult to label her as a yandere with either personality, and I feel like there should be a way for Yanchan to learn more about Senpai, grow to love him, and make it easier to win him over. I’m sure his personality will be revealed over the course of the game (why wouldn’t it), but I feel like there should be a way for her to be more proactive in that regard other than stealing his trash.
I liked the idea for Kizana to be a creative, inspiring role model. Players should have to really consider whether or not to eliminate a rival violently. With the original idea for Kizana, I already knew I would kill her and would have difficulty trying to befriend and complete tadks for such a vain person, but the idea of her supporting individuality and creativity made me start to like her and reconsider how I would deal with her. I hope all the main characters are that deep and dynamic, including Yanchan and Senpai.
I’m particularly for Kizana being a bit nicer. I think all the rivals should have a somewhat likable nature to them without them all being super happy and friendly. That way, for those who want to befriend everyone, will feel more comfortable than befriending a complete jerk or snob. Though of course having big flaws or issues that make the character a unlikable as well so those who are for killing the rivals will feel comfortable without feeling like they’re slaughtering someone’s who’s so sweet, kind, and innocent, as if they’re perfect angels. Amai, the Nurse, and Senpai’s sister are my 3 examples as they seem to lack a “bad” side so you lack much reason to dislike them in any way meaning you feel more upset by the fact that you “have” to kill them making the story a little less satisfying. The delinquent rival, I never can remember her name, and Kizana, as of right now, feel like they don’t have a “good” side, so befriending them just feels more like a tedious task then an entertaining part of the story. A big thing to characters that are meant to be liked and disliked, since you have to decide between cruelty or kindness, the more likable a character is, the more unlikable their bad side has to be.
An example: Senpai’s sister is happy and cheery, but she gets a little bit defensive and slightly controlling or hostile once she knows you’re trying to date him. So, you can like the happy, cheerful side, but you could also dislike the defensive, controlling or hostile side. It’s not entirely out of character for her because, while she is a happy character, she IS senpai’s little sister and she doesn’t want anyone taking him away from her. This of course just being an example.
Osana is another great example of a good rival because while she can be loud, short-tempered, and a bit mean, so killing her wouldn’t seem so bad, her showing a slightly caring side such as with the bentos for lunch and other possible interactions, making getting to know that side of her a bit more a bit more enjoyable.
As for Yandere-chan. I see no reason why you can’t have her in-depth AND empty. Maybe she is sweet but as the character plays she begins to get rather sadistic. Maybe she’s cruel, but as she befriends people, she starts to feel a bit less hostile. After all, you can have her personality being more of a “starting point” rather than a definitive, “this is who she is.” Kinda like her actions and the encouragement of others shape her personality a bit. It’s true to human nature. And if questioning why she’d perform a bad action if she were kind, temptation. Her performing that kind action when she’s cruel, perhaps someone finds the hole in her defenses and hits home with something they say or do. Either way, Yandere-chan’s personality doesn’t have to be a set thing and probably shouldn’t be. After all, that’s just not how people are, they’re ever changing.
I actually hate Amai; it’s because she doesn’t have a bad side. She’d be the only one I’d give the worst sadistic death because I dislike Goody Two Shoes immensely. Plus her voice is terrible. (•______•)
But like she should stay that was so I can feel good about killing at least one other rival besides Mida Rana
If Yandere-Chan is a blank slate, then the players’ choices in how to deal with her rivals could interact with the game systems in such a way as to mimic character development. This “personality” could also be tracked and used to reward the player with character development specific flavor dialog for instance.
Well, Yandere-dev, I think you just pulled a Sheldon Cooper and created someone with a real-world mental affliction entirely by accident. Until now, I thought it was intentional that you gave her Alexithymia. It made my psychology minor squeal.
Alexithymia, despite being considered an uncommon subtrait of autism, is actually the polar opposite of autism. Whereas autistics have less control of their baser impulses and emotions and therefore have trouble adapting to real life or sympathizing with others in any consistent way, those with Alexithymia have few or absolutely no emotions, are fully aware of this, and adapt to the real-world with a near robotic efficiency (it’s not uncommon for those afflicted to think of themselves as “broken” or “robots”).
The cause is unknown, though one popular theory is genetics, and it has been noted that Alexithymia tends to be the precursor to other disorders, including PTSD, bulimia, or even autism itself.
In short, Yandere-chan fits the bill VERY well for someone with Alexithymia:
–Aware of their own lack of emotional depth, to the point of calling herself “broken”.
–Ability to identify feelings from themselves and others, but not describe them beyond a few generic terms.
–Inability to differentiate between bodily/hormonal responses and mental responses.
–Robotic in speech and mannerisms.
–Ruthlessly efficient and logical in all endeavors.
–Lack of creativity in social situations; frequently “borrow ideas” from others.
–Form superficial, often domineering relationships with others out of pure perceived necessity.
Seriously, add in some extremely realistic dreams and you’ve got a textbook case.
your ideas for Kizana Sunobu new personality reminds me a lot of Rarity from MLP and to be honest I really do like the idea.
Perhaps you should keep yandere-chan emotionless (or like the new idea you came up with that works too maybe, maybe not I don’t know) and as the story goes on depending on how you get rid of each rival should change her personality like if you go on a killing rampage during the whole game her personality will be a deranged nutjob of a girl in which if she goes too nuts she could kill senpai in act of insanity. If you get rid of rivals like making them fall in love with someone else, become friends and ask them to back off etc she’ll become more of a normal girl somewhat with perhaps a better chance to wins senpai affections. Or something like that I don’t know this is just how I feel I read someone called adaptivegamingai say something similar so ya I hope this helps you some Yandere dev.
why not create a back story that gives a combination of multiple reasons for her current state. just as an example due to her “condition” when she was young was apathetic to other children and became isolated from others as a result, this would give an explanation for two things. firstly the isolation would deprive her of social skills and development that happens when you’re young, this would explain the extent of her condition. secondly this gives reason to why she would carry out questionable acts, just as an example if a kid grows up without being taught the concept of death and violence is wrong, the kid could kill an animal without realizing the full extent of their actions. yandere could follow a similar path due to social isolation and her mother’s upbringing.
although this is just a thought and I support the game no matter the outcome.
I would love to past interactions that allow use to understand something is different about her in cut scene
Examples
a boy confessed to me a turnes him down he was crying and begged me i felt nothing.he would follow me until around this was inconvenience so i played match maker.
my pet cat died so i threw him away because when things stop working you throw them away. My friend called me heartless.
All iconic characters dont have to have personality
Example mario, sonic, mickey mouse,
See, Devpai – I’m gonna say, do what you want to do with Yandere-chan. Besides the help you receive, it’s still YOUR game. People are always going to complain. No matter what. If you have an idea for her that you really like, just go for it. Yandere Simulator is loved by many people. If you make the protagonist more exciting, complex, in a way that fits the game and make it interesting, fans will love it even more, I’m sure of that. After all, you are the developer – the person that should be satisfied the most is you. Keep up the good work and don’t overwork yourself (too much)!
I don’t want any changes on Yandere chan because for me, she has always had a personality and a disorder she is trying to fight in the game. She is a Psychopath, literally unable to feel any emotion, these people can be charming, very intelligent and use emotional manipulation to use other people in their favor. Psychopathy is a dysorder from birth, she was born like this and never able to feel any emotion, this disorder is more common than we think and makes the one suffering it unable to make conections with anyone nor feel any remorse for their actions.
But when she met senpai she felt something for the first time, she had found a cure for her psychopathy, now it’s up to the player to help her fight her sickness and be along with senpai in a healthy way, or just worsen it by killing all the girls who may like him.
At least this is what I think, because when I start to play I feel nothing. I feel nothing for the npc’s, nor for senpai, and I don’t actually care if I kill everyone or just the girls who like him just to win the game. But once you start playing more, and start relating to this characters, caring for them, listening to their problems and solving them thus making them happy and making them care for you as well, I do care something. And makes you understand how Yandere chan is starting to feel a lot of things, not only for senpai but for other characters, growing out of her condition.
And isn’t that similar to how real highschool anime affect you? You start feeling nothing, whatever it’s just another anime, here’s the shy girl, the popular girl, the romantic girl, whatever freaking stereotypes. But as you go deeper and deeper into that anime, you start feeling a lot of things for all of those characters, sadness, happiness, embarrasment, anger. Because you get involved with them.
To finish, I identify with Yan-chan because I had that problem in highschool, just felt nothing at all because I used to block my emotions. Then someone came close to me and started to tell me that it was ok to cry, it was ok to feel that I allowed myself to cry, and I did and little by little started to feel more and more. Now I’m kinda addicted to cry scenes in movies, but that’s ok because I learn to feel and allowed me to experience all of this that we call emotions.
Hi Dev-sama, I just finished watching the video earlier and I also did the polls ^_^ I like Ayano as an empty girl, someone who feels emotions but not the good ones; you know, like those teenagers who are into dark stuff–the emo ones–that are hard to reach and rarely sociable. Mostly those kinds of characters really has rough past or childhood. Anyway it still up to you and no matter what you decide, it’s fine because I like her however you are gonna mold her.
I think this “revised” personality makes a lot of sense. “Snap Mode” would make more sense because Yan-chan would feel absolutely torn apart that she has been condemned to a life of being incomplete, which would unleash the truly unstable side of her and cause a rampage. I also like the idea for Kizana, but rather than her encouraging creativity, maybe originality; I know those sound the same, but they are definitely different. Creativity can mean anything from making something completely new to just putting a spin on something else, while originality is always something completely new. I also think that Kizana should still be a harsh character with a big ego, but with well meaning intentions, like a harsh-but-loving mother figure. Not trying to make this about me, but you did ask for input, so I just thought I’d give my two cents. Thanks for reading.
I love the idea of the “empty girl personality,” because it reflects what most sociopaths and psychopaths have been documented to experience.
In my Psychology college class, AND I COULD BE WRONG, I learned that the main reason why most people with high-functioning anti-social personality disorder resort to murder (or generally, resort to means that void morality) is because it helps them feel in control, or alive. On a more general scheme, ASPD disables a person from empathizing and emotionally connecting with others. Feelings that they are able to express are the result of practicing responses, or a rationalizing of what another person’s practical or fundamental purpose to them is.
I feel that you can look into this more, because I find it very similar to what you described about Yandere-chan in the video. Also, I think it’s easier for people to project onto Yandere-chan if this is the personality you pursue, because ASPD, I would argue, taps into something core in anyone. The need to feel in control, and to need to feel fulfillment.
Good job, and good luck, Yandere Dev!
I like the idea of converting Yandere-Chan’s emotionless identity to an Empty Girl. The way you explained the ‘craving’ sensations would turn Yandere-Chan from an empty husk to an actual character with some depth, and this would allow the user to understand her desperation and salvation in protecting Senpai, providing a motive for the player.
Also, I like the idea of the overarching story that revolves past Yandere-Chan, it provides depth to the game in ways simple murder sprees can’t. I’d enjoy any story to be honest; I absolutely enjoyed listening to the tapes (potentially?) about Yandere’s mother, for example.
Quite honestly, I always imagined Yandere-chan being someone who was someone who wasn’t able to fully feel emotions and someone who couldn’t quite gain some sort of happiness because something was missing. So you proposing this was something I was able to agree on. Though keeping her emotionless might be easier in the long run, having her with some more personality would liven her up more as a character and allow for those playing to fully understand her motives a bit more as to why she wants Senpai so badly other than “he makes me feel so much more different than I’ve ever felt before”.
Commenting on Kizana’s development and suggestions as well from the video, I think making her more into a likeable character would be brilliant as well. Not saying I don’t enjoy seeing a snobby character (lol), but in a sense having a way for us to enjoy and like the rivals would be good to have. Personally I have a weakness for Theatre so seeing her as someone who is more open to wanting her club members to be their own selves with their own uniqueness is something I’d jump on board to possibly seeing if you do plan on changing her up a bit.