Hey, do you remember when – instead of making elaborate 31-minute-long video essays – I uploaded short 4-minute videos where I briefly talked about the latest feature? I miss those days. A lot. But, at this point in time, it would be pretty weird to start uploading that stuff to my main channel again. It’s just not what the main channel has come to be known for. So, if I ever feel like making one of those short, 2014-style videos again, I’ll probably upload them to my Yandere Archive channel, instead.
And on that note…
Finally, I’m receiving so few bug reports that it is now possible for me to shift my focus towards other things. One of the things I’d like to do at this point in time is test out some ideas/concepts that I came up with earlier in development, but never had time to implement. Above, you’ll see an experiment I performed recently – “Can I make a ‘speech bubble above head’ feature work out?” The answer, sadly, might be “no,” for the reasons explained within the video. However, perhaps some clever person will propose the ideal way to implement this type of feature, and I’ll be able to make it work out in the end…
New build! 32 improvements and 38 bug fixes. That means there are a total of 70 differences between this build and the previous build – that’s a lot!
With that said, I think I can already predict what some of the comments are going to say. “No new features? No new content? I’m disappointed!”
Hey, I also wish that I could have spent the past 2 weeks adding new features and content to the game, instead of fixing bugs. But, if a bug gets reported, I can’t just leave it in the game. I have to fix it. As a game developer, I’m not just going to willfully leave bugs in the game if I’m aware that they exist. Fixing things that are broken takes priority over adding new things to the game.
It’s not like I decide, “I choose to fix bugs for the next 2 weeks!” It’s more like, “Sadly, I have to fix a bunch of bugs before I can do the things I actually want to be doing with my time.”
I hate that it’s been like this for about 8 weeks now. I hate that, instead of coming to you with a cool new update that will thrill and excite you, I have to come to you with a bug-fixing build – again. There’s a giant list of things I’d rather be putting into the game, instead of working on bug fixes…but, hey, I can’t just ignore bug reports and leave egregious problems in the game. That would be horrifically irresponsible, and would only have devastating consequences later in development.
The next stage of the game’s development is the crowdfunding phase – the part where I say, “Here, download this free demo, it represents what the final product could be like. Donate if you want the final product to exist!” When we reach that stage, the game absolutely cannot be a buggy broken mess that is full of exploits and oversights, leaving a horrible impression on the player. Who would want to fund that?
Sadly, the fact of the matter is that we’re in the “nothing cool or exciting happens for a few months while I just fix bugs” phase. I bet you’re not happy about that. I’m not happy about that, either. In fact, I hate it. It’s annoying and tedious and boring as hell for me to just fix bugs all summer. But, even if you and I both hate it, it’s still necessary.
I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But it does. I’m not going to ignore bug reports, no matter how desperately you (and I) wish that I was working on something more exciting and interesting.
Every time I upload a new build on the 1st or 15th day of the month, I think to myself, “There! Everything is fixed. No other bugs can possibly remain in the game. The game is flawless. Now I can spend the next 2 weeks putting cool new stuff into the game!” And then, 2 weeks later? “Hey guys, here’s a new build with 38 bug fixes…”
The bug-fixing builds will stop when the bug reports stop. I can’t predict when that’ll happen, but eventually, it’ll happen. And the game will be better off for it.
I mean, think about it – when I finally put more rivals in the game, you don’t want to have bugs and oversights ruining your experience and pissing you off every 5 seconds, right? Well, then. That means I’d better continue what I’ve been doing, and fix all the problems that currently exist in the game.
Well, you know the drill. Fan art, followed by changelog.
To see a list of all of the improvements and fixes in the latest build, please scroll down past this gorgeous artwork by tora.pyt!
Oops! There were some bugs in the previous build that actually prevented some events/features from working. Sorry about that! Here’s a bug-fixing build that resolves the issues that were introduced in the previous build.
To read a list of everything that was fixed or changed in this update, please scroll down past this cool artwork of Ayano by rainbowcolor10!
Big build today! How build? 51 bug fixes and 25 miscellaneous improvements and changes. (I also made some optimizations that should improve the framerate a bit; I’m now getting 70 FPS in the most taxing scenarios, and over 100 FPS in the least taxing scenarios. However, results will differ from computer to computer.)
To read a list of everything that was fixed or changed in the latest build, please scroll down past this beautiful artwork by @tho_nqu!
Yandere Simulator Development Blog 