Recent Progress

If you haven't read my most recent Wordpress blog post yet, please do.

I've reduced the amount of time that I spend working on Yandere Sim so that I can make room in my life for positive lifestyle changes such as attending therapy, making friends, finding new hobbies that don't involve computers, etc. However, this doesn't mean that I have reduced development time to absolute zero.

Game development is my passion. Even though I'm currently spending the majority of my time focusing on personal growth and repairing my mental health, I would never want to completely step away from developing games. I enjoy it too much. I still fix bugs that get reported, I still make improvements based on player suggestions, and I still speak with volunteers about assets that I need.

Completing tasks from the "Pre-Crowdfunding Checklist" was always an extremely fun, rewarding, and satisfying experience, so I've been continuing to go down that list. (I might need to re-name the checklist, since I'm no longer certain whether or not there will be a crowdfunding campaign.) I've even been updating a Wordpress blog post from earlier this year to reflect my recent progess!

2-Week Schedule

For years, I was completely obsessed with updating the game on the 1st and 15th days of every month. I almost never allowed myself to miss those deadlines. I was so proud of myself for consistently updating the game with new content...but, after recent events, I have to face the fact that I was living a self-destructive lifestyle that took a massive toll on my mental and physical well-being.

There is nothing that I would love more than for things to return to normal. I want to produce YouTube videos, stream video games, upload new builds of the game, etc...but, it just doesn't feel appropriate to do any of those things right now. Instead of just carrying on like nothing ever happened, I should be spending time repairing the damage that I've done to myself over the years.

Even though I still work on the game on a daily basis, the 1st/15th update schedule is going to be paused for a while. It's hard for me to say exactly how long. A friend has suggested that I shouldn't return to full-time work until I've spent a solid 90 days living a more healthy lifestyle. If I choose to go along with this plan, I would be returning to my regular update schedule around January 1st.

January 1st...it feels so far away. It's only 2 months from now, but it feels like forever. When you've been sticking to the same routine for multiple years, the idea of completely changing your entire lifestyle is very unappealing. But, I am forced to admit that my work schedule was extremely self-destructive, and that I should develop more healthy habits before I return to full-time work.

To me, the thing that makes Yandere Simulator "special" is the fact that it is continuously updated with new features, new gameplay modes, new weapons, etc. That's what keeps it "alive" and makes it interesting to follow. It keeps you visiting the blog every two weeks to check out the latest additions to the game. The idea of subjecting the fans to a 90-day period with no new content...honestly, the thought of it hurts. A lot.

And that brings us to the subject of Patreon. You - my patrons - generously support me every month. And, in exchange for that, I consistently update the game and release new builds. But, right now, I'm not releasing anything! I feel so guilty about that! I want you to feel like you're getting something in exchange for your support...but between now and January 1st, I'll have little to offer.

Even if I'm not releasing any new builds right now, I still want you to feel like I'm providing you with something of value. So, I'll tell you what I've been working on lately:

Latest Work

Freeing myself from the 2-week schedule has completely changed how I decide what to work on. Instead of only working on tasks that I feel can be completed by the next 1st/15th deadline, I am now free to work on whatever task I feel the most enthusiastic about. Recently, I've been working on some of the "optional" tasks from the Pre-Crowdfunding Checklist. For example:

Demons

Early in Yandere Simulator's development, I felt comfortable adding lots of easter eggs to the game, such as "demons" that you could summon by performing "rituals." After I began to receive criticism for "spending time on unnecessary additions to the game," I stopped implementing easter eggs or demons. However, the desire to implement those types of features never left my heart. So...

As of now, it is finally possible to summon the Lust Demon and the Death Demon! Summoning either demon will significantly change the look of the protagonist and grant deadly powers. I want the appearance and functionality of these demon powers to be a secret for now, so for the time being, all I'll show you are the blurry screenshots above. I hope you'll look forward to summoning them!

Sandbag Elimination

In other news, I've begun to investigate how many new assets will be needed in order to implement some of the "Rival-Specific Elimination Methods" that are planned for upcoming rivals. To that end, I've actually already implemented one of them: Crushing someone to death by cutting a rope that is holding up a sandbag suspended in the air above the school gym. I'm happy with how it turned out!

Alternate Ending

Over the past year, I've had the pleasure of watching various YouTubers play Yandere Simulator for the first time. They all had the same reaction when they reached the end of 1980s Mode: Disappointment. "What was the point of all that work I did, if I was just going to get arrested and kidnap Senpai in the end?!"

The events of 1989 are set in stone, because they form the basis of everything that happens in Ayano's story mode. Ryoba's trial and Jokichi's kidnapping canonically happened, and preventing either event would prevent Ayano's story mode from taking place. However, I can't ignore the sheer number of players who have expressed their desire for a more satisfying conclusion to Ryoba's story.

With that in mind, I have come up with a sequence of events that allows Ryoba to "form a new timeline" and achieve a "Happy Ending" where she never gets taken to trial and actually gets to confess to Jokichi under the cherry tree. To accomplish this, she'll need some help from a certain "fun" character who has been underutilized for many years now.

Work on this alternate ending for 1980s Mode has begun, but isn't finished yet. I don't want to spoil the details, but I'll just say that if you're one of the players who yearned for a more meaningful ending to Ryoba's story mode, I think that you're going to be very happy with the next build.

Custom Mode

There's one last thing I'd like to mention. For many years now, I've desperately wanted to add a "Custom Mode" to the game - a mode where you design your own protagonist, Senpai, rivals, and student population, and then play through a 10-week story mode of your own creation. Now that I'm no longer beholden to a 1st/15th update schedule, I've decided to begin work on that mode!

So far, I've made a tremendous amount of progress on it. The interface for customizing students is already functional, and it's even possible to export your students as a JSON file that you can send to another player so they can load the students that you've designed. It's a very in-depth system; to be honest, the screenshot above doesn't really do it justice.

I've also created a system for "user-created cutscenes" that are similar in nature to the 1980s Mode cutscenes where Ryoba delivers a monologue about her next rival. It's possible to customize the dialogue, images, and even the voice acting for these cutscenes. It's a simple system; just drag-and-drop files into a folder in the StreamingAssets directory, and the game does the rest.

I'm having a great time working on this new mode, and I plan to keep adding functionality to it. I don't know when the next build of Yandere Simulator is going to drop, but when it does, I'm almost certain that it will support the ability for absolutely anyone to create an entire 10-week story mode and upload it for other players to enjoy.

Non-Yandere Projects

With all of that said, there's something else that I wanted to discuss with you. Every day, I think about all of the different game ideas that I've had over the years. I feel an extremely powerful urge to prototype some of these game ideas...but, then, I ask myself, "What would the patrons think? Would they be mad at me for working on something that is not Yandere Sim?"

Obviously, I love working on Yandere Sim. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to stand doing it for 9+ years! but, there are so many other ideas and concepts in my imagination that I would like to bring to life. During this "mental health break," would it bother you if I worked on things that are not Yandere Simulator? Please give me your honest thoughts below. I really want to hear what you think.

In Closing

The project is still in development, and progress is still being made...just not at an unhealthy and self-destructive pace. If I decide to take the advice I've received and commit to 90 days of healthy living before I return to full-time work, then the next build will probably drop sometime in early January. (And when it does, it's going to have a LOT of new functionality.)

Thank you for your time, and thank you for supporting the development of Yandere Simulator.