November 15th Update - Yandere Simulator

EDIT: As of 3:10 AM PST, a new build has been uploaded that fixes a bug which was present in the original upload of this build.

Hey! I’ve prepared an update for you. It doesn’t contain a massive new addition to the game, but it does contain a bunch of additions and improvements that I’m very happy with.

To see a list of everything that was added/changed/fixed/improved in the latest update, scroll down past this absolutely adorable artwork of Amai by Cherry!

Protagonist Customization

For years, whenever someone asked me whether or not it would ever be possible to customize Ayano’s appearance, I always gave the same answer: “No; Ayano is not meant to feel like a character of your own creation. She is supposed to be a specific girl with a specific story, a specific personality, and a specific appearance. You can play Custom Mode if you want to control the way that the protagonist looks.”

Ayano’s hair color and hair length are “locked in.” I don’t want to give the player the ability to drastically alter her appearance and give her long pink drill twintails, or anything crazy like that. But…I do think it would be okay to let the player decide how Ayano styles her hair.

In the latest update, it is now possible to use a mirror in Ayano’s home to change her appearance!

You are allowed to decide the specifics of her bangs, her sidelocks, her ponytail, and also whether or not a section of her hair is braided.

I don’t have any plans to let the player change Ayano’s hair/eyes/skin to any arbitrary color; that’s not a feature that the game will offer. However, the act of joining the bullies will involve changing Ayano’s appearance to match the bullies’ appearance, which will involve dying Ayano’s hair blonde and getting a tan.

For these changes, the player will be using the beauty salon in town, rather than the mirror at home. The mirror at home will be for things that anyone can do, and the hair salon will be for things that Ayano doesn’t know how to do. (It’s possible that, after watching the hair stylist do something for the first time, Ayano will gain the knowledge of how to do it, and then be able to do it anytime from the mirror at home.)

Currently, this feature only applies to home and the school. If you customize Ayano’s hair, you’ll only see her hair reflect your choices when at home or at school.

Because this feature is currently in the “testing it out to see if it’s even feasible” phase, I haven’t added physics to Ayano’s new hairstyles, nor have I added the ability to revert back to her default ponytail if you’ve customized her hair. These changes would have to come in a future build.

(By the way, there is a known issue where certain combinations of hair models will cause a visible “gap” between the hair models, allowing the player to peek at Ayano’s scalp. This will be fixed at some indeterminate point in time in the future.)

Additions, Changes, and Improvements

The music that plays during Mission Mode is now randomly chosen from the set of 10 Mission Mode tracks, instead of being the same track every time. (Remember, you can use the Audio Settings menu to change the track that is playing during Mission Mode. So, if you don’t like the randomly-chosen track that starts playing at the beginning of your mission, you can simply skip it.)
The “Missing Posters” feature is back! From now on, whenever a student mysteriously goes missing (because you murdered them without leaving behind any evidence or you kidnapped them) a missing poster for that student will appear on one of the walls outside of your classroom.
Previously, the Light Music Club rhythm minigame in 1980s Mode used the same music as the track from 202X Mode. Now, the minigame uses a different music track depending on what time period you’re in!
The Japanese text that appears on the note that Ryoba leaves for Ayano in Week 1 of 202X Mode has been re-worded to be more natural to Japanese speakers.
Some 1980s Mode students are no longer using the default idle/walk animations, and are now using idle/walk animations that suit their personalities.
A new track has been added to Mission Mode! (It has a lengthy intro segment, which may be removed in a future update.)
Inkyu’s “true form” now uses an original model+texture, instead of using a retextured version of Sakyu’s “true form.”
The female delinquents of 1980s Mode are no longer using the “default neutral pose” in their student portraits.
During the Miyuki / Space Witch minigame, it is now possible to pause and unpause the gameplay.
The socks worn by Sumire’s ghost didn’t match her official artwork, so they have been updated.
The new Schoolday track that was added to 202X Mode now has a 1980s Mode counterpart!
Adjusted some of the text in the 1980s “True Ending Timeline Sequence.”
In 202X Mode, all of the Light Music Club girls now have hair physics.
Added three new hairstyles for the protagonist in Custom Mode.
Updated Sakyu and Inkyu’s eye shapes and student portraits.
Added 8 more items to the Content Checklist.
Saki Miyu’s hairstyle has once again been updated! The idea was to give her a new hairstyle that restores certain visual traits she once had, while retaining the current shape/style of her hair. I hope you approve of it!

Fixes

In Custom Mode, if the player sent a mind-broken slave to kill a male “Invincible” student and then the player stabbed the student from behind to enable the slave’s attack to succeed, the ensuing sound effects would not be properly synchronized with the murder-suicide animation. This bug has been fixed.
If the player set a student on fire and then activated Yandere Vision, the student’s screams would become desynchronized from their animation. This bug has been fixed. (Light a student on fire, activate Yandere Vision, and listen to them scream to death. It sounds demonic.)
When characters walked out of school to go home, the game was supposed to disable them. However, the game was failing to disable them, and they were continuing to remain active, pathfinding in circles forever, outside of the school. This bug has been fixed.
In a previous build, I increased the player’s health in the Miyuki minigame from 3 hearts to 5 hearts. This change also applied to the 1980s Mode “Space Witch” minigame, but the hearts did not visibly appear onscreen. This bug has been fixed.
If the player got sent to the counselor while a student was running to the nurse with a headache, the student would spin in circles forever once the player exited the nurse’s office. This bug has been fixed.
When entering the 1980s Mode “Space Witch” minigame, the player could briefly see the water background from the Miyuki mingame before it was replaced by the space background. This bug has been fixed.
If the player alarmed a student who was eating a bag of chips, it would become impossible to interact with that student again for the rest of the day. This bug has been fixed.
If the time of day advanced forward while Moeko was holding a watering can, she would continue carrying that can with her everywhere she went. This bug has been fixed.
If the player dropped an object (such as a pickaxe) behind the cherry tree hill, there was a chance it could fall through the ground. This bug has been fixed.
If the player stole a rival’s bento, it was possible to feed that rival bags of chips indefinitely, which would cause bugs to occur. ( https://i.postimg.cc/L83BhTXV/0.png ) This bug has been fixed.
If the player attended a club activity and then saw their rival confess to their Senpai, the game would softlock. This bug has been fixed.
Sometimes, the game would fail to detect that the player had plugged in a Sony controller. This bug should be fixed now, I think…
Fixed bug that caused the “drama club rose accessory” to always appear on Ryoba’s chest, even when she wasn’t in the Drama Club.
Sometimes, during the 1980s Mode confession cutscenes, the “Press A to Skip” feature didn’t work. This bug has been fixed.
The hair model of one of the girls in the 1980s Mode Occult Club was placed incorrectly. This bug has been fixed.
Adjusted the position of Ryoba’s gardening club accessory, because previously it was embedded inside of her ear.
Himeko’s wrist was clipping through her sleeve in her student portrait. This bug has been fixed.
Fixed bug that would cause Ayano’s fingers to clip through any bucket that she was holding.
Inkyu’s skin would clip through her hair when she smiled. This bug has been fixed.
Ayano’s drama club rose was using the wrong texture. This bug has been fixed.
Dafuni’s hairband was not using the correct shader. This bug has been fixed.
Corrected typo in the “matchmaking results” window.

Characters Page Update

Rei Ando, Sutemi Okada, Horuda Umetsu, and Bankotsuko now have profiles on the Characters page of the official website.

Patreon Post

By the way – I recently made two posts on my Patreon page; one post is a gallery of all the concept artwork that was created while designing the original cast of 1980s Mode, and the other post is a gallery of the concept art that was created for the recent “1980s Revamp.” If that sounds like it would be of interest to you, go check it out!