There was a super-obvious bug in the previous build that nearly every player was guaranteed to encounter, so I’ve decided to release a bug-fixing build that resolves that issue, fixes a bunch of other bugs, and also includes a handful of other changes.

To read a list of everything that was added/changed/fixed/improved in the latest build, scroll down past this cosplay video by rolidollx, who has been posting tons of amazing Yandere Simulator TikToks lately!

It was difficult to pick a single video to share, because all of her stuff is great! Go check it out!

New Unity Version…Again

The previous version of Unity had a bug that sporadically caused parts of the Unity interface to disappear. This was driving me crazy! I’ve updated to the latest version of Unity. Updating always carries a risk that something will break – but I tested the game, and didn’t see any new errors popping up in the Console Log or find any new bugs, so I think that everything is okay.

By the way – the latest version of Unity (6.2) added some new “Diagnostics” features, so I’ve decided to do something that I’ve never done before:

Enabling Analytics

Occasionally, I’ll discuss Yandere Simulator with a company interested in partnering with me to finish the game. These companies usually ask very similar questions, and almost always start with this one:

How many people play Yandere Simulator?

Up until now, I never attempted to measure this. In the early days of the game’s development, I could sort of tell how many people were playing the game by watching the download number go up. However, Mediafire’s download count changed from a number to the word “many,” and my website and MEGA don’t make that information easy to discover, so for a long time, I haven’t been tracking downloads at all.

Many developers include some sort of “analytics” in their game. What does that mean? It means that, whenever you play a game, the game is keeping track of various things and reporting that information to the developers: How many times have you launched the game? On average, how long do you play for? What part of the game did you stop playing at? Developers use this information to tweak aspects of their game. If everyone is quitting at the same part, developers release a patch to make that part easier. If a new addition to the game has made people play more often and play longer, developers will consider making more additions like that; etc.

However, I’ve never bothered with any of that stuff; I ever even thought about it. But, it’s probably pretty important for me to be able to answer one very basic question: “How many people even play my game?” Being able to answer that question is pretty important if I want to have a meaningful conversation about Yandere Simulator with a company that lasts longer than 5 minutes.

So, for the first time, I’ve clicked the “Enable Analytics” button, and from now on, my Unity Developer Dashboard should be showing me useful numbers such as daily new users, daily active users, session length, sessions per user, etc.

I don’t really think of Yandere Simulator as something that has “daily users,” though. I imagine Yandere Simulator as a project that you check in on twice a month, rather than something you play daily. “Daily users” strikes me as a concern for online games, not for an in-development single-player game that is periodically updated with new content like Yandere Simulator.

Ah, well. Maybe this will lead somewhere. Or not. Who knows. I guess what I’m saying is, if you notice that the latest build of Yandere Simulator is suddenly using accessing the Internet while no previous build ever did that, now you know why.

New Voice Acting

Two additions this time:

• The cutscene where Amai and Taro talk as they walk to school now features voice acting! (Also, I re-wrote the dialogue a little bit.)
• Previously, the security guards in Amai’s befriend/betray stealth mission did not have a voice line for reacting to Ayano attempting to pickpocket them. Now they do!

Improvements

• Updated Himari’s hair model.

Fixes

• If the player attempted to attend class without disposing of a bloody weapon, a warning would appear informing the player that if they attended class, the bloody weapon would be discovered and the police would be called. However, the game would completely ignore the weapon and allow the player to go to class. This bug has been fixed.
• There was some kind of strange, inconsistent bug that would sometimes prevent the player from being able to walk out of their bedroom after opening their bedroom door. I believe that I’ve fixed the bug, but because it was so inconsistent and wouldn’t always trigger, I cannot know for certain.
• If the player attacked Raibaru while she was investigating a weapon dropped on the ground, the player would enter the “being countered by Raibaru” state, but Raibaru would ignore the player and continue reacting to the dropped weapon. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player maneuvered Ayano in juuuust the right way, it would be possible to walk on top of the decorative strip where the wall meets the floor in Ayano’s home, or walk on top of the table that holds the TV in the living room. This is no longer possible.
• At the beginning of the Kokona Tutorial, when the camera was zooming in, if the player interrupted the zoom-in by pressing a button, the camera would snap to the incorrect position instead of the correct position. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player electrocuted Osana and Raibaru while they were hugging, only Raibaru would die, and Osana would just start walking around while being recognized as a corpse by anyone she passed by. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player splashed liquid onto a phone addict and then alarmed them after their shower but before they retrieved their phone, the student’s phone would teleport back into their hand. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player used the “Censor Blood” option, wore a raincoat, and dismembered a corpse, blood would appear, even though it wouldn’t appear outside of that hyper-specific circumstance. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player kidnapped Raibaru and brought her to school as a mind-broken slave, Raibaru would stand up and attempt to pathfind to Osana when an Osana+Raibaru event began. This bug has been fixed.
• At both the title screen and the school plaza, it was possible for water ripple effects to spawn slightly outside of the fountain at the center of the plaza. This visual glitch has been fixed.
• If the player dropped a suspicious item on the ground to lure Amai away from her bento, Amai’s bento would clip inside of the plaza fountain, becoming inaccessible. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player was caught by a student council member while heating up the occult ritual knife with a blowtorch, the player would not enter the “caught” animation. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player activated the blood censor, saved the game at school, then loaded that save, weapons would turn solid grey after being used to attack a victim. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player stole Musume’s phone and let her find it on a day when a student memorial happened at school, Musume would write graffiti on her own desk. This bug has been fixed.
• Custom Mode’s “Replace Club Leader Dialogue With Your Own Custom Dialogue” feature wasn’t working for the Newspaper Club. This bug has been fixed.
• One of the garbage bag boxes in school made a sound effect when picked up, but the other one didn’t. This bug has been fixed.
• If the player used the dance machina while corpses were present at school, bugs would occur. This is no longer possible.
• Fixed error in Homu’s subtitles.

Hey, about that hair model…

As you can see by looking above, the purpose of this build was to provide bug fixes. I wasn’t focusing on implementing new content; only stabilizing the game. I always prioritize bug fixes over adding new content, because you wouldn’t be able to enjoy any new content if were are a bunch of critical bugs ruining the experience.

Since the focus of this build was bug fixes, almost no other changes were made to the game in this update. Aside from the voice acting, I only made one other change: replacing a hair model. Of course, instead of interpreting that information as, “He fixed a bunch of bugs, and also gave us a new hair model as a bonus!” I’m sure that the preeminent interpretation will be, “This new build contains absolutely nothing except one new hair model!” That’s just how the Internet works, sadly.

I understand that the replacement of a hair model begs a question: “Why? Why replace that hair model?” Well, of course, the question won’t be asked like that. Instead, it’ll be phrased more like, “Oh my god! He’s prioritizing stupid and unnecessary things! Why did he spend precious development time replacing a hair model? Nobody even cares! Focus on the rivals, instead!”

To prevent misunderstandings, I’ll explain:

The guy who modeled Himari’s hair started getting harassment from people who wanted to shame him for supporting Yandere Simulator. He contacted me and asked me to remove his model from the game, in the hopes that doing so would stop the harassment.

Himari’s hair model wasn’t replaced because I think that replacing hair models should be my highest priority. It was replaced because I respect the wishes of the modeler who wanted his work removed. This is, 99% of the time, the reason why you’ll see me write “Updated (X)’s hair” in a blog post.

I’ve said this before, but I want to say it again: I do not wake up in the morning and think, “Ah, time to spend dozens of hours replacing the hair models of unimportant characters!” rather, I wake up in the morning and think, “I wonder what unnecessary drama people will create and insert into my life today?”

While I’m on the subject, I may as well mention one other thing: It only takes 30 seconds to replace a hair model. The simple act of drag-and-drop-replacing a hair model does not steal hours of my time, nor does it slow down the game’s development. It’s not something you need to freak out about.

Bottom Line: If you burn with rage and write angry comments whenever you see “Updated (X)’s hair model” in the changelog…please reconsider the way that you spend your time. Consider the possibility that perhaps you shouldn’t derive your opinions from online echo chambers full of hateful people who interpret anything I do in a comically negative way, serving no purpose but to create an atmosphere that normalizes harassment.