Survey Results And New Build

On June 1st, I asked the fanbase to fill out a survey; I wanted them to rank the features they wanted the most and the least.

After over 12,000 votes, here are the results:

With all of the data scattered around like that, it’s hard to tell what ranks first, what ranks last, etc. I’ll list it out for you below:

1) The ability to join the student council
2) The ability to join Musume’s bully gang
~~3) A unique expulsion process for Amai~~
~~4A) New, unique tasks for some of the students in 202X Mode~~
~~4B) One of the stores in the town becomes functional~~
5) Schemes for Amai’s eliminations
~~6) Amai appears at the title screen in the manner you eliminated her~~
~~7) More functionality for the protagonist’s home~~
8) More functionality for Custom Mode
9) A new feature to replace the “snooping through rival’s bookbag” feature
10) 3D renders for Ryoba’s “introducing the next rival” cutscenes
11A) Endless Mode
~~11B) A new “Dream”~~
12) Visual upgrades for 1980’s Mode students
~~13) The addition of a new basement tape~~
~~14) Uploading one new lore/trivia-related YouTube video~~
15) Updated “Plan how to eliminate your rival” scene
16) Small spinoff games like Kuudere Simulator

(“Unique Tasks” and “Functional Stores” were tied for 4th place, and “Endless Mode” and “More Dreams” were tied for 11th place.)

To hear my thoughts on the survey results – and to read a list of everything that changed in the latest build – scroll down past this super-cute artwork of Amai drawn by eeennnnenen!

(Yes, it’s Christmas-themed, and we’re very far away from Christmas at this time of year, but I still wanted to share it anyway! It’s just so cute!)

Thoughts on Survey Results

I gotta keep it 100 with you…I’m pretty bummed out to see “YouTube videos” and “spinoff games” so low on the list. The one thing that would bring me the most happiness would be having the freedom to spend my time doing things that are not Yandere Simulator, such as making YouTube videos and working on other projects. I want to do these things more than anything else in the world, and the reason why I don’t do these things is because I don’t want to disappoint all of the people who would rather see me exclusively spend my time working on Yandere Sim. Sadly, this survey confirms what I was worried about: If I pursue the things that I desire the most, people would hate it. Man…that’s a real bummer.

The next time you want to ask, “When will you return to making YouTube videos?” or “When will you release Kuudere Simulator 4?” Remember that this survey confirmed that those are two of the things that fans would be least interested in seeing from me.

(Honestly, though, I was very surprised to see YouTube videos being so low on the list. I really thought that a lot of people enjoyed those videos. I’m not sure what conclusion to draw from this new information.)

The purpose of the survey was to provide me with a “roadmap” for the current Inter-Rival Period. What should I do first; what should I save for last; what should I consider skipping entirely? Well, if we use the survey results as a guide, then I’d implement a “join the student council” feature, followed by a “join the bullies” feature, followed by a unique expulsion process for Amai, etc. The eight things that were ranked lowest will probably be saved for a future Inter-Rival Period, or potentially just abandoned entirely. (Bummer! I really wanted to work on some of those things!) At this moment, I’m not ready to give confirmation that I’ll implement the above features in the exact order of the rankings, but it’s something that I will definitely take into consideration when deciding what to work on next.

Anyway, let’s discuss the new build! It’s a big one – there are 19 improvements and 61 fixes! 80 differences in total! Let’s start with something that is…

Potentially A Big Deal

Occasionally, players would e-mail me and describe a bug: All students completely stopped spawning at school, even if the player started a new save file.

I’ve always wanted to fix this bug, but never could, because nobody could ever explain the steps that cause the bug to happen. However, on June 3rd, someone finally did it: they provided instructions that allowed me, for the first time, to replicate the bug and discover why it was happening! Thank you, “BroFlappyGamesYT,” you’re a legend!

Apparently, one way to reliably cause the bug was to end the day while a mind-broken slave was stabbing a student to death. If the player managed to end the day while the mind-broken slave was holding a weapon coated in the blood of a dead student, but BEFORE the slave had committed suicide, the police would be able to arrest the slave, but the game would still believe that it needs to spawn the slave at school. This would cause a conflict when the game attempted to spawn students at school the following day, leading to the “no students at school” bug.

Now that I’ve discovered the issue that caused this bug to happen (the game was attempting to spawn a student who was arrested student and interact with that student’s script), I’ve implemented some countermeasures that should prevent this type of issue from ever occurring again. Hopefully, nobody will ever get the “no students at school” bug again! …but, if it DOES happen, please provide me with the steps I need to replicate the bug myself. Otherwise, I won’t be able to fix it!

Gossip Adjustment

The way that students respond to gossip has been slightly adjusted. The amount of reputation that is deducted from the player while gossiping is now dependent on the student’s feelings towards gossip.

Here’s a chart that explains how it works:

Student enjoys Gossip, your gossip was true: 0 Points Deducted
Student is neutral towards gossip, your gossip was true: 1 Point Deducted
Student dislikes gossip, your gossip was true: 2 Points Deducted

Student enjoys Gossip, your gossip was false: 1 Points Deducted
Student is neutral towards gossip, your gossip was false: 2 Points Deducted
Student dislikes gossip, your gossip was false: 3 Points Deducted

Ayano’s Backyard

It is now possible to walk around in Ayano’s backyard!

There’s a reason why I added this feature; it’s because I’m planning some functionality for the backyard. It’s not implemented yet in the current build, but it’ll be coming in the future.

Amai Title Screen Eliminations

Surprise! One of the features from the survey has already been completed and added to the game!

Amai will now appear at the title screen in a fashion that represents the method that the player used to eliminate her!

Updated Tutorial Menu

It’s only a cosmetic change, but I’m still very happy with how it turned out:

I’ve updated the look-and-feel of the “Choosing which tutorial to do with Kokona” menu screen!

Improvements

From now on, in Custom Mode, the player will get a bonus during social interactions if they share the same animation set as the student they are talking to. (For example, if the player is using the “Shy” Persona and talking to a student with “Shy” animations, they’ll get a bonus.)
It didn’t make sense for delinquents to use the same “friendly and grateful” dialogue as normal students when accepting money from the player, so delinquents now have different dialogue for that circumstance.
From now on, if a character in a couple sees the corpse of their boyfriend/girlfriend, they will react to it the same way that Senpai reacts to a rival’s corpse. (Animations only, no subtitles.)
The “Pass Time Book” is no longer available after 4:31 PM on Fridays, since using it after that period of time could interfere with the game’s ability to activate the confession sequence.
Bullies will no longer wear scrunchies on their wrist if they are wearing long-sleeved school uniforms. (They will only wear the scrunchies if their uniform is short-sleeved.)
The photograph that Info-chan sends Ayano at the end of Week 2 has been updated so that Kizana is wearing her new outfit instead of her old outfit.
It is now possible to restore Ryuto’s original hairstyle. To do so, you must activate debug commands and then type “O S U” three times.
It is now possible to enable/disable Challenges and choose difficulty options before you start a Custom Mode playthrough.
From now on, gifting a student money will cause the player to learn how that student feels about the topic of money.
Raibaru will now warn Osana about water cooler tripwire traps. (Raibaru is perceptive enough to notice the traps.)
From now on, gifting a student money will not increase the “Friendship Bar” if that student dislikes money.
The tasks for the rivals of 1989 now have unique icons (instead of black silhouettes).
Water will no longer spill out of a bucket if there is no ground directly beneath it.
Amai now has thick eyebrows in the “Amai meets Senpai” cutscene.

Fixes

Even if Osana doesn’t confess to Senpai at the end of Week 1 (or is rejected at the end of Week 1), she still feels concern for Senpai’s well-being, because she has known him for over 10 years. If she finds a corpse during any week of the game, her reaction will be to run to Senpai and warn him about it. However, a bug would occur if Osana tried to tell Senpai about a corpse while he was in the middle of mourning the death of a rival. This bug has been fixed.
If the player attacks a student with low sanity and mashes the attack button, the attack animation loops. If the player attacks their rival, the attack animation plays in slow motion. Due to a bug, the slow motion effect would trigger indefinitely if the player attacked a rival with low sanity and mashed the attack button. This bug has been fixed.
In Custom Mode, if the player accepted a rival’s task, the corresponding 1980s Mode rival’s task would activate. (For example, if the player accepted the 4th rival’s task, a black kitten would appear behind the school, because that kitten was connected to the task of Ryoba’s 4th rival). This bug has been fixed.
Although I’ve never experienced it myself, it was apparently possible for the game to get stuck on a black screen when attempting to transition out of the home scene and into another scene. I’ve made an adjustment / optimization to the code, and this probably should no longer be possible.
If the player stood too close to a teacher, the teacher would start to deplete the player’s reputation. This was an oversight, because teachers do not gossip with students, thus their opinion of the player should not affect the player’s reputation. This oversight has been corrected.
If the player activated Yandere Vision while a mind-broken slave was attacking a victim, the slave’s sound effects and voice lines would remain synchronized with the murder-suicide animation, but the victim’s voice lines would desynchronize. This bug has been fixed.
If the player used Info-chan’s “Provide Student Info” Service, they could learn the names of upcoming characters, even though there was no way for Info-chan to know that those characters would eventually be at school. This bug has been fixed.
If the player killed a rival and then reported the rival to the guidance counselor anytime after lunchtime, the game would try to display a “Guidance Counselor talks to Rival” cutscene during the End-of-Day sequence. This bug has been fixed.
If the player joined the Light Music Club, kidnapped a Light Music Club girl, mind-broke her, and brought her to school, the mind-broken slave would have a giant Light Music Club instrument bag attached to her back. This bug has been fixed.
After the “Hair Salon Owner reveals her true nature” mini-cutsene, the true hair salon menu would appear, but all of the options would be non-interactive until the player exited the menu and then re-entered it. This bug has been fixed.
The “prevent Mai’s hair from clipping through walls behind her when she sits down” code had unfortunate side-effects, such as her hair clipping through her torso when the player spoke to her. This bug has been fixed.
If the player poisoned a student and then used Yandere Vision to slow down time, the student’s “dying of poison” sound effects would de-synchronize from the “dying of poison” animation. This bug has been fixed.
If the player befriended a student and then killed them immediately afterwards, the game would count that student towards Ryoba’s total number of friends, even though they were dead. This bug has been fixed.
In Custom Mode, any student who was given the “Guard” destination would stand way too close to their destination (the rival) and would also follow their target into the locker room. This bug has been fixed.
If a bullied student was required to change into club attire as part of their routine, they would change clothing and then immediately leave school, still wearing their club attire. This bug has been fixed.
If the player got their school uniform bloody, they would permanently lose the ability to wear club attire for the rest of the day, even if they washed their school uniform. This bug has been fixed.
If Raibaru witnessed Osana’s corpse while Senpai was reacting to it, she would run up to Osana, speak to her as if she was alive, and then leave school with her corpse. This bug has been fixed.
If the player spoke to Raibaru on Monday morning while Osana was changing her shoes, Osana would not be able to enter her “place bentos on desk” event properly. This bug has been fixed.
If the player changed the destination of the pink trail to “Rival’s Desk,” it would always lead to the 1st rival’s desk, regardless of the current week. This bug has been fixed.
The “Red String of Fate” that connects Senpai and the current rival was present and visible in Mission Mode, floating in midair, connecting nothing. This bug has been fixed.
If the player dyed Ayano’s hair blonde and then completed Amai’s stealth mission, Ayano’s hair would appear black instead of blonde in the cutscene. This bug has been fixed.
If the player killed a student and then played the delinquent beat-em-up minigame, the dead student would enter a standing pose (but remain dead). This bug has been fixed.
If the player performed a club activity with the Science Club in 1989, Ryoba would appear in the 202X lab coat during the club activity cutscene. This bug has been fixed.
When the player handed out snacks for Amai’s Task, the player gained reputation points. That was not intentional! This was an oversight! This mistake has been corrected.
The “Now Loading” text that appears when restarting a Mission Mode mission will now use a different font depending on whether the player is in 202X Mode or 1980s Mode.
In Custom Mode, if the player tried to design a male student with “Gossip” in their routine, he wouldn’t properly enter a gossiping animation. This bug has been fixed.
In 1980s Mode, if the player completed a Task for the leader of the Martial Arts Club, that Task would become available again the next day. This bug has been fixed.
If the player purchased one of Info-chan’s Services and then reset the week, the game would remember that the service had been purchased. This bug has been fixed.
If the player got a Low-Reputation Game Over in Custom Mode with a female Senpai, the game would softlock during the game over cutscene. This bug has been fixed.
If the player alarmed a student before pushing them off of the school roof, they would not be able to enter the “pushed off roof” state. This bug has been fixed.
If the player entered 1st-person view while standing extremely close to the Journalist, it became possible to clip inside of his body. This bug has been fixed.
In Osana’s “stalker house” stealth mission, if the player walked too close to the stalker, the stalker would rotate at weird anngles. This bug has been fixed.
In Custom Mode, the task description/icon for the player’s 10 Custom rivals was inaccurate and did not reflect their actual tasks. This bug has been fixed.
If Ryoba killed a student, the game would reduce Ryoba’s friend count, even if the dead student was not one of Ryoba’s friends. This bug has been fixed.
If the player played the Light Music Club minigame and then went to the school gym, some placeholder test models would appear. This bug has been fixed.
While Chigusa’s admirers were standing around her in the confession tree area, they would sometimes spin in circles. This bug has been fixed.
If the player designed a rival in Custom Mode to sunbathe as part of their routine, they would fail to go sunbathe. This bug has been fixed.
Previously, the 50kg weight in the gym storage room was not considered a “metal” by the school’s metal detectors. This has been corrected.
If the player sent Osana to the guidance counselor, the rest of her scripted events for that day would not occur. This bug has been fixed.
Due to a bug, the Cooking Club was not able to carry out their “walk around handing out food to people” routine. This bug has been fixed.
If the player exited the protagonist’s room and then tried to open the pause menu, the menu wouldn’t open. This bug has been fixed.
It was possible for the player to modify a uniform for Kokona before actually accepting Kokona’s Task. This bug has been fixed.
It was possible to see a small floating arrow above Kizana’s VHS tape in the 202X Week Select mode. This bug has been fixed.
If the player disabled bloom and then entered a Mission Mode mission, bloom would re-enable itself. This bug has been fixed.
One of Senpai’s hairstyles was not functioning properly, and made him appear bald. This hairstyle has been fixed.
Sleuths will no longer investigate mind-broken slaves, since they don’t actually know that they are at school.
Removed exploit that allowed the player to use the “Pass Time” feature while holding a corpse in their arms.
Fixed bug that let the player edit a student’s name/profile from the student list in the Custom Mode menu.
Corrected texture error on the eyelids of the security guards in Amai’s befriend/betray stealth mission.
Ryoba’s bust was the incorrect size when she was in town in 1980s Mode. This bug has been fixed.
Fixed bug that allowed the player to fall through the ground during the boss battle in Yanvania.
Fixed bug that caused the player’s mouse cursor to become visible during the “dream sequence.”
Because killing Senpai can cause bugs, the Void Goddess can no longer be used to kill Senpai.
It is no longer possible to leave school while a mind-broken slave is committing murder.
In the previous build, Ryuto’s portrait was bugged. This error has been corrected.
Fixed bug that prevented student names from displaying in Lovesick Mode.
Fixed bugs with Ryoba’s hair physics in the asylum stealth mission.
Fixed typo in the school newspaper article about Teiko.
Removed debug command from the Nozama menu.
Fixed typo in the Mission Mode menu.
Fixed typo in Teiko’s diary.

Upcoming Character Previews

While working on everything listed above, I’ve also been gradually collecting the assets needed to implement Kizana. You can see a preview of some of these assets on my Patreon page if you’re a supporter!