YandereDev Teams Up With tinyBuild

Published: March 2, 2017 2:00 PM /

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Yandere Simulator Dere Yan Art

The development process of Yandere Simulator has been a long one. Various test builds of the game have been available since work began in 2014 but the game remains in a pre-alpha state. It's easy to understand why as the one man development team has so far relied on funding from his Patreon and the contributions of volunteers to make progress. The developer himself has even released previous videos addressing the issue. That could all be set to change, though, as the most recent entry on the developer blog and accompanying YouTube video announce that YandereDev will be partnering with indie developer/publisher tinyBuild to help bring Yandere Simulator to market.

YandereDev has previously been quite vocal about the potential pitfalls of bringing in a company to help with the development of Yandere Simulator and he was quick to address the concerns fans might have. Both the video and blog post came with a quick rundown of what the developer believes are the key points of the agreement.

yanderedev

It seems from the developer's words that retaining the IP, creative control, and avoiding any kind of 'corporate censorship,' were central to his decision to partner with tinyBuild. The indie developer/publisher has a good reputation when it comes to helping smaller developers finish their game, most recently being responsible for assisting Dynamic Pixels with Hello Neighbour's paid alpha version. In a nod to recent events, YandereDev also noted that partnering with a company like tinyBuild should make it easier to build relationships with companies like Twitch and Steam

The video goes on to detail what this means for the direction of the game. tinyBuild will be providing help in the form of a professional development team and limited funding but won't be financing the project themselves. This means that the developer is currently considering two options for funding, either a straightforward crowd-funding campaign through Kickstarter or a paid alpha release similar to Hello Neighbour. The first option would mean finalizing the 'Osana' rival character, before releasing a demo version of Yandere Simulator to stimulate funding for the campaign. Going down the paid alpha route would mean that development is concentrated on creating a 'polished' alpha build until they have, in the developer's words, 'something worth paying for.'

Either way, YandereDev finishes by saying that he is currently working on finishing the Osana character while a more experienced coder works on building a better code base for the game. A final decision will be made on the economic model once the process is further along. Further information from tinyBuild's press release indicates that there is a plan to bring the game to multiple platforms as well as PC. tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik was upbeat about the partnership, saying,

We love the game's design and are going to build a development team to elevate the game's production values, where the original dev assumes role of Design Lead.

He then revealed the true reason that tinyBuild cannot afford to fail with Yandere Simulator,

My wife is a fan of the game so we can't mess this one up.

If you want to see the game for yourself, the current test build of Yandere Simulator is available to download from the developer blog. The stealth-action stalking game tasks you with eliminating rivals for your 'senpai's' affection in a Hitman-esque sandbox. Bear in mind that this version is pre-alpha and mainly intended for testing/bug fixing and is essentially a sandbox without real goals or rivals implemented.

How do you feel about the announcement? Are you happy that this should significantly speed up the game's development or wary of outside influence changing the course of the game? Give us your take in the comments.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Dom Oleary Writer
| Former Staff Writer

I'm a dyed in the wool gamer of the now irrelevant (I'm told) generation-X. If I'm not gaming, you'll find me writing about games, writing my wonderful… More about Dom