Yandere Simulator Dev Talks Rivals, Next Build Date

Published: April 26, 2016 3:25 PM /

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Yandere Simulator Update Sketch Rivals

The developer of Yandere Simulator has posted a dev blog that details how rivals are going to work as a mechanic in the game. An accompanying animation was included to comically highlight some of the frustrations about a currently indestructible character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLj2lblqmFw

A girl who has been dubbed "Rival-chan" had been inserted into the game over a year ago to test a specific feature and has been left alone otherwise. Unlike many characters in this game, this girl does not interact with anyone or move from her spot. Moreover, she seems to be wholly indestructible despite the best efforts of many.

YandereDev went on to talk about how important the rival character is. The entire point of Yandere Simulator is to eliminate the rival one way or another so as to keep them away from your beloved Senpai. Beating the rival is the victory condition for the game, and since the victory condition is not yet implemented there is also no true failure condition yet, either. For these reasons, YandereDev feels that it's not fair to judge or criticize the game at this point in time since it's wholly lacking its core game mechanic.

YandereDev then proceeded to describe exactly what it would take in terms of game design to have a properly implemented Rival for Yandere Simulator:

  • The rival needs a very carefully designed daily routine. Her routine needs to put her in close proximity to Senpai – or numerous witnesses – at nearly all times, so that it is not possible to just run right up to her and stab her and complete the game’s main objective within 60 seconds.
  • The rival needs to interact with Senpai. These events will not only demonstrate the two characters’ closeness, but also provide the player with opportunities to sabotage their interactions.
  • The rival needs to react to Yandere-chan’s presence in ways that the other NPCs do not. The rival should be able to realize that Yandere-chan is stalking her, and react accordingly.
  • Each one of the game’s 10 planned rival girls needs to have a district personality that is demonstrated through unique animations that other NPCs don’t possess.
  • The rival needs a “love confession under the cherry tree” cut-scene – and also a “rejected” cut-scene, as well.

YandereDev continues to say that he would prefer not to do a poor job on the implementation of the rival and so he is going to take his time with it. A total of ten Rival girls are planned for Yandere Simulator, and he wants the gameplay experience of the first implemented Rival to get people hyped about seeing the future Rivals.

Moving on to the game as a whole, YandereDev "feel[s] confident" that the next build of Yandere Simulator will be available on May 1st, 2016. Once he has implemented one or two more elimination methods there won't really be very much work that he can do in the game without implementing at least one Rival at first. The first Rival is expected to be added to Yandere Simulator within the next few months.

The previous update of Yandere Simulator was released on April 15, 2016 and it was a bit smaller than is usual. It had a slew of bug fixes including animation bugs and UI issues. A new feature was added where NPCs would investigate Yandere-chan's giggles if they didn't have line of sight on her. A stats screen has been added to the protagonist's phone, and the Gaming Club (along with its associated Club Benefit) has been implemented. YandereDev had some complications with making progress on the game during this time and elected not to comment on the specifics so as to prevent a "flood of stupid e-mails".

You can download a debug build of Yandere Simulator from the game's website. Bear in mind that the developer makes a point of stating that the game is "only 5% complete" and doesn't have enough content to be considered a demo. If you're expecting a lot of gameplay, you won't find it yet.

What do you think of Yandere Simulator? Do you agree with the developer's statement that the game can't be judged or critiqued fairly since the core mechanics of the game are not yet implemented? Let us know in the comments below!

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A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
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One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N