If you’ve been following Yandere Simulator for a long time, you may have noticed the completely indestructible girl that has been standing underneath a cherry tree for over a year now. This girl – Rival-chan – was added to the game so that I could test out one specific feature. She doesn’t have a routine, she doesn’t interact with Senpai, and she doesn’t react to anything that happens in front of her.
She’s also completely indestructible.
Many YouTubers have tried to destroy her, but all of them have failed. This inspired me to create a short humorous skit about the subject!
On the topic of rivals, a lot of people have asked me why Rival-chan doesn’t move, and why I haven’t implemented a true rival yet. I’ll explain why:
First, I need to explain the significance of the rival. Yandere Simulator revolves entirely around the rival; stalking her, gossiping about her, embarrassing her, stealing from her, kidnapping her, framing her, outright killing her – and so on. In terms of game mechanics, the rival is an impending game over; a walking, talking time bomb. The very objective of the game is to eliminate her.
Because the rival is not implemented yet, you cannot “win” the game. Yandere Simulator doesn’t even qualify as a “game” yet, since the main objective can’t even be completed. As soon as I implement the rival, it will actually be possible to complete the main objective. It will be possible to “win”. In other words, Yandere Sim will finally become an actual game.
At this point in time, you can’t really “judge” Yandere Simulator, or determine whether or not it’s “fun”, because it’s not a game yet. As soon as a true rival is added to the game, Yandere Simulator can be fairly judged, and people will finally be able to determine whether or not it’s actually any fun, or worth playing.
At this point in time, you can’t critique Yandere Simulator’s gameplay, because there is none. As soon as the first official rival is added to the game, the gloves come off – it will be time to analyze, criticize, and scrutinize. Before that time comes, I have to make sure that Yandere Simulator’s game design and gameplay are solid.
Besides, I can’t just add a new student to the game, designate her as “the rival” and be done with it. No; a rival needs to be something much more than that:
- 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.
In other words, adding a new student with a specific name and hairstyle is simply not good enough.
In short, I’m not going to implement a “true” rival unless she meets all of my standards and fulfills all of the criteria I want her to fulfill. I don’t want to half-ass the rival; the rivals are the focus of the game, and when I implement the first official rival, she needs to make people say “WOW! I finally understand what type of game Yandere Simulator is! I get it now!” and make people even more excited for the final product.
Ten rival girls are planned for Yandere Simulator, so the first rival has to make people say “That was awesome! I want to do that nine more times!”
Yeah, okay, whatever. Where’s the next update?
I’ve been very satisfied with my progress recently! I’m really happy with what I’ve been able to add to the game over the past 11 days. I feel confident that the next build will probably be ready on May 1st. After that, there are really only one or two other elimination methods I can implement without a rival present at school…in other words, I won’t be able to continue adding new elimination methods without adding a rival. So, within the next few months, it will become necessary to add the first official rival in order to continue development! She’s coming soon!
As always, thank you for following the development of Yandere Simulator!