Additional Thoughts Regarding Yesterday’s Proposal
Yesterday, I proposed the idea of a grid-based inventory system that is presented to the player as the protagonist opening up her skirt to expose weapons and items hidden inside of her skirt – and also expose her panties. I was not certain whether or not this kind of presentation would be considered distasteful, so I decided to poll the fanbase about it. Here are the results of that poll:
About half of the fanbase would be fine with the skirt concept if the panties were tastefully covered up. About a third of the fanbase thinks that the skirt concept is a bad idea. About a fifth of the fanbase is perfectly okay with the skirt concept.
I’ve been reading all of the feedback that people have been sharing regarding this feature. After thinking about it all day long, I’ve developed a rather firm opinion about the subject…
At this point in time, it’s probably not too presumptuous to say that Yandere Simulator has gotten a lot of attention. But, why? What caused so many people to notice Yandere Simulator? I’ll tell you what causes a game to not be noticed: being bland, and being safe.
A “bland” game is a game that doesn’t do anything unique to set it apart from other video games. A “safe” game is a game that avoids doing anything that might offend or alienate anyone.
An example of a bland game would be “You are a soldier, and you must shoot other soldiers.” An example of a weird game would be “You are a Japanese high school student, and you must murder other high school students.” An example of a safe inventory system would be “a grid inside of a backpack”. An example of a risky inventory system would be “a grid inside of a girl’s skirt.”
When you try to play it safe – when you try to avoid offending people – when you avoid taking risks – you wind up with something flavorless, colorless, odorless…something bland. Yandere Simulator would never have gotten anywhere near the amount of attention it has currently received if I always went with the least-risky, least-weird, least-offensive options. Instead, my game design philosophy has basically been to always do risky, weird, and even offensive things.
If I had allowed you to vote on whether or not I should include panty shots – or bullying – or suicide – or torture – or the implication of domestic abuse – I wonder if those features would have been rejected? Instead of staying away from weird and risky material, I implemented everything that seemed appropriate for a psychopath to do, regardless of how “offensive” it might be. As a result, Yandere Simulator’s unique identity – and popularity – come from the fact that it has a bunch of weird, risky, borderline-offensive things in it.
Yandere Simulator’s popularity is due to the fact that it doesn’t do the “sensible” thing for a video game to do; it doesn’t do the “normal” thing for a video game to do. Boost your stats by wearing different panties! Become seductive by reading erotic manga! Take off your clothing in the locker room and run around naked! If Yandere Simulator didn’t have features like this, it would be bland, and that means it would be boring.
You’re not interested in Yandere Simulator because it’s a bland, boring, inoffensive, derivative, safe game. You’re interested in Yandere Simulator because – in most ways – it’s unlike other games out there. Am I right? And it’s unlike other games out there because, instead of doing normal things – like putting an inventory in a backpack – I do weird things – like putting an inventory in a girl’s skirt.
Here’s what I’m getting at: Yandere Simulator isn’t the type of game that would have a bland, boring, uninspired inventory system that looks like it could be found in any other game. Yandere Sim is the type of game that would have a unique inventory system you’d never find anywhere else; an inventory system that, yeah, might offend or alienate someone, but that’s exactly what gives the game its personality.
If you haven’t figure it out yet, I’m strongly advocating for the skirt-based inventory system that I proposed yesterday. It’s the sort of game design decision that only an insane person would make – and that’s exactly what got Yandere Simulator this far in the first place. As you can tell by scrolling up and looking at TheJennyPill’s artwork at the top of this blog post, Yandere Simulator really isn’t a soft, fluffy, family-friendly game in the first place.
With that said, I can’t deny the fact that 33% the game’s fanbase rejects the concept. So, I’d like to make a compromise:
Within the game’s Settings menu, I’ll give you the option to display the protagonist as a silhouette on the inventory screen:
This way, anyone who thinks it’s distasteful won’t ever have to see it. I’ll also give the player the option of censoring panties, increasing the size of the steam clouds around nude girls, etc. I’ll let the player customize their experience so that they don’t have to experience the horror of seeing something offensive.
With this new information in mind, please vote on this poll to let me know how you feel about the idea:
YandereDev, YandereDev! Wouldn’t it be weird if Yandere-chan was constantly opening up her skirt everywhere?
Midori, you baka! Obviously, Yandere-chan wouldn’t actually be opening up her skirt in reality. The inventory view would be for the player only.
But, YandereDev, YandereDev! What happens when Yandere-chan is wearing pants? What happens when Yandere-chan is naked? What happens if the player chooses to make the protagonist a male?
…uh…enough questions, Midori! I need to get back to writing code for the game!
…aw…oooookaaaaay…
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