Yandere Simulator

Yandere Simulator is a stealth action video game developed and published by YandereDev with the help of numerous volunteers.

For installation instructions, see this page.

Gameplay

Ayano meets Senpai — Ayano meets her Senpai.
Intro cutscene.

The protagonist of the game, Ayano Aishi, is a young yandere who feels empty and hollow unless she's near a certain man — her "Senpai", Taro Yamada. As soon as she discovers him, her main goal becomes ensuring no one else can win his heart before she can summon the courage to confess. If Senpai discovers her true nature, or if the protagonist is caught or exposed by others, the game ends.

Each week, the protagonist encounters a new rival and has exactly five days, from Monday to Friday, to eliminate her before she confesses to Senpai. The methods of eliminating rivals vary, generally falling into two categories: "peaceful" methods, which don't involve killing the rivals or anyone at all, and more violent ones. The player's choices impact the endings in 1980s Mode and may affect the ending of the main mode in the future.

Since most of the game takes place at Akademi, the protagonist must act stealthily and carefully plan her actions. Akademi is almost constantly filled with other students and teachers. If she's caught behaving suspiciously or inappropriately, other students might start gossiping about her, ruining her reputation, which can turn even Senpai off. Teachers may also send her to the guidance counselor, which in turn may lead to expulsion and the end of the game.

Modes

In addition to the main mode, the game features several other modes:

1980s Mode

A complete story mode featuring Ryoba Aishi, the mother of Ayano Aishi, as the protagonist. As in the main mode, she has to eliminate 10 rivals over the course of 10 weeks.

Some of the gameplay elements are more difficult compared to the main mode: Info-chan, who provides certain drops and services within Akademi itself, is only partially replaced by The Yakuza, Social Media and other modern technologies don't exist yet, and The Journalist constantly watches the school entrance, trying to gather evidence of Ryoba's crimes.

The ending of this mode depends on the player's performance, which is counted based on the various factors, such as Ryoba's reputation, how many students she had befriended, how many times she had failed to dispose of the evidence or alerted others with her behavior, and some others.

Mission Mode

In this mode, the protagonist works as an assassin who receives a special mission from Info-chan or The Yakuza — to kill one or more students in a certain way, with certain requirements and conditions, such as stealing the documents, avoiding being caught on cameras/metal detectors, disposing of blood/weapons/body, and so on. The exact criteria, such as the victim, elimination method and special conditions can be either set by the player, be randomly generated, or shared by another played using a numerical code. The mission's difficulty level and School Atmosphere depend on the conditions set.

The player can also enable Nemesis or Yakuza Mode to increase difficulty. Nemesis is another assassin out to kill Ayano, while Yakuza Mode makes Ryoba appear as an obvious intruder, forcing a more stealth-oriented gameplay.

Custom Mode

This mode allows the player to create their own version of 1980s Mode, customizing all the characters in the school, including students and faculty members. It is also possible to edit the dialogues between the rivals and Senpai, Akademi Daily newspaper articles and some other parts of the game.

After creation, the player can share it online by copying and archiving corresponding files.

Other Modes

LoveSick Mode. Introduced before the demo version, this mode differs little from the main game in terms of gameplay. Its main purpose was to give the game a more serious and darker atmosphere, so the main differences included minor visual changes and permanently low school atmosphere. In addition to that, in debug versions of the game, the Easter Eggs were disabled; however, after the demo they are disabled by default either way.
Alphabet Killer Challenge. A small easter egg mode based on the popular challenge with the same name, where the goal is to eliminate all the characters in alphabetical order. The difficulty can be adjusted during gameplay by using certain items from the Student Council room, such as Smoke Bombs. This mode is available in both modes.
SNAP Mode. A small mode that the player can enter after getting the "Heartbroken" game over. If the player chooses this option, the protagonist slowly breaks down and brutally kills everyone around without resistance if they stand in her way. Her first goal is to find a knife, then — kill her Senpai, and finally, take her own life.

Plot

The main mode events currently take place in 2026. The protagonist, Ayano Aishi, accidentally bumps into her schoolmate Taro Yamada in the school hallway and realizes that this is "the cure" from her condition she has been looking for all this time. However, Ayano soon discovers that she is not the only one interested in him; another girl, Osana Najimi, Taro's childhood friend, also has feelings for him. Shortly after, Ayano is contacted by a mysterious girl who introduces herself as Info-chan and offers her assistance in eliminating Ayano's rivals in exchange for various favors. She doesn't force Ayano to work with her, but she insists that Ayano must make her rivals suffer for unknown reason. The events that follow depend on the player's choices.

1980s Mode takes place in 1989. The protagonist in this mode is Ryoba Aishi, Ayano's mother. Like Ayano, Ryoba meets her Senpai, Jokichi Yudasei, in the same school and in a similar manner. After observing him from a distance for about a year, Ryoba's first rival, Sumire Saitozaki, appears. Ryoba kills her in the school bathroom and disposes of the evidence, but misses a small bloodstain, leading the police to treat her disappearance as a murder. This attracts the attention of a journalist, and by the end of the 10th week, Ryoba is detained and summoned to court. However, in the canon ending, she manages to convince everyone of her innocence.

Besides the Aishi Family, one of the most important roles in the plot is played by the Saikou Family; they are the owners of one of Japan's largest business conglomerates, Saikou Corp, which seems to have significant influence in various fields. For instance, the game takes place in Akademi, a school located in Buraza Town, both of which were built by Saisho Saikou for his daughter Ichiko Saikou, serving as a training ground for her.^[1] Additionally, the canon ending of 1980s Mode features Jokichi being abducted by someone who introduces himself as "Mr. Saikou, " and certain tapes and character dialogues^[2] suggest that the Aishi Family may have some connection to Saikou Corp or the family itself.

Aside from the main plot, nearly every character in the game has a unique personality and appearance, even if they play no important role to the story or gameplay. Most of this information can be found in their profiles or on the official website, with some characters getting more detailed backgrounds in official videos. A lot of the extra trivia and backstories come from responses to fan questions on social media or through email.

Development History

For the full list of updates, see the official blog.
The wiki is currently working on the Update History as well.

Yandere Simulator is an indie game, meaning it is being developed without financial support from any video game publisher. The game's development, including its mechanics and storyline, is handled by one person, YandereDev, while various assets such as 3D models, animations, music, and more are created by volunteers. YandereDev has been working on the project full-time since 2015, using income from Patreon to cover living expenses. When monthly Patreon income exceeds $3,500, the surplus is saved for compensating some volunteers and reducing the budget needed for a crowdfunding campaign, which was originally estimated at $100,000. Volunteers who work on the game on almost daily basis, make extremely significant contributions or would have to stop contributing to the game if they aren't making money from it, receive payment from the surplus — one of the examples being Druelbozo.^[3] In a public post from 2019, YandereDev had stated that if the income from Patreon drops below $1,000 per month, it will cease to be the equivalent of a full-time job, and he would have to shift the focus to simpler projects, making Yandere Simulator a hobby project.^[4] However, the game is now very close to completion, and the developer plans to continue working on it full-time until it's finished.^[5]

The first three years of development, from 2014 to 2017, were focused on adding the core game mechanics and elimination methods. In 2016, YandereDev started working on the first official rival — Osana Najimi, however, the main focus of development from 2017 to 2020 remained on expanding the number and depths of the gameplay mechanics. By the end of 2019, all key mechanics and students were added to the game, and on August 31st, 2020, a demo version of the game containing the first official rival was released. After fixing bugs and refining the demo based on feedback, YandereDev released 1980s Mode on October 10th, 2021. The primary goal of 1980s Mode was to demonstrate that it was possible to create 10 working rivals in just three months, and to explain why development was taking so long — due to the reliance on volunteers and the need to create fun, in-depth mechanics. the main purpose of which was to prove that it is possible to create 10 working rivals in just 3 months, and the main reason why the development takes so long is the need to rely on volunteers and making fun and in-depth mechanics. From 2022 to 2023, the development focused on further refining the game, with 1980s Mode and 10 rivals being added. In the fall of 2023, development was temporarily suspended due to a controversy, but it resumed in early 2024. In 2024, the biggest updates were the addition of the Custom Mode, originally planned after the full version release, and the release of the second rival of the main mode, Amai Odayaka.

Beginning (2014—2015)

Original_Yandere_Simulator_Prototype — Original Yandere Simulator Prototype

The development began around the beginning of 2014. The main idea of a schoolgirl killing other students for love, as well as the basic mechanics and the basic plot were defined in conversations on an anonymous forum.^[6] In April 2014, the very first video of an early prototype of the game was uploaded. At that time, it used models from the Unity Store with little to no changes; the video demonstrated the mechanics of a phone camera, killing another student, and Senpai's reaction (without any real consequences, however), as well as beating a corpse.

Ayano's old concept art — Original concept art by aea

In the spring of 2014, a lot of the key mechanics were decided on through numerous surveys on the WordPress blog; weapons, daily routines, and so on. Additionally, the developer published a concept art of the protagonist's appearance; however, it was scrapped and appeared in the game only as a small easter egg years later. Also at this time, he began working on the mechanics related to the homicide elimination and obtained first samples of the original background music.

In the summer, a prototype of the introduction cutscene was shown, made in a visual novel-like style. Soon after, mechanics of washing off the blood, incinerator, dismemberment and dragging corpses, as well as sanity were introduced. At that time, they were still being demonstrated in an artificial environment, rather than an early prototype of a school building. In August, a survey was published on exactly how other characters should react to a murder. The idea of different personas defining a character's reaction was acknowledged but postponed, and the survey focused on the "standard" reaction of students and teachers.^[7]

Original_Yandere_Simulator_Title_Screen_Concept — Original Yandere Simulator Title Screen Concept

On September 1st, 2014, a major update was released introducing Yandere Vision, fully functioning phone camera and related mechanics, as well as Info-chan, at that time referred to as "Sidekick-chan". In that version, she was only able to provide information about students and accept panty shots but couldn't give anything in return. In the same version, a mysterious Phantom Girl was added, described as "the victim of a murder that takes place before the game begins", as the developer wanted the game to have a ghost easter egg that would only be visible on photographs. After that, the developer continued working on the flow of the school day, added Ayano's bedroom as a playable location, a title screen main menu, school subjects and atmosphere, and being able to change the appearance of the Senpai. A rough version of the opening cutscene was shown, made in the same visual novel style. After that, he started working on the main school building. On October 31st, a first "Spooktacular" blog was published, which became a Halloween tradition later. It described how hypothetical DLCs for the game could look like. In November 2014, the developer also published a survey on how "ethically acceptable" it would be to accept donations at this stage of development.^[8]

“

Last April, I swore not to accept donations until I had produced a playable demo. My reasoning was that I don’t want people to think that I’m a scam artist who is only doing this for the money, and I didn’t want people to regret donating if the project fails / game turns out differently than they expected.

Back in April, I was very secure financially, and I didn’t have to worry about money. However, without getting into details, my financial situation has changed a lot since April, and now it’s getting pretty hard to uphold my principle of refusing donations.

Nothing I’ve made available so far qualifies as a “playable demo”, so I still have to stand by my word and turn away anybody who offers to give me money (which makes me feel like I’m a jerk). However, I’m curious to know if you feel that opening donations would actually be acceptable at this point. Hopefully, I’ve proven by now that I’m not a scam artist trying to steal your money, or an “idea guy” who can’t actually develop a video game, and hopefully it’s clear what kind of game I’m making at this point.

”

— November 14th, 2014 blogpost.

School in December 2014 — An early version of the school. 2014.

In winter, a new intro cutscene was added, showing Info-chan as a full-fledged character for the first time, a reworked UI prototype was shown, and the school area was updated. Another update introduced the mechanics of the students' daily routine, skipping time, and the protagonist's reaction to her Senpai, as well as the Confession Tree along with the myth about it. In December 2014, the developer published blog's activity summary: the most users came from 4chan, Reddit took the second place, and the third place was taken by haruhichan.com (likely because of an article about the game written in July), as well as Facebook and Twitter. In the same post, the developer shared that he plans to publish a full demo version of the game on March 1st, 2015, and launch a crowdfunding campaign on April 2nd, 2015.^[9] For the rest of the winter, he worked on the mechanics of reputation and interactions with NPCs, Game Over, sanity, weapon selection, and some other things. In January, the ability to change the school uniforms was introduced — the developer said that "he could not guarantee that the game would be fully modifiable, but replacing uniforms and music should be possible". One of the first Easter Eggs was introduced around the same time as well.

How_To_Get_Away_With_Murder_In_Yandere_Simulator — How To Get Away With Murder In Yandere Simulator

In the spring of 2015, a number of different mechanics related to homicide got added and refined. Now the player had to dispose of the evidence before the end of the school day or the Police arrival. The students also got proper reactions to murder. The video demonstrated only one persona — Coward, at that time functioning as a "Loner" in modern versions of the game, but five types in total were planned: Coward (currently "Loner"), Teacher's Pet, Social Butterfly, Fragile (currently "Coward"), and Evil. In addition to that, the calendar screen was introduced for the first time. Later in March, the developer reworked the mechanics of the photography and Info-chan's reactions to different types of photos, including pantyshots, bringing them close to their current version. However, no services, drops or schemes were implemented yet. In March 15th, 2015 blogpost, YandereDev thanked his Patreon subscribers, stating that "(…) Now I can make my hobby my job!".^[10] The first anniversary of the game's development was "celebrated" in April 2015, accompanied by two parody spin-off games: Kuudere Simulator and Super Yandere 64. After that, the developer continued working on various mechanics related to the stealth aspect of the game. So, in April 2015, Senpai finally got a proper daily routine and reactions to Ayano's suspicious behavior, the kidnapping elimination method, and other male students were added.

Around that time, the popularity of the game increased significantly, which led to an increased number of "junk" e-mails; since at that time YandereDev was trying to respond to every email, there was very little time left to develop the game; the problem even got a small blog post dedicated to it. However, many of the emails were actually from volunteers who were ready to help with animations, 3D and 2D assets, voice acting and other resources.^[11]

Eavesdropping,_Notes_in_Lockers,_and_Faking_Suicide — Eavesdropping, Notes in Lockers, and Faking Suicide

In May 2015, another mechanic related to the stealth aspect of the game was added: teachers. They had pretty much the same mechanics in the first version they were introduced in with a few missing features. The main differences were the lack of a "daily routine" (they just stood in their classrooms all day), the same appearance and the instant "Expelled" Game Over if the protagonist was caught doing something inappropriate but not illegal — the guidance counselor mechanics were added much later. The Teacher's Pet persona was introduced in the same version as well. After that, in May 2015, the mechanics of the rivals' "events", notes, and a third method of elimination, Fake Suicide, were added to the game. Starting from that moment, all elimination methods up to the demo version were demonstrated on Kokona Haruka instead of Victim-chan; and unlike Victim-chan, Kokona was given a full-fledged backstory and events.

In the summer of 2015, the developer mostly worked on introducing new elimination methods to the game. Poisoning was introduced in the first half of June: at that time, the player had to have 20 Study Points and raise their Chemistry stat to Level 1 to find a lethal poison in the Science Lab. Other poisons and methods of obtaining it have not yet been added. A few weeks later, another elimination method was introduced: drowning. At that time, it was possible to drown only Kokona at a specific time of the day, when she was standing near the fountain or in the toilet. The rest of June and July were mostly spent fixing various bugs, adding and refining small mechanics, as well as communicating and organizing work with volunteers. The next major update was the addition of electrocution and pushing students off the roof. In the same version, Mysterious Tapes were introduced; the Wi-Fi signal strength on the phone indicated how close the nearest tape was. In addition, in the second half of August, the possibility of customization of Senpai and a more serious introduction cutscene were added, explaining Ayano's motivation and showing how she "met" Info-chan. This version of the cutscene will remain practically unchanged up to the current versions of the game.

Autumn began with the introduction of the school atmosphere and the refinement of customization options — for example, the choice to choose school uniforms was added. An infographic showing the growing popularity of the game compiled by the site RockyBytes.com was also shown.^[12] In July 2015, 1,220,000 search queries with the keywords "Yandere Simulator" were sent to Google, and the number of downloads was about 2,400,000. In September, the developer took a two-week vacation from the game, deciding to also hold a fanart contest with the theme of Yandere-chan cosplaying Quiet from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The winner was a user with the nickname PixelNoodle, who received the Steam code for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. This was the first of many fanart contests held in the future. After this two-week break, a screen with information about all students was added (before that, you could only access the profile by taking a picture of a student).

In October, the mechanics of tasks and "befriending" students were added, Yandere-chan's bedroom got a makeover, new features, gossip as an elimination method, and interaction types were introduced. The torture elimination method was added about a week later: the main difference from the current version was the inability to choose who exactly the victim should kill, as well as the lack of need to feed the victims. The Halloween update introduced a mini-game Yanvania: Senpai of the Night; it served as a two-week break from developing the main game and demonstrating the overall mechanics of the mini-games. On November 15th, 2015, YandereDev added 9 clubrooms, a new persona called the "Heroic" persona, 10 new students: the Martial Arts Club students and the Occult Club students, mangas with a seduction skill, and the school area redesign — from that point forward, the overall look will stay roughly the same. After that, the pace of development slowed down somewhat due to the number of emails and the fact that the list of mechanics that could have been implemented in less than two weeks was finally over. In this regard, no major updates were published in December.

In 2015, the blog reached about 4 million visits and one million visitors. A significant portion of the traffic came from the blog on AlphaBetaGamer, Facebook, VKontakte group and the Brazilian Baixaki website, and most of the visitors were from the USA, Mexico and Brazil.^[13]

In 2014—2015, the main focus of development was on adding key game mechanics and new elimination methods, as development had just begun. At this time, the foundations of the game were being laid. At the time of December 2015:

The disclaimer at the start of the game was stating that the game was 13 % complete and could not be completed yet.
A significant number of the elimination methods were introduced, but there was still no matchmaking, befriend/betray, burning, rejection, expulsion, and framing.
Corpses could not be dismembered (this did not work, although it was technically introduced in early versions). They could only be disposed of using an incinerator and hidden in toilet cubicles. There were no other ways of disposal or temporary storing. The students did not react to the blood.
Info-chan services have not yet been fully introduced into the game, although the panty shots mechanic has already been added.
A small town was added, but the only functionality was cycling to school. It didn't provide any bonuses or effects.
The mechanics of joining clubs have not yet been fully introduced, although the Martial Arts, Cooking, and Occult Club have already been added. Several other clubs, including the Sewing Club, which was never fully implemented. It could be seen in the profiles of some students, but their members did not do anything.
The student info screen had 28 slots for students and 7 more for teachers. In total, the school had 25 students and 5 teachers.
- Technically, Oka Ruto was already introduced, and it was mentioned in her profile that she was in love with Senpai, but no relevant mechanics were added until her "removal".
In 2015, the amount of money received from Patreon exceeded $3,500 each month, and $9441.06 went to the "surplus". However, almost immediately after that, Druelbozo was paid $8,500 in addition to the $500 per month, resulting in total amount of $941.06 left.^[14]

Expanding the Mechanics (2016—2017)

After adding almost all of the key mechanics in 2014—2015, the main focus shifted to adding and expanding the elimination methods and then working on the first official rival, Osana.

In the winter and spring of 2016, many students got new appearance and unique hairstyles instead of the modified models of Ayano's hairstyle with different types of ponytails. The rooms and other locations were gradually getting new props, alongside with various minor mechanics. In January 2016, it finally became possible to actually join the clubs; however, at that time Ayano could only join martial arts and occult club, as the Placeholder Club Leaders were added later. On February 3rd, three new personas were added: coward, evil and social butterfly, along with the photography club, placeholder club leaders, club accessories, and updated appearances of students and teachers.

Ayano asks to stop — Ayano in *Please Stop* blog.

With the game popularity growing, the number of emails the developer was receiving every day increased significantly, including "meaningless" ones that took a lot of time to filter through. The developer tried to add a page with "already known bugs" (which now redirects to the official website), and several blogposts were released asking not to send e-mails with "questions, new characters or the game ideas, or thoughts on the situation with emails, and only write about volunteering, bugs, showing fan work, imposters, or if you're a journalist". According to one of the blogs, in the "worst case scenario" it took 8-12 hours to read emails, but it happened only a few times a month at maximum; the usual time it took was 4-6 hours. Automatic filters and such partially helped, but not in all cases, as some volunteers often failed to make the title of their email clear, and other people, on the contrary, deliberately made false ones.^[15] Hiring a secretary wasn't an option, as it would involve way too many risks.^[16] However, later in April 2017, the developer acknowledged these blogposts as a mistake, as they were giving the impression that he did not want to communicate with fans at all, and not simply didn't want to deal with letters from children, which led to many misunderstandings and rumors.^[17]

Yandere_Simulator-_Past,_Present,_and_Future — Yandere Simulator- Past, Present, and Future

In January 2016, a video reflecting on the "Yandere Simulator's past, present and future" was published.^[18] It was announced that the estimated release date of the game is 2019, taking into account about a year to prepare for the crowdfunding campaign and two more years for further development. For the first time, the silhouettes of the rivals and a list of mechanics to be implemented before the campaign were shown:

5 different personas, 15 eliminations (8 of which were already implemented), one rival, "sound effects and music", guidance counselor, pantyshots, Study Points, SNAP mode, proper design for all characters, interactions with students and their daily routine, stealth attacks, intro cutscene, school atmosphere, sanity-based killing animations, student reacting to corpses, blood, and dismembered limbs.
After the campaign, it was planned to add all the rivals, endings, a full-fledged tutorial, additional modes, as well as "Easter eggs and secrets"; and if the campaign turns out to be particularly successful, translation to other languages, a small town, and "additional bug fixes" into the game.
Three ways to shorten the development time were presented and rejected: sell the game to a publisher (that could remove or abandon many mechanics), reduce the scale (which could disappoint too many people), or launch a crowdfunding campaign earlier (which could lead to fail).

Yandere_Simulator_Is_Banned_From_Twitch — Yandere Simulator Is Banned From Twitch

Less significant to the development process events include the proposal to rename the game.^[19], which ultimately did not happen, as well as the ban on streaming the game on Twitch. The developer stated that he was willing to remove minor features, such as pupil textures in Titan Mode or a 'cloud of steam' as a form of censorship, but not key gameplay mechanics.^[20]. In the winter of 2017, several theories were suggested to explain this ban, even though other games with similar content were not banned. These theories included misunderstandings, later-deleted content (such as partial "nudity"), bias against anime-style games, bias towards games that could bring the platform more money due to their popularity, and the influence of radical representatives of social movements within the moderation team. Despite media attention and repeated attempts to contact Twitch’s moderation team, no response was received at the time of the video's release.^[21]

Response_From_Twitch — Response From Twitch

Shortly after the video was released, a year after the game was blocked, Twitch sent an official response. They claimed that they do not intentionally search for games to block but review them when a sufficient number of complaints accumulate. Yandere Simulator was banned due to "two modes involving nudity" (Titan Mode and the ability to undress in the shower, both of which were removed prior to the response), panty shots mechanic, "the only way to eliminate being murder", and "the game's focus on murder and sexual harassment, while being set in a school". They also stated that nudity might be "partially acceptable if it is not the main focus of the game" and mentioned they would not lift the ban until the game is completed, as other content might be added during development that could violate their platform's rules. The developer partially agreed with their reasoning but pointed out that, at the time of the video’s release, the game Conan Exiles had recently launched, featuring characters being nude on the screen almost all of the time, yet it had never been banned on the platform. Considering this, the developer stated that "The "Twitch Saga" is officially over".^[22]

Dismemberment mechanics were added, but characters did not react to dismembered limbs, and male students could not be dismembered. The first, prototype version of the delinquents was introduced, though they were later moved to the 1980s mode as full-fledged characters. At that time, the delinquents weren't fully-fledged students and appeared and disappeared on a timer. The protagonist couldn't fight them; if Ayano approached them with a weapon or a corpse, they would attack her, resulting in a Game Over.

Old inventory revamp — An example of the new inventory.

At the end of June, the developer proposed a new version of the inventory, which led to a controversy. The idea was to have the inventory appear as part of the protagonist's skirt, which she would unbutton to retrieve items from it.^[23] A survey was conducted to gauge how logical and tasteful the mechanic was, and while most players reacted neutrally, 11 % expressed strong disapproval. In response, the developer proposed an alternative where the skirt would have a second layer to avoid exposing the protagonist. The developer also noted that many players are drawn to "non-standard" solutions that "safe games" typically avoid, but ultimately, the idea was never implemented.^[24]

In early July, a video was released proposing another controversial mechanic: when burying a corpse in the garden, the protagonist would also have to kill a kitten and bury it on top of the corpse to confuse the police and their dogs. However, this idea was later abandoned due to its illogical nature. The developer explained that such a tactic would likely be too obvious for the police and would probably fail, and the mere act of burying a kitten in that manner would raise suspicion on its own. The developer also stated that he wouldn't want to add any features that would require redundant lore explanations to them.^[25]

“

This has become a pattern, hasn’t it?

Suggest new inventory system. Controversy! Next day, decide to change the nature of the inventory system. Not because of controversy, but because of game design. Suggest new combat system. Controversy! Next day, decide not to proceed with the suggested combat system. Not because of controversy, but because of game design. Suggest new corpse-elimination method. Controversy! Next day, decide to change the corpse-elimination method. Not because of controversy, but because of game design. Most of the time, I don’t impulsively talk about new mechanics; most of the time, I critically examined all of the possible flaws of an idea, and consider multiple alternatives before I speak about it. However, every now and then, I get so enthusiastic about an idea that I want to share it with the world right away, before I’ve thought critically about it…which, sadly, almost always ends negatively for me.

If you take any lessons away from the “kitten controversy”, it’s this: game development is about tossing around ideas. Some ideas stick, some ideas don’t. I’m going to be tossing around lots of ideas…that’s how we make a better game. You definitely shouldn’t freak out when you hear an idea you don’t like, because that idea might disappear the very next day for a completely arbitrary reason.

”

— July 29th Bug-Fixing Build (and thoughts on kittens)

Other notable events during this period include the launch of the game's official website and launcher in July 2016^[26], surpassing 1 million subscribers on the official channel in early September^[27], and the release of the official rivals introduction on September 28, 2016.^[28]

Some of the smaller changes made between the summer and winter of 2016 include:

The addition of expulsion, burning, crushing, befriend/betray and matchmaking elimination methods.
New features such as a video game club, a fully fleshed-out daily routine and appearance for teachers, Pose Mod, graphics settings, mechanics for reacting to the murder of loved ones, radio, murder animations based on sanity, and other minor updates.
The introduction of Mission Mode, initially with 9 difficulty levels and no Nemesis, which was added shortly after the mode's release.

Alongside other mechanics, a lot of work has been dedicated to implementing Osana — her story was developed further, the necessary assets were slowly gathered, and relevant mechanics were integrated into the game. The developer released a video explaining why adding a rival to the game isn’t a simple task, emphasizing that each new rival requires careful design of daily routines, events, elimination methods, and cutscenes. Around the same time, a proposal was made to add special locations for friendship/betrayal eliminations, however, Kokona's befriend/betray method did not involve any stealth missions.^[29] The developer also shared progress on Osana and worked to improve the game's frame rate — some videos from that time show the game running at about 30 frames per second, with a 15 FPS indicator visible due to the videos being recorded in the engine's editor, which reduces the frame rate by half.^[30] Other interesting trivia include that some of the mechanics were added with the help from other developers, such as the clothing change feature for members of the martial arts club, which was added with the help of Saracen.

By the end of 2016, the blog activity data was summarized^[31]:

In 2014, the official blog received 184,000 views; in 2015, it received 29,988,586 views; and in 2016, it reached 49,337,919 views.
In 2014, it had 67,937 unique visitors; in 2015, it had 8,400,668; and in 2016, it had 12,404,339.
The busiest day in 2014 saw 10,441 visits; in 2015, there were 216,504 visits; and in 2016, 371,386 visits.

In 2017, the developer continued to work actively on Osana and refine various aspects of the game, while also publishing videos about the game's lore and potential future mechanics. The system for working with volunteers was finalized, and a "style guide" along with other documents were created. Some tasks, such as the development of the maid cafe mini-game, were delegated to other developers.^[32]. In January, the developer announced a change in his work schedule, deciding to reduce his daily work hours from 12 to 10, take one day off per month, and take one two-week vacation per year.^[33]

The_Future_of_Yandere_Simulator's_Character_Models — The Future of Yandere Simulator's Character Models

Among the important ideas and prototypes introduced in 2017 were the maid cafe mini-game (which began development in 2017 but was added later), discussions about a small town, the concept of "driving to murder", and potential new character models.^[34]. The idea of incorporating the Yakuza as a fully-fledged game mechanic was also proposed^[35]. For the first time, the concept of "organic game design" was explained: character behavior should not be limited to predetermined events but should instead change depending on the player's actions.^[36] During this time, LoveSick mode and bug mechanics were introduced into the game, marking the first working alternative to panty shots^[37]

On March 1st, 2017, the developer started working with tinyBuild: their team rewrote the game from JavaScript to C# and transferred it from the 4th to the 5th version of the Unity engine, while YandereDev was able to continue working on Osana and other aspects of the game, rather than spending several months trying to do it on his own, thus avoiding pausing the development.^[38] The work was completed in July 2017. Thanks to this, the Osana—related scripts were significantly improved, the game was able to use more than 4 GB of RAM, and the compilation time of the game was reduced from 90 seconds to 5, which significantly accelerated further development process.^[39]. Work with tinyBuild ended in December 2017, but it was only explained six months later, and comments about it were deleted — which the developer later said to be "one of his worst mistakes". The main reason for canceling the partnership was that it was extremely inconvenient to rewrite the code of a game that was in active development but suspending it for this could greatly affect its popularity and reputation^[40]

In the video "The Curious Case of Kokona Haruka", the role of Kokona as a "guinea pig" with experiments conducted on her was explored in depth. The video proposed the idea of a tutorial featuring Kokona, discussed how Kizana would differ from her in appearance, and speculated about the possibility of Kokona becoming a DLC rival in the future.^[41] Additionally, the origin of Midori was revealed, and it was hinted that she could also become a DLC rival.^[42] Several videos were also released that delved into the character and childhood of Ayano^[43]

Important updates in 2017 included the introduction of mechanics of stealing keys, placeholder students in the gardening club, drops, and poisoning. New NPCs, including the principal and nurse, were finally added as fully fleshed-out characters. The year also saw the addition of cleaning time, missing person posters, consequences for having too low a reputation, gradual improvements to the school environment and a swimming pool, and proper designs and descriptions for each of the club leaders. By the end of the year, the student council was added.

Between 2016 and 2017, significant focus was placed on adding various elimination methods, refining core mechanics such as club activities, and progressively developing the game's storyline. As of December 2017:

Nearly all elimination methods had been added, but only functional for Kokona.
Dismemberment mechanics, delinquents, an alternative to panty shots, bonuses for joining all clubs, Info-chan's services, and the student council had been introduced.
The only fully functioning students included the "Rainbow Six" (who were not in any clubs), the occult and martial arts clubs, the Basu sisters, Midori, Pippi, Ryuto, Mai, Kuu, Musume, the student council, teachers, and the nurse. Mission Mode had an option to activate an "increased school population", which added randomly generated NPCs.
Although planned, Ayano still could not be sent to the guidance counselor for unacceptable behavior and was expelled immediately instead.
A fully functioning gym, male showering room, outdoors cafeteria, and Zen gardens were still missing, and there was a large empty space between the school buildings. Most rooms were either empty or used placeholder models.
In 2016, the total savings amounted to $24,725.30, with $17,500 paid to volunteers, leaving $7,225.30 in surplus.^[44]. In 2017, the amount grew to $16,839.67, with $1,862 paid to volunteers (as only three individuals requested monetary compensation). The total surplus at the end of 2017 was $22,863.30, including the amount carried over from the previous year.^[45]

Demo Preparations (2018—2019)

In 2018, most of the resources, basic mechanics, and events related to Osana were already completed, so development shifted focus to adding new mechanics, students, and filling the school rooms with proper models. However, work on Osana continued, with features like matchmaking, Raibaru Fumetsu, and befriend/betray elimination still in development.

The_Photography_Club_and_Sleuths_in_Yandere_Simulator — The Photography Club and Sleuths in Yandere Simulator

The major updates in 2018 included the addition of the bullies and related mechanics, along with two new persona types: Phone Addict and Fragile. In April, now fully functional delinquents were added, along with the videos explaining their backstory, gameplay mechanics and the way of joining their gang. During the summer, new clubs were introduced, including science, photography, gardening, sports, drama, cooking, game, and art clubs. In September, the light music club was added. By the end of the year, all clubs and groups had been added into the game.

Other key updates besides the clubs included the mechanic of being sent to the guidance counselor, several new Headmaster's Tapes, the Evil persona being changed to Spiteful, and the ability to "alter" the protagonist's personality using a mirror. Additionally, the school building was filled with props, the official website was updated, new background events and conversations were added, and the amount of empty space on the school territory has been reduced. Small cutscenes were introduced, such as one at the end of the day and another when the protagonist's reputation drops below −100, as well as a memorial service. In December 2018, a save system was added, allowing for multiple save files and the ability to save during the school day, though it was still in its early stages. The developer also attempted to implement a new inventory system but eventually abandoned it.^[46]

In the summer of 2018, the first major controversy surrounding the game began. The main criticisms were the "delayed" development of Osana, the "poor quality" of the game's code, and various personal attacks on the developer, including ones based on his teenage years. In response, YandereDev released several videos attempting to explain the situation, address certain rumors,^[47] and clarify the situation with his partnership with tinyBuild^[48] in June 2018. According to the developer, these circumstances slowed game development due to a decline in his mental health. Around the same time, an official subreddit for the game was created, where fans could discuss the game "without an atmosphere of hatred."^[49] However, he later admitted that some of his decisions, such as deleting negative comments and disabling the comments section on certain videos, were extremely poor decisions that only fueled further misunderstandings. By December 2018, he mentioned that he had received significant support from fans, had consulted with lawyers about possible actions (though it seems this led to little), and created a page on the official website to debunk the most common rumors.^[50]

In April 2019, the developer reported that the pace of development had slowed due to burnout from nearly constant work on the game, including 13-hour workdays with little sleep. He explained that, from his perspective, "delaying development" made little to no sense. However, he also mentioned that he was close to completing the to-do list needed to release the demo.^[51]

“

When I look back at my high school years, I can recall hundreds of fun experiences. The same goes for my time in college, and my time at a video game company. However, when I look back at the past 5 years of my life, I only remember one thing: sitting at a computer, working on Yandere Sim, and being miserable most of the time. I had a “teenage” phase, an “early 20s” phase, and a “mid 20s” phase, but I didn’t get to have a “late 20s” phase. There’s a giant gap in my life where my late 20s were supposed to be.

”

— Yandere Simulator’s 5-Year Anniversary!

The first half of 2019 was primarily spent working on existing elimination methods and balancing mechanics, while the second half focused on finalizing the exact elimination methods and Osana-related events. A significant amount of time was spent on bug fixes. Additionally, improving the game's framerate was still an ongoing work, and smaller mechanics were added, along with improvements to various locations. In July 2019, the developer announced that to finish work on Osana, he needed to complete Raibaru, add Osana's suitor, include a quest related to befriend/betray elimination, and eliminate all remaining exploits, bugs, and flaws in the game mechanics.^[52]

Yandere_Simulator_May_2019_Progress_Report — Yandere Simulator May 2019 Progress Report

Among the key updates and improvements, a new poisoning mechanic was introduced — students can now be distracted from their food during lunch, and in addition to the deadly and emetic poisons, two new types were added. The framing mechanic was also redesigned: rather than relying on a single specific event with a single specific student, it was expanded to allow framing almost any student. The mechanics for pouring liquids on others were reworked as well — the ability to "trip" with a bucket was removed, and almost all students could now fall into a "bucket door" trap. Characters got the ability to notice and react appropriately to blood, dismembered limbs, and weapons left in inappropriate places. Notes could now be left for everyone, and students could be asked to check lockers. Additionally, if more than five people witness a murder, Ayano would be arrested regardless of the evidence. Several non-obvious mechanics were also refined or explained through pop-up tutorials.

Many rooms received additional decorations, including the Info Club, and Zen Gardens were added. Fire extinguishers, previously used as mere decorations, were reworked into fully functional weapons. With the addition of four new students, it became possible to crush Otohiko Meichi's head when he stumbled and fell between the school gates. However, the biggest update was the introduction of a fully functional "small street" in Buraza Town, complete with some small shops.^[53]

Joining_The_Delinquent_Gang_in_Yandere_Simulator — Joining The Delinquent Gang in Yandere Simulator

Other significant additions included multi-missions, the ability to join a gang of delinquents, and an update to Yandere-chan's behavior when her sanity is low — she began experiencing hallucinations and losing control over her actions. Taro also began to tear off Ayano's mask if he witnessed a murder. A school map was added, along with the creation of Yancord, thanks to AMZE’s help. Fedora Dev assisted with implementing the maid cafe mechanics, and a third anonymous developer provided advice on improving the game's FPS.^[54] Additionally, Ayano could now watch anime in her bedroom, and the opening cutscene received proper visuals.

All students also received their own interests on various topics, which could be learned through Stokr, along with their "reputation charts", a feature developed with the help of Abcight, and proper profile descriptions. Compared to previous years, the number of videos explaining the game’s lore decreased, but despite this, a short manga detailing the origin of Nemesis was released in August 2019.^[55]

2019 channel demographic — Official channel's demographic in 2019.

An equally important aspect of development was the ongoing improvement of the game's frame rate. In June 2019, the developer published a post analyzing the causes of the low frame rate and possible solutions. Early in development, he aimed to make the game run at 60 FPS even on older computers, but eventually realized that this goal was unrealistic for a game of this scale. According to the engine's built-in analyzer, some of the major factors that contributed to the heavy load on the system included pathfinding (NPC finding their way to their current destination), physics calculations, animations, HUD updates, and various checks performed by the game. The most demanding aspects, such as rendering characters and environments, explain why the game tends to slow down the most at the start of the day, when 90 characters and nearly the entire school are present on the screen.^[56]

By the end of December 2019:

All students have been added to the game, each with their own appearance, description, reputation, and interests.
Almost all major mechanics were functioning similarly to the current versions.
The school building and exterior areas had almost reached their final appearance.
New mechanics related to the guidance counselor and the police were introduced, along with several new cutscenes for different situations.
Work on Osana and her elimination methods was nearly completed.
In 2018, $6,612.86 was raised, with $3,449 paid out to volunteers, leaving a total surplus of $26,027.16.^[57] In 2019, only $157.68 was saved, with $1,873 paid out to volunteers, bringing the total surplus amount to $24,311.84.^[58]

Overall, the game was nearly ready for the release of the official demo, which was launched about six months later.

Official Demo & 1980s Mode (2020—2021)

Development roadmap published in early 2020.

The first half of 2020 was focused on implementing improvements and new features ahead of the official demo release featuring Osana.

On January 1st, 2020, the "final stage of Osana development" was announced. With all planned functionality now implemented, the developer began addressing bugs and refining odd or unclear mechanics. For example, the bucket and mop were originally placed in only one specific female's bathroom, which was confusing for new players. The developer also planned to upgrade the game to a newer engine version, redesign the main menu, add the SNAP mode, and generally refresh the game's appearance.^[59]

In February, a new game launcher was introduced, and the game was optimized and upgraded to Unity 2019 with the assistance of an anonymous developer.^[60] During the spring, several new features were added, including mechanics such as phone theft, a revamped basement area, new SNAP and Alphabet Killer Challenge modes, and dialogues between the Basu sisters and the science club members. Development also began on a save system that would allow players to save their progress within the school.

Throughout the first half of the summer, work continued on the save system, the "genocide" ending was introduced, some old dialogues were rewritten, new headmaster's tapes were added, more rooms received proper models, and the user interface was updated. The latest version, just before the demo, was uploaded on July 2nd.^[61]

“

Until 2020, Osana was not my primary focus, so I didn’t feel embarrassed that she wasn’t released. “Of course she’s not done yet! She’s not a priority! It doesn’t make sense to work on Osana until all of the core mechanics are in place!” However, now that all of the core mechanics are in place, and Osana has become my only focus, I feel like she really should have been done by now. So, although I never felt ashamed before, it is now that I am finally starting to feel embarrassed that Osana is taking so long to complete. It’s a bad feeling, and it’s lighting a fire under me to hurry up and finish her.

”

— July 1st Progress Report

On July 14th, 2020, the developer published a post explaining why development had taken so long — the main reason for it named to be the intense harassment that began around January 2017.^[62]

“

Starting around January 2017, I began to receive massive amounts of harassment. This was the point in time when people began to:

Prank call my phone
Send weird things to my house
Post my personal information online
Make attempts to hack into my accounts
Send me lengthy essays telling me why I should kill myself
Flag all of my social media to try to get my accounts banned
Try to convince my team members to stop contributing to the project
Submit false reports to the police in an attempt to get the SWAT team to show up at my house
Spam me with gifs of people being killed, dead bodies, pictures of mutilated genitals, gore, scat porn, bestiality, animal abuse, gifs of animals getting killed, etc.

Many content creators receive harassment, but what people have been doing to me has gone far above and beyond what a person usually experiences on the Internet. I wish I could be an emotionless robot or a solid stone wall that is not affected by this stuff, but the truth is that, yes, it has affected me. Receiving all kinds of abuse and mistreatment on a daily basis gradually impacted my mental health, resulting in depression, lost enthusiasm, lost motivation, and most importantly, lost productivity.

”

— What is taking so long?

On August 1st, 2020, the developer shared a live-updating Trello checklist for Osana's development, offering transparency about the ongoing work.^[63] Osana was officially released on August 31st, 2020. The majority of September was spent addressing bugs, with new updates being released nearly every day for the first two weeks. By October 1st, the daily bug reports had dropped from 200 to fewer than 10. The developer's plans included further refining the game based on player feedback, releasing a video about the game's development history, and then potentially launching a crowdfunding campaign. If successful, this campaign would allow the developer to hire professional voice actors, animators, and other specialists, and in other case, he'd have to find a publisher or investors. In either case, after the campaign, the plan was to find a new lead developer (replacing him as the lead programmer) and rework the game's code.^[64]

How_Your_Feedback_Improved_the_Yandere_Simulator_Demo — How Your Feedback Improved the Yandere Simulator Demo

By November 15th, 2020, most of the major issues in the demo had been addressed, with many smaller improvements made to existing mechanics. Among the more notable experiments was the "stealthy panty shots" mechanic, as well as an attempt to implement a "fake shock" reaction when witnessing a murder, which was eventually scrapped. Development then shifted toward further refining and improving the game rather than simply fixing issues. By December, several new features were introduced, including a calendar on Ayano's phone to track characters events, a basic version of revamped socializing system where Ayano could express opinions on various topics, and the initial version of achievements, called the "content checklist" back then. Bounties from Info-chan were added as an alternative to installing bugs, stealing phones, and making panty shots. Mechanics related to Raibaru were adjusted to make her less annoying, and pop-up tutorials were made less intrusive, no longer interrupting the gameplay.

The year 2020 ended with ongoing speculation about the timing of a potential crowdfunding campaign, the release of Amai, and when the game might be completed. As a demonstration of how Amai could differ from her predecessor, the developer introduced the Amai Challenge, where the main obstacles included the inability to talk to Amai, students, and dealing with a "broken" incinerator. No specific date was set for the crowdfunding campaign, as its success would require studying the successes and failures of other campaigns, consulting with other developers, and refining both the campaign process and the game itself. The developer also suggested waiting for the end of the pandemic before asking people to donate money to a game's development. Despite this, the release of Amai was still planned for after the campaign. .^[65]

By the end of February 2021, the developer released a blog post noting that, for much of the game's development, each update had introduced some major change or addition: new eliminations, new students, demo release. However, by that point, the development had entered a phase where most updates were focused on "collecting feedback from players" and "identifying and eliminating issues with specific mechanics", such as improving the corpses disposal process. Due to the nature of these updates, it became increasingly difficult to predict when this stage of development would be considered complete.^[66]

During this period, several notable changes and innovations were introduced, including the refinement of the dismemberment process, the ability to wash clothes instead of burning them, the option to distract students with Bang Snaps, and the ability to dump a corpse into the sewer. Two new mechanics were also added to allow players to skip time in non-standard ways: reading in the library after class to skip 30 minutes and skipping the waiting time for the police's arrival or the discovery of a corpse by informing the teachers about the "found" body. Additionally, the developer once again focused on refining the mechanics related to Raibaru.

How_does_YandereDev_feel_about_Yandere_Simulator_being_in_development_for_seven_years? — How does YandereDev feel about Yandere Simulator being in development for seven years?

For the game's seventh anniversary, the developer released a video sharing various thoughts about the game's development. The main point emphasized was that, although the game was originally envisioned as a small project that one person could complete in about a year, the scope of the project grew significantly over time. Until 2017, the developer followed a clearly outlined plan, focusing on adding a set number of mechanics, and positioned the development process in public with this goal in mind. However, when the focus shifted in 2017 toward deepening the mechanics and the overall game experience, while also considering what players found most interesting, the developer continued to describe the project as "a game where you have to kill 10 girls." According to the developer, the game evolved into something much larger than anticipated — "a game where you can kill 1 girl and a ton of additional content". This shift led many to believe that the developer was intentionally delaying the game’s progress, even though this was not the case. The developer clarified that it was never in his best interest to delay the game, as he also wanted to work on other projects and stop having to deal with ongoing harassment.^[67]

At the end of March 2021, the development of the 1980s Mode was announced, with the developer stating that it would be something "that will allow some people to consider Yandere Simulator a finished game."

Minor improvements continued through to June 15th, including the ability to leave small notes for the Senpai, the introduction of all five bounties from Info-chan, psychology skill bonuses, and a crafting system in the workshop. On June 15th, it was announced that the latest version of the game contained only one rival. By August 1st, the developer reported progress on a new system that allowed him to add all of a rival's events in just a few hours, compared to the several weeks it previously took. This system also ensured that all mechanics and fixes were properly adjusted to accommodate the game now having 10 rivals.^[68]

1980s_Mode_Announcement_Trailer — 1980s Mode Announcement Trailer

The 1980s Mode was officially released on October 10th, 2021. Its main differences from the main game, aside from its completeness, included a protagonist and Senpai with distinct personalities, a full tutorial sequence, the return of old characters, the Yakuza, and an actual ending. This mode was designed to demonstrate that introducing 10 rivals into the game wasn’t as difficult as it seemed, and the main thing that delayed the development was waiting for unique animations and voice acting. As a result, the rivals and events related to Jokichi were limited to using animations already available in the game, with their differences mostly reflecting in their behavior and the circumstances under which Ryoba needed to eliminate them.^[69]

After the release of 1980s Mode, the developer focused on refining the mode itself and improving the game mechanics to accommodate the addition of 10 rivals.^[70] In addition to various small updates, a new version of the Alphabet Killer Challenge was released, Ayano’s hairstyle model was updated for the first time, the game launcher was re-updated, and the "quick week select" function was added.

By December 2021, the following milestones were achieved:

The official demo featuring the first main rival, Osana, was released.
1980s Mode, featuring complete story and 10 rivals was released a year later.
SNAP mode, planned from the very beginning of the development, was finally implemented.
The game received various new additions, such as Alphabet Killer Challenge, improved save system and achievements, as well as many minor mechanics, such as the ability to craft items in the Workshop.
Many existing game mechanics were deepened and refined based on the feedback.
In 2020, no money from Patreon went to surplus, but $1,529 was paid to volunteers from existing savings, leaving a total savings amount of $22,782.84 for the year.^[71]
In 2021, the situation remained similar, with $2,827 paid to volunteers from the existing savings, leaving a total of $19,955.84 by the end of the year.^[72]

Ongoing Development (2022—2024)

Almost all of 2022 was dedicated to finalizing the game following the release of 1980s Mode. The developer focused on collecting player feedback, making appropriate improvements, and planned to release a video titled How Your Feedback Improved 1980s Mode, similar to the approach taken with the official demo version.^[73]

On the game's eighth anniversary, the developer posted a brief update discussing the "slow" development. He reiterated that the 1980s Mode was created to demonstrate that the game could be "finished" in three months, but with significant compromises. If that would be the case for the main mode, each rival would lack voice acting, unique animations and friendship or betrayal missions, essentially making them feel like "the same girl in different wigs.".^[74]

“

Here, look, I’ll describe a video game. Try to figure out which game I’m talking about:

It’s free.
It’s not possible to complete the main story yet.
It is regularly updated with new characters, events, and features.

What game am I describing? No, it’s not Yandere Simulator…it’s Genshin Impact, one of the most popular and successful games of the past 2 years. If you said, “The Genshin Impact developers suck! It’s been years and the game still isn’t done yet!” you’d sound like an idiot. That’s because everyone recognizes and acknowledges what type of game Genshin Impact is; it’s simply the type of game that is regularly updated with new content, not the type of game where the highest priority is releasing a finished main storyline ASAP.

In fact, since 2017, this type of game has been formally recognized as a category at the Game Awards: it’s called an “Ongoing Game.”

”

— Yandere Simulator’s 8th Anniversary

The developer then shifted focus to adding and refining various game mechanics, aiming to make the game "functionally complete" before introducing Ayano's rivals. He wanted the game to feel like a finished project rather than an unfinished one.^[75] Notable updates during this time included the introduction of a water cooler trap, the ability to pour water anywhere to electrocute students, new chat interaction mechanics, a chemical mixing system, the ability to kidnap multiple students at once, and a new system where disposing of weapons made them disappear permanently.

The_Mysterious_Disappearance_of_YandereDev — The Mysterious Disappearance of YandereDev

In March 2022, the second part of the Retribution manga was released.^[76] The developer also stated that he decided to not upload any videos to the main channel until finishing work on refining the 1980s mode.^[77] In the first half of the year, the developer made various updates to improve the game. These included increasing the loading speed, adding magazines where rivals noted what they find attractive in boys, and introducing various types of bags for the protagonist. The bedroom and school building designs were also updated. Additionally, all students in 1980s Mode received placeholder tasks to allow players to befriend them if needed, and the mechanics related to Sonoko were further improved.

Despite the developer's earlier negative comments in October about the experience of publishing a "to-do list before releasing a demo" on Trello, which led to various misunderstandings among fans.^[78], he decided to use it again on December 15th, this time to track the progress of the tutorial’s integration into the main mode.^[79]

New models WIP — New characters models WIP version shown in 2023.

The first updates of 2023, however, did not include the tutorial's introduction to the main mode. Instead, they focused on various improvements to the mechanics, including updates to the main mode, the publication of the "to-do list before the crowdfunding campaign".^[80], and discussions about potential new character models and their possible introduction into the game. The new version of the models would solve a number of technical problems and have more stylized proportions, better matching the official art style of the game. However, no male character models were shown, and it was stated that these models still require further work, but their creator hasn't been able to work on them since 2022 due to the situation between Ukraine and Russia, and it would be extremely difficult to find someone else with matching level of expertise.^[81]

Yandere_Simulator's_202X_Tutorial — Yandere Simulator's 202X Tutorial

A full tutorial in the main mode was finally added on February 2nd, 2023, along with new animations and other improvements.^[82] Afterward, the developer focused on completing tasks from the previously published list, along with additional features. Notable additions included a revamped "throwing bombs/bang snaps" system and "elimination planning" at the beginning of the first week.

During this time, the third chapter of Retribution manga was also published^[83], along with a separate application showing a concept of how a small town might look if added to the game in the form of a small "walking simulator".^[84]

On the ninth anniversary of the game’s development, a blog post was released reflecting on the duration of the project. The main idea of the post was, "I’d rather say, 'I updated a game for over 9 years, and lots of people were actively interested in the game and having fun with it the entire time!' than 'I released a game where you can stab 10 girls. People played it for a week and then moved on,'" while also discussing the game's genre and when it might be completed.^[85]

“

Even though Yandere Sim is not finished yet, you can do a lot of different activities and mess around in it like a sandbox. So, is Yandere Sim an “early access” game like Minecraft was? Kinda, but not really. I’m not charging for access to it yet.

Is it complete, or incomplete? It’s both, since 1980s Mode is complete, but the main story mode is not.

Is it a prototype? A demo? A v-slice? What the hell is it?

Well, it’s a free sandbox game that receives multiple updates every month, which contains one complete story mode, one incomplete story mode, and many different side-activities.

There, that was easy. It’s actually quite simple to describe Yandere Simulator. The hard part is getting people to judge Yandere Simulator based on the many hours of fun content that the game offers, instead of judging Yandere Simulator exclusively by the number of characters who are not yet in the game.

As I developed Yandere Simulator, I realized that it could offer more value than just being a game where you just kill 10 girls and watch the credits roll. I decided that expanding the game to include as much content as possible was more meaningful than just implementing 10 characters. So, I switched my focus from the main story mode to regularly updating the game with new features and activities. And, honestly, I feel like there is nothing wrong with making that decision.

”

— The 9th Anniversary of Yandere Simulator’s Development

Further updates leading up to September included cutscenes for the "true ending" of the 1980s mode, an update to the school map, and updates to process for framing a rival for theft and Lovesick mode. Several rooms and the exterior of the school were also updated, and new gameplay features were added, including the ability to grow poisonous plants. Additionally, two new ways to dispose of a corpse were introduced: growing a carnivorous plant and feeding the corpse to it in parts, or burning it in furnaces used for firing ceramic products.

On September 25th, the developer addressed accusations of grooming an underage fan by explaining the situation from his perspective. He acknowledged the mistakes he made and recognized the unacceptability of his behavior. He also announced that he had donated $1,000 to RAINN, an organization that supports victims of abuse/^[86] In the aftermath of the situation, many volunteers chose to discontinue their work on the project, and some requested that their contributions be removed from the game. On October 1st, the developer posted a blog in which he stated that he would be taking a break to reflect on the events, his actions, and his future steps.^[87]

“

It didn’t hit me until recently just how bad things had gotten. Haven’t left the house since July 2019, no real-life acquaintances, 16+ hours on the computer every day, no vacations in half a decade, prioritizing work above my physical health…it shouldn’t be any surprise whatsoever that when you allow both your body and mind to completely waste away, you dissolve into a “mistake machine” – a person that is capable of nothing but bad decisions, who exists solely to cause problems for others.

”

— Moving Forward

The next blog, released on October 15th, detailed his decision to likely stop responding to messages on Discord due to his busy schedule and life changes. He also mentioned that he had created a Guilded server exclusively for adult fans of the game, from which anyone exhibiting childlike or teenage behavior would be removed.^[88] On November 21st, the developer shared an update where he revealed he had started using an online therapy service, made significant lifestyle changes, and confirmed he was not planning to quit developing the game, though he was uncertain when the next version would be released.^[89]

No new game versions were released until the end of 2023.

On January 1st, 2024, the developer posted an explanation of the events that had occurred in recent months. He discussed the uncertain future of the game, noting that most of the voice actors had left the project, and those who offered to help did not meet the required quality standards. He also mentioned that a crowdfunding campaign was postponed due to concerns about his reputation and that selling a game to a publisher was not an option as no publishers seemed to be interested in it.^[90]

Despite these circumstances, a major update was released on January 5th, 2024, which introduced several significant new features: Custom Mode, Mission Mode for the 1980s mode, a new system for socializing with students, and expanded functionality for the remaining two demons and the dreams mechanics. The update also included a revamped school exterior, a new elimination involving crush a rival on a stage with a sandbag, and an updated inventory menu on the phone. In February, a new feature was added to Custom mode, allowing players to change the gender of all characters. Afterward, the developer shifted his focus entirely to working on Amai.

On March 31, 2024, the developer published a blog reflecting on the tenth anniversary of the game’s development.

“

When I first began developing Yandere Simulator, my intention was to make a short, simple, basic game about killing 10 girls. Over time, I gradually began to feel that it would be much more meaningful to provide a game that was constantly expanding and growing. A short novelty game would be forgotten in a matter of hours, but a continuously-updated game would be relevant for years. So, I decided to prioritize regularly adding new activities and mechanics to the game, rather than implementing 10 specific girls.

Whenever I hear someone say,

“I was in elementary school when I first heard about this game, and now I’m in college!”

I think,

"Yes."

”

— The 10th Anniversary of Yandere Simulator’s Development.

He explained that by January 2024, all the major mechanics he had wanted to include in the game had been added. However, this raised the question of how to handle the development of the rivals. The initial estimate for completing rival-related content was as follows: 5 days to develop the plot and dialogue, 5 days for unique mechanics for each rival, 5 days for various other tasks, 15 days to implement rejection elimination method, and 30 days to implement the befriend/betray elimination method. However, this estimate did not account for unforeseen changes, necessary revisions, bug fixes, or an adequate work schedule. As a result, two possible development paths were proposed: either to focus entirely on rival development, ignoring bug fixes or any new mechanics unrelated to the rivals, which could potentially allow for 3-4 rivals to be released per year, or to develop each rival over several months, and spending additional time refining the game afterwards, which would result in 1-2 rivals being released per year. Ultimately, no single approach was selected as the main plan.^[91]

Before Amai's release, the last major update was the ability to walk around Ayano's house, a feature that laid the groundwork for future mechanics.^[92]

Amai was officially released on May 1st, 2024, with the developer noting that she was "released, not finished." Due to the departure of many volunteers, the developer was forced to work primarily with existing assets, particularly the voice acting. He also outlined several mechanics he intended to add or revise, including improvements to the "dig through the rival's bag" mechanic, expulsion mechanics, the students activities (which were reading in the corridors), the lack of elimination schemes, and the idea of showing Amai in various poses in the main menu after her elimination, similar to Kizana.^[93] On June 15th, a few things from the survey results were added, such as adding functionality for one of the shops in Buraza town and a unique task for at least one student in the main mode.^[94]

By the end of 2024, most of the planned updates had been implemented, except for the elimination schemes for Amai and the addition of more varied student activities beyond simply reading in the corridors. Additionally, Homu Kurusu and all members of the cooking club received unique tasks. In late October, all students from the 1980s mode received completely updated appearances, making it easier to identify which group each student belonged to. Work also continued on custom mode, and descriptions and illustrations for several characters who previously lacked detailed profiles — such as Osana's stalker, Bankotsuko, and the Basu sisters — were published. The players could also now customize Ayano's hairstyle without using the Easter Eggs.

The major milestones and additions in that period include:

Amai Odayaka's official release in May 2024.
Custom Mode and 1980s Mission Mode releases.
Various new mechanics, such as stream chat interaction, wearable bags, dreams and new basement tape, the ability to walk around the house in the main mode, new corpse disposal methods, new elimination method in form of Homu Kurusu's task, new Social Media, the ability to change Ayano's hairstyle and other additions.
A lot of the mechanics were further revamped and refined — such as socializing system, electrocution elimination, and the ability to kidnap multiple students, including male.
In 2022, $589 was paid to volunteers, and the total amount of savings was $19,366.84.^[95] In 2023, payments totaled $3,800.80, with savings amounting to $15,566.04.^[96]

Present Time (2025-...)

For latest plans, news, and updates, see the official blog or Update History.

In 2025, several new features were introduced to Custom Mode, including the ability to modify a student's tasks, reputation, interpersonal relationships, and more. The developer also shared plans for the year ahead. Although he was initially optimistic about releasing Kizana in 2024, he recognized that Amai's initial release felt more like a fan-made mod than an official addition to the game. As a result, he decided to elevate the second week to the same standard set by Osana’s week before gathering the assets needed for the third week.^[97] He also stated that he will not begin actively seeking voice actors until the second week after completing all the tasks mentioned in the blog post.^[98]

Amai-related tasks included adjusting the dialogues, adding more events where Amai interacts with her club members individually and with students besides Senpai and her club, making cooking club members interact with each other during the baking sale, giving sitting in the hallways students more appropriate activities instead of reading, adding schemes for Amai eliminations, and several other changes to make the second week feel more natural and lively. The developer also shared a list of additions to Custom Mode he'd like to try implementing in January before fully focusing on Amai in the following months; the list included the ability to give students different routines each week, write the dialogue for club leaders, and rivals' confessions, assign "player hairstyles" to students and vice versa, and more.^[98]

Modding

Modding is modifying the game by any non-in-game means, such as changing and adding files or using third-party software and modifications. Yandere Simulator supports some basic modding features without using third-party software, however, most major mods use the Pose Mod by Kgftbz or special programs to extract and replace the files of a Unity engine-based game.

All basic characters data is stored in .json files, which allows the player to easily adjust it. After the release of the Custom Mode in 2024, it lost some of its importance but was a popular way of modifying the game before. In addition, the game also allows player to add and replace certain clothing textures, portraits, and background music by replacing the appropriate files without having to resort to using third-party programs.

Pose_Mod_2022_Update_-_Yandere_Simulator — Pose Mod 2022 Update - Yandere Simulator

A significant portion of mods and fan videos that feature their own cutscenes use Pose Mod from kgftbz, which utilizes and complements the game's internal systems, allowing players to use them directly in the game itself with a graphical interface, or creating and modifying certain files. Its main features include advanced editing of character poses, various special commands, and the ability to create your own cutscenes — which are essentially sets of commands that set the appearance, positions, and animations of characters, camera position, and so on, and more.

Spin-offs and Collaborations

At the moment, all spin-off games were released as April fools and easter eggs. The first three to be released were Kuudere Simulator and its subsequent parts; they were mainly created for the parody videos any had no meaningful gameplay. Three more spin-off games were parodies of other popular games and also contained almost no plot but had actual gameplay: Super Yandere 64 (Super Mario 64), Yandere Clicker (Cookie Clicker) and Midori Forest (Slender: The Eight Pages). Yanderetale was a parody of Undertale, featuring the same plot but using the actual characters from Yandere Simulator. The visual novel Burning Love had a full—fledged plot — the protagonist was a student from Akademi who had fallen in love with Flame Demon. The last spin-off game was Yandere no Sutoka, a parody of Saiko no Sutoka — a first—person horror game where you play as a "Senpai" and your goal is to hide from a yandere, find the keys and escape from the school.

During the development of the game, various collaborations were made with other games, mainly featuring popular characters from Yandere Simulator in the other game. After the controversy in 2023, almost all of them either completely removed the characters or tweaked them to remove the obvious collaboration with Yandere Simulator. The list of these games includes:

Crush Crush/Blush Blush — a dating simulator, featuring Ayano in October 2016 collaboration.^[99]
Go All Out! — a fighting game, featuring Ayano as one of the playable characters in January 2020 collaboration.
Project QT — adults-only game, featuring crossover event in March 2020 collaboration.^[100]
BITC (Boobs in the City) — an adults-only shooter featuring several characters from Yandere Simulator as playable characters in June 2020 collaboration.^[101]
Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals — horror-themed multiplayer battle game, featuring several characters and the school enviroment from Yandere Simulator in June 2023 collaboration.^[102]

Trivia

Yandere Simulator is not available on MacBook yet, however, YandereDev has provided a website that allows you to play Windows' games such as Yandere Simulator on MacBook.
The only way Yandere Simulator would be canceled is if the entire Internet simultaneously stopped caring about Yandere Simulator, a doctor told YandereDev he had only two months to live, or a meteor.^[103]
YandereDev wants nothing in the game to be random and wants no advantages or disadvantages based on luck or chance^[104] so that speedrunners can develop strategies and/or tactics.^[105] However, there was once a mention of a "Random Mode".^[106]
In June 2015, YandereDev got an offer for Yandere Simulator from a publisher/developer, but it was not appealing to him.^[107]
YandereDev does not want to include weather in the game.^[108]
The game uses "Futura Condensed Medium" font for most of the text, and LeviBrush for the LoveSick logo. Please note that most of the versions of Futura that are available online do not match the font used in the game.
YandereDev was inspired by Tokimeki Memorial for some of the game's elements.^[109]
The original plan for the main events of the game to happen one year in the future to explain any differences in technologies and ongoing events. However, YandereDev had stated that he may set the game in 2020, due to the fact that each time an actual year passes, he has to shift every event forward to one year.^[110]
If Yandere Simulator's development ends for any reason, YandereDev says that all of the game's lore and "planned plot twists" would be made available to everyone.^[111]
As of December 2023, YandereDev has nothing to announce on whether or not the game will become paid and when it will happen.^[112]
YandereDev had stated that he's willing to investigate the possibility of porting Yandere Simulator to Android and see if the game will be able to run smoothly on at least high-end devices at some point in 2025. In that case, the Android version will most likely "lag behind" in feature updates and have ads.^[98]