+Q/A - Yandere is Here To Stay: Debunking Confusion (Patreon)

In a recent post, we shared some screenshots from our most recent re-writes of SDJ.

However, it seems that there’s been a small bit of miscommunication!

A few SDJ fans have mentioned that they fear the game is being toned down from its original concept. While our re-writes do actively remove dialogue that unintentionally may be perceived as / dubious consent / or  / pressuring the player into sexual/romantic choices /, there are no intentions to remove yandere/horror content!

These rewrites will:

- Add additional backstory content to the game

- Re-phrase unintentionally dubious dialogue

- Fix pacing issues throughout the overall story

- Rewrite the demo as suitable for the story/narrative afterwards

- Emphasize consenting moments

———

Horror content and yandere content will still exist within the game.

There is 0% toning down of horror elements. Nothing has been censored, removed, or re-written that from the start, was intended to be there.

Our trigger warnings found on the Kickstarter are still very much valid, and we would caution players against thinking that the game will be tamer than initially advertised!

The yandere content is just being pushed back into the later portions of the game to aid with pacing! Jack’s motivations, character arcs, and story will be a little clearer with this proper set up and introduction to his story!

Consider the original demo to be “What if this was a game?”. There was a lot to articulate in the short original demo. However, this newer demo now knows it has more time to let the yandere really seep in.

Why does Jack love you? What problems are you and he facing? What could drive Jack to do something “wrong”? These questions and more are what we aim to answer!

As for dialogue that was unintentionally dubious— we understand that horror is made to make people uncomfortable. However, feedback from uncomfortable fans afterwards (and for a while now) has alerted us to discomfort that was not intentional.

It would be dangerous for us to utilize uncomfortable themes that arose without our intentions going forwards. While horror is meant to make people feel on edge, it is never meant to be wielded blindly. That’s a good way to misrepresent actually difficult issues.

We’ve been making steady announcements as to how to deal with this for a while— but over time, SP has found difficulty Re-writing the demo without significant portions of the story finished.

Now that we know where the story is truly going, we know how it will truly start! And we look forward to serving you all up a slice of what’s to come as we continue to go over these edits!

- Sauce

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[ Sauce answering - Context, a lot of this has been going on in development since 2021! So my memory may be a bit soft! Apologies for any errors! ]

Q: Why is dubcon being mentioned now?

A: Before now, I (Sauce) believed that we'd publicly disclosed "hey we see you, people uncomfortable with SDJ phrasing portions! We'll fix this!". I'd assumed everyone knew why everyone who was uncomfortable was uncomfortable. I thoroughly apologize for this lapse of communication on my part.

People have believed that it was the horror/yandere aspects being toned down. It's more like the consent is being toned UP, so to speak!

Q: How do you accidentally write dubcon?

A: To start, I'd had a very movie-esque POV of romantic content. I studied movies/literature romance before, and had a special interest. Using what I perceived to be the Hollywood depiction of seductive romance, I wrote content with the intent that the player is pursued, but I wrote it assuming all players shared the desire to be pursued but might also be tired of having to chase their love interest back.

But I've since had people like our sensitivity editors, dev team testers, and even just people on twitter who have demonstrated how powerful a scene where the player of a first-person game saying "I consent" can be. And, without that scene, a lot of times being pursued without needing to say it just comes off as being cornered in a really uncomfortable IRL way.

When Han Solo kisses Princess Leia-- It's romantic. But they aren't you. You just WATCHED their whole story. You know their chemistry. And even that scene hasn't aged well to some.

I applied that logic, and it did NOT work the same. Some people liked it! But it didn't hit the notes I was aiming for.

Remember the X-Rated AphroDesia episode that started with an NSFW scene? (Hello, all three of you.) I originally thought that it would be steamy and mood setting--

It was a flop. And it was weird to format a x2 person NSFW scene in an audio drama. This was more or less the same principle. Formatting, content, context, and the presence of the insertion of the audience all matter a LOT when it comes to NSFW and romantic content.

Q: Why is it tagged Dubious Consent on Itch, KS, etc..?

A: Our publisher, Project Enso, originally put that warning up. I was not happy with that, but PE properly explained that people who were uncomfortable with the "No Route" hadn't had that warning, and thus felt surprised.

This was the beginning of my quest to remove that warning. (https://x.com/SunnyDayJack/status/1560782320533118976?s=20)

- Disclaimer: PE had nothing to do with the writing of the content. They've been really nice about publishing the game, and just had to do what was safest!

Q: Why call it poorly phrased?

A: I believed the words I was writing had a different meaning as to how they actually came out. I am 100%, truly, and honestly apologetic and it genuinely made me feel awful when people came out of the game feeling upset. This was supposed to be enjoyable for everyone, and I've always intended for Jack to require consent. But I see how my phrasing, in context and out of it, can come off much differently when you play it outside of an echo-chamber of your thoughts while writing it!

Q: Why has it taken so long to remove the poorly phrased portions?

A: Originally, we just wanted to change the no choice. But then, we saw people who believed that Jack taking off his shirt and lying in bed with the player was ALSO bad. Over time, these were re-written and advertised, but the re-writes seemed rushed and poor.

I started re-writing the game when I reexamined the game and noticed how uncomfortable Jack's responses made ME. That was when I realized it was more than just the shirtless scene and the no route.

We've spent a lot of time on the story, but in order to keep the cost of the game low, only I was writing at first. That took a while, because I had to get two jobs that were both hefty on hours and intensive labor. Then, I had classwork too. All in all, it took a while to get writing on the final game started.

We hired some additional writing help, and we blazed it down some scripts. However, it was around then that I noticed that the demo's quality was significantly neglected.

All in all, I decided to approach writing the demo again. Unlike when the demos were BOTH made (Classic/Current) I:

- Have a stable home

- Am not traveling across the USA/traveling to the UK

- Have had significant time to address some pretty dangerous health situations I might have mentioned before.

So that leads us to now, when the demo is finally getting the detailed love it truly deserves!

Q: Why didn't you pay closer attention to the OG demo?

A: That's a bit more of a personal thing. I've mentioned it above, and ye olde fans know that 2021-2022 were both not good years for me. So, long story short, when the demos came out, I was sleep-deprived, not feeling very good after a family loss, and altogether just not with it. And that's on me. That's my fault.

I tried to seek help, but medical/therapy options weren't available (despite being what I needed). I was disassociated quite often. I did the best that I could, but 2023 has been like being sober for the first time in a long time. I see things clearer, I'm more perceptive of my choices, and I've had to learn a lot.

I am sorry, SDJ fans and supporters. The OG game itself was not the thing that needed to improve. It was me, for you! And every day, I'm making steps towards being that content creator for you.

I am human, and I have fumbled a lot since SDJ first started. I am going to make sure this game is the very best you all deserve, and I hope that you can all accept my apology person to person. If you have any questions or suggestions-- I'd love to hear them!

I've tried my best to respond to comments and I will keep doing so. I think this situation requires human-to-human communication, and even more apologies if necessary.

I hope you'll all enjoy the - quality - aspects that are coming in. The rephrasing is minimal. But the CONTENT going IN? I'm having so much fun making the demo I wish I'd made to begin with and I've been totally inspired to do so by how much everyone here deserves it!

- Sauce