Behind-The-Scenes Development Trivia (Patreon)

There might be people who are interested in learning about things like this, so I've decided to share a short video clip with you!

Kizana's week will involve a school play. A bunch of backdrop models have been created for the play. One of those backdrops is meant to have a balcony for Kizana to stand on.

I can't simply tell a modeler "Make a me a balcony" and instantly receive a perfect balcony that is exactly what I need. What is the height limit? How steep can a stairway be before the game no longer considers it to be a valid surface for a character to walk on? What is the bare minimum amount of empty space that the balcony needs to have in order for a character to stand on it? How high should it be off the ground relative to other characters?

In order to find the answers to these questions, it's necessary to "prototype" a balcony using primitive shapes like cubes, and borrowing models from elsewhere in the game.

It takes a while - it's a bit tedious and time-consuming to line up all the pieces - but work like this is essential in order to provide a 3D artist with the information they need in order to deliver a model that can be used within the game.

"The staircase must be 1 meter wide, 2 meters tall, and 2.4 meters long." "The doorway must be 1.65 meters tall." etc.

When people imagine me "working on the game," they might picture me writing lines of code. However, writing code is only 20% of the work. 80% of the work is speaking with 2D artists, 3D artists, animators, composers, and potential voice actors, and a large part of that process is finding reference material so that I can show them exactly what I need. And, when reference material can't be found, it needs to be made - by hand - piece by piece - no matter how tedious it is to put it together.

This aspect of game development never gets any mention and is very rarely ever gets considered or discussed, so I thought I'd share a video to help people develop a more accurate mental image of my daily responsibilities.

I hope it was interesting, or educational, or...something!

Thank you for supporting the development of Yandere Simulator!