2021 Transparency (Patreon)

Hello!

You know the drill by now, right? At the beginning of each year, I write a post describing how I spent the money that I received through Patreon throughout the previous year, and my plans for the upcoming year.

So far, I've written transparency reports for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. And today, it's time to talk about 2021!

Here is how much money I received through Patreon over the course of 2021:

• January - $2,136.58
• February - $2,465.93
• March - $2,354.93
• April - $2,120.81
• May - $2,127.94
• June - $1,973.09
• July - $1,850.86
• August - $1,870.19
• September - $2,152.24
• October - $2,180.03
• November - $2,218.63
• December - $2,112.01

This means that I made a total of $23,426.66 through Patreon in 2021.

So, how was that money spent? Well, first, let's clarify something:

What is Patreon?

Patreon is like a "tip jar" where you drop somebody a few bucks every month to let them know that you appreciate what they're doing, and help them stay afloat.

From 2015~2018, Yandere Simulator was very popular, and during that period of time, I was making over $4,000 per month through Patreon; sometimes up to $5,000 per month! It was a lot more money than I personally needed, so I decided to establish a rule:

On any month where I made more than $3,500 through Patreon, all income past the $3,500 mark wouldn't go to me; it would be be put into a "fund" that would used to compensate the volunteers who contribute to the game.

I referred to this fund as "the surplus."

The Surplus

From 2015~2018, I always made at least $3,500 per month through Patreon, so the surplus was always growing in size, eventually growing larger than $20,000! However, starting in 2019, my earnings dropped beneath $3,500 per month, so the surplus stopped growing, and hasn't grown since then. Last year ended with the surplus at $22,782.84.

In 2021, seven volunteers received compensation for their time and work:

• Bryan Link - $1,000 (3D Models)
• SweetPotatoes - $800 (3D Models)
• CameronF305 - $526 (Music)
• Amedeo Serra - $250 (Music)
• Julietta_00 - $140 (3D Models)
• Caitlyn Meyers - $75 (Voice Acting)
• Lia - $36 (Music)

That's $2,827 in total! Subtract that from the surplus of $22,782.84, and that means that the surplus is currently sitting at $19,955.84.

Alright, enough boring numbers. How about the game itself?

2021 Game Development Progress

After the release of Osana in 2020, I spent a few months improving her using player feedback. Around January of 2021, I finished making all of the improvements I wanted to make to Osana, and finally had the luxury of turning my mind to other facets of development. That's when something occurred to me:

I realized that, before beginning work on the game's next rival, I should first create a system for changing the characters, events, and circumstances at school from week to week. A "10-Week System" that lays all of the groundwork necessary for me to "plug in" new rivals with ease.

I remembered the concept of "1980s Mode" - a prequel mode starring Yandere-chan's mother as the protagonist - and decided that it would be the perfect premise for building and testing a 10-Week System. So, I did it; over the course of three months, I made 1980s Mode a reality!

As a result, Yandere Simulator now has a "complete" gameplay mode containing ten rivals to eliminate, and a story with a proper beginning/middle/end. I also brought back as many nostalgic characters as possible (like the "Rainbow Students" and the old delinquents) and delivered on as many fan wishes as possible (like adding a "Yakuza" character to the game). There was a very positive reception to 1980s Mode, and all of the playtesting revealed a lot of useful information that will be used to make sure that the 10 "main" rivals provide the best experience I can offer!

After 1980s Mode

1980s Mode was a huge update that required changes to nearly every script in the game - so, of course, there were some bugs. I followed up 1980s Mode by releasing 18 updates in the month of October, and 14 updates in the month of November.

Wow!! That's an average rate of 1 update every 2 days, for two months straight!! I really had my nose to the grindstone; I basically did nothing every day but eat, sleep, and work on the game.

However, there were only 4 updates during the month of December. What gives? Going from almost-daily updates to weekly updates...what happened? Well, I'll explain:

Workspace Update

In December, I made the decision to completely change everything about the room where I work. The carpet, the curtains, the furniture, the lighting - absolutely everything. I wanted the entire room to change. It was a very long and time-consuming process that completely dominated the whole month, which was the reason why there weren't many updates during December.

I'm sorry if it's disappointing to hear me say, "I was redecorating my room instead of working on the game," but updating my living space became incredibly important to me. In one of my videos in 2021, I mentioned that working on one game for an extremely long period of time feels like being "trapped" or "imprisoned", and one of the main reasons why I felt that way was because I had become extremely unsatisfied with my surroundings and living conditions.

After refurnishing the room, I already feel much, much better; the place where I live and work no longer feels like a prison cell, but a place I actually want to be in. It may have eaten up a huge chunk of time, but it was necessary for my mental health. Actually, I'm really proud of how this room looks now, and I'm tempted to post a video of it on my secondary YouTube channel...I'll probably do that once I feel that I've put the finishing touches on the room.

On the topic of completely revamping my work area, it's also worth mentioning that I will be upgrading to a new computer this month. New motherboard, new graphics card, new everything. The process of migrating all of my programs and files will probably be a time-consuming procedure, so a portion of January might be unproductive. I apologize for the recent slowdown in progress...but after upgrading both my living space and my hardware, I think I'm going to come back even more productive than ever before!

So, what's the next thing on the horizon? Well...

Future Plans

On my Wordpress blog, I wrote a simple 4-point summary of what I plan to do in the near future:

1. Fix every problem that people have identified in 1980s Mode – whether it’s a bug, an exploit, an oversight, an ugly asset, or a design flaw.
2. Use the feedback and criticism I’ve received to make a series of design changes to 1980s Mode that improve the experience in various ways.
3. Make a “How Your Feedback Improved 1980s Mode” video, similar to the one I made about the demo last year, going over all of the ways that 1980s Mode has vastly improved since its release.
4. Move on to the next stage of development. (Aesthetic improvements may still be made to 1980s Mode.)

"I'm going to fix bugs and make design improvements," is a simple statement, but doesn't communicate how many bugs are remaining, or how long it's going to take to make those design changes. Naturally, as supporters, you probably want to hear some specifics instead of vague statements. If you express an interest in the comments below, I'll make a Patron-only post where I write out a full list of all the changes and improvements I plan to make to the game in the near future, as well as what videos I am planning to create once I'm done updating 1980s Mode. But, if you have zero interest in that and it would just be clutter, then I won't bother. Let me know in the comments below.

Speaking of Patron-only posts, there's something else worth telling you about...

New Character Models Coming Soon!

For a long time now, I have felt extremely dissatisfied with Yandere Simulator's visuals. When I look at the game right now, I do not see a game that looks like it was in development for seven years, or a game that looks like it would be released in 2021. Even by indie game standards, I think that the game looks severely outdated.

I desperately want to give Yandere Simulator a graphical overhaul. Replacing every model in the whole game would not be a realistic goal, but at the very least, I want to replace the character models. There are several good reasons to do so:

First of all, the current character models have terrible proportions; they have short necks, thick torsos, and feel closer to children than adults. Updating the character models would be an opportunity to make the characters feel taller, slimmer, older, and dispel the notion that the characters are "underage." Also, the current character models do not have very flexible faces, and are not capable of being very expressive. A game about fear and murder needs expressive faces, which is another reason to upgrade the character models. But, in addition to all that, replacing the character models would be a "moral victory."

The game's character models have remained the same for seven years. This is one of the factors that contributes toward the idea that Yandere Sim is "a game that hasn't changed in 7 years" even though it has changed meaningfully in dozens of ways. Updating the character models would be the most significant aesthetic change that the game could go through, and would be an opportunity to bring the look-and-feel of the game into 2022.

To make sure that replacing the character models does not significantly delay development or break currently-existing features, the smartest method would be to extensively modify the currently-existing models, rather than replace them with completely new meshes, so that's the plan.

Actually, I don't need to word all of this like a hypothetical, or a plan that exists in the far-off future. It's already happening! I'm extremely pleased to announce that I've already been working with a very talented modeler to update the models, and that I'm very happy with the progress that has been made so far!

One of the coolest things about the new character models is that the head and the body will be two separate meshes. This means that it will be possible for characters to have unique faces, instead of using one "base" face for all characters. Yes, now the characters can actually look like the official promo art, instead of being clones with different wigs!

I'm extremely pleased with how the new character models are turning out so far, and I'm eager to share them with you - but it feels like the kind of thing that should be a Patron-only reward rather than a public post, so I think I'll reveal the new character models in an upcoming Patron-only post that is only available to the $3 tier.

In Closing

With that, I think I've said everything that I wanted to tell you about today. The only other thing worth mentioning is that I post on my Wordpress blog more often than I post on Patreon, so if you haven't seen me post on Patreon for a while, don't panic! Just visit my Wordpress.

That's all for today! Thank you for supporting the development of Yandere Simulator!