Cultcow EvaXephon / Yanderedev / Alex Mahan / Alexander Stuart Mahan / cannotgoogleme - Edgy weeaboo coomer with pedo tendencies and 15+ years internet history as a lolcow, now known as a disaster developer behind eternal debug build called "Yandere Simulator", confirmed groomer and dollfucker

[Lexi62]

Am I the only person who thinks Info-chan system kills all the game's challenge and strategy making?
Unless there's an alternative route/game mode/achievement without using Info-chan.
But most of the strategies can be deducted by the player (except for the matchmaking, because it's too complex imho) or can be learned by trial and error.

Nope. She seems like she's going to turn into a walkthrough that people find on the internet when they want to speedrun a game or when they get stuck...or they are too lazy to figure it out themselves.

She's literally a step by step walkthrough as to how to do something. It would be one thing if she just gave hints....I think he needs to limit her a bit more and figure out some other way to help the player figure out what to do. His game is a bit complicated in how you're supposed to do some things...and I can see why he would be worried about someone who didn't see his videos and not know how to solve everything. And if it's too hard to solve anyways yeah there needs to be a hint system. But for a hard game he's really babying the player with making info chan the answer to solving everything. It doesn't matter how expensive her help can get.

 

[Onion Boi]

So Alex's idea at teaching the player the mechanics of your game is to give them a literal fucking walkthrough on all of the ways to murder someone.
Y'know Alex maybe if you designed your game better you wouldn't need to rely on walkthroughs to make sure an average player couldrealistically beat the game.

 

[Orhahine]

Honestly, the best way to help players is have a tutorial at the start of the game. Could be a dream of some sorts, could be a flashback to mama yandere, whatever. Just a quick tutorial on how to do simple murder.

Considering there's challenges in the game, it's kind of easy to tell how every elimination method would work. The only one I can see that could possibly need some help is matchmaking, because the way Alex has is it is way more complicated than it should be. Even then, have other characters give hints about gameplay.

For example, Yan-chan could overhear two students talking about how leaky the water fountains have been lately. Another student nearby could bring up electrocution in some way. Bang, there you have it, you got inspiration for the electrocution method.

I will admit, his idea for orchestrating rival events is good... just not on Osana. She's supposed to be the tutorial rival, so things should be kept easy gameplay-wise. He's somehow making the game easier yet much harder than it should be; adding complete walkthroughs for elimination methods yet giving the players zero student-free areas for the first rival.

 

[Literal Rabbit]

It seems weird to place a water fountain directly next to a wall socket.

 

[A Sign]

So he's copying off one of his volunteers. What else is new?

 

[Czolg]

Two new execution methods:

Spoiler

Poisoning and Electrocution

New? Electrocution was implemented like years ago, and food poisoning has been in game in its half assed state for quite some time too.

 

[Sempai]

I'm surprised that he did as much as he did this month
I was half expecting him to fart around and not do anything like last month...

 

[BurningAshes]

My only complaint I could find is eavesdropping on Osana and Senpai is way too similar to Persona 5, it's even in the same scenario of how you're eavesdropping. But somehow Alex does it worse by giving too much information and it feels unnatural.

 

[TomatoBastardRomano]

I'm pretty sure Alex got the new electrocution method from Watashi No Mono. Look at this video around the 40 second mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0WyXLje5F0. It looks almost identical to his.

 

[grembloartshow]

I'm pretty sure Alex got the new electrocution method from Watashi No Mono. Look at this video around the 40 second mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0WyXLje5F0. It looks almost identical to his.

They're both pulled straight from hitman, and Alex has had an electrocution method in the game, it was just an 'event' with Kokona. So the best proof for him taking it from WnM comes from him either being on good terms with EMD or him still resenting EMD because of how promising WnM looks hurting his feelings.

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

It seems weird to place a water fountain directly next to a wall socket.

Alex has never been in a real high school.

 

[SolarSickle]

This didn't get posted already?

Manipulating Students In Yandere Simulator

Gonna be honest, I actually kinda like the idea of getting out all these previous methods to every student, instead of it being scripted

Aaand he ruined it.

"How would someone who didn't see my videos know you could could use a wrench on the fountain?"

They'd discover it for themselves.

"How would they know you could unscrew the plug or whatever" (I kinda forgot what he said)

They wouldn't be idiots, and could figure it out.

Yeah, good game design would be intuitive and allow you to figure everything out for yourself because it's obvious.
Mediocre game design would include a tutorial and/or prompts that hold your hand throughout the game. Something like making all usable items glow or whatever.
Bad game design is "lol just read the walkthrough".
What Alex did goes beyond bad game design. You get to read a walkthrough... but before you "unlock" the walkthrough you need to perform actions that have nothing to do with achieving your end goal and you can actually be penalized for (with an expulsion in the worst case scenario). On top of that, the whole panty shot mechanic you need to get these walkthroughs in the first place may be the most counterintuitive thing in the game for someone going in blind (though admittedly they are mentioned in the opening cutscene, but that's it).

It seems weird to place a water fountain directly next to a wall socket.

Not just that, it also seems weird for someone to not notice there's a puddle. Let alone a puddle with a brightly sparking extension cord in it (that would probably make sounds too). This entire elimination depends on your victim literally being too stupid to live. In terms of emergent game design it's an improvement, but it's still silly.

 

[Umi no Mizu]

Yeah, good game design would be intuitive and allow you to figure everything out for yourself because it's obvious.
Mediocre game design would include a tutorial and/or prompts that hold your hand throughout the game. Something like making all usable items glow or whatever.
Bad game design is "lol just read the walkthrough".
What Alex did goes beyond bad game design. You get to read a walkthrough... but before you "unlock" the walkthrough you need to perform actions that have nothing to do with achieving your end goal and you can actually be penalized for (with an expulsion in the worst case scenario). On top of that, the whole panty shot mechanic you need to get these walkthroughs in the first place may be the most counterintuitive thing in the game for someone going in blind (though admittedly they are mentioned in the opening cutscene, but that's it).



Not just that, it also seems weird for someone to not notice there's a puddle. Let alone a puddle with a brightly sparking extension cord in it (that would probably make sounds too). This entire elimination depends on your victim literally being too stupid to live. In terms of emergent game design it's an improvement, but it's still silly.

Still not as looney tunes-esque as getting your head crushed by the gate, he could've used this time on Osana or whatever bullshit he said he needed to finish before her

 

[Erica]

Yeah, good game design would be intuitive and allow you to figure everything out for yourself because it's obvious.
Mediocre game design would include a tutorial and/or prompts that hold your hand throughout the game. Something like making all usable items glow or whatever.
Bad game design is "lol just read the walkthrough".
What Alex did goes beyond bad game design. You get to read a walkthrough... but before you "unlock" the walkthrough you need to perform actions that have nothing to do with achieving your end goal and you can actually be penalized for (with an expulsion in the worst case scenario). On top of that, the whole panty shot mechanic you need to get these walkthroughs in the first place may be the most counterintuitive thing in the game for someone going in blind (though admittedly they are mentioned in the opening cutscene, but that's it).



Not just that, it also seems weird for someone to not notice there's a puddle. Let alone a puddle with a brightly sparking extension cord in it (that would probably make sounds too). This entire elimination depends on your victim literally being too stupid to live. In terms of emergent game design it's an improvement, but it's still silly.

I think he could get away with not having to explain these murder methods at all. One thing he could take advantage of is the fact that there are so many elimination methods, he could leave these multistep ones as they are. He could hint they exist with that achievement page thing that he’s never done anything with, and then players could begin to think creatively that way.

Not knowing these methods does not prevent the player from advancing in any way, since for his endings it still counts as “murder” (unless he’s going to distinguish between murder and murders that can be perceived as accidents, but that still wouldn’t change much I don’t think). You would just need to explain that some objects you pick up can be used on other objects and let them loose. Info-Chan should be used for objects you wouldn’t normally find in a school (like the cigarettes), not for tutorials in my opinion.

 

[Lexi62]

Still not as looney tunes-esque as getting your head crushed by the gate, he could've used this time on Osana or whatever bullshit he said he needed to finish before her

Which is why I'm really hoping that there's going to be a reason to kill off these background characters outside of the player wanting to go on a murderous rampage. The face the clumsy boy has his own special elimination method seems rediculous. Unless he's hinting at a way to eliminate a future rival whose clumsy *cough cough* nurse rival *cough* but even then this is too soon to be putting it in.

I'm glad he's at least figure out a way that the player can set up scenarios where the player can kill someone if they wanted to, but the player needs to have a good reason to want to do this to random students.

 

[Basketball Jones]

I think he could get away with not having to explain these murder methods at all. One thing he could take advantage of is the fact that there are so many elimination methods, he could leave these multistep ones as they are. He could hint they exist with that achievement page thing that he’s never done anything with, and then players could begin to think creatively that way.

From a narrative and gameplay stand point, he could limit some methods until a certain point in the game after the player has a better feel for how the flow of the game works. To use a game Alex steals from a lot, Persona 5 doesn’t let you roam around towns until certain points in the story, and later on gives you the ability to stay out late. This allows the player to get used to building skills, social links, grinding, ect. When more ways to grind exp or skills opens up, the player already gets the flow of the game and understands that these extra option gives them more to work with in building their team and can adapt to the change easily.

Alex initially wanted to create a yandere schoolgirl life. If he truly wanted this from the beginning, all he had to do was borrow a page from Persona and give the player have time to raise their reputation, keep their grades up, participate in clubs, stalk their rival/buy or make tools to aid in their demise, and maybe follow senpai home just to make sure he’s not cheating on you. It seems like that’s what he wanted to do based on the tasks, school stats, the clubs, ect...but he doesn’t get why only having all these options at the school, turns this into a monotonous experience for the player.

Not knowing these methods does not prevent the player from advancing in any way, since for his endings it still counts as “murder” (unless he’s going to distinguish between murder and murders that can be perceived as accidents, but that still wouldn’t change much I don’t think). You would just need to explain that some objects you pick up can be used on other objects and let them loose. Info-Chan should be used for objects you wouldn’t normally find in a school (like the cigarettes), not for tutorials in my opinion.

Info-chan’s entire existence is baffling to me because I honestly thought she was just a super aloof student that you didn’t know because she never gives you her name. So anyone could be her and she knows dirt on the other students because she’s able to blend in that well/is a super hacker. The idea that she can dig up dirt after acquiring panty shots was a good idea, but was ruined when she became Hold-Your-Hand-Tutorial-chan. I would have liked if there was a 1-2 day hold on her getting certain information/items so the player would have to plan on whether or not info-Chan is worth the wait.

 

[Umi no Mizu]

From a narrative and gameplay stand point, he could limit some methods until a certain point in the game after the player has a better feel for how the flow of the game works. To use a game Alex steals from a lot, Persona 5 doesn’t let you roam around towns until certain points in the story, and later on gives you the ability to stay out late. This allows the player to get used to building skills, social links, grinding, ect. When more ways to grind exp or skills opens up, the player already gets the flow of the game and understands that these extra option gives them more to work with in building their team and can adapt to the change easily.

Alex initially wanted to create a yandere schoolgirl life. If he truly wanted this from the beginning, all he had to do was borrow a page from Persona and give the player have time to raise their reputation, keep their grades up, participate in clubs, stalk their rival/buy or make tools to aid in their demise, and maybe follow senpai home just to make sure he’s not cheating on you. It seems like that’s what he wanted to do based on the tasks, school stats, the clubs, ect...but he doesn’t get why only having all these options at the school, turns this into a monotonous experience for the player.



Info-chan’s entire existence is baffling to me because I honestly thought she was just a super aloof student that you didn’t know because she never gives you her name. So anyone could be her and she knows dirt on the other students because she’s able to blend in that well/is a super hacker. The idea that she can dig up dirt after acquiring panty shots was a good idea, but was ruined when she became Hold-Your-Hand-Tutorial-chan. I would have liked if there was a 1-2 day hold on her getting certain information/items so the player would have to plan on whether or not info-Chan is worth the wait.

So it should be a version of GTA (because of inaccessible parts in early gameplay) with less clear mission instructions due to the many ways of accomplishing the same thing? Also, it is expected that the player will know what to do after having Kokona or Osana as a tutorial level, so info chans' plans aren't really worth it

 

[Teri-Teri]

Happy Lunar New Year!

New wordpress update:
https://yanderedev.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/february-3rd-bug-fixing-build-2/

I like the fan artwork!

 

[CupcakeBitch]

Was it already mentioned that the water fountain electrocution shares the exact same animation as the bathroom electrocution and even shares the same touching the wall pose and Ayano shocking herself is the same animation as being tazed by the headmaster?
It's obvious that Alex doesn't care what he's doing and will cut as many corners to make people think he's working hard on the game.

 

[Committed Wolf]

Was it already mentioned that the water fountain electrocution shares the exact same animation as the bathroom electrocution and even shares the same touching the wall pose and Ayano shocking herself is the same animation as being tazed by the headmaster?
It's obvious that Alex doesn't care what he's doing and will cut as many corners to make people think he's working hard on the game.

To be fair, if this really is a v-slice as Alex says it is, he should of been doing this sort of thing from the start, not make a bunch of unpaid volunteers work hours on end to make him assets that are liable to be replaced if he feels like it.