Behind-the-Scenes Development Trivia

During each rival's week, I want the school environment to change in various ways. For example, during Amai's week, there is a bake sale in the center plaza, and some placards around school advertising the bake sale. (These might be re-positioned or made more prominent in the future.)

During Kizana's week, there will be advertisements around school advertising a different event: a school play happening in the gym on Friday. Just like with Amai's bake sale, I want a variety of different posters to spread around school. Several artists are currently creating posters advertising Kizana's play, and I'm super happy with what has been produced so far!

Recently, an artist sent me the above sketch and asked for feedback. I thought that the artwork was phenomenal, but I felt as though there was a problem: the silhouette wasn't clear.

I'm a strong advocate for clear silhouettes. I'll give you an example of what I mean.

Take a look at this image: https://i.imgur.com/CsHYYlj.png What the hell is going on there? Well, you can kinda get a sense of it, but it's tough to know for sure, because the silhouette isn't clear.

Okay, now look at this image: https://i.imgur.com/KfnlEJr.png Ahhhhh, so that's it! Now it makes so much more sense, right?

I thought that the artist's work was good, but that the silhouette wasn't clear enough. I wanted to suggest moving the characters over so that their hands would be separate from the silhouette of the balcony. However, I didn't want to risk wasting the artist's time by giving unclear instructions...so, I took the time to edit the image to make sure my message got across to them. (You can see my edit in the gallery above.) I even took the time to make a silhouette version to really communicate why it would be an improvement.

I'm doing this sort of thing all the time. Seriously - all the time.

3D animator creating a "crouch walk" animation for me? I'll load up a stealth game and record footage of a character doing a stealth walk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtGuGxl4ts

3D prop modeler needs reference material for a school clubroom? I'll load up a game set in a school environment and get them reference of what the clubrooms look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN3RyVmCR90

3D environment artist doesn't understand why all hallways need to be at least 4 meters wide? I'll record footage of Ayano walking through a house, spinning the camera around her, showing that the camera needs at least that much space to avoid the camera clipping into the walls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_4LXAsuFPo

3D hair modeler gives a character a high hairline? I'll create an animated gif explaining where the hairline ought to be: https://i.imgur.com/zHtvSTK.gif

2D artist's work could benefit from an adjustment? I'll take the time to edit their artwork to communicate my feedback as effectively as possible.

In addition to that sort of stuff, I'm also "tech support," as well. Player e-mails me, says he doesn't understand how to steal from the faculty room before 8:00 AM? I'll record footage of myself pulling it off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaVpGvNk654

Typically, these things wouldn't be the job of the project's programmer. The lead artist would be providing guidance to the artists; the lead modeler would be the one reviewing and correcting the modeling team's work; the lead animator would be the one in charge of making sure animations turn out right; et cetera. But Yandere Simulator doesn't have leads; it just has me. I perform the duties that would normally be done by a team of leads. One man doing ten jobs. I'm not saying this to boast; I'm saying it because it very clearly and directly explains the game's development speed.

(I tried to communicate this back in 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us5PPyEvKWo However, it's an aspect of the game's development that usually doesn't get acknowledged.)

I'm not saying all of this for the purpose of whining or cultivating pity; "Grrrrr!! Nobody acknowledges how hard I work!!" I'm discussing this because it goes hand-in-hand with sharing "behind-the-scenes development trivia" like the edit of the Kizana poster above. "This is the sort of thing you probably don't ever think about, but it's the type of thing I'm doing on a daily basis."

If you're ever wondering to yourself, "What is YandereDev doing at this moment?" and picturing me writing code, keep in mind that that's only true 10% of the time; the other 90% are spent on a very wide variety of different responsibilities and tasks. Instead of programming, it's more likely that I'm taking the time to make sure an artist or modeler has the visuals they need to deliver the best possible assets for the game.