OR: On January 22nd, 2016, you broke the news on Twitter that your game had been banned from being broadcasted on Twitch.tv. This has landed Yandere Simulator in the company of prohibited titles such as Battle Rape, Second Life, BMX XXX, and all ESRB-rated “Adult-Only” games. How did you find out that your game was prohibited and what was your first reaction to the news?
YD: I found out that the game was prohibited when a friend sent me a private message and told me that my game was added to the list. My first reaction was “Haha, that’s funny! This must be some sort of mistake. We’ll get this little problem sorted out in no time.”
It’s been over a week since that the game was prohibited from Twitch, and Twitch has refused to communicate with me. It looks like the decision is most likely permanent.
OR: Why is it important to be able to be able to have your game broadcasted on Twitch.tv?
YD: Twitch.tv is the most dominant game streaming website on the Internet. Twitch’s reach and visibility are far beyond anything else available. Allowing the game to be broadcast via Twitch permits the game to be viewed by literally millions of people who otherwise might not have been exposed to it. Prohibiting the game from being streamed deprives that game of a lot of visibility that it otherwise might have had.
OR: In an e-mail to Polygon that was published the same day that you announced the news about Twitch.tv, you stated that you were “willing to modify minor, innocuous things that were never meant to be the focus of the game, but I would not be willing to remove gameplay mechanics, remove core features, or change the focus of the game.” Have you made any changes to the game so far in response to Twitch.tv? Do you have changes currently planned? What are you actually willing to change and not change about Yandere Simulator and why?
YD: One of the game’s “easter eggs” turns the school’s students into naked giants, as a reference to the naked giants from the popular anime series “Attack on Titan”. There are, of course, no nipples or genitalia visible, and this easter egg is intended to be a funny parody, not pornographic. However, if this easter egg angers Twitch.tv because it technically counts as “child nudity” then I would understand their concern and be willing to adjust the characters’ skin textures so that they no longer look like naked giants, and instead look like another type of giant from Attack on Titan.
I’d only be willing to adjust that easter egg because it’s merely an easter egg; a joke, not a serious part of the game. I would not actually be willing to remove gameplay mechanics, such as panty shots, bullying, or murder students in a school setting.
OR: Have you heard back yet from Twitch.tv?
YD: Nnnnnnnnnnope.
OR: As of this interview, we are now [a bit more than] a week removed from when Twitch.tv added your game to it’s List Of Prohibited Games. How do you feel about [the situation] at this point?
YD: Anyone who wants to volunteer for Yandere Simulator should visit the “Volunteers” page on my blog and read every word written there. Many people have very high expectations for Yandere Simulator, and to make sure that Yandere Sim meets peoples’ expectations, I can only afford to accept help from people with previous professional experience who can produce high-quality work.
OR: Do you have an anticipated date for the full-fledged demo version of the game?
YD: In a perfect, ideal world, the official demo would be available by April 2016. However, this depends entirely on how much of my time I must spend corresponding with others via e-mail, and how much of my time I can spend writing code for the game.
OR: What features are you looking at adding to Yandere Simulator in future? What do fans have to look forward to being added in February?
YD: My “Past, Present, and Future” video details the features that remain to be added to the game. In the immediate future, I plan to allow Yandere-chan to join 10 different clubs at school, each of which will grant some kind of benefit to the player. Some of those benefits can only be activated once I’ve implemented other features that the benefits are dependent on. For example, I can’t implement the “hide a dismembered corpse inside of a musical instrument case” feature until I’ve implemented the ability to chop up a corpse into pieces. So, in the process of adding club functionality, I’ll need to add a whole bunch of other new features to get added to the game.
OR: If someone was to follow in your footsteps and make their own video game, what advice would you have to give them?
YD: To develop your skills, create imitations of other video games.
To achieve success, create something original that has never been done before.
Start off with extremely simple projects, and slowly move up to larger and more ambitious projects over time.
Don’t launch projects that you don’t have the skill or resources to finish.
Plan everything out very thoroughly, and be as well-organized as possible.
I would like to thank Yandere Dev for taking the time to participate in an interview with me. The images included in this interview are all both the courtesy of and the property of Yandere Dev.
Clarification: In an earlier version of this article, Yandere Dev accidentally included a typo in his e-mailed answer to the question “How do you feel about [the Twitch ban] at this point?” that suggested that his game, Yandere Simulator, had at some point been unbanned by Twitch.tv. Since this interview has been published, Yandere Dev has reached out to correct the error and to confirm that the game has not been removed from the Prohibited List of Games.
