Yandere Heaven
Volume 02 Release!
Well, it's been a while since I worked on this project, but after pausing it for all that time, volume 02 is now released for Yandere Jam 2024 & Stained Red; Yandere Game Jam :3 It contains a brand new scenario with new characters to fight over you x3
I've also made a few changes to volume 01 (nothing huge, mainly just fixing a lot of stuff that broke when updating the project files to the most recent version of Naninovel >.< I'll probably write more about the soul-destroying nature of that in a postmortem post or something, haha.)
If you had previously downloaded the game, you might as well delete it because this new version contains a significant content update & tweaks to the old content. You won't be able to use old save data or anything.
Downloading the new version of the game should create a brand new folder on your computer for saves, but in the rare event that you end up with any save-related issues, I would recommend that before downloading and launching the new version, you find and delete any old files.
Old save files are most likely located under Users/(your username)/AppData/LocalLow/Melancholy Marionette
(AppData is a hidden folder so you'll need to allow viewing of hidden folders)
And then you just wanna delete any folders with Yandere Heaven in the name! You shouldn't have to though because, technically, the new version of the game should count as a brand new/separate game from the old version.
ALL CHANGES
I'm probably forgetting something, but from what I can remember right now, here's what's changed!
- Added a brand new volume - volume 02 is a full new scenario with new characters
- Added new music for volume 02
(mainly asset pack tracks, but I made a couple of original ones too!)
- Added a disclaimer upon starting a new game
(because it's concerning how many people have rated the game 1* based on things like it being "too short", disliking characters/the story of volume 01 - without realising it's a fandub project >.<)
- Added little intro skits for each of the characters when selecting a volume so you can preview their voices
- Replaced Atsushi/Aoi & Kakeru/Kasumi's ending theme BGMs with new original tracks
- Fixed some minor bugs in volume 01
- Expanded the content in the extras section
- Slightly improved the size of certain UI elements
- Locked the game to only support 16:9 - default 1920x1080
(in order to prevent UI from going janky and failing to auto-scale for other aspect rations/resolutions)
Meet the new characters
I decided I might as well make character cards for all of the characters since I've been doing that recently for my other projects x3 They're all on the game page now, but I might as well stick em here too!
Twisting words
Soooo, I've been a tiny bit naughty with this volume and deviated ever so slightly from sticking 100% to the original script with no additions.
I only did it because Takaaki/Tomomi had far fewer lines than Sakae/Saeka, and their ending seemed somewhat shorter. I basically just gave Takaaki/Tomomi a few extra crazy lines in their ending x3 Sooo yeah, if you know the original CDs and you're wondering where those additional lines came from, that's why they're there xD It does make em seem even crazier, but I feel like it fits with the character, haha.
I added a handful of extra lines for Sakae/Saeka + Takaaki/Tomomi here and there throughout the script too where it seemed as though things weren't explained that well or were strangely short.
I'll probably ramble about it a bit more in a postmortem post or something if I can muster the energy to type one x3 then I can mention spoilers too I guess!
What's next?
Well, with any luck, you will end up enjoying this new volume :3 I probably won't be working on volume 03 for quite some time since this is just a side project. My plan is to go back to focusing on CiQ's development for now, but it's possible I might dip into this if I feel like I need a change of scenery!
Have a happy rest of March and a fun-filled rest of the year :3 I'll hopefully see you in the next game ^-^
Comments
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~ty~~this was amazing~ but i dont think they're supposed to kiss u 😂
(the boy takaai kissed meh-)
Thank you for playing ^-^
Everything that happens is the same as what happens in the Japanese version :D Aside from 1 or 2 extra dialogue lines here and there to help scenes make more sense in English :3
Thank you so much for the hard work!
I loved the first volume, now to fill my much needed craving with the second one~
Ahhh, so good to see you :D I was thinking about you the other day actually xD I think it was because I saw a cherry blossom tree and for a moment, my brain just wondered how you were doing, haha.
With any luck, you'll like the second one more ^-^ I personally prefer the story & characters in the 2nd scenario since they're older! As far as I can remember, I think the 2nd CD was actually my favourite one in the series.
Awwww, I'm glad you still remember me! :3 Still being an idiot here, cherry blossom season is just around the corner, maybe just maybe I can find my very own yandere out here~ (jk....or not XD). Hope you're doing great and always stay safe Mel-san!
I loved the first one, I really do! But man....the way Saeka's glare looked...enraptured me but Tomomi's eyes as she grins, I'm hooked as well.....well one has a pair of handcuffs ready for me and the other an injection of love I am willing to take!
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JUST DON'T TELL CASTORIA.
Hope you’re able to spend some time with the cherry blossoms :3 Someone on our street planted one in their front garden many, many years ago, so I get to see at least 1 each year, haha.
Ngl, I love the faces in general for Saeka & Tomomi, but there’s something special about Tomomi’s eyes, haha. They look really hypnotising in the original colours the artist drew them in, but then when I edited them, somehow, the new colours make em look even more bewitching x3
Hehe, it’s okay, Castoria is locked away in a cupboard at the moment so she won’t see a thing xD
Hell yeah! Good job, I'm gonna enjoy playing this one!
Hope you do end up having fun with it :3 It was a lot of fun to work on cos of all the little comical elements in it, haha. It's like a breath of fresh air from working on my other projects cos it's so casual and stuff :D
The realisation that I'd been working on it for the past 5 weeks and it probably only takes an hour or something to play through hit me today, haha. I sort of wish I had actually added up all the hours to see the total spent on it! It just doesn't feel like 5 weeks has passed o.O I don't know where all the time went, haha.
Also, just happened to click on the ratings and reviews section for the project by accident (I tend to avoid that section on most of my games cos it can be quite demotivating to see 1-3* ones with either no comment at all as to why such a low rating, or with comments that are completely unhelpful like 'too short' or 'not enough choices' etc. and even ones that are just straight-up mean, haha), and I saw what you put and it's so sweet!
Thank you so much for your kind words :3 It really means a lot cos this project, in particular, is one I get a lot of negative ratings on for things beyond my control (people not liking the characters when they're not even my characters etc. >.<) and yeah, it just kinda hurts when I've spent so much time and put so much love and effort into a project to have people just go to the ratings section and shit all over it with no understanding of the time that's gone into it or the fact that it's a fandub :( haha.
So yeah, thank you for that :3 It cheered me up a lot!
Wait, people really hate on these games?
I don't understand how someone could hate games like these. From the awesome coding and storytelling, to the wonderful character design ( and sometimes voice acting), your games are absolute gems to find in my search page! I've been following you for a while now, to be honest, and each game is a little world with wonderful stories. Even if the stories aren't originally yours, they're brought to life through new means and a little spark that I'm sure the original writer(s) would've loved. I hope you don't get discouraged any more by those weirdos.
I didn't expect you to notice or reply to what I've said, but rest assured that I'll always be here to cheer you on, through patches, devlogs, hiatuses and releases!
Well, thankfully, it doesn't happen too much on my other projects at least. But yeah, a lot of people seem to have a problem with this one for some reason xD
I guess it's partly because, weirdly, this is my most viewed/downloaded project, so the number of people exposed to it is bigger than my other projects.
It's so bad though that the total rating for Yandere Heaven on itch has lost almost an entire star so it's sitting at around 4.1 out of 5 total at the moment. It sucks because it means if people are searching for stuff to play on itch and searching by rating, this project will get pushed to the bottom of the pile the lower the total rating goes >.<
Many of the 1* ratings don't have a comment so I have literally no idea why the person who rated it hates it so much, haha.
But a lot of the 1-3* ratings are all gripes with the project that show the people who rated either don't get that this one is a fandub or they don't care to take that into account when rating :(
I've tried to make it very clear on both the game page, and as of the new update, in the game too x3 But it still didn't help because right after you left that lovely rating/review, someone else left a 3* one saying "Art and voice acting carry, plot kinda mid/game mechanics could be better with more options"
Now, that's a totally fair review, BUT, it's like it doesn't take into account that this is a fandub >.< I actually agree that the story/plot isn't super amazing, but I've faithfully localised it. The plot is what it is. I'm not gonna try to change it or improve it because then it wouldn't be a proper fandub anymore >.<
Same goes with mechanics. I can't add game mechanics to this particular project because it wouldn't work with my goal of making it a faithful fandub. The source material is just CDs x3 there are no choices and mechanics in CDs. If I add more choices and mechanics, I'd be deviating from the CD content, and I don't wanna do that.
At least a 3* rating makes sense with that comment. And the person who wrote it probably doesn't realise that anything under a 5* rating on itch is almost the equivalent of giving a 1* because itch's rating system works really stupidly. Basically, if a person doesn't feel like they want to give 5*, it would be more helpful to the dev if they just didn't rate at all >.<
BUT, it's clear they haven't rated the game with the fact that it's a fandub in mind. I'd like to hope that anyone who has heard the original CDs would appreciate what I've tried to do more and understand why there aren't choices and fancy mechanics and stuff.
There are a lot more less reasonable ratings on the project though, with a fair few giving 1* and saying that they liked it but it's too short o.O Or they liked it but there aren't enough choices.
At the end of the day, everyone's entitled to their opinion and I know you can't please everyone x3 There will always be folks out there who don't like stuff for one reason or another, but I just wish that people would be more considerate to devs when rating stuff is all >.<
My biggest concern is that people who don't realise this is a fandub project and think it sucks don't realise it's not my story and stuff. They might just think I make bad games if they think this one is bad, and then they probably won't bother to check out all the other stuff I've made which is totally different and actually my own original content, haha. So it worries me that maybe this project is a bad advert for my portfolio as a whole because it's not particularly representative of my other content >.<
I'm probably overthinking things x3 And there are still plenty of people like you who have enjoyed this project still :3 So that's what I should focus on really! It's just kind of hard to not feel disheartened sometimes when people leave crappy ratings for the project when they don't understand what I'm trying to achieve with it.
At the end of the day, it's a fandub I started for fun. It's not supposed to have a deep and serious storyline with complex characters. It's supposed to be casual and kinda silly like the CDs x3 That's what makes it fun to work on cos it's so different from my original stories and characters which tend to be on the darker/more serious side!
Thank you though for all your support and encouragement :3 I keep trying my best to ignore when people are mean or silly, haha. My brother said people who hate on free games are daft and I shouldn't spare them a second of my thoughts xD He said he will never understand how anyone can be mean about free games cos it's not like people have paid for it, so if they don't like it, they haven't lost anything, haha.
Ahh, well, I always read all the comments and stuff on itch and try my best to reply to everything because if someone has taken time out of their day to write something nice, I want to make sure I can show that I appreciate it ^-^ and I appreciate all your kind words very much! So thank you for being such a kind soul :3
I absolutely understand what you mean. A lot of people throw 'this is a faithful fanwork' out the window when it comes to games, mostly because they don't bother to read the game page itself! Also, please, don't worry yourself too much with responding to every comment immediately. If you kept trying to respond to everyone, you would lose time you could have taking care of yourself or working on something awesome!
That's why I decided to put the disclaimer in-game too cos I thought, it only has to show once the very first time you hit play, then it won't bother the player again, but at least they will have seen it if they missed it on the page... but somehow, not everyone is seeing it still, so I guess I can't win, haha.
I sometimes end up leaving comments for a week or so and then replying to everything in one go, but I've saved that for weekends a lot lately. Now my family look at me like I'm extra crazy cos they say, you work all week on your game stuff, and then you're still working on weekends replying to things and you're not getting paid for ANY of it x3 My brother said similarly to you that I shouldn't try to respond to everyone. The problem is, I'll feel awful if I don't >.<
It's always a struggle when it comes to game jams cos I tend to put literally everything but the jam work to one side, so then I have a whole mountain of stuff to catch up on afterwards, haha.
You make a very good point though! I'm kind of terrible at taking care of myself to be honest >.< I've been trying to get better at it, but the problem is, I don't know how to switch off anymore. I did get an oil diffuser lamp for Christmas though, which has helped immensely with getting to sleep at least :3
oooo thank for the new volume <3 :D it was awesome >3> I love both the guys but so hard choose
Thank you for playing it ^-^ I think I'm on team Takaaki for this one, haha. Sakae sure is something, buuuut, I dunno, I just feel like he's too much x3 I think I'd end up wanting to kick him in the balls eventually xD Whereas I could tolerate Takaaki, haha.
Well Everyone have their taste I am on Sakae side after reading both side o,o Takaai feels to me more unhinged XD but Like I said everyone have their own taste
Hehe, true true! I still like Sakae, but you're totally right, Takaaki does seem more unhinged in the end xD
That's one of the things I found most fun about listening to the original CDs though, picking a side, haha.
Right? XD Take care <3 I hope all is well
You too! ^-^ I am surviving x3 I know I should take a break, but I'm gonna jump straight into working on a teeny tiny idea I had and see if I can finish it for the other yandere jam that's still running xD My brother thinks I'm mad and said I should take at least a week off, but I can't cos I find it impossible to relax >.< I need to keep working on stuff to keep my stupid brain occupied, haha.
Hope all is well for you and that the rest of March (and 2024 in general) is great for you :3
ooooo this looks really good i cant wait to play the new volume ^_^
<3 I tried to refresh my memory yesterday cos I'd forgotten what happens in most of the CDs it's been so long since I listened to em all, and I came to the realisation that I think this one might've been my favourite one in the CD series, haha.
I don't even know what to do about the 3rd one cos I also realised in the process of refreshing my memory that the 3rd one was one of the ones I liked the least x3
oh i hope it turns out good i havent actually seen the cds before but if it is actually pretty bad im sure you'd be able to improve on it :]
I know why I didn't like the 3rd CD now that I've listened to it fully again properly... it's because one of the yanderes is a stepfather character >.< which I personally find more uncomfortable than the stepsibling trope where romance is involved. It'll be a tough one because I don't want to butcher the original story/characters, but finding a way to work on that particular volume that doesn't make me feel weird about it will be a challenge, haha.