Fixing Yandere Simulator - PULL Edition

[lulubz]

(I haven't drawn weeb shit in months and I am in no way a professional so please forgive me but I tried my hand at Bow-chan's design)

It's frustrating that she said it wasn't her intention to draw her character with that body shape because it just feels like she misrepresented the forefront character of the franchise through her art style. What a letdown. I can't tell what intentions she has for Bow-chan's design because there's no clear vision for what Bow-chan is supposed to look like in the first place, and that led to widely varying renditions of her design.

^^^ I still think a heavier protag can be drawn well with the right touches. Like you suggested, I tried to elongate her skirt and also slapped on a sweater vest. I got rid of the heart bow (because it honest to god reminded me of those little kid accessories I would get at Hmart when I was in primary school) and used a hairclip instead. Hopefully, this is passing!

Your art style is so cute!!! I love the facial expressions ❤️ You’re much more fitted to be the official artist than the current one now. Some people have been comparing inconsistencies w/ her model and her official art, but ngl Love Me did the same thing with really masculine-looking short art and tall slender models. But I'm not complaining really

Some people have been comparing inconsistencies w/ her model and her official art, but ngl Love Me did the same thing with really masculine-looking short art and tall slender models. But I'm not complaining really

Hidden Content

I do remember actively following Love Me’s devblog awhile back and I really loved the 3D models and was sad to see them go once they decided to shift into a 2D style instead since it was really ambitious. I also remember that the 3D modeler of Love Me started working for Limerence soon after but they stopped with game development too so I don’t know where that modeler is now. Here’s some screencaps of the 3D models from Love Me and the 3D trailer from awhile back.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=emb_title&v=x1ODg8KZonY

[Virtual Insanity]

Bow Chan is kinda a self insert for the artist

[washi_tape]

Your art style is so cute!!! I love the facial expressions ❤️ You’re much more fitted to be the official artist than the current one now. Some people have been comparing inconsistencies w/ her model and her official art, but ngl Love Me did the same thing with really masculine-looking short art and tall slender models. But I'm not complaining really

I ran out of reps for today but consider this a like! I've been getting really rusty with drawing but I'm glad you like it! (I don't feel like I'm the right fit for Love Letter's image though, haha)

--

Speaking of modeling,

So this appears to be the official reference sheet for Bow-chan. The art looks a lot more pleasing and well refined here compared to what was shown in the premiere--especially in terms of lineart and the way the face was made. I don't know why they didn't feature this art on their now-trending video instead of this:

--

On that note, it's just kind of hard to accept the way how the official art translates into models when you've got the game looking like this:

but then you've got fan art using the same ref looking like this:

And the original ref garnering comments like this:

Which is why having a consistent reference sheet and showcasing a style thats suitable for the setting of the game are both so important for successful and marketable visuals.

I'm slightly nervous how Love Letter will interpret and realize the Japanese high school experience through their game without projecting overtly Americanized views of Japan. The art direction already seems very westernized with weeby undertones. The game probably won't be as blatantly racist as Yandev's panty currency or Corona Chan but idk, man, PULL has shown time and time again that it's risky business toying with a real-life culture if you aren't equipped with the proper knowledge/awareness to avoid inaccuracies or stereotypes beforehand. I would have rather they just severed the connection with Japan entirely and made a make-believe school/town instead

Edited 20 July by washi_tape

[supersirius]

Glad I'm not the only one who forgets that the game is supposed to be set in Japan every time they look at Bow-chan.

There's no real reason the game needs to be set in Japan anyways. If they just put it in America, Bow-chan wouldn't look at all out of place, and they'd be able to have a lot more freedom in how they could make her appearance stand out- especially if the school were to have no uniform policy.

washi_tape's drawings are adorable and I think the sweatervest suits Bow-chan a lot. It gives me a bit of like a 90's or 80's, idk the difference vibe, and honestly the game would be much cooler and way more original if it were set in America at that time. There's so much that could be done with it, and it'd probably get rid of 90% of the issues they're having rn

[hngagh]

(I haven't drawn weeb shit in months and I am in no way a professional so please forgive me but I tried my hand at Bow-chan's design)

It's frustrating that they said it wasn't their intention to draw their character with that body shape because it just feels like they misrepresented the forefront character of the franchise through their art style. What a letdown. I can't tell what intentions they have for Bow-chan's design because there's no clear vision for what Bow-chan is supposed to look like in the first place, and that led to widely varying renditions of her design.

^^^ I still think a heavier protag can be drawn well with the right touches. Like you suggested, I tried to elongate her skirt and also slapped on a sweater vest. I got rid of the heart bow (because it honest to god reminded me of those little kid accessories I would get at Hmart when I was in primary school) and used a hairclip instead. Hopefully, this is passing!

^^^ My other problem with Bow-chan's design is that it's very bland? Yansim got lucky finding success while using the most generic uniform in design and color scheme. I don't think it's a good idea to bank all of Bow-chan's design on a tacky-looking bow. It's already bad enough that Bow-chan resembles Kasumi from P5 to me (dark red, wavy ponytail tied by a bow, black/white uniform with a small ribbon, etc.) so I think that the team should find ways to differentiate Bow-chan to make her stand out more. If I were to redesign Bow-chan, this is probably what I'd go for; I got rid of the heart on the hairclip just added two plan hairclips instead, and I added some buckles to her skirt. If Love Letter wants to make a DDLC-like happy girly-sinister vibe, they ought to brighten Bow-chan's color scheme, too, so that people don't mistaken the game for being darker than it actually is.

I don't know how well either of these drawings would translate into a 3D model but honestly, I think the team is missing out on opportunities to spice up their game in more ways than one because they don't seem to be receptive of feedback anymore.

All of thissss! Also, your art style is really great!! Good job drawing her!

I was all for supporting LoveSick before. The way the trailer dropped gave the impression that they all already had everything wrapped up, and all that's left is just post-production and releasing. But... after all the Discord drama, and how they're handling their branding revamp... it's getting really hard supporting the project for me.

[ichiro]

Bow-chan's small feet in the official art is so funny lol but the fact that fans can produce way better artwork than the official is kinda sad, it feels like the devs chose her out of pity.

[fabienne]

On that note, it's just kind of hard to accept the way how the official art translates into models when you've got the game looking like this:

The hair model is a huge letdown given how high and exaggerated her ponytail is. It feels like her focal point in her design and then in-game it looks like some rando hair model Alex ripped. Lowkey I don't like her uniform's design either. I think there's too much going on in the art and then it's so dimmed down in the game that it's freaking me out. Idk how devs prioritize things in developing a game though and it's early so it's cool

I read that Drapeis is close friends w/ the artist so that's probably why he chose her. Get the best for your game though. I hate to shit on an artist but there's so much more he could choose from and his current artist throws the whole my style shit, and it's annoying and says a lot. Hopefully you won't be jeopardizing a friendship by choosing someone else?

Edited 20 July by fabienne

[washi_tape]

Thanks, y'all for the comments 😭 I appreciate it so much!! I ran out of reps to give again but I really am touched.

So @Cosplayqueen made a new thread specific for Yansim clones here! They put everything in much greater detail. I'm gonna summarize the comments from here and put it there to get people up to speed. https://prettyuglylittleliar.net/topic/13818-yansim-clones/

[stalin's breast milk]

I ran out of reps for today but consider this a like! I've been getting really rusty with drawing but I'm glad you like it! (I don't feel like I'm the right fit for Love Letter's image though, haha)

--

Speaking of modeling,

So this appears to be the official reference sheet for Bow-chan. The art looks a lot more pleasing and well refined here compared to what was shown in the premiere--especially in terms of lineart and the way the face was made. I don't know why they didn't feature this art on their now-trending video instead of this:

--

On that note, it's just kind of hard to accept the way how the official art translates into models when you've got the game looking like this:

but then you've got fan art using the same ref looking like this:

And the original ref garnering comments like this:

Which is why having a consistent reference sheet and showcasing a style thats suitable for the setting of the game are both so important for successful and marketable visuals.

I'm slightly nervous how Love Letter will interpret and realize the Japanese high school experience through their game without projecting overtly Americanized views of Japan. The art direction already seems very westernized with weeby undertones. The game probably won't be as blatantly racist as Yandev's panty currency or Corona Chan but idk, man, PULL has shown time and time again that it's risky business toying with a real-life culture if you aren't equipped with the proper knowledge/awareness to avoid inaccuracies or stereotypes beforehand. I would have rather they just severed the connection with Japan entirely and made a make-believe school/town instead

Glad I'm not the only one who forgets that the game is supposed to be set in Japan every time they look at Bow-chan.

There's no real reason the game needs to be set in Japan anyways. If they just put it in America, Bow-chan wouldn't look at all out of place, and they'd be able to have a lot more freedom in how they could make her appearance stand out- especially if the school were to have no uniform policy.

washi_tape's drawings are adorable and I think the sweatervest suits Bow-chan a lot. It gives me a bit of like a 90's or 80's, idk the difference vibe, and honestly the game would be much cooler and way more original if it were set in America at that time. There's so much that could be done with it, and it'd probably get rid of 90% of the issues they're having rn

i saw someone commenting on the discord a suggestion that said "what if the school is set in the future, the school being an international one that welcomes and accepts students from multiple countries and for that, they teach everything in english?"

lmao devs didn't even answer it

[washi_tape]

Hidden Content

i saw someone commenting on the discord a suggestion that said "what if the school is set in the future, the school being an international one that welcomes and accepts students from multiple countries and for that, they teach everything in english?"

lmao devs didn't even answer it

REALLY. Well that's incredibly disappointing because they just missed a huge opportunity to diversify their population/set their characters apart from all the other Yansim clones AND mitigate the risk of cultural appropriation altogether. They really out here still trying to make Love Letter a Yansim jr. after everything that's happened, even when they got great ideas handed to them by fans. You'd think that after all their poor business decisions leading up to this point, they'd make a better attempt at recovering.

But nope, bad name, bad logo, bad character design, bad worldbuilding, bad premiere, bad everything.

[supersirius]

Hidden Content

i saw someone commenting on the discord a suggestion that said "what if the school is set in the future, the school being an international one that welcomes and accepts students from multiple countries and for that, they teach everything in english?"

lmao devs didn't even answer it

That's an even better idea, and again, one much easier to execute. Shit like this bothers me because if they really intended to put some work into this game, then there's absolutely no reason they can't make things more original. It doesn't matter if it makes the development take longer- if they actually come out with a finished product, it'd prove the point they were trying to make.

but lol no they're gonna murder all the hype they had by giving us diet Yansim

[stalin's breast milk]

that same person said "if the game is set in the future, you can go absolutely bonkers in dressing styles and clubs and even school stuff. who will question it? it's the future"

...this game will end up being a clusterfuck, i bet you.

that same person had written an extremely detailed lore suggestion, devs said "nah, we're not getting into lore, that will complicate things"

i have no idea what they're on. someone else recommended a pun name for bow-chan "aino nozomi", which meant "love's wish". no answer, devs have their heads so far in the arse thinking they're better than yandev it just makes me go "ugh"

...but yeah they'll answer to already repeated suggestions