i think a cool feature of the game would be that we choose who yamane's love interest because since it's undecided, it'd give options for things. I dont know. im just thinking this cause im currently about to murk people for this one sad girl because I find her cute..just an idea though but that would probably make the game take longer so take this with a grain of oatmeal.
Ooooh and If each character already has a base "personality" and a club you could build off those features to create an in-depth story for each character! think dating sim but WAY more interactive! Are they sad? as a Yandere trying to win the heart of your senpai, do ANYTHING to make them happy. learn their schedule, eavesdrop on their conversation, discover why they are sad and solve their problems to earn confidence in your ability to confess. meanwhile, you have to eliminate rivals and obstacles. Get your confidence up and eliminate your rivals/ obstacles to achieve the true ending for each datable character.
it might take some time to implement but when you think about it, you dont need every character to have their own story, just some. maybe one of each personality or club type? then if theres a crowd favorite character, a DLC could be released to expand on that one as a datable character with their own lore. if you do this in a more open concept, you could pick one person at the beginning of your playthrough, perhaps in the tutorial, play through the tutorial to get the main info on 1) how to play the game (something i noticed was difficult my first time playing was figuring out what controls to use) , 2) how to complete the tasks for your senpai and gain confidence (you would probably have to complete them anonymously. maybe you discover an issue by eavesdropping on senpai and a friend, solve said issue, and leave an anonymous love note on their desk letting them know not to worry about the issue anymore?) 3) how to eliminate rivals (and maybe a short explanation about how each type of elimination will affect your chosen senpai's life/outlook. if you kill senpai's friend they will definitely be sad but if senpai's friend is forced to move/withdraw or finds another relationship to pursue senpai will be more consolable and more likely to accept a confession that week.) also maybe each senpai could be affected by different elimination methods in different ways because of their personality? if senpai is haughty, and a rival is matchmade for example, senpai might appear slightly jealous or irate then declare "I'm too good for them anyway!" or if they are shy or friendly they might watch the rival from a distance and say something like "I'm happy for them!" if a rival is killed, maybe a haughty senpai would be seen walking around in small groups pretending like they arent scared, but when seen alone they may act jumpy or suspicious of any single person that comes near them.
just some thoughts i had after reading your post. i hope the developer sees these posts and takes everything said with a grain of salt.it can be hard on a new developer to put all the peices together but im sure the yamane community has grown quite a bit in the last month or so.
follow-up: it would be super cool if, in order to get the whole story, you had to play through each datable character just like in some dating sims. like the main plot is obviously going to be about yamane and senpai, but maybe there are larger puzzle pieces going into play. Maybe there's a big scandal going on at the school and if you have all the pieces to the subplot you could frame/expose someone big ? or maybe after achieving each senpai's true ending, something about the school changes slightly, almost unnoticeably. once you have all the good senpai endings you play one last time and uncover some huge mystery about the school because all those small changes were actually evidence to support rumors of a big crime that happened. completing this route would give you the true ending to the whole game.
alternatively the extra unlockables could be used to romance a mystery character! perhaps a sickly girl who was released from the hospital or a transfer/exchange student?
personally i like the first one but either way it would make for an awesome end-game.
