Yes, development began 6 years ago. But Yandere Simulator is much more ambitious and complex than an average indie game. The premise itself may seem straightforward, but the number of features and depth of mechanics is comparable to that of AAA open-world sandbox titles. It's unrealistic to expect a game like this to reach the optimization stage in less than 6 years, simply due to the unusually large scope and deep complexity of the game, coupled with the fact that it's mostly being developed by a single person. Nobody can accurately estimate how long it should take to teach the optimization stage, because there isn't a pre-existing project that Yandere Sim can be compared to.
No solo developer has ever attempted to build a social stealth school simulation sandbox game before. The length of time that it takes for a single man to develop a game like this has simply not been established yet, so "it's been 6 years, you should have optimized the game by now" is simply not a valid statement.
Even with the above information in mind, I do think that the game should be further into development by now, but there are factors that massively slowed down the game's development and put the game way behind schedule.
Early in the game's development, I adopted an unreasonable update schedule; one major feature every 2 weeks. As a result, the game was developed under "crunch time" for several years straight; 15-hour workdays, no vacations, constantly sacrificing physical and psychological health, etc. This caused me to become "burned out", which severely reduced my productivity. Due to my ongoing obligation to devote most of my time to Yandere Simulator, I have never had an opportunity to recover from this burnout and return to normal levels of productivity.
There is another factor that is much more important than that, though. I have been mischaracterized, misportrayed, misrepresented, and character assassinated by drama YouTubers who financially benefit from producing content where they ridicule, shame, humiliate, and vilify their target. Going through this experience has caused me to feel like my life and career are permanently destroyed, which has killed my motivation to work on the game, reducing my productivity further.
The game could've been further into development by now, but being slandered and harassed on a daily basis for 5 years slowed me down.
