Happy April 1st.

I’ll get straight to the point:
despite the date, I genuinely don’t have a prank or a "shadow drop" prepared for today. I know the expectation is usually some kind of chaotic surprise, but I’m coming up empty-handed this year.

I actually had a pretty solid plan in mind for April Fools 2026, but due to "obvious circumstances" (which I’m sure most of you can guess), I wasn't able to fulfill it in time (heck, I wasn't even able to begin working on the idea). Since I don't want to release a rushed, half-baked joke game, I decided to shelf it for now. I might pursue the idea eventually, but I’m not making any promises.

Since I don't have a playable build for you, I figured I’d at least pull back the curtain on what was going on in my mind behind the scenes.

(if I sound off, just know that I am genuinely tired with my current lack of sleep :sob:)

"The Undeniably Canon Cube's Dark Hours Reopened Tutorial Game"

...Yes, that was actually the name. The project idea I was looking at was a standalone "tutorial" game for CDH1 Reopened. As to where inspiration came from, I'm pretty sure everyone knows about ooftroop's Undeniably Canon FNaF series. Basically, I thought it would be hilarious to make a tutorial game that claimed to be "undeniably canon" to the main CDH lore.

The idea was to make something that looked simple but completely identical to Reopened (standard mechanics, UI, whatnot)... but then use the "tutorial" instructions to teach the game in the most obscene, counter-intuitive ways possible.

I wanted the mechanics to feel like a fever dream. For example:

• The Door Mechanic: The tutorial would tell players to close a door. Simple, until you realize the doors do not work. So, you would have to click and hold the door, then physically drag it downward to close it.

• The "Voice Recognition" Segment: There was going to be a section where the game prompts you to use your microphone to respond to characters. It would tell you to press SPACE to enable your microphone to talk... but, in a classic Portal 2 style reference, pressing Space would just make your character jump.

After the tutorial, the game would throw you immediately into a tense speedy challenge night, activating all the characters (and maaayybe wishing you good luck, I don't know). Even though these mechanics sound absurd and useless, I actually had plans to where you actually DO use these to protect yourself; like jumping on The Shadow's head to get him out of your office.

Maybe I'll revisit this idea eventually. But no promises.

Extra Section:
The Scrapped CDH Dating Sim...

Before the tutorial idea, I actually spent a few days spiraling down a different rabbit hole: A CDH Dating Simulator. The premise started out simple enough; a standard visual novel where you try to "win over" one of the characters. But because I can’t keep things simple, it was going to stay "normal" for about five minutes before completely breaking, having moments such as:

• The Courtroom Shift: You’d be mid-date, and suddenly the game would pivot into a full Ace Attorney-style courtroom segment. You’d have to present evidence and find contradictions in your date's dialogue just to get to the next scene.

• The "Glitch": I was also planning some heavy Doki Doki Literature Club references. Think character files "deleting" themselves, the UI melting, and the characters becoming self-aware that they’re trapped in a joke game... or just making fun of you for playing the game in the first place.

• Genre Chaos: It was basically going to be a mess of every genre except a dating sim by the time you reached the end, to which you either do or don't end up with the character you chose to pursue.

I ended up abandoning it after a few days because the scope was getting ridiculous. Thinking about making a "simple" joke game took off into thoughts about whether I should get a team for this specific idea or not. I thought about it, and decided to shelve it for future use (if I can somehow manage to get a team... and somehow convince them to follow along with this wild idea).

Anyway, sorry to let the "prank" side of the day down this year. I’m putting all that energy back into finishing CDH2 Reshined.