While the main nights briefly touch on the story elements of Crafty's Play Zone, the Database sections are where the true inner workings of Crafty-HQ is explored by the player.

From the very beginning of development, I wanted Crafty's Play Zone to take place in the universe of Black Bear's Picnic (my audiobook story) where the player slowly discovers the secrets behind the establishment. I felt the best way to do this was through Minigames after every night which appear cute and colourful on the outside, but actually house an entrance into somewhere you probably shouldn't be...

The Database sections were born. It holds secret files and logs behind the scenes of the company. However, ever since it was integrated into an old, decommissioned arcade game (Crafty's Great Adventure), people have started to accidentally gain access to it.

These sections were originally going to be much MUCH simpler. It would've involved the player unlocking more areas as they go (the same as it is now), except there were no puzzles or help points to interact with. It would've literally been logs for you to listen to, and nothing else. However, as development continued, I got more and more ambitious and wanted it to be more interactive for the player. This is how I came up with puzzles that needed to be solved in order to access more logs and reach the help points (which now HAD to be interacted with to complete that section).

Upon completing every section in the Database, the CEO of Crafty-HQ is revealed, with him revealing everything that's been going on behind the scenes. The player is put into the secret night where the main night gameplay is merged with the Database sections. A lot of the gameplay of this stayed roughly the same, with only a few things being tweaked such as there originally being no windows (so the Data animatronics would appear in the doorway instead), and there originally being stars which the player could collect to extend their timer (which was cut because I found it to be a little unnecessary).

That's basically it for the development of the Database sections of Crafty's Play Zone! I'll try and find some other miscellaneous bits of development for at least one more dev log, but we might be coming to the end soon!