Exactly one year ago, something happened that I myself could hardly believe at the time: my first serious game was released. Not an announcement, not a trailer, not a demo - a full release. It seemed amazing to me because I had worked on this game for over a year - I had simply become too accustomed to the state of just developing it, and its release seemed further and further away with each passing day.

Let's skip the jokes this time: I like this game. Primarily because I wanted to make it - and I did, which doesn't happen so often these days. But besides that, I'm satisfied with many things that turned out well in the game: I like how the tracks came out (Last Nightmare is an example), I like the game's graphics, and its gameplay... Well, there's nothing new or unique about it, but I can't call it bad either. It's just normal.

Development history

The development of this game began during a time when I was switching to developing a different game almost every week, never sticking with any one project for long. And suddenly, I switched again - to Help awaiting. After making a prototype, I looked at it and thought that, in theory, it wasn't such a massive undertaking. It was something I could actually finish. The third anniversary of "Five Nights with Froggy: Any secret will be revealed someday..." (hereinafter simply "Aswbrs") was approaching - the game that Help awaiting is a remake of.

Because of this, and also to solidify my commitment to working on this game and not switching to others, a teaser trailer for Help awaiting was released on December 1st, the anniversary of Aswbrs. At that point, it was just a prototype, and I continued developing the game. A little over a month later, a full trailer for Help awaiting was released - showing some gameplay and even featuring voice-over by Nikita "Adam Mayers," which, due to some circumstances, was never completed in the game. The trailer listed the release date as July 2024.

In the beginning of development many screenshots and videos was made. Here's some of the screenshots:

(Translation: I just wrote the most difficult script in the game, and it worked the first time i tested it. The script turns this small code into this tutorial screen)

At that time, I wanted to pack Help awaiting with as much content as possible, so after releasing the trailer, instead of finishing the story mode, I immediately started working on challenges and other modifiers for post-story modes. Later, this would negatively impact the game's story campaign, but that's not the point now.

Around this time, I started thinking that all we had was a flashlight. I wanted to keep the game in the most realistic circumstances possible, but I also wanted to give the player something more. So, I discussed it with my friend, who, as it happens, doesn't have a nickname, but is credited in the "Authors" as z4nzax. He came up with a pretty interesting idea: the player would gain "Concussion" from certain actions, and it could be reduced using a tablet with calming noise. I don't remember which of us came up with the idea for Crocco's non-lethal attack, but that was also discussed with him.

And, two months after the first trailer, the second trailer for the game was released. It no longer had voice-over and contained much more gameplay than story. This trailer became the most viewed on the channel. By the way, there's a moment at the end where someone knocks and kicks down the door as the logo appears. That moment was edited in; it wasn't in the game, and at that time, the game didn't even have a finished story mode to have that moment. By the time of this trailer, it became a bit clearer to me that the game wouldn't be ready by July, so instead of a specific date, it simply said "Coming soon."

After this trailer was released, work on the game started to fizzle out. I was just tired and felt like there was no point in working on this game. Not only did it have no deadline, but it also felt like no one was particularly waiting for it, and I was making it alone - if I just stopped working on it, no one would say anything. This gave me an excuse to be lazy.

Around this time, the image of the game's main protagonist began to take shape: nineteen-year-old Emil Gray.

(Translation: Speaking about art you asked for)

(Translation: Something like that?)

At some point, the lull in development started to bother me. I began slowly adding new things. I even worked on some of them in voice chats, sharing my screen, although I had tried not to show the game much before. Others I showed on a special channel for people who supported me on Boosty.

(Survival mode menu)

(Endless survival screen)

(Old stats menu that was removed. Contains info about every night you ever played)

This started to take the form of waves: I would work actively on the game for a day or two, and then do nothing for two weeks. The longer this went on, the more I realized I just needed to get this game to release, no matter what. Even if it meant cutting some things.

(Translation: Two months have passed since that message, and almost nothing new has appeared in the game during this time. Being that lazy, naive me wanted a release candidate by August.)

Along with cutting a couple of things that would have been very difficult to work on later, I decided on December 1st - the fourth anniversary of Aswbrs, and the anniversary(!) of the Help awaiting teaser trailer - to finally set an exact release date for the game. I set myself insane deadlines: given that I was barely working on the game, I had to finish it in less than a month! By December 30th at 8:00 PM Moscow Time, the game was supposed to be released to everyone. I announced this date and got to work.

There was both a lot and a little to finish - there were many, many small details that weren't ready in some places. And some bigger things: at that point, the game still had almost no working story mode. Having to finish many small details and a game mode I didn't find particularly interesting in less than a month was literally a nightmare for me. Last Nightmare.

I even made a bet with GKProduction: if I didn't finish the game on time, I would have to set my profile picture in all my social networks to the man from the "We're not sitting idle" meme (in the image, he is, surprisingly, sitting idle).

I started cutting what I couldn't finish in time and replacing what I cut as best I could. The reason was that around then, I had already decided that after the game's release, I would someday make another remake - Help awaiting 2.0. That would be what I envisioned as the perfect Help awaiting.

(Translation: This is what custom night could have been, but i have no time to finish that, so consider that as cancelled)

(Translation: Message says about how i decided to replace Survival mode because i have no time and interest to finish it, and how i came up with "Fast game" gamemode)

On December 26th, the game's story was finally completed. Along with it, the track "Outside Again," which plays in one of the endings, was made. It holds special meaning for me - it was written in the final days of development when time was running out, but belief that the game would actually be released began to grow.

The menu theme is literally called "Freedom". I felt that I was finally free from this game. Listen to the track again with these thoughts in mind.

The main catch was that on December 30th at 8:00 PM, I wasn't even at home - I had to leave early in the morning for New Year's celebrations. This meant I had to finish the game in the morning and upload it from my phone while away from home.

That night, and the night before, were definitely something. In an extremely accelerated mode, I finished absolutely everything that wasn't done, tested, and just prayed that the Android version worked properly and that there were no critical bugs in the game. That night, I also did the English translation for the game. In one. Night. Manually.

(This is conversation with GKProduction about game translation. I asked for some help with finding JSON translators, but i decided to continue translation manually)

The first build of the game, considered the release version, was made on December 30th at 5:31 AM Moscow Time. However, it turned out there were a couple of issues left, and the final 1.0 version was ready around 7:00 AM.

The release time was approaching. I played the game on my phone, unable to fix any bugs I found. Surprisingly, though, there was nothing critical in the game, but there were a few shortcomings. For example, Emil (the game's protagonist) would start repeating "30 minutes left." (russian: "Осталось 30 минут.") non-stop from 30 game minutes until the end of the night on Wednesday. This later became a meme.

8:00 PM arrives, and the game is released.

(Translation:
IT'S OUT
Or is it...
Yes, the game is out)

People download the game and start playing. First, I want to talk about how I'll probably never recreate that atmosphere again. It was undoubtedly the best moment of 2024 for me. Imagine: Evening. You're not at home and are actively preparing for New Year's celebrations. At the same time, you're walking around with your phone and seeing how many people are playing your very first serious game, which just came out. It's an irreplaceable feeling.

So, what were people writing then? Funny enough, mostly about bugs and errors. At the time, I justified it by saying I really wanted to release the game in 2024, not 2025. Essentially, that's true.

(Translation: Me said "5 bugs / errors in 24 minutes. That's a record.", mary replied: "...but game came out in 2024.")

I didn't worry too much. Why? There was literally nothing critical in the game. I expected bloody hell. I expected bugs that literally wouldn't let you progress further in challenges, bugs that would crash the game at the worst possible moment, and things like that. That didn't happen. There were only simple bugs, like a mixed-up character name in one of the texts, Emil's repeating line, and similar things.

(In the image, there is Froggy mentioned where Kitty should be)

I was able to fix all of that soon after returning home, but while it was in the game, it wasn't too baad since the game didn't break because of it.

However, looking back, of course, I wouldn't have wanted these bugs at release either. But, it is what it is. After returning home, I made several updates with fixes and small changes, and later, the original soundtrack for the game was released. It includes tracks present in the game as well as many that were cut.

The future

This was the story of this game's creation. But what's next? Now you know that a 2.0 version of the game is planned, as well as a second game that tells the story of Anton surviving from the theater toys in a hotel.

But, on this date, perhaps I can share much more. For a long time, I didn't know what I wanted from 2.0 (at that point, certainly not just making Help awaiting 1.0 but bigger and better). I couldn't come up with a reason to spend another year, or even two, on this game.

And, literally in one day, my friend, whom I mentioned earlier as the author of the concussion and tablet idea, and I started brainstorming everything that came to mind. In one day, this game became probably one of the best FNaF-likes I had ever planned.

Many ideas were born from one seemingly small change. I wanted to remove the absurd fact from the story that Emil couldn't go outside his house for a whole week because of the toys. However, something would force Emil to encounter these toys every night. This became the key to one of the biggest changes in 2.0. What if Emil had access to all of Prague and its suburbs?

(Translation: Help awaiting big spoiler)

I won't explain how, of course, but just think about how many things this could create in the game and how it could be implemented.

Around the same time, I started thinking that this game should be made less serious. For example, the game will have power-ups that Emil can obtain in certain ways. They will even be divided by rarity, but their rarity won't affect the chance of obtaining them, as is usually the case, but rather the method of obtaining them.

(This was a poll i made in my Telegram channel asking if people really need HA to be realistic, even if it badly affects gameplay. Everyone answered that game could be more interesting if it wasn't that realistic)

I was inspired by games like Dying Light and Risk of Rain 2 for many things in Help awaiting. That is itself is a big hint about other things.

The game's story will also change dramatically. I'd even say beyond recognition. I can only reveal one thing: Anti-Paranormal is no longer "a strange company you can call to your home." In the 2.0 canon, Anti-Paranormal is a TV show about two hosts exploring abandoned places "with ghosts", using various methods to "fight" these ghosts. There are many similar shows on YouTube today. The show gained sudden popularity after one episode in a very famous, now abandoned location, around which many rumors have circulated and still circulate. You already having an idea what place I'm talking about, aren't you?

Oh, yeah, the second part of Help awaiting will be good with this. Wait, the second part. So, what about it? When will it be? Well, I can say one thing: The game is canceled.

Okay, actually, it's a bit more interesting: The second part would be much smaller than the first, which didn't satisfy me. Therefore, the content of the second part will be included in the first part: Anton's story from Anti-Paranormal will be told in a separate story campaign in the first game.

One of the things that will likely be a feature of Anton's campaign: Anton will have the tools he used in the mentioned TV show to supposedly scare away ghosts. If you've watched such shows, you can imagine what I'm talking about.

(a very quick and joking sketch with Anton and one of the mentioned tools)

Well, that's all I wanted to share on this day. If you're reading this post, and especially if you've made it to these words, that's already a reason to thank you. I still have big problems with finishing games, and this game is almost the only one I managed to finish (aside from the Alternate edition of FNwFroggy, of course, but technically it belongs to GKProduction, and much of it is taken from the first part of FNwFroggy). The fact that at least something exists, and people are still playing it and reading posts like this - that's what makes me happy.

See you soon, and Happy New Year!