A new proper devlog comes a new format! The fabled "Devlog 5" is finally here and I am excited to show the progress made since last time. No need to hesitate this time as I will be diving straight in.

Design Reveal: Clone Mario

Chances are you were in a Discord server or two where I dropped this early, but here is the official design for Clone Mario. I felt the previous design he had was going in the right direction but needed some tinkering. When I began working on the final design, I got stuck and caught up with tons of priorities in life, so I had to put development in general on hold. Once I was free though, my mind got plenty of sparks and the design was quickly figured out!

Perhaps now you'll learn what my character design philosophy is with this game. My philosophy is to take creative liberties on the appearance of the clones with a primary intent: to make them look like legitimate clones and not copies of existing FNaF characters. Of course, I'm still going my style but have refined it to get things down the way I want! Clone Mario here is meant to appear as a proper showman (if that's the right word) but doesn't reach for a fancy look. I dropped the bunny aspect as there wasn't any real purpose to include them anymore, and I recommend you remember that for when Clone Luigi's final design comes to life.

For a bit of trivia with the design process, his hat was originally going to be the obvious oversized tophat. When I learned about MCMXCVI however, I realized that he could come off as a ripoff of that game's Mario design, so I went for a hat that felt fresh yet fitting. I decided to give Clone Mario a bowler hat, as you can see. If you want to see Mario take center stage in a FNaF fangame, go check out the aforementioned MCMXCVI!

Find The Computer Room!

Moving onto the gameplay, there's quite the amount of stuff I wanted to get into. It wasn't easy figuring things out, and I even decided to do a little polishing/change here and there, but I am feeling more and more better about how the game is turning out. I'll be going over most of what you can do with the computer NOW!

Cameras

Easily the simplest game mechanic to work with. Look through various cameras, check to see who's where, you get the gist. The UI here does look nice though, right?...oh hey, looks like there's two options on how to monitor the location! There are two different modes you can switch between: one for cameras and another for...

Vents

...vents! Unlike cameras however, there is something of a system for the vents. You have five covers to work with. Upon activating one, it will be active for a brief period. However, only two can be active at the same time. It's all about reaction and management, as characters will make their way or even hit the covers into deactivating if you don't do things right!

Gimmick Reveal: The AC System

Chances are you looked at the "Before You Ask" document and noticed something about what the gameplay will be like and if it were to have anything special. If you REALLY want to know what makes this game stand out, I present to you the AC System!

The AC System is accessible through the computer and can be controlled through a slider presenting a few options: warm (orange; 85 °F), standard (grey; 75 °F), and cold (blue; 65 °F). When you make a choice on what temperature to go for, the AC System will adjust to your desired temperature. However, the process takes time, and you cannot change the temperature midway nor a brief period after the adjustment is complete. While standard temperature totally doesn't do anything, warm and cold temperatures bring unique advantages and disadvantages.

The main idea behind this gimmick is that it is strategic but totally optional. Some players may just want to have a simpler experience and not use it, while others might want to spice things up and utilize it for some additional challenge. Now...what are the advantages and disadvantages like you may ask? All I will offer is a clear idea of how they change your experience. Neither you nor the mechanics you can control will be affected, but as for clones you'll face, that's another story...

And here we are at the end of the devlog! It feels great to finally share some new information for the first time in a while, and I promise that there will be more devlogs in the future. Just don't expect them to come often though. See you next post!

~ Greenlight

EDIT: Looks like this devlog was awaited after all...thanks for all the support! Also, I decided to give the gamepage a proper image that would actually stick around, representing the character roster. Of course, it will update as more characters receive their designs!