I don't know if you saw it coming or not, but yes, it was meant to be a thing at some point.

Unlike the first game's recode, this one was going to have very different mechanics compared to its original counterpart, mainly to make anything that wasn't the mask have an actual use, rather than just being there for decoration.

In the video you'll see what mechanics were planned for each character exactly. Plastic Mallie, Plastic Jaiden, Withered Harold and Pre Spring Girl would've been kept the same, but everyone else was going to have new stuff going on, but only Golden Leopold was finished before cancellation.

The withereds would've been my favorite part of the game for sure. The plan was for them to retain their behaviours from 1R but adapted to 2R, to make both of them feel more connected.

Since GameJolt won't let you attach sound files to posts for whatever reason, I guess here are Withered Mallie's voicelines uploaded to Drive, lol:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16rWb5VUQy7zfDmWGAAIumWFzyTZvmmGZ/view?usp=drive_link

Btw the how to play says she would've gone to the left vent, but that was a typo

I came up with most of the mechanics while I was making the QoL patches for 2R and 3R. Believe it or not, this game was actually planned to be made even before 1R DX even started development, but it was "pushed aside" as 1R's gameplay improvements had already been written down long ago, and I guess it made more sense to start with the first game.

For a while now I had been taking a silent break from game dev and the game was put on hold until next year, but I still worked on it when I was bored and didn't have anything else to do, and to give "future me" a base to work with.

In the end, I managed to finish everything that wasn't the gameplay, aside from some of the new content like the cheats and the endless mode.

The phone calls were going to be updated to teach you the new mechanics, but considering Jaiden ghosted us throughout like, half of 5R's development and he was the one who voiced Chris, there wasn't much of a choice but to add a how to play.

The cheats were the same from 1R except for the Metal singer mode, and two new ones which would've been an infinite flashlight and unlimited oxygen.

Endless mode wasn't fully planned out, but I had two different ideas for it:

One would've been your usual night that never ends, which may have been boring,

the second one was a "night marathon" of sorts, somewhat like the VS mode in FNaTAS 1 Advanced, with the difference being that the characters would've gotten faster and faster the more nights you beat, to the point where they would've even surpassed their normal movement speed limits.

As for what exactly led to the game's cancellation:

It was due to the recent Jaiden controversy. Big surprise.

To be honest I don't see myself making a game that contains the self-insert of someone like him. It simply wouldn't feel right.

And even if Jaiden was removed/replaced, my interest in making games for this series has completely died out now, so chances are this will probably be the last FNaTAS project made mostly by me.

Even if my time as a developer for this series was a bit short, I hope I still managed to have some impact.

I'll remain on the team to do miscellaneous work and give some ideas and feedback here and there, but you won't be seeing anything new from me anymore.

EDIT: I should probably mention, a 3R recode was not planned to happen, it was only gonna be the first two games and nothing else.

Howwwwever, y'know I'm bout it bout it, and since I'm the most radical cat on the block, I don't want to leave all of you emptyhanded with only cancellation news.

I've taken the time to make a mid-sized tubular update for 1R DX, with content that was originally planned to be added in the recode but ended up not making the cut, as a final thank you. I hope it makes the game at least a bit more enjoyable.

Here's the changelog:

[- A settings menu has been added, contains technical stuff but also customizable options, like choosing between two monitor animations (originally a long time ago, one replaced the other, but they coexist now, how nice) the ability to toggle on and off the Do Your Best phone call in the Custom Night (which has been brought back due to popular demand) and the toggle to automatically skip the Night 7 ending cutscene

- An inventory has been added to the Extras, so if there's a plush that you don't like, welp, now you don't have to look at it anymore

- Added a (now really outdated) quote in the ending cutscene similar to the ones in 2R and 3R

- Added a sprite for when Harold and Mallie are in Cam 05 together

- Fixed the static in the Devil's hour event

- Fixed the Mascot Room easter egg not properly showing up most of the time]

Have a good one, and I'll meet you on the other side.