Hey everyone, Hack here.

I've decided to change my current plans to a different direction that may or may not disappoint a lot of you, and this is a pretty tricky one to think about.

Background

My original plan, when releasing Hack's Custom Night, is to include a planned amount of 50 characters in the roster for players to include in their night. It was an ambitious idea to add 50 characters to the selection, but I personally do not mind adding that much. For one, it is easy to program almost any amount of characters into the night. If you talk to some other Custom Night developers, even they can express how easy it is to add a heavy amount of characters to their roster, based on the context and idea of their game. However, this is where it gets pretty difficult for Hack's Custom Night.

After four years of development, I have concluded that Hack's Custom Night is nearly impossible to reach 50 characters into the roster, and it is not the reason you may think it is.

What is the problem?

When I first started development on Hack's Custom Night, it started with a small amount of four characters for a custom night game. It eventually grew to 5, 8, 10, 20, and 50. The problem was not that it was difficult to program, but it surrounds the context of this game. In other custom night fangames nowadays, you have a plethora of characters from video game franchises, slightly-minor adjusted characters, and out-of-place characters. ...Hack's Custom Night is much different than that.

Hack's Custom Night's characters are based on my character, and my friends & allies I have made in the present and past. Those kinds of characters are completely different from what you expect in a video game or fangame, it is not the kinds of characters you get a heavy amount with. I value the people's time and comfort to be included in HCN or not, and I rather not force them to be. As much as I love HCN as a ridiculous ambitious project with my friends, I value their trust and connection a lot more than simply adding their character into a dumb fangame. Which is why I will be announcing something I never thought I would be saying, Hack's Custom Night will have a playable demo.

A playable demo? When??

I do not have a lot of concrete answers about the demo in question, but I feel making a demo is the best way for everyone to get a grip on how Hack's Custom Night will work without having to wait for all 50 character slots to be filled. I never liked making this decision as I feel a lot of people would expect a lot more from me for a full release from its demo. The Five Nights at Freddy's community has been around for almost 8 years. With many fangames being released around, the standards for a "good" fangame have increased quite significantly with the requirements of innovation and uniqueness. Hack's Custom Night does not really have a lot of that, as it mostly has mechanics from the original games with a twist, and I do not think a lot of people would like that very much.

However, in this situation, I feel it is more important now to craft a bite-sized version of what I want Hack's Custom Night to truly be made for four years. With that said, here is what you can expect out of the demo, but things may change.

DEMO QUESTIONS

1. How many characters will the demo include?

   My current plan is to include around 16 to 24 characters in the demo.

2. Will it include every office mechanic you have planned?

   No, it won't.

3. What can we expect in the demo?

   There will be a custom night with a general difficulty setting and a shop.

4. What is the estimated release for a demo?

   I can't promise a release date until the demo is finished.

5. What is your favorite food?

   Sushi and burgers.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask here, and I will respond if necessary.

Alright, that should be everything. I apologize if I have disappointed anyone by having to cut a lot of work for a short demo, I wanted to do what was best for my friends and community.

Have a good day/night, everyone.