Last year around this time I released this photo as a little arg test thing, in there was a hidden message that hinted at a project I was working on. Since I did promise I'd give more information on it last year I'm making this post.

Surprisingly, not Canceled

Yep, I did take a large break from it in the middle of last year but I've recently tried picking it back up. Currently, the entire game is already planned and I've moved on to coding with placeholder assets (using my hand-drawn artwork, it's horrific)

Okay, but what is this project?

Good question, it's a smaller fan game but I've tried to go for the quality for quantity approach this time, with no chapters or grand gameplay planned. This game has gone through many variations over the past 2 years, for many different reasons, usually ambition and just bad design. I'm taking my time with each step and making sure that it is a fun and scary game that will hopefully capture the essence of the first FNaF game without being another carbon copy mechanically or visually.

What did the other variations look like?

Well few made it past the planning phase, but two of them did get a bit further into development, here are some screenshots:

Classic two-door version (December 2019 - January - 2020):

This version of the game is a lot closer to the current version in gameplay as a 2D more classic style FNaF fan game. I wasn't entirely happy with the gameplay and designs in this version as it didn't feel very scary, it was more just normal FNaF, two doors, hide under the desk if they're at one of the doors. The other mechanics didn't support this very well. I also made the mistake of just making it up as I went in this version instead of having a solid document. I recommend anyone making any type of game to at least write a rough idea of all the content (mechanics, art style, etc), it helps put all the work you're going to be doing in perspective, having a to-do list doesn't hurt either.

Free Roam, Unreal Engine 4 (October 2020 - January 2021):

This version of the game was very ambitious, with a lot of mechanics and a focus on stealth and trickery. This required a lot of code to work and honestly, I may reuse the more complex AI for a game in the future. Overall really cool idea and was really cool to play but it was way too big for me as a one-man team to make.

Of course, as I said there were other versions of the game but they never made it past the planning phase, and a lot of them were very close to the current version so I can't talk about them anyway.

What about the multiplayer game?

On hold, probably canned because I couldn't get servers to work, not quite skilled enough yet.

But you said you were starting on an original project!

I did say that, and yeah it's still true but since school is happening I only have so much free time and this fangame is a lot less work than what I'm planning for the original project. I am really excited to build and develop the world I have planned for that but I definitely need more time for it.

Tl;dr

Making a new FNaF fangame that isn't a big as it goes for "quality over quantity", the multiplayer game is on hold until further notice, and the original project is still happening.

Note: This is not an official announcement of anything, just updating on what I'm currently working on. Since I probably won't be releasing anything on this game for quite some time if you have any questions feel free to comment on this post!