This update is a small part of a larger post detailing what I'm working on for 2024. Read the full post here:
https://gamejolt.com/p/sonnakai-in-2024-what-s-next-mymbudnw

Obviously, it's been a very long time since the last public update on FNAN:R back in March of 2022, nearly two years ago now. Back then, I described the game as being in a stasis due to uncertainty on what the gameplay should be like, and ultimately deciding to trust my gut, go with what I think works best, and iterate from there. And, the good news is, the playtests have been successful! I've gotten multiple people to playtest the game over the course of the last two years, and slowly over time I've been iterating on the minutiae of the gameplay to make it better and better. I think FNAN:R's main gameplay, as it currently stands, is a pretty dang fun experience! I'm happy with how it plays!

..............the problem is everything else. FNAN:R is intended to have post-night minigames, with each one being its own unique experience. And here I come to the problem of not knowing what to do with them all over again. And it's not like with the main gameplay where I knew what I wanted it to be and could trust my gut on what I think works best, no, I have no idea what exactly I want to do with these minigames. I have some baseline ideas down, but cracking them is proving to be a gruelling damn task for me. I started coding for one minigame idea that seemed concrete, but then me and the team agreed that it just.....wasn't all that interesting. It was too simplistic and boring, it wasn't particularly hooking. So that one's out of the window, and I'm back to square one.

And I gotta admit, this is getting to me. I went to College and University to study game design, for God sake, I should have a better grasp at how to make games like this! And yet....I don't. I'm still stuck here, nearing year 5 of development, with a very fleshed out main gameplay, sure, but only a few character models, almost no environmental concept art, no environment models whatsoever, and a skeleton of a frame surrounding the gameplay that still needs to be fleshed out. It's.....exhausting. It's sad.

I still have faith in FNAN:R, as I always do. What the team has been cooking up behind the scenes is very exciting to me, I'm really damn proud of what they've managed to create and I really want to share it with all of you! But this indecision in the game design is putting a huge roadblock in progress, and unlike last time, I don't really have a solution to this. I can't just trust my gut when even my gut doesn't know what it says. It's really concerning, but I have to believe we'll get there eventually. I just have to. I don't want this project to wither away and die, it deserves better than that. I'll figure something out, I'm sure of it. I just ask that you bear with me as I continue to linger in Developmental Hell.

But again, it feels wrong to leave you guys without the smallest crumb of something, so, uh........idk, have these dumb drawings Mr. Nobo made back in January 2021 without any context.

Merry Christmas.