It's time for a new devlog! Many personal factors prolonged its arrival, but now that we are here, this new devlog will cover over the fourth character featured in Greenlit, a quick update regarding the gameplay, and the "big news" I teased earlier...wait, I didn't say FNaS1G, did I? You'll see why soon...

Design Reveal: Clone Tails

In the past, Clone Tails was designed to have a feistier appearance/personality in mind, but I gradually felt less like that was ideal. I decided to stray away from that approach and instead focus full-on with the rookie aspect, which you can see in this design! He wears pants, a bandana, boots, and wields some sharper fur. I kept the pirate aspect but conveyed it in a (hopefully) fresh way as well, though it was a bit tough figuring out how to do so. Ironically, only one reference I used was a fictional pirate design, but that's the magic in making the most out of what you can find!

(no, he's not thick or looks like that annoying boykisser, shut up)

Quick Gameplay Update

While I don't have anything big to show this time, I will say that I have continued to refine my plans for how the gameplay will work out, and this time I was able to take care of a doubt I had in my head. I was always lowkey concerned about the doors mechanic and how it would impact the potential values of depth and enjoyment. Until now, there were only two ways to repel a character: closing the slider door and using a backup cover in a vent. While I am happy with how I executed the ventilation in general, the doors felt like they were missing something...so I decided to add one more gameplay mechanic: the flashlight! I suppose this really makes the gameplay feel like a combination between the original FNaF trilogy, huh?

The flashlight will not have a battery to work with, BUT you will need to utilize it wisely. The longer you use it, the longer the cooldown. There is also a limit as to how long you can have it on, and the punishment won't be favorable. Many of the enemy characters you'll encounter will have certain interactions with the flashlight. Using a flashlight to repel an enemy will grant less cooldown, but this reward cannot be said when using it to prolong one's attack. All and all, it's meant to be a risk-reward system, which should hopefully enhance the gameplay!

There are other adjustments to the gameplay I have made, but this is the one I wanted to present. Now, onto the "big news"!

The "Big News"

I (not-so-seriously) gave a heads up on something major behind this devlog, and after some thinking, it's about time I announce what will be the final BIG change to not just this game, but really the Greenlit AU as a whole.

Five Nights at Sonic's: Greenlit will now be a true one-off story/game.

Now this may seem a little bonkers as I cut down much of my plans for the AU itself before, but I've been thinking deeper about my current life and what I want to do in the future for a while. I also looked into other FNaF fangame projects to try and understand what their philosophies were, and if it all felt familiar with my own. Ultimately, I concluded that this game was better off being the start AND end of a story, and there are a few reasons as to why I decided to do this.

Making the Best Experience

Even before the planning phase began, I always felt that the best way for people to experience the Greenlit AU was through a game. However, making only one piece of the pie playable felt wrong with me not realizing that I was limiting what people could truly experience. FNaS1G would be playable, but you had to read through the rest and look at some art of other characters if you wanted more. In other words, the immersion of the game would be disrupted by external media; you could only immerse yourself in the main thing for some time before flinging yourself out just to take a look at other related things.

Replacing Filler

The progression-dependent gallery was planned to give out more tidbits about the AU beyond FNaS1G by beating Custom Night challenges. Upon further consideration, this idea felt rewarding in the short run, wouldn't add any real fun to the game, and just felt like filler. The new plan for Custom Night challenge rewards is adding new options to the Custom Night itself, allowing for a gradual growth of flexibility and long-term senses of reward. I feel this change will also add more value in beating the challenges and keep the nature of this game's progression alive to the very end. At this point, it may be easy to figure out what this game's Custom Night is inspired by, but what matters most is the creativity and fun behind the challenges themselves.

The Value of the Game

On top of the previous two reasons, I realized that keeping the Greenlit AU going beyond this game felt like I would 100% end up getting this story on for too long. I've had many wacky, creative, and great ideas for this whole thing, but over a long time, I've felt more and more like they would become more valuable if saved for when I work on future projects I've always wanted to make a reality. I won't be an active, massive FNaS fan forever after all, and I certainly wouldn't want to keep myself from moving onto the next big thing in my life. The prologue still remains in the story and Golden Sonic will still play a major role, but just know that the game starts and ends the main events of the overall story from this point on. I've worked on this tale for long enough to settle on its best possible form. Finishing this game will now bring true satisfaction for not just you, but me as well.

A Greenlit Rebranding

In tandem with the big change, the gamepage and BYA document is set to undergo a bit of an overhaul. In addition, the game itself will now be referred to as FNaS Greenlit (or Greenlit) for short instead of FNaS1G. The "Chronicles" trait will be removed as well because of the final state of the AU no longer having multiple full chapters to a greater story. A good chunk of past posts in general are pretty much going to get some alternations for consistency. I was actually going to refine the logo one last time, but multiple attempts at doing so made me fully realize that the logo was effective enough to be perfectly sound, so there was really no point in fixing what isn't broken.

Two important changes I would like to point out are...

1. Credits: For those who have looked into the history of the gamepage, you may have noticed that I omitted a certain someone from the credits. I've decided that ultimately, I shouldn't let my personal feelings get in the way and instead put TheCyVap/Ian back into the credits as part of the overhaul. After all, he is responsible for creating FNaS, and to disacknowledge that feels unfair.

2. BYA: The "Before You Ask" document was a means to get any potential FAQs out of the way, but recently, I've decided to do something that should help make it more useful...but none of you noticed, have you? There's a questions page in the dedicated community for Greenlit, and any new/unique questions I can answer will be responded to and later added into the document!

That's all the major stuff I've got to say for now. In case it wasn't obvious, Clone Knuckles is up next on the drawing board! Also, I will now be prioritizing on tackling the rest of the character designs (so I won't feel overwhelmed on top of personal matters), which means the next few devlogs may be smaller but come quicker. See you next post!

~ Greenlight