Hello everyone.

Please through through the whole post.

This reboot and devlog are very hard for me, but I know it’s the best decision for this game moving forward. With the release of Clickteam Fusion 2.5+ and this game being my last FNaF fangame, I've begun to question the game as there are flaws that only recently started to appear.

This is not what I wanted to do, but I know it’s the best decision in my heart and it was an incredibly hard decision to make. I know you all were expecting a Trailer II post, but this must be done.

The reasons for this game’s reboot are as follows:

1. Development Pipeline Difficulties

2. Major Changes in Vision from 2017 to 2019

3. Constantly Changing Stuff

4. Overcomplication

5. Lack of Deadlines/Roadmap

This was an incredibly frustrating game to develop because of production issues with renders taking well up to a week to render, Clickteam issues. and DirectX 9 issues. Many of the production issues are with 3DS Max and how much time it takes to render stuff and if there is an error, it’s incredibly frustrating and I must redo stuff over and over. I am now making an investment into a new computer because I can't afford the amount of time it takes to make content with my current laptop. I'm getting ready to build a Ryzen 9 monster with an RTX 2080 super, which will be much faster than my i7 + GTX 1050 Ti laptop. With the reboot, that issue will be solved with content pipelines being bottlenecked because of speed issues.

This game has changed tremendously ever since 2017 and because of those changes, the game contradicts itself with old and new mechs which have become difficult to manage and because of that, it’s not as easy as patching the game as the changes in vision have led to the game not being able to put what it wants to do correctly because it has 3 eras of development crammed into one, which is messy. With this reboot having a new, clear vision while remaining true to what ELLIE'S wants to be, it will learn from the mistakes of the previous eras of its development, becoming one solid era with no going back.

One of the biggest complaints I got while developing this game was me constantly changing ELLIE’S throughout its development, which led to issues like I mentioned before with the game and it caused the game to be messy coding-wise and a bit gameplay-wise. Sure, it was something I could have balanced out, but it's not worth doing that because it would be just a pain in the rear to do with no real chance of success. With this reboot, there is a very solid plan moving forward and with a set deadline which will fix that issue.

Because of the constant changes over the years, this game started to become more complicated to develop and play because there are a lot of things going on. As I said before, it could have been something I could have balanced and fine-tuned out, but it’s a gamble to do that. With this reboot, everything about this game was put back on the drawing board and reanalyzed and now refined, scrapped, or result in new stuff added while simplifying the game. This will make it easier to develop, decrease development time, and will fix the issue of overcomplication of the game.

Throughout this game’s development, it has never really had a set release date. I know back in the day I said Q3 2018, but the game’s development speed and the changes in vision did not allow for that. With the mindset that I had all the time in the world, it led to me changing the game over time in its eras of development. Moving forward with this reboot, I am setting a deadline for June 19, 2020, the FR1 5-year anniversary date, and I will be taking time off work to make sure the game gets there. I will absolutely make sure the game is not rushed in any way, shape, or form. A sense of urgency will allow me to make this game faster because the base is there and now it must be built upon.

What will this reboot do differently?

The main goals of the reboot are to completely fix the content pipelines so they’re not so long, then move forward with a very solid plan to prevent unneeded changes which plagued the old one. With a solid base for the game moving forward based off an updated version of the original plan will allow for the game to be not complicated development-wise, and finally, having a deadline set for this game will gravely help me with a sense of urgency without rushing the game, and with much faster content pipelines, it will be the goal to shoot for.

One thing majorly different is that this game will now take full advantage of Fusion's 2.5+ DLC, which adds DirectX 11 support and will allow me to have more freedom with the game’s animations and speed.

This was an incredibly frustrating decision to make, but the developers of the game and I know this is the right decision moving forward. I know it's not the news you guys wanted, but you must trust us. This is a game made of sheer love and I will make sure it’s as great as it can possibly be. We only want the best for the game, and I apologize if this news upsets you, but I know this decision is for the best. Trailer II is suspended until further notice and once it's ready, the game page will get a major overhaul.

This reboot is not a total loss, as the overworld stuff is being transferred over to the reboot, and what is being changed is the main gameplay. I hope you all understand our decision.

The decision we made was like ripping off a band-aid. You don't want to, but you have to and waiting will cause an infection.

TL;DR ELLIE'S is being rebooted to solve issues with three eras worth of content being jammed into one, undo unneeded changes, have a set deadline and roadmap, and to carry out a clearer vision of what the game desires to be.

-The ELLIE’S Dev Team