Unfortunately, I cannot go into specific details about this game without risking spoilers and possible idea theft.
A chunk of this game's purpose comes from the frustration the game, and its community that I grew up with, gives me. If it wasn't for this project, I wouldn't be able to do any of the stuff I can do now, nor would I have stuck around the FNAF fandom anywhere near as long as I have now. Seeing the game I used to love fall apart and never even tap into its full potential on its own was devastating. But after defending it, and getting socially outcasted for my interest in the genre it created, the franchise would frustrate me enough to prove both the people that like and dislike the game wrong.
While the retro project aims to destroy the preference argument, this project focuses on doing what FNAF could've done. This project pays attention to the small details and understands the elements that made not just the FNAF genre work, but what makes the horror genre work. It also recognizes the inevitable comparison to its inspiration and only alters what it needs to. Changing details that don't add anything to the world you're presenting can actually take away from the game you're making if you don't know what you're doing.
Like the rest, this game will be almost entirely done by myself. But this game is the reason I'm even able to do any of the stuff I can. From modelling, to composition, to coding. So on top of completely self-developed assets, the game will also have an original score. A lot of my experimental tracks have been for this game, so the tracks should be as interesting as the game itself.
When I last left this franchise, it was still undergoing necessary rewrites. If I return to this project, it will likely have to be rewritten once more. Especially if this game is to have a purpose.
Like Cri's, if I find that this game no longer has a purpose, it, too, will be cancelled. I don't like cancelling things that I'm genuinely passionate about, and doing so would mean the death of a ton of ideas for just this game alone. I refuse to use the word "hiatus" for these projects because it has a connotation that seems as though I'm uninterested or giving up.
It's a few days after FNAF 3's second teaser, and the question everyone's asking is "who's in it?" No one was even certain if the character in both this teaser and the one in the previous one are the same. Like many, I would compare the little available to the other characters in the franchise. But I would actually edit them next to eachother, even if it was in MS Paint, of all programs.
While it's not the start of game's story, it's the origin of a key character in its story. Currently, it's nothing more than just the combination of all known Freddy characters at the time, but it would unintentionally spark the idea for something massive.
I missed it the first time, too. The sewn lines imply more than just a simple redraw of the edit I made 4 days prior. Obviously inspired from the edits, the Hybrids were born on the 22nd.
These horrendous designs are, from what I can tell, the first versions of the Faz cast. Worse yet, this image was sent in an email to FNAF's creator. This would be the only time I'd have direct contact with the man, with his response being something supportive but efficient. I cannot find this email, and it might be due to the fact that I used my school email that got deleted after finishing high school.
It's around here that a lot of images go without a post to date it with. Thankfully, I still physically have the most of them, but it's admittedly upsetting that I can't get an honest time out of a large beginning chunk. However, judging from this, the first version of the Hybrids were Mangle bootlegs.
Half a month later, they would enter an upright state more alike their successors.
Some time before this image, these characters started to have lore built up through discussions with my school friend. There wasn't much of value from this lore, other than the fact that it was likely the start of an edgy phase that believed unrelenting gore and death made something scary.
This is one of the surviving pieces of evidence of older titles. Originally, "Five Nights at Freddy's 4," then, "The Fifth Generation." I remember realizing this was my first convincing 3-dimensional image at the time of making this.
Then, "The Fifth and Final Generation," and finally, "The Final Generation." While this isn't the last name it recieved, for most, this is what the game was called. This image would also later mark my transition into DeviantArt, where most of my earliest surviving works still exist. Unfortunately, not all.
One of the most impressive things about this game was its building layout. While the community has finally recieved something similarly through Popgoes, their dev team is, well first off, a team; I was just one person. On top of that, I was, at most, 14 at the time. The history of the building's layout is undocumented until this image, but I remember developing it a bit earlier and screwing around with it in Minecraft of all things. Even I believe that I was still pretty unaware of a lot of things at the time. While it's nothing more than aiming for realistic usage of space, I think it's safe to say no one at that age would ever care.
Like many of this fandom's developers, I would create a GameJolt page way before the game was ever ready for one.
It's around this point that the edginess started to seep into my art and designs. Oddly enough though, the designs I made as a 14 year old would predate Sister Location's. I can assure you that I'm still very upset about it.
On the sidelines, the Hybrids had (not literal) cousins in development. Aside from minor details, I really don't see these cast of characters worth much of a note. I've skipped some moments of development due to the fact that they're un-noteworthy and don't have a proper date.
Around here is when I started trying to do digital art through Paint.NET, but for reasons that should be obvious here, it never worked out. The next obvious observation is the Wingdings text, derived from Undertale, of course. None of my old teasers' secrets mean anything, as the contents don't reward the effort required to decipher them. Even now, some people over-value their work so much that they think it deserves an ARG.
When I didn't think this game was completely lost to time, I thought it would only survive through images. However, I finally found it hiding in plain sight on the GameJolt page. If one wants to see the game in its functionality, you can do so by clicking the image above.
Conveniently enough, these teasers serve as a good example of what a teaser should offer. The text is still a bit generic, but it at least entertains through dark contrasts instead of having text that offers nothing at all. Lots of trailers still have this issue and it really demonstrates the lack of an ability to show and not tell. There's also a level of non-canonicity that you can get away with due to its separation from the actual game.
This is technically the farthest the project has ever physically gotten, though it should be apparent as to why. The project was built off of poor production; certain things like awful original assets, stock music, and a restrictive program. This old game build can be downloaded through the image above. (Remember to press ESC to quit.)
The Hybrids would continue to evolve, but the only noticable difference would be detail and quality. It would take until the series was finally separated from the official one to grow beyond the tiny bowl of possibilities that FNAF was keeping me in.
The later we get, the less frequently I made certain things public. This is due to the fact that I was starting to recognize certain qualities that are untapped, even now. If it wasn't for this fact, I would be in a very different place and the FNAF fandom might not have been the same. But it would be at the cost of an unprepared, unpolished, and spoiled product. Until this project's fate is sealed, these private things will stay private.
At long last, the game would break through its first boundary: the third dimension. Previously, the game was only made because One Night at Flumpty's proved that the least you need to have to make one is the ability to draw. This ambitious step would start to change things for the better. Of course, it would still take time to grow and learn Blender, but being able to do this was enough to start changing the foundations of the entire game.
Half a year later, another boundary would be broken: music. Again, even with the drawbacks of being new to something, it would open up the game to an even larger realm of possibilities.
Just like the drawing of Hybrid Freddy, this model would symbolize progress. It's the same mesh as the one that's currently in use, just improved over time.
Unfortunately, this would be one of the last notable steps for a long time. The series would still progress for a while, but its focus was on rewriting the lore to be up to the standards of everything else. Then the game would be put on hold to work on a side project. It hasn't been able to return into focus for a long time.
