It’s easy to take positive lessons from a video game that succeeds.
The stories that shine the brightest in the history of gaming are those where developers
overcome tremendous odds and challenging circumstances, in order to produce high quality works of
art that captivate audiences around the world.
Such is the story of Scott Cawthon, once a humble indie developer who labored in obscurity
for years before getting his big break when the Five Nights at Freddy’s series won widespread
acclaim.
But while it’s easy to be inspired by stories of video game heroism and success, it’s
also important to learn from the mistakes of failed projects.
Not all games turn into bestsellers, and even a popular developer can make a misstep.
These failures come to all of us in our lives, no matter what we may be hoping to achieve.
What matters, is how we respond when we make mistakes, and how we overcome our own failings.
This is the story of the rise, and fall, and rise, of Scott Cawthon’s Five Nights At
Freddy’s World.
For years, Scott Cawthon had found himself running into opposition from people who didn’t
like his way of making games.
Scott had a short attention span for projects, and liked to rush through his game development
– it was part of the reason why he’d managed to make so many games, so quickly.
It was also part of the reason why so many prominent games critics had less than complimentary
things to say about his work.
Scott’s big inspiration for the Five Nights at Freddy’s series had come when, as a tiny
little obscure indie developer, he’d found himself being picked on by one of the big
kids of the industry.
Jim Sterling, a somewhat outspoken game critic, caught wind of Scott’s game Chipper and
Sons Lumber Company, and proceeded to tear the game’s initial trailer to shreds, accusing
the game of being a terrifying mess that would haunt his nightmares.
Jim went so far as to concoct a small narrative within his review, suggesting that the game
was indeed secretly a horror story set in a post-apocalyptic world where everyone had
been replaced by robots.
Faced with such criticism, Scott Cawthon decided to have a try at making the kind of game Jim
was describing, and the result was Five Nights at Freddy’s, a game that ended up becoming
a runaway success.
Scott quickly followed this up with a slew of sequels, creating games quickly, and taking
a particular delight in surprising his fans by releasing them ahead of their scheduled
completion dates.
Scott enjoyed this process – he liked making games quickly, and felt a great deal of satisfaction
for finishing each project, so no matter how many people accused him of rushing his work,
he felt comfortable sticking to a production schedule that felt right for him.
The problem came when Scott decided to try expanding his horizons.
Five Nights at Freddy’s World was intended to be a major departure for the series.
Scott wanted to spread his creative wings, and work on something that would challenge
him, and help him to learn and develop as a game creator.
He wanted to make a roleplaying game, with a rich, full world, and more player movement
than the relatively static Five Nights at Freddy’s games that he’d produced up to
that point.
Scott set to work, learning a new game making tool in order to produce the more complicated
experience that he had in mind, and began teasing his fans with little sneak peeks at
the game in progress.
In retrospect, Scott probably should have planned out his project a little more in advance.
A lot later, he would come to realize that he made some key mistakes in plotting out
Five Nights at Freddy’s World that ended up having a significant negative impact on
the gameplay experience.
This wasn’t helped, though, by Scott’s impatient desire to complete the game and
share it with the fans that were waiting for it.
He cut corners, and skipped over developing some key features that really needed more
time and attention.
Scott was so invested in his game, so enthusiastic about his project, that he failed to see in
advance where his game needed more work.
And so, in an effort to surprise his fans as he’d done in the past, Scott released
Five Nights at Freddy’s World to the public approximately a month before its scheduled
release date.
The reception was not exactly what he’d been hoping for.
The vast majority of players, already dedicated fans of the series, were eager to shower the
game in praise, and as such, Five Nights at Freddy’s World enjoyed a solid 87% positive
rating on Steam.
The reaction from critics was significantly less positive – many tore into the game
for its unfinished, broken nature.
Again, prominent among these negative voices was Jim Sterling, who described the game as
“an incomprehensible mess of flashing lights, colours, and unexplained game mechanics”.
While the majority of Scott’s core audience were perfectly happy with his latest creation,
it was clear that this was not a universally loved game.
Looking at his work, Scott couldn’t help but agree with his most vocal critics.
They were right – while he’d always been happy with his work up to this point, he had
to admit that Five Nights at Freddy’s World had been rushed.
He felt terrible – he’d let his audience down.
His eagerness to release the game and enjoy the fan response had caused him to overlook
the flaws in his work.
And so, Scott set to work, trying to find a way to make things right.
After some thought, Scott decided that the best way to try to fix his mistake was to
stop things from compounding.
He removed Five Nights at Freddy’s World from the Steam game store, and arranged for
all customers to be allowed a full refund.
This wasn’t merely available for those who didn’t enjoy the game – Scott spoke out
online, urging every single player of the game, regardless of how much they’d enjoyed
it, or how many hours they’d played, to request a refund.
After all, this had never been about money for Scott – he was in this for the satisfaction
of making a good game, and where he’d failed, he wanted to try again.
A few weeks later, Scott released an updated version of Five Nights at Freddy’s World
for everyone to play.
This time, the game featured a series of technical improvements and changes that were designed
to make the entire experience less confusing and complicated, in the hopes of fixing some
of the most obvious problems within the finished product.
What’s more, Scott made the newly updated Five Nights at Freddy’s World available
for free, so that anyone could download it, whether they’d played it before, or were
coming to the party late to see what all the fuss was about.
This, Scott felt, was the least he could do to try and make amends – but he didn’t
stop there.
A little while later, another update came to the game, fixing more of the problems in
the core gameplay.
Scott was earnest in his efforts to make this a more enjoyable experience, and he only hoped
that he could win back his audience’s trust.
As he delved further and further down this rabbit hole, eventually, Scott conceded that
the task before him was probably fruitless.
There were fundamental problems with Five Nights at Freddy’s World that had slipped
into the game’s design early on, and to try to fix these would mean essentially having
to rebuild the entire game.
If Scott made a completely new Five Nights at Freddy’s World, then it wouldn’t be
the same game, and if he was starting on a new project, perhaps it was best to cut his
losses and move on to something different rather than trying to save something that
he was unhappy with.
Scott decided to move on, and face the backlash that came from his audience.
He’d done what he could to try and fix his mistakes, and he only hoped that people wouldn’t
judge him too harshly for his own hubris.
Many opinions flew around regarding the entire debacle, as fans and casual gamers alike weighed
in on Scott’s actions, both in his initial mistake of releasing his RPG too soon, and
his efforts to make up for his lapse in judgement.
At this time, an unexpected ally came to Scott’s defense.
Jim Sterling, so often a voice of negative criticism regarding Scott’s works, publicly
spoke out, arguing that Scott deserved to be celebrated for his efforts to fix Five
Nights at Freddy’s World.
Jim praised Scott for his ability to take criticism on board, throughout his career
as a game developer, and make positive changes to his work to try to improve.
While Jim might not personally like the kinds of games that Scott made, he couldn’t help
but respect the man for his ability to listen to feedback and learn from his mistakes.
As far as Jim was concerned, Scott had gone above and beyond what was expected of his
with Five Nights at Freddy’s World, and his dedication to improving the game showed
that he really cared about making something that he could be proud of.
For his part, Scott was eager to move onto new projects.
He’d learned a lot from his mistakes with Five Nights at Freddy’s World, and he wanted
to put this new wisdom into practice, as he continued his passionate work on future games.
The moral of the story relates to failure.
It’s okay to stumble, to trip, to fall down.
Making mistakes is natural no matter what you’re trying to achieve in life, and you
shouldn’t beat yourself up when things go wrong.
What matters is how you react when things don’t go your way.
It may seem appealing to wallow in self-pity, or to stick your fingers in your ears and
ignore your mistakes altogether.
These methods of dealing with disappointment might be the easy path to take, but they won’t
be the best for you in the long run.
Just as Scott owned up to his mistakes and worked to fix them, when things go wrong in
your life, it’s worth doing your best to learn from your failings.
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again, bearing in mind what you’ve learned
as you press forward.
As with Five Nights at Freddy’s World, the results might not be ideal.
You might not instantly be able to fix everything that’s gone wrong.
If you’re willing to learn, and change, and grow, and if you refuse to give up on
your goals, then that, in and of itself, is a success to be proud of.
Good luck.