More than 500 people worked on CD Projekt Red's science fiction epic Cyberpunk 2077, and 1,000 on Rockstar's gangster drama Grand Theft Auto 5. But even in times when games are getting bigger and more complex, there are still one-man projects that make the breakthrough.
Minecraft in its original version was written solely by Markus “Notch” Persson, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone was responsible for the farm role-playing game Stardew Valley, and Manor Lords was created by the Polish development studio Slavic Magic, which actually only consists of Grzegorz “Greg” Styczen.
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So they still exist, these big one-man projects that keep the dream of the creative genius behind the programming keyboard alive. The mega-success Five Nights at Freddy's also tells such a story. (buy now 22,00 € )(short: FNAF).
Scott Cawthon is behind the now ten-year-old pop culture phenomenon. Within just six months, he put Five Nights at Freddy's together and created a brand that made 2023 the most successful horror film of the year.
Believer Puppeteer
From today's perspective, Scott Cawthon is a controversial figure. In 2021, the practicing Christian scared part of the FNAF community when it was revealed that between 2019 and 2020, he had donated well over $20,000 to US Republican candidates such as Donald Trump or to the party itself.
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Source: Scott Cawthon
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The LGBTQ+ community in particular condemned this politically motivated donation, as some of the candidates propagated transphobic and anti-LGBTQ+ content. The FNAF creator responded with a Statement and even announced the end of his career as a game developer in 2021. He has since retired, but still owns the rights to Five Nights at Freddy's and also worked on the aforementioned film.
As a solo developer, Cawthon has always been rather shy and reserved. Public appearances and interviews are rare, and communication with his fans has long been via Reddit and Steam. The entrepreneur, born in Houston, Texas, is not a show-off, but a devout Christian.
In a Interview with the Christian blog Geeks under Grace he explained the importance of God to his work: “My relationship with God has been absolutely important over the years. Only now can I look back and see what HE has done. For about twelve years I devoted my free time to creating Christian films and later Christian video games. Without success! But I trusted that God still wanted me to create these things.”
First failed, then celebrated
Scott Cawthon has never worked in a development studio. All of his projects have been solo work. He found his way into game development at the age of 13 when his mother gave him a Klik&Play system. He later graduated from art school in Houston, Texas, and immersed himself in the technology of the Clickteam Fusion graphics engine.
Ultimately, it was a mixture of financial pressure and critical failure that changed Cawthon's life. The resource management game, released on Steam Greenlight in 2013, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. flopped. “I made a family-friendly game about a beaver before Five Nights at Freddy's. But when I released it online, it was torn apart by critics. People said the main character looked like a creepy animatronic figure,” he explained in a 2020 Interview with Indie Game Magazine.
Source: Scott Cawthon
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Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. plunged him into a life crisis. He was plagued by existential fears that shook his faith in God. Cawthon suffered from depression and even expressed suicidal thoughts to his doctorThis in turn led to his life insurance company canceling his policy.
Cawthon was devastated, as he explained in 2020: “It broke my heart. I was ready to give up game development. But one night I went crazy and thought to myself: I bet I can create something much scarier (than the beaver from Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., ed.).”
In around six months, the Texan finally developed the first Five Night's at Freddy's – all on his own. “If there's a video game genre where you really should be alone and cut off from the outside world during development, it's the horror genre,” says Cawthon looking back.
He used Clickteam Fusion as the basic technology and Autodesk 3ds Max for the 3D modeling of the creatures. The solo developer recorded some of the sound effects himself, and bought others from online libraries.
What is the fascination behind Five Nights at Freddy's?
The first Five Nights at Freddy's (2014) was a survival horror game. The goal is to survive five nights at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza as night watchman Mike.
Its main attraction – besides lots of fast food and children's entertainment – are the four animal animatronic robots Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken and Foxy the Pirate Fox. They look harmless, but at night they develop a life of their own. If they catch you, they stuff poor Mike into one of the snap-fit suits. Ouch!