Aftonbuilt

a look back at the past in a new dimension

Introduction

When you say Aftonbuilt, many recall an unfinished project that remained at the demo stage. But beneath the surface of unfortunate circumstances lies a fascinating story of ambition, creativity and a deep love of craft. The game, which could have been a revolutionary spin-off of the Five Nights at Freddy’s universe, was created with a clear vision and an unusual sense of detail.

The game’s main author, JeliLiam, spoke about its development and looks back. In this article we will therefore focus on how the game was created and what was left forgotten in the project’s history.

Main idea of the game

“The idea of the gameplay loop came very early during development and in fact didn’t change much even through various iterations of the game,” remembers JeliLiam.

The game was from the start built on the idea of several extensive maps, each with its own environment, atmosphere and an animatronic as the main antagonist.

Individual locations were to be connected by a story about souls that, after death, try to reassemble their bodies—partly from pieces of non-possessed animatronics. This motif became one of the key narrative pillars of the game.

In the demo, which can still be played to this day, the player goes into the first of the game’s maps. There the player in the role of a mechanic comes into direct contact with the first of the animatronics. He defeats it and according to plan the whole game was meant to follow in a similar spirit.

Locations

The Junkyard – Foxy

The dark junkyard was originally a research facility of Afton’s cult. After Afton’s death another company bought it and turned it into a huge dump, under whose surface remained buried remnants of the original facility.

The map underwent a complete redesign: “The original version was smaller and without gameplay elements. However once we got the AI running, we realized it would be too cramped,” says JeliLiam.

Still, the original version had its positive qualities — it had a huge mountain of waste and on the horizon a distant city resembling Las Vegas. That formed an interesting sight and gave the whole map a dense atmosphere.

Foxy also underwent a major change here: from a humanoid figure he became a four-legged creature resembling a fox or a guard dog.

This change of appearance for this character came only during development. As mentioned, originally Foxy was to be a humanoid animatronic. However, when experimenting with the model it turned out that in a more fox-like position it simply looked good. His model was thus reworked and with that his whole appearance. Thus an iconic look emerged that distinguishes Aftonbuilt from other FNaF games.

Chica’s Party World – Chica

This location existed only in a so-called blockout — that is the basic layout of the space. According to JeliLiam it was to have four areas: a water park, an amusement park with a roller coaster, an outdoor concert area and a circus with live performances.

“I had a version where the water park was more developed, but unfortunately it was lost,” he says.

The map was also to explain the origin of Funtime Chica — her design corresponded to the internal construction of the suits from Sister Location. This appearance and clear inspiration can also be seen in her repaired version.

The Pizza Pyramid – Bonnie

This idea was based on the real Bass Pro Shop Pyramid building in Memphis.

“I wanted to do something similar, but with the Fazbear brand — several floors with play areas and pizzerias,” explains JeliLiam.

Bonnie here was to be a huge, blind animatronic, built from kitchen appliances — his chest, for example, was to be made from an oven.

A giraffe with a spotlight eye was also supposed to appear on the map, which would reveal the player and warn Bonnie.

Bonnie was also to have the ability on the map to break through walls; with this mechanic he could surprise and catch the player off guard. There are no further details about his closer description and it seems that no concept art was created or the materials are lost. Even so, the location and the titular animatronic are an interesting concept and an idea both for gameplay and for story and visual design.

The Afton Factory – Freddy

The last location was to be a mix between the Hershey Factory Tour and Willy Wonka — a colorful factory producing animatronics.

It would contain a tour guide section, production facilities, offices and Afton’s personal office where it would be possible to find interesting story-important documents. Freddy would at first hide under a curtain, with only his head visible, and slowly move toward the player. When the player glanced at the barn owl animatronic that appeared across the map, it would frighten him like a phantom from FNaF 3 — and Freddy would immediately start running.

“He had a spider-like body with eight sharp legs,” describes JeliLiam. One of the ways to kill him was by using a forklift and impaling him with it against the wall.

Courage and other animatronics

Courage was to be part of a new line of animatronics that explained how souls managed to reassemble into bodies.

“They were inspired by real animal animatronics you can see in museums. That is why Courage has a realistic laminate surface and labels of body parts,” says JeliLiam.

Each map was to have its own new animatronics.

Bison in Chica’s Party World, who would attack the player with direct charges from the western zone that was also to be present on the map.

A giraffe with a spotlight eye in the Pizza Pyramid, which could reveal the player from above. It was supposed to be a static point in the center of the pyramid and by using its long neck could look into the individual floors of the complex.

A barn owl in the Afton Factory, which would rush at the player when looked at directly. It was to be located on so-called nesting spots. It was therefore necessary to be careful around these places. In practice, this mechanic can be imagined such that the barn owl was rather an animatronic that operated in specific locations on the map.

Development curiosities

From later memories of the developer a number of small but notable details have also been preserved that reveal more about how the project originated:

Each map was to contain a more extensive puzzle that led to secret areas of the Afton cult — here one was to collect parts of Scraptrap’s suit and unlock the “canonical” ending.

Notes from former employees were to be scattered throughout the environment — for example two eccentric workers from the Junkyard who wrote to each other about a “ghost dog,” i.e. about Foxy. The player could find these notes and records during the game and thus learn a bit more about how the environment functioned during its operation in the past.

The game was originally to be nonlinear — the order of maps was to influence Afton’s dialogues. “It was too complicated for our small team,” admits JeliLiam. Implementing such a concept would have required a dramatically different amount of writing and voice acting. While the game would be enriched by a strong replayability option, it is true that this is a very demanding end to implement.

In the true ending, Afton would betray the player, escape, and the mechanic (the player) would ultimately contact and subsequently help Henry Emily create the location from FNaF 6, thereby directly linking the game to the main series and establishing the time in which it takes place — that is directly between FNaF 3 and FNaF 6. The game would thus expand on how the events were supposed to happen.

An early trailer was to use the song “You Can Call Me Al” — because of its sinister subtext and the motif of manipulation, which was supposed to symbolize the main antagonist of the game and the entire series, William Afton. The working trailer is essentially entirely drawn and sets only the basic cut and camera for the final trailer. That final trailer, however, was never actually completed.

Conclusion

Although Aftonbuilt never saw a full release, its development reveals a fascinating vision. Every location, character and mechanic show that it was a project created with passion and a sense of detail. Today, despite lost files and incomplete content, Aftonbuilt remains proof of how boldly an indie project can look when the creators put real heart into it. The team behind the game managed, despite difficult development, to deliver a game that was a fresh breeze to the FNaF fan community.

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