Five Nights at Freddy’s (commonly referred to as Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 or FNaF 1) is a point & click survival horror game developed by Scott Cawthon that was released on August 8th, 2014. (1) (4) The game takes place in a retro pizzeria, “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza”, during the nightshift of the main character, “Mike Schmidt”, who has to survive 6 nights against the Store’s haunted animatronics.

Five Nights at Freddy’s would be ported by Clickteam LLC to other platforms in 2019, alongside updated versions of the mobile versions.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is considered to be one of the most important Indie games of all time, with it’s inspiration being seen across many other games including the genre it spawned, Mascot Horror. It also spun into a franchise with several games, 2 movies, & multiple books series.

History

Early Development

Five Nights at Freddy’s would start development in May of 2014, with Freddybear (The original name for Freddy Fazbear) being modeled on May 28th 2014. (2) It’s also most likely that Bonnie & Chica were most likely also made in late May since the models of Bonnie & Chica are edits of Freddy, with Early Bonnie even having a black bow tie. Scott would also plan out the fourth main character, this would be between a Fox, a Beaver, & a Wolf, with the Fox winning out & Foxy being modeled most likely close to the others. (3)

Scott would later begin developing the actual game, most likely finished for the most part by Mid June. At this stage in development, Jumpscares were only still images, this however wasn’t permanent as it seems to have just been for AI testing as Scott implies in the Dawko interview. (3) By this time, FNAF 1 would also gain Phone Guy to give game & lore exposition. Somewhere by this time, Scott most likely finished majority of the game as the Game’s setting in Summer was still November by this point in development, the Summer setting may also be an accident or misremembering dates. The November date may also have been from later in development instead as the Gameplay teaser implies the things that would make Summer the original setting aren’t present.

Late Development

Five Nights at Freddy’s would gain a page for the now defunct Steam Greenlight system on June 13th, 2014. (4) A Trailer for the game to promote the Greenlight page would be posted on June 12th of 2014, however the YouTube upload lists it as later than it is for some reason. (5) The trailer didn’t include Foxy as to hide his role in the game, not because He wasn’t programmed, as Scott does the same thing in the Steam & Desura descriptions by saying Freddy only has “2 Friends”. (4) This page also has the only appearance of a toothed Endo-Skeleton, which was most likely only for the page, since it doesn’t appear anywhere before or after this. Scott would also upload a Gameplay Teaser for FNAF 1 on the 13th of June 2014. earlier versions of these videos would be deleted or privated from Scott’s channel to make room for the current uploads, the changes & reasons for such are unknown, though it’s possible it had to do with Upload Quality. Easter Eggs were also added by this point since they appear in the gameplay teaser. Scott would begin play testing the game with his 2 Sons as the play testers. (3)

Scott would most likely remove the Lives system by this point, most likely due to it not fitting the game’s current vision or design. Scott would also create a Kickstarter page for the game on the same day, which would be canceled on June 17th, 2014 after getting 0 backers, most likely due to no one knowing about it or Scott decided to finish it without the Kickstarter. (6) The Pledges were $10 for wallpapers from game assets, $25 for earl access (weirdly placed as in September 2014, after the game would have came out, implying Scott’s release date was later than it ended up), & $50 for beta testing spots & betas themselves (also placed later than the release date, this also implies FNAF was planned for an October release). The Kickstarter also shows the game was based off of direct memories from Scott of old Animatronic FECs like {{ < wiki-link “Showbiz Pizza Place” >}}. Scott would most likely finish almost all of the game by this point, possibly being a reason for the end of the Kickstarter.

Original Release Builds

Five Nights at Freddy’s DEMO would be released on Amazon on July 23rd 2014. (7) Strangely only 2 of the images used are of the Final Build. Also, the images are of Night 5, not Nights 1 or 2, the ones included in the DEMO. The images are also more saturated than in the Final game, which was most likely editing or Clickteam effects since they aren’t like that in the game files. This page contains the first instance of the name “Freddy Fazbear”, implying it was a late change as seen before.

Five Nights at Freddy’s DEMO would also be released on IndieDB on July 24th, 2014. (8) little changes between this & the previous versions. This page also has a Jumpscare Montage.

Both of the Demos would be changed/updated to fit the later releases of the Full Game

Five Nights at Freddy’s would be released to Desura on August 8th, 2014 for $4.99. There is no major differences between this & the DEMOS besides being the Full Game. The page contains less Saturated versions of the earlier images. The images are also listed as being made the same day as the Trailer, July 12th 2014.

Five Nights at Freddy’s would be greenlit on Steam on August 13th as per Scott’s thank you note on the page. The game would be released on August 18th, 2014.

The game would go through several minor updates, including changing the outer frame to Black, & fixing bugs. In one of these updates, Scott would also add a Star for completing 4/20 Mode in the Custom Night, & Add Golden Freddy’s Jumpscare if you put in “1987” in the Custom Night. The final update was 1.13 of the game.

Later Releases & Ports

Five Nights at Freddy’s would be released to Amazon at an unknown time. (9) The page contains the name “Nightmare Mode” for Night 6. the page also is listed as being made the same day as the DEMO.

Five Nights at Freddy’s would be ported to multiple mobile devices including Android, Amazon OS, IOS & Windows Phone.

The game would be added to the now removed early version of the Five Nights at Freddy’s Bundle on June 3rd, 2015.

in August 2018, Clickteam announced the creation of new console & mobile ports under a remastered version of Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s CLICKTEAM PORT would be released to PlayStation, XBOX, & Nintendo Switch platforms throughout 2019.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Core Collection would contain the Clickteam Port in it’s release.

Characters

Freddy Fazbear

Freddy Fazbear is the main singer of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. He is a bear with a Black Top Hat & Bow Tie. He has a Microphone prop in his right hand. His voice is that of a child’s laugh slowed down. Freddy has blue eyes & Brown fur with lighter brown fur on parts of his body. He has no lower teeth.

Freddy starts on Night 3. He moves from the Stage to the Dining Room, to the Bathrooms, to the Kitchen, to the Right Hall, to the Right Hall Corner. When he is in the Kitchen, He will play the Music Box used for the power out song, this song is the Toreador march. He can be slowed down by watching his camera, this stops his movement timer similar to Foxy. He will not leave the Right Hall, & needs constant attention if there.

If power goes below 0, Freddy will appear in the Left Door & play a Song before killing the player.

Bonnie

Bonnie is the lead guitarist of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. He is a Indigo shaded Blue Rabbit with a Red Bow Tie.

Bonnie will start on the Main Stage, moving towards the Left Door, needing it to be closed. Raising the Camera while he has got into the office results in a Jumpscare. Him & Chica make a Gargling noise while in the hall corners.

Chica

Chica is the secondary singer of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza & the head cook. She is a Yellow Chicken with a Bib, a Cupcake named Mr Cupcake, & teeth despite having a beak.

Chica works like Bonnie but will go to the Right Side of the building instead. She makes Pots & Pans Audio while in the kitchen.

Foxy

Foxy is a Tertiary singer at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza & the primary singer in his Pirate’s Cove attraction. He is a Red Pirate Fox with an Eye Patch, Hook, & Brown Pants.

In Game. He has large withering around his body, most likely resulting from being out of order for a while.

Foxy will move outside Pirate’s Cove in phases before running to the Left Door. Close it to avoid him Jumpscaring you.

His timer stops counting down anytime the Camera is up. He also can be beat back when on his first frame at the door, which is a glitch that disables Him.

Phone Guy

Phone Guy (Later named Ralph in “The Week Before”) is a Disembodied voice who appears each night. He dies on Night 4 to the 5 Animatronics.

Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt is the disembodied Main character of FNAF 1. He works a 6 day shift before being fired on Night 7.

Golden Freddy

Golden Freddy (Named Yellow Bear in the files) is a ghostly Yellow version of Freddy with small white glowing eyes who works as an Easter Egg in the game. He crashes the game if he Jumpscares you. to avoid him when He spawns, flip up the camera. His chances of happening are whenever you click to the Left Hall Corner & His Dice Roll is on it’s number.

Killer

The Killer (Later named William Afton) who killed 5 or possibly 7 kids at the old Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in FNAF 1 has no name. He wore a Mascot Costume.

Mechanics

Power

Power is the 5th major enemy of FNAF 1. Starting at 100%, It will go down by usage.

Cameras

The Cameras are a Mechanic in FNAF 1. They can be used to see each animatronic around the building. The Kitchen has a blank Camera with only Audio. Cameras take Power to use.

Doors

Doors are the most crucial way of stopping each Animatronic. Doors have the ability to be closed or have a light shine down the Hall & Window. Doors take Power to use.

Time Based AI Changes

Each Time has all characters but Freddy change AI by 1 unless at 20.

Extra Modes

Night 6

The Final & Hardest Main Night of FNAF 1. Having the characters at 4-10-12-6.

Custom Night

Custom Night is the game’s Sandbox Mode. It can set the characters to AIs from 0-20. the Freddy, Bonnie, & Chica icons are from the trailer. The Foxy icon is not from anything else.

Reception & Legacy

Five Nights at Freddy’s was well received on release with many praising it’s changes to the genre. It is considered by many to be one of the best FNAF games by most players not in the Fandom. The Game would have several YouTube video let’s plays (Most popular being “Markiplier’s” playthrough of the DEMO), Songs (Most popular being “The Living Tombstone’s” Song of the same name), & others (such as “Game Theory: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scariest Monster is You!”).

The Game inspired a massive fan base. The game’s Story & Lore being told through clues would turn into a massive Lore & Theory community lasting throughout the following games. FNAF 1 also inspired fan games such as “Five Nights at Candy’s”.