Nelson: I took a picture. I cropped it so I couldn’t see his face. And we used that reference photo a month later.
Tan: I thought he was joking. The outfit the mysterious man wore in the game was pretty much the same as the one I wore that day, minus the mask, stripes, and suspicious stains.
Nelson:If I were to tell a story about a sad and sorrowful masked man who not only wants you to click the counter but also wants to watch you do it, then this ordinary outfit with a little style enhancement could become the basis for the character design.
Porters:It’s just a brown coat.
Nelson:Although I had his permission at the time, many people do not fully understand the significance of the actions, decisions, and permissions they made at 3 a.m.
Porters: I mean, it looks stylish. Dan looks handsome.
Kaman:It doesn’t feel like something to make fun of. And that’s why it’s funny, because there’s nothing wrong with Dan that justifies making fun of him. It’s like you have a target that’s you now.
Nelson:I hope in this life or the next, he can forgive me.
While many of the developers involved left San Francisco that night without thinking of anything else, Click, Strange Scaffold is in the works. In fact, the studio has continued to collaborate with Outersloth on the game. When they released promotional material, developers involved in the game’s creation had a range of reactions.
Bare:Oh, that’s terrible.
Kaman:We were like, “What the hell?” He’s a crazy guy, but he’s also the biggest inspiration in my life.
Tan:After watching the trailer, I remember texting Xalavier right away like “I can’t believe you actually used my outfit for this.“!!!”
Bare: The first thing I saw was the character, it was terrifying. Second, it was like, I can’t believe this is happening, even though I know it is. Third, oh my god, I can’t believe this joke, this started out like a funny ha-ha, this something that just evolved into a real game. Honestly, it’s really cool.
Kaman:We shared it on Slack, going crazy over how impressed we were by this commitment.
Tan:While it all stems from something that starts out light-hearted and a little silly, this game is definitely no joke; it definitely taps into the uneasy feeling we glimpsed in the hotel lobby that night.
Bare:It’s cool to see all the things we’ve talked about come together, like Dan’s outfit or Gary’s logo, and that weird creative spirit. There’s something about it that feels authentic, that feels great.
Kaman: I think Aggro Crab deserves royalties.
