In 2022, i shared a gameplay of a Nintendo DS port of the first Five Nights at Freddy's game, i didn't expect that it would become one of my most popular projects, to this day i still get comments, sometimes daily, about the game, but what happened? where is it? was it completed? will it come back?
Origin
In 2016 i found this software 'Clickteam Fusion 2.5' where you can make games with no coding, it's a very easy software to use, but i did try to code using actual code, i tried a few times over the years, but always failed (until 2025 when i finally coded some things), it wasn't until 2022 that i had an idea:
(Five Nights at Freddy's DS "Concept Art". May 28th, 2022)
I made these images for fun, but then i thought, would i be able to make this a real game?
One of my main goals was to make it as close as possible to the original game, using the same timers, same gameplay, same everything, something that a lot of ports fail to do is to make the game feel like an actual game, some ports will change the gameplay too much to the point it doesn't feel like the original game, and some ports have the graphics as an afterthought. I wanted to challenge myself to do a port that looked like something that was actually released for the DS.
I looked at how the original fnaf worked to recreate the code by myself (i did not use the original mfa), i didn't make it 1:1, but i made it as close as i was able to. For the graphics i actually made some changes to them, like how the desk on the office is closer to the camera to make the the office look less empty, the bottom UI has a background, but it also has some buttons because you know that DS games had to use the touch screen, if i made fnaf for wii it would use the wii pointer because thats what a developer for the wii would do.
So this is how the project started, shortly after those images were made, i started learning how to code in C, i started with making a recreation of the main gameplay (no jumpscares, ai, sound) for PC, it worked, so i moved on to make the first DS build.
(Test of the AI on the PC Build, Jun 27th, 2022)
The first DS build was a mess, i tried to just convert the PC code to DS code, and it obviously didn't work, the RAM usage was way to high so i couldn't even run the game, and there were other limits that i didn't consider. I had to start over, i started recreating the code, but making sure everything was working, making images work was one of the hardest parts at first, but i quickly managed to make it work, then i was able to keep coding everything until i had something like the PC build i made.
(Test of the AI working on the DS build, June 28th, 2022)
(First Youtube videos of the DS build)
I quickly lost motivation so i didn't post another update until september, that's when i made the video with most of the gameplay done, the AI could be customized like in the custom night, everyone had their movement coded, and i was happy with how it was.
(September 2022 build video)
Then i lost motivation again until april 2023, when i finally added the main menu, the newspaper, the "night start" part, the gameover screen, and jumpscares, i also posted mockups for what the other menus could look like.
(In-game screenshots)
(Mock-ups)
Have you noticed the pattern? I would work on this game for a week, then do nothing for 6+ months, this is the main problem with the development, it was meant to be a way for me to learn how to code, that was turned into me trying to fix the code while adding new stuff to it.
In december 2023 i posted 2 new videos, one of a full gameplay including a jumpscare, and the second a full jumpscare compilation, all jumpscares (well never got to the point to add golden freddy) were added, you can notice that freddy and foxy jumpscares had less frames than bonnie and chica, why? This was for a simple reason: RAM.
I had to fit big sprites on-screen, those sprites took a lof of ram to load, but i also had to add multiple frames to add the animations, so how did i fix this? When you get jumpscared, the game unloads everything, everything (except for the sound), thats also the reason you can't see the monitor going down, this is the way i found to load full jumpscare animations, but i had to cut the resolution in half to have a higher framerate, foxy and freddy looked worse because their jumpscares didn't look, so the animation had to be longer with less frames.
This was the last time i actually worked on the game, the last time a change was made to the source code was on november 14th, 2023.
Release?
Not likely. I have considered the idea of making a public demo that is 1:1 to the FNAF 1 demo Scott uploaded, that's the only way i can think of where im not posting an ilegal version of fnaf1.
"Emulation is legal" but sharing ilegal roms is not.
"But this is the DS fnaf is not being sold on the DS" i would still be releasing a free version of a paid game.
Questions
Is there any version available for download (Including dev builds)?
A: no, if there is, it was leaked (and you should not be playing it) or it was made by a different developer, there are different fnaf ds ports.
Is it in development?
A: Not at the moment, maybe i will complete it eventually, maybe not, who knows, only time will tell.
Is it playable?
A: Yes, but actually not. If you are talking about this being a real game, yes, it can be played on a real DS (tested on 3DS and DSi, i don't have a way to test on DS/DSlite). If you are talking about this being the full game, no, it wasn't completed, the night is randomized and only bonnie and chica are ready, foxy can't run/jumpscare you in-game, same for freddy, they only had the jumpscares coded.
leaked? does anyone else have this game?
A: I have sent unfinished builds to a few users, some people who sent dms, some builds on kane carter's bmc server, and to a few friends, but i won't send it to anyone who asks for it. Sorry but if i sent it to everyone that sends me a dm it will be leaked eventually.
Will this get released?
A: I have no idea, i'm still interested in the idea and may complete the game eventually, but at the moment i don't have plans to release the game, the only way that i would be comfortable releasing the full game is if Scott allows me to release it, which i don't think is going to happen.
What if we have to compile the game using our legal copy?
A: Are you actually going to use your legal copy or are your going to look for a pre-compiled .nds file? I know this is a 'legal' way to do it but it feels wrong to me.
Can you release the source code?
A: Sorry but the code is a mess, as i said in this post, it was my first time coding in C, so there are a lot of problems with the code that make it a mess. I made the game using the included document for nightfox lib and a ton of google search.
What did you use to make the game?
A: LibNDS, NightFox Lib, the code was written in C using notepad and notepad++. The textures were edited in paint.net.
Sorry if if some of my answers sound a bit "mean", its just that some people keep asking about this game on every single video i make.
Maybe i'll answer more questions about the game, so let me know in any of the reposts of this blogpost your questions about this game!
