Development History

An early version of the game's cover art, likely drawn in 2014.^{[Citation Needed]}

"This page is disgusting! It needs to be cleaned up. Please help by contributing to this page." Note: "A lot of these screenshots could go in their own articles."

See also: Versions.

Soon after the completion of Two Brothers, Ackk Studios began work on their second project, which they dubbed "Project Y2K." Unlike their previous venture, the game would feature 3D graphics. It was initially conceptualized while working on Two Brothers in 2012.

Pre-Prototype (2013)

The game was initially teased on February 3rd, 2013, with a music track of what was to be the main menu theme. The metadata has the games original working title, "Project Y2K."

On Dec. 31st, 2013, three "150% in engine" screenshots were shown of the game.

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  Vella and the Killer Golden Jazz Alpaca.
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  The first look at what the battle system would look like. Looks pretty similar to I.V...
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  Alex and some unknown characters. Say hi to Jeffery in the back!

Prototype Era (2014)

While figuring out the final name of the game, one idea was to name it 1999: A Reality Odyssey, after Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Eventually, Ackk decided to name the game YIIK. A prototype was developed between January 1st and March 22nd. It was first initially shown around April 11th, 2014 for PAX East. The prototype can be downloaded and played here.

Taking place on September 3rd, 1999, (according to the Game Over screen), it shows a small scenario where Alex, Panda, Michael, and Vella explore a strange world in search of Soul Survivors. The soul survivors, rather than looking like "alien" humanoids like the final version, were gothic vampires instead. While Vella and Michael were pretty similar to their final designs, Alex was quite different, sprouting a different hairstyle, blue flannel, and red t-shirt with a different Two Brothers design. It features the first ever appearance of the Golden Alpaca, with a more murky and threatening appearance.

In an interview with Destructoid, Andrew Allanson gave the premise for the game, explaining that, "Alex is a recent college graduate, he has a liberal arts degree, so he's completely unemployed. He's living in the year 1999, and a girl in his town passes away. There's an elevator that causes her death and there's a lot of mystery around it, but nobody in the town actually seems to care. Alex becomes obsessed with the fact that this girl passed away and he meets other people on the internet who has the same hobby of trying to solve her murder. They eventually realize that this is all connected to the end of the world and the onset of Y2K."

In terms of gameplay, they mention wanting a lot of quicktime events, including a minigame where you play DDR. Andrew also talks about the idea of spells "changing the rules of battle," and having win conditions in battles that aren't the typical "kill all the enemies to win." They also wanted to have a realistic money system, and considered adding minigames where you work a job to get money. The soundtrack was mentioned to have a target of approximately 50 battle tracks, and that "you'll never hear the same battle track twice." They had also hoped that at least 35% of the music would be performed live.

While interviewers at the time were quick to notice the EarthBound influence, Andrew and Brian Allanson both gave more examples of influences, such as Persona and Haruki Murakami's novels Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Post-Prototype's Release

Before the game began full time development, Ackk were experimenting with the game and adding content. They started work on the game's first dungeon, the Factory Hotel, and the forest. One screenshot shared showed mountains reminiscent of the ones used in Old Frankton, but the first screenshot actually showing a part of the town was months later in August, once the game started full-time development.

It was teased the game featured three playable female characters, with a picture showing Essentia and Vella.^{[Citation Needed]} In the same thread, a design for an NPC was shown that never appears in the final game.

On June 16th 2014, the first voice actor was casted, but it's unclear who was casted and what character they played.

A video apparently existed titled "Y2k Skull Thingy", hosted on the website Telly. An archive of the video doesn't seem to exist.

Two tracks, such as the Arcade Theme (likely a different song from the final game)^{[Citation Needed]} and a demo of Thinking of You Whenever You Are are shown off as well, but the links are dead, making the contents lost at the moment.

Sometime in this period, Brian rewrote the text engine so it could read screenplay-formatted text. The idea being the same text the voice actors would read would be the same the game reads for its text.

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  The neighboorhood as seen in the prototype, but with a more muted palette.
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  The inital design for the Factory Hotel, later reused for Easton University.
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  Frankton Forest, from June 19th, 2024.
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  Some mountains used in the background of Old Frankton. Somewhat reminiscent of the unused Mountain Trail area as well.
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  Early Chondra concept art.
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  More early Chondra concept art. Interestingly referred to as a "potential" party member in the original post.
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  Faceless Chondra.
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  A more finished version of the early version of the Factory Hotel's exterior.
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  Improved battle UI, overall still seems to be using the prototype battle system.
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  Concept drawn by Andrew Allanson for the pyramid room in the Factory Hotel. Humorously drawn on a paper plate because he couldn't find paper.
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  "High res Y2K WIP area with new enemy."
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  An image of the Camera Girl NPC in Unity. Described to be "...cosplaying her favorite anime character."
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  An odd screenshot showing what is apparently the mind dungeon, as implied by the tags.
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  A shot of the factory hotel from down the stairs.
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  More Factory Hotel.
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  Another battle UI, this time taking place in a newer battle system. It is said that it will "animate heavily."

Beta Era

On August 15th, 2014, full time development began. From this point, the game was considered a pre-alpha.

Alex's design was changed, now looking a lot more like he does in the final game. Brigid also redesigned her Alex sprite to match the new model Brian had created. This is also likely to be around the time the original version of Frankton was being created, with a screenshot being shown of it's first area.

In mid-September 2014, Andrew had hit the halfway point of Chapter 2's script. He also says that the team has planned out and began 3D modelling the first five dungeons. Continuing his idea of having great variety in battle themes, he confirms that at the moment 10 battle themes total were made for the game. He shared a SoundCloud link to an example of the YIIK battle motif as well as Golden Sun as a comparison, but it has not been archived. Additionally he shared the "Chapter 1 Overworld" theme, which in the final game was used for Chapter 4 instead. Another track shared is also lost, a "prog rock" battle theme.

2014

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  Brigid drawing artwork for the game.
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  Jose creating music and designing a map.
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  Brian creating an early version of the Factory Hotel's pyramid room.
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  High shot of the Pyramid room. Posted a week after the previous WIP of the room!
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  The first area of Old Frankton, looking pretty finished!
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  "Okay, Y2K gets pretty weird pretty early on..."
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  An improved variation of the battle UI from the post-prototype.
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  Comparisons showing the prototype sprite and the new Vella sprite at the time. Notice Vella's model having visible ears, which would be removed later.
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  This would be the area where Alex would first find Sammy.
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  Another variation of the Factory Hotel, referred to in the tweet as a "Steel Mill" specifically.
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  The Battle UI changed again! This one would stick around for a while.
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  Alex about to approach the Essentia in an area that never appears in the final game.
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  Alex's room as it looked early on. Note the different color palette.
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  YIIK running on the PS Vita, a port which would later be cancelled.
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  A character lineup created by Brigid, showing 4 of the main characters.
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  Only a few days later, Chondra and Rory's 2d designs were shared.
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  Alex's 2d design in the prototype...
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  ...and his overhaul to reflect the new 3d model.
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  Design for a puzzle.
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  A preview of a chapter 2 cutscene.
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  Brian developing the Factory Hotel.
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  Top view of a beta Factory Hotel area.
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  Early Factory Hotel area.
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  Early Factory Hotel area with a bomb.
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  Strange red islands in the factory hotel.
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  Alex surrounded by rats in Old Frankton.
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  A censored image of an outline for YIIK's story.
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  First look at Wilhelm, and was considered a miniboss.
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  Alex meeting Wilhelm.
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https://ackkstudios.tumblr.com/post/98320407302/week-4-andrew-story-update

https://ackkstudios.tumblr.com/post/99485560032/week6-andrew-devlog-on-the-topic-of-script-writing

On October 12th, 2014, Ackk announced that Andrew Fayette (known online as Yuriofwind) will play Rory Mancer.

https://ackkstudios.tumblr.com/post/100159113282/the-colors-i-have-been-working-on-a-few

In November, Andrew Allanson made a blog post on PlayStation explaining details about the game's story and mechanics worked. https://blog.playstation.com/2014/11/10/indie-rpg-y2k-coming-to-ps4-ps-vita/

"When an erratically-behaving elevator claims the life of a young woman, unemployed recent college graduate Alex Eggleston takes to a primitive 1990s message-board to find answers about the death of this stranger. His quest for answers leads to more questions as his research points him to a mysterious van the internet has dubbed the “Death Cab.”

This vehicular oddity roams the game’s city and countryside. Who is driving it? And despite mysterious happenings surrounding the vehicle, why does no one seem recognize its threat? On Alex Eggleston’s journey, he reunites with childhood friends, encounters a girl who can traverse the Soul Space to reside in new realities, and a multidimensional Android who sets the events of the game in motion."

"Because it is an RPG, Y2K is very story-heavy with a 400-paged script."

"So, what happens if you have killed all the enemies and you’re still not strong enough for the boss? Well, get on a pay phone (in the game) and dial #333. This will take you inside the Mind Dungeon, which is a place that solely exists for grinding, as well as finding chests that contain new moves that are hidden and cannot be acquired through leveling up naturally.

However, you can’t just jump into the Mind Dungeon. Defeating enemies and talking to NPCs can unlock keys for the mind dungeon, which allow you to proceed. So if you want to max out your characters, you’ll really have to hunt down every key and NPC."

"In addition to standard magic/skill/melee attacks, there are also traps in battle. One example of a trap is: Upon getting hit with fire magic, swap position of party member with a stuffed Panda. So using this strategy against a fire monster MUCH stronger than you might be necessary if you are under-leveled."

"In addition to equipping standard items, you can also bring world items you find in the dungeon into battle. If you’re carrying a ladder, or a box, or a bomb for a puzzle and get ambushed by a group of enemies, you can use the items to fight them off. Some enemies might even require you to find a bomb or a powerful, giant sword to take them down, as you couldn’t possibly be strong enough to fight them at this point in the game."

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/536925734867324928 ps4 demo build

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/565292352953409536 Placeholder logo and banner

After voicing 6 hours of dialogue, Chris Niosi, the voice actor Alex, filmed a blog video at Ackk Studios. Naturally featuring Andrew and Brian Allanson, but also features sound designer Jose Alfaro, as well as Brittany Lauda (voice director and voice of Sammy) and Melanie Elrich (voice actor of Vella.) Up to this point, this blog shows the most amount of gameplay of the pre-alpha so far.

Ending the year, Ackk Studios would showcase a demo of the game at the PlayStation Experience event through December 6th and 7th. This version of the game was known as version 0.25.1^{[Citation Needed]}, and went from the game's opening cutscene to the end of the Factory Hotel dungeon.

2015

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  By February 2015, the art style for the character portraits was nearly finalized.
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  Early iteration of the questionnaire, with a purple water background instead of confetti.
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  The questionnaire, humorously having "Vita" inputted as the player's favorite technology.

YIIK received its first trailer on February 20th, 2015, with an expected release date of the Fourth Quarter of 2015. There would also be ports for the PS Vita and Wii U. The game's finalized logo is featured.

Mar 13, 2015 PAX East 2015 Demo - "GadgetGirl Pre-alpha" - Factory Hotel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvTIs8KGQw)

Sep 1, 2015 PAX Prime 2015 Demo - "Black UI" - Wind town (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPX6B8ZKqkI)

Massive changes were made to the UI. Dodge minigame looks like the final, and many of the minigames present in the final version are in here. Shows off a Michael "draw a square" minigame.

Another trailer for E3 was shown in June, this time the release date saying "...This winter."

Sometime in November 2015, the game's last post about it being a pre-alpha was made, and the game was now considered a beta. (YouTuber GadgetGirlKylie's demo playthrough refers to the current iteration of the game as a beta.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_zpO9RdfRg

2016

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  Alex running away, but instead of smiles, Alex must dodge Krows. Click for full video.
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  Krow and Essentia in the status screen, presumably in the Tutorial Dungeon.

PAX East 2016 Demo - Wind Town (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZTwsoA9JvY)

PAX West 2016 Interview: YIIK - A Postmodern RPG - Episode PRIME - Mt. Town (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7BBMInEOKE)

The Rework

2017

The game was nearing completion in 2016. However, soon after, Andrew and Brian Allanson's mother passed away. Because of this, they found it hard to focus on developing the game. Once they had regained their composure, they were unsatisfied with the state of the game and felt it didn't reflect their changed worldview.

This "reworked" version of YIIK was developed between September 2017 and the Summer of 2018.

Many of the main dungeons were redesigned, such as the Sewer Dungeon and the Essentia's Mind Dungeon. The Cave Dungeon originally planned was scrapped, and the what was once a "PAX-exclusive" cave dungeon found in Episode Prime took its place. New smaller towns were added in this period of development, such as South Town, Mt. Town, and Flag Town.

The game's ending system was reworked. Originally, the game had two main routes. One lead to Ending 1, which in terms of events was the same, but was somewhat rewritten to be "more loving and less judgmental." This "less loving" version of the ending has never been seen by the public, as is not in the game's files. The other route was known as the "failed ego death route," which led to a second ending. Now commonly referred to as the Ultima Ending, Alex would enter the Tutorial Dungeon and fight against Proto Ultima Alex alongside The Essentia 2000. The multiple route system was removed in favor of having just one ending, as Ackk believed it would confuse the message of the game as well as having the fear that no one would do the "proper" ending.

Since the two route system was removed, it can be inferred that the KNN Ending was developed in this timeframe as a sort of replacement for it. This is backed up by Andrew Allanson stating that the KNN did the same idea of the route better.

It is possible that the Tutorial Dungeon was removed in this period of development, as it was implied to still be in the game as of April 2016.

2017 PlayStation Kiosk Demo - Windtown (SNESMAN99 text changed)

A YIIK Demo was shown at the PlayStation Experience in December, from the start of the game to the end of the Factory Hotel. The game is nearly the same as the final 1.0 release, although the item descriptions are bugged out.

2018

The game was nearing completion, with Ackk estimating a release date being sometime in May or July 2018. In the meantime, they developed a short episode known as Cape Juno, meant to be exclusively used to showcase the game for April's PAX East event. Cape Juno would later a playable location in Y2K II and the episode accessible in YIIK I.V's NG++ mode.

2019

PAX EAST 2019 Demo - Cape Juno

Blog post day before release https://blog.playstation.com/2019/01/16/inside-the-classic-rpg-and-literary-influences-of-yiik-out-tomorrow/

On January 17th, 2019, YIIK released.

Trivia

• Humorously, the metadata for "Viewing the Earth from Far Away" erroneously spelled the game's name as "Project YK2."
• It is a common misconception that the Ultima Ending was the original ending for the game before YIIK's rework. This misconception comes from a Variety article, where it states that the game's 2017-2018 rework included "...a total rewrite of the game’s ending." This was a misunderstanding from the author, and what it is actually referring to is the final lines of Alex in Ending 1 being changed- not a "total rewrite." The "Ultima Ending" was actually planned to be the game's second ending.

External Links and Unsorted Information

• ThirdRateMinion's Prototype Walkthrough.
• May 18, 2014 - Prototype being played with a PS4 controller.
• Y2K Isn’t Mother 4, And It Isn’t Trying To Be, Says Developer Ackk Studios
• YIIK Demo at PlayStation Experience 2018
• October 11th 2014 "Y2K GAMEPLAY gif!!"
  • Archived link
  • This section in YouTube video form (archived).
• A dead link to an early version of the Frankton theme, apparently in an Earthbound style.