Development History

From ONISM1999
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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.

Pre-Prototype (2013)[edit | edit source]

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 title, "Project Y2K."

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

Prototype Era (2014)[edit | edit source]

The game was now named YIIK. A prototype was developed between January 1st and March 22nd.[1] It was first initially shown around April 11th, 2014 for PAX East.[2] 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 alien in design, were gothic vampires instead. It can be downloaded and played here.

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."[2]

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."[2] They also wanted to have a realistic money system, and considered adding minigames where you work a job to get money.[3]

The soundtrack was mentioned to have a target of approximately 50 battle tracks, and that "you'll never hear the same battle track twice."[2] They had also hoped that at least 35% of the music would be performed live.[4]

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.[3]

Other Unsorted Media[edit | edit source]

These articles aren't implemented in the main article yet, so you can check them out individually.

April[edit | edit source]

May[edit | edit source]

June[edit | edit source]

July[edit | edit source]

An abstract, blurry environment.
An odd screenshot showing what is apparently a mind dungeon.

Pre-Alpha[edit | edit source]

On August 15th, 2014, full time development began.[1]

2014[edit | edit source]

Old Frankton

Brigid doing y2k art

"Sequencing music AND making a map! @Vapour_Rumours is a machine!"

Factory Hotel(?)

Old Frankton

Sammy in Factory

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/508014320505331712 Pyramid room

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/509048562194608128 Combat screen showing a weird UI

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/510508426276126720 Goth kids at arcade

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/512649058930798592 Vella Comparison

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/513357283108352000 Sammys Room

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/514114623638110208 devlog annoucenement about portraits

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/514151729299210241 "Steel Mill" (factory hotel)

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/514209083273248768 improved combat menu

https://ackkstudios.tumblr.com/post/98320407302/week-4-andrew-story-update

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/516422947847045120

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/516688982793396224 Vella surprised emote

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/518030738630131712 factory hotel development

https://twitter.com/BrigidAllanson/status/518032390170890240 Character line up

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/518092018195906561 "his camera angle makes y2k feel like grand stream saga"

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/518389789654274048 Strange area which could be factory hotel?

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/518399300691587072 Another strange area

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/519485809985343488 Chondra

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

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/519880222477664256 Rory added to roster

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/519904413365051393 working on crazy light puzzle

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/520923605165948929 https://gfycat.com/BitterImpassionedGentoopenguin.gif Gameplay GIF

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/521460881910407168 Yuriofwind will play Rory

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/521360985840709632 Y2K gameplay clip, dead link

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/521466442739630080 The character (Vella Wilde) the amazingly funny & dramatic

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/521714596701536256 Essentia on Vita

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

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/523271302753579008 Town of Frankton music, dead link

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/523279838782971904 https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/523469826816499713 Wilhelm teaser

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/523577297790836737 Story flowchart

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/526034926194667522 Alex at factory hotel elevator

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/528386843516366848 Vella and Rory talking

https://blog.playstation.com/2014/11/10/indie-rpg-y2k-coming-to-ps4-ps-vita/

Working on Y2K at Ackk Studios! - Kirblog 11/18/14 https://youtu.be/UIG4ppV_NBI

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/536653210380173312

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/536925734867324928

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/541106710669053952

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/546383921622298624

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/556530806710358016 Overworld Early

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/557257862272266242 Alex's room

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

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/565916638676262913 Vella at Arcade

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/568858899710939136 Sammy and Alex portrait comparison


PSX 2014 - 0.25.1 - Factory Hotel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfwMkD42e0)

2015[edit | edit source]

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.

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.

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/672448400072302592

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/674657528622526464

Beta[edit | edit source]

2016[edit | edit source]

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/700391964873768960

https://twitter.com/AckkStudios/status/720694052245610496

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)

Rework[edit | edit source]

The game was close to completion in 2016. However, soon after, the Andrew and Brian Allanson's mother passed away.[5] Because of this, their focus on developing the game was taken away. Once they had regained their composure, they were unsatisfied with the state of the game and felt it didn't reflect their changed worldview.[6]

This "reworked" version of YIIK was developed between September 2017 and the Summer of 2018.[7]

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 rewritten to be "more loving and less judgmental."[8] This version of the ending has never been seen, as is not in the game's files.[9] Theother route was known as the "failed ego death route," which led to a second ending.[10] 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 two routes were removed in favor of having just one, as they believed it would confuse the message of the game[11] as well as the fear of no one wanting to do the "proper" ending.[12]

Since the two route system was removed, it can be inferred that the KNN Ending was developed in this timeframe as a replacement for it. This is backed up by Andrew Allanson stating that the KNN did the same idea of the route better.[13]

It is likely that the Tutorial Dungeon was removed in this period of development.

2017[edit | edit source]

2017 PlayStation Kiosk Demo - Windtown (SNESMAN99 text changed)

YIIK Demo at PlayStation Experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWFa7rY63ro

2018[edit | edit source]

PAX South 2018 Demo - Appears to just be the final version of Frankton and Factory Hotel https://youtu.be/ju5w-oPXAJ4

2019[edit | edit source]

PAX EAST 2019 Demo - Cape Juno

On January 17th, 2019, YIIK released.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • 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."[14] The "Ultima Ending" was actually planned to be the game's second ending.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 AckkStudios Tumblr Development Info
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 PAX East 2014: Y2K Interview with Ackk Studios
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 ThirdRateMinion - Y2K (Ackk Studios) Interview (3RM @ PAX East 2014)
  4. ↑ Operation Rainfall interview
  5. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "Basically shortly before my mom died... we called the game complete"
  6. ↑ In the Wake of Their Mother’s Death, How Two Brothers Rebuilt Their Video Game by Steven T. Wright - "Following their tragic loss, the brothers found themselves unable to work on their game and took several months away from development. But once they felt well enough to proceed, they discovered that their work no longer reflected their changed worldview... As a result, despite the game’s near-completed state, the brothers say they rebuilt roughly a quarter of “YIIK”..."
  7. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "So at the point of Episode Prime the game had entirely different other dungeons... The reality is a lot of YIIK was remade between Septemebr 2017 and and Summer 2018"
  8. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "The original ending is the same as the current ending just worded in a way that's more loving and less judgemental."
  9. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "There is no clip of the original ending in any youtube essay. It isn't in the game."
  10. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "that is not the original ending. It was another planned route for the game. It was going to be part of a "failed ego death" ending but we removed it because it confused the message of the game. The original ending is the same as the current ending just worded in a way that's more loving and less judgemental."
  11. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "...we removed it because it confused the message of the game."
  12. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "...we feared no one would do the proper one."
  13. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "The thing you're talking about is from a planned Ego Death route where you could fail to understand something the game asked you and you got a delusional happy ending. We did this idea better in the KNN ending."
  14. ↑ Andrew Allanson on YIIKcord - "We change the ENDING LINES of Alex but the ending as it is in the game is always what we had planned"
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