''Frog Fractions 2'' is a sequel to the free browser-based game ''
Frog Fractions'', which was developed by independent game studio Twinbeard, founded by Jim Stormdancer. Stormdancer used an extended
alternate reality game
An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.
The form is defined by inten ...
(ARG) as part of the game's announcement and subsequent development, tying the release of the game to the success of the players' completing the ARG's puzzles. ''Frog Fractions 2'' was revealed to have been released on December 26, 2016, after players completed the ARG, though its content was hidden within the game ''Glittermitten Grove'', a secondary game developed by Craig Timpany, a friend of Stormdancer, and released without much attention a few weeks prior to the ARG's completion.
Gameplay
''Frog Fractions 2'' is primarily presented through "TXT World", a text-based adventure game similar to ''
ZZT''. Players move throughout the world solving puzzles and completing various
minigame
A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...
s in order to further progress. Examples of such minigames include a
text adventure
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
set within ''
The Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
'', a 3D
Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
shaving simulator (a 2D version of the game was used during the ARG), and a text-based simulated
multiplayer online battle arena
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that im ...
game. The game also allows players to import their saved game from ''
Mass Effect 2
''Mass Effect 2'' is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in 2010 and PlayStation 3 in 2011. It is the second installment in the ''Mass Effect'' series and a ...
'', which Stormdancer says is part of a larger puzzle.
Development
Following the 2012 release and surprise success of ''Frog Fractions'', Jim Stormdancer did not have immediate plans for a sequel, and instead worked on the mobile title ''Gunhouse'' for the development studio Necrosoft. During that time, ideas about what ''Frog Fractions 2'' might be started to come to mind, and by January 2014, had enough of the game planned out to start development. However, Stormdancer was less concerned about its development and more about keeping the same surprising nature that ''Frog Fractions'' had. Around this time he came up with the idea of hiding the identity of what ''Frog Fractions 2'' would be until it was actually released.
This led to three months of work to develop a pitch video for
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
as to obtain funding for the game; several friends helped him to film and star in this production. The Kickstarter campaign launched in March 2014, and Stormdancer wrote in its pitch that ''Frog Fractions 2'' would be "a weird ride I would release someday, under a different name", leaving it up to players to actually find the game themselves.
The Kickstarter was successfully funded in April 2014, with $72,107 pledged from 2,571 backers, exceeding the planned $60,000 goal.
Full development work started in April 2014. Stormdancer had used a similar approach he took from the first ''Frog Fractions'', in that he built each section as an extension of the previous section. He already had a number of small game prototypes that he planned to incorporate into the final game. One of these was called an
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
-based "TXT World", which would become the central hub for ''Frog Fractions 2''. "TXT World" was inspired by ''
ZZT'', ''
Deadly Rooms of Death
''Deadly Rooms of Death'' (DROD) is a computer puzzle game. It was created by Erik Hermansen in 1996 and has been regularly extended since then. The original version of the game published by Webfoot Technologies is no longer available. In 2000 th ...
'', and ''Insanity'', with Stormdancer citing these as obscure games few had heard of but that he loved.
He recognized that "TXT World" would serve well as the hub, letting his other mini-games branch off from it, and added flavor elements of ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'' atop it.
On advice from Tim Ambrogi, who had helped test both ''Frog Fractions'', Stormdancer added dynamic elements to "TXT World" that let the player gain access to more parts of the game, such as a sword to help cut through bushes blocking paths.
Early on in development, Stormdancer knew that he wanted to release ''Frog Fractions 2'' hidden within a city-building style game called ''Glittermitten Grove'' which was developed by Stormdancer's friend Craig Timpany and alongside ''Frog Fractions 2''.
In contrast to ''Frog Fractions 2'', ''Glittermitten Grove'' did not require any narrative, making it easy to focus on its gameplay.
As Stormdancer assembled more of the mini-games for ''Frog Fractions 2'', he recognized he was lacking a narrative. His co-developer Justin Bortnick suggested they could use the tutorial character they designed for ''Glittermitten Grove'' as the protagonist for ''Frog Fractions 2''. Though they did develop a story arc for this character that was ultimately dropped, they still found that her presence as a persistent narrator within ''Frog Fractions 2'' helped to tie all the mini-games together.
Stormdancer had anticipated the game to be done by August 2015, but had not completed it by that point.
Adult Swim Games
Adult Swim Games (stylized as dult swim games'') is the video game publishing division of the Adult Swim brand of Cartoon Network. While Adult Swim had been publishing games since 2005, primarily based on their in-house franchises. In 2011, it be ...
helped to provide Stormdancer with about 18 additional months of funding to complete the game.
Alternate reality game and release
The development of ''Frog Fractions 2'' was accompanied by two multiple-year
ARG
Arg or ARG may refer to:
Places
*''Arg'' () means "citadel" in Persian, and may refer to:
**Arg, Iran, a village in Fars Province, Iran
**Arg (Kabul), presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan
**Arg, South Khorasan, a village in South Khorasan P ...
, gaining much media attention.
Stormdancer had often referred to what would be released as ''Frog Fractions 2'', the game, as "Frog Fractions 3", envisioning the ARGs as "Frog Fractions 2" and a game in and of itself.
Large coordinated efforts of players worked together to try to decipher the elements of the ARG.
One ARG involved hiding parts of ''Frog Fractions 2'' within several different indie games on
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, including ''
Crypt of the NecroDancer
''Crypt of the NecroDancer'' is a roguelike rhythm video game developed and published by Canadian independent game studio Brace Yourself Games. The game takes fundamental elements of a roguelike dungeon exploration game and adds a beat-matching ...
'', ''
The Magic Circle'', ''
Quadrilateral Cowboy
''Quadrilateral Cowboy'' is a first-person puzzle-adventure video game by independent developer Blendo Games. The game was released on July 25, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, and on October 1, 2016, for macOS and Linux.
Gameplay
In ''Quadrilater ...
'', ''
Duskers
''Duskers'' is a strategy video game by independent developer Misfits Attic. It was released on May 18, 2016, for Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating sy ...
'', ''
Firewatch
''Firewatch'' is an adventure game developed by Campo Santo and published by the developer in partnership with Panic. The game was released in February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4, for Xbox One in September 2016 ...
'', and ''
Moon Hunters
''Moon Hunters'' is an Action role-playing game developed and published by Kitfox Games. It was released on March 10, 2016 for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux through the download service Steam, for PlayStation 4 on July 19, 2016, Xbox One on July 19, ...
'', where different parts of an "eye
sigil
A sigil () is a type of symbol used in magic. The term has usually referred to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner ...
" graphic was found, directing players to find a portion of a map within the game, which eventually pointed to real life locations. Stormdancer credits 31 different developers for their help in this portion.
Stormdancer ran this ARG and used relationships with developers he met at
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
s to work on inserting ''Frog Fraction 2''-related material into their games.
Stormdancer had found some independent developers had included the sigil without his request in their games, making these games red herrings within the community trying to decipher the puzzle, which he found helped to deepen the mystery akin to an urban legend.
He had initially planned to have the sigil ARG lead to a map image that would provide a password that the player could apply within ''Glittermitten Grove'' to decrypt the ''Frog Fractions 2'', but felt this forced players to examine the executables of the indie games for art information, and opted for a different approach, eventually deciding to only have ''Glittermitten Grove'' update once a milestone in the ARG was met.
The more narrative-driven ARG was initially created by Stormdancer before being handed off to be run by Justin Bortnick, who also served as a writer on the video game. This ARG, initiated by the Kickstarter pitch video, focused on the idea of time travel, and centered on "the story of the 'Resistance'
.. a group that was manipulating timelines to prevent an existential threat called the 'Decay' from destroying their world and our timeline".
Bortnick wrote the ARG's narrative alongside the story they were building for ''Frog Fractions 2'', and described that at one point they had considered using the name ''Fairies vs. Badgers'' instead of ''Glittermitten Grove'', but dropped that title, requiring him to drop a plot line regarding badgers from the ARG.
As the release of the video game neared, Bortnick was producing less content for the ARG, and he and Stormdancer were considering ending it. Near the same time, one of the ARG's players, Erica Newman (a PhD ecologist from the University of California, Berkeley), won a box of clues from an ARG event centered around
Indiecade
IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011 ...
. She received the box in person from Stormdancer, and jokingly offered to write additional ARG content without involving other developers with the goal of keeping players interested and further developing the fictional universe of the ARG. Stormdancer encouraged this, believing this kept the chaotic spirit of ''Frog Fractions''.
Newman brought in two others, Justin Melvin, and Micah Edwards, to help with puzzle development. At least six musicians and musical groups were brought in to write original music, and Newman created all art and remaining story elements for the ARG. As Newman's branch of the ARG started gaining attention, it was agreed that she would run out the rest of the ARG. She, Melvin and Edwards then created ARG content that introduced new characters and plot lines, spanned websites like
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, and incorporated physical puzzles. At the ARG's conclusion, Newman tied her story to Bortnick and Stormdancer's original ARG content as a lead-up to the game's release.
The ARG was solved after 2 years and 8 months in late December 2016. Players of the ARG found clues to a physical location where a box with a button, labeled "FF2", and a
key switch
A key switch (sometimes called a keyswitch or lock switch) is a key-operated switch. Key switches are used in situations where access needs to be restricted to the switch's functions.
Key switches are available as components with solder connectio ...
was found, as well as to a real-life
escape the room
Escape the room, also known as room escape or escape game, is a subgenre of point-and-click adventure game which requires a player to escape from imprisonment by exploiting their surroundings. The room usually consists of a locked door, objects ...
game where players found the matching key. The key was shipped to the box recoverer, and was triggered on December 24, 2016; once triggered, ''Glittermitten Grove'' was updated with the ''Frog Fractions 2'' content. Newman said that they had set some of the narrative that activating the box would release the "Decay", and had suggested the option of destroying the box to prevent this. Newman said they had no backup plan were the box to be destroyed, because she was confident that the ARG players would release the game no matter what the cost, as was introduced through the narration to them.
The large update to ''Glittermitten Grove'' and its content was eventually discovered by players a few days later. Those that backed the Kickstarter could contact Stormdancer for Steam keys if they could tell him the hidden location of game following the activation of the box, though they were encouraged to keep the reveal quiet until more players had found the hidden game. Stormdancer has retrospectively stated he considers the ARG itself to be ''Frog Fractions 2'', with the game being ''Frog Fractions 3''.
Reception
''Frog Fractions 2'' itself has received mixed reviews, with reviewers noting that the anticipation of a ''Frog Fractions'' sequel has potentially diminished the surprise element that made the predecessor as popular as it was. Writing for ''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
'', Janine Hawkins wrote that "''Frog Fractions 2'' feels more concerned with its own irreverence than with being outright surprising";
Jeffrey Matulef for ''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' wrote that the "game is stretched too thin with a more predictable format that robs it of its predecessor's more purposeful pace".
Darren Nakamura of ''
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
'' noted that "without the element of surprise, ''Frog Fractions 2'' is just a collection of mostly bad minigames."
Reception for the Alternate Reality Game was more positive, and the ARG appeared on several "Best of 2016" lists on websites such as Vice's Waypoint
and ''
Giant Bomb
''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...
''.
References
{{reflist
2016 video games
Kickstarter-funded video games
Promotional alternate reality games
Windows games
Adult Swim games
Indie video games
Linux games
MacOS games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Parody video games
Retro-style video games
Video games about amphibians
Video games about video games
Video games developed in the United States