Chances are you have heard the name “Five Nights at Freddy’s": The little horror game that could have become an internet phenomenon with four sequels, a growing fan base, and even a movie deal. But chances are equally high that you know nothing about the man behind the games. That is no accident, as he has become notoriously reclusive.
Despite having almost no interaction with the public, Scott Cawthon has singlehandedly created a multi-game franchise in one year with film and merchandise tie-ins. Massive companies like EA or Ubisoft wish they could produce at that rate. More importantly, he has become a gold star example of how game development should be done.
His “origin story” is an excellent example of his professionalism, especially compared to other independent developers of a similar vein. One of his final projects before "Five Nights" was "Chipper & Sons Lumber Co.", a colorful children’s game. The game is now most famous for being widely mocked--most famously appearing on critic Jim Sterling’s YouTube channel, where he compared the characters' animations to robots.
I bring up Jim Sterling because he has become the go-to example of what happens when independent developers take criticism poorly. He founded his YouTube channel in peril from developers who retaliated to his criticisms by claiming he violates their copyright, which cripples your ability to produce videos. Scott could have easily gone down the same path, but instead chose a better route. He took the criticisms to heart. If people thought his animations were scary, he would use that to make something truly frightening. One of the downsides to the democratization of game development is that many creators struggle to separate criticism of one’s work from criticism of themselves. So it is genuinely refreshing to see someone who uses criticism to create something better.
His prolific nature is also nothing short of admirable. We live in an gaming environment increasingly defined by annualized series, resulting in complaints of long-running series like "Assassin’s Creed" being stuck in a creative rut. Cawthon has become a one-man army for game development, producing four "Five Nights" games in roughly a year. Granted, there is a monumental gap between AAA games and "Five Nights" games, but where massive teams of thousands of creators struggle to innovate, it’s incredible that one man has made four fairly unique games. The series is fairly polarizing, but it’s hard to deny how different each game is from each other. And with the rise of buggy products, the series has four games released ahead of scheduled release that are nearly bug-free.
But most importantly, he has handled fame like a professional. In the frantic, rabid world of Internet fame and outrage, he’s kept a playful, humble relationship with the fans. Most importantly, he acknowledges when he makes mistakes. His most recent release, "FNAF World," has been criticized for feeling rushed, and he quickly apologized for his typical methods failing.
Whether you like the games or not, it’s hard not to respect Scott Cawthon. A persevering artist who used the Internet to create a phenomenon. In an industry being dragged down by stagnation, he's a wonderful example of how the growing access to development tools allows for fresh faces and ideas to shine, and shows how to do it right.
