6. Today, Crawford is proud of how successfully he surprised people, but he窶冱 also surprised that he pulled it off.
The original 2012 Frog Fractions came out of nowhere. It was an unassuming browser game that presented itself as a single-screen edutainment math game starring a bug-eating frog. People dug deeper, however, by making the frog swim down, leading to a bizarre journey through genres that ranged from text adventure segments to Dance Dance Revolution minigames. At one point, the frog was put on trial. Its secrets weren窶冲 telegraphed, and people who played it felt like they窶囘 joined a secret club. That窶冱 what Crawford wanted, and that窶冱 also why he had to take a radically different approach with Frog Fractions 2. When your strange little secret becomes a sensation, how do you bury it again?
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In April 2014, Crawford kickstarted Frog Fractions 2 without saying what it窶囘 actually be. 窶廬t will not be called 窶炉rog Fractions 2,窶吮?? read the Kickstarter. 窶廬t will probably be called something like 窶廊ost Kingdom: Reckoning,窶? by Fork Bomb LLC or 窶狼urbo Finance 2015窶? by Vespenta Holdings.窶? The Kickstarter also marked the beginning of an alternate reality game (ARG) that involved sigils hidden in more than 20 seemingly unrelated indie games, as well as goofy Obama-shaving web oddities and a live action vignette in which Crawford was 窶很idnapped窶? by 窶徼ime travelers.窶? It ran for two years. For most of that time, people didn窶冲 even know the sigils they were uncovering in various indie games were related to Frog Fractions 2.
The thing about announcing your plan to keep the lid on a secret, though, is that people become hyper-vigilant. Frog Fractions 2 turned into a meme. If something weird blew up in geekier corners of the internet, you could bet at least one or two people would ask, 窶廬s this Frog Fractions 2?窶? Many had their tongues planted firmly in cheek, but a few bands of hyper-dedicated fans were constantly searching.
窶廬t窶冱 pretty effective to bring people in on something so they feel like they窶决e part of the secret.窶?
Despite that, Crawford had the courage to rope other game creators in, even as the risk grew that one of the studios putting the sigil in their games would spill. As a guy who adores secrets with all the parts of his heart not dedicated to frogs and math, he knew how to keep people from talking. 窶廬t窶冱 pretty effective to bring people in on something so they feel like they窶决e part of the secret,窶? Crawford said. 窶廬 only made people sign NDAs if I didn窶冲 know them. The rest, I just trusted that they didn窶冲 want to annoy me, and also that being the person who ruined Frog Fractions 2 wouldn窶冲 actually gain them any social standing.窶?
Crawford had to rein some people in, though. One developer was going to place the sigil in their game close to a sign that had the word 窶彷ractions窶? on it. 窶懌?魯on窶冲 do that!窶? I told them,窶? said Crawford. 窶弋hat would窶况e been way too much of a clue.窶?
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It took people ages to concretely connect Frog Fractions 2 to the sigil ARG, despite some clues Crawford hadn窶冲 bothered to hide. 窶弩hat I was expecting people to do this whole time is look at my Facebook friends list and realize all these people who have sigil games, they窶决e all on it,窶? he said. Only toward the bitter, soupy end of the sigil ARG did people actually start to do that, however. And by then, it was too late for that to derail the ARG.
In August of this year, Crawford tweeted a joke about the sigil ARG, and he thought for sure that would give away that it was tied to Frog Fractions 2. He linked to a comic and called it 窶彗 simpler explanation for that eye sigil thing.窶? 窶弋he comic was of people asking what crop circles are,窶? said Crawford. 窶弋hen it showed an alien in the shower, and its penis was the shape of the crop circles.窶? Crawford thought that acknowledging the ARG, even jokingly, was a dead giveaway. He panicked. But nope, everything turned out fine. 窶廬 just got people saying stuff like, 窶聾ait... your penis is Frog Fractions 2?窶吮?? he said.
Crawford wanted the sigils to form a map that could be used in Frog Fraction 2, but by the time people assembled most of the sigils, the game still wasn窶冲 ready. Crawford instead opted to reward people with a video of him and another developer (who, disclosure, I consider a friend) eating soup as purposefully disappointing pay-off. 窶弃art of my style of humor is to set up expectations, then undercut them,窶? said Crawford. Plus, the whole point of the ARG窶杯he real payoff窶背as supposed to be the game. Ultimately, the ARG succeeded in pointing people to Frog Fractions 2. Mission accomplished. 窶廬 just got people saying stuff like, 窶聾ait... your penis is Frog Fractions 2?窶吮??
As the ARG was happening, Crawford also hatched the plan to put Frog Fractions 2 inside another game. He chose Glittermitten Grove, a game in development by fellow developer and friend Craig Timpany. Together, they pitched the idea to publisher Adult Swim. 窶廬t was a game that Craig wanted to make,窶? said Crawford. 窶廬 thought it sounded cool. It窶冱 his passion project. We pitched it to them and they agreed, with the knowledge that Frog Fractions 2 is inside of it.窶? Crawford窶冱 Kickstarter paid for Frog Fractions