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 (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 minigames in order to further progress. Examples of such minigames include a text adventure set within The Divine Comedy, a 3D Obama shaving simulator (a 2D version of the game was used during the ARG), and a text-based simulated multiplayer online battle arena game. The game also allows players to import their saved game from Mass Effect 2, 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 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-based "TXT World", which would become the central hub for Frog Fractions 2. "TXT World" was inspired by ZZT, Deadly Rooms of Death, 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 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 helped to provide Stormdancer with about 18 additional months of funding to complete the game.