Posted on: 03/26/2026

Written by: daniellagarner

Hey everyone!

I'm currently writing this at 5 in the morning so excuse me if this is a little half-assed, but regardless, welcome to the first blog post for the official Hidden_FUN website!!

For this first post, I want to write about how Episode 1 and 2 are going, and how the series is being re-arranged, in a way.

THE SERIES AND MY NEW PLANS

So regarding the series first: I've explained this on a Youtube Community post, but the series is being changed from three seasons to ONE cohesive season, which will tell the entire story. There will be TEN episodes of the series, and will go through my plans for the original three seasons in a more engaging, character-focused way. I don't want to waste the viewer's time with episodes that don't add anything other than unnecessary world-building or small details that don't matter in the bigger picture, I'd like for the fanbase to be able to come up with their own ideas for that kind of stuff! Just allows for more creativity, and helps to tell the story as best as I can, so yeah!

Another thing that I'd like to mention is that I'm currently in the middle of writing all ten episodes' scripts, based on the story outline that I've written within the past few months to make sure the story is as consistent as possible. There will be some major differences from both the pilot and my original plans for the series, but this finalized version of the story is genuinely the best iteration that this series has had since it's creation all the way back in 2021, so I ask that you all trust me on this.

The percentage as seen on the monitor in the main page actually reflects how close I am to finishing these scripts, so I'm currently 25% of the way there. I'll show you a sneak peek of one of them now!

(Can you guess which episode this will be in?)

EPISODE ONE PROGRESS

I remember back in December of 2024 when I initially released "The Creative Process", and I saw how much you all enjoyed it. I didn't necessarily want to actually touch the script for this episode, or change it much from the original version seen in the pilot, but to align with the changes to the series in it's entirely... I've had to change quite a bit about it.

HOWEVER.

These changes are moreso to the structural layout of the episode, as well as expanding some sections of it, mainly William's segment. You all may remember how the original version of Episode 1, "Freak Accident", planned to show what happened to William in full detail? Well, I'm returning to that and though the events are going to go down a lot more differently than the original, the fact that we're going to be showing this sequence should excite a lot of you!

There's still going to be a lot of mystery surrounding this, this show is meant to be heavily focused on mystery after all, but I'm honestly really excited to show this sequence in the episode because it's honestly one of the spookiest moments in the first half of the series. There's some sequences later on that I think will top this, but you'll have to wait and see about that.

Anyways, as for actual progress, this episode is currently not very far in production. Around 5% of it has been completed at the time of writing this, and that's just the script. Assets and what not are going to be produced real soon though, so there'll be some proper progress images of the ACTUAL episode sometime in the near future! And just in case this news scares some of you: the episode is still planned to release this year! It'll be late in the year though.

EPISODE TWO PROGRESS

This episode has had so many revisions, it's kinda crazy. I had a very clear idea of what I was wanting from this, but I think the idea I have in mind for this finalized iteration is so much better... but then again, I can say that about everything with the current (and final) revision of the series.

Similarly to Episode 1, there's not very much progress done. I plan on tackling it's script after I complete Episode One's though, so there will be progress for this episode in the near future.

About the launch plan for this episode, it'll be releasing directly after Episode 1 with a week gap most likely. I want to get the first two episodes released as quickly as possible within each other, because of the fact that since this series' creation, I've never actually gotten past the second episode... AND SO, to guarantee that I actually get to Episode Three and onwards, I'm going to push these two episodes out within a week of each other so that from there, I can focus my full efforts on the future of the series and get this actually done.

To give you guys something to chew on though, I'll reveal this episode's NEW title alongside the final title for Episode 1.

EPISODE 1: Freak Accident

EPISODE 2: White Noise

VISUAL STYLE

I mentioned this in the Youtube Community post that I also mentioned earlier, but the series' visual style and identity has finally been decided after years of constantly changing it, and I wanted to elaborate on this.

So, as you all may know, I've always wanted this series to stand out in comparison to every other series. It's been compared numerous times to the web series "The Walten Files", and while I absolutely love that series, I'm making something different here and I want the visual style to reflect that. With this being the case, I considered my options:

2D Animation - So much variation in what you're able to do with this, but do I have the skills to pull it off...? I was amazing with puppet-based 2D animation, but that's where a lot of the comparisons to "The Walten Files" comes from. So what about frame-by-frame animation? ...The issue with that is I'm not the most capable of pulling that off, at least, not within the time frame that I want to get these episodes out by. So what's the natural second option?

3D Animation - There's arguably just as much variation with what you're able to pull off as there is with 2D animation, and 3D is something that I'd argue I specialize in considering I develop video games within 3D space most of the time, my best example being Bushside Rangers of which I'm currently working on. I'm also pretty decent-ish with 3D animation, and I have friends that I know who can help me out with this. Okay... so what style should it have? There's the realistic style for 3D animation, but I don't think that fits the series and the character designs I have in mind. What about low-poly? This is an option I've considered a lot, and is something I still occasionally think about. It would work for the series very well I think, but it's not nearly as cinematic as I'm wanting it to be. So okay then... what about a cartoony style that matches my 2D art style? This is mainly what I'm leaning towards, and is what I'm wanting to pursue, but let's continue considering our options real quick.

Live Action - I was really wanting to do this because it's a lot more cinematic than any of the other options, but something that I don't like about this choice is the lack of artistic integrity and control that I have over this. On top of that, not only do I not have the technical know-how to pull this off, but I also honestly don't have the funds to pull it off either. I'd have to hire actors, prop designers, and I'd have to pay for full-on sets and everything that's necessary for that. You can really see that this is not an option that I can actually AFFORD to take...

So with this being the case... what is the final verdict for the visual style?

SEMI-CARTOONY 3D ANIMATION

This is the most basic way of explaining this, but my personal thought for how this will go out is that you take my 2D drawing style, and you make the characters' faces look a bit more realistic, so it's a sort of fine line in the middle between fully cartoony, and realistic. General visuals would also have a more real look to it instead of full-on cartoony, it wouldn't look like a Pixar movie for example. It's difficult to explain what I have in mind on text, but it'll speak for itself when you see the teaser trailer for Episodes 1 and 2 when the time comes for that to become public.

So yeah!

FINAL WORDS

I've revealed quite a lot of information regarding the series and it's future, so I'll probably quiet down for a while after this... but I wanted to say real quick, thank you all for your patience.

It's genuinely deeply appreciated, and I'm so thankful to have such a patient fanbase. Episode 1 and 2 will be well worth the wait I think, and you'll hopefully agree when it releases later this year. It's been an amazing past four (almost five now...) years, and despite all the ups and downs, I'm thankful that you all have decided to stick around and see this show out. It is basically GUARANTEED to fully release, considering I've made it easier for myself to produce considering both the new visual style, the fact that I have the story downpat and fully consistent, and limiting the episodes to only ten.

I know a lot of you may not be the most happiest about that choice in particular, the episode reduction, but just know that even when the series ends, it'll still be here for you to revisit at any point. I want to make the ending as good as it can be, and it's one of the more unfinished aspects of the story at the moment, despite the fact that everything else that happens is fully concrete. It's actually what I'm focusing on right now, so just know that it'll be as good as I can make it, even if it doesn't end up being the most pleasing and fanbase-catering ending ever.

I believe you will all be respectful about it though, and I hope you all enjoy what's in store for all of you. And with this, I'll take my leave.

Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you soon...