A Chaotic History of Clickolding, the Year’s Most Disturbing Game

Nelson: I took a picture. I cropped it so that his face could not be seen. And we used that reference photo a month later.

Tan: I thought he was joking. The outfit the mystery man is wearing in the game is pretty much exactly what I had on that day, minus the mask, stripes, and questionable stains.

Nelson: If I was telling a story about a distressing and distressed masked man who wanted you to not just click a tally counter, but wanted to watch you do it, this everyman outfit with a slight elevation of style could end up being the foundation of a character design.

Porter: It was just a tan jacket.

Nelson: Even though I did get his permission at the time, many people don’t understand the full implications of their actions and decisions and permission they give at 3 am.

Porter: I mean, it looked very stylish. Dan looked good.

Kaman: It’s not like something to make fun of. And that’s kind of why it was funny, because there’s nothing wrong with Dan to justify making fun of him. It’s just like you have the target on you now.

Nelson: I hope in this life or the next, he can forgive me.

While many of the developers involved that night left San Francisco without giving another thought to Clickolding, Strange Scaffold got to work. The studio did, in fact, go on to collaborate with Outersloth on the game. As they released promotional material, the developers involved in its conception had an array of reactions.

Tran: Well, it was horrifying.

Kaman: We were like, “What the fuck?” He’s a madman, but he’s also my greatest inspiration in life.

Tan: After seeing the teaser, I remember messaging Xalavier right away being like “I can’t believe you actually used my outfit for this!!!”

Tran: The first thing I saw was the character, horrifying. Two, it was like, I can’t believe this is happening, even though I knew it was. Three, wow, I can’t believe this joke, this thing that started off as just like a funny ha-ha, this thing that just had escalated into an actual game. Honestly, it just felt really cool.

Kaman: We were sharing it around in Slack, losing our minds, just being so impressed at the commitment.

Tan: Despite it all being born from something that started off lighthearted and a little silly, the game is most definitely no joke; it definitely taps into that uncomfortable feeling we got a glimpse at in the hotel lobby that night.

Tran: It’s really cool to see all the things that we talked about coming together, like Dan’s outfit or Gary’s logo, and that kind of weird creative spirit. Having something feel real, amazing.

Kaman: I think Aggro Crab deserves royalties.