In 2012, Jim Crawford released a bizarre browser game called Frog Fractions that managed to effortlessly capture the attention of the internet and the games industry. On the surface, it was a simple time waster aimed at children — but as players made progress and earned upgrades ranging from a warp drive to a work visa, its mechanics would shift and contort until the experience was almost unrecognizable from the early stages of the game.
People were fascinated by Frog Fractions, so Crawford founded a development studio called Twinbeard and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of a sequel in 2014. There was one unique element to the game’s crowdfunding process — to maintain the sense of discovery players felt when they stumbled upon the original game, Crawford intended to keep backers in the dark about how and when they would receive Frog Fractions 2 for as long as possible.
Since the Kickstarter campaign ended in April 2014, there’s been an endless stream of speculation as to how the end product would be revealed. Now, the cat is out of the bag — so if you consider knowing how to get your hands on Frog Fractions 2 to be a spoiler for the game, stop reading now.
To gain access to Frog Fractions 2, you’ll need to purchase the seemingly unrelated Glittermitten Grove on Steam. Backers were apparently told exactly what was going on, but asked to keep the information under their hats to avoid spoiling the surprise for everyone else, according to an exhaustive report from Waypoint.
Glittermitten Grove didn’t actually contain Frog Fractions 2 when it launched on Steam in mid-December. An update added the long-awaited game after the culmination of a vast alternate reality game that’s been running for the past two years.
Now, the jig is up and the game is out. Anyone ready to delve into the madness of Frog Fractions 2 can do so by purchasing Glittermitten Grove and poking around beyond the surface of the faerie-filled resource-management sim. If you’re behind on the Frog Fractions saga, you can access the original game via the Twinbeard website.
