Creator's Notes
Hi, I'd like to step out of character and provide some information on this project. This segment of the website is not based on any lore or secrets, I will just be explaining some things about what this series is, where it came from, and my hopes for the future.
If you see this do NOT buy it! Please!
Synopsis:
Motley's Mathhouse was an educational game created by Merry-Go Town sometime in 2003. Years later, an employee is getting ready to quit when she's asked to revisit the game one last time to fix some errors that have been bothering customers. She agrees to take a trip down memory lane and encounters two main recurring characters; Motley and Tidbit. Motley greets her as warmly as a fictional character can and she feels this assignment is going to be very nostalgic. However, there's something conscious underneath the surface, aware of her presence. As time goes on, this game will be nothing like she remembered it.
Genre And Age Rating
Motley’s Mathhouse is an animated analog horror series inspired by late 1990s and early 2000s nostalgia. Though the website is secondary to the video series, it could be considered an ARG. I’ve been debating the age rating of this series due to the fact that children will inevitably be the target audience. Since I never intended for there to be swearing, drugs, or sexual material anyway, it wouldn’t be much of a loss to tone it down slightly. While it does have a similar vibe to Happy Tree Friends which could be frightening to younger viewers, I’m not too interested in depicting realistic blood or gore. I’ve always been fond of media that is technically PG but had that one scene keeping kids awake for weeks. I think highly of PG content able to give a good scare and tell mature stories without relying so hard on adult content that it pushes it into PG-13 or rated-R territory. I guess I’ll be aiming for that moving forward. Past episode 3 it’s going to get progressively more intense and I will start to give warnings as needed.
For now, let’s consider this a TV-PG series with warnings for thematic elements, frightening images, and cartoon violence down the road.
Fan Interaction
I would love for people to engage with the work. Feel free to comment, share, theorize, and make fan creations. I only have two things to ask of you: Firstly, be respectful to other people and the crew. Much of the crew is queer and we are all very LGBTQ-accepting. Second, in regards to fan creations, do not create porn or sexual NSFW content. That makes me especially uncomfortable since a good portion of the crew, including voice actors, are minors. I came up with this show as a 16-year-old and most of the crew are/were teenagers who came together to help me make it. You can feel however you want about the characters but I don't recommend posting NSFW publicly. I understand that rule 34 is inevitable with everything but please respect my wishes.
Video Playlist
The current playlist is a mix of episodes and other related videos. Most videos or shorts won’t really be a part of the “official series” but usually it's still canon.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm4R5-hlN79AFfWB92zNf7HXd9m09uzHx
Origin
I came up with this series when I was studying for a big math test at the end of a fall semester. I created some convoluted plots in an attempt to keep myself interested long enough to remember the material and pass. Afterward, I remained interested in this vague concept I created and started to develop it over the next few months. Around April of 2022, I was confident I developed the story enough to begin a series, so that's what I did. I’ve always wanted to make a cartoon but I never really had the resources or skills to do so in the past. This is my first original series to ever come to fruition. I’m trying my best but I acknowledge I am still very new to this. Feel free to give constructive criticism and feedback.
Inspirations
Kid’s Content: Blue’s Clues, Starfall, Purble Place, Cyberchase, Popee the Performer, Millie's Math House (somewhat accidental), JumpStart, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, The Big Comfy Couch, Rolie Polie Olie, and LeapFrog.
Horror and Other Media: The Walten Files, Petscop, Baldi's Basics, Learning With Pibby, Five Nights at Freddy’s (and its fan content), Andy's Apple Farm, ENA, Randy Learns Science, Undertale/Deltarune, and Happy Tree Friends.
Future Plans
It’s been a very slow process making these videos but I hope we can produce about 9 episodes (maybe more if we’re lucky). The current episodes and videos have been relatively short but I plan to extend future episodes to 7 or 10 minutes each. I will definitely keep making shorts in between major uploads. Please understand that this is a volunteer collaborative project and each participant has their own busy life to tend to. I myself am still in school and working a minimum-wage job. I don’t have much time or money to put into this but I am trying my best.