If you appreciate the work done within the wiki, please consider supporting The Cutting Room Floor on Patreon. Thanks for all your support!

Prerelease:A Hat in Time (Windows, Mac OS X)/2017

From The Cutting Room Floor
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:A Hat in Time (Windows, Mac OS X).

January 2017

AHatIntime Prerelease DeadBirdBasement.png
On January 13 2017, a screenshot of Hat Kid was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page, showing Hat Kid in Deadbird Basement wearing the Cat Beanie hat.[1]


On January 17 2017, an unlisted video of raw footage of Murder on the Owl Express was uploaded to Gears For Breakfast's Youtube channel.[2] A few differences can be noticed in it, some subtle, some major.



  • A poster is used as a placeholder for the title card, as the final's hadn't been made yet.
  • The level is still Act 4 instead of Act 2.
  • The caboose of the train is still using the modified version of the Beta's version of the model that can be found in the final game's Modding Tools.
  • There's a different sound effect for starting a conversation with a NPC, which is placeholder and originates from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
  • Characters still do not continue talking while the voice acting is still playing. They stop when the text stops scrolling, like in previous builds.
  • Hat Kid has three hats in her inventory, indicating that Hat Abilities have been implemented by this point. The holiday hat flair is serving the role of the main Ice Hat, here. The fuzzy horn hat flair is the main Brewing Hat, while in the final it's an Ice Hat flair. These hats match up with the unused Cloth material icons seen in prerelease footage and screenshots, as well as early versions of the Modding Tools. Do note that this video wasn't made public until after the game released, and Cloth would not be revealed publicly until mid February of this year.
  • There are windows on the short ends of the interior rooms of the train, which were all removed in the final.
  • Only the Conductor's lines are voiced at this point.
  • Most of the dialogue is the same, with a few outliers:
Early Final
Which body part of yours are you most ashamed of, fellow Express Owl?
Oh, poor Express Owl, your [BodyPartName] is nothing to be ashamed of!
But you'd better get your [BodyPartName] checked out by a doctor, I read online that having bad [BodyPartName] could be a sign of bird flu.
We'll be searching the entire train for evidence, no one is allowed to go outside of this wagon.
You can't point your finger at someone without clues. The clock is ticking, will you be able to find enough clues to point your finger at the murderer?
Which body part of yours are you the most ashamed of, fellow Express Owl?
Oh, poor Express Owl, you shouldn't be ashamed of your [BodyPartName]!
But you'd better get your [BodyPartName] checked out by a doctor. I read online it could be a sign of bird flu.
We'll be searching the entire train for evidence. No one is allowed to go outside of this wagon.
You can't point your finger at someone without clues. The clock is ticking. Will you be able to find enough clues to point your finger at the murderer?
  • Instead of Ice Yarn next to the door to the VIP Room, there is instead Scooter Yarn, which was completely scrapped in the final game. Its flavor text is the same as the old flavor text for the Scooter Badge from early 2016. It now requires 10 Cloth to stitch instead of 7 Cloth (Badge Points). When collecting the Cloth, a few debug error messages appear in the bottom left. A unique "+1 Cloth" appears when finishing collecting it, which was overwritten with the Yarn version in the final.
  • Hat Kid's 'item get' animation is still the same one in the Betas.
  • Hat Kid still does not yet have a full detective outfit.
  • The Detective Hat takes up its own Hat Ability slot instead of temporarily overwriting the Helper Hat's slot.
  • When answering the phone, another Paper Mario placeholder sound effect can be heard.
  • When Phone Guy tells you to go to the back of the train, that bit of the dialogue is highlighted in green in the final.
  • The stingers that play when Hat Kid discovers the "body" are quieter and higher-pitch than they are in the final.
  • The Crow Agents guards have the same sonar warning sound that the camera guards from the last development stream in 2016 had.
  • The character profiles in the evidence are all model renders.
  • Placeholder paintings can be seen in the VIP room and Game room, using posters from Deadbird Studio for DJ Grooves's movies.
  • Hat Kid's animations for holding a key and being in 'spy mode' don't blend together yet.
  • The slot machines in the Game room still say "A Hat in Time" instead of "Slot Machine".
  • The sound for collecting a Director Token is just the generic item collect sound instead of a unique one.
  • Instead of a Director Token in the upper corner of the luggage room, there is Scooter Cloth.
  • The button used to activate the ice panel in the luggage room is the unused mafia button instead of the other type of button used in the final.
  • At the very end of the video, the game is paused, showing a UI icon for Cloth. This would be overwritten with the icon for Yarn in the final.







AHatIntime Prerelease GroovyMafiaDocks THUMBNAIL.png
On January 20 2017, a lost video was tweeted out showing Hat Kid watching a Groovy Mafia walk on Mafia Town's docks. Groovy Mafia don't appear in the final game and can only be found in the Modding Tools.[3]





On January 26 2017, another unlisted video was uploaded to Gears For Breakfast's Youtube page,[2] this time featuring raw footage of Mafia Town's Purple Rift. The rift's design has been finalized at this point, so the amount of differences seen in the video is small.

  • The cat beanie is the main Sprint Hat at this point, which matches up with its unused Cloth material in the Modding Tools. In the final, it's an Ice Hat flair.
  • The particle around the Rift Pons has been updated since 2016, now including yellow beams of light around it, but is still quite different from the final.
  • The UI icon for Rift Pons is still the early version from 2016.
  • Hat Kid opens the quick-swap wheel at 0:18. For some reason, she has the Detective Hat in her inventory.
  • The hanging fish on the racks are still the blue ones from the Beta builds.
  • Hat Kid uses the scrapped Floating Hat at 0:38.
  • The fluids inside the chemical flask Hat Kid throws with the Brewing Hat is blue instead of purple.
  • Hat Kid still does not yet have a throwing animation for the chemical flasks.
  • The explosion particle for the chemicals is still the Beta version's.
  • A couple hidden dweller crates can be found on floor 3, which are not present in this rift in the final.
  • Some flags have not been updated with new textures yet.
  • Floor 4 is missing some details, including a couple rats.
  • At 1:36, the Witch Hat is shown to be the Time Stop Hat at this point in development. The effects that appear on Hat Kid are the same ones from 2016, and the slowdown seems to last slightly longer than in the final game.
  • The sign for Seaside Spaghetti on Floor 6 is still using its older version from earlier builds, despite the new version already existing.
  • At 2:06, Hat Kid falls into a pit and seemingly dies. Hat Kid then reappears on the floor via the old Respawn Crystal system from the Betas, and has one less health. Hat Kid does not play the unique voice line for falling into a pit in the Betas.
  • Floor 6 is still using the 'Wind Waker grass' from the prerelease builds.
  • Story book pages seem to be notably absent.
  • Smacking the Time Rift Ball around does not cause it to crack and gradually get more unstable.
  • The particle effect for when it explodes is slightly different and it does not drop any Pons.








On January 27 2017, yet another unlisted video was uploaded to their Youtube,[2] showing an earlier version of the Conductor boss fight. There aren't many changes to the fight itself, but some elements are clearly placeholder at this point, and there's no unique voice acting for it yet, either.

  • The sound effect when the elevator reaches the bottom and opens up is different.
  • When approaching the Conductor, the camera zooms in on him, but he doesn't say anything. The fight just begins a few seconds later.
  • The Conductor's dive attack a little slower.
  • The shockwave produced by the falling disco balls is the same one from the Toilet of Doom's boss fight.
  • The sound effect for hitting the Conductor is much lower pitch than in the final.
  • The photo duplication attacks uses the earlier versions found leftover in the Modding Tools.
  • When the heart-to-heart section begins, the camera doesn't focus on the Conductor.
  • Some dialogue is slightly different:
Early Final
Ever since yer arrived on this planet, these [hint]Time Pieces[hint] have fallen from the sky.
Now, I can understand if you feel they belong to you. I get it. But did you know they allow for rewinding time?
With one Time Piece, I could reclaim the trophy that belongs to me! That's right, the loss of award 42!
I got 2nd place at the 42nd annual bird award! Me! Can you imagine? DJ Grooves managed to get a 1st place trophy!
I need just [hint]1 Time Piece[/hint] to fix this mistake. Can't you spare just [hint]1 Time Piece[/hint]?
Well, if you want this Time Piece back so bad, come and get it!
Remember this lil' bomb? This time it's attached to you, instead of my lovely train... eh he he he!
Ever since yer arrived on this planet, these [icon:timepiece][timepiece]Time Pieces[/timepiece] have been falling from the sky.
Now, I can understand if you feel they belong to you. I get it. But did yer know they can rewind time?
With one [timepiece][icon:timepiece]Time Piece[/timepiece], I could reclaim the trophy that belongs to me! That's right, the loss of award 42!
I got 2nd place at the [icon:trophy][trophy]42nd annual bird award[/trophy]! Me! Can you imagine? [icon:djgrooves][name]DJ Grooves[/name] managed to get the 1st place trophy!
I need just one [timepiece][icon:timepiece]Time Piece[/timepiece] to fix this mistake. Can't you spare just one [icon:timepiece][timepiece]Time Piece[/timepiece]?
Well, if you want this [timepiece][icon:timepiece]Time Piece[/timepiece] back so bad, come and get it!
Remember this lil' bomb? This time it's attached to you, instead of me lovely train... eh he he he!
  • The bomb on Hat Kid's back has a default texture in the middle of it.
  • The sound effect for the saw blade attack is slightly different.
  • The scissors model being used to defuse the bomb is the same placeholder model that could be found in the initial release of the final game.
  • When the bomb is defused, the music doesn't change.








AHatIntime Prererlease QuickSwapHats THUMBNAIL.jpg
Also on January 27, a lost video was uploaded to the game's Facebook page showing Hat Kid using the new quick-swap hat menu in Deadbird Studio.[4]

February 2017

On February 3 2017[5], Habboi recorded a playthrough of a level he created for Sand 'n Sails, which is the Pumping Pumpkin Factory. Notably, this is after Alpine Skyline had begun development, and after Sand 'n Sails had been scrapped and mangled into Sand 'n Alps before becoming Alpine Skyline. This indicates that this playthrough is either being played on an older build, or that he kept the maps for Sand 'n Sails in the current dev build and played them straight from there. In this sense, this video can also be considered to be one of the last, if not the last iteration of the sprawling desert version of Sand 'n Sails. Compared to Aruki's playhrough in late 2015, the level itself has not seen much progress at all. Pumping Pumpkin Factory appears to be virtually identical to how it appeared in October of 2015, although the desert terrain itself has seen some work. In particular, the sand areas in-between the Starting Village and the factory have been given curves and actual dunes, which was all flat in Aruki's video. Additionally, the progress signs that were seen in the level earlier have been removed by this point.

Habboi explains in the video description that the thirst mechanic had been partially disabled at this point in development, at least the coding that would hurt the player. As he doesn't have any water flasks, the red vignette effect appears around the screen during the entire drive to the factory. The HUD for the water flasks also seems to have been disabled.

Strangely, the level's music appears to be entirely absent, even though it was present in 2015. The level intro theme still plays, however.

All of the Sunburnt are suffering from some kind of material issue, making them all appear bright white. They were shown to appear in their correct colors in 2015, and it's unknown what caused this error. Regardless, it was fixed in the final version for Alpine Skyline.





AHatIntime Prerelease HelperHat THUMBNAIL.jpg
On February 10 2017, a lost video was uploaded onto the game's Facebook page showing the Helper Hat for the first time.[6]

Habboi tweet on February 14 2017, showing Hat Kid being grabbed and frozen by Queen Vanessa.

AHatIntime Prerelease CollectibleCloth.png
On February 17 2017, this screenshot of Hat Kid running next to Cloth was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page. This would be the first public showing of Cloth.[7]

AHatIntime Prerelease MafiaTownChemicals THUMBNAIL.jpgAHatIntime Prerelease MafiaTownChemicals THUMBNAIL2.jpg
On February 24 2017, a lost video was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page[1] showing Hat Kid using the Witch Hat as a Brewing Hat, which would show that it had cooldowns instead of using Energy.

AHatIntime Prerelease HighQualityHat.jpg
On February 27 2017, Jonas tweeted out a screenshot of an updated hat model for Hat Kid, showing it with a much higher polygon count than what was in the Beta builds.[1]

March 2017

On March 3 2017, one final unlisted video was uploaded to their Youtube channel,[2] showing the new implementation of Coop Mode. Mafia Town is used in the demonstration, and some differences can be noticed.

  • Right off the bat, the game is paused, showing the Hookshot in the slot that would be reserved for Hat Abilities. This is the scrapped Grappling Hat, which is a short-lived Hat Ability that can be seen in one other piece of early media for the game in 2017 before it was relegated to a Badge.
  • There is no wall decal on the left wall near Mustache Girl's defeated mafia goons, although this seems to be due to the game being played at lower graphical settings.
  • Hat Kid's 'item get' animation is still the one from the Betas.
  • The chemical explosion particle now matches the final game. The chemical fluids themselves are now purple instead of blue, as well.
  • The fuzzy horn hat is now the Time Stop Hat.
  • The particle for slamming down with the Ice Hat is slightly different.
  • Thor's workshop is still present, as is the older layout for She Came From Outer Space.
  • The Camera is still its own item, and is not yet a Badge.








AHatIntime Prerelease CoopModeButton.png
Also on March 3 2017, a screenshot showing the Coop menu option was tweeted out.[1]

On March 10 2017, a new Kickstarter Post was made that indicated that Pax East footage for their game would be uploaded to their Youtube channel tomorrow, showing off more of the game.[8]



Given that the footage is so close to the Coop video, there aren't many changes between the two.

  • The video starts off with the trailer of Battle of the Birds from last year. Proper gameplay footage starts at 1:16.
  • For some reason, Hat Kid is wearing the Detective Hat in Mafia Town.
  • The wall decal to the left of Mustache Girl's attack is shown to still be the wall face of Mafia instead of the picture in the final. Mustache Girl also still does not change her expression when she notices Hat Kid.
  • The Helper Hat is used in the footage, showing that it lacks the circle around the area that it highlights at this point in development.
  • The lighthouse has had its door removed by this point.








AHatIntime Prerelease final beta comparison.jpg
On March 17 2017, a triple comparison image was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page, comparing the final game, Beta, and Prototype versions of Mafia Town. The three spinning Mafia on the ledge below are still present.[9]

AHatIntime Prerelease MuAwakening THUMBNAIL.jpg
On March 24 2017, a lost video was tweeted out and uploaded to the game's Facebook page, showing Mustache Girl juggling a Time Piece after Hat Kid defeats Mafia Boss. The curtain still has its red design from the Beta builds.[10]


On March 31 2017, a new Kickstarter post was made that introduced the world to Alpine Skyline, the Chapter that replaced Sand 'n Sails.[11] In the update, it is explained that due to a mismatch between the visuals of Sand 'n Sails and its gameplay, they changed course on the theme of the Chapter so that the gameplay would work better.


AHatInTime Prerelease AlpineSkylineDemoExtended.gif
(click to play)
A demo of gameplay in Alpine Skyline, showing numerous differences to the final. The Windmill is not present at all at this point. A much higher quality version of this demo can be seen here, but is only half the length of the GIF version.

AHatIntime Prerelease AlpineSkylineIntroduction.jpg
A screenshot of Hat Kid being shocked by a Goat was also posted, which doesn't happen in the final game. The Goats are also seen using two unused animations, the grounded one not existing in the final game's files or Modding Tools at all. Goats were originally able to ride ziplines, but were scrapped.

AHatIntime Prerelease EarlyAlpineBirdhouse.png
The last screenshot posted alongside the Kickstarter Post is this early Birdhouse shot. The Birdhouse is way lower than it is the final and much closer to the central hub island. Its area cinematic is also playing even though the player isn't even at the Birdhouse.

April 2017

AHatIntime Prerelease LavaCakePeaks.png
On April 7 2017, this screenshot of the Lava Cake was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page.[12] The Lava Cake's bow has a different design than the final, using its Sand 'n Sails stripes instead of the fancier pattern seen in the final. Another Goat is seen on the bridge, in the same pose as shown in the Alpine Skyline reveal. The fact that it's in the exact same pose suggests that it's using an idle animation that consists of only a single frame. The area shown in this screenshot actually exists in the final game, but the area between it and the cake seems to be missing. The area lacks its volcanic aesthetics. Strangely, a Gold Vault from Mafia Town can be seen on the ledge on the right. It's unknown what its purpose was. Given its placement, it seems the intention was to have the player be able to make it up here and explore, but is impossible (actually extremely difficult to do) in the final game. Some remnants of being able to explore the upper area of this part still exist in the final: the Mad Crow on the right alongside the three Pons next to it. Finally, the chimney on the house on the far left is made of wood instead of metal.


AHatIntime Prerelease ScooterBadgeMafiaTown.png
On April 14 2017, this screenshot of Hat Kid having a Scooter Badge in her inventory was tweeted out, showing that the ability went from a Badge, to a Hat Ability, and then back to a Badge.[13]

On April 21 2017, this video of Hat Kid using the Sprint Hat next to an early corruption flower in Alpine Skyline was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page. At this point, the flowers are just recolored versions of the 'fire flowers' from the fiery area of Subcon Forest[10].












AHatIntime Prerelease AlpineNight.png
On April 29 2017, this screenshot of Alpine Skyline at night was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page.[14] The lightning bolt is yellow and blue instead of purple. The Windmill is now present, and is using the placeholder fan blade models found leftover in the Modding Tools.


At some point after Alpine Skyline's reveal but before Cloth was scrapped and replaced with Yarn at the beginning of May, this video, which was apparently meant to demonstrate the game running on Xbox One, appeared presumably on Gears For Breakfast's YouTube channel for a brief time before being taken down. Its origins are vague and the original video page isn't known to be archived anywhere. Regardless, the video shows numerous interesting things about the game at this point in development, some of which aren't seen outside of this video.

  • The video shows gameplay from each Chapter in order, starting with Mafia Town. Curiously, Badge Seller is not seen in his final position in the level, nor the location he's at in the initial console builds of the game.
  • At 0:27, the player's inventory is open, showing a wide variety of Hat Abilities that do not appear in the final game. The Parade Hat and Detective Hat both have their own slots at this point, and the Parade Hat is using a model render as placeholder for its UI icon. The Snatcher's Realm Badge can be seen as a Hat, although it's unknown what ability it had. The scrapped Grappling Hat can be seen again.
  • When Hat Kid stitches the Floating Hat, the yarn ball she tosses up is rainbow colored. This texture for the ball could be found only in the initial Speedrun Event build of the game.
  • Cloth is still present in the game at this point, as mentioned before.
  • The Ice Hat's landing particle is still the early one from earlier in the year.
  • Cooking Cat can still be seen in the market area of Mafia Town.
  • Bombguy balls are still being used in Train Rush, and they are still physics-based, meaning that K-Actors haven't been natively disabled yet.
  • The footage for Subcon Forest is of Subcon Swamp. At 1:58, a Purple Fire Spirit painting can be seen in the same location it was at in the 2016 development streams. The Purple Bonfire can be seen out in the distance immediately after, showing that it hadn't been scrapped by this point in development. Something to note is that there's no leftover 'purple bonfire barrier' materials leftover in the Modding Tools, meaning that bonfire barriers either did not exist even at this point, or it was deleted from the Modding Tools prior to release.
  • Dweller platforms still do not have their space-y kind of material effects yet, but are otherwise the same as they appear in the final.
  • At 2:15, footage from Alpine Skyline is used, and it's very obviously early footage. For some reason, the scrapped ziplining Goats are t-posing, even though they don't in later prerelease footage and earlier screenshots.
  • Ziplines that lead to other peaks are just recolored versions of the normal zipline.
  • Most zipline paths are completely different from the final.
  • There's quite a bit of missing environmental detail at this point.
  • There are floating arrow flags next to the junctions on certain ziplines. These flags are an unused Actor in the initial release of the final game, and were originally how you'd switch going right and left at junctions; instead of simply leaning left or right, Hat Kid would have to smack into them to change directions.
  • The zipline flags do not wave in the wind.
  • Some background mountains are present that are gone by the final game.
  • Mountain locations do not yet have a unique location banner, instead using the Spaceship Hub's.
  • At 2:41, an interaction point appears on a mountain beam pillar, which never happens in the final game. It's unknown what interacting with these pillars was supposed to do.
  • The wooden gates seen in the final are merely orange versions of the Sand 'n Sails village gates at this point.
  • At 2:44, some kind of default model can be seen at the base of the Windmill.
  • The platforming section used in Alpine's finale near the Windmill is completely missing.

May 2017

AHatIntime Prerelease IceHatDemo THUMBNAIL.jpg
On May 5 2017, a lost video was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page. All that's known about it is that it showed Hat Kid wearing the Ice Hat.[15]




On May 16 2017, a new Kickstarter Post was made [16] that also announced a new trailer for the game, which was posted on their Youtube channel. The focus of the trailer is Murder on the Owl Express.

  • The windows on the small walls of the train wagons still exist.
  • More voice acting is now present for the level.
  • At 0:12, a Crow Agent speaks an unused line intended for a scrapped scenario where one or more would board your spaceship.
  • Hat Kid now has her detective outfit.
  • The stingers that play when discovering the "body" now match the final.
  • Placeholder DJ Grooves posters can still be seen in the level.
  • The Conductor is randomly seen in the Game room.
  • At 0:58, Hat Kid is seen using the Floating Hat, showing that it had not yet been scrapped.
  • At 1:09, a random hookpoint is used in the cafeteria. Not present in the final game.
  • Despite the Ice Hat existing by this video, Hat Kid's ice statue still depicts her wearing her normal top hat.
  • At the end of the video, when it cuts to the title screen sequence, Thor's workshop can still be seen in Mafia Town.







AHatIntime Prerelease CrowConversation THUMBNAIL.jpg
On May 26 2017, a lost video was tweeted out showing Hat Kid talking to a Crow Agent.[17]

June 2017

On June 8 2017, another new Kickstarter Post was made that announced that the game's E3 Trailer has been posted to Youtube. Much of the footage is reused from the trailer from last month, but there's a few new bits to see.[18]

  • Finally, character talking animations now persist until the voice acting is completed.
  • The Scooter Cloth in the cafeteria has now been replaced with Ice Yarn, as it is in the final.
  • At 1:50, an earlier version of Mother Maiden's evidence portrait can be seen.









On June 17 2017, a short video was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page, showing Rumbi off for the first time.[19] Alpine Skyline's door is now its proper color, but it's still using the cactus icon and carpet design for Sand 'n Sails. Battle of the Birds is also still using its train door icon.






AHatIntime Prerelease discordgrass.jpg
On June 26 2017, Jonas posted this screenshot of Hat Kid standing in Mafia Town with the new grass from 2016 being the focus. This was posted in a Discord server, and it's unknown if it was posted on social media proper at any point. Badge Seller can be seen standing in the location he stands in specifically in Rainy Mafia Town in the initial console builds of the game.

AHatIntime Prerelease DeadBirdLobbyChemicals THUMBNAIL.jpgAHatIntime Prerelease DeadBirdLobbyChemicals THUMBNAIL (June 30 2017).png
On June 30 2017, a lost video was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page showing Hat Kid using the Brewing Hat to destroy crates in Deadbird Studio's lobby.[20] Crates don't appear in this room in the final game.

July 2017

AHatIntime Prerelease StitchingHats THUMBNAIL.png
On July 8 2017, a lost video was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page, showing Hat Kid stitching a new hat. The Time Rift polaroid is still showing the Dweller planks from the Beta builds. These were only used in Subcon Forest in the final game.[21]

On July 14 2017, a new Kickstarter Post[22] was made that announced the creation of the official A Hat in Time Discord server.

AHatIntime Prerelease AlpineSkylineTower.png
Included in the Kickstarter Post was also a new screenshot of Hat Kid standing in Alpine Skyline. The Windmill is still using its placeholder fan blade model, and for some reason, the spiraling tower that could be seen in Sand 'n Sails can be seen behind the Windmill. This screenshot is used on the game's Steam Store page.

AHatIntime Prerelease BigOakFinalized.jpg
On July 21 2017, a new screenshot was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page, showing Hat Kid walking in front of the Big Oak tree in Subcon Forest.[23] The grass is still using its design from 2016.





On July 26 2017, Gears For Breakfast uploaded a new trailer for the game, this time for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. This trailer came alongside a new Kickstarter Post[24] announcing the game coming to these two consoles.

  • Given the trailer is much closer to release, there aren't too many differences at this point. One, however, is that the planet model outside the spaceship still has Sand 'n Sails on the planet instead of Alpine Skyline.
  • When Hat Kid lands down in Mafia Town at 0:30, there's a fence missing along the edge that was seen in earlier footage. Furthermore, no Act starts in this location in the final game, and there's no leftover start Actor here in the final, either.
  • At 0:34, Hat Kid is shown walking in Alpine Skyline during the day, yet she's in a location that can only be accessed at night. The Windmill in the background is using its placeholder fan blade model.
  • At 0:37, at the bottom left corner, a penguin wall decal can be seen that has a face drawn on it, indicating that the sketch functionality of having the player's Deadbird Studio picture show up throughout the game was still in the game at this point.
  • At 0:44, an updated version of the sequence of platforming shown off when Alpine Skyline was first revealed is shown, with the same floating arrow flags next to the ziplines as seen in the deleted Xbox One video.
  • At 0:48, the crystal lava cave mountain on the first path to the Lava Cake from the hub mountain is missing, and some mountains near the Lava Cake are missing lavafalls.
  • At 0:51, the slot machines in Murder on the Owl Express are shown to finally say "Slot Machine".
  • At 0:56, the thorn vines attached some mountains appear untextured. The mountains that the vines are attached to near the Lava Cake area are also different from the final. The absence of the crystal lava cave mountain can be seen more clearly here.
  • At 0:58, the Raccoon Rift is shown, still in its Mafia Town design. This suggests that its visual overhaul to fit Subcon Forest was a last-minute decision.
  • At 1:02, a frozen Conductor can be seen in Queen Vanessa's manor on the first floor, as was in the Beta builds. In the final, he was replaced with a Rough Patch.
  • At 1:04, Badge Seller can be made out standing where he is in the initial console builds of the game.
  • In the shot immediately after that, Cooking Cat is shown standing outside of Mafia HQ in the market area near a table with a fish on it. She was removed from this area in the final game. Additionally, Hat Kid's umbrella is shown having crashed into the fountain, like in the Beta builds, instead of the Time Piece in the final game.
  • At 1:07, the fire particles for the wooden torches are mistakenly placed at the base of the poles instead of at the top of the torches.
  • Pons are finally shown to float up and down, like they do in the final game.
  • At 1:11, Hat Kid is shown stitching a hat in the middle of the level, instead of being on the pause screen like in the final. She does this again at 1:18. Interestingly, while she stitches the hat, the rest of the game seems to freeze in place and not animate at all.
  • 1:13, the odd hookpoint in the cafeteria in Murder on the Owl Express reappears.
  • At 1:23, the scrapped milkman mafia can be seen, indicating his removal was a late decision.
  • At 1:29, a shot of Hat Kid in the Birdhouse is shown, and the zipline in the background isn't using its unique Birdhouse flag design.
  • At 1:30, a shot of Mafia Boss's throne room is shown, and the coin piles are just yellow mounds at this point.
  • At 1:35, a shot of the Toilet of Doom's intro camera cutscene is shown, and there's an object in the background on the right that is seemingly causing transparency issues with the fog. It appears like it might be a waterfall. Whatever it is, it was removed before the final game.


August 2017

Early Final
AHatIntime Prerelease EarlyTrainRushTitelcard.jpg AHatIntime TrainRushTitlecard.png

Starting in the summer of 2017, an early version of Train Rush's title card began appearing in video thumbnails and as big images for review articles of the game. It would ultimately be replaced by its final version in early August of 2017. Differences between the two are extremely minor. Hat Kid gained an extra finger on her right hand and the Science Owl was changed to be an Express Owl.



On August 2 2017, Aruki uploaded another playtesting video, this one of him blowing past the entirety of The Finale on the scooter, as well as exploiting level design in the throne room to fight Mustache Girl up on the chandeliers. As this video was recorded fairly close to release, it contains minimal, but still note worthy, differences to the final game.

  • There is no passive dialogue from any character waiting in line.
  • There are no Health Pons leading into the castle.
  • Some textures are missing for some objects and platforms, such as the one at 0:32.
  • The smoke trail particle for the lava fish is still the early one from late 2015, indicating that its particle upgrade was a last-minute change.
  • There is no Fire Spirit dancing on top of the first flamethrower.
  • The Express Owl that greets you after taking the first ice panel doesn't speak.
  • There are no NPCs in general in the level on the way to throne room. All of them are outside only.
  • There is a Pushy Crow on the platform at 1:18. This was removed in the final.
  • At 1:34, the Floating Hat is shown in the hat wheel, showing that its removal was very late in development.
  • 1:49 shows that the springboards still use their Beta build bounce sounds.
  • All of the paintings on the walls just before the throne rooms are still placeholder, using a picture of Hat Kid from the gallery in the Spaceship Hub. Some paintings are still placeholder in the current final version, however.
  • There are a couple of ropes hanging next to Mustache Girl's throne, which don't appear in the final game but are Hidden instead. It's unknown what purpose they served.
  • Conversations are still using placeholder sound effects from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
  • None of Mustache Girl's lines in the throne room are voiced yet.
  • The sound effect for landing a hit on Mustache Girl is very different and lower quality compared to the final version.
  • The statues don't fall to the floor once the Time Piece Ball appears. The explosion effect used for the disappearing Time Pieces underneath the throne and statues is the explosion from the Cherry Bomb of Doom attack instead of a unique particle. The throne falls down in a different way than the final.
  • There isn't even a Time Piece Ball yet, it's just a normal Time Piece.
  • After the battle with Mustache Girl, there is no unique music that plays before the player collects the Time Piece Ball.


On August 6 2017, Jenna Brown, the lead 2D Artist (at the time) held the last development stream for the game, with her coloring in and finishing most of Mafia Town Act 1's title card. She also answers some questions on stream, some of which reveal some information about the game. The original Twitch VOD is actually still up currently, and can also be watched here, on Jenna's Twitch page.

  • No title cards were ever made for Sand 'n Sails.
  • Jenna hates Timmy, and hints that he might be scrapped. This indeed came to pass, and he was replaced with Bow Kid.
  • Jenna confirms that there was a Lava Mafia Town title card drawn by Koidrake that has never been shown publicly.










On August 19 2017, a video was uploaded by a Youtuber who got to play through the Gamescom demo in Murder on the Owl Express.

  • The train's caboose is still the early Modding Tools version, indicating that the model upgrade seen in the final was almost last-minute.
  • The random floating hookpoint in the cafeteria has been removed by this point.
  • The Helper Hat's focus circle still does not have the additional effect it has in the final, which would make them another last-minute inclusion.
  • An unknown collectible is seen in the luggage room, buried under some suitcases and is impossible to obtain.
  • The Crow Agent dialogue just before the player selects a murderer was not voiced yet.








On August 19 2017, an update to the achievements for the game was seemingly accidentally pushed, showing all of the achievements for the game[25], including some that were scrapped before the final game.

Name Icon
4th Wall




Badge Collector


Mad Hatter




Relationship Ruiner





Speedrunner

AHatIntime Prerelease FinalAchievement4thWall.png


N/A


N/A


AHatIntime Prerelease FinalAchievementRelationshipRuiner.png


AHatIntime Prerelease FinalAchievementSpeedRunner.png

Two achievements marked as tests, Badge Collector and Mad Hatter, would've been for collecting all Badges in the game and all Hat Abilities in the game. Another, Speedrunner, would've been completing the game in under three hours, and actually got its own icon. The only other achievement that wasn't in the Alphas or Betas to get its own icon but was scrapped in the final is the Relationship Ruiner achievement, which alleges that Hat Kid would've been able to kick off one of the Crows sitting in the Birdhouse in Alpine Skyline. In the final, you can't interact with them at all except for attack and jumping on them, which just makes the common 'squeeze' noise.

As a side note, the description for the Pillow Fort achievement is slightly different from the final:

Early Final
Find Hat Kid's Secret Hideout!
Find Your Secret Hideout!

The Why achievement is also missing at this point.


On August 23 2017, while in the middle of Gamescom, a new Kickstarter Post was made that finally announced the game's release date: October 5 2017.[26] It also went far more in-depth on mod support and features, as well as announcing two official mods made by Gears For Breakfast: Lilac's Headpiece from Freedom Planet 2, and Raz's Goggles from Psychonauts.



AHatIntime Prerelease Pyschonauts.jpg

September 2017

AHatIntime Prerelease SpoileredSwampTimeStopYarn.jpg
On September 1 2017, this screenshot of Hat Kid collecting Time Stop Yarn was tweeted out and posted on the game's Facebook page. The text alongside the tweet was "What kind of hat can Hat Kid stitch with this yarn? The description gives a tiny hint!" It's unknown why Hat Kid is getting this Yarn in Subcon Forest, as it only appears in Alpine Skyline in the final game. The lanterns in the background also still have their fire particles enabled. These were disabled in the final game because they weren't swinging with the lantern, and this screenshot reveals that disabling them was a true last-minute change.


On September 7 2017, Aruki uploaded yet another playtesting video, this one of him cheesing the Lava Cake in Alpine Skyline. The only noticeable difference is that the zipline flags still do not wave in the wind yet. The model for the ziplines was re-imported a couple days after this video.











The last playtesting video Aruki uploaded prior to release is this video, dated September 9 2017, showing him cheesing Cheating The Race without using the Time Stop Hat. The video is playing in editor, given the "Lighting Needs To Be Rebuilt" text on the top left of the screen. No notable differences have been found in this video yet.








On September 10 2017, the Speedruning Event for the game was announced in a new Kickstarter Post[27]. Any Backer or Slacker-Backer who owned the Beta build could participate.

AHatIntime Prerelease IceHatSept2017.jpg
This screenshot of Hat Kid wearing the Ice Hat in Mafia Town is dated no later than September 12 2017.[28] Badge Seller can be seen in the location he's in on the initial console builds in Rainy Mafia Town.

On September 15 2017, the first Speedrun Event build was released.

On September 24 2017, the Speedrun Performance build was released.

October 2017

On October 2 2017, Jenna posted a cropped portion of an older version of the Blue Rift titlecard in a Discord server:

Early Final
AHatIntime Prerelease WaterRiftCompareEarly.png AHatIntime Prerelease WaterRiftCompareFinal.png

The context for posting this was people talking about how the cookie platforms in the Speedrun Performance Build were changed into generic platforms and that very little people liked this change. Ultimately, the cookies were restored in the final game, but Jenna posting this art showed why the cookies may have been considered for removal in the first place.






On October 5, the game releases.

A few days after the game released, a fan asked on Twitter[29] where the hat they designed as part of their Backer tier was in the game. They posted concept art that they received from Gears For Breakfast awhile back, as well:

AHatIntime Prerelease ManBearSquidHatConceptArt.jpg
The Backer hats, while present in the Modding Tools when the tools first released, would not be implemented into the game proper until March of 2018, when the 'Modding Update' released.


On October 23 2017, an interview with Beta64 and Jonas was uploaded to Youtube. Numerous interesting facts are explained about the game in the video.

  • 1:18 Jonas is asked about how A Hat in Time started. Jonas talks about messing around in the UDK editor, and that he implemented combat and platforming elements in his earliest prototypes. He found the platforming to be more interesting than the combat, and so the focus shifted from a 'hack n slash' type of game to a 3D platformer.
  • 13:02 Jonas mentions that the composer for the game, Pascal Stiefel, composed far more music for the game than what has been released so far.
  • 22:58 The change from Badge Points to Yarn is talked about. Jonas explains that it made more sense for Badges to be passive abilities and Hats to be the main abilities since you can equip three Badges at once but only one Hat.
  • 30:55 Jonas is asked how Hat Kid was conceived, and explains that it's a concept he showed to Luigi Lucarelli, and Luigi came up with the final design.
  • 32:12 Hat Adult is brought up, and Jonas explains why she was scrapped. He also talks about the scrapped timeline branching system that very early Prototypes of the game had planned.
  • 35:10 Jonas is asked about cut content for the game in general, and Jonas responds that they scrapped an entire Chapter, which is Sand 'n Sails. At this point, Jonas goes into detail on the process of how Sand 'n Sails became Alpine Skyline, with plenty of information about the level never mentioned before this interview.
    • Jonas says bluntly that there was never a time that Sand 'n Sails was different from Alpine Skyline.
    • Jonas says that the team was working on making traversing the Great Desert interesting, and he says that it would've been an immense amount of work to make the areas between the Sand Islands interesting.
    • Jonas mentions Hat Kid getting running shoes that lets her run really fast across the desert, most likely referring to Sand Skating.
    • Jonas talks about trying auto-generating enemies and obstacles, which would be the unused Desert Travel Director Actor that could be found in the earliest versions of the final game's data.
    • Jonas mentions a toxic sand gimmick. Sickly green unused sand materials can still be found in the game's Modding Tools, which were likely used for this idea.
    • Jonas talks about the giant sand pillars that can be seen in a couple screenshots of Sand 'n Alps.
  • 38:00 The swapping of the Chapter order for Subcon Forest and Battle of Birds is talked about.
  • 39:45 Beta64 brings up the overhaul of Bot AI between the prerelease builds and the final game.
  • 41:00 Timmy is brought up, and asked about his role in Vanessa's Manor. Jonas also brings up the possibility of Timmy not actually becoming the Coop partner, and this came to pass. He was replaced with Bow Kid in DLC 1. He also brings up the team talking about using a Sunburnt (Alpine Traveler) as a Coop partner.
  • 42:50 The topic of the failed Wii U port is brought up, and Jonas explains some of the difficulties that arose when attempting to bring the game to that console.
  • 50:35 Jonas mentions that there's two fully functional cut levels in the initial release of the game. Remnants of a scrapped level called 'Moon Stars' was indeed found in the earliest versions of the final game, but it's still unknown exactly what other level he says was still in the game is.
  • 53:00 Jonas talks about a humorous bug he encountered early on with the scrapped Science Owl enemies.
  • 54:30 Jonas is asked about something that he didn't want to sacrifice but had to for the better of the game. Jonas brings up Oldster in response. Jonas mentions that a lot of old man characters were cut from the game, and he talks about Tim the Timelord and Thor the inventor.
  • 56:31 Jonas talks about the old plot for the game, the one involving Tim the Timelord.
  • 57:10 Jonas talks about Thor, and how he would give the player the Sandmobile for traversing Sand 'n Sails.

Alpine Skyline Concept Art

Posted inexplicably on November 1, 2017[30] is this apparent concept art of one of Alpine Skyline's Peaks, the Windmill.


AHatIntime Prerelease AlpineWindmillPeakConceptArt.png

It depicts Hat Kid standing on a mountain top in front of the Peak, staring up at the Windmill. The Windmill itself greatly resembles its appearance in the final game, but with a few changes. The third floor of the Windmill has a boardwalk wrapping around it, there doesn't appear to be an entrance at the front of the base of the structure, there's a seemingly random springboard on the front-right of the mountain top, there are many more wind turbines plastered around the surrounding mountains, the mountain peaks are green/brown instead of blue and red, and perhaps most importantly, there doesn't appear to be any way for Hat Kid to actually reach the peak. There are no hookpoints for Hat Kid to swing on to reach the peak, and no extremely tall ladder, either.

As for the origins of this concept art, it has an internal modified date of October 28 2017, meaning that it was likely shared in a Discord server, likely A Hat in Time's, by Jenna herself or by another team member before being deleted at some point. The date is most likely when whoever saved this image downloaded it, and not when the art itself was made. It very much likely stems from earlier the same year, although the exact date is not known.




Developer Discord Information

On October 30 2017, a few developers joined some of their older fans in a Discord server and talked about the game's cut content for a bit, showing screenshots, giving information, and posting videos of older versions of the game.

Starting off with what Habboi shared, several screenshots were posted that are not known to have been posted by Gears For Breakfast prior to this point. It's entirely possible that they're prerelease screenshots that weren't archived before their posts were deleted, but until proven otherwise, they should be treated as exclusive internal screenshots that were never shown publicly until this day.

AHatIntime Development InBetweenSecretLevels.jpg
An early screenshot of Hat Kid in a Secret Level that appears to resemble its appearance in the Alpha builds. The skybox is using an unknown material that differs from any skybox design shown previously or afterwards.

AHatIntime Development BadgeRarities2.jpgAHatIntime Development BadgeRarities1.jpgAHatIntime Development TestMapTrickTaunt.jpg
These three screenshots were posted in context to talking about the scrapped Badge rarities system that was implemented by October of 2015, but was scrapped in the final game. The first two screenshots have Hat Kid wearing the Frozen Solid Badge and a rare version of the Owl's Brew Badge. Hat Kid also appears to be wearing an unknown black dye. The third screenshot has Hat Kid in a test map of sorts, performing the idle taunt that was bugged in the initial release of the final game and didn't play properly until DLC 2. Several objects can be seen in the background, such as a parade float from The Big Parade and TNT balloons from Train Rush.

AHatIntime Development SpaceshipFridge.jpg
Another screenshot that shows Hat Kid in the mysterious black dye. She has the Queen's Love Badge (Still using its Alpha build texture) and Explorer's Badge equipped.

AHatIntime Development PinkyAtDeadbird.jpg
A screenshot of Hat Kid at the end of Dead Bird Studio, wearing the scrapped Pinky dye.

AHatIntime Development NewGamePlusTimeRift.jpg
A pitch screenshot made by Habboi for an idea for Blue Rifts in New Game Plus. Normally taking place underwater with icy, crystal platforms, in New Game Plus the level would be all dried up, full of sand, and the ice on the platforms would've melted into boiling hot water, which could not be touched. On the left, a scrapped Pink Plant can be seen on a platform.

AHatIntime Development HatKidTimmyHat.jpg
A screenshot of Hat Kid floating while wearing Timmy's Hat, which wasn't available in any public build of the game.

AHatIntime Development CherryBlossomTrees.pngAHatIntime Development CherryBlossomTrees2.png
Two screenshots of an early version of Subcon Forest with the unused cherry blossom model used at the tops of several trees. The grass texture in the first screenshot reveals that it's fairly early, likely sometime in 2014, although the lanterns already have their fire particles in place. The water is green, an element of Subcon Village's lake that was shown in Prototype footage and screenshots. The second screenshot has the updated grass texture used up until a few months before the final game, with Hat Kid standing near the start of the level wearing the scrapped Witch Hat, the Fox Mask, and has the Sprint Badge and Frozen Solid Badge equipped.

AHatIntime Development SubconVillageEntranceView.jpgAHatIntime Development EarlyVillageLake.jpgAHatIntime Development BelowMoonJumper.jpg
Three more Subcon Forest screenshots, showing early versions of Subcon Village and a location out in the forest where the player could find the Moonjumper. The two shots of the village are from early on, likely again sometime in 2014. Scrapped Light Plant enemies can be seen on several houses in the village, as they were shown in early footage. The water is also, again, green. In the Moonjumper screenshot, a single teacup can be seen ahead of Hat Kid. It's unknown where exactly this scene is taking place in the forest, however, given unused, leftover Kismet programming in the final game, this area is likely a preliminary version of the ghost furniture area, as there's an unused camera Kismet sequence dedicated to Moonjumper there that still works if triggered.

Habboi also shared his three playtesting videos today, which would be the Alpha-era version of Train Rush, the Sand 'n Sails version of the Twilight Dungeon, and Pumping Pumpkin Factory.


Aruki, a playtester and assistant programmer, gave out quite a bit of information on Sand 'n Sails.

AHatIntime Development GlobalDesert.png
A clear screenshot of Sand 'n Sails loaded into the Modding Tools. Aruki posted this, explaining that he still had his October 2015 version of the map, and upon loading it up it streams in Alpine Skyline's version of the Lava Cake, as the map filename for the Lava Cake never changed ("island_weddingcake") when the level was overhauled into Alpine Skyline. The map filename for the base Sand 'n Sails map is revealed at the top left, "globaldesert". As none of the other Sand 'n Sails maps existed anymore, only the shadows of their objects are left behind out in the distance on the sand. The Starting Village is the one closest to the Lava Cake in the screenshot, which had several yardang rocks placed around it for detail. The Oasis Resort can be seen to the right of the Starting Village, and seems to have been an actual part of the base map rather than a separate map that was streamed in. A hole in the terrain can be seen further out beyond the Starting Village, and it's unknown what this area was meant to be. A small safe ring in-between the Starting Village and Lava Cake is present, and it's unknown what this area was meant to be, as well. Finally, off to the left of the image is a small, unknown area that appears to be constructed out of default cubes.

Aruki also talked about how unfinished Sand 'n Sails was when he was playtesting it. There was supposedly a bug on the Act Select menu for it that caused multiple Acts for the level to overlap each other and make super loud sound when mousing over them. He also said that it was only ever possible to obtain one water flask, and so the Pumping Pumpkin Factory was the only Sand Island that was accessible except that there was a bug that caused the player to spawn at the Lava Cake instead of the Starting Village. He also mentions that the Pumping Pumpkin Factory was used as the base for the Windmill. This is also the day that Aruki released his playtesting video of the factory.

Jenna had less to share than the other developers, but still provided some insight on several things. She confirmed Aruki's statement about the factory being used as the base for the Windmill at first. She also explained that she was interested in the level concept for Sand 'n Alps if the level was visually like an exploded Time Piece. That way the sand aesthetic could stay, and there would be glass shards in the sky.

December 2017

Jenna Concept Art

Sometime in early December of 2017, Jenna posted some pieces of concept art in the game's official Discord server. This included art of Deadbird Basement, Alpine Skyline, the Spaceship Hub, and Subcon Forest. After an unknown period of time, she deleted the posts, presumably because they weren't supposed to be shared publicly. Regardless, several pieces of concept art from these posts were saved, and are shown below.

AHatIntime Development warehouse.PNG
A concept art piece for the box rooms of Deadbird Basement, dated November 27 2016. The design appears faithfully in the final version, although the concept art depicts an Express Owl guard with a flashlight, which doesn't exist in the final game.

AHatIntime Development DeadBirdBasementConceptArt1.png
A piece of concept art for the box-processing room near the beginning of Deadbird Basement. Habboi actually mentioned this concept art in his 2018 developer playthrough.

AHatIntime Development DeadbirdBasementConceptArt2.png
A piece of concept art for the off-stage rooms in Deadbird Basement.

AHatIntime Development DeadbirdBasementCinemaRoom.png
Concept art for the cinema TV room at the start of the final area of Deadbird Basement.

AHatIntime Development DeadbirdBasementConceptArt3.png
The last concept art shared for Deadbird Basement, showing hallway designs for the basement.

AHatIntime Development SubconHourglassConceptArt (October 23 2016).png
Concept art for the shattered hourglass area of Subcon Forest, dated October 23 2016. The area appears in-game much like how the art depicts it, minus the bright yellow light around emitting from the center.

AHatIntime Development NomadConceptArt.png
A (cropped) small piece of concept art for the scrapped short Nomad design intended for Alpine Skyline. The design has additional detail not seen on the textures for the leftover models in the Modding Tools.

AHatIntime Development JennaFoodConceptArt.pngAHatIntime Development JennaSpaghetti.png
A piece of concept art that Jenna planned and drew herself, dated June 15 2016. She described it as a weird assignment that she gave herself, being concepting food to be put in the Spaceship Hub's fridge. This was posted on December 20 2017 in the official Discord server, and is still there currently.

Jonas Snow World Art

AHatIntime Development SnowWorldConceptArt.png
On December 5 2017, in the deleted ask-the-devs channel in the official Discord server for the game, Jonas dropped a piece of concept art for what is presumably a scrapped snow world for the game, most likely belonging to the large iceberg that can be seen on the planet model in-game. For context, ask-the-devs was a channel that was made early on in the Discord server's life and served as a place where players and other people could talk to the developers directly about elements in the game, including cut content (until they banned doing that). This channel got deleted shortly after the reveal of DLC 1 in August of 2018 due to it being flooded with questions, complaints, and less-than-flattering statements about the apparent lack of information about the DLC being released on consoles. A snow level was never shown at any other point in the game's development.

Manual

The game also launched with a digital manual, which can be viewed here. Even the game's manual has unused content and outdated information.

AHatIntime Manual 1.png
Starting with outdated information, one of the first pages of the manual shows Timmy's silhouette for the Coop mode feature. To be fair, he wasn't replaced with Bow Kid by the time the game launched, but this was never updated to show Bow Kid instead. Furthermore, online Coop play is advertised, but this never came to be. Only local Coop mode is normally supported.

AHatIntime Manual 2.png
On page 13, Badge Seller appears, still using his design that was used right up until the final game.

AHatIntime Manual 3.png
Pages 20 and 21 are fairly interesting. Wall jumping appears to depict the move as it appeared in older prerelease builds, before wall running was implemented in the later half of 2016. Hat Kid is shown wearing Thor's hat and performing an air attack, which she can't do in the final game. Finally, the artwork for homing attacking appears to show Hat Kid performing a stylish move, which is still coded into the current final game but is manually disabled.

AHatIntime Manual 4.png
Page 22 is missing its number at the bottom, although the page number is there, but hidden. On page 23, the Snatcher's Realm and Air Attack Badges appear despite not being available in the final game.

AHatIntime Manual 5.png
In the Time Rift Roulette screenshot on page 27, the Dweller Mask itself can be seen as a prize the player can win, even though it's the base version of its Hat Ability. Three more screenshots appear on the bottom of the page, two of which are obviously very old.

AHatIntime Prerelease ManualScreenshot3.jpgAHatIntime Prerelease ManualScreenshot4.jpg
The screenshot of Hat Kid riding the scooter shows the early door designs, as well as Sand 'n Sails still being in the game at this point. The other shows Hat Kid in her old sprinting animation.

AHatIntime Manual 6.png
Finally, on pages 28 and 29, some screenshots of the game's locations are shown. The machine room in the Spaceship Hub is missing a lot of extra detail, especially on the floor. The mail room doesn't appear to have letters flying around. The shot of the main room in the Spaceship has different pillows in front of the TV (which is using its old model), the console machine in the background is also using its old model, and the tube next to the kitchen doors is wide open. The screenshot of the bedroom is using the old carpet design from the Beta builds. In the Mafia Town screenshot, Badge Seller is seen standing where he does in the Beta builds, the sign for Spicy Buns is still the old design, the umbrellas are all still using their old designs, and there's a strange lack of Mafia seen around the area. In the Subcon Forest screenshot, the lanterns still have their fire particles enabled. A parade float is visible in the Moon screenshot despite all of the other details for the Big Parade being absent. Finally, the screenshot of Alpine Skyline is the same one that is being used on the Steam Store page, so it has the placeholder Windmill fan blades the Sand 'n Sails tower behind the Windmill as well.



AHatIntime Prerelease ManualScreenshot1.jpgAHatIntime Prerelease ManualScreenshot2.jpg
Now moving on to unused content within the manual, these two screenshots can be extracted from the data of the manual but don't actually show up anywhere in the manual itself. One depicts Hat Kid on Mafia Town's beach, with the Mafia still using their old face textures. The other shows Hat Kid standing next to a Forest Dweller in Subcon Forest, who was removed at some point after the game released. The grass in this screenshot is also not the final version of the grass.

AHatIntime Prerelease UnusedManualPage.jpg
There is an entire unused page for the manual, which is an early version of page 22. It can be seen if the page is scrolled to quickly enough from enough pages away. Shortly after, however, the manual replaces it with the final version.

AHatIntime Prerelease UnusedManualText.png
There's even hidden text that survived for the page. It seems this page had to be redone when the methods to use the camera and hookshot were changed.

References