Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 Classic

Baldi's Basics 1½ Classic (also simply known as Baldi's Basics 1½) is a series of Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash mods that was first released on itch.io on Dec 27th, 2022, by popnoyster98. Much like the inspiration, these games come with a nostalgic theme, and the objective requires the player to collect a certain number of notebooks before they can beat it. The game is popular for its abundance of characters, items, events, and other elements that add to the game's excitement.
The Main Menu startup sound that was added in The Energetic School and used up until the New Year Special Workshop Update: 
==In-game Story==
Ever since the first release of the first ever game, a story has been included in the "How to Play" Section of the menu.
=== Story prior to BB 1 1/2: The Dangly School ===
Oh noes! The new school year started and you've been held back by a few grades. Now a bunch of new characters have joined the school, and the schoolhouse has been rearanged! (Misspelled on purpose).  Discover new places, interesting characters, and a few events when you play this mod. And what's this? Another Baldi joined the school. Oh man, this is harder than I thought. The point is: Do tasks for people to earn XP points, and of course, collect all 7 notebooks.
=== Story as of BB 1 1/2: The Dangly School, & subgames subsequent to aforementioned subgame: ===
Oh noes! The new school year started and you've been held back by a few grades. Now a bunch of new characters have joined the school, and the schoolhouse has been rearanged and expanded. Discover new places, mysterious characters, and many (possibly custom) events when you play this mod. Some characters are helpful while others will try to stop you in your tracks. Basically, do the tasks that you are asked to do, and of course, Collect all of the notebooks. I'm pretty sure when you've finished playing, you'll say it was M-AZING!
== Gameplay ==
When the game launches, the screen illuminates with the Anchor Bay logo. Following this, a message appears, detailing either fixed elements or exciting new additions. Upon prompting the player to proceed by pressing any key, the Password Check Screen appears, prompting the entry of an 8-digit numerical key.
The Main Menu will appear if the numerical key is typed correctly, offering full access to the game. However, if it is entered incorrectly, the program will immediately prompt the user to exit the game promptly due to suspicions of plagiarism.
===Main Menu===
The Main Menu is a scene in which the player is standing in a room with a desk and a computer in front of them that displays a certain title screen depending on the game being played. Characters such as those found in the schoolhouse appear in the background of the room. There are three modes that are available: Story Mode, Endless Mode, and Explorer Mode. Hide-and-Seek is another gameplay toggle that when enabled, allows the player to play Hide-and-Seek with Baldi rather than solving math problems on the notebooks.
===Options & Configurations===
Settings can be personalized by going into the "Configurations" menu. This can be done by going to the Main Menu, selecting "Options", and then "Configurations". Options such mouse sensitivity, In-game Messages and Vsync toggles can be changed. The Endless Mode high score can also be reset by clicking the small rocket near the bottom right corner of the screen. And finally, all player preferences can be reset by clicking the YCTP minus button that appears below the rocket.
===Character Selection Screen===
Once a game mode has been selected, the Character Selection Screen will pop up showing a list of customizable characters. The user can choose whether they want a certain character active or not by clicking the toggle underneath said character's icon. Presets can also be set by clicking on the presets drop-down menu on the upper left corner of the screen, and selecting the desired preset. Presets are pre-installed options that enable certain characters and deactivate the others to match a certain theme. Clicking The "Start" button near the bottom right corner of the screen will render all of these settings and selected characters, and the real game will load. 
Prior to The Optimized Schoolhouse, the Tips & Tricks screen would pop up showing a random tip or trick while the real game was loading. This feature was removed because the players rarely payed attention to them, according to user feedback and gameplay records.
----When the game actually starts, the player will be introduced to Baldi's schoolhouse like usual. The rest of the game will go as normal depending on which mode the player is playing in.
After collecting all of the notebooks in Story Mode, the player must escape the school before a lethal character catches them. If the player has collected over 4,999 XP once they reach the final exit, they will be given the good ending. Vice versa for the bad ending. A secret exit is located in the RUST Labyrinth, which if used, will transport the player to the secret ending, which is basically the same thing as the good ending, except that the cheering is replaced by a male TTS voice saying that they have achieved the secret ending.
== Development and Release ==
Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 Classic was created by Popnoyster98 and was initially created as a crossover fan-game containing a variety of characters from other fan-games with their own characters. After Congo's Basics ceased development permanently, the first game of this series went under development for 2 whole months. Initially, Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 Classic was not known by that name. It was originally referred to as "Baldi's Basics Crossover Series" because early builds of the game featured a variety of crossover characters from other fan-games and original franchises. The very first test build, unofficially and respectively titled "The Testing School", was developed, and had a few characters that had been scrapped from the final draft of the first game, The "Just Beginning" School (see List of removed characters for more). Going deeper into this, after a portion of Lilja's scrapped functions were given to Xalaambo, The "Just Beginning" School was released.
Near the last update of the Energetic School, the developer invited Punkred to contribute to said series in which he agreed, and thus, the first contributed character was created: The Mocking Bird. Punkred was also responsible for voicing extra Baldi voicelines, according to the itch.io descriptions of old games, however, after Punkred was exposed for major controversies, he went completely un-credited. Ever since the release of The Energetic School, more people began to contribute to the franchise.
Starting with The Adequate School, Baldi's Basics Crossover Series was officially renamed to Baldi's Basics 1 1/2. This change was made due to copyright concerns related to the unauthorized crossovers implied in the original title name. The series had a promising start after that, and as it progressed, more innovative and creative concepts were introduced in updates and future games. To this day, BB 1 1/2 is a successful fan-franchise that still encompasses creative ideas suggested by contributors.
== Trivia ==
* As mentioned before, Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 Classic debuted as the successor to Congo's Edutainment Wonderland after that game ceased development.
** In addition, several characters from Congo's Edutainment Wonderland (e.g. Magic Man, The Old Man, Xavis, etc) crossed over from that game into Baldi's Basics 1 1/2.
*Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 is considered an official fan-game since it is listed as an affiliation on the official Baldi's Basics wiki.
*During the very early stages of this game series, Baldi's Basics 1 1/2 was actually going to have a copyrighted theme song, "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba, as its main theme during the development phase. However, due to copyright restrictions and lack of permission, it was ultimately not used.
** Shortly before the release of the first game, "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp was also considered to be used after the first song was scrapped. Again, it was not used for the aforementioned reasons.