Post

tobyfox
@tobyfox.undertale.com

Not sure when the next newsletter will be, so I'm just gonna try to give small status updates as they become relevant.

354 reposts11K likes

tobyfox
@tobyfox.undertale.com

Translation: The text and implementation are done, working on fixing some last issues. Testing: Still ongoing. One tester said "players will find it very inconvenient that you cannot save or load in the Light World"... I was initially resistant, but I decided to add Save Points there in Chapter 4.

jonikyu.bsky.social
@jonikyu.bsky.social

It could be like when we skip to the Dark World by going to bed in chapter 1 and 2. We would "save" in the Light World, but getting to the save point would be like a skip from our last save in Castle Town

infizero ✨🦔🚦
@infizero.bsky.social

i feel like an easy way to do this without sacrificing the light world's role is having it be via kris's bed, like how skipping to the dark world is. like having it just say "would you like to rest for a bit?" or something which then lets you save, rather than a regular save point like in the DW

DokoEx
@dokoex.bsky.social

hi toby, you probably won't see this but I also think it would be a cool addition if you could access the settings in the light world so you can stuff like auto run on/off.

tobyfox
@tobyfox.undertale.com

Ch4 PC Testing / Translation: Winding down. No longer looking for new issues, only fixing and checking remaining ones. Console Testing: Starts tomorrow. The goal is to test Chapter 1,2,3,4 on all platforms (PC,Mac,Switch,PS4,PS5)

gliphtypatch.bsky.social
@gliphtypatch.bsky.social

Hi, Toby! Sooo I know everyone is freaking out about this post, and tbh I'm not far behind, but I gotta know... What exactly do you do while the playtesting is going on? As a gamedev myself, it's sees like it would be quite boring. Anyways, thanks for any consideration you might give this. :)

Sonic Gamer
@beastbeef211.bsky.social

Usually you’d do small tweaks and bug fixes while waiting for feedback. I assume the playtesters are sent a copy of a demo and then give him feedback so he works on the game while waiting and most likely takes a break lol.

tobyfox
@tobyfox.undertale.com

PlayStation makes it a requirement to have trophies (achievements), so those will be one of the things that have to be tested. I don't think they're going to like testing the trophies though

Gold Yoshi
@goldyoshi.bsky.social

All of the trophies are just exact one to one with undertale’s but you have to ask Sans and he’ll take you to whichever room the trophy was in. There would be no lore or anything behind it, it’s just Sans saying “hey check out this cool place” and every time it would be behind his house.

Komet
@kometkometkomet.bsky.social

toby if you're making more funny silly achievements I humbly request you consider implementing them on steam as well , having UT/DR on my completed games list would put a big happy grin on my face 🙏

tobyfox
@tobyfox.undertale.com

Still console testing. There are fewer bugs, but there's a lot to go through. (Haven't even tested PS5 yet) In addition to fixing Ch3/Ch4, we also need to implement having saves from the DEMO carry over to the main game on consoles... We only received the technology to do this now. I hope it works!

myleg1.bsky.social
@myleg1.bsky.social

If Deltarune releases on Valentine’s Day I will be crowned SUPREME VALENTRUTHER! If it doesn’t I’ll draw whatever the most liked reply is. Sound fair to me! (Don’t reply anything screwed)

Dalller
@dalller.bsky.social

Make an achievement for ringing the bell on sans’ counter a certain number of times. Better yet make it like the dog shrine where there are like 10 achievements for ringing the bell lol

Miraka
@miraka.bsky.social

Trophy 1: Successfully start the game Although in all seriousness I’ve seen a lotta’ console games have trophies just for completing chapters, it doesn’t have to be anything outstanding or some difficult triumph.

wannalurkallnight.bsky.social
@wannalurkallnight.bsky.social

While that sounds annoying, you might as well test if Achievements/Trophies work on changing chapters too: a "Complete Chapter [number]" Trophy line is a -reasonable- testing option (from: Deltafakes), it can be easily tested repeatedly since you just gotta get to the end of each chapter credits

Fortniteballsfunny
@tyler118.bsky.social

I wonder what these trophies could be especially how he says "I don't think they're going to like testing them" but I think it will be like undertales trophies where you just get to an area or an item wonder if the secret bosses or wierd route will have trophies

We need DR C3!
@2565768733.bsky.social

I don't hungry:Clear ChapterI without using any healing items I don't hungry,too:Clear ChapterII without using any healing items An…egg?:Got an egg from ？？？（ct1） It is egg 2nd?:Got an egg from ？？？（ct2）

We need DR C3!
@2565768733.bsky.social

Make a prediction： Faster!:Clearance chapterI in 30 minutes fastest!!!:Clearance chapterII in 30 minutes You can eat ANYTHING when you play with ME:Beat Jevil without eating Real 【BIG SHOT】:Kill Spomton NEO DEAL!:Buy anything in Spomton's store Undead:Finish ChapterI with one life

bashbrady.bsky.social
@bashbrady.bsky.social

I think people are forgetting the achievements Toby did for undertale where he avoided spoilers by giving simple and funny achievements I doubt anything will be oriented to secrets or different “routes”/ways to play the game. I’m just hyped it’s almost time

philisheim.bsky.social
@philisheim.bsky.social

I'm assuming that both chapters will be released at the exact same time, but a small gap between the release of both chapters (like a week) would be nice, releasing two chapters that are (combined) around the size of 1+2 at the exact same time would be overwhelming imo.

Hey its Venus
@kklaw.bsky.social

I still am really curious on what the cost of the game is gonna be, at least assuming pc is still cheaper. $15, $20, $30, even higher seeing as it's literally deltarune

Phanta !
@strhmn.bsky.social

Toby Fox i'm begging you please make every single action related to spamton into a bronze trophy. pressed F1? bronze trophy Chose the wrong option? bronze trophy bought keygen? bronze tro

6fries.bsky.social
@6fries.bsky.social

My brother plays undertale on PS5 and he likes the trophies (mainly the dognantion trophies ) can’t wait to watch him play deltarune and unlock the trophies on deltarune. Thanks for all your work Toby Fox.

jenniferlane52.bsky.social
@jenniferlane52.bsky.social

I cannot wait for this release because every day I have to feign interest in my son dissecting every post you make about the release date. I love him, I love that he still wants to talk to me about his interests, but I’ve reached the smile and nod stage. This mom is begging you to release it soon.

Potito
@damantio.it

Yeah, pretty much. Although GameMaker Studio can compile projects directly to PS4/5 and Switch, so the actual porting part isn't that difficult. There might be some edge cases that only happen on one platform that might need to be tested on the actual console. That will take some time

jkf19.bsky.social
@jkf19.bsky.social

Hey toby good to hear that things are going well at a steady pace and if you run into future problems with making the game don't worry about getting it done quickly, i mean we waited this long chapter 3 & 4 we can wait a little longer so keep up the good work & i hope you have a good day.

ItALEX
@italex64.bsky.social

What if Switch 2 has an achievement system called "milestones." It could say "milestone reached." And there could be a 1-up sound, Zelda dungeon jingle, squid noises, and more whenever reach a milestone.

nal
@nalieva.bsky.social

as a person using a computer that got messed up after shipping it multiple times and now sometimes crashes randomly with zero warning, more save points are very much appreciated <3

eltiolavara9 (Fungal)
@eltiolavara9.neocities.org

ok some people have replied with theories so heres mine 1- theres an excuse to go back to the closet dark world/fall asleep so you can do a quick save (probably not happening) 2- "hidden" automatic save points that the game doesnt tell you or acknowledge exist but also idfk how this will work so

AcousticJamm
@acousticjamm.deoxynn.com

I feel like I'll take it upon myself to challenge myself to not use the light world savepoints since you were pretty reluctant to add them. I don't even imagine you'll add that many of them... right?

chari
@chari69.bsky.social

ok a few things abt this post 1. why is it an image? u couldve just typed this out 2. why does ur device think that all those words are misspelled, theyre not 😭 3. this is a cool thought. something like this happened in paper trail

Zaruian
@zaruian.bsky.social

awful of you to fold on this but also understandable though I feel like whoever is commited enough to have waited for the chapter so long can also deal with this

Drive
@celestialdrive.bsky.social

"awful of you to fold" that's what testing is *for*, too. a lot of things you are adamant on will have unintended effects on how folk play your game, and you have to strike a balance between alleviating them and your original idea so it goes! there's no shame or weight in it

Zaruian
@zaruian.bsky.social

Mind, that was hyperbole But also there's definitely many cases where QoL actually turns something interesting into just an annoyance and it wouldn't bother dedicated players nearly as much as it bothers testers Not sure this is one such case of course, we have no idea of the context after all

💚 mads 💚
@madilynn.bsky.social

if you mean "will chapters 1 and 2 still be free," the ch 1 & 2 demo is generally separate from the full version on every marketplace i assume that will stay the same after the ch 3 & 4 release, but the full version is still an undetermined price (confirmed to be paid though)

markddr.bsky.social
@markddr.bsky.social

I can imagine the save point already: "A light shines from a pocket of dark. You ponder the lore significance, but are overwhelmed by a feeling of convenience. The power of lore inaccurate convenience shines within you"

Jo Seph GD
@josephgd.bsky.social

I'm not sure how you could handle this, maybe something like, "If you need to SAVE for whatever reason, the door to Castle Town is always open." Unless you're locked into a specific section in the Light World for a significant period of time, in which case... I don't know. Your solution will work.

thekillerlegacy.bsky.social
@thekillerlegacy.bsky.social

I think this is fair. Although I don't know how Chapter 4 situation would have been regarding not having those save points, I personally would have not minded having less save points, since that's your vision to the game, Mr Fox. Do what you feel comfortable with in creating this fun world.

Alyssa
@fractalgeodes.nekoweb.org

I appreciate you admitting to you being reluctant to add light world save points in order to not create contradictions in the worldbuilding. Hopefully the fact that you _made_ a post about this is enough for most people to treat their existence as nothing more than convenience

kbownannonymous.bsky.social
@kbownannonymous.bsky.social

He won't. You can already save in the light world in one place via debug mode: Kris' room (in fact, that's how complete chapter saves are labeled). And the menu one to one with undertale's. I doubt Toby would let us savescum just like that, it's very out of his style.

Sketchi
@sketchycosmos.bsky.social

knowing what we know so far and seeing the existing trend, it makes sense that you would be resistant on that point, but it definitely makes sense to have it and if there's gonna be an emphasis on light world stuff this time then yeah that'd definitely be nice to have lol

ImpTwins Származás 🔞
@imptwins.bsky.social

Way more interesting than the implications of narrative balance is that you decided to say this out loud. Not sure if you're being devious or just want to be more transparent but not sure what else to talk about, lmao Looking forward to it either way. Good job on getting through it!

pikkypro.bsky.social
@pikkypro.bsky.social

You could make it an option to "warp" between the place you are and the Dark World save point and back, while implying it's just Kris running to the closet. If the problem is because of the school being closed, you could just have the character in charge of closing the door forget about it.

Linkshot
@hermitdreams.bsky.social

Light World sequences did feel like they were meant to be prologues and epilogues to each chapter, but there's still, like, an hour's worth of checking on NPCs in those epilogues, so yeah, it's probably good to have a save point somewhere. maybe at that room with the sealed door and no music?

e64
@erradical64.bsky.social

I first noticed that in the First Chapter after beating the boss and returning the Light World, I was looking around for a save star in case I wanted to explore the town for later, but ended up exploring the entire town anyways as a result and decided to head back home afterwards.

We need DR C3!
@2565768733.bsky.social

此帖中文翻译： 翻译上：文本和实现已完成，致力于解决一些最后的问题 测试上：测试仍在进行。一位测试员说：“玩家会发现您无法在光明世界中保存或加载非常不便”……我开始时修复过，但我决定在第4章中添加存档点

The Not So Great
@thenotsogreat.bsky.social

I think that's probably a smart idea. A fun way to do it is probably in a similar way to Omori where it's just a generic item rather than a special object Also does this mean Chapter 4 is a Light World chapter? Very confusing messages

[Tyrone]
@lisard-eggy.bsky.social

As long as you're adding Light World save points in Chapter 4, consider adding one at the end of Chapter 1. If you read all the dialogue, there's about an hour and a half of gameplay with no saves between the start of the King fight and end of Chapter.

~~~Rixor~~~
@rixor14.bsky.social

Im assuming the lightworld is still gonna be all dialogue? Cuz if so that makes sense. If not thats kinda dissapointing, i like the idea of resource managing over long gaps between save points in dungeons.

Shinse
@richyhere.bsky.social

I think events you started are going to take Place. Like Mettaton Hangout It could be something with Susie and Noelle. It could be with onion san It could be with Papyrus It could be with Undyne and alphys There are a lot of events that could take Place in ch4 LW that maybe take a lot of time

Keiya
@keiya.tinyfairy.xyz

it could just be spending a lot of time there. having to backtrack all the way to the school to save is already kinda annoying if you want to take a break during the light world segment of ch2.

Foxworthy
@foxworthy.jampaktgames.ca

I WOULD agree if it weren’t for the fact that Toby pretty clearly implied it would only be a change present in Chapter 4, not previous ones. There seems to be a reason why the player would spend an extended period of time in the light world that is unique from previous chapters.

__felix__
@33yy.bsky.social

I highly doubt it would be non canon. Since the story includes you, the player, and the game's reception in the real world, it is more likely that checkpoints appearing due to feedback is canon. Like how that one twitter comment supposedly seadled berdley's fate........

Sparus
@sparus.dev

Not really? Just because a piece of media breaks the 4th wall does not mean it automatically canonizes the entirety of the real world. Like, OneShot; the player is very explicitly canon to the game but NightMargin and the people that helped them test it are definitely not.

CHUY!! 🍋
@punkistchuy.bsky.social

Just finished Replaying chapter 1 and 2 and literally said to myself "oh damn why did it take me this long to notice there's no checkpoints in the light world" so it will be interesting to see how having none in the next chapters will work out!

Kazuma Shouri, catgirl sapphic
@kazuma-shouri.bsky.social

coming from the future it does feel a little dissatisfying (especially during moments you can just zip over to dark world), but ultimately I appreciated that they were there I'd probly feel different if I had the game on switch instead of steam, since I could just use sleep mode when I need breaks

Fivelike11
@fivelike11.bsky.social

I can't wait for people trying to fit light world save points into the lore man. The curse of using game mechanics as plot points is that you can never use them in ways not seen as plot-relevant anymore

SamiTheAnxiousBean
@samitheanxiousbean.bsky.social

One way to go about it was to have a drcorational object that hauses something that looks like a Undertale save be the save or generally to implement an enviormental checkpoint but then you might run into issues of players not knowing they Are there to Save the game

UserK
@userk.bsky.social

This approach would be fundamentally flawed imo, I assume your intent is to make it seem more discrete, the issue here is that saving and loading is diegetic, and this method would clash with that. It would just cause confusion about what is/isn’t diegetic I feel

Proplayen
@proplayen.bsky.social

I feel like it depends I'm assuming there's some sort of long Lightworld quest where you can't access a darkworld, I think it would be annoying to be unable to save if that's the case

BlueAizu 青
@blueaizu.blue

Player convenience should always come before narrative sense. Real life matters happen. Don't forget books let you use a bookmark and videos let you pause. I'm all for using game mechanics to communicate stories, but there's some things one just shouldn't mess with too much.

theophidian.bsky.social
@theophidian.bsky.social

No it does not atleast in my opinion. The vision of what the game should be matters way more. If you are saying you wouldn't personally like it. Then that is fine. I just know this is Toby's dream game and I think he would rather have it accurate to his vision.

BeetleSword
@beetlesword.bsky.social

...yeah, I can get behind that, the town exploration at the end of Chapter 1 already felt limiting in that regard since people either have to have the time in their day to be able to explore everything or just skip it altogether. Game mechanics being attention-needy as always.

Reilow4
@reilow4.bsky.social

If there's a lore reason for not having a Save Point in the Light World then can't the player just go to the Closet Dark World to save...? ... Can't they...? ... Toby... Why is the Closet Dark World inaccessible in Chapter 4...!?

Reilow4
@reilow4.bsky.social

Oh yeah, Alphys says that you don't go to school tomorrow suggesting chapter 3 & 4 will happen on Saturday or Saturday and Sunday. School being closed makes sense ig

Zyxey
@zyxey.bsky.social

I mean to be fair just because they're save points doesn't mean they have to be "save points"... They could be integrated into the world somewhat like the notebooks in silent hill

LumalCone
@lumalcone.bsky.social

People are assuming this means more Light World focus, but even the previous chapters had more than enough content in the "post-story" Light World bits to justify save points. If anything I think the fact that there was hesitation means there's probably not THAT much more Light World stuff.

-illusoryMechanist
@illusorymechanist.bsky.social

One way it could work is it being a spot that canonically makes Kris run all the way to the school and back but works like a normal menu (a quick fade in/out or something). That also gives some opportunities for funny dialouge about Kris jogging across town for no reason

Rancor Hellgrinder【レ】🐾🥞
@rancor.snpgames.pl

But, I would like to bring your attention the post does not say "save points in the light world" it says, "save points in chapter 4 light world" Despite 3 and 4 coming out in the same update, only 4 gets them, and 1 and 2 remain saveless - there seems to be a reason for player to need the save in 4

3DFella
@3dfella32.bsky.social

Why were you hesitant to add save points to the LW? What does their existence mean for the metanarrative? It’s so weird that you were hesitant to add them in the first place. If saving and loading exists in the LW canonically why were you hesitant to add save points? This is confusing man.

3DFella
@3dfella32.bsky.social

No but you can save in a video game like Deltarune. His hesitance but ultimately deciding to add save points to the light world is confusing because why hesitate if it doesn’t matter anyways.