We had known that creatorToby Fox was soon set to release an updateregarding the ongoing development ofDeltarune, the follow-up to the highly-popular indie gameUndertale, and today, the famed developer did just that.
Over on the officialUndertalewebsite, Fox posted a newblogoutlining the current status ofDeltaruneand, in particular, talked about the progress on the game’s second chapter. UnlikeUndertale,Deltaruneis a product that will be released in separate chapters, the first of which stealth-launched back in October 2018. Since then, Fox and the small team that is assisting him onDeltarunehave been working on the second installment.
Fox explained that much of the work on Chapter 2 has been completed at this point, at least in practice. The second chapter’s main design is now finished and content wise, Fox said that he expects to have Chapter 2 wrapped up before the end of 2020. After this point, they will then begin polishing, bug testing, working on various ports, and translating the game for other regions, which is still somewhat of a long progress.
“Honestly, a lot of stuff feels like 80% to me, but the truth is that what’s there is quite rough now,” Fox stated. “Polish ends up taking a lot of time, so the real actual time value may be around 50% done…? We’ll see what happens. It’ll be a lesson for everybody.”
Fox also said that the most difficult part of work onDeltarune Chapter 2came about when deciding what engine to create the project within. The famed developer said that work on the game’s second chapter largely began in March 2019, but roughly 99% of the work that was done initially dealt with looking at engines other than GameMaker. After a long process, Fox says he decided to just return to working on the game through GameMaker, with formal production on Chapter 2 really picking up around May of this year.
As for what lies after the second chapter is finished, Fox also outlined what he has finished ofDeltarune’sthird chapter and beyond. As of now, he says he has most of the game’s scope outline and has now “completed readable outlines for every chapter in the game, including first-pass dialogue for almost all the cutscenes, examples of the music, etc.” For the third chapter and beyond, Fox says that despite having so many things planned out, his own development style often involves last-minute changes or alterations. “It feels like no matter how much I plan, everything comes down to what I think of at the last second,” Fox said.
While committing to no specific release dates or windows, all in all, Fox seems to be happy with the progress thatDeltaruneis making. If work on the second chapter continues to move at the pace that Fox outlined, perhaps a release at some point in 2021 may not be out of the question.
In the meantime,Deltarune’sfirst chapter is available now on PC, Switch, and PS4 and can be picked up for free.
