So, it's been a while...

Sorry progress has been slow, while the conversion from CYF's MoonSharp to the new C# framework (Credit to our wonderful main programmer Eir!) has been slow and steady, there has not been much going on in terms of new programmed content. Learning a new language has not been as hard as Draex and I initially taught but it definitely has taken time.

And most importantly, these past months have been rough in the personal sense and it has affected my ability to work and direct the project effectively. I do think things are getting better so I will make a conscious effort in keeping you guys up to date with more updates and in moving the project forwards.

With that out of the way, here is some of the content and story details I wanted to share:

This has been a long time coming, but ever since I started work on the game's portraits and their new art style, the question remained on what to do with the portraits used at the beginning of the game for Toriel, Undyne and Papyrus.

The answer was make new ones for consistency while keeping the spirit of their looks from Undertale (hopefully) intact. Here's Toriel, drawing soft-looking characters is not something I'm used to but pretty happy with how it came out. Getting feedback from Toriel lovers definitely helped!

Here's a tease on how Undyne's new look! The realization that she is actually mostly bald save for her ponytail after seeing so much Undyne fanart with flowing and beautiful anime hair dealt a non-insignificant amount of psychic damage but she is hella handsome anyways.

SPEAKING OF HANDSOME, HERE'S PAPYRUS, MOVED TO THE BRINK OF TEARS BY HIS ASTOUNDING AND NEW HIGH-DEFINITION LOOKS.

I want to talk more about some of the characters you will be facing in Crossovertale. Writing has been the hardest aspect of this project and one of the challenges of a crossover story in particular is giving enough characterization to a character without spoiling too much from their source game. Giving enough information to give those already familiar with them a treat while not alienating newcomers.

So let's talk about Rufus first. He is the main star in the Deponia series of Point-and-click adventure games, but in Crossovertale he takes the role of a mischief maker looking out for himself at The Inventory.

Quite a bad influence on Frisk at first, he then takes on a minorly antagonistic role as his haphazard plans to escape The Inventory end up hindering Frisk.

He is stubborn, witty and a clever improviser but also notoriously lazy and rude with a kleptomaniac streak. His crazy schemes often falling prey to his own shortcomings and/or terrible luck.

I composed his theme with that in mind and mixing up leitmotifs from his origin games plus an Undertale twist. Obtaining the SNES Earthworm Jim soundfont was an odyssey in itself, as I felt nothing else could communicate the grungy yet comical essence that is Rufus.

Rufus is an established character with very clear character traits, but sometimes, like with The Kid from I Wanna Be The Guy, you don't get much information from the source material which gives me the freedom to interpret what I can based on the few details I know about them as well as interpretations on their character which we think would make for something interesting, funny or dramatic.

One such character is Professor Lemeza Kosugi from La-Mulana, an action platformer featuring devilish puzzles, an ancient astronauts thematic and an absolutely amazing soundtrack which we all at the Crossovertale Dev Team urge you to check out.

A man with 2 PHDs, a master of ninjitsu (this is canon) and a concerning curry addiction (this is canon also), Lemeza is an adventure archeologist of good reknown. Although eccentric and a bit of a dork, he is an incredibly intelligent, observant and meticulous note-taker with a strong sense of justice and duty, usually the first to figure out if something is wrong.

He is the founder of the mysterious Archeology Club located at The Inventory's Basement Ruins. A club intent to discover the true nature of the at first unassuming speakeasy. His role in the story is that of a guide and parent figure to Frisk as he helps them through the Basement Ruins and its many obstacles after a drunken bender with Rufus stranded them there.

This is his theme, a cover of Mr. Explorer from La-Mulana with some very very interesting leitmotifs snuck in there. Hopefully it reflects his patient yet adventurous personality as he gushes about ancient aliens and roasts tomb robbers.

There are other characters which are also worth mentioning briefly; The Kid, you already probably know, the skittish member of The Inventory Guard who might also be a badass.

Burgerpants, who still can't catch a break. He works AND lives at the same apartment building where Frisk and Toriel currently live.

Papyrus, Frisk's best and longtime friend who accepted Sans' invitation to The Inventory.

Cadence from Crypt of the Necrodancer. A hotheaded adventurer and potential squire of shovelry on a quest looking for her mother. She is trapped at the Basement Ruins just like Frisk but with a more aggressive stance against monsters which becomes a source of conflict between them.

Ezreal from a certain game that shall rename nameless. He is a hot-shot, all-skill, lady-swooning globe-trotting explorer (or so he claims) with a magical ancient gauntlet he "borrowed" from an ancient tomb. Suddenly appeared at the Basement Ruins one day and has been an absolute headache to Lemeza ever since for his penchant for stealing artifacts and blowing up ancient puzzles with magic.

And someone else...Dreaming and watching....

For now I think that's all I wanted to show and/or talk about.

I will leave this update post with some miscellaneous things we've been working on

New gear graphics. Did you know that drawing gears is actually really hard to the point you need a tool to make sure they fit each other correctly? That I learned this year.

Mock-up shot for a scene in The Borderworld, the mysterious space between spaces. Frisk will sometimes stumble upon these fractures in space. What will they find there? Who knows...

And finally, here's a concept for the new Game Over screen up for being programmed soon.

Sorry for the delay and thanks for reading through and sticking with us as we work on more Crossovertale.

See you soon!