Howdy, folks!

It's that time of year again. 2019 has really flown by, huh? It's strange to think that this year DF finally got a huge step closer to being finished with the release of Chapter 1, and next year, DF will be 4 years old. How crazy is that?

Well, I've got some big stuff planned for next year, so let's talk about that.

Where's v1.4?

Let me start by getting this out of the way. Originally v1.4 was going to release in November, then I pushed it to this month, so then where is it?

If you're on the discord, I post updates there frequently about how the game is doing, and this month was a very hectic month for me. I had to finish many college assignments and make some big decisions in my life, and that left very little time to work on the game.

As such, it isn't possible to release v1.4 this month. Apologies if you were looking forward to it, but v1.4 is such a large update that it needs all the time that it can get. With all the new changes to multiplayer, it is essentially an entirely new game.

Speaking of an "entirely new game", I'd like to dive right into the biggest announcement of this devlog.

As you may know, v1.4 makes a few changes to Story Mode. Nothing too major, stuff like the new map system, an assist mode, level design tweaks, etc.

However, I've come to realize that these changes aren't enough for me to be satisfied with Chapter 1.

I know that Chapter 1 can be better than this. I've stuck with this project for too long to be satisfied with the bare minimum. If you've been enjoying the story mode so far, I'm glad! But I want to make it even better.

When Chapter 1 first released, it alienated some players because they play Undertale fan-games for the story and battles, and Chapter 1 didn't deliver as much as they hoped. I was going to fix this by making Chapter 2 more story-focused than the first, but there are a lot of opportunities in the first chapter I missed out on that I feel are worth taking now. There's so much you can do with the idea of a "perfect timeline"...

So, with all that said, allow me to introduce...

Don't Forget: Chapter 1 Redux

A complete rewrite of Chapter 1 is coming in v1.4. The gameplay will still involve collecting soul pieces and still take place in the same setting, but the story events are drastically different. From my current plans, there is now more than 20 minutes of new story content before you even start getting the soul pieces. Here's what you can expect:

• Completely new intro.

• Way more character interactions.

• Much better pacing.

• Harlow, Chara, and Asriel have been more fleshed out. Especially Harlow.

• Story is a bit darker than before.

• Both pacifist and genocide routes are completely rewritten.

• Backstory is still pretty similar, so don't worry if you liked where the original was going. However, some details have been changed.

• A familiar face will make a brand new appearance.

Now you might be wondering: with all these changes, is the ending of the story still the same as the one I had planned from the start? And the answer to that is yes, this game will still end as I intended it to. This rewrite actually serves to make that ending more impactful, so I'm not throwing it out!

This rewrite will take a lot of work. So the new release period of v1.4 is now anywhere between February and April of 2020. That's a long time to wait, so again I apologize, but the game really needs this and I want to do it.

With all the changes to story mode and multiplayer, this is pretty much a completely new game again. As such, this means that your old story mode save files will no longer be compatible with future versions of the game. However, your old saves and your new saves will be kept in seperate folders from each other, so you don't need to delete the old ones and they'll still work in v1.3.3.

And to clarify, your multiplayer saves are unaffected and will still be the same, so don't worry about them!

I hope you look forward to the Redux, I can't wait for you to play it!

(Also, keep an eye on the GameJolt page to see the new progress bar as it updates!)

New multiplayer features!

Alright, let's move on to multiplayer stuff! I'll start by going over a few things that I've already shown on Discord briefly, just in case you haven't seen them yet. Here they are:

1) Added a new "pose" feature!

By pressing [2] or [D] on your keyboard, most vessels now have a pose/dance they can do! Not every vessel has a pose, but the majority of them do! Poses are different for each vessel, some of them dance, some do a weird stance, and even costumes can have their own poses! And unlike dancing in classic DF, you can still open chat while posing, so feel free to stand around with an epic pose or dance while chatting with the lads.

2) v1.4 will now have Deltarune-themed areas!

That's right! As you may know, I completely reworked the overworld in Multiplayer to have "remixed" versions of the four main areas from Undertale: Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland. And now, I'm going to add two new areas onto that: the Field of Hopes and Dreams, and Scarlet Forest!

I would also like to confirm that all of these areas will be playable immediately in v1.4! My original plan was to lock Waterfall and Hotland and add them later, but now I've changed my mind and all of these new areas will be available with v1.4! This brings the total number of areas in DF Online to 7!

3) Daily gifts!

Every new day you log into DF, you'll receive a "daily gift"! You can only claim it once every 24 hours. Just use the command "/dailygift" to open it if you have one waiting for you.

You can only have one daily gift at a time; they don't stockpile if you miss a few days, so be sure to come back daily to claim your bonus undercoins and G!

4) DF Mobile will still be launching with v1.4!

The mobile version of the game has been going very well, and is still on track to release alongside v1.4. Are y'all ready to play DF on the go? Also fun fact: you'll be able to tell if someone is playing on mobile since there'll be a little phone icon on their undernet profile!

5) Enemy encounters now have their own LV stat!

Since there's so many new areas coming in v1.4, that also means there's a lot of new enemies on the way! But what stops people from just grinding in the areas with enemies that give the most EXP, and ignoring everything else? Well, the answer to that is the new ENEMY LV system. Every enemy now has their own LV, and depending on how much higher their LV is compared to yours, they'll be able to block your attacks!

This essentially makes DF Online more like a traditional RPG: you need to grind in the weaker areas before you're strong enough to grind in the tougher areas. This provides a greater sense of progression in the game, as you'll be able to start fighting enemies with better rewards as you get stronger! As for pacifists, you don't need to worry about ENEMY LV if you're just grinding for G, as you can spare any enemy regardless of their LV.

6) Added a new "team" system!

In UNDERNET, you can now select one of four teams: Team Love, Team Hate, Team Hope, and Team Dream! Once you choose your team, you are not able to change it!

What is the purpose of these teams? Well, to explain that, I'll need to introduce another new feature!

Introducing RAID BATTLES!

Coming in v1.4, you'll be able to fight new tough bosses with up to 6 other players! Here's how it works:

• There are 3 raid portals in each area. There are 7 areas in the game (Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, Surface, Field of Hopes and Dreams, and Scarlet Forest), making 21 total raid portals!

• Every hour (roughly), three randomly selected raid portals will open.

• Enter a portal to be taken to an arena where you have to fight a huge amalgamate boss!

• Up to 6 players can enter a portal to fight the boss together. Similar to Free-For-All mode, you have to shoot bullets by pressing [Z/ENTER] at the boss to damage it!

• As the boss gets damaged, it'll move around the arena and start spawning smaller amalgamates which you'll also need to shoot. They will be shooting their own bullets at you too, so be careful to not get hit!

• The person to deal the last blow to the amalgamate boss claims the raid portal for their team!

• If a team owns 2 or 3 raid portals in a single area, they will "own" that entire area! You'll be able to see which team owns what areas in the warp screen.

• If your team owns an area, you'll get 1.5x the gold and EXP from grinding in the area while you own it.

• Keep defeating boss portals as they open to ensure you keep your territory, and take over new ones!

• Participating in raid battles will earn you 100G regardless of if you won it or not.

Here's a concept screenshot of what these raid battles will look like:

The best strategy I recommend is to communicate with other members of your team so that you all go into the same portal together. The more members of your team fighting the same boss, the more likely you are to be the ones that claim it!

I hope you look forward to these new raid battles!

Conclusion

Well that sure was a long devlog! But aren't they always?

Thank you all for reading these things, I know they're quite long, but I hope it just goes to show how passionate about this game I am. I don't write this much for college, that's for sure!

It's going to be the start of a new decade soon. I wonder what kind of stuff awaits us is in the next 10 years? Do you think we'll get Deltarune before 2030? Do you think we'll get all of DF before 2030?

Only time will tell! Until then, stay determined, and I'll speak to you again next year! Happy holidays!