DELTAFELL: THE SUMMER OF SURPRISES DEVLOG

Game

DELTAFELL: Fallen Legend

Newi @Newi

1 day ago

DELTAFELL: THE SUMMER OF SURPRISES DEVLOG

* After the rain… the crickets came out.
* They were loud at first, but after a while…
* Listening to them becomes simple,
* Oh, so simple…
* So simple, that…
* To you,
* It almost became second nature.

[art by @daymations ]

Hello world, and good morning universe!

My name is zafall167, otherwise known as Za…

… and this is my first time on a devlog!

I’m one of the writers of Deltafell, joined in September of 2024.

(Well technically I joined for a bit before then but we don’t talk about that)

And I’m particularly excited to show you all the developments we’ve made in the…

… hold on.

How many months HAS it been since the last devlog…?

…wait… WHAT!?

FOUR MONTHS!?

IT’S BEEN FOUR MONTHS SINCE THE LAST DEVLOG!?

O-oh… umm- well…

That’s uhh… that’s just hunky-doody, you know!

Regardless of the amount of time between devlogs-

or crucial independently developed games being released-

Rest assured that 100% developmental efficiency is the heading we live by… (lie)

Heading…

Oh!

That’s actually a rather good segue into our first topic.

LOGO TALK: THE SEQUEL

Since the last devlog, the internal logo discussion died down to the point where nobody really even remembered we had it.

…until a few days ago, when this little insignificant, barely recognizable slug thing just showed up and like…

Made a new logo that started up the logo discussion once again.

(It’s me, I’m the insignificant, barely recognizable slug thing.)

The original logo ended up getting reinterpreted into…

This one!

In terms of representing the AU, I think it does a slightly better job.

Though, I am the one who made it, and that probably leads to bias…

… But while I was making it, I tried my best to contain the feel of the original logo made by Blu.

It’s currently still being debated whether or not this new logo will be used, but that’s just how logo shows go, I guess.

SPRITING:

Alright, time to dive deep into the spriting that’s gotten done since the last devlog!

What have we got to show off?

[sprite by @zafall167 ]

… a coathanger?

Wow.

That’s…

… truly a MASTERCLASS in sprite-based storytelling!

Nothing else can compare!

It’s just absolutely astounding!

I’d sell my firstborn child to have that coathanger!

With any amount of seriousness, sprite-work has been progressing steadily over the past 4 months. From things like basic overworld sprites and dialogue portraits for Noelle (who you may be seeing a bit more of later)...

To Lancer’s finalized overworld sprites…

[sprites by @_pancakez ]

To a remake of an older enemy sprite…

(sprite… also by @_pancakez )

A whole lot of work has gotten done when it comes to spritework,

most of which we can’t show at this time due to varying reasons.

Just means you’ve got more to be excited about next time!

ART:

Since the last devlog, there’s been a considerable amount of artwork made.

… most of which was made by Daymations.

Now, I’m gonna leak some DFFL Staff Secrets™, so you gotta promise not to tell…

Ever since I’ve joined, Noelle, both in terms of character and in terms of design has been… wildly inconsistent.

An Autumn Holiday here, a true crime podcast there, it was BEDLAM.

Then, one day, this beautiful blessed angel named blurazberri comes in and makes a character for Noelle that pretty much everyone agreed was the best.

Some details were added later, but the core of the character is all Berri’s doing.

… and looping back to the actual topic; Art!

After Berri made the character, naturally, she’d need a design…

… So, here it is!

[art by @daymations ]

In other art news, Day has also been redoing all of the old borders he made.

We can’t show you all of them because of two reasons;

1: It’d give you less to look forward to when the game drops.

2: Day hasn’t made them all yet.

But we can show you one of them!

(Re)Introducing…

The Hometown (Snowy) Border.

[border by @daymations ]

Artwork and concept art have been going swimmingly since last devlog,

so make sure you stay tuned for the next one.

WRITING:

Recently, the writing effort has been lessened, as one of our main writers is currently away at the time of writing this devlog.

Here, have a sample of what he and I have been writing for a very special scene.

[writing by @zafall167 and @JJDude ]

But the main thing I’ve been focused on is battle-related writing.

Which includes things like battle text, attack ideas…

And most of all, enemy concepting.

ENEMIES/DARKNERS:

With the ever-changing direction of this project due to both internal and external forces, I thought of an idea to make enemies more interesting.

In Deltafell: Fallen Legend, the darkners you see in the Dark World won’t just be darker or more gritty (or more red) reflections of Deltarune’s darkners.

Instead, they’ll use those enemies as the basis for their concept, and then spread out in a totally different direction.

Take this guy for example.

You remember this guy from earlier, yeah?

In the past, this darkner would just be called Fell Rudinn (a “Rudenn” if you will.)

With this new direction for darkners, however, this darkner has taken on the name “Kokunn.”

(From “Kokou”, meaning “solitary,” “-kun,” a japanese honorific often used for endearment, and “cocoon,” referring to their bottled emotions)

These changes will allow darkners to have more unique concepts in comparison to their Deltarune counterparts, whilst still filling the roles of said counterparts.

[Newi note - Not every darkner will have a direct counterpart]

CODING:

Coding is definitely the front that’s had the most effort put into it over the past few months. In no small part from our main coder, _pancakez.

Recently, Pan’s been laser-focused on implementing a currently unrevealed enemy.

So naturally, I’m gonna reveal them with no prior buildup.

[peak by @_pancakez ]

… hey, wait a second!

What are those suspiciously spell-shaped things in Susie’s magic menu?

So, in the last devlog, Newi mentioned Susie’s battle role, and how it’s something that (to our knowledge) has never been done before in a Deltarune fan project.

In Deltarune, Susie’s role is as a heavy-hitting, (and if you’re talking post ch4) OK healing, but mostly DPS character.

In Deltafell, we wanted to try something unique, which led Susie to fill the “Cleric” archetype, supplying her allies with unique buffs and Tension-based healing.

[Newi note - From what I've seen, Scampton the great also has a similar mechanic implemented but I was unaware of this when I wrote about it, sorry guys!]

And with this, all currently planned spells are fully implemented, only needing visuals to be added, in the case of Susie’s spells.

Oh yeah! Speaking of spells and visuals!

For the past months, you’ve all been teased about something called “Blazing Star”.

Blazing Star is Ralsei’s primary spell, and probably the highest damage you’ll be doing, assuming you swing that way.

And finally, you get to see it in action!

[Blazing Star sprite by @newi , coding by @_pancakez ]

… yeah, uhh, might not be the longest spell in the world.

But it took Pan a really long time to figure it out, and now it’s finally out in the world, shooting through the air like a comet in the cold, dim dream of space…

[sprite by zafall167]

(literally only touhou fans will get this reference)

MUSIC:

Music is definitely the front that got the least done since the last devlog, but it’s still something, and something PEAK at that. And that’s what matters.

This is “Spirit Of Hospitality”, which serves as the replacement for “Weird Birds”.