Hello! This is Shibe speaking. I am the director for ONETALE, the funny mod that adds Niko from Oneshot into UNDERTALE. This Dev-Log is meant to give you all a bit more information as to what we have been up to these past couple of months, along with plans for the future and possibly more.

(This is me. I am very small.)

VERSION 3 RELEASE

Back in May, after over a year of work, we released the 3rd version of ONETALE. Of course, this had NO bugs, or hotfixes, or...

...

Okay, maybe there were a few issues...

But!!! In the end, we fixed a majority of those issues via bug-fix updates. When the next major update launches, we will make sure to not have this happen again. Besides the game-breaking updates, we were very happy to see all of the videos, fan-art, and general compliments to our mod. Thank you all very much for enjoying our mod! Next though, I wanna be real with you all for a second.

WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG???

I know some people are probably asking this. But case in point: Life. While ONETALE is a passion project first and foremost, a lot of them time there are things that get in the way of progression with the mod. Whether it be college, school, or de-motivation... We are trying our best to continue work on ONETALE. I will admit myself, there was a time where ONETALE was all I was doing. Day and night I would be coding, and while this brought me joy, at some point I realized I starting to burn out. Along with this, I am starting to have new obligations in my life, as I am no longer a teenager. Since then, I've been directing in moderation, while also enjoying some other things like cooking. This is just my perspective, however. I'm sure it's a different story for everyone else involved. I do have to thank everyone for being so patient, and I have to thank the other developers for being so steadfast in wanting to work on our silly little idea.

back to the Dev-Log, though. V4 development started merely a few days after V3's release. This was simply due to me wanting to get more ideas down for what I wanted V4 to be. We already showed this off, but the next major update will be...

The Yapdate: How's it going?

All of the other developers agreed that the next major update should have Niko speaking. Not just visual reactions to the world around them, but actual dialog. You may have even seen the beginnings of this in the ending of ONETALE, where we did just that.

But of course, this is a major task. We would essentially be rewriting an ENTIRE game to account for a character who could not only speak, but also visibly show their emotions. At first, people like me and 71stFrick tried writing on our own, but this quickly proved to be a task that would need more people. This is why a few months ago, we opened applications for writers and programmers. We received many impressive apps, though we landed on a few:

nickloras - Programmer

cmonicarus - Writer

cowgoesmoo - Writer

With new members under our belt, We have been working to get the Ruins and Snowdin done, with most work done on the Ruins. Although they are still a ways away from being fully feature-fit, what we have right now is already pretty impressive, and the ideas that everyone has are proving to be very interesting.

Of course, you might be confused as to why we are only JUST now getting writing done, and to answer that, well...

Hard Mode

Back in May, I decided to let off a little steam by working on Hard Mode. This ended up being a 5 month work effort, with me almost burning out from the work. It was only then that I realized that I was neglecting the main game. Some of you may be a bit upset to hear that, and I understand. But part of the work going into it was to learn how to do things I had previously not had any experience in, such as the B█████ S█████.

Now, don't get too excited. Hard Mode is still only locked to the Ruins. However, what we have right now is... well, I can't spoil it. It's too good to spoil. You will just have to see it once it releases.

*sounds of booing from the crowd, pitchforks and torches are alight. a tomato lands in my mouth*

...Okay, fine. Have a single teaser. This is the least-spoilery image we could give you.

(Yes, this is a real line. subscribe if you get the joke)

Yapdate: Continued

Part of the writing process was getting exactly what I envisioned out and into the heads of the other writers. I will admit, I am not a very skilled writer, but I feel like I know these characters very well, and want to make something special.

The main design philosophy for how the game should be written is essentially: "What if UNDERTALE was Oneshot 2?"

Instead of it being Niko going "Wow! that's weird!" or "Wow! Pancakes!" we want this to be an experience that tries to continue Niko's character. An experience that could have Niko be slightly different by the end of the game. And being in an environment that isn't as safe as The World Machine, they may have a few moments where they may do things they may have otherwise never done.

This is where you come in. Although it is a mystery as to how you ended up with Niko again, it's your job to keep them safe. And unlike last time, Niko does not need to call your name for you to speak, rather, you can add to the conversation when it is allowed. You are also allowed to be a bit more down-to-earth with what you can say to Niko.

Another major hurdle we need to overcome are the scenes themselves. UNDERTALE is a game that has a mute protagonist, one that does not speak to the other characters in the usual way. This means that for a lot of scenes, we have to rewrite them to account for Niko being a non-mute protagonist. Some scenes could be very similar to base-game, and some could have entirely new things added to them. While ONETALE isn't going to rewrite the entire story, we want to make something fresh, something that combines the moments of Oneshot and UNDERTALE to create something unique.

Roadmap

The roadmap for ONETALE could change at any time, but the general idea for it right now is as follows:

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Ruins & Snowdin Demo + Hard Mode (V4)

Waterfall Demo (V4.5)

Hotland Demo (V5)

Everything else... (V6)

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No release dates are planned for any of these versions beyond V4, which will likely come out in 2026. Once again: this can change at any time! It depends on what we end up doing.

Why is Hotland Demo considered V5?

Once we get to Hotland, we are going to do something completely unique for the area. That isn't to say we are scrapping all of Mettaton's puzzles, or Alphy's jokes, and what not. Rather, we want to do something new. We cannot explain what we mean by this, but... we hope once we get progress on it going, that we can make something new. Something that can challenge Niko head-to-head, Something...

Conclusion

And that wraps up nearly everything for this Dev-Log! I may have forgotten a few things here and there, but that's okay. I hope this clears up a few questions people had, as well as given some of you a little hype for what is coming. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in the next Dev-Log!

(...That was a pretty good tomato, honestly.)