Here we are!
Last month, we mentioned on Twitter that we were postponing our progress report from July to August -- due to a combination of unfortunate circumstances (the person who writes the devlogs getting sick with COVID) and prioritizing development. Fortunately, we're back and ready to discuss our progress more in-depth!
For anyone that was confused about us not having a July progress report -- while we generally try to post these monthly, it isn't a guarantee that we always will. To stay up to date with our plans for monthly progress reports, we highly recommend following us on Twitter!
With that being said, though, let's start!
Brief Catch-Up!
In case you missed our June 2022 Progress Report, here's a quick recap!
Our development priorities with Starlight Isles, and the statuses thereof, have been as follows:
Stardust Woods major content -- nearly complete, besides a certain sequence.
Koffin Keep fully playable from start to finish -- complete, besides minor polishing.
Starstruck Village preliminary work -- starting smoothly, with significant progress on writing and assets.
In terms of that month's general updates:
Writing -- We've begun writing and outline structure for Starstruck Village, as well as having various brainstorming sessions for critical post-area writing and plans (e.g. Crystal Springs outlining and pacing, full game story development, major plot points, character development, and route-based plot points).
Artwork -- We finished all major Koffin Keep assets, began work on Starstruck Village assets (area layout, exteriors, characters, overworld objects, concept art), finished all minibosses' attacks, further developed major bosses' sprites and attacks, and more.
Soundtrack -- 25/32 tracks complete, with ~5 nearing completion and 2 others ranging from early concepts to not yet started.
Programming -- Koffin Keep was functionally complete, several Starstruck Village rooms were implemented in early stages, various attacks were implemented, various code-related changes and additions were made, and an auto-run toggle was added (by selecting "Use" on the Running Boots in the KEY ITEMS menu.)
Here's a few things we posted on Twitter, in case you missed them:
Finally, an interview! The latest episode of the Rec Room Podcast (hosted by It's_Connor, one of our playtesters) features an interview with Beethovenus (that's me!) The questions regard my experiences as the leader of Team Switched and director of TS!UNDERSWAP, as well as the project itself.
If you're curious to hear what was discussed, and some tiny details here and there about future content, go and check it out!
Progress Updates
In terms of how our development priorities have progressed:
Stardust Woods' major content is functionally complete! All that's left are a post-village sequence (writing, assets, implementation) and some miscellaneous minor writing additions and polish adjustments.
Koffin Keep is (still) fully playable from start to finish, with the rest of its needed assets & content implemented in-game.
Starstruck Village is proceeding smoothly! We'll cover the specifics of this one throughout the general progress below.
In terms of our general progress since last month:
Writing -- A vast majority of the script for Starstruck Village has been outlined, with the main progression for the area completely figured out.
Each area of the village has work-in-progress writing for NPCs, overworld objects, cutscenes, and more.
We're currently hoping to make some headway on the most major parts of the script for the area -- including the Koffin-K fight and Crossbones fight (pre-fight script, fight progression/ACTs/script, and post-fight script).
We've plotted out which sections of Stardust Woods still require minor writing (e.g. route variations and reset-based dialogue, certain character interactions, etc.)
Early plans for sidequests are underway.
Artwork -- We've gotten a significant amount of visual assets completed for Starstruck Village, including:
Most (if not all) NPC designs, sprites, and placements in the village.
Most overworld objects' sprites.
All building exteriors and interiors.
Concept art for still-needed assets, and work-in-progress assets.
Soundtrack -- We currently have 26 tracks completed out of a planned 33 for Starlight Isles!
There's also ~6 tracks nearing completion, and 1 other not yet started.
We currently have ~2 tracks nearing completion for Crystal Springs, and several tracks in earlier stages of development.
Programming -- The vast majority of Starstruck Village's rooms have been added in-game, albeit lacking many characters, interactions, cutscenes, and other necessary content still in-progress.
... Oh! And as a sneak peak of what we've been working on...
Welcome to Starstruck Village -- home of the Guiding Light festival!
Community Spotlight
It's time for this month's Community Spotlight!
We started these back in June 2021 to highlight community fanworks, and fellow fan-projects.
TS!UNDERSWAP Fanworks
We'd like to begin by showcasing some creations by our own fans!
Drama Josh (whose lyrical covers of our soundtrack we've showcased before) has put together a team for "TS!UNDERSWAP with Lyrics" -- an unofficial series of lyrical covers, with accompanying artwork and visuals! The latest installments are "Knights! Trouble Afoot!" and "Our History."
We're not only flattered by the fact these exist to begin with, but applaud the clear attention to detail, love, and care that's gone into these covers. We can't wait to hear more!
Up next, Nescade56 posted a cover/remix of "Starlight Savior," the theme for Crossbones (originally composed by Grassinio, then remixed by Delta Conduit / junnboi). While the song itself was pleasing to hear, the additional visual of Koffin Keep in the battle background was especially cool to see -- we really enjoyed this one!
-
For the next few fanworks -- around the start of June, we made a Twitter post encouraging fans to re-imagine our character designs and explain the thought processes behind each deliberate change. This design exercise was meant to have people explore the same character design philosophies we've discussed -- and hasn't been limited to any specific cast members.
After looking through the #tsunderswapredesign tag on Twitter, we've decided to feature the following fan re-designs:
Here's a fan redesign of Undyne by Vuristo! Their thought process behind the design changes was included as an image within their Tweet, but for convenience's sake, we'll type them here:
Starting this off, the first character I did was Undyne. Not because her design is the worst of them all, quite the contrary. I just thought it would be the most interesting to start off with. The general concept of this design revolves around 2 things. Firstly, she resides in Boreal Bluffs, so I figured I'd dress her warmly. Secondly, she is a scientist.
The thing I love the most about the original TS!Undyne's design was that even though she's a scientist, she doesn't wear a lab coat. But the design still communicates her scientific occupation. I think that's something the original design did better than I did as well. Especially with the eyepiece and mechanical arm as mechanical gadgets.
For my own take on the design I wanted to keep in mind those two points I mentioned before. That's why I decided to give her a parka. Since that is pretty fitting attire for a cold climate. As well as the thicker pants to insulate more. Of course some gloves as well.
For the one on the left I gave her an old diving helmet. I felt like this would be fitting for the design as Boreal Bluffs appears to be land masses surrounded by oceans of water. Also a bit ironic considering she's a fish. But if she's going to keep up her kinda threatening appearance, I wanted to reference the helmet she wore from Undertale, but make it unique enough to be its own thing. I imagine the helmet would have some sort of mechanization. AI or something. Something that would work as a control console. There's also a hole in the back for her to put her hair through, as I imagine the hair clumping up inside the helmet would be a hassle to deal with.
Without her helmet she remains her normal self. Although I will take this moment to mention that I combined the color pallets for UT!Undyne TS!Undyne to give a broader color palette. And I kept the hair too because it's just too cool. I would also like to say that my design philosophy for doing these characters was not "How can I change them?" but rather "Alright, this is who they are, what would they look like?" Essentially starting from square 1.
All the way to the right is her without her parka. Seeing as she runs her own robotics company [Undying Robotics]. Therefore I gave her a more "mechanic" look as opposed to a normal science look. Afterall, she wouldn't need a labcoat if she isn't dealing with chemicals. Also, in contrast to the other designs, her outfit here is more dominated by blue than red. It would be fitting for her to wear this outfit as you get more friendly with her. As blue is more of a friendly color while red has the opposite effect. As well as the design being just her without her parka, implying that she had a sense of friendship in her all along. And for one last detail, I added UR to her shirt, which of course stands for Undying Robotics.
Next, here's a fan redesign of Crossbones by YankEe! Their thought process behind the changes were as follows:
He's just normal sans but Papyrus and Undyne made him a ''super hero suit'' and he wears it over his normal clothes to make his brother happy. its not the most unique design but it suits the character of sans.
Finally, here's a complete reimagining of Crossbones by It's_Connor -- "Detective Sans!" His thought processes behind the changes were as follows:
I thought Sans would enjoy being a Detective rather than a Superhero given his puzzle preference in Undertale (Meaning he likes to deduce information based on certain facts), and seeing as they're the same field of work, it fit very well. (But Crossbones is still awesome)
Although, he would find the whole Detective getup a little uncomfortable, so underneath the trench coat he still is rocking his Sunday Casual Best. Also, he couldn't find a detective cap, so he wears a baseball cap instead.
If you're interested in this design exercise, make sure to check out our Twitter post -- which features information and character references -- and post your design + thought processes with the #tsunderswapredesign tag on Twitter!
Fellow Fanworks
To end off this devlog, we're going to quickly run by a recent update to RIBBIT - The Deltarune Mod by TheMaximus. The mod's final major update (at least for the foreseeable future) -- RIBBIT 1.5.-F (aka the "Stop Future" Update) -- has been released!
In the words of its creator, the best way to describe this update is that "it introduces quality of life changes and various new details to give new players the best possible first-time experience, alongside a new puzzle boss for returning players that gives closure to the mod."
We highly recommend checking this out, and reading up on the update in its entirety!
That's it for this month!
We hope you all enjoyed this month's progress report -- it took a bit of time to get this one done, and as we get further into the next few months, we'll likely have to prioritize both development and personal responsibilities. Hopefully, we should still be able to put out some smaller ones!
See you all next time!
- Beethovenus and Team Switched
37 comments