DEVLOG #7

(thumbnail art by kouhii)

Hey all, and Merry Christmas! We have a gift of our own to share with you today, though on the smaller side this time. This year's been rather hectic for a lot of us.

So, where have we been?

To begin, we should probably explain the lack of updates (especially since we've been gone for more than an entire year this time around). Basically, this boils down to two main things

• A decent chunk of the team has been consistently busy with studies, exams, all of that stuff

• A lot of progress has gone into engine/back-end coding in order to make the engine better and easier to use for future plans

• idk we've been lazy asf

Hopefully things improve a little as the year passes on, but no promises. But let’s get to why you're really here, hm?

Menu and Overworld Updates

A lot of work has also gone into updating the first parts of the game to fit new self imposed quality standards, to add to the overall narrative and to make the early parts of the game much nicer than the previous bland naming screen and extremely short overworld sections.

The intro to the game has been rewritten to fit better with the overarching narrative of the game. It has also been updated alongside a new naming scene which you will see below.

The main menu has been updated, as the old one, although being a preview to the larger story, was way too simple looking (and the designs shown there have been updated as well since then). The current one is now much more straight to the point (and cleaner!) - and it allows for variation too as you progress through the game.

Overworld Updates

Pretty much every area (but waterfall, that one only got new assets) has had their tilsets updated, with Snowdin/Cherryside being the main overhaul, and Azure having a slight visual rework from the previous maybe too simple looking tileset. Plus the updated textbox style we'll be using from now on.

Waterfall had some updates too… but they’re generally small changes or not something we would like to show yet… (just kidding that part isn’t done yet, waterfall will get its own smaller-scale overhaul later down the line)

The pause menu has also been updated... for obvious reasons...

(Sprites by __b, Kekuus, Kari, sulf, Bloodmourn and Iconic)

Battle Updates

Even past the multiple tweaks to the demo battles we've kept your complaints in mind, and, alongside some other small changes to the attacks, the Papyrus battle has had its special (and really unreadable) attack reworked.

Some sprites were also reworked/added, most notably Papyrus getting another pose and animation for the main part of his battle (since the one from the Underevent trailer was just too similar to his axe pose). say hi to the other two guys too

Additionally, you may now be able to find something new in the Sans and Flowey battle...

Now, to address the elephant in the room: the Undyne fight.

…well, considering what was mentioned at the start, it should be no surprise that this one is nowhere close to being finished. But it’s getting there!

Slowly.

please be patient with us

Nonetheless, a lot of its mechanics have already been figured out, with most of them only needing additional spritework and a little bit of coding - so let’s have a look…

(Sprites by __b, sulf, Kekuus, Marigold and Kari)
((damn i did terrible on dodging these attacks))

Of course, this is far from all of what is planned for the fight. Stay tuned for one day when more things for this will be released. One day.

(a music teaser or similar would go here, but her battle theme is still WIP! sorry! but i guarantee the wait is worthwhile it's a really good song so far thanks aider and husseinh)

Story/Writing Updates

The main story as of current has been figured out and finished (technically a 2nd time, but the rewrite does fix a lot of things - don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that everything shown so far is now outdated, but instead that events later down the line are even more exciting than before). Dialogue wise, the script for Azure Alcazar is 90% complete, with previous areas having various additional dialogue depending on what was added. This is without feedback and changes responding to said feedback though, so there's still a lot to be done.

End

Thanks for checking in with us, especially on Christmas. Hopefully 2026 will be a lot less rough on not just the team, but everyone as a whole. As per usual, if you like the sound of smaller, more frequent updates on the progress of Icebound, you can join the discord server below. Oh, and the game isn't dead unless Luciii's frozen corpse finds a way to access social media to tell you so. Just thought we'd hammer that in. Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy new year!!

...actually, have a little more to compensate for the long wait...

(art by HusseinH)

...and there's even more still left to show... but i'm afraid that's better left for another time. merry christmas once again!