Hello hello hello! We've got a LOT to talk about this time around.

Also, the picture is the revamped title screen! how cool is that? Pixel art by me!

Also, this is a long one, there's a TL;DR at the bottom :)

What We Did This Month

So biggest thing first: Chapter Zero version 0.1 is playable! It's not released to the general public yet, but it's VERY close to being done. We're on track to release on schedule - September 30th!

We've got a new song, too! It's called Grey, and you can listen to it on UNRELATED's page or here on @Ffatalityy 's bandlab. It's the Ruins theme in Chapter Zero!

I did a lot of spritework for Chapter Zero this month, too. It had been basically all placeholders or rips from UNDERTALE, DELTARUNE, and even some UNDERTALE YELLOW before, but now there's only one room that needs to be resprited!

I did a good bit of writing this month, too. There was a long time in UNRELATED's development where writing was second-fiddle to programming. After all, what's the point of an awesome story with no game to tell it through? But nowadays I'd call the overworld functionality 80% or so built, and the other 20% wouldn't have been present in Chapter Zero, anyway.

Point being, I did a lot of writing, not just for Chapter Zero specifically, but all of UNRELATED. The ending is finally locked in for real, and that's a good feeling. You're all gonna love this game :3

Chapter Zero V 0.1 Info!

With Chapter Zero nearing completion, there's a lot less actual coding that needs to be done and a lot more logistics and planning, like I said about writing for example.

There are still a few things that need to be done, though, like:

• SAVING. I had a jerry-rigged saving system put up, but when I switched computers about a month ago the saving system broke and I have no idea why. I'm hoping that when I get my new computer soon-ish I'll be able to fix it easily then. Right now, the game saves, but it won't load, thusly defeating the purpose of saving.

• ANIMATION AND SPRITE TOUCH-UP. The final cutscene's animations are slightly janky right now, because they were repurposed from other parts of the project as placeholders. Right now, you always know what's going on, but it looks a little weird. There are also a few here and there things I still need to draw, too.

• MENUS. Fun, right? I need to rig up the menus. I'm going to add a chapter select screen, which as you can see in the above picture is absent. That isn't hard, but it'll take a few hours to perfect.

The Near And Farther Future

Knowing that Chapter Zero is 90%-95% done, I've gotten to thinking and planning a lot more of the whole game. Now that I've nailed down the ending and basic spacing, I've gotten a lot closer to thinking about Chapter One and simple character arcs.

For a basic reference, Chapter Zero is a mostly serious prologue. There are jokes in it, but it's not a comedy.

Chapter One sets up the overall story and does a lot of the heavy lifting, but it's still pretty funny in my opinion, with plenty of character building and interpersonal relationships, most of which are silly.

Chapter Two is a complete freeloader :0 But seriously, it's more about developing the characters and this altered world of the Underground, learning what makes the new characters tick and seeing how funny and silly your vessel and his new friends can be. I mean, it takes place at a carnival. It's super fun :)

Chapter Three picks the pace back up, though. Your vessel and his friends scrape through some rough stuff as everything gets worse around them. What do you do when there's nothing you can do?

And chapter four... the last chapter. Well.

One last thing, DON'T FORGET about this art contest! The winner gets to play the beta version of Chapter Zero, otherwise released only to my friends playtesters.

TL;DR: Chapter Zero is going well, spritework was done, music was done (thanks @Ffatalityy !) and life is good. Chapter Zero releases September 30th.

That's all for now! Stay DETERMINED and don't lose HOPE!