it's been a while since a real devlog was posted (i'm not sorry), but hey, here i am-

already saying this devlog isn't as massive as older devlogs, and you will see why if you keep reading for a bit

starting with the QnA section from my Discord Server
i picked some of the most interesting questions to answer them in this post

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> Ten#5041 asks:
Q: "I can tell there is definitely progress being made and work being done. Though, why isn’t there as many sneak peaks or progress logs etc. is it to keep the secrets when it eventually releases?"

A: ye you said it
not as many teasers have been posted lately to keep most things private
showing a big part of the game before its release is definitely not a very smart move if you ask me
this choice affects this and future devlogs as well

> Quin#2900 asks:
Q: "I've seen what you have done over the years, and I got to ask. Why did you decide to do so many remakes and redoes over the years, changing the story until it no longer seems like a pre-leak? Because I honestly think it's been quite a long ride, so what's the motivation behind it all?"

A: well, let's be honest, the game wasn't good at all back in 2020, it wasn't even half decent lol
it was a game that could be easily forgotten and something you could call "just another genocide fangame"
but i always saw a huge potential in the AU, and really wanted it to stand out to be different from most UT fangames
that started a long cycle of constant redos until i got something i was satisfied with in late 2021. since that date, no things have been redone (except for some stuff I was forced to, thanks to some amazing private issues)

> hrony#4398 asks:
Q: "Thanatos is basically pre-leak Dusttrust right? If it is, where did Sans' get the two bone blades? And are they daggers, or swords?"

A: i like to think Sans combines a bone and a skull to make a sword, it sounds funny in my head lol
and considering he's able to summon things like dog skulls and platforms, the idea doesn't seem too crazy
but tbh they're mostly there just because they look cool, the idea was taken from the original dustbelief anyways lol

also i know goinks had a pretty cool idea of how he'd summon it for the first time during one of the scrapped previous encounters for the full game so there might be some story context involved too

> Bro what how#5014 asks:
Q: "Is this whole thing something you can look back on and say: “Wow, I’m sure glad I did that”"

A: well, kinda- this game has somehow made an impact in the UTC, it helped people to improve, and even inspired some of them to do things in a similar way i do, which is great, don't get me wrong
but I don't think i'll ever be proud of making an undertale fangame for over 3 years lol

> raesk#0155 asks:
Q: "will there be a scrapped content video? (sprites, ideas, music, etc)"

A: well, yes, a video like that has been in my mind for a veeeeeery long time, but don't expect it to come out any time soon
i plan on working on it months later after the game release

> ✟❥Just|Me༄𖧷#0509 asks:
Q: "Will there be Animated OSTs with new sprites in underswap thanatos ?"

A: while, yes, it'd be really nice to do a video like that, the truth is that we do not plan on making one
but, hey- we might change our minds at some point, who knows

> Ethan the Tasmanian Devil#1442 asks:
Q: "how similar will UT and US thanatos be"

A: UT & US Thanato share lots of similarities, the story of both games are almost the same, but the development of the characters and the actions they take are different.
the point of the Undertale Thanatos & Underswap Thanatos collab is to show that just because both games start in the same way, that doesn't mean all the characters will make the same choices

> John Windle#5706 asks:
Q: "How is progress on the overall game so far?"

A: pretty great actually-
the team has been a lot more active than normal, a lot better than what it was in 2021 and 2022
surprisingly, we went from only having 15% of the total game completion, to at least 50% in just 6 months-

> Choz#0001 asks:
Q: "Will US Thanatos/UT Thanatos ever get a soundcloud page?"

A: about US Thanatos; yes- it will get a soundcloud page, and, in fact, a page is already in the works! (courtesy of @Kasssm )
make sure to follow it if you have interest in the game's soundtrack:
https://soundcloud.com/underswap_thanatos

and about UT Thanatos, i honestly have no clue-
it's something @RedD7 will decide-

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^ this line is called bob
it marks the end of the QnA section

moving on

Featured Creators

something we've never done before, but it's never late to try something new
from now on, if you want your very own post to be featured in a future devlog, use the hashtag #USThanatosFT
you're free to post whatever you want, such as, fanart, music, memes, etc. as long as it's related to the game (Underswap Thanatos)

The Game

for those who don't know, phase 1 became completely unplayable due to the addition of removal of several important things
i spent the last few weeks fixing phase 1 to make it playable once again, rewriting all the attacks, fixing the animations, and blah blah blah etc, etc. but decided to take that as a chance to improve phase 1 even more
phase 1 received a few updates to make it able to match the quality of the rest of the phases, that means some transitions and attacks were updated

Examples:

the first attack got actual transitions !!!

sans' swords are more than just decoration now

and as you were already able to tell, phase 1's decoration has been improved as well
if you are somehow unable to notice the changes for whatever reason in the universe, have a short list-
1- the whole UI is now more round-ish, instead of using the classic UT format
2- the gradient has been updated
3- OH MY GOD DELICIOUS SPRITES!!!

Sans Vs. Papyrus (Papyrus Encounter)

hey remember when i said papyrus encounter was gone forever
that was a lie

when the full game plans went to the trash can, Papyrus Encounter is the only thing we chose to keep
we decided to keep it private and work on it without telling the community, we had plans on re-revealing it whenever it was done, but... as you can see, that clearly didn't go very well lmao
because the Papyrus Encounter stuff and almost everything else related to the game got leaked
it took me around a week or two to decide between staying in silence and letting random people reupload the new leaks to their channels and get clout, or just ruin the surprise by ourselves, which in fact, is what we ended up doing lol

but hey- even if the surprise is ruined, that won't stop us from continuing working on it

since its fake cancellation, the fight has gone through some major changes
one of those changes, is the fight becoming a Survival Fight instead of a Turn Based fight
that means we are able to do really cool and syncronized stuff, thing that i know you guys love-

it also received a decoration update just like phase 1

the decoration isn't the only thing that was updated, so have a look at the improved transition to the final attack-

(ST is Sans' stamina, it makes you able to use a "shortcut" to avoid being hit)

and well, the devlog ends here
as i already said, we want to keep most things private
the good side is that there will be another devlog soon, thanks to the simplicity of this new devlog format
cya