It's been an amazing week, I couldn't expect the trailer to get this much attention. Thank you all for overwhelming support!

Please make sure to check out Sharfa and their original artwork for the thumbnail here 🙏:

https://x.com/sharfabean/status/2010121948190183532

Following this week, we've been getting many questions about the project, its vision and our plans for the game. This should be the best time to answer them all.

Writing Chara after No More Deals

The changes in the writing are very important for me, because I feel this is where NMD falls behind. You would expect a fangame dedicated to a mysterious character to expand upon their profile and image. Why are we fighting them? What does this character offers to the narrative?

Although NMD brought a decent fight for these times, it failed to answer all of these questions. When I think of a "No More Deals Chara", I think more about the gameplay gimmicks than the character. This is why I don't refer to Arkangel as a remake or continuation of No More Deals: it would imply that I'm working with the same borders and ideas.

Instead of placing Chara somewhere on the "good/evil" chart or using some sort of a meta-narrative trick, I wanted to expand upon one single line from the game:

		
			"The demon that comes when people call their name."
		
	

This line is said at the end of the second genocide route, and I'm obsessed with the implications. Other than being a metaphor, it could imply that Chara's afterlife was not a quiet one. I really dig the idea of Chara being some kind of curse, that you could've summoned deliberately or on accident. By slaying most of the monsters in the underground, we would collect enough stacks of said curse to let Chara manifest physically, for the first time.

Instead of judging or plotting anything, they act purely on their interest of approaching the absolute. The only reason they haven't erased the world right away is the fact that there's one more thing you could exchange: your fighting skills. As long as you don't waste Chara's time like the others, you get to play the game.

EDIT: In the trailer one of the check dialogs referred to Chara as "The judge". This was an oversight, hence the flavor text has been changed accordingly.

This begs the question: "how do you win a fight against a demon?" Now, this is going to be YOUR job to figure this out. Each route adds a little something to the picture, but there will be only one correct way to break the loop. Good luck.

Is the gameplay similar to No More Deals?

I grew up in the 2018-2020 scene, where fangames were mostly a flashy parade of long multi-phase attacks. Although this tracks down into NMD, I ditched this philosophy for Arkangel entirely.

I really appreciate how Undertale/Deltarune battles introduce you to the enemy. You start with simple patterns and then they loop with increased difficulty or an extra twist. I noticed it's more fun to design attacks this way. Besides better readability, they should be more memorable and engaging. No more twenty phases for a single attack!

The pacing of the fight got a lot of love as well!

I really want the fighting (duel) route of the game to feel like an actual duel against an equal rival (hence the name). Making Chara block 20 hits in a row would feel rather ingenious, so instead I actually allow to damage Chara.

Starting from turn 5, you can break Chara's guard by landing a critical hit close to the center. To make it a bit more forgiving, Chara also misses every 2nd-3rd strike regardless where you hit. Each successful strike contributes to the combo until you miss a hit. Don't forget about all these saved Legendary Hero; they've finally got a strategic use!

Chara can and will comment your performance from time to time. Instead of dumping all the lore, I decided to focus the duel route on these little interactions.

The sparing (atonement) route is pretty similar in regards to the dialogs; I use them sparingly. It would be boring to click "Spare" 20 times, so instead I'll force you get creative with stalling the fight.

To top this off, every route incorporates ACTing in one way or another. Acts are the most prominent and important tools in any story-driven RPG, and yet I don't see them used in the genocide fangames anymore.

Remember the blackout scene from the trailer? Good luck figuring that one out! I embraced the stress-inducing aspect of story RPGs by making each attack *unavoidable*. You are up against a clock to redeem yourself.

How much has been done?

Right now, I consider the battle itself pretty close to getting finished. I'm yet to program the logic for the atonement route. We are also yet to figure out the ending cutscenes and how to go about the final attack.

Once we are done with the battle, I will start working on the rest of the game: the overworld, menus, and the true ending scene.

I assure you that this time I'm more thoughtful about the codebase!! It's far from perfect, but I'm having a lot of fun working on the game!! The only reason I can't promise a quick release is the university, but at the moment it doesn't concern me too much.

I know how much you loved the song featured in the trailer, but we are still debating whether it should be released early. Most likely it will be released later in the development, but you will have to wait for the rest of the OST either way. We are so eager to show everything we've got!

Once again, thank you all for support and attention! I'm really happy we get to make one more game like before!