Happy Birthday, Versotale!

...At least, as far as recorded history considers it. Regardless of the date's true accuracy, it's in the right ballpark. That's the day the first sprite comic part from the first true iteration of the AU came out on the VT Tumblr blog, all the way back in......

2017??????

I'm old!

But maybe growing older doesn't have to be a bad thing. After all, as Versotale's aged, so too has its quality. Even if it's been stuck in the first area for a while.

This has possibly been the most productive month of Versotale work ever.

But first... a brief little animation I put together, commemorating this special day.

CUTSCENE EFFICIENCY

Cutscenes have gotten easier to make. I've spent a lot of time making helper functions to streamline the process.

...Of course, it's a little hard to show you that, since it's backend stuff. What I can TELL you, though, is what you watched above was animated using the game's cutscene code. A year or so ago, that would have been an all-day effort. Now, it took me a couple hours.

I hope that's exciting news to someone out there!

ASRIEL DEGRADATIONS

WARNING: This section contains MINOR VISUAL SPOILERS for Versotale's No Mercy Route (Official Route Name TBA)

I've avoided mentioning it out of concern that new followers would only care about this side of the story. Buuuuuut, seeing as it's this AU's birthday, I'm willing to peel back the curtain for you a bit!

As weird as it sounds, I've implemented a feature I've wanted to make ever since Versotale was in its infancy as a sprite comic back in 2017: Asriel's appearance changing as you increase your LV.

This isn't exactly the most original idea, of course. For example, Team Switched's Underswap (A fangame you should REALLY check out if you haven't, by the way (Though I question how you've heard of a fangame of mine's size and NOT TS!Underswap)) features Chara's appearance changing in a similar manner. But, regardless of its originality, I still wanted to do it, because it has some additional meaning with Versotale's lore and how the PARTY mechanic works.

DELTARUNE IS WAITING

Deltarune Chapter 5's coming out June 24th! Literally none of you should be surprised to hear that it's coming out June 24th. But, if I'm somehow the first one to break the news to you, then... guess what? Deltarune Chapter 5's coming out June 24th!

I will be recording my reactions and possibly posting them in a blind let's play format, or maybe just one big first thoughts video to avoid comment spoilers.

But I imagine there's a burning question on everyone's lips:

"How will Deltarune Chapter 5 impact Versotale?"

Well, call me skeptical, but I don't think there will be any truly gnarly lore reveals pertaining to Asriel and Undyne from Undertale's continuity in a completely parallel world. I know there's a theory that the six flowers in Asgore's shop might exhibit some personality traits of the fallen humans they parallel in Undertale. Even if that comes true, keep in mind that Versotale's human cast are NOT meant to be the fallen humans from Undertale. So, I think we're in the clear.

...

Well, unless Asriel comes home from college. Which is actually pretty likely. If so, I MIGHT alter VT!Asriel's design to fit more with what an adult Asriel Dreemurr would look like if he winds up being super different, given VT!Asriel is biologically maybe a couple years older than Deltarune Asriel.

A FINAL WORD

Thank you all for supporting this AU, especially those who have been following since the very start when it was still just a role-swap sprite comic. It's come so far since then. The fact that this little project of mine actually has a following of any sort still bewilders me, but I appreciate it so much.