Howdy, everyone!

Welcome to the first progress report for 2022! Thanks for your patience in waiting for a new devlog. I took a break from working on the game for most of January to focus on university, and I've slowly been getting back into the swing of things since February.

While progress is definitely being made, it's not really the type of progress that can be shown off in a devlog. For example, I've been making a lot of progress on the game's writing, particularly for the upcoming singleplayer DONTFORGET game (which we'll continue to call "DF STORY MODE" since it's easier). I'm sure you can understand that there's a lot I can't tell you about it yet... It wouldn't be any fun if I just spoiled everything!

However, that doesn't mean I don't have anything to show you about it! There's a sneak-peek of DF STORY MODE up ahead... so read on if you're interested!

Of course, I also have some news for DFC v2.7.0 to share with you, so let's get started!

Thank you for 3 MILLION VIEWS!

Before we begin with the rest of the devlog, I'd just like to quickly thank all of you for helping us reach over 3 MILLION views on the DF GameJolt page!

This is a huge milestone, and I appreciate every single one of you for checking this project out and allowing it to grow into what it is today. This wouldn't be possible without you!

To mark the occasion, here is some celebratory artwork provided by Prima:

It's a brilliant piece, and I think it truly captures the essence of how we're feeling right now.

Anyway, back to the progress report!

Status Update for DF STORY MODE

Can you believe it's already been over half a year since I released the last update for DF CONNECTED? Besides working on DFC v2.7.0 (and procrastinating), you might be wondering what I've been doing in that time.

The answer to that is: writing for DF Story Mode!

While the overall concept for DONTFORGET's narrative has been decided on for a while now, there were a few things about the direction I was going in that I wasn't happy about (such is the life of a perfectionist). So I've spent a good chunk of the past few months brainstorming how to steer things back in the right direction, without having to change anything we've already done for DF CONNECTED. This is no easy task, as DFC was originally designed to be an extra mode with no story in mind, so it's a bit of a mess to make sense of it all.

Thankfully, the effort has been paying off so far, as the few people I've shared my current plans with have been very excited about them! All of the pieces are fitting into place, and the game's direction has never been stronger.

This isn't the first time I've talked about being unhappy with the game's story. In fact, most of this project's development history is comprised of rewrite after rewrite. There was a time where I viewed each rewrite as a failure, but I don't think of them that way anymore. Each rewrite has consistently led to this project getting better and better each time. My writing skills have noticeably improved over the course of this project, so I can say confidently that every single rewrite has been worth it.

So, for any budding game developers or writers out there, here's some advice: don't be afraid of rewrites, be afraid of giving up! Imagine if I gave up on trying to improve the story and stopped at the 2018 demo for DF. We would have never gotten the character of Harlow, we would still be using Frisk as the protagonist! We would have never gotten DF CONNECTED either, because DFC exists as a direct result of a story rewrite. And I would have never started working on DeltaEngine, because it began out of a desire to step away from DF for a bit during a rewrite.

Hopefully, this is the last time I talk about rewrites. I am very excited about where the project is heading, and I really appreciate your patience throughout this process!

Now, enough walls of text, there's something I want to show you...

SNEAK PEEK: NEW HARLOW BATTLE SPRITES!

Have a look at these new battle sprites for Harlow, made by Universal! Since DF Story Mode is being made with DeltaEngine, the battles will be in the style of Deltarune's, so we'll need a lot of character sprites!

Here's what we've got so far for Harlow, starting with their intro animation:

Then we have Harlow's FIGHT animation:

And of course, Harlow can ACT too:

As well as DEFEND themselves:

But heroes aren't infallible. Here are their hurt and downed sprites:

I'm really happy with how these sprites came out! I think I've mentioned it before, but some of you have asked what kind of weapon Harlow will wield in the Dark World. As you can see, they possess a spear! This is because Harlow's weapon, as well as their entire Dark World outfit, is actually based on the human that appeared at the very start of UNDERTALE's intro sequence!

There's also another detail you might have noticed in these new sprites - Harlow is no longer wearing a heart locket in the Dark World. This is a permanent change to Harlow's Dark World design, and I'll be updating their Dark World costume in DFC to reflect this.

So, what does this change mean...? Well, I can't tell you yet, so you'll have to find out when the game releases!

Anyway, that's all I wanted to share about the current status of DF Story Mode. I hope this helps to give you some confidence that progress is being made on both games, not just DFC!

Status Update for DF CONNECTED v2.7.0

In my previous progress report, I talked about how I was planning a complete overhaul of DFC's pacifist route. This overhaul includes redoing the ACT system into something similar to Deltarune Chapter 2, and adding a new emotion system that affects how effective certain ACTs are.

Since then, progress made on the pacifist overhaul, and v2.7.0 in general, has been... slow-going. This is because I took a break from development on the game for the majority of January, due to university commitments, and I've been trying to resume progress on the update since February.

In truth, I'm going through a bit of a burn-out at the moment. I've been having trouble getting myself to focus on getting work done since December, so the little work I have been able to do I've mainly been trying to put towards university. These things happen, and like all of my previous burn-outs, it'll eventually pass. This one has just been a bit stubborn.

Thankfully, despite the burn-out, I have been able to make progress on the update! Let's go over what's been cooking lately:

Progress on Multi-Enemy Encounters:

When I first revealed multi-enemy encounters in the November Progress Report, I had only added them up to Snowdin (as you could tell by the lack of screenshots past Snowdin).

But now, I've completed multi-enemy encounters for all major areas! Here are some screenshots:

I hope you look forward to all of these new encounters!

Recent Changes to the Dark World:

It's no secret by now that I intend to expand upon the Dark World for the new Jevil side-quest. This includes areas such as the Field of Hopes and Dreams and Scarlet Forest getting new rooms, as well as the addition of a brand new sub-area called "The Carnival".

While it's still too early to show you anything related to the Jevil side-quest, I can show you a room that I recently reworked in the Field of Hopes and Dreams:

This is the new layout for the Dark World's Gold Grind Room! The previous layout was way too simple, often cited as the least-interesting grind room in the game, so I've decided to redesign the room from scratch. I hope you'll enjoy this room a bit more now!

New Sprites for the Ink!Sans vessel:

There are brand-new sprites for Ink!Sans coming in the next update! These were made by Universal, the same artist as the previous sprites for Ink!Sans, as a test to see how much they've improved since then. The sprites came out pretty great, so now they're being added into the game!

Don't worry if you still liked the previous design, as it will be available to use as a costume!

A long-awaited feature is finally being added:

I genuinely don't think there's any feature that has been requested more than the ability to bulk-buy gachapogs. Ever since they were added into the game, there have been many requests for an option to buy them in quantities larger than one at a time, and now, it's finally happening!

In the MTT Hotel, there are now three distinct gachapog machines, labelled with a number dictating how many pogs that machine will dispense. Simply interact with the machine that has the number of pogs you wish to buy at once, and presto! Bulk-buying gachapogs!

When you purchase pogs in bulk, it will display all of them at once in random positions across your screen. I could have made them appear in a neat grid, but I like to live dangerously.

Estimated Completion of the Update:

This update has grown far beyond what I initially planned for it to be. Not only is it content-heavy, but I am also constantly updating my to-do list with bug reports. It seems like no matter how much I get done, the to-do list just keeps growing!

Therefore, I have no estimate for when v2.7.0 will be ready for release. I would say the update is currently at 40-50% completion, which is less than I hoped to be at by this point, but that's life.

Hopefully by the time the next progress report rolls around, I'll have a lot more to show you. Thanks again for your continued patience for this update!

Check out these new tracks for the OST!

There's a lot of new music tracks coming to DFC in v2.7.0! But before we listen to some tunes, check out the new official cover artwork for the DONTFORGET OST, provided by Prima!

Having proper cover art for the OST is something that I've wanted ever since we started DF's SoundCloud page. I'm really happy with how it came out!

Anyway, let's dive into the music! All of these tracks are by Perpetrator - he's really been grinding these out lately!

First up is "Lazybones", a new cover of "sans" that will play in Sans' and Pap's house.

Next up is "This Is A Nice Hotel They Play Jazz Here", a new cover of the MTT Hotel theme that will play in the hotel and jazz up the place.

Then we've got "Checkout", a new cover to replace the regular shop theme. It will play in most shops and at vending machines.

And then there's "TEM CHILLAGE", a new cover that plays in Tem Village. No, I'm not sorry about the song name.

Last but not least, we've got "FLUFFYBUNS", a cover of Asgore's battle theme that will be used as his new PvP theme. SMario8282, one of our admins, also assisted on this track!

Perp and SMario are actually interested in creating more PvP tracks for characters that don't have unique themes yet, so we might have more PvP themes to share with you in the future! For now, I hope you enjoy these new tracks!

Conclusion

Well, that wraps up this month's progress report! Apologies again for the long wait between this devlog and the last one. It's been a busy period for me, but hopefully I'll have more to share with you soon!

...In fact, I might have something to share with you much sooner than you think.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and as always, stay determined!