Some of you may have heard over the last few days some buzzing about OvertaleRPG being cancelled. I’m afraid to inform you all that it’s true - I’ve made the decision to cancel the project. Thought it’s sad and not what I wanted for the project, it’s for the best for everyone. I had every intention of finishing the game and essentially crafting one of the best and most polished fan games ever made, but our circumstances make this goal no longer possible nor something I can personally be a part of.

In terms of practicality, we simply haven’t had enough dedicated manpower. We’ve had only a handful of people working consistently on the project for months and plenty of team members idle because of life commitments, which simply isn’t enough - at that pace, the game wouldn’t be done until the 2040’s. Though I’ve been doing our best to recruit around for a long time to fix this issue, I’ve come across a common problem; there are very few people who have both the necessary skills and the drive to volunteer to the project without pay. There are plenty of folks with the skills and experience, plenty with the passion and dedication - but essentially next to none with both plus the time to spare for it. Whilst the game’s scope has been feasible for a release by 2019, the Undertale community has dried up in terms of what we needed - it’s no longer a viable plan. Life gets in the way for all of us, and sadly that’s exactly what’s been happening.

In terms of more personal reasons, I simply cannot work on the project anymore because of my health and the project’s effect on my personal life. I began the project at 17 years old during my A-Levels and dedicated every waking moment I could to it for almost a year until my grades suffered, heavily. I managed to get into university by the skin of my teeth and began to develop clinical depression and severe social anxiety, which I am still struggling with to this day. Now I’m in my second year and trying to juggle lectures, exams, placement organisation and basically figuring out that thing that we all eventually had to do as we grow up - how to be an adult, 101. I need to make gaming and entertainment mediums a much smaller part of my life in favour of taking care of myself and securing myself a good career - Overtale has at times felt like a weight around my ankles that has given me far less time to go to the gym, hang out with friends, network, begin dating and even just cook for myself. I tried simply making Overtale a secondary priority for a time, and it resulted in me appearing utterly absent for months on end and slowing progress to unacceptable levels.

Overtale, though it’s my baby and I love what’s been accomplished all the same, has had a large part in damaging my health, social life and self-esteem. If I die tomorrow or am soon diagnosed with a terminal disease, I don’t want to look back on my life and know I spent so much of it living in a virtual dreamland, building a fan game to the serious detriment of every other area of my life. I need to move on and leave it behind for myself just as much as for others. If I do continue to work on any other unpaid creative projects, be those games, audio dramas or written works, they will need to be a much smaller-scale and a very miniscule time commitment.

Some people may wonder why we simply don’t hand the project over to someone else to work on. In truth, it’s largely because of the aforementioned reason of manpower issues - it wouldn’t be done for quite possibly decades, and to lead on a fan base for that long just feels dubious and wrong. I seriously doubt anyone could amass the sheer amount of qualified people necessary to make it work without paying them. As such, we’re releasing most of our confidential material to the public so they can see what we were aiming for. The Google Drive link below contains a playable tech demo of overworld exploration in a test map, unreleased music, concept art and our Game Design Document, alongside other miscellaneous odds and ends. It’s a bit messy and missing some files at the time of writing, but will be gradually filled in and sorted into folders over this next week to make navigation easier. Please note that the rights of the material no longer belong to the Overtale Dev Team, but now to their creators - if you wish to use the music within, you must first contact the artist behind them. If you wish to share or use any artwork, you must first contact the artists. There’ll be links to their social media within the Drive on a document for easy access. The game’s code will not be made open source at our coder’s request.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=10PUy_QV6725KKzU-8UzXR_1O5fLj-peR

Regardless of how this has ended, I don’t view Overtale as a failure - at least, not personally. It’s been a huge part of my life and has allowed me to make so many online friends over the last two years, as well as shaping a large part of who I am today, both for better and for worse. I’m only sorry that it couldn’t be completed so that we could share our vision with you all as we intended. We had every intention of finishing this, but it’s clear that we need to move on for both our sakes and your own.

It’s been one hell of a journey, and I’d like to thank each and every one of you for coming along for the ride. Your support has meant immeasurably much to each and every one of us - what we achieved together could not have been done without you.

Thank you.

Adam