THE DEVELOPMENT UPDATE TIMELINE OF DELTARUNE

By ari.
If out of date by a week or longer, please hop on ACDS and ping @aridaishi about it.
(they don't mind)

0. WHAT WON'T BE ON HERE

• Any random social media posts about the game's development, aside from the initial Twittlonger,
• Content shown only within the Spamton Sweepstakes (other people have broken it down better),
• Topics elaborated upon in "UNDERTALE 6th Anniversary So We Play DELTARUNE Chapter 1 For Some Reason",
• The Gaster Tweets (they just announce a game release anyways).

PART 1: CHAPTER 1 - CHAPTER 2

1. TOBY'S FIRST TWITTLONGER AFTER CHAPTER 1 - OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

LINK: https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqn3p9

• Serves as an initial FAQ about Deltarune, with the later FAQ's restating a lot of information from here,
• Establishes UT and DR as parallel, with nothing in the latter affecting the former,
• The easiest way to sum up their relationship: it's a game you can play if you've completed Undertale,
• Talks about the challenges of development compared to Undertale, including the need to form a larger team,
• Chapter 1 is not necessarily in its final state,
• The explanation of the battle system might get redone later down the line,
• First mention of only one ending (and how it makes the ACT/FIGHT system vestigial),
• Toby's been thinking about the game a lot, and aside from the ever-infamous ending fever dream, he has a lot of cool stuff he wants to get out of his head and into the world - that's his main motivation,
• He hopes that Deltarune will be thought of as its own thing, instead of living in Undertale's shadow,
• Don't forget.

2. THE INITIAL FAQ ON DELTARUNE.COM - FEBRUARY 2019

LINK (VIA WAYBACK MACHINE): https://web.archive.org/web/20190214010205/https://www.deltarune.com/help/

• Mostly info reiterated from the Twittlonger,
• The worlds of UT and DR might have different rules, but aren't necessarily fully disconnected,
• The journey is more important than the destination in this one.

3. STATUS UPDATE #1 - SEPTEMBER 2020

LINK: https://deltarune.com/update-092020/

• More info on the developmental challenges of Deltarune,
• Complete outline of the game done, including a first draft of the script and most of the rudimentary design work,
• Development itself has been going slowly, mostly due to Toby's injuries and trying out other game engines, only to go back to GameMaker,
• Chapter 2 was expected to be completed by the end of that year (you sure about that?),
• Most of the fights, areas and content had already been designed and is just being implemented,
• Most of the songs have been written, and about half of the full game's OST was ready at time of writing,
• Development on Chapters 3+ hadn't moved an inch at the time,
• Brief mention of the development team - Toby remains the main designer, writer, composer and systems programmer, while other members implement content, make bullet patterns and do art (that last one's mostly Temmie),
• The project has been on good pace, Chapter 2 is going to be a good basis to move forward with and the team was growing, but not too much.

PART 2: CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTERS 3-5 < YOU ARE HERE

4. STATUS UPDATE #2 - SEPTEMBER 2021

LINK: https://deltarune.com/update-092021/

• Chapter 2 drops early for free, as a gift for the world going through harsh times,
• Friendly reminder - channel the freeness of Chapter 2 and throw money at other devs or at the Bandcamp release of the OST,
• Shout-outs made to the whole team, but especially big ups to Temmie Chang (duh, the gigachadette behind most of the pretty art in the game) and Sarah O'Donnell (been helping with coding the game since the Switch port of Chapter 1),
• No news about future chapters, other than 3-5 being the next planned-to-release bundle and 6-7(?) being separate,
• Epic Spamton reference at the end.

5. THE UPDATED FAQ - SEPTEMBER 2021

LINK: https://deltarune.com/help/

• Nothing new aside from clarifying migrating saves to Chapter 2 and that the team is full at the moment.

6. THE OFFICIAL STORE PAGES - SEPTEMBER 2021

LINK (STEAM): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1671210/DELTARUNE/

• While the information is consistent between Steam and itch.io, as well as Switch and PS4, those pairs are not consistent with each other,
• However, since the console store pages don't say anything new, let's focus on the PC store pages,
• The release date is just "Coming soon",
• Deltarune is explicitly called "[Undertale's] parallel story",
• Papyrus being busy is drawn attention to,
• Linearity is emphasized, with all chapters being viable start/resume points,
• "...only one ending...?" - there's a question mark added now, which is interesting,
• YOU CAN'T EVEN PET DOGS 0/10

7. STATUS UPDATE #3 - SEPTEMBER 2022

LINK: https://deltarune.com/update-092022/

• Development had been going on simultaneously on all 3 chapters in the 3-5 bundle, with most of the work going into 3 and 4,
• Lots of work on bullets, cutscenes and gimmicks, with some interesting stuff that required a lot of set up done as well,
• Preview time:
• ♪ Hometown Day
• Chapter 4 Kris and Susie hangouts,
• Rainy the Little Scrunkly,
• ♪ My Funky Town
• Unlocked by recruiting (presumably) Tasque Manager, Sweet Capn' Cakes and the Shadow Men,
• It's also in Chapter 4, but presumably as a Post-Chapter 3 thing,
• Queen's Epic Speaker Room (feat. Totally An Utmost Regular Lampe And Not The Ever-Dashingeth Duke Of Puzzles),
• ♪ Green Room
• Quick showcase of the Green Room itself,
• Spamton Sweepstakes announcement,
• (If you think I omitted any reveals, NO I HAVEN'T THEY'RE PROBABLY IN THE SWEEPSTAKES)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AS WE HEAD INTO THE NEWSLETTERS

The links to the archived versions of these newsletters only have Normal tier information. The descriptions, however, are based off the Truck Freak versions, due to how comprehensive they are.

• Winter Season 2022 has no alterations in terms of content discussed,
• Spring Season 2023 is discussed in this comprehensive document,
• Summer Season 2023 has literally no alterations between Normal tier and Truck Freak tier.
• Starting with Fall Season 2023, every newsletter email on Truck Freak will be archived on this site.

Additionally, information irrelevant to Deltarune will be marked like this.

8. NEWSLETTER #1 - DECEMBER 2022

LINK (ARCHIVED): https://utnewsletterarchive.neocities.org/issue1

• Content in Chapter 3 got cut down a bit,
Recap of the Spamton Sweepstakes (why the hell did he put "SPAMTON," in quotation marks???),
Silence Ending and some Behind The Scenes discussion planned for sometime in 2023,
THIS SEASON'S COMIC: Papyrus' Newsletter,
Toby started writing for Famitsu,
Skies Forever Blue: A collab between Itoki Hana, Toby Fox and OMOCAT (on the MV, but still!),
Summerblue: A collab with Camellia and Toby's first song in a rhythm game that isn't from Undertale,
Mention of Toby's work on the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet OST,
There is the pluss of Debble from DELTARUN. (The family can enjoy it).

9. NEWSLETTER #2 - MARCH 2023

LINK (ARCHIVED): https://utnewsletterarchive.neocities.org/issue2

• Focus shifted to development of Chapter 3 alone, the localization process has begun,
• Tree Adventure (presumably a Chapter 3 minigame) is scuffed and should not be datamined to save Toby's honor,
• Cowboy segment cancelled (or Woody Theory fuel),
THE GREATEST LIVING SHOW - Another collaboration with Itoki Hana, with Bani-chan on the MV this time,
Mention of/link to the interview with Kikiyama, the creator of Yume Nikki,
Mention of RAKUEN - a game by Laura Shigihara featuring "an annoying song" from Toby,
Sans' debut in Pop n' Music Unilab (why the clown nose toby, he doesn't have that???),
THIS SEASON'S COMIC: Grillby's Rogues' Gallery,
An interview with Temmie Chang - nothing new about DR, but you should still check it out,
Nendoroids for Ralsei and Toriel!

10. NEWSLETTER #3 - JUNE 2023

LINK (ARCHIVED): https://utnewsletterarchive.neocities.org/issue3

• Final area of Chapter 3 (ala Queen's Mansion) is being worked on,
• Mostly polish left on Ch. 3,
• Chapter 3 is unconventional in terms of gameplay and lighter on the story,
• Chapter 4, by comparison, is going to be more simmilar to the two we have now,
Unused UT content - on speedruns Sans would waste your time in Judgement Hall by eating ice cream,
Dogbonk - a fun song about a dog factory that didn't make the cut for a rhythm game,
Toby voice acted for We Baby Bears on Cartoon Network, voicing Jared the skeleton,
• An interview with Papyrus himself - the moment the UTDR fandom touched grass and it made things worse,
Sans Nendoroid real.

11. NEWSLETTER #4 - SEPTEMBER 2023

LINK (ARCHIVED): https://wunderscore7.neocities.org/librarby/newsletters/fall2023.htm

Happy 8th anniversary, Undertale,
To celebrate Toby Fox finally getting some rest, Fangamer dropped some sleep-themed merch, with a fifth of the proceeds going to charity,
• Chapter 3 is fully playable, now all that's left is polish and reworks,
• A stealth section is being scrapped, so we're getting a posthumous reveal of that,
• ♪ Sneaking
A mention of Touhou Danmaku Kagura: Phantasia Lost! - a Touhou rhythm game featuring a collab between Toby and ZUN himself, in the form of U.N Owen Was Hero?,
Toby's Touhou Adventure - a personal account of Toby's time in Japan for the TDK:PL livestream, exclusive to Truck Freak tier,
A message from Nelnal - the designer of Sweet, Cap'n, K_K and Tasque Manager,
Sweet Cap'n Cakes are getting merch illustrated by Nelnal too,
A very weird description from one of the third parties making UT merch - [With these products in your collection], you'll never explore the underground again! (??? mom come pick me up i'm scared)



Oh, and Undertale got a physical release for Xbox One.

12. NEWSLETTER #5 - OCTOBER 2023

LINK (ARCHIVED): https://wunderscore7.neocities.org/librarby/newsletters/halloween2023.html

• To contrast last time, this newsletter is full of Deltarune news,
• Chapter 3 is pretty much complete and development is finally shifting towards Chapter 4,
• Chapter 3 was unconventional and hard to figure out in terms of design,
• Chapter 4, by contrast, had a clear vision from the start and some work had already been done before,
• Toby hired a producer to keep the project on pace,
• Change of plans in release structure - Chapters 3-4 are dropping next, because neither the fandom nor the team can wait until Ch.5 at this rate,
• Development updates aren't going to be so detailed - we'll get updates if Ch.4 gets close to completion or if something funny happens,
5th anniversary of Deltarune Ch.1 (wow!),
An interview with the Ch.2 development team