Nintendo Indie World Interview for Chapter 3 and 4.
UNDERTALE is finally 10 years old! Toby if you were to go back and say something to yourself 10 years ago what would it be?
Toby Fox
Toby: I wouldn't say anything, if I did it could change the future and I might have never been born.
(Toby begins to fade from the photo)
Or something even worse could happen.
(Toby stops fading from the photo... but now the hamburger he was eating begins to fade away instead.)
No!!
What kind of kid were you at 10 years old? What kind of snacks did you like?
Toby Fox
If I was a Pokemon that had a three stage evolution I would have still been on the first stage when I was 10.
At that time I really liked a snack called Cheez-it. Not to be confused with Cheese Nips which sound similar but are made by an entirely different company. Sometimes they even do special editions shaped like Spongebob but they don't taste good at all. After all it's written in the bible "When the devil appears, he will take on the form of the savior."
Over the past 10 years what do you feel is the most memorable moment from developing UNDERTALE?
Toby Fox
In the scene where you reject Papyrus on their date I was originally planning on having it be a lot more harsh, but when I had a friend who loved Papyrus playtest it they cried... So I changed it.
What was your daily life like while developing UNDERTALE and how does it compare with your days working on DELTARUNE now?
Toby Fox
When I started working on UNDERTALE I was still in college. I would come up with ideas during class and then go home to do the actual programming work I felt like I could do it all. With DELTARUNE I don't do the programming myself so there aren't really any impactful development stories, it just feels like slowly pushing a boulder up a hill.
If you had to pick one game that was released after UNDERTALE that you really really loved, what would it be?
Toby Fox
Hollow Knight: Silksong! (At the time of writing I haven't actually played the game yet so I'm just predicting I'll love it. If I end up not liking it, I'll have the Famitsu editorial department print a retraction.)
I would love to learn to speak like Spamton to use in messages to friends, do you have any tips?
Toby Fox
If you wrote like Spamton you would have no friends very quickly.
Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 released with many interesting deep concepts, when you come up with these ideas how do you go about it?
Toby Fox
When it comes to ideas it varies. A big part of it is exposing yourself to all kinds of things to get inspired. Everything that is loved has a reason for it. Another thing to consider in regards to games is actually implementing the idea. It's all fun to come up with ideas but turning them into reality is where the real work is.
UNDERTALE was created 10 years ago, and now many people have played it. Many of which see it as a very impactful game to them. What kind of game were you aiming to make for the players?
Toby Fox
I wanted the game to feel like it was responding to everything done by the player. Ideally, it should feel like there was always some new secret to find every time you did something in the game.
Is there any new secret you could reveal for the fans reading this now? It is the anniversary after all...
Toby Fox
If you type "BALL" on the keyboard at the title screen, a secret melody plays. That melody is based on a game called Panel de Pon. That melody was actually originally made for a project a friend of mine was working on but it never came to fruition.
Please tell us about the origins of the Annoying Dog!
Toby Fox
At the time, Temmie really, really loved dogs, so I thought I'd use a dog-shaped character for bullet patterns and created the Annoying Dog. Everyone knows the rest.
Thank you so much!