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101-519: Stories in video games are delivered in a myriad of ways. While it is most common to deliver exposition through cutscenes , games have also delivered their stories through environmental storytelling , such as in Bioshock . It is also common to deliver narrative through other means, such as via in-game text entries presented as journal entries or correspondences, or in audio recordings. Narratives do not even need to be given through spoken or written word;

202-418: A cult following . About a year after release, Fox commented that he was surprised by how popular the game had become and though appreciative of the attention, he found it stressful. Fox said: "It wouldn't surprise me if I never made a game as successful again. That's fine with me though". Ana Diaz of NPR stated that Undertale "shaped the entertainment tastes of an entire generation", and that it "took on

303-529: A slideshow synchronized to an audio recording; it was essentially an unskippable introductory cutscene, but not an in-game cutscene. Taito 's arcade video game Space Invaders Part II (1979) introduced the use of brief comical intermission scenes between levels, where the last invader who gets shot limps off screen. Namco 's Pac-Man (1980) similarly featured cutscenes in the form of brief comical interludes, about Pac-Man and Blinky chasing each other. Shigeru Miyamoto 's Donkey Kong (1981) took

404-458: A "potential problem" due to the decreasing nostalgia factor for each new character and ever-increasing size of the roster. The Undertale fandom has also been noted for the creations of various fan games that offer unique stories and gameplay mechanics based on the Undertale world. Among the most anticipated fangames was the spinoff Undertale Yellow , which after seven years of development

505-402: A child and completes objectives in order to progress through the story. Players explore an underground world filled with towns and caves, and are required to solve numerous puzzles on their journey. The underground world is the home of monsters, many of whom challenge the player in combat; players decide whether to kill, flee from, or befriend them. Choices made by the player radically affect

606-516: A circus troupe performed in front of the Pope during his weekly audience at the Vatican to the tune of "Megalovania", drawing parallels with MatPat's symbolic gift of the game to Pope Francis. Undertale 's fandom has been among the most prone to fan theories due to the mysterious nature of many plot elements. A commonly proposed theory by the fandom is that Chara, the first human who fell into

707-431: A feature. Some games feature a "story mode" (sometimes also called "narrative mode"), a mode that is designed to focus on the story. The application and use of the term varies; it is sometimes used to discern from other modes of gameplay that do not feature story as a significant element, such as its use to distinguish from the online multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto V , or as an alternative difficulty setting which

808-461: A mom", and "genuinely cares" about players' actions. Initially, Toriel had to be killed in order to progress the game, but Fox changed it before the release of Undertale 's demo. Papyrus and Sans are named after the typefaces Papyrus and Comic Sans , and their in-game dialogue is displayed accordingly in their respective eponymous fonts. Both characters are listed in the game's credits as being inspired by J.N. Wiedle, author of Helvetica ,

909-676: A new life through memes". Reid Young, CEO of Fangamer , said that the game became "an absolutely dominating force". The character Sans has been well received by players, being the subject of many fan works. Professional wrestler Kenny Omega has expressed his love of Undertale , dressing as Sans for the October 30, 2019, episode of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite . Sans's addition as a Mii fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate garnered positive feedback from fans, although The Commonwealth Times considered his addition to be

1010-510: A number of metafictional elements in both its gameplay and story. When players participate in a boss battle on a second playthrough , the dialogue will be altered depending on actions in previous playthroughs. Undertale is set in the Underground, a realm where monsters were banished after war broke out with humans. The Underground is sealed from the surface by a magic barrier with a singular gap at Mount Ebott. A human child falls into

1111-466: A number of successful video games that make excessive use of cutscenes for storytelling purposes, referring to cutscenes as a highly effective way to communicate a storyteller's vision. Rune Klevjer states: "A cutscene does not cut off gameplay. It is an integral part of the configurative experience", saying that they will always affect the rhythm of a game, but if they are well implemented, cutscenes can be an excellent tool for building suspense or providing

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1212-498: A small Japanese fan community slowly emerged, leading to an unofficial fan localization patch being released in early 2016. Since Fox had envisioned a Japanese translation as an eventual goal while working on the game, he consulted a number of different companies, eventually choosing 8-4, which had previously translated Aquaria and Shovel Knight . To ensure a consistent voice for the game, 8-4 chose to employ only one primary translator, Keiko Fuchicho, even though it would lead to

1313-513: A story mode for centuries, if not millennia, before the invention of the microprocessor." Hayot does qualify, however, that he believes the tradition of "winning" in a video game "provides an interesting brake" on the range of stories that can be told in the medium, though he cites Undertale and The Last of Us as two examples which subvert this tradition. Some video game stories have been criticized for being conveyed in cutscenes perceived as being of excessive length which takes time away from

1414-455: A text system for an RPG. After completing it, he came up with the idea of creating a battle system. This system, which was created using the game creation system GameMaker: Studio , informed how Fox wrote the story, as both are intertwined. He wanted to develop a role-playing game that was different from the traditional design, which he often found "boring to play". He set out to develop a game with "interesting characters", and that "utilizes

1515-468: A webcomic series about a skeleton named after the font of the same name . Papyrus in particular was conceived as a sketch in Fox's notebook; he was originally a mean spirited character named " Times New Roman " who wears a fedora. The game's soundtrack was entirely composed by Fox with FL Studio . A self-taught musician, he composed most of the tracks with little iteration; the game's main theme, "Undertale",

1616-485: Is called " God Mode ") and Mass Effect: Andromeda . John Carmack , a developer of Doom , is often quoted as having said that "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie . It's expected to be there, but it's not that important," a quote which originated from the book Masters of Doom . Carmack has since amended the quote to acknowledge the existence of games where story is a greater focus; however still maintained that he believes games which prioritize gameplay are

1717-411: Is intended to allow players to enjoy the narrative of a video game without encountering significant difficulty that may hinder their progression. Video games were first popularized with Pong . Pong was a simple virtual game of tennis in which, developer Nolan Bushnell said, the primary goal was "fun." According to Bushnell, games in that era been so technologically challenging to produce that "it

1818-426: Is possible to clear the game without killing a single enemy. Monsters will talk to the player during the battle, and the game will tell the players what the monster's feelings and actions are. Enemy attacks change based on how players interact with them: should players choose non-violent options, enemy attacks are comparatively easy, whereas they become less easy if players choose violent options. The game relies on

1919-480: Is revealed to be a reincarnation of Asriel accidentally created by Alphys's experiments. During the fight with Asgore, Toriel stops the battle and is joined by the other monsters the human befriended. Flowey ambushes the group, absorbing the souls of all the humans and monsters in order to take an older Asriel's form. During the ensuing fight, the human manages to connect with the souls of their friends, and eventually defeats Asriel: He reverts to his child form, destroys

2020-515: Is the third-highest rated Windows game released in 2015, and among the top 50 of all time. It was temporarily the highest-rated PC game of all time on Metacritic after release. Praise was particularly directed at the game's writing, unique characters, and combat system. GameSpot 's Tyler Hicks declared it "one of the most progressive and innovative RPGs to come in a long time", and IGN ' s Kallie Plagge called it "a masterfully crafted experience". Daniel Tack of Game Informer called

2121-451: The environmental storytelling approach to narrative used in first-person games with an exploration focus, such as BioShock , Gone Home , and What Remains of Edith Finch , opining that the structure of such games, which requires players to explore environments and piece together the story through observation and discovery, offers little advantage over other storytelling mediums such as an animated film or novel. Bogost argues that

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2222-758: The "genocide" route. YouTuber Markiplier refused to complete his initial play-through of the game, stating that he was "not having fun" due to fan demands. In July 2016, during a summit about the Internet held at the Vatican , YouTube personality MatPat gifted a copy of Undertale to Pope Francis . MatPat explained his choice of gift by referencing the year 2016's status as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy , and connecting this to Undertale ' s overarching theme of mercy. Later, in January 2022,

2323-502: The "most important". Cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie ) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay . Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the player, introduce newer models and gameplay elements, show the effects of a player's actions, create emotional connections, improve pacing or foreshadow future events. Cutscenes often feature "on

2424-420: The 13th greatest game of all time. After previously teasing something Undertale -related a day earlier, Fox released the first chapter of Deltarune on October 31, 2018, for macOS and Windows for free. Deltarune is "not the world of Undertale ", according to Fox, though characters and settings may bring some of Undertale ' s world to mind, and is "intended for people who have completed Undertale ";

2525-570: The Annoying Dog's frequent interruptions a standout, and Kill Screen considered absurdity a signature quality of Fox's humor. The game's visuals received mixed reactions. Giant Bomb ' s Walker called it "simple, but communicative". IGN ' s Plagge wrote that the game "isn't always pretty" and "often ugly", but felt that the music and animations compensate. The Escapist 's Croshaw remarked that "it wobbles between basic and functional to just plain bad". Other reviewers liked

2626-543: The DreamWorks Interactive (now known as Danger Close Games) 1996 point and click title, The Neverhood Chronicles, full motion video cutscenes were made using the animation technique of stop motion and puppets sculpted out of plasticine, much like the game’s actual worlds and characters. The game’s creator, Douglas TenNapel was in charge of filming the cutscenes, as stated in the game’s behind the scenes video. Pre-rendered cutscenes are animated and rendered by

2727-544: The Japanese version taking longer to release. She was supported by a small team of editors and proofreaders, and a programmer which modified the game to work with Japanese writing systems . Before the translation began in early 2016, Fox provided development notes and annotated dialogue to the team, and he continued to support and advise them throughout its creation. As PC gaming is less prominent in Japan, they concurrently made

2828-592: The Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award and Most Fulfilling Crowdfunded Game from the SXSW Gaming Awards . Undertale garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with praise for its story, narrative and for its role-playing. At IGN ' s Best of 2015, the game received Best Story. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Undertale for Role-Playing/Massive Multiplayer Game of

2929-658: The Most Fulfilling Crowdfunded Game, and awarded it the Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award. The same year at the Steam Awards the game received a nomination for the "I'm not crying, there's just something in my eye" award. In 2019, Polygon named the game among the decade's best. In 2021, IGN listed Undertale as the 20th greatest game of all time , while in Japan , a nationwide TV Asahi poll of over 50,000 players listed Undertale as

3030-403: The Underground from Mount Ebott and encounters Flowey , a sentient flower who teaches the player the game's mechanics and lies about "LV", or "LOVE", in an attempt to kill them. The human is rescued by Toriel , a motherly goat-like monster, who teaches them how to survive conflict in the Underground without killing. She intends to adopt the human, wanting to protect them from Asgore , the king of

3131-468: The Underground. The human eventually leaves Toriel to search for Asgore's castle, which contains the barrier to the surface world. They encounter several monsters, such as the skeletons Sans and Papyrus , two brothers who act as sentries for the Snowdin forest; Undyne , the head of the royal guard; Alphys , the kingdom's royal scientist; and Mettaton , a robotic television host Alphys created. Most of

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3232-1040: The Year , Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction , and the D.I.C.E. Sprite Award . Undertale was nominated for the Innovation Award, Best Debut, and Best Narrative at the Game Developers Choice Awards . In 2016, at the Independent Games Festival the game won the Audience Award, and garnered three nominations for Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Narrative, and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize . The SXSW Gaming Awards named it

3333-472: The ability to avoid combat, opting for friendly conversations instead. Jesse Singal of The Boston Globe found the game's ability to make the player empathize with the monsters during combat if they opted for non-violent actions was "indicative of the broader, fundamental sweetness at the core" of Undertale . Reviewers praised the game's writing and narrative, which IGN ' s Plagge called "excellent". The Escapist 's Croshaw considered Undertale

3434-478: The appeal of video games lies in their technical achievements, and that a game which chooses to focus on telling a story is "unambitious" and has no appeal that cannot be found in a more traditional work. During a panel held at the University of Southern California , Steven Spielberg and George Lucas expressed skepticism about the quality of storytelling in video games, asserting that the interactive element of

3535-403: The barrier, and expresses remorse for his actions before leaving, revealing the human's true name as Frisk . The human falls unconscious and is awoken to see their friends surrounding them. The monsters peacefully reintegrate with the humans, while the human has the option of accepting Toriel as their adoptive mother. A third ending, known by fans as the "No Mercy" or "Genocide" ending, ensues if

3636-479: The best-written game of 2015, writing that it "is on the one hand hilarious... and is also, by the end, rather heartfelt". Destructoid ' s Ben Davis praised the game's characters and use of comedy, and compared its tone, characters, and storytelling to Cave Story (2004). PC Gamer ' s Richard Cobbett provided similar comments, writing that "even its weaker moments... just about work". Undertale ' s absurd humor attracted praise; Game Rant found

3737-525: The complications involved in adding another difficulty setting. The game's dialogue system was inspired by Shin Megami Tensei (1992), particularly the gameplay mechanic whereby players can talk to monsters to avoid conflict. Fox intended to expand upon this mechanic, as failing to negotiate resulted in a requirement to fight. "I want to create a system that satisfied my urge for talking to monsters," he said. When he began developing this mechanic,

3838-400: The concept of completing the game without killing any enemies "just evolved naturally". However, he never considered removing the option to fight throughout development. When questioned on the difficulty of playing the game without killing, Fox responded that it is "the crux of one of the major themes of this game", asking players to think about it themselves. Despite not having played it, Fox

3939-439: The cutscene concept a step further by using cutscenes to visually advance a complete story. Data East 's laserdisc video game Bega's Battle (1983) introduced animated full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes with voice acting to develop a story between the game's shooting stages, which became the standard approach to game storytelling years later. The games Bugaboo (The Flea) in 1983 and Karateka (1984) helped introduce

4040-531: The cutscene concept to home computers . In the point-and-click adventure genre, Ron Gilbert introduced the cutscene concept with non-interactive plot sequences in Maniac Mansion (1987). Tecmo 's Ninja Gaiden for the Famicom in 1988 and NES the following year featured over 20 minutes of anime -like "cinema scenes" that helped tell an elaborate story. In addition to an introduction and ending,

4141-873: The cutscenes were intertwined between stages and gradually revealed the plot to the player. The use of animation or full-screen graphics was limited , consisting mostly of still illustrations with sound effects and dialogue written underneath; however the game employed rather sophisticated shots such as low camera angles and close-ups , as well as widescreen letterboxing , to create a movie-like experience. Other early video games known to use cutscenes extensively include The Portopia Serial Murder Case in 1983; Valis in 1986; Phantasy Star and La Abadía del Crimen in 1987; Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter , and Prince of Persia and Zero Wing in 1989. Since then, cutscenes have been part of many video games, especially in action-adventure and role-playing video games . Cutscenes became much more common with

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4242-545: The decision to release Undertale for consoles, with the porting also being handled by 8-4. After the localization's announcement, many fans were surprised by the decision to use the Japanese pronoun oira ( おいら ) for Sans, leading to the term oira shock . The localization was released for PS4 and Vita on August 16, 2017, and for PC on August 22. Undertale received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . There, it

4343-581: The developer feels is appropriate for each scene. During the 1990s in particular, it was common for the techniques of live action, pre-rendering, and real time rendering to be combined in a single cutscene. For example, popular games such as Myst , Wing Commander III , and Phantasmagoria use film of live actors superimposed upon pre-rendered animated backgrounds for their cutscenes. Though Final Fantasy VII primarily uses real-time cutscenes, it has several scenes in which real-time graphics are combined with pre-rendered full motion video. Though rarer than

4444-501: The enemy. If the player uses the right actions to respond to the enemy, or attacks them until they have low HP (but are still alive), they can then choose to spare them and end the fight without killing them. For some boss encounters to be completed peacefully, the player is required to survive until the character they are facing has finished their dialogue. The game features multiple story branches and endings depending on whether players choose to kill or spare their enemies; and as such, it

4545-459: The entirety of the game by himself, including the script and music. The game took inspiration from several sources, including the Brandish , Mario & Luigi , and Mother role-playing game series, bullet hell shooter series Touhou Project , role-playing game Moon: Remix RPG Adventure , and British comedy show Mr. Bean . Undertale was originally meant to be two hours in length and

4646-526: The fly" rendering, using the gameplay graphics to create scripted events. Cutscenes can also be pre-rendered computer graphics streamed from a video file. Pre-made videos used in video games (either during cutscenes or during the gameplay itself) are referred to as " full motion videos " or "FMVs". Cutscenes can also appear in other forms, such as a series of images or as plain text and audio. The Sumerian Game (1966), an early mainframe game designed by Mabel Addis , introduced its Sumerian setting with

4747-515: The font Wingdings , his role as the royal scientist, and creating the CORE (a magical and technological power source for the Underground's monsters who live in the most populated areas) within Undertale only to "fall into his creation" and have his body shattered across time and space. Upon the release of Deltarune , players en masse speculated that Gaster played some role in the plot of the game and

4848-604: The game Inside tells its narrative through the scenery and events the player experiences as they progress through the game without any form of language. Narratives in games are of varying significance to the experience; while an increasing number of game stories are intended as the main focus, simple stories that are only intended to serve as a justification for the gameplay have been a common approach. Certain genres, such as adventure games and their various sub-genres, have narrative as an essential element, while others, such as real-time strategy , do not require detailed stories as

4949-537: The game due to the engine's lack of support for these platforms. A patch was released in January 2016, fixing bugs and altering the appearance of blue attacks to help colorblind players see them better. Sony Interactive Entertainment announced during E3 2017 that Undertale would get a release for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita , and a retail version published by Fangamer. These versions were released on August 15, 2017. A Nintendo Switch version

5050-470: The game had an estimated total of three and a half million players on Steam. Japanese digital PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita sales surpassed 100,000 copies sold by February 2018. By March 2019, Undertale was one of the ten best-selling indie games on the Switch. As of August 29, 2024, Steam Spy estimates that Undertale has sold between 5 and 10 million copies on Steam. Undertale quickly developed

5151-512: The game progresses, new elements are introduced, such as colored obstacles, and boss battles which change the way players control the heart. Players may choose to attack the enemy, which involves timed button presses. Killing enemies will cause the player to earn EXP (in turn increasing their LOVE) and gold. They can use the ACT option to check an enemy's attacking and defending attributes as well as perform various other actions, which vary depending on

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5252-462: The game's combat system "incredibly nuanced", commenting on the uniqueness of each enemy encounter. Giant Bomb ' s Austin Walker praised the complexity of the combat, commenting that it is "unconventional, clever, and occasionally really difficult". Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of The Escapist commended the game's ability to blend turn-based and live combat elements. IGN ' s Plagge praised

5353-504: The game's developers, and take advantage of the full array of techniques of CGI , cel animation or graphic novel -style panel art. Like live-action shoots, pre-rendered cutscenes are often presented in full motion video . Real time cutscenes are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics during gameplay. This technique is also known as Machinima . Real time cutscenes are generally of much lower detail and visual quality than pre-rendered cutscenes, but can adapt to

5454-435: The game's soundtrack. Tyler Hicks of GameSpot compared the music to " bit-based melodies ". The Undertale soundtrack has frequently been covered by various styles and groups. As part of the fifth anniversary of the game, Fox streamed footage with permission of a 2019 concert of the Undertale songs performed by Music Engine, an orchestra group in Japan, with support of Fangamer and 8-4. Undertale 's first demo

5555-434: The game, instead leaving it optional to players. He also did not wish to introduce fetch quests , as they involve backtracking, which he dislikes. In terms of the game's difficulty, Fox ensured that it was easy and enjoyable. He asked some friends who are inexperienced with bullet hell shooters to test the game, and found that they were able to complete it. He felt that the game's difficulty is optimal, particularly considering

5656-518: The gameplay. Other critics have supported the inclusion of lower difficulty options which favor story over difficulty of play; for instance writer Oktay Ege Kozak, who expressed in Paste Magazine that while they enjoy playing video games for their stories, "I also suck at them" and would prefer that gameplay difficulty was not mandated in order to access a game's story. Such options have been included in various titles, such as Hades (where it

5757-447: The graphics: Daniel Tack of Game Informer felt that the visuals appropriately match the characters and settings, while Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer commended the ability of the visuals to convey emotion. By the end of 2015, according to a preliminary report by Steam Spy , Undertale was one of the best-selling games on Steam , with 530,343 copies sold. By early February 2016, the game surpassed one million sales, and by July 2018,

5858-401: The human before their confrontation, revealing that the human's "LOVE" and "EXP" are acronyms for "level of violence" and "execution points", respectively. Sans judges the human based on their accumulated "LOVE" and "EXP". The human then fights Asgore, but Flowey interrupts, killing Asgore, stealing the human souls and transforming into a more powerful form with their power. During this battle,

5959-426: The human calls the souls for help in weakening Flowey. After the battle, the human leaves the Underground. They then receive a phone call from Sans, detailing the state of the Underground after the human's departure, with the specifics depending on who was killed or spared. If the player kills no monsters before completing a "Neutral" ending, they can reload their saved game to complete the "Pacifist" ending. Flowey

6060-417: The impact the player's actions are having on the game's world. When the human reaches Asgore's castle, Sans attempts to stop them, but fails and is slain. Flowey kills Asgore in an attempt to obtain mercy, but is killed by the human. Chara , the first fallen child who befriended Asriel, then appears and erases the world. To enable further replays of the game, the player must give their soul to Chara, restoring

6161-419: The medium as a storytelling device ... instead of having the story and gameplay abstractions be completely separate". Fox worked on the entire game independently, besides some of the art; he decided to work independently to avoid relying on others. Temmie Chang worked as the main artist for the game, providing most of the sprites and concept art. Fox has said that the game's art style would likely remain

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6262-429: The medium infringed upon the potential impact of any story a game might try to tell, with Lucas commenting, "By its very nature there cannot be a plot in a game." In contrast, literary scholar Eric Hayot says that video games, while not directly comparable to novels or films, are an evolution of many long-enduring storytelling traditions that have been observed throughout human history. Hayot argues that interactivity "was

6363-491: The monsters are fought, with the human choosing whether to kill them or to spare and possibly befriend the monster. During their travels, the human learns that many years ago, Asriel, the son of Asgore and Toriel, befriended the first human who fell into the Underground. When the child abruptly died, Asriel used the child's soul to pass through the barrier, intending to return the body to the surface. The humans living there attacked and killed Asriel, causing Asgore to declare war. In

6464-499: The music separately, and connect them on a track. To celebrate the first anniversary of the game, Fox released five unused musical works on his blog in 2016. Four of the game's songs were released as official downloadable content for the Steam version of Taito 's Groove Coaster . Undertale ' s soundtrack has been well received by critics as part of the success of the game, in particular for its use of various leitmotifs for

6565-431: The name Deltarune is an anagram of Undertale . Fox stated that this release is the first part of a new project, considering it a "survey program" to determine the project's future direction. Fox clarified that Deltarune will be a larger project than Undertale , stating it took him a few years to create the game's first chapter, much longer than it took him to complete the Undertale demo. Chapter 2 of Deltarune

6666-707: The other two possible combinations, the pairing of live action video with real time graphics is seen in games such as Killing Time . Interactive cutscenes involve the computer taking control of the player character while prompts (such as a sequence of button presses) appear onscreen, requiring the player to follow them in order to continue or succeed at the action. This gameplay mechanic, commonly called quick time events , has its origins in interactive movie laserdisc video games such as Dragon's Lair , Road Blaster , and Space Ace . Director Steven Spielberg , director Guillermo del Toro , and game designer Ken Levine , all of whom are avid video gamers, criticized

6767-526: The part that has "the largest possibility for emotional engagement, for art dare we say", while also being the bit that can be cut with no impact on the actual gameplay. Koster claims that because of this, many of the memorable peak emotional moments in video games are actually not given by the game itself at all. It is a common criticism that cutscenes simply belong to a different medium. Others think of cutscenes as another tool designers can use to make engrossing video games. An article on GameFront calls upon

6868-523: The player kills every single monster in the game that can be fought. This involves continuously triggering random encounters in each area until no more monsters remain. Going down this route changes many aspects of the game: the game's soundtrack becomes more ominous, and most other characters are absent from the Overworld, having evacuated to escape the player's rampage. The few remaining characters that can be interacted with have changed dialogue, reflecting

6969-511: The player with helpful or crucial visual information. Undertale Undertale is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox . The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical barrier. The player meets various monsters during the journey back to

7070-409: The plot and general progression of the game, with the player's morality acting as the cornerstone for the game's development. When players encounter enemies in either scripted events or random encounters , they enter a battle mode. During battles, players control a small heart which represents their soul, and must avoid attacks unleashed by the opposing monster similar to a bullet hell shooter. As

7171-577: The portrayal of characters. Some movie tie-in games, such as Electronic Arts ' The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars games, have also extensively used film footage and other assets from the film production in their cutscenes. Another movie tie-in, Enter the Matrix , used film footage shot concurrently with The Matrix Reloaded that was also directed by the film's directors, the Wachowskis . In

7272-427: The present day, Asgore has collected six souls from fallen humans, of which he needs one more to destroy the barrier. The game's ending depends on how the player handles encounters with monsters. If the player completes a playthrough without killing any monsters (or killed some but not all of the monsters) they experience the "Neutral" ending. The human arrives at Asgore's castle and is forced to fight him. Sans stops

7373-466: The release of Undertale , he was best known for composing music for the webcomic Homestuck , starting in 2010. Undertale was the first full game that he wrote. According to Fox, he was casually reading Misplaced Pages in December 2012 when he found its article for array data structures , something Fox didn't have knowledge of. After reading the page, he thought about how he could use it to create

7474-487: The rise of CD-ROM as the primary storage medium for video games, as its much greater storage space allowed developers to use more cinematically impressive media such as FMV and high-quality voice tracks. Live-action cutscenes have many similarities to films. For example, the cutscenes in Wing Commander IV used both fully constructed sets, and well known actors such as Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell for

7575-407: The same if he had access to a larger team of artists. He found that "there's a psychological thread that says audiences become more attached to characters drawn simply rather than in detail", particularly benefiting from the use of visual gags within the art. Retrospectively, Fox described Undertale as "a huge katamari of things that [he likes] that [he] combined arbitrarily," adding that part of

7676-528: The songs were composed specifically for the game. " Megalovania ", the song used during the boss battle with Sans, had previously been used within Homestuck and in one of Fox's EarthBound ROM hacks. For each section of the game, Fox composed the music prior to programming, as it helped "decide how the scene should go". He initially tried using a music tracker to compose the soundtrack, but found it difficult to use. He ultimately decided to play segments of

7777-756: The state of the game. For example, some games allow the player character to wear several different outfits, and appear in cutscenes wearing the outfit the player has chosen, as seen in Super Mario Odyssey , The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas . It is also possible to give the player control over camera movement during real time cutscenes, as seen in Dungeon Siege , Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , Halo: Reach , and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men . Many games use both pre-rendered and real time cutscenes as

7878-658: The story "was almost written improvisationally at the last minute". The defensive segment within the battle system was inspired by the Mario & Luigi series, as well as bullet hell shooters such as the Touhou Project series. When working on the battle system, Fox set out to create a mechanic that he would personally enjoy. He wanted Undertale to have a battle system equally engaging as Super Mario RPG (1996) and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003). Fox did not want grinding to be necessary at any point in

7979-462: The surface, although some monsters might engage the player in a fight. The combat system involves the player navigating through mini- bullet hell attacks by the opponent. They can opt to pacify or subdue monsters in order to spare them instead of killing them. These choices affect the game, with the dialogue, characters, and story changing based on outcomes. Outside of artwork and character designs by Temmie Chang and other guest designers, Fox developed

8080-484: The underground and is credited to causing the destruction inflicted in the Genocide route, is the narrator of the game. Among all theories proposed by the fandom though, the story regarding the former royal scientist W. D. Gaster is often cited as the deepest rabbit hole in the story of the game. The Gaster story has very few pieces of evidence confirmed to have been known by the community outside of his association with

8181-453: The use of cutscene cinematics or breaking up its world into levels , and is often credited with having codified many modern storytelling conventions within the medium. While video game stories have received praise, it has also been argued that video games are not an ideal medium for storytelling, and that the overall quality of narratives within video games is not equal to those in other forms. Writing for The Atlantic , Ian Bogost criticizes

8282-399: The use of cutscenes in games, calling them intrusive. Spielberg states that making the story flow naturally into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers. Hollywood writer Danny Bilson called cinematics the "last resort of game storytelling", as a person doesn't want to watch a movie when they are playing a video game. Game designer Raph Koster criticized cutscenes as being

8383-561: The use of the companion character Fi in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword , in which the answers to puzzles were often revealed early. Fox also felt that role-playing video games generally lack strong mother characters; in the Pokémon series , as well as Mother and EarthBound , Fox felt that the mothers are used as "symbols rather than characters". In response, Fox intended for Toriel's character to be "a mom that hopefully acts like

8484-484: The various characters used throughout various tracks. In particular, "Hopes and Dreams", the boss theme when fighting Asriel in the Pacifist run, brings back most of the main character themes, and is "a perfect way to cap off your journey", according to USgamer ' s Nadia Oxford. Oxford notes this track in particular demonstrates Fox's ability at "turning old songs into completely new experiences", used throughout

8585-602: The world and causing a permanent alteration to the Pacifist ending. Undertale was developed by Toby Fox across 32 months. Development was financed through a crowdfunding campaign on the website Kickstarter . The campaign was launched on June 25, 2013, with a goal of US$ 5,000; it ended on July 25, 2013, with US$ 51,124 raised by 2,398 people. Fox had little experience with game development; he and his three brothers often used RPG Maker 2000 to make role-playing games, though few were ever completed. Fox also worked on several EarthBound ROM hacks while in high school. Before

8686-562: The world was a natural process, as it expressed the stories of those within it. Fox felt the importance to make the game's monsters "feel like an individual". He cited the Final Fantasy series as the opposite; "all monsters in RPGs like Final Fantasy are the same ... there's no meaning to that". The character of Toriel, who is one of the first to appear in the game, was created as a parody of tutorial characters. Fox strongly disliked

8787-497: Was an attempt to link both Undertale and Deltarune together aside from sharing the same characters. The game appeared on several year-end lists of the best games of 2015, receiving Game of the Month and Funniest Game on PC from Rock Paper Shotgun , Best Game Ever from GameFAQs , and Game of the Year for PC from The Jimquisition , Zero Punctuation , and IGN . It also received Best PC Game from Destructoid , and

8888-603: Was exhausting to get the game to play without worrying about story" and as such, story was not a concern for many developers. Text adventure games such as Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork featured simple fantasy narratives which have been compared to Dungeons & Dragons . In later years, technological advances allowed developers greater options for expressing story in a video game, which led to more expansive and ambitious narratives. Half-Life , released in 1998, made significant innovations in how it presented its narrative, such as its choice to tell its narrative without

8989-407: Was inspired by the concepts of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (1997), which involved the player repairing the damage of the "Hero" and increasing their "Love Level" by helping people instead of hurting them. Fox also cited Cave Story (2004) as a general inspiration for the game. According to Fox, the "idea of being trapped in an underground world" was inspired by the video game Brandish . Fox

9090-550: Was made available for download in the crossover title Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in September 2019, marking the character's official debut as a 3D model. This costume also adds a new arrangement of "Megalovania" by Fox as a music track. Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai noted that Sans was a popular request to appear in the game. Music from Undertale was also added to Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! as downloadable content. After Undertale ' s release,

9191-410: Was nominated for multiple accolades and awards. Several gaming publications and conventions listed Undertale as game of the year , and others have since listed it as one of the greatest video games ever made . Two chapters of a related game, Deltarune , were released in 2018 and 2021. Undertale is a role-playing video game that uses a top-down perspective . In the game, the player controls

9292-414: Was partly influenced by the silliness of internet culture , as well as comedy shows like Mr. Bean . He was also inspired by the unsettling atmosphere of EarthBound . Fox's desire to "subvert concepts that go unquestioned in many games" further influenced Undertale ' s development. Fox found that the writing became easier after establishing a character's voice and mood. He also felt that creating

9393-453: Was performed and released in 2016 by saxophonist Norihiko Hibino and pianist Ayaki Sato. A 2x LP vinyl edition of the Undertale soundtrack, produced by iam8bit , was also released in the same year. Two official UNDERTALE Piano Collections sheet music books and digital albums, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales, were released in 2017 and 2018 by Materia Collective. A Mii Fighter costume based on Sans

9494-449: Was released by video game music label Materia Collective in 2015, simultaneously with the game's release. Additionally, two official Undertale cover albums have been released: the 2015 metal/electronic album Determination by RichaadEB and Amie Waters, and the 2016 jazz album Live at Grillby's by Carlos Eiene, better known as insaneintherainmusic. Another album of jazz duets based on Undertale ' s songs, Prescription for Sleep ,

9595-427: Was released in 2023 and met with immense popularity by fans on multiple social media networks. Undertale ' s fanbase has also been subject to controversy, leading to it gaining a negative reputation. Part of it was due to the disagreement between fans over the correct way to play the game. After the game's release, some live streamers were harassed by fans of the game for killing in-game enemies and attempting

9696-559: Was released on March 16, 2021. As with the PlayStation 4 and Switch versions, the Xbox One version features unique content specific to that platform. All the console ports were developed and published by Japanese localizer 8-4 in all regions. Other Undertale media and merchandise have been released, including toy figurines and plush toys based on characters from the game. The game's official soundtrack, Undertale Soundtrack ,

9797-417: Was released on May 23, 2013, which at the time was said to account for about 25 percent of the full game. It had an initial release timeframe of Summer 2014. The game was released on September 15, 2015, for OS X and Windows , and on July 17, 2016, for Linux . Fox expressed interest in releasing Undertale on other platforms, but was initially unable to port it to Nintendo platforms without reprogramming

9898-452: Was released on September 17, 2021, after Fox acquired a team to help him with further development. Once all chapters are complete, the game will be released as a complete whole; Fox stated that he does not have an anticipated timetable for completion. Deltarune is planned to have only one ending, regardless of what choices the player makes in the game. Although the first two chapters were released at no cost, Fox plans to charge players for

9999-407: Was revealed during a March 2018 Nintendo Direct , though no release date was given at the time; Undertale ' s release on Switch highlighted a deal made between Nintendo and YoYo Games to allow users of GameMaker Studio 2 to directly export their games to the Switch. The Switch version was released on September 15, 2018, in Japan, and on September 18, 2018, worldwide. The Xbox One version

10100-704: Was set to be released in mid-2014, but experienced delays. The game was released for Windows and OS X in September 2015. It was also ported to Linux in July 2016, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in August 2017, the Nintendo Switch in September 2018, and Xbox One in March 2021. The game was acclaimed for its thematic material, intuitive combat system, musical score, originality, story, dialogue, and characters. The game has sold at least five million copies and

10201-413: Was the only song to undergo multiple iterations in development. The soundtrack was inspired by music from Super NES role-playing games, such as EarthBound , bullet hell series Touhou Project , and the webcomic Homestuck , for which Fox provided some of the music. Fox also stated that he tries to be inspired by all music he listens to, particularly those in video games. According to Fox, over 90% of

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