Chapter 3 & 4 Development

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Deltarune.

To do: More stuff from Spamton Sweepstakes, preferably things that have differences or are absent from the chapters. Add updates from newsletters. Add anything else of note from the status updates.

Chapters 3 and 4 of Deltarune would have a sizable gap from the release of the Chapter 1+2 Demo in 2021 until they released in June 2025, maybe too long.

Unused/Early Music#

sneaking.mp3#

"Earlier, we were considering having a stealth-focused section in the game where you would slowly, slowly sneak around certain areas. After developing some concepts, we realized a mechanic which basically just makes you move slower isn't necessarily fun. So, we didn't do that... Anyway, feel free to listen to this song since it's now unused." - Toby Fox

This was the song intended to be used in the cut backstage area, which would have included a central stealth section. Even though parts of the backstage and the sneaking mechanic (which now makes the player super fast instead of slow) were later reworked into TV World, this song remained unused, though it's still programmed to play in several of the unused backstage rooms. To note that while this song was cut, multiple songs in the final release still use its introduction melody as a leitmotif.

The track was used again in two clips of optional cutscenes for Chapter 5, posted in the Summer 2025 and Winter 2025 newsletter, and these cutscenes appear unchanged in the final Chapter 5. However, the track is not included in the release of the chapter's official soundtrack.

TV Land#

Despite TV WORLD having been composed in 2015, Toby experimented with a completely revised version of the song in 2018, focusing less on Death By Glamour as a base and more on Chapter 3's own leitmotifs. In Toby's own words:

"...but my friends' reaction to it was like "Yeah... sure... it's good..." so I was like... okay... fine... I'll go back to the original..."

Interestingly, the metadata is instead dated to 2019.

Hammer of Justice (Piano Sketch)#

Piano sketch version of Hammer of Justice, made around the beginning of 2016. Much shorter, with simpler instrumentation and no incorporation of the "Freedom" motif. Metadata included in the file says it was composed in 2021.

Early Work on Tenna#

Toby mentions that he is "learning 3D" in a tweet. It is later revealed that Toby was "learning 3D" to create the model of Tenna, and planned to "rotoscope" it using a Kinect. However, Toby later passed this role onto Chelsea Saunders, creator of the lovely 3D Toriel used in Undertale's trailer.

September 2021 Status Update#

In a status update for mainly focused on Chapter 2, Toby would reveal some details about the forthcoming chapters.

Originally I had planned to release chapters only when all them are finished, but honestly, it's hard both for creators and fans to go a long time without a release. So, I changed my mind. I think most people will be happy about this.

My next goal is to complete Chapters 3, 4 and 5 for next time. Then, at that time I will ask for people to buy the game, at the price of the first 5 chapters (including 1 and 2). I don't know the price yet, but it's definitely going to cost more than UNDERTALE.

So, next time you want to ask "when's chapter 3", you can ask "when can I buy Chapter 3/4/5? I'll give you a lot of money".

... I won't know the answer until it's done, though.

September 2022 Status Update#

On September 15th, 2022, Toby would post a status update on the 7th anniversary of Undertale. Notably, this would seemingly end up being the last status update, as it seems to have been retired in favor of the newsletter format.

Opening Remarks#

As stated last time, we've been simultaneously working on Chapters 3, 4 and 5 of DELTARUNE. A few more people are helping out, and the pace of the game creation is definitely improved from last time. The intention was to work on all three chapters simultaneously, but so far we've mostly just gotten work done on Chapter 3 and 4.

Between 3, 4, and 5, we've already exceeded a chapter's worth of bullets, cutscenes, and gimmicks. Not only that, but the next chapters had certain aspects that took a while to set up, and now that those things are in place, the development of the game is only going to get smoother and smoother!

As always, I want this thing to come out the most out of anyone on the planet, so we'll be doing our best to get it done.

Screenshots#

The update included some screenshots, interestingly all from Chapter 4. This is likely due to the absence of Light World sections in Chapter 3. The captions of the images are included below.

On the left side of the image, Susie has a different portrait icon, having a vicious expression. The final version is a grinning expression.

An image of the Green Room from Chapter 3. Ramb's shop is missing his name (although it's possible that this may have just been removed to avoid spoilers) and is much brighter. There's only one door beside Ramb's shop which has a much simpler design and lacking an S, perhaps implying that the ranks and their resulting special rooms didn't exist yet with the exception of the changing room, and there's a tray with a platter on it at the bottom instead of an entrance to the room below that can still be found in the final game's files. This image was also used in the Spamton Sweepstakes on the /ramb/ page.

Music#

Some music from the chapters was featured in the update, using different titles.

Video#

A single clip was teased, showing Queen's room from Chapter 4. While everything else is used in the final, there are a few differences in this video:

• Footsteps can be heard when walking.
• The sounds from the two Shadowguy recruits ramming into the walls with a car are absent. Whether the sound was just unimplemented or the Shadowguys were missing completely is unknown.

Spamton Sweepstakes#

Various things from Chapters 3-4 were previewed in the Spamton Sweepstakes.

Vapor Buster#

A four-second loop of "Vapor Buster" was used for two pages in the Spamton Sweepstakes website: a page with Lanino and Elnina, and another showing a battle against Shadowguys. The filename on the website is "battle_vapor," like in the final game. It was also used in another preview video featuring the "top 5 shadowguy quotses."

Interestingly, "Vapor Buster" does not play during either of these scenes in the final game, with "Ruder Buster" being used for the Lanino and Elnina battle and "Rude Buster" for Shadowguy battles. Whether it was originally intended to be used for one of these battles, or if it was chosen to avoid spoiling "Ruder Buster" or the watercooler mini-boss, is unknown.

Dig! Dig! To The Center of the Earth!#

The track is featured in full on a page featuring a GIF of Lancer spinning. In Chapter 3, this track plays whenever Lancer uses his digging powers in the board game.

findher.ogg#

A guitar cover of "Lost Girl" heard on a page with Dess's guitar. In the final game, this track is used in the secret room accessible from the gacha machine. It has yet to be released on the official soundtrack.

pianpian#

A chaotic series of piano notes, embedded on a page in the Spamton Sweepstakes. A similar sound is used in Chapter 4, with the same filename, when Kris plays the piano to open the door to the Dark Fountain.

Silence Links#

Alongside the Silence ending of the Sweepstakes, additional links were added to the website to further tease the chapters in May 2025.

me#

m.mp3 and e.mp3 are a variation of the track "me.ogg" which plays in Chapter 4's Weird Route, when the player reveals themselves to Noelle.

Newsletter Updates#

Starting in December 2022, the UNDERTALE / DELTARUNE NEWSLETTER would be the main source of updates for the game moving forward.

Winter 2022#

A small update for Chapter 3 was provided in the newsletter.

Since then, the development has been continuing as normal. The end is in sight for some of the content in Chapter 3. You see, Chapter 3 was going to have 4 somethings and 3 (6?) other somethings. But I've reduced the 4 somethings to 3.5 and refactored how the 3rd other something to be shorter and less something-like, while still maintaining the parenthetical (something, something)... or something. Anyway, I'm swearing off somethings now!

Spring 2023#

We are mainly focusing on completing Chapter 3!

The translation process for Chapter 3 is getting really close to starting! Actually, I haven’t told the translator this so she’ll learn this when translating this text. Have fun with that one

The newsletter included additional information for higher subscribed members of the newsletter that seems to have not been transferred with the archived version on the newsletter archive.

!!THE FOLLOWING FACTS ARE FOR ONLY HIGHER SUBSCRIPTION TIERS!!

Game Un-Progress

Tree Adventure

Please don’t hack the code of the game and look at it this time, because we had four thousand little tree objects in one room and when we tried to run on consoles as a test it wasn’t even reaching 30 fps. Lol.

We fixed it within several hours. But… Lol.

!!!THE FOLLOWING FACT IS MANIAAAAAAAAC EXCLUSIVE!!!

Cowboy Segment

True maniacs know that there is some sort of extremely brief Cowboy Scene in Chapter 3. This was teased on the Spamton Sweepstakes website.

However, this segment is in danger of being cancelled. Seriously, one of the only segments that we teased, may end up cancelled!? Well, that’s how Cowboy Shows go, I guess…

The "Tree Adventure" that had "four thousand little tree objects" mentioned here is likely referring to the section of the Sword Route where the player has to cut through several screens full of trees, which is achieved by looping a small section of the map in the final game, while the cowboy scene that was "in danger of being cancelled" would be reworked into the shootout mini-game in TV World.

Summer 2023#

As was the case last time, we're focusing on Chapter 3. However, there are a few people working on pieces of later chapters, such as bullet patterns or puzzles.

As for Chapter 3, we're finally creating the final overworld area. You could think of it like the "Queen's Castle" or "Card Castle", but for this chapter. With this complete, the chapter will finally be playable all the way through...! (Fun Fact: I composed the song for this area in 2016...)

This Chapter is made of many different pieces... so it's been hard to understand exactly how everything was turning out. Now that things are clearer, I just need to roll over the entire game with a steamroller and crush out all the bumps. There may be things to add, things to fix, or things to remove… but, many pieces have been quite polished already, so it won't be too bad.

dog driving a large steamroller, going to crush a small TV As you can tell, this chapter is shaping up to be a pretty strange one. I mostly focused on unusual gameplay elements, and it's not too heavy on the story. Since it's so frivolous, I feel a bit self-conscious about it... but, at least I got to try something different!

Anyway, Chapter 4 will be a much more standard chapter!

Halloween 2023#

Chapter 3 is pretty much content complete! There will be essentially no more changes to dialogue or gameplay from here. Hooray!

On my birthday, a friend came over to my house and played through the whole thing.

It was very gratifying to see them laugh at all of the stupid jokes we've labored over for years. It took a long time to get here, but now it feels like everything will be downhill.

After they completed it, I asked "did anything seem incomplete" and they mentioned that "the bullets seemed kind of hard..."

I nodded and forgot about this feedback immediately.

Obviously, releasing a game takes many more steps than just finishing the gameplay and graphics. But, people are already transitioning back into working on Chapter 4. Everyone is very excited to work on the next part!

When we started Chapter 3, to be honest, it took a lot of trial and error to figure out how it would work. But, with Chapter 4, I already feel very confident about how we can progress.

Summer 2024#

Hi everyone! DELTARUNE Chapter 4 is making great overall progress.

As the time of writing this (7-23-24)...

All the maps are done.

All battles are playable.

Only 2 cutscenes need small improvements.

One battle needs to be balanced and the visuals need to be completed.

One battle needs a better background.

Two battles are having their ending sequences improved.

There's still some things to fix and places to polish.

Three of my friends were able to play through the entirety of the unfinished Chapter 4.

All of them liked it and didn't have any major criticisms. Phew! (Except for one friend, who kept mentioning that I should name all of the chairs because the existence of "Chairiel" implies that all the other chairs should have names as well... I'm probably not going to do that...)

I'm not sure if Chapter 2 is still the longest chapter, but Chapter 3 & 4 together are definitely longer than Chapter 1 & 2 combined. Thinking about that is kind of crazy…

Localization Excerpts#

To do: Any differences with the Japanese text here from the final release?

The Summer issue of the Undertale/Deltarune newsletter features a link to a page on various "release quests" that the development team still needed to accomplish at the time in the leadup to Chapter 3&4's launch. The section for one such quest, the Japanese localization, includes fragments of English and Japanese text from the upcoming content, featuring early hints at characters and dialogue.

Of note is that the images' filenames on the page are listed as "loc choice a," "loc choice b," "loc choice c," "loc choice e," and "loc choice f," conspicuously skipping "d."

The Holiday issue of the Undertale/Deltarune newsletter contains more English and Japanese text from upcoming content.

There's also the following bug report, featuring an intended typo as confirmed by Toby.

English	Japanese

Video Previews#

Burgerpants Sprites Preview#

A video of some beautiful Pizzapants talk sprites being shaded in that was posted by Toby on his Twitter on June 27th, 2024. These were eventually seen in Chapter 4.

There is a third sprite seen to the left.

A DARK ZONE Preview#

On Halloween 2024, Toby posted to BlueSky with a short video of his "roast chicken" dog sprite dancing with two pumpkin people seen during the Jackenstein fight, and other pumpkin heads floating by. The music during this video is a shortened version of A DARK ZONE playing at 130 BPM instead of 100 BPM like the final game.

Launch Cycle#

Following the official release date announcement of Chapters 3 and 4, information on them began being posted more frequently.

Steam Screenshots#

On April 2, 2025, new screenshots were released on Deltarune's Steam page. Two of them come from Chapter 3, while two more come from Chapter 4.

Guei Enters the Battle#

On May 19, 2025, the official Undertale account on BlueSky posted video footage of a battle against a Guei, an enemy from Chapter 4. Notably, the video is completely silent, presumably to avoid spoiling "From Now On (Battle 2)."

Good Ol' Whatshisname#

On May 29, 2025, the Undertale Twitter and BlueSky accounts posted a video of Lancer on a blue backdrop with music playing. This track, "Query?", is available on the official soundtrack but does not exist in the final game (outside of Kris playing a piano cover of it in Chapter 4). The accompanying text (instead a poll on Twitter) with the question is also a direct reference to a Chapter 3 quiz:
What’s the name of this kid? Seriously I don’t remember.

1. Lancer
2. Dancer
3. Prancer
4. Mr. Generosity''