 Toby Fox couldn't sleep, Undertale was finished, it had been released, and the world had fallen in love with it. Everywhere Toby looked online, he saw people talking about his game, he saw fan art, reviews, analysis videos, and covers of the songs he'd composed for the game. His masterpiece was finished, and what's more, it was shaping up to be one of, if not the, defining game of 2015. But while Undertale was finished, Toby wasn't done yet. He had so much more that he wanted to share with the world, he couldn't just keep things to himself. Inspired and wholly unable to ignore his creative drive, Toby started work on a new project. This would be years in the making, he wasn't sure if it was even possible to finish his big sprawling epic. Completing this new project was probably impossible, but he had to try. This is the story of Delta Roon Chapter 1, the tale of how Toby Fox fought, and continues to fight, to make lightning strike a second time. Creating Undertale had been a relatively simple process. Toby had set out with the goal of creating an entire video game, or by himself, simply to prove that he could. He'd built an original demo for Undertale in just a few months, and had been very happy with his work. Of course, not everything went entirely to plan. After a surprisingly successful kickstarter, Toby found himself struggling to meet the game's initial 2014 release date, and had roped in additional artists such as Temmie Chang and Magnolia Porter to help flesh out the world and finish the huge task he'd set for himself. But, all in all, Undertale had been built to his strengths, and had been a manageable, if ambitious project. Delta Roon was not so. Right from the start, Toby began running into challenges. His vision of the game involved a much richer, more varied colour palette. Where much of Undertale was simple black and white sprite art, Delta Roon would feature full colour, and Toby struggled to get the look he was hoping for. Even as he created art that he was happy with, he was aware that it was taking a lot longer than anything he'd done on Undertale. He also wanted to expand the scope of this new game in other ways. He wanted multiple party members and main characters, with different motivations and story arcs, and that meant a far less straightforward writing process. Keeping everything organised in his head was taking a lot of work, and he wasn't sure that he could manage this alone. Then, there was the game world itself. The overworld was bigger and more interconnected than anything in Undertale, and the geography for the central town at the heart of the story needed to be set in stone right at the start to help Toby achieve consistency as the story developed. There was so much to do, so many things to organise. Toby needed a team. He'd never worked with a team before. Getting art help from Temmie was one thing, but orchestrating the work of a small studio seemed beyond him, and yet it was clear that Toby couldn't possibly make the game he wanted without outside help. It was impossible. He could imagine the project stretching on, endlessly, over years and years. Toby generously gave himself a seven-year window. After that, he figured he'd get bored or lose interest. So what could he do? Well, the first step was to start with something manageable. He'd built a demo for Undertale before starting on the full game. So logically, he should do that again. Delta Rune Chapter 1 was envisioned as a way to test out this new game world and to start committing to story ideas that he could build upon later. Perhaps this was the way the full game would really start, or maybe Toby would change things around and finesse ideas when he came to building the real title with his team. He forced himself to focus on Chapter 1 for now. He'd build this in its entirety and worry about the bigger, wider game after this was completed. The main challenge that weighed on Toby's mind was the battle system. He started by simply expanding upon the combat mechanics for Undertale. Originally, Delta Rune would play the same way, with the player navigating through a flurry of enemy projectiles. Toby tried out fun new additions to this formula. Maybe if the player got closer to the bullets, the enemy's attacks would end sooner. But he still had a lot of things he wasn't happy with. The combat wasn't explained very well in the demo. The system didn't really work with multiple party members. A pacifist playstyle wasn't engaging enough. Too many elements of the Undertale battle system didn't quite fit with this new game. Toby would have to rework the whole combat mechanics for the game later, but that was a job for after his demo was finished. He needed to keep pushing forward. It didn't help that Toby had a lot on his plate. Undertale's popularity meant that he was very much in demand and was needed for work on porting the game to various platforms, as well as travelling around the world promoting his game. But the biggest challenge that Toby faced was his own self-doubt. Was this game really worth making? How could he possibly top the success of Undertale? When he'd first received an unexpectedly huge amount of funding support for his initial Undertale Kickstarter, Toby had been paralysed with fear, worried that he wouldn't live up to people's expectations. Now that Undertale was a global sensation, Toby felt that whatever he did next, his fans would be disappointed. He couldn't recapture the magic of Undertale. He couldn't put that genie back in the bottle. This new game had to be its own thing, different and distinct, and people were going to react to it differently. Struggling with his own insecurity, Toby procrastinated. He didn't have to finish the game in a timely fashion, right? This was something he could do at his own ledger around other, less intimidating tasks. The years dragged on. Toby kept allowing himself to be distracted. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to get the game demo finished. Delta Rune was important to him, and he desperately wanted to share it with the world. So, again working with his friend Temmie, Toby pushed through his own indecision and doubt. He overcame this wall and completed work on the demo. Delta Rune Chapter 1 was complete. It had taken three years, longer than he'd ever spent on Undertale, but it was done. Nothing else was in any way organised. Toby's plans for a bigger game, built by a competent team of artists, were all simply ethereal at this point. Aside from a few song compositions, he had nothing ready, and would need to start all over again. But he'd made the game's first chapter. It was a start, and that was all he needed. On Halloween 2018, Toby shared Delta Rune Chapter 1 with the world. Nervously, he waited for a response. There were concerns and challenges. Some technical issues meant that his game caused some people's computers some issues. But aside from this, Toby was met with a wave of positivity. Van Art, theories, music covers, again the world was embracing his work and falling in love with his new achievements. Toby was pleased, but even as he processed these emotions, he knew he had a long road ahead of him. The story of Delta Rune was only just beginning. The moral of the story is that it's important not to choke on your own ambition. You may have a great desire to achieve huge, tremendous goals in life. You might dream big, and get intimidated by just how much work will be required to get to where you want to go. Don't give in to self-doubt. Set yourself smaller, more manageable goals. Break things down, and work towards your milestones one day at a time. The road to success is often slow, and takes a lot of patience. But with enough hard work and optimism, you can see your big dreams become a reality.