TEAM WILDFIRE INTERVIEW

TEAM INTRODUCTIONS

ART

What inspirations were gathered in order to create the art design of Undertale Wildfire?
PsychoGreen

waterinc:
aaahhh!!! too broad!!! frig, take this one please!!!

Frigadae:
Art design as a whole is a bit hard to unpack. The general art style is strongly influenced by Deltarune. So we'd like to say it's Undertale with a couple of graphical touch-ups here and there. For environmental art there was really just an overall need to make it feel colder and more remote than Snowdin, so a lot of cold colors were selected, especially blue, indigo and purple tones. For reference materials, a good place to start would be snippets from the film Siberiade.

Since Wildfire is intended to take place way before the time periods of Undertale Yellow and Undertale, looking for pre-internet artifacts as inspiration seems fitting. There was also just an overall want at least for me personally to shine some light onto the more obscure stuff that exists in the real world and in history. So artifacts referenced in the teaser like the Commodore 64 comes into play. The Sopwith Triplane, New Zealand birds like the Kakapo and Kiwi intended for blocking your path in the combat demo is just one out of many things to come.

What programs do you use for pixel art and animations?
Stestir

waterinc:
aseprite all the way, it's got everything!!! i sometimes use Pixel Composer to help with more technical animations, too...

Frigadae:
Aseprite has always been a pretty reliable option.

Will there be cool overworld sprite animations in-game?
Danlee1

Frigadae:
Well... maybe there will, we'll just want to wait and find out. Over to you, Water.

waterinc:
lots of our overworld cutscenes use cool animation! i would say that we've set our visual polish standard somewhat higher than UNDERTALE's was (i mean, can you even roughly list how many custom animations were used in UNDERTALE's cutscenes past simple in-engine sprite swaps? i can only think of one... monster kid...), so that includes using proper animation in places where it's either necessary for coolness, or just where it's funny. one character in particular is already on-track to be very dense with custom animations, but i won't tell you who... that said though, we have a very talented team of artists and animators, so please have faith in our ability to deliver!

PROGRAMMING

What were your inspirations for the trinket mechanics?(aside from delta rune)
Cheesecakemermaid1048

python-b5:
I wasn't the main designer for the Trinkets (that would be Beemo!), so the influence probably doesn't come across particularly strongly, but the Trinkets in our game remind me of CHARMs from OMORI. In fact, other parts of Wildfire's combat system remind me of OMORI as well - our PLAYs are kind of similar to SKILLs in that game! In a way, our combat system combines elements from Undertale, Deltarune, and OMORI, though to varying degrees, of course.

WildBeemo:
I was inspired by roguelike games like Slay the Spire, which feature "Relics" that provide passive benefits, and Jokers from Balatro that have unique effects when added to your run.

How different is the coding proccess of UTW from Toby's?
Boroque

python-b5:
I can't speak on the process Toby uses to develop his games, not being privy to his team's workings, but compared to the code I've read from Undertale and Deltarune I try to keep Wildfire's code well-organized and structured, so it's easy to maintain and to patch out bugs in when they pop up. Combat encounters specifically I have put a lot of work into to make them as easy as possible to create, and require little hardcoding. I made the text and cutscene systems' documentation public a while back, which might help give an idea of the level of planning I like to put into things.

From a scale of 1 - 9 how hard has it been to code the game?
Oogely_boogely

python-b5:
It's hard to place something as immaterial as "how hard was it to..." on a numeric scale like this, but if I have to I'd say somewhere around a 6 or 7. There's certainly a lot to keep track of in a complicated game like Wildfire, but quantity doesn't necessarily equal difficulty. Most of the code in Wildfire isn't really all that complicated. There's no fancy computer science stuff going on, haha. Nothing I've needed to program for Wildfire has been complicated enough that I've ever been genuinely stumped as to how to implement it. It's a 2D pixel art game without any fancy graphical effects - it's best not to overthink things. Sometimes picking the right solution is hard, but putting everything together into a complete game and staying organized is where the actual challenge generally lies. I try my best to design well-architected systems for things so that I don't have to do annoying hardcoding in the future, which can also be tricky since I am admittedly not great at planning things out.

... oh, and debugging. That can be a pain.

MUSIC

How many songs have been completed, and will you allow fanmade songs to be created and added to the game? Will there be a variety of authors or just EvanJamesTM
Froug

evanjames™:
As of right now, there are 15 tracks completed. As I write this, I'm in the process of making another one right now lol. As for fan-work however, I do appreciate that people want to write their own songs, and I think that's awesome. Not sure if they'll be added, I already have a full talented team and I don't think we'd need more as of right now. There are more composers than myself, but I do most of the work in bulk, which is nice because I don't have to rush from song to song. If I did, I'd probably have a brain aneurysm, lmao.

Any favorite songs?
Thechosenone000

evanjames™:
dummy drums. /j
But for real though, from everything that IS public, that goes to Hearts & Stars, which is funny because I actually didn't like making the song. The team and I had kind of struggled to figure out what the vibe should be for Anser and Quigley, there were a few renditions that just felt too out of place and/or just weak. I'm not also a personal fan of these characters either so it was even more difficult. But through a month of burn out and perseverance, we finally ended on a final rendition that slaps! My REAL favorite song is finished, but I won't go into details about it yet... probably after it's out!

OVERALL DIRECTION

In how many sections is the game divided? and there would be a prologue?
Ksanthecat

WildBeemo:
The game is divided into five areas, and each area is split into distinct sub-areas (e.g. Snowdown is the first area. The Trails and the Forest are distinct sub-areas of Snowdown). And yes, there is a bit of prologue at the start!

Hiya Wildfire devs! Ive learned about this fangame through a friend of mine and got immediately hooked with the battle system(s). That said, what are the plans for the fangame's difficulty in terms of boss fights?
Konahriik

WildBeemo:
My guidelines for boss fights is to make attacks you can react to as a first time player, and to introduce most enemy bullets and elements via simpler attacks at the start before using these elements to make harder attacks.
For example, Anser and Quigley's fight has the first attacks introduce bear traps and Anser's different sword attacks in short simple attacks before expanding on these elements with tougher attacks later on.

python-b5:
As for the other side of battles, stats and balancing are really hard! Not only do PLAYs and Trinkets have to be balanced/well-rounded by themselves and work well together, but the stats of bosses (and just enemies in general) also need to be fine-tuned to make sure fights don't drag on too long or feel unfair. It's the kind of thing that's hard to get right the first time. That's why playtesting is important! One of the main reasons we released a combat demo was to crowdsource feedback on how well we've designed and balanced things so far. We've learned a lot of valuable things from seeing people play and discuss the combat demo, and hopefully we'll be able to keep the game feeling fair throughout.

What's the overall tone of wildfire gonna be and will anyone learn how much everything sucked for Riley on the surface, like maybe they find his journal and learn the truth. Also a sillier question does Riley like to eat magic runes because in the demo when inspecting the plane the narrator says the runes smell good and Riley has to get told to not think about it kind implying he was gonna eat them because they smelled good. Since every fallen human eats something that isn't considered food, is that Riley's?
incorporeal_user

WildBeemo:
Undertale Wildfire will be a mix of funny moments, intriguing worldbuilding, horror, and coziness.
As for Riley's favorite non-conventional food and his past, you'll see!

Ello! How long ago did the initial idea or any idea relating to Wildfire come about?
Wanderinwaffle

WildBeemo:
It came about early January 2024, and I started the project mid-January 2024!

What will the areas be like?
Eb63nesss

WildBeemo:
Each area is a little bigger than the standard Undertale area because of how they're split into sub-areas! Snowdown (the first area) is split into the Trail, the Forest, and the Village in that order.

From what I've seen so far, UTW has a lot to say about fears(the fear mechanic, Mr. Sunshine, Luna etc.), maybe that means that we can expect the story to be more horrory than UT? Or will it be like in UT, where there's only one unsettling and horrory location and otherwise the game is a lighthearted journey about friendship? Or maybe a careful mix of both?
Kir

WildBeemo:
There is horror, but you'll see when you get your hands on our demo!

How did you come up with an idea of Riley having a girlfriend/Luna's dating route? Why did you decide to add it to the game?
Stestir

WildBeemo:
I wanted to tell a story that adults could resonate with, and love is a part of that! Nobody's tried to do it before, and so I wanted to take on this challenge.

"When it comes to writing the relationship between Luna and Riley, what are you hoping to achieve with their unique bond? It's clear their unique dynamic will play a part in the story, so I was curious to know how you plan to go about making this relationship both satisfying, and believable. Not only that, in regards to Riley, do you also plan to go in depth in how he became acquainted with Luna and her family, in addition to some of the stuff he has been doing behind the scenes while he was living in the Underground? Especially considering he's a human trying not to stand out, and just a life a stable life."
AnthonyYouki

WildBeemo:
I want to make a romantic arc work within the confines of an Undertale game! This means giving Riley a distinct character, and understanding how Riley helps Luna and vice versa throughout the story. As for the finer details, you'll see!

What inspired you to make Riley an adult instead of a child?
RedSwift

WildBeemo:
I'm a guy in my 20s, and I wanted to write a story with a protagonist that folks my age could resonate with. I've seen no projects that have tried this before, and so I see opportunities to tell a story grown-ups will love that nobody seems to have taken yet.

How gay (or I guess straight since Riley's he/they) will we get to be with Luna? Like is this "occasional little flirty statements" or "they're making out now" I wanna know how this relationship with the deer gal is gonna go-
Ruevoid

WildBeemo:
We'll see what we can get away with!

WRITING

Which soul is Riley? Are they #2, or does a different soul fill that spot?
The Golden Gibus

Varldin:
If you're asking what the order of the fallen humans is, then Riley is the third. Chara being the first, and one other human falling into the Underground before Riley.

In terms of the writing, what themes do you hope to convey to the player and how different can we expect that theme to change between pacifist and no mercy routes?
twittsneke

Varldin:
A central theme we're tackling that will manifest in a lot of ways is the concept of fear, and the ways one can confront things like their worries, anxieties, insecurities, and so on. I think we have some great ideas to tackle these, both with story and gameplay. As for differences in routes... you absolutely can expect our routes to show these themes in different scenarios and from different perspectives.

Given that the intro sequence is Riley telling their story, is Riley going to be a protagonist that talks often or silent, or a mix of both kinda like Kris or Link?
Olivergarden

Varldin:
I would say that this is a very good detail to have picked up on! Suffice to say, that was a creative decision we made for the intro, and is absolutely intentional.

What made the team behind Undertale Wildfire want to make it?
blackbishop

WildBeemo:
I wanted to pay homage to this life-changing game that Toby Fox made, while also writing a great story I could resonate with as an adult in the fandom.

Varldin:
I was drawn to the vision of wanting to tackle more mature/serious themes with the game, and the idea of a fan game that tries to capture the feeling of an Undertale game, with the story, humor, and characters associated with Toby Fox, seemed like a fun concept and a challenging one to do as a developer. My primary drive at the moment is that I believe we have an amazingly talented team and have an opportunity to build on the world of Undertale while injecting our own ideas and themes into it. I hope, ultimately, that people enjoy the story that we tell and leave feeling like they had a fulfilling experience.

waterinc:
i remember coming across the rough story outline for UTW on Twitter at some point after the hype for UTY started dying down, and all of the proposed ideas sounded really cool and unique to me!!! that lead me to finding some of the OST that had already been released on Youtube, and luna's theme in particular really resonated with me... plus the awesome concept art that was in the background!!! that stuff eventually inspired me to dig deeper and invest myself in what else had been released, and then... heh... i guess the rest is history. *starts fake-smoking a wooden stick*

Frigadae:
I guess for me, it feels like it's my last shot at leaving an impression on the Undertale/Deltarune community before I go and do something else in life. That statement is not absolute, but I do want to give it my all as an artist to paint a world that goes above and beyond what is shown in the original Undertale. Undertale Yellow has shown that anything is possible in the underground. I liked Beemo's idea that you can befriend and date a bunny monster. Instead of fleeing, you are earning the right to a happy life alongside the monsters. So I'm pretty much in!

evanjames™:
I saw a post on Twitter (not calling it X) about the project, asked if they had any musicians, and they did not. I was actually the first to compose ever, and made the first rendition of "Once Upon a Fearless Time." Since then I've been locked in the basement held by chains and they extract my blood once a month, but other than that its been great! Compared to a lot of other prequel games, Wildfire was the one that stood itself out to me the most. when I was pitched with the story when it first started off, I saw the potential in the project. It has a very unique premise, for that it is a personal story about overcoming hard things in life, and that kinda speaks to me on a personal level. I grew up with Undertale, since I was in Jr. High through... now, actually (I write the soundtrack for this game lol). Undertale is one of those games that's special, and if I showed them to my parents, they'd look at me weird and I'd say "you just don't get it..." but I'd get over it anyway. I'm in UTW because I wanted to do something that'll make me proud. Something I can look back on and smile from nostalgia (the good kind), and I hope to see it through to the end.

python-b5:
What initially drew me in was the concepts on the GameJolt page for a new combat system. Of course, pretty much everything about our combat system has changed since then, but the fact that Wildfire was trying to do something different was appealing to me. I also was just interested in getting involved in a proper large-scale project, to help gain experience and make me a better programmer. It was something "real" to work on, in a way. I'm very glad I joined the team, and hope the game has the level of polish I've strived for.