Undertale - So Sorry
Already posted much of this on the Steam forums today since questions have come up and a bunch of rumours have been quashed so I figured I’d say a few tings.

This is gonna be a bit essay-ish but I figured I should
respond to some questions, concerns and rumours that are goin around.
So, full disclosure on the parts I can actually confirm. If you want
more, you’ll have to ask Toby and Tem - I don’t know exactly what they
think of me and I’m supremely anxious anyway, haha. They’ve been very
supportive and kind to me though and I think they’re great people.
Anyway, here’s the way of it.
Firstly, So Sorry is the Fan Troll.
I has originally backed to design a monster but I thought long and hard
and said “Hey, I think Undertale is literally the best, I want to help
out, I know its a joke tier but would you be cool with me backing it”.
He said yes and was kind of surprised at the time. We started talking
about stuff before the Kickstarter ended. It didn’t take long for him to
find out who I was, I have an internet presence like a lot of folks,
and we got talking about it. I didn’t want my weird, niche interests to
have any effect on the game because I had no desire to tamper with the
game or anything. That’d be weird. In any case, I do have interests
outside of my more peculiar things and Undertale was real important to
me. It made me feel things a game had not done for a very long time, if
at all.
So, Toby asked me if I’d be cool obscuring the connection
since the character is a pre-existing thing. Part of its so the game
feels like a self contained unit and give him control as a creator,
which I totally get and I was fine with, and part of it was to avoid the
issue of people seeing the name, googling it and giving me stick. Which
happened anyway cos someone saw the battle in the discussions on /v/ I
think and linked my gallery. Part of it is, obviously, so you can search
for content of the game and not find my stuff. It isn’t shame, as far
as I’m aware, to not want something unrelated associated wih you. Asking
for major alterations to the character felt weird, its kind of a part
of my identity, y'know? Like if someone asked me if my face could come
with detached lobes or green eyes, I’d feel a little comprimised? When I
expressed that kind of thing though, he seemed to understand.
I
thought a bunch about what I could make work that would keep it distinct
but true to the character. The game was full of mom/dad jokes, so I
suggested the joke name So Sorry (Hey Mr Sorry, can I call you So?) and
he liked it. He also asked if he could remove the hat and I said sure,
like, its just window dressing, y'know? A hat’s a hat, not my whole
identity. He added it back in of his own accord and added in half a
dozen in total I think - I’m not even sure if I’ve even seen all of em. I
think my favourite is the party hat though, it always makes me laugh.
Otherwise, Toby seemed fine with the character being as they are and I
really like the interpretation he came up with. There’s a rumour going
around that not only would I not accept any comprimise, I was rude to
Toby for asking and I don’t know where that’s coming from. A lot of them
seem to be based on me being a secret and Toby hating me but I’m fine
with the secret thing and as far as I’m aware, Toby doesn’t think ill of
me. You can probably ask him yourself.
In terms of input, the
design and general personality were mine. I think I might have come up
with the paper ball attack? I didn’t expect it to take up much of the
window though, haha. I might be wrong though, its been a couple of
years. I think I suggested an attack where the pen chased you like in
the game Snake. I didn’t come up with the ‘3D tush wiggle attack’ - that
has orange/blue mechanics which I didn’t know anything about til I
played the game. He also ran the whole dialogue of both paths by me
before the game - I think the Fight version is actually the funnier of
the two and I totally recommend people do it at least once, haha.
I
think the array of faces So Sorry pulls in the whole thing are
hilarious, too, and they’re part of the anxiety dealy I have. That was,
by the way, the only real concession Toby asked of me - I think I
suggested a dreary or stammery kind of anxiety, but both of those are
covered by Napstablook and the character that would become Alphys. In
fact, a lot of friends thought Alphys was my contribution due to how her
anxiety manifests. I suggested a more desperate and energetic anxiety
instead and we went with that!
I’m really happy with how it
turned out, despite the abuse people have been slinging my way. Nobody
has to look at my work just because I’m in the game - I know my stuff is
not for everyone, hence I keep it to the sites I post on and I’m not
offended if people don’t like it. My work has no bearing on any
discussion of the game though - my interests don’t touch the game, only
my identity, and I’m happy to keep it that way.
A lot of people
compare my inclusion to Muffet and I think thats kind of weird. Muffet
is tied to the intro by way of the bake sale, I’m tied to it by means of
bad jokes. I think the Muffet fight is honestly probably one of my
favourites, even if it is a little abrupt, its just paced kind of
perfectly in its place in the game and the music sells it perfectly. So
Sorry doesn’t have any pacing concerns, meanwhile, because they’re a
secret and the music feels a little more out of place because it isn’t
echoing earlier music - Spider Dance has elements of Dummy and Ghost
Battle, I think. In any case, I think Muffet’s design is excellent and
it feels a bit weird to compare the loser dragon I designed as a
teenager ten years ago and identify with to something an incredibly
talented comic artist drafted and designed more recently. I am what I am
and a great artist I ain’t, haha. I just wanted to be a part of
something I loved. I wasn’t the only one, considering other people opted
in to contribute designs to the game. Woshua’s also great.
I
didn’t want to interfere with the game any more than I did in the end - I
was super excited to see what Toby was going to make. In the end, the
whole thing was worth the wait and I’m very happy to have played a very
small part in helping the game be. I still have the original sprite I
think Tuyoki did for So Sorry on the overworld but I don’t think its up
to me to share it without her say so. I’d ask if its cool and link it,
but I’m actually kinda shy, haha.
Also I’d like to say people have been, in general, really supportive - especially on Tumblr and FA. Thanks, guys! =3
I think thats most of it though, if I missed anything, feel free to ask.
