DOG HOLE DUNGEON NEWSLETTER
- Issue 2 -

GAME PROGRESS!

The game has (evidently) still been going swimmingly! Instead of purely moving forward, we’ve taken the time to go back and polish up much needed areas of improvement, and we’ve even added some new enemies to all existing layers as well! Detours in development like this help the game be less repetitive and more interesting overall for the kind of structure it’s going for.

I’ve managed to strike a healthy balance between working on the game and other, more important aspects of my life, in case anyone was worried about how much stuff gets done in so little time… I’m doing fine!

I’m not going to give numbers again because things always fluctuate (the numbers are outdated now anyway, we’ve also expanded the soundtrack way more), but currently, I estimate that in terms of game content, we’re about 64% of the way there. Factoring in bugtesting, testing, QA and release preparations, it’s very safe to assume that Deltarune Chapter 5 will be out before Dog Hole Dungeon, with Toby’s recent Bluesky posts proving to be even further evidence for this. That’s not a bad thing though, we’re committed to making sure that the game can be as enjoyable to play as we can make it!

As always, we’re working hard alongside the testers in order to make sure the game feels as fair and balanced as it can be, a monumental task because of how modular every enemy has to be designed in relation to about 30 others, but so far, things have been going good! Regardless, I feel like having a few intentionally obtuse and badly designed things in the game will give it more intrinsic charm, but the game will never feel unfair at all, so don’t worry.

Without further ado, here’s some of the stuff we’re comfortable with showing!

CYBER LAYER REDESIGN

Those who have been closely following the project might’ve noticed that Cyber Layer looks completely different from the last time it was in a newsletter. It’s true. The reason we changed it is that previously, it didn’t mesh well with our thematic design goals and didn’t overall reflect the game’s vision. The new design is very inspired by the Frutiger Aero design trend and other forms of 2000’s nostalgia, and even better, the track made for the layer still fits the new design, maybe even better than before! The enemies are still the same though, so don’t worry.

I actually did the entire tileset and background. I’m very proud of it.

Yes. It’s still made of Dog Fibers. All of the water here is also just Dog Drool. Next.

NEW ENEMIES? FELINE LAYER BATTLE PREVIEW

As I mentioned before, we’ve added some new enemies for the sake of variety! Every layer now has six enemies instead of five, and we feel like this is the right amount now. We now have three programmers working on enemy stuff, while everyone else works on overworld stuff and room planning/implementation. In terms of total enemy work, bosses included, we are past the halfway point, but those bosses are going to be quite tough to make once we finish the final layer’s enemies. We have also finished one optional boss in advance. This might be one of the last times I mention enemy work outside of just properly celebrating that all basic enemies are finished. (probably in the next issue?)

For extra clarification, the rest of the bosses will be worked on after regular enemy work has finished. We had to get the first two done early in order for the testers to be able to properly complete Dog & Sakura Layers.

We’re not going to show Feline Layer’s overworld until maybe way later, as it’s still very early and hasn’t even gotten its background implemented yet… maybe next issue as well…

Working on enemy attacks has been super fun for all programmers involved, and we’re making sure that they’re appropriately balanced for any layer’s given difficulty with the help of the testers. Have a look at some enemies we’ve been working on for Feline Layer!

Oh yeah, and one more thing. An important song, courtesy of cianeatsgrass. This is probably one of the last tracks we’ll upload before release. I won’t be providing context for this song, as it’s up to you to use your imagination…

JAPANESE VERSION NEWS

Good news! It’s (hopefully???) happening! Sometime after release, I mean. It won’t be instant. We’ve already gotten people interested in helping with localization, and have already started making internal engine preparations to allow for Japanese text, such as programming in a secondary dialogue system and some new menu screens. We won’t start extracting text until the game is content complete, but I have already started writing up translation notes and pointers for various things in the game. Have a look.

I feel like working with localization volunteers while learning Japanese at the same time will be a wonderful learning experience! After the game’s out, please contact us if you’d like to help with bringing the game overseas! This game has a LOT of text, so it’s something that we’ll likely need lots of hands on deck for.

Making preparations so far in advance has already made me realize how untranslatable some jokes are…

As always, thank you for your continued support! The game’s taking way longer than anticipated, but that means it’ll just be even better! I’ll be honest. I’m still very scared about releasing this when the time comes… because then it’s the world’s, and not just ours… I hope you can feel the unending passion and effort we put into this game when you guys finally have the chance to play it for yourselves…

Well, that’s all for now. See you next season!

I bet the Pa(n) Trick’s Spirit has already started making you feel green while reading through this, huh?