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1. Case Study
Undertale
PC (2015) and PS4/PSVita (2017)

2. Game World
• The Game World of Undertale is split into Seven Different Areas. The Ruins,
Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, the CORE, the True Lab, and New Home.
• Each of these areas have different types of terrain that needs to be traversed in
order to make it through the Underground. For example the Ruins is small and is
mainly filled with basic puzzles such as mazes and finding switches, the terrain and
architecture is the same for the most part, with only slight variety in the terrain
with piles of red leaves, pillars and the occasional spike trap that requires
interacting with the world around in order to pass by.
• Intractable Objects that can be found within the Underground include Items,
switches, Pianos, puzzles and more.

3. Game World
Terrain
Architecture
Object

4. Characters
In Undertale, players take control of a human that has fallen
into the Underground, for the most part they are unnamed
and players are given the option to name the human, however
at the end of the True Pacifist Run the name of the playable
character is found out to be Frisk, with the character you
name being the First Fallen Human (canonically named
Chara). Chara isn’t technically playable, but they not only take
control of Frisk in certain events, but they also are the main
narrator of events that happen during the events of the game,
commenting on what happens and helps give options on what
to do in battles.

5. Characters
Undertale does also have a strong list of NPC’s, who’s status in
relation to the Human changes depending on what route the player
takes. The most well known example of this is Sans, who throughout
most of the game is your ally if you go down most routes (as long as
you don’t kill his brother), however in a Genocide Run, Sans is the
final boss and is easily the hardest fight in the game.
Certain Bosses change depending on what route you take as well,
for example the final boss changes depending on what route is
taken, with Asriel Dreemurr being the Boss of the True Pacifist Run,
Asgore and Omega Flowey being the Bosses of the Neutral Runs,
and Sans being the Boss of the Genocide Run. With the Genocide
Run most bosses also change, with certain characters becoming
painfully easy to beat, meanwhile others become a lot harder. An
example of these are both Undyne and Mettaton, as their forms
change during the Genocide Route in order to combat the threat
that the Human poses to Monster Kind, with Undyne transforming
after coming back from death, and Mettaton being upgraded in
order to hold off the human (although in this case Mettaton NEO
ends up being used to show how strong the Human has become by
being painfully easy to beat)

6. Feedback Interface
One of the major parts to Undertale’s gameplay is that it is able to remember what the
player has done throughout multiple runs, keeping track on what they have done and
letting the player know about it, for example in both the Asgore and Sans battles, it
lets players know how many times they’ve attempted the fight on that particular play
through, in Sans’ case, this is because his fight was intended to be extremely difficult,
and in story purposes it is because Sans is aware that the Human (and Flowey) is able
to reset time, and is forced to go through the same events over and over again.
Determination is what is used to refer to the power that Frisk and Chara have (and
what Flowey had), and this is how they save and reset. Because of this Flowey
remembers everything about the resets, and will not hesitate to call the player out on
this, for example, if you end up killing the first boss (Toriel) and then load your save
and then spare her, Flowey will bring up you killing her and proceed to call you out on
your ability to reset.
The Game also has some moments where it intentionally crashes the
game in order to mess with the player, this happens twice throughout
the game, once after beating Asgore just before the Omega Flowey
fight, and once at the end of a Genocide Run.

7. Perspectives
• Undertale mainly employs a 2D, Top-Down Perspective in the overworld, however
in battles it loses that top-down perspective and just shifts to a 2D HUD with the
player controlling their Soul in order to dodge obstacles that are trying to harm the
player.

8. Cut Scenes
• In terms of cut scenes, Undertale doesn’t really have many cut scenes, with the
only real cut scenes being at the start of the game, and at the end of the True
Pacifist Run. The majority of the ‘cut scenes’ are mainly structured as being
interactive, rather than actually being cinematic like most games in recent years,
telling the story with interactions between the player and the other characters in
between the puzzles and battles, without disrupting the flow of gameplay.

9. Avatar
An Avatar is is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or
character. In Undertale this is technically imprinted onto Frisk/Chara at first, as during
a players first play through of the game they are led to believe that Frisk is the
representation of themselves. However story purposes later not only give Chara their
own character (and thus distancing themselves away from the player in all but their
‘given name’, but Frisk is also given their own identity, although it’s less noticeable as
they don’t show much of their own personality throughout the game, due to it letting
the player make their own decisions on what Frisk does in their adventure through the
Underground.

10. Gametype
Undertale is a single player RPG where you control a human
travelling through the Underground. As this is a single player
game, there is a lot more focus on storytelling rather than co-
operative or competitive gameplay. It’s a more subverted RPG
as unlike most RPG’s you are encouraged not to fight and
grind for EXP.

11. Narrative
• The Narrative of Undertale is quite complex due to the different routes that can be taken
within the game. There are Choices that are made as early as the first encounter that could
decide whether or not you go for the True Pacifist Ending, one of many Neutral Endings, or
the Genocide Ending.
• Undertale takes place in the Underground, a massive subterranean cave to where monsters,
who once lived harmoniously with humans on the surface, had been banished after losing a
war with humanity. The Underground is sealed from the surface world by an uneven magic
barrier created by humanity's most powerful wizards, the only point of entry being at Mount
Ebott. A human child falls into the Underground and encounters Flowey, a sentient flower
who teaches them the game's mechanics and encourages them to raise their "LV", or
"LOVE", by gaining "EXP" through killing monsters.
• When Flowey attempts to murder the human in order to take their soul for himself, the
human is rescued by Toriel, a motherly goat-like monster, who teaches the human to solve
puzzles and survive conflict in the Underground without killing. She intends to adopt the
human, wanting to protect them from Asgore Dreemurr, the king of the Underground.
• The human eventually leaves Toriel to search for Asgore's castle, which contains the path
(blocked by the barrier) leading to the surface world. Along the way, the human encounters
several monsters, including: the skeletons Sans and Papyrus, two brothers who act as
sentries for the Underground; Undyne, the head of the royal guard; Alphys, the kingdom's
royal scientist; and Mettaton, a robotic television host that Alphys had built.

12. Game Setting
• Undertale is set on a fictional mountain called Mt.Ebbot,
where the Underground is located underneath the
mountain with a magical barrier trapping everyone
underneath.
• Whilst the opening does imply that it takes place in the 21st
Century (Year 201X), it is implied that this may’ve been
when Chara had fallen into the Underground rather than
Frisk. However it is also likely that since 201X can imply
anywhere between 2010 and 2019, Frisk’s Journey into the
Underground is more likely to be towards the latter half
whereas Chara’s would be closer to the year 2010.

13. Player Goals
• The Goals for completing Undertale change depending on what route is taken, as
each route has a different objective. For the Neutral Run there is really only one
objective, get to the castle (New Home) and defeat King Asgore.
• For the True Pacifist Run, you not only have to go through a neutral
route without killing a single monster, but before reaching New
Home, you have to befriend Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys,
befriending them allows players to enter a unique area called
the True Lab, which then leads to players finding out the truth
about Flowey, and ends up with Frisk fighting Flowey’s true form,
Asriel Dreemurr. This unlocks the best ending where the barrier is
destroyed, and monster kind is free to walk the earth once more.

14. Player Goals
• For the Genocide Route the goal is simple, kill everyone in an area before reaching
the boss, and don’t spare anything. This is considered the hardest route to
complete, as not only are the two hardest bosses in the game encountered in this
route (Undyne the Undying and Sans), but it’s also heartbreaking for those who did
a True Pacifist Run beforehand. Completing this Route however punishes you for
trying to murder everyone by corrupting every pacifist run completed afterwards.

15. Rewards
• When the PC Version of Undertale was released in 2015, there wasn’t any rewards
for completing the game, only a punishment for completing the Genocide Run.
However in 2017 with the release of the PlayStation Version of Undertale
achievements were technically added to the game, however unlike most other
games on the PlayStation, the trophies that you can obtain on Undertale are really
easy, as most of them you could obtain on your first play through if you know
where to find the added content. Technically you do unlock the True Pacifist ending
after beating a Neutral Run, however it isn’t enough of an incentive to play if you
played the game for rewards.

16. Rules of a Game
• Whilst Resetting does allow the player to technically do whatever they want, the
game will remember what happened and characters like Sans and Flowey will know
what happened, even Asgore to an extent (although in his case it’s only the amount
of times he’s killed you in his fight).
• The ‘Fun’ Value can be modified on the PC Version in order to achieve some unique
scenarios within the pacifist route, including the appearance of Gaster and a way to
access Secret Unused Tracks.
• Hacking the game results in a unique neutral ending where Sans calls you out on
being a dirty hacker.
• There are consequences for completing a Genocide Route.
• On the PS4 Version, there is no way to get rid of the Corruption Left by the
Genocide Route without completely deleting the Save File (and possibly
uninstalling and reinstalling the game), however for the PC Version there is
software that targets the Genocide Values and deletes them.
•

17. Difficulty Settings
• For the most part Undertale only has one difficultly, with certain aspects being
harder than others (e.g. Sans, Undyne the Undying, Omega Flowey, Asgore etc.),
however entering Frisk into the start screen where you name your character does
enable a hard mode in the Ruins, however after battling Toriel, Hard Mode ends
and you are taken back to the main menu.

18. Inventory
• The Inventory is initially limited to 8 items when starting the game, not including
the weapon and armor that is equipped at the start. However once you exit the
ruins and meet Sans and Papyrus for the first time, you’d encounter a dimensional
box, which is essentially the games storage box, which can hold up to 10 items,
whilst it is scarce at first, only being in certain locations, you later get an upgrade to
your phone which allows you to have 2 dimensional boxes on the go, meaning that
on a Pacifist/Neutral Run you can technically carry up to 28 items, however on the
Genocide Route you don’t get this upgrade due to not meeting (or being allied
with) Alphys.

19. Winning
In order to ‘beat’ Undertale, you need to complete one of 3 routes, Pacifist, Neutral, or
Genocide. Score is technically involved when it comes to calculating what Neutral Ending you
get, and is a small factor on if you qualify for a True Pacifist Ending or a Genocide Ending, and it’s
all defined by your LV. LV stands for LOVE or Level Of ViolencE, which is a way of measuring
someone's capacity to hurt in order to gain LOVE you need EXP, or EXecution Points, which is ”a
way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others.” In a Neutral Ending, Sans Judges the
player in order to see how much LV you’ve obtained, and makes comments based on what the
result is, for example he praises you for being LV1 and getting no kills, and criticizes you for
getting LV14 yet mocks you for not going the full distance. Getting an LV of 19 would result in
fighting Sans as the only way to get that high would be to kill everyone up to and including
Mettaton NEO. Since a True Pacifist Ending requires an LV of 1 and 0 kills, as well as befriending
Papyrus and Undyne, people usually get these requirements and save before fighting Asgore, as
then after completing the neutral run they’d be able to complete the Alphys side quest and
enter the true lab without having to play through the entire game again.

20. Balance
In order to not make it an easy time for players, the combat consists of a small red soul moving
around a box dodging enemy projectiles, in order to balance the game out, the difficulty
gradually picks up throughout the game, For example in the Ruins the monsters are quite weak
enough so that new players can get used to the mechanics without being overwhelmed straight
away. However by the time players get to the CORE, they should be well acquainted with the
controls for them to have an easier time against the stronger monsters.
With the Bosses they each have different mechanics that make sure that players are always on
the move when fighting them, with almost all of them having a mechanic that changes the way
the game is played, for example Sans and Papyrus have a Blue Attack that changes Frisk/Chara’s
Soul so that they have to jump over certain obstacles, Undyne’s Boss Battles mainly consist of
Frisk blocking incoming spears when their soul is green, and dodging/running when it’s red,
against Undyne the Undying the attacks are even faster because she’s stronger due to her
determination. Against Mettaton EX (pacifist/neutral only) yellow attacks are used to shoot at
incoming projectiles (such as Mini Mettatons or Bombs), and against Muffet the Purple Soul
makes Frisk/Chara have to navigate the field on a set track. Toriel uses fire magic to try and trap
the player, whilst Asgore’s is a lot stronger with the addition of his Trident Swings. Omega
Flowey is a typical Bullet Hell and Asriel’s is similar to Asgore and Toriel, with the addition of
some newer attacks. As well as the Blue Attack, Sans also utilizes the Gaster Blasters, demonic
dragon skulls that fire large lasers at the genocidal player, and in his fight, Sans has a unique
ability called Karmic Retribution (or KR), which slowly drains the health of the player if hit by any
attacks, this combined with Sans’ fast paced attacks as well as his ability to dodge attacks is the
reason why he is considered to be the hardest boss in the game.

21. Graphics
• The Graphics of Undertale are quite simplistic, everything is in 2D and for the most
part is reflected to be similar to the capabilities of 16 Bit Consoles such as the SNES
and the Sega Genesis. In some cases however the art style has become quite
photo-realistic, particularly in the Omega Flowey fight at the end of the Neutral
Run, which was comprised of many different realistic images on Photoshop, also
giving him the nickname ’Photoshop Flowey’.

22. Graphics Comparison
• In terms of games that are similar to it, Undertale’s Graphics were originally
inspired by the game Earthbound, a SNES Game released in 1995 that Undertale
Creator Toby Fox spent time making ROM Hacks of, among them was his infamous
Earthbound Halloween Hack, which was where Sans’s Theme ‘Megalovania’
originated from as ‘MeGaLoVania’.
• In terms of games released during the same time period, it doesn’t even compare
to games such as The Witcher III, Fallout 4, or even Rocket League. However this
once again is due to the inspiration that had come from games like ‘Earthbound’

23. In Game Interface
The Main HUD of Undertale’s Battle System is comprised of four different options:
• FIGHT
• ACT
• ITEM
• MERCY
The mechanics of each option is exactly as names, you either fight the monster and try
to kill them, act against them in order to convince them not to fight you, use items to
heal, and mercy is the spare or flee option.

24. Music
One of the best parts about Undertale is its Soundtrack, every song has an impact for
the story and the boss themes are some of the best themes in gaming. Each Boss
Theme gives you an idea as to what the personality of the character is like. For
example Papyrus’s Theme ’Bonetrousle’ is really upbeat and lighthearted, which
reflects his personality of just overall being a really happy skeleton. On the surface
Asgore’s Theme ‘Berguntruckung/Asgore’ sounds really regal and should reflect his
status as king, but when comparing it to Toriel’s Theme ‘Heartache’ and Asriel’s Theme
‘Hopes and Dreams’, you can faintly see in ‘Asgore’ how he regrets the decision to
declare war on humanity, and he really just wants his family back, which is even more
heartbreaking in a second neutral run as he could potentially let himself die so Frisk
can go back to the surface. Sans’ Theme ‘Megalovania’ is also fast paced, however it is
also quite dysfunctional, reflecting how Sans doesn’t want to have to fight, however
due to the fact that the Genocide Run could corrupt the timeline, Sans is trying to do
everything he can in order to stop the human. With the Genocide Run, the themes for
each area are slowed down and distorted so that it reflects the grim mood of the run,
this is apparent in Waterfall where it’s slowed down to the point where it sounds really
creepy, and the theme ’But Nobody Came’ will send chills down the spine of anyone
who hears it for the first time.
Asgore Megalovania Hopes and Dreams

25. Engine
• Undertale was created by Toby Fox using GameMaker: Studio, who wanted to
develop a role-playing game that was different from the traditional design which he
often found "boring to play". It was originally released on Steam on September 15th
2015, however because Toby Fox wanted to expand the reach of Undertale to more
international audiences (particularly to those in Japan), he re-released the game on
PS4 and PSVita on August 15th 2017.
• Overtime an engine specifically made for creating custom Undertale Fights has
been released called Unitale, there has also been several fan games made using the
Undertale Engine, such as Undertale Yellow, Overtime and Undertale: Don’t Forget.
Undertale minimum requirements
CPU: Info
CPU SPEED: Info
RAM: 2 GB
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10
VIDEO CARD: Video Card with 128 MB
FREE DISK SPACE: 200 MB
Undertale Recommended Requirements
CPU: Info
CPU SPEED: 2.0 GHz+
RAM: 3 GB
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10
VIDEO CARD: Video Card with 512 MB
FREE DISK SPACE: 200 MB

26. Box Art
Simplistic, almost showcasing the
games graphics in a nutshell

27. Awards
• Undertale has received multiple awards and
nominations from several gaming publications. It
won Game of the Year from The Jimquisition and Zero
Punctuation,as well as Game of the Month from Rock,
Paper, Shotgun. The game won the Best Game Ever poll
from GameFAQs, and was awarded Best PC Game
from Destructoid and IGN. At the Independent Games
Festival Awards, it won the Audience Award,while
the SXSW Gaming Awards named it the Most Fulfilling
Crowdfunded Game, and awarded it the Matthew
Crump Cultural Innovation Award.

28. Video Game Addiction
• Video Game Addiction is essentially where a person ends
up playing games for excessive amounts of time, to the
point where it can interfere with their everyday life. Video
game addiction may present itself as compulsive gaming,
social isolation, mood swings, diminished imagination, and
hyper-focus on in-game achievements.
• As of 2018, Gaming addiction is to be listed as a mental
health condition for the first time by the World Health
Organization, to the anger of many people on social media,
who believe that it was unnecessary to do.

29. Bibliography
• Fox, T. (2015). Undertale. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertale. Last
accessed 20th Feb 2018.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9AYjM-2y1c (Undertale Opening Cut Scene)
• Wakefield, J. (2018). Gaming addiction classified as disorder by WHO. Available:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42541404. Last accessed 23rd February
2018.