Toby Fox

Toby Fox & his Achievements

Robert F. "Toby" Fox is an American game developer and composer best known for his popular games Undertale and Deltarune, although he has worked on or contributed to many things, including:

In 2008, he released his most notable early work, the EarthBound Halloween Hack. A year later, in 2009, he began working on the popular webcomic Homestuck as production coordinator of the soundtrack, and he continued working on it until it ended in 2016. In that time, he composed many songs, including a version of one of his most popular songs, Megalovania.

On September 15, 2015, his most well-known work, Undertale, was released. The game was extremely successful, selling over 3.5 million copies and winning many awards, including a British Academy Game Award, three Game Awards, and D.I.C.E. Awards. Other than the art, which was mainly made by Temmie Chang, Toby Fox surprisingly worked on the entire game alone.

On October 31, 2018, Deltarune's demo was released, originally called "SURVEY PROGRAM". He first came up with Deltarune in 2012. The idea came to him when he dreamt the ending while he had a fever. The demo included chapter 1 of the game. The rest of the game was planned to release simultaneously.

On September 17, 2021, the second chapter was released for free because "the world has been really tough for everybody recently", due to the pandemic, and the new plan was to release chapters 3, 4, and 5 together, and lastly chapters 6 and 7 together. However, the plan changed slightly to release chapter 5 separately.

On June 4, 2025, chapters 3 and 4 released as a paid game, and it was stated the rest of the game would come as free updates. These were the last releases as of now, and Toby Fox is currently working on Chapter 5 which is planned to release in 2026.

How Toby Fox Inspired Me

I first learned of Toby Fox many years ago. Although I don't remember exactly when or how I discovered him, I remember his work was a way I connected with my siblings and, later, found my friends, some of which I am still close with today. My earliest memory of his work is when my sister and I watched my brother fight Sans.

I met many of my friends through Undertale, including my closest friends today. My friends are some of the most important people in my life, so I am very grateful for Toby Fox's work. My friends and I still often discuss Undertale, and his more recent work Deltarune, with each other.

Undertale is also what initially inspired me to get into game development. Undertale was made almost entirely by Toby Fox himself, other than the artwork by Temmie Chang. This showed me that anyone can create a game if they put their mind to it.

Undertale and Deltarune's stories themselves have also greatly inspired me, and continue to do so today as more Deltarune content is released. Undertale's true pacifist ending has held a special place in my heart since I first saw it. Recently, a stream was held to celebrate the 10 year anniversary for Undertale, and on stream they played the game. Even 10 years later, I still cried at the ending.

All in all, Toby Fox's work was one of my first and biggest inspirations relating to my life today. His work is very special to me. Undertale and Deltarune are the reasons I know what I'll do in my future, the reasons I know many of my friends, and are some of the earliest ways I bonded with my siblings. One of my all-time favorite quotes is a quote of his; a quote that's always stuck with me, and seems to continuously become more relevant: "Despite everything, it's still you".