Toby Fox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Toby Fox
Born
Robert F. Fox

(1991-10-11) October 11, 1991 (age 34)
Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S.
Other names
  • Radiation
  • FwugRadiation
EducationNortheastern University (BS)
Occupations
Years active2008–present
Works
Signature
Signature of Toby Fox. It consists of the uppercase letters T and F, with the top of "T" connecting to the middle of "F", tilted counterclockwise.

Robert F. "Toby" Fox (born October 11, 1991) is an American video game developer, composer, and voice actor. He is best known for developing the role-playing video games Undertale and Deltarune.

Fox's early work consisted of developing RPG Maker games and creating ROM hacks like the EarthBound Halloween Hack. Fox then moved on to composing music, including for Andrew Hussie's 2009 webcomic Homestuck. In 2015, Fox created Undertale, which became a breakout hit and pop-culture phenomenon. It has received nominations for a British Academy Game Award, three Game Awards, and D.I.C.E. Awards.

Following the success of Undertale, he went on to compose music for several other indie games, as well as contributing to the soundtracks of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Pokémon video games. From 2018 onwards, Fox started development of Deltarune, an episodic video game set in a parallel universe to Undertale.

Early life and education

Robert F. Fox[1][2] was born on October 11, 1991,[‡ 1] in Manchester, New Hampshire.[1] Fox has stated that as a child, he took music lessons, including piano and trumpet; when he reached middle school, he decided to start playing piano again, performing gaming soundtracks by ear.[3] He later studied environmental science at Northeastern University and graduated in 2014.[1]

Career

2008–2009: Early work

Fox's earliest experiences in game development involved using RPG Maker with his three brothers to make role-playing games and creating ROM hacks in high school.[4][5] One of his early project was the EarthBound Halloween Hack, a Halloween-themed ROM hack of EarthBound, which released in 2008.[6] He then moved on to compose a variety of music for Andrew Hussie's 2009 webcomic Homestuck during his senior year of high school. Though he did not initially respond when Hussie started a Music Contribution Team in April 2009 and put up a news post asking composers to participate, Hussie took note of his work when Fox started uploading piano covers of the webcomic's music on the MS Paint Adventures forums.[7][3] Fox was production coordinator of Homestuck's soundtrack until its conclusion in 2016, composing music including a version of "Megalovania"; he credited this with giving him experience with digital audio workstation software.[7][3]

2013–2015: Undertale

Main article: Undertale
File:Annoying dog face.svg
Close-up of the face sprite of Undertale's "Annoying Dog", an author surrogate of Fox

Fox's most well-known work is the 2015 role-playing video game Undertale, which he also composed the soundtrack for.[1] Undertale sold more than 3.5 million copies,[8] becoming a "breakout hit" and "pop-culture phenomenon".[9] Undertale has received nominations for a British Academy Game Award, three Game Awards and D.I.C.E. Awards.[10][11][12] Fox worked on the entire game independently, besides the art assets—which he asked Temmie (Tuyoki) Chang to help with—to avoid relying on others.[13] He thought of the character designs and ideas for Undertale while in college, where he drew them in his notebook.[14]

Following its release, Undertale garnered an extensive fanbase.[15][16] Fox commented that he did not mind if people stated that they did not like Undertale, saying that it was "not for everyone".[16] Despite Undertale's awards and widespread acclaim, in 2016, Fox wrote that his personal opinion was that Undertale was still "niche" and deserved an "8/10" review score.[15] In 2016, Fox released a number of unused musical tracks from Undertale.[17] He also became a contributor to the A Profound Waste of Time magazine.[18] Fox was then chosen to be part of the 2018 Games Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his role in creating Undertale; by then it had sold over 2 million copies.[19]

Super Smash Bros.

The success of Undertale, especially in Japan, afforded Fox the opportunity to visit Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai.[20] Sans, a character from Undertale, was later included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Mii costume available through downloadable content, along with an instrumental composition "Megalovania", for which Fox provided a new arrangement.[21][22]

2018–present: Deltarune

Main article: Deltarune
File:Deltarune vector logo.svg
The logo for Deltarune

On October 30, 2018, Fox tweeted a request for fans of Undertale to check its official Twitter account in 24 hours. The following day, Fox released the first chapter of the followup to Undertale, named Deltarune for free under the guise of a "survey".[23][24] On November 1, Fox shared more details regarding it, including that the rest of the chapters were expected to release simultaneously, but work had not yet started, and there was no estimated timeframe for completion.[25] Fox also stated that he had been working on the project since 2012, and that the idea for Undertale developed from Deltarune during production.[25][4]

On June 12, 2019, as only the first chapter of Deltarune had been playable for several months, Fox expressed on his Twitter account he had hope he would complete the rest of Deltarune, saying: "Slowly I'm writing and drawing it all out."[26] He stated that he had already written about 50 songs past Chapter 1.[26][27] On September 17, 2021, Fox released the second chapter of Deltarune for free since "the world has been really tough for everybody recently", referring to the struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic. He released the next two chapters, bundled in with the first two, as a paid game on June 4, 2025;[28][29][30][31] future chapters will be added to it as free updates for owners of the paid version.[‡ 2] He is currently working on Chapter 5,[32][33] which is set to release in 2026.[34] Deltarune is set to have a total of seven chapters.[4]

2017–present: Composing

File:JunichiMasudaJI2 (cropped).jpg
File:Ed Sheeran-6896 (cropped).jpg
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was composed by Fox, along with Junichi Masuda (left) and guest composer Ed Sheeran (right).

Fox has composed music for the 2017 Homestuck video game Hiveswap,[35] Undertale artist Temmie Chang's short narrative game Escaped Chasm,[36] and Game Freak's 2019 RPG Little Town Hero, the last of which was arranged by Pokémon composer Hitomi Sato. He also composed a track for Pokémon Sword and Shield,[35] and multiple tracks for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.[37][38] He also remixed Ed Sheeran's "Celestial" for Scarlet and Violet's expansion The Indigo Disk.[39]

In 2024, he partnered with Japanese game developer ZUN for it Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost, which included a track that combined the Touhou song "U.N - Owen Was Her?" with the Undyne battle theme "Battle Against a True Hero" from Undertale as "U.N. - Owen Was Hero?".[40] In September of the same year, he announced a new partnership for the same game on YouTube. The video contains a very brief preview of the song, which appears to be based on "Megalovania".[41]

Influences

Fox has described himself as being mesmerised by the music and atmosphere of Final Fantasy VI. Other Japanese role-playing games, such as EarthBound, Secret of Mana and Super Mario RPG served as major inspirations; Fox looked up to Yoko Shimomura's works in particular. Her song "Megalomania" for Live A Live was particularly inspiring for Fox, and he originally intended to use an EarthBound-themed cover of the song in a game, but he got tired of transcribing it and eventually made a new song called "Megalovania."[42] Fox discovered the Touhou Project series at a very young age, and has been playing "since [he] was five years old."[‡ 3] During middle school, he downloaded the demo versions of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom. He played a piano rendition of the Perfect Cherry Blossom track "Necrofantasia" at his church's summer camp.[43] Fox has cited the Ace Attorney series as an inspiration for him, particularly in characterization.[44]

Personal life

Fox is secretive and does not typically do interviews.[1][45] He has chronic wrist and hand pain that regularly disables him from programming and composing, and often relies on speech-to-text software as his computer input method. In September 2020, Fox cited a flare-up of this pain as a factor in the delayed development of Deltarune's second chapter.[3][46] Fox can speak Japanese.[47]

Works

Video games

Year Title Director Composer Writer Platforms Ref.
2008 EarthBound Halloween Hack Yes Yes Yes Super Nintendo (ROM hack) [48]
2015 Undertale Yes Yes Yes Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One [1]
2016 Rose of Winter No Yes No Windows [49]
2017 Hiveswap: Act 1 No Yes No Windows, macOS, Linux [35]
2018 Deltarune Chapter 1 Yes Yes Yes Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 [23]
2019 Escaped Chasm No Yes No Windows [50]
Little Town Hero No Yes No Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One [35]
2020 Dweller's Empty Path No Yes No Windows [51]
Hiveswap: Act 2 No Yes No Windows, macOS, Linux [35]
2021 Deltarune Chapter 2 Yes Yes Yes Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 [23]
2022 Pokémon Scarlet and Violet No Yes No Nintendo Switch [52]
2025 Deltarune Chapters 3+4 Yes Yes Yes Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 [23]
Off (remaster) No Yes No Windows, Nintendo Switch [53]

Future games

Year Title Director Composer Writer Platforms Ref.
2026 Deltarune Chapter 5 Yes Yes Yes Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 [54]
TBA
 Deltarune Chapter 6 Yes Yes Yes [55]
Deltarune Chapter 7 Yes Yes Yes

Guest composer only

Other credits

Year Media type Media title Role Notes Ref.
2009–2016 Webcomic Homestuck Composer [65]
2010 Album The Baby is You Writer, composer, vocalist Album made for Homestuck [65]
2012 Album I Miss You - EarthBound 2012 Composer [‡ 5]
2012 Website tane.us Guest arrangement Metronomy - Black Eye Burnt Thumb (Toby "Radiation" Fox CHIP MIX) [‡ 6]
2018 Album Pray Guest composer, lyricist and vocalist [‡ 7]
Video game Black Bird Game testing [66]
2020 Comic Hobonichi Mother Project "Pollyanna" comic Contributor [67]
Music video Chip Tanaka/Hammerhead Shark Song Director/animator (music video) [‡ 8]
2021 Video game Get in the Car, Loser! Credited for providing guest items and stories [68]
Song "Myths You Forgot" Featured artist In collaboration with Camellia [‡ 9]
2022 Song "Skies Forever Blue" Composer, writer In collaboration with Itoki Hana [69]
Commercial Pocari Sweat Composer In collaboration with PUNPEE and imase [70]
2023 Song "The Greatest Living Show" Composer, writer In collaboration with Itoki Hana [71]
Song "Prelude" Composer In collaboration with bo en [‡ 10]
Animated television series We Baby Bears Voice actor (2 episodes) [72]
Downloadable content Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Composer Remix of Ed Sheeran's "Celestial" [39]
2024 Song "Fallen Wing" Composer As a guest composer for Hololive VTuber Amane Kanata's Unknown DIVA album, with Camellia [73]
Song "Dead Ma'am's Chest" Composer In collaboration with Hololive VTuber Houshou Marine and Camellia [74]
2025 Web series Homestuck: The Animated Pilot Composer, Executive Producer, voice actor (John Egbert) Credited as Toby "Radiation" Fox [75]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ Multiple sources:
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
    • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  15. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  16. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  17. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  18. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  19. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  20. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  21. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  23. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  24. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  25. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  27. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  28. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  29. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  30. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  31. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  32. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  33. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  34. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  35. ^ a b c d e f Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  36. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  37. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  38. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  39. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  40. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  41. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  42. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  43. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  44. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  45. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  46. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  47. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  48. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  49. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  50. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  51. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  52. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  53. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  54. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  55. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  56. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  57. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  58. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  59. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  60. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  61. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  62. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  63. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  64. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  65. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  66. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  67. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  68. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  69. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  70. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  71. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  72. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  73. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  74. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  75. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ "DELTARUNE CHAPTERS 1-4 RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT". Toby Fox. April 2, 2025. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  3. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ Roach, James (December 4, 2019). "'yeah, it is'". tumblr. Retrieved August 20, 2023. "the title is meant to answer the question you ask while listening 'is this... megalovania?' then you go and check the track in the credits and it gives you your answer."
  5. ^ "I Miss You - EarthBound 2012, by Various Artists". Bandcamp. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  6. ^ Brian Lee. "ABOUT TANE". tane.us. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ "Chip Tanaka / Hammerhead Shark Song from 2nd album "Domingo" (Release: July 15th, 2020)". via YouTube. July 15, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  9. ^ かめりあ(Camellia). "Myths You Forgot (feat. Toby Fox), by かめりあ(Camellia)". Bandcamp. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  10. ^ "prelude, by bo en". Bandcamp. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]].

Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 392: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal'). Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

Retrieved from "http://70.231.62.181/index.php?title=Toby_Fox&oldid=22998713"