Hello everyone! For those that don't know me, I'm Jason, the developer behind CULTIC. If you've been following the project on Twitter, you are probably pretty familiar with the history of the project. If not, and you'd like some background on it, you can pop into my Twitter page and see all of the updates there!
I'd like to start putting some of this information on Steam, now that CULTIC has a proper Steam presence and Store Page, so to kick things off, I'd like to talk about the -
The art style of CULTIC has evolved significantly since the beginning of the project. Some of that has just been me growing as an artist and improving my processes and skills, and some has been responding to player feedback on things that work and don't work - primarily the readability of the visuals.
One of the earliest changes was an expansion of the color palette, as there were gaps in the palette where things would just get lost because there weren't enough colors available to make them visually distinct. See this example below, where the excavator in the background was almost getting completely lost against the scenery. About 10 new colors were added during this change, expanding the palette by 25%.
The next major change in the pipeline was updating some placeholder assets that I had used early on in CULTIC's development to try and get a playable demo ready as soon as I could, and with Realms Deep being only 8 months into CULTIC's lifetime, I didn't have time to revisit them before. The cultist model, for example, was actually an older model of mine from the last time I tried to put together a concept for CULTIC. It worked great for the demo and I really got attached to the original look for the cultists, but the vision and artstyle for CULTIC grew past that goofy, low-poly model, so the cultist sprites got a facelift across the board!
The player weapon sprites went through an upgrade too, as I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the arm/hand models, and the resolution of the weapons was a bit lower than intended, since it was rendered out with the original 256x144 resolution in mind.
These art updates, while a grand undertaking, have helped to build a much more cohesive visual style across the game. The art is more readable, and changes to the lighting and enemy shaders have helped to make sure your foes always stand out and aren't getting lost in darker environments.
For more CULTIC info and news, follow @JasozzGames and @3DRealms on Twitter!
Hello, everyone! Thanks to your feedbacks, we've just released an update to make things more balanced. The game is still challenging, but everything is way more enjoyable now. Give it a try and let us know! Looking forward to seeing you at the top of the leaderboard!
Did you know that bakers and confectioners celebrate their holiday today in Poland?
For this occasion, we wish all bakers and confectioners constant satisfaction with your work, lots of inspiration, masterful baking and a huge group of satisfied customers!
Thanks to them, we can eat tasty cakes or rolls. Maybe it's worth cooking something yourself?
We have decided to share a short clip with refreshed UI gameplay to celebrate the holiday further. We hope you like those recent changes, please let us know!
On a side note: The Demo has been disabled as it was outdated. Apologies for the inconvenience; stay tuned for more news, and THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all the feedback we have received since release.
Thank you for tuning in to our Devlog - see you in the next one, and Bon appetite!
Gearheads, Welcome to Season 5 Episode 1: American Legends, new challenges and vehicles await you in this free update. Check out our overview article and patch notes to see what’s you can expect to find in the coming weeks. Let’s dive into our weekly roundup and find out what’s happening this week in The Crew 2!
LIVE SUMMIT PORSCHE ADDICT 2 – (MARCH 16 – MARCH 23)
Porsche addicts it’s time to rejoice as we’re back with another LIVE Summit with the sole focus on one thing – Porsches. It’s time to prove what you’re made of as you battle out to leave your mark on the leaderboard.
PLATINUM: ORANGE PRISMATIC NITRO GOLD: LEGENDARY RX PERF PARTS (NITRO CHEMIST, EXTRA PUMP & FAME) SILVER: VISUAL PARTS SET: PORSCHE 911 GT (993) BRONZE: 150K FOLLOWERS
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo (1974) – Touring Car
VEHICLES & VANITY BUNDLES
The Far & Beyond store have kitted out the Porsche 918 Spyder with their latest Vehicle & Vanity bundle. You find the Copper bundle in-store until March 23rd!
While Spring Break is meant to relax, we've been busy creating some spanking new content for you!
Get the Glorious Event bundle and unlock Rachel going all-out in fully animated Gloryhole scenes!
Introducing the new "Safe Bonus" vault system: - Convert "extra" notoriety stars into exclusive rewards instead of letting them go to waste. - Unlock a new sex scene featuring Alexxa and hot dancer Taylor!
Two new music tracks get enabled if you have the jukebox placed in the club.
The first Episode of the fifth Season of The Crew 2 is here. This Episode brings a new game mode, new cars as well as Quality of Life changes: handling modifications.
For a more detailed break-down of the content released with the Crew 2 Season 5 Episode 1: American Legends, we have got you covered with our Content Overview.
This update will be deployed starting from 9AM UTC / 5AM EDT on Wednesday, March 16th. The estimated maintenance duration should be approximatively 3 hours.
Please follow our official channels for any additional update.
HANDLING IMPROVEMENTS
Context
In March 2020, and with the Inner Drive update, the overall handling of some vehicles was revamped. The goal was to offer extra grip and competitiveness.
Some Vehicle categories were entirely rebalanced: Street Race and Hypercar.
Following this update a new approach to grip and handling was adopted for all future vehicles. At the same time, new Special Editions of previously released vehicles continued to feature the pre-Inner Drive handling model. (With the exception of Street Race and Hypercar categories).
Gameplay Impact
In terms of gameplay and car performance, and according to both our internal data, and player feedback, we have noticed a clear difference between pre and post Inner Drive cars.
This handling discrepancy leads to splitting our car line-up in two different driving styles and feeling, thus making some of them less attractive due to a lower performance.
First Steps
With the release of American Legends Episode 1, we plan on starting to look into one of the affected vehicle category: RallyCross (RX). With the release of Season 5: American Legends, we are going to update the handling of three cars:
Nissan SKYLINE GT-R (R34)
Chevrolet CAMARO SS
Ford FOCUS RS
Keep in mind that these changes are not definitive and can be reversed or tweaked based on your feedback. This is an iterative process, and we would like everyone to share their impression and wishes around the topic. Please leave any dedicate feedback on this forum thread.
Mid-term plan
Now, we would like to identify if the changes we deployed are aligned with community expectations. We also need to see how quickly we can start rolling out additional changes to more cars of the RX category. Once again and given the importance of your feedback during those first steps, we will get back to you on the topic at a later stage to break down the upcoming milestones of this initiative.
DETAILED PATCH NOTES
Patch Size per platform
PC: approx. 30 GB
PlayStation: approx. 29 GB depending on the version.
Xbox: approx. 30 GB
Patch sizes may vary based on your game version.
Features
Game Mode
[Added] New game mode: Stories.
Story mode - Exploration gameplay: using clues to investigate and find rewards.
New Stories button in the main menu
8 Long Stories with a unique reward
8 Medium stories with a unique vanity reward
16 Short stories with bucks rewards
2 stories released each week: alternating one long and one medium story each other week and one short story every week
8 new intro videos and 8 rewards videos for you to discover
[Fixed] Minor localization issues related to The Contractor game mode.
Vanity Items
[Added] 101 new vanity items - to be released throughout the Season in the shop, as LIVE Summit rewards, or in the Motorpass (57).
17 smokes
17 tires
17 underglows
17 nitros
11 horns
9 window tints
5 rooftops
2 suits
6 outfit parts
[Fixed] The default smoke for the XTREMEAIR XA42 (AR) was not visible in free-drive
Summit
[Added] 16 LIVE Summits including:
4 Premium LIVE Summits
1 ultra mooded LIVE Summit
Hobbies
[Fixed] Hobby Stars animations were missing after completing a hobby
Motorpass
[Added] 2 new Motorpasses.
[Added] Daily Challenges and 4 Weekly Challenges.
[Fixed] Minor visual elements were missing when hovering certain Motorpass rewards
[Fixed] Motorstars earned in Live Summits were not awarded immediately
Missions
[Added] One themed event.
Flashback: Japan
Activity Menu
[Added] "Season 5: American Legends" section in the Motorflix activity menu.
Miscellaneous
[Added] Warning when trying to pin a new Challenge, Hobby Action or Story Step to notify another item will be unpinned. It will no longer be necessary to unpin an item before pinning a new one.
Vehicles
New Vehicles
[Added] 27 New Vehicles
Stories additions
Porsche 550 Spyder (SR)
Shop additions
Ford Crown Victoria Interception Unit (SR)
LIVE Summit rewards
Indian Motorcycle Scout® The Cruiser Edition
Motorpass, including
Chevrolet Corvette C7 ZR1 2019 Gold Nugget Edition
Dodge Challenger SRT® Demon Awaken Edition
Porsche 911 GT3 RS Splatter Edition
Ford Mustang Fastback Stunt Edition
And more to be revealed throughout the Season!
[Fixed] Turbo gauge was not working for the Corvette ZR1
[Fixed] Mileage kept on resetting after restarting the game for the YasidDESIGN X American Petrol
[Fixed] Issues related to the side skirt camera angle on the Cadillac Deville with certain customization options.
Physics
[Fixed] Exploit allowing a vehicle to go forward and accelerate to very high speeds in reverse gear.
3C/Handling
[Improved] Updated handling model on the following Rallycross vehicles:
Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
Ford Focus RS
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Thematization
[Added] New main menu.
[Added] New "American Legends" landing page and start menu videos.
[Added] New HQ Bus and new world billboard posters.
[Added] One new fully thematized LIVE Summit with dedicated art, music, sound effects and weather.
World (Visual & Audio)
Events
[Fixed] Skills were displaying a difficulty level after The Contractor Episode 1 release.
World
[Improved] Location names are now more visible on the World Map (font: white + outline: black).
[Fixed] iNcoRrECt fOnTs bEinG DisPLAYeD oN rOaD sIGns
[Fixed] Some NPCs were misplaced in the Mead Lake dam area
[Fixed] Misplaced public lamp around the Nashville area
[Fixed] Misplaced public lamp around the Santa Fe area
[Fixed] Asphalt was present in the forest near the Big Sur area
[Fixed] GPS navigation line in the "Los Angeles" SR or HC race
Technical
[Fixed] For itinerary hobbies (driving from A to B), using Fast Fav to select an authorized vehicle will not stop the progression anymore. This behaviour also applies to stories.
[Improved] Memory optimization.
Known Issues
The Muscle Tour Platinum LIVE Summit reward ticket does not display the correct vehicle.
- Added a new pet from our patreon Dymski! It is a neutral pet with a bonus for alchemist and can create nothings faster than other alchemists. - The buy div on the div gen page won't show a confirm dialog anymore if you have the toggle for not confirming gp buys on. - Fixed a few issues (more offline issues with fishing, auto for enchanting, some wrong tooltip infos)
