BOOK OF HOURS - Arabella Dusk
“In the Mansus, the Hours strive one against another. As the struggles are resolved, they iron out the impossible, exalt the possible, tie the fraying braids of what has been into one golden ribbon of future. Everything is resolved. History becomes the past...”

https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/

First things first: it's Cultist Simulator's sixth birthday today! This is the game that started the Secret Histories, which BOOK OF HOURS goes on to expand. We take you through a whirlwind tour of its 11-month development over here, if you're interested in game dev. If not, over to AK, to talk HOUSE OF LIGHT.

HOUSE OF LIGHT melds with the existing game like the Witch-Twin or half a diphthong. So we’re taking the unusual step of adding actual meta information to the menu when you buy it:



Squint and you might notice an incongruous presence behind the window. The HOUSE OF LIGHT menu icon won’t actually be a tiny photo of the Tourlitis lighthouse – that was just a reference I gave Lottie for art. Similarly, any and all of the text in this window might change. But this is roughly how the expansion is shaping up, and you can see now some more of what I meant by ‘the foot bone’s connected to the leg bone’.

There are probably just two bullet points yet unilluminated: FURTHER STORIES and LIGHTHOUSE INSTITUTE. These are at least 30% of the expansion, though. FURTHER STORIES is ‘what happens in each of the non-Numa visitor stories’. Why just the non-Numa stories? Because Numa visitors were really hard to fit in the other points above. Does Coseley have an address? Is Bancroft actually alive? Can you invite Aunt Mopsy to dinner? I know that when I say ‘no’ there’ll be a chorus of AW NO FUN, but I’m saving you from yourselves. Anyway there are a couple of dozen of even the non-Numa stories, so adding even a modest bit of variant-outcome (‘branching’ if you want to use That Word) to each of them is quite a lot of work.

HOUSE OF LIGHT is 100%* backwards-compatible with existing saves. That * means ‘it’s a bug if it’s not’. This also means that to some limited extent your choices about who you helped and who you didn’t will carry over – for example, if you helped Coquille or Zachary with the Messenger’s Casket then its occupant is loose, if you helped Dagmar then its occupant is locked up tight, and if you helped both sides then the seals are cracking. Again, the branching variant-outcome effect is quite gentle, not least because I calibrated most of the original visitor stories so that you could conceivably help several people and never know the difference. But just this once I had the foresight to track effects for the future. So that’ll make a difference, at least for the 3% of players who both buy HOUSE OF LIGHT and don’t immediately begin a new run.

The Further Stories work is most of what’s left to do on House of Light, along with the coda which the Lighthouse Institute provides. Once I’ve completed three or four of the Furthers, we’ll begin the closed beta… which you might have heard about on the grapevine… to which we’ve already invited about twenty players randomly selected from people who’ve been noticeably helpful with bug reporting. We have another randomly-selected twenty ready to go on the final beta before launch, so if you’ve been both helpful and lucky you might hear from us. I’m talking about this here mainly so we don’t get plaintive request emails – sorry folks, this one’s quite small – and I guess also to make the point that being helpful with bug reports gives you a small notional chance of being invited to future betas. If they happen. If we decide not to stop making games and turn Weather Factory into an artisanal custard distillery. I won’t promise we won’t. Hey Lottie, is this marketing? Am I helping?

Back to Lottie.

I actually don’t have A Marketing to bark at you, for once – though I thought you might be interested in the weirdness of translation that I’ve been working on recently. BOOK OF HOURS had a great launch (in large part to you, the people reading this post – so thank you extremely much if you were one of our early adopters, especially if you left a nice review). But it also highlighted one of our real weaknesses as a team: with just the two of us, cramming as much game into the game as we can before launching in a sensible indie-budget timeframe, we simply can’t localise the game in time for launch.

I remember some of the other games that launched at the same time as us – Shadow Gambit: the Cursed Crew, for example – came ready packaged with thirteen languages. THIRTEEN. We initially kept up with them until our plucky lil game (4Chan nominated us for 'Best Game Nobody Played', you know 💅) slowly but surely fell behind while translated games kept up their momentum. Loc really isn’t the sexiest part of post-launch development – that’s starygazy pie, obviously – but it can profoundly affect a studio’s fortunes, as well as bringing a world you’ve laboured over for years to a new audience, who may love it!

ANYWAY, all this is to say that Simplified Chinese and Russian is coming this August, so I’ve spent several days producing translated assets for several hundred books. This highlights some interesting challenges, like ‘how do pictographic languages deal with initials as short-hand for the full title’? (You try and fit In The Mountains As Upon The Plain There May Not Be A Path Where None Has Passed on a 194px spine. Initials are my friends.) But there are other, weirder challenges too, especially when they enter the ‘does it look like a bum’ area of art direction. What I mean by this is every time an artist draws something, there is always the chance that people look at it and do not see the gorgeously-realised impressionistic image of two mountains at dawn, they see ladyboobs, and you have to redraw them so they are definitely not light-soaked erotic mountain breasts anymore. This becomes important with initials on books, because every so often AK will create a book called something like Semi-Esoeteric Xenophon Youths and we have to rename it. In loc terms, you get to Debate of Seven Cups: ‘DoSC’ in English, no problem, and in Russian of course it’s



…………………………Well. Does this matter? Will it be noticeable to Russian players, playing in Russian? Will it keep me awake at night knowing that there is a book in my serious, beautiful game about life and history and magic with a big rude word down the spine? Yes and yes, I think. So of course I have cunningly changed it to incorporate Roman numerals for ‘seven’, and await the Russian beta with interest.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. I’ll leave you with a loreful snippet from HOUSE OF LIGHT to infect you with Fascination while you’re waiting for it to actually come out. Are the gods-from-stone ever gentle? The Wheel, perhaps – but Flint? The Seven-Coils? Darest thou trust…. the Egg???

“Yvette and Ehsan speak wistfully of what they have read of the lost Hour called Tide. Yvette recalls that when the Sister withdraws, other Hours sometimes fill the space left by her withdrawal, and wonders whether the Tide is gentle enough to remain afterwards… but Ehsan politely insists that the gods-who-were-stone are never gentle.”

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2834350/BOOK_OF_HOURS_HOUSE_OF_LIGHT/
Cultist Simulator - Arabella Dusk
“In the Mansus, the Hours strive one against another. As the struggles are resolved, they iron out the impossible, exalt the possible, tie the fraying braids of what has been into one golden ribbon of future. Everything is resolved. History becomes the past…”

“…There are, however, exceptions.” It’s Cultist Simulator‘s sixth birthday today, so let’s make an exception for her. This quote is from a high-level Secret Histories fragment called ‘Unresolved Ambiguity’, and it could absolutely be a metaphor for game development in general. Cultist could have been a hundred different games, but it ended up consolidated in the one it became (and the one it evolved into, after years of post-lauch DLC and updates). You may remember that we made Cultist Simulator in 11 months, with a budget of around £150,000. It’s now reached somewhere between 850,000 to a million people, making some serious allowances for chaotic data like Humble Bundles and Amazon Prime. So in honour of her birthday here’s a whirlwind tour of just under a year’s game development, starting with the most important part of all: the What Even Is This Javascript Greybox Prototype.





People who’ve played Cultist Simulator will recognise a surprising amount in these early prototypes. The art direction isn’t there – AK is definitely theme and mechanics first, ‘colours’ second – but the game’s Cookie Clicker influence is particularly apparent, as are important other factes of the final game like verbs (Study, Dream, Work…), timers (45s countdown for ‘The body has its needs…’) and resource-based storytelling (Secret Histories 1 + Occult Scrap 1 = Recruit an Aficionado of Conspiracies). I’ve worked with AK since 2015, when we met at his previous studio, and he always has a weirdly clear idea of what the game will be at the start. It’s just difficult for him to explain it and for anyone else to see inside his head. I’m now well-versed in the two to six months of trust where I have no idea what this game is that we’re apparently making, before it all falls into place. That moment for Cultist was this updated prototype, where you could first see the basic card interface:





I get it now! I see what all those grey buttons on their grey backgrounds represented! This gives me a lot to work with – I can now see what needs to be artified – while being flexible enough for AK to still be able to play with basic mechanics and the all-important recipes at the heart of the final game. Looks recognisable now, right? But where it really comes to life is when AK and Catherine Unger, our brilliant freelance artist, settled on a suitable art style:





It now looks so much like the real Cultist Simulator, but with enough difference, to trigger a bit of sense of the uncanny valley. I still mourn those stick-timers on the verb tokens, for instance! But this was where people really started to sit up and take notice of the game we were about four months out from completing. So with a bunch of hard game dev, which looks in real terms like this…




Cultist Simulator, as we know and love her, was born. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GAME ABOUT PEELING BACK THE SKIN OF THE WORLD! We all really love you.* ♥

*Apart from Dread. Nobody loves Dread.
May 31, 2024
Fading Voices - Vyto's Stuff
Hi everyone!
It's been a month since the last update, I had to solve a couple of personal things, and worked on the game, which I can confidently say it will be completed around half July. And I can also confidently say the 0.6 Update will come out on June 9.
In this Update, I did a Visual Update on a couple of things I didn't liked, bringing them to a finished version, such as the Battle HUD, and added other mechanics and minigame, such as Row Formation and Dice and Coin, even if the Player can't play them right now.
The Demo has also been updated with more content, if you want to check the game out before buying.
As always, you can check me build the game live on Twitch. or on YouTube!



  • When opening the game, it could says it has problems finding a .bgm file, simply close and reopen the game
  • The cards in the BlackJack minigame, may appear moved to the left instead of the center
  • You may find some holes or mispelling in the translations, simply report them so I can fix them
  • When fishing, it will may tell that you missed even if you where in the area
  • When fishing, the pointer may could stop after starting the QTE.
  • When pressing a button for the defense QTE, the character target by the enemy, may still jump or charge a bar, even if the enemy move ended
  • When starting a battle, the Arrows and Wheel (Used in Magic Attacks) QTEs might bug out and not appear, but when re-using the skill, they appear



  • Started a rework of characters abilities
  • Created coin throw minigame (Inaccessible right now to the player)
  • Reworked the game Story, improving the dialogues writing
  • Added a Row formation mechanic
  • Added 8 New Enemies
  • Added a Battle log
  • Added a New Playable Character
  • Added a New Zone
  • Added a New Main Story bit (The Start of the journey to Silika)
  • Visual Update Ark Kade Face off, Game Over Screen, the Characters Icons, the Background for the Prologue in the Church

ADDED IN 0.4.5:

  • Improved the Equip Scene [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Added custom images for the cursor [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Visual Update for the Clock in the Time System, for the Characters HP/MP Bars, for the Dialogue Box, for the Title Screen with the Title Font Blending [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Reworked the characters icon in the Battle Radial HUD, the Battle Radial HUD to be bigger and the Battle Radial Shadow in a Landoro Figure [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Reworked the Overworld UI [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Added an Action Cutin for the "Grappeler" Boss Fight [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Added a new Action Cutin for "Kyslar" [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Added maps names [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Updated Repulus Church map [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Updated Underground Tunnel map [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Updated Koine map [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Created dices minigames (Inaccessible right now to the player) [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Created a Pop-up when Achievements are obtained [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Removed TP reference from Attributes menù [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Changed Gerald icon and improved the Kyslar Icon [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Reworked the doors to fit the characters height [Added in 0.4.5]
  • Created more NPCs to give more variety when walking in town [Added in 0.4.5]



  • Three New Enemies
  • Three New Secondary Quests
  • Two New Maps (Silika and Silika Temple)
  • One New Main Story Quests
  • One New Playable Characters
  • Two New Minigames
  • Visual Upgrades
  • Original Soundtracks



  • Solved a bug that made preemptive strike don't appear properly
  • Solved a bug in the demo that stopped the game after the tutorial boss battle [Fixed in 0.4.5]



  • Please report any issues on the game's Discord Server
  • Include a screenshot, it makes it much easier to fix!
  • Or write a post in the community tab, I make sure to check that out sometimes
Void Crew - [HUTLIHUT] Daniel


This HOTFIX includes a fix for performance issues on Low and Medium quality settings.

PERFORMANCE FIX
  • Fixed an issue where various post effects and graphics settings were not applied correctly when switching Quality settings. Players should now see a significant boost in performance on Low and Medium quality settings.

Thanks again to our community!

In addition to this fix, we are currently working on a patch with additional bugfixes, balancing and performance tweaks.

If you are having issues, don't hesitate to share them with us on our Discord!




[h4]Known issue & Workaround:
Main menu not appearing (no Audio Input Device bug)[/h4]
Players with no Audio Input Devices (like microphones) plugged in have reported an issue with the Main Menu not appearing.

While we work on a fix for this, there is a workaround: Plug in a physical Audio Input Device, or add a Virtual Audio Input Device to your system, E.g. VoiceMeter, AudioRelay, Nvidia Broadcast.

Read about how-to on our Steam thread - Workaround already validated by our community, read more here on our community thread.


Sincerely,
The Hutlihut Games Crew



May 31, 2024
Survivors - 237339842
Provide a brief introduction to the game and its main gameplay. Survival for a longer period of time is the only pursuit.
May 31, 2024
Tennis Manager 2024 - Rebound
Before the weekend, we're updating the game with a form rebalancing and some more minor fixes

Balancing:
  • New Form balancing to reduce the impact of the form on the results
  • Minor fixes on size and records of tennis women (only for new carreers)
Fixes:
  • Calendar could display the wrong week n°1 depending on the year
  • It was sometimes not possible to access the player screen when scouting has been started
Localisation fixes:
  • Tournement category JTL Girls 100 was named JTL Girls 200 in French
  • The displayed initial contract duration for a created player was wrong (5 instead of 3)

Don't forget to reload Steam of you don't see the update.

The Rebound team.
May 31, 2024
Final Factory - slims
Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a bug preventing the mining productivity technology from applying its bonus correctly
  • Fixed a bug preventing the mining productivity bonus from adding items to the mining station correctly
  • Ore gained from mining productivity will now count in the mining stations individual productivity stats
  • Fixed a bug preventing inserters from being able to use connector inventories in Ship Assemblers (only applies to newly placed Ship Assemblers)

Visual Updates
  • Updated the black hole shader to smoothly transition with the space around it, making it look significantly better! Special thanks to @josplode for figuring this out (he's also the fog of war shader artist)
  • Reduced the ambient light in the game, making it more "space like"
  • Adjusted the planet atmospheric shader to properly be lit by the main sun
  • Darked the skybox again
  • Fixed a broken material on the greenhouse
Scramble: Battle of Britain - danamite
Welcome back to Flight School.

In episode #5, we'll be discussing maneuvers. Hold thight, watch the video and read the full article below.



Maneuvering & Aerobatics

Aerobatics is the piloting of aircraft through maneuvers not typical of steady, stable flight. Most dogfighting, even the short and simple bounce out of the sun, involves aggressive maneuvering that falls into the category of aerobatics. Loops, rolls, and stalls, all aerobatic maneuvers themselves, are the building blocks of more complex aerobatics like the Immelman or the Split-S.

A Scramble turn simulates for roughly two and a half seconds. In aerobatic terms, with World War II aircraft, this converts to roughly a quarter of a loop, or a third of a roll. Players will chain these partial maneuvers naturally from turn to turn so every dogfight in Scramble resembles the fanciest airshow routines.

Scramble's Turn/Climb Assist couples roll and yaw control surface inputs, so one of the easiest maneuvers in Scramble is the barrel roll. With a little "climb" input and a little "turn" input players can initiate barrel rolls to re-engage a target or enter a rolling scissors with a pursuing enemy.

Scramble aerodynamics model sideslip-induced rolls, so yawing in the same direction of roll input will increase roll rate. The coupling of yaw and roll inputs in the Turn/Climb Assist assures all basic rolls in Scramble experience this boosted roll rate. Players using Traditional Aircraft Control, with access to all three axes independently, can command full yaw and roll inputs to one side to induce a maximum roll rate, and coupling these inputs with a heavy pitch input will flip an aircraft in a twist resembling a weak snap roll.

Aerobatic maneuvering in a dogfight is ultimately a means to an end, and graceful loops that wow crowds at airshow routines may not be the optimal tactics with an enemy in pursuit. But when thinking three-moves-ahead and flying clean, efficient aerobatics a player can execute a quarter loop, followed by a vertical climb, with a rudder turn at the apex to hammerhead their guns onto the unsuspecting enemy flailing to line up their shot in the climb.

Stay tuned for more Flight School episodes and exciting news coming soon!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1530450/Scramble_Battle_of_Britain/
Farm Together 2 - WaaghMan
Hi! Today we're releasing a small update with a few bugfixes, and lots of additional logging on specific issues that we're having trouble finding (probably related with those dreaded PhotonCloudTimeout disconnection issues).

This additional info on the telemetry ( optional and completely anonymous) should help us find potential reasons for the disconnections (we believe they're related to a temporary freeze that causes connection to be lost).

We've also fixed minor issues in edge cases (such as trying to jump a fence placed at the edge of the world).

Improvements:
  • Non-separating fences (such as arcs or the newly added lamps) no longer block the tractor's work area.

Bugfixes:
  • Minor UI/logic bugfixes.
  • (not a bugfix)Additional logging on specific cases to help pinpoint the reason for some internal exceptions.
  • Fixed being able to open the shop (and take the drone) while sitting on a decoration, that could cause the player to be unable to move anymore.
  • Fixed boat decoration not rotating when moving it.

Today's Farm showcase: Déjeuner (presque) sur l'herbe (Lunch (almost) on the grass) by Weesh & Pistacciolata
May 31, 2024
Space Operators Playtest - bitheiro
small update fix.
...