CULTIC News

Update v105 is finally out on the beta branch! To opt-in, go to the Betas tab in CULTIC's properties via your Steam Library and select the beta branch!

As always, if you've got the time to check it out, feedback and bug reports are much appreciated! The lighting changes and new survival map in particular are subject to further improvement as needed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The brightness slider should default to 0 as of this update. A small patch was just pushed to fix this not working. If you played the beta before the patch (9:90PM CST on 3/3/23) and your brightness defaulted to a different value, 0 is the correct baseline.

This is a fairly chunky update, so I'll get right into the changes:

[h3]Additions[/h3]

• New Survival Map "Unholy Commotion" - Romp around the crypts and rack up those S-Ranks!
  
• New "Survival Options" menu added with configurations to change spawn rates and disable the Survival timer. Use of these options will disable achievements and leaderboard progression.
  
• Changes in game version will backup player's preferences and profile, to preserve that data in the event of a problematic patch
  
• Added optional hazard directional indicators to Accessibility options, to aid players to locate hazards that partially rely on audio cues (dynamite, ghost props)
  
• An "Ambient Light" slider was added to Options > Video, and can be adjusted to have darker overall environments. This value has been defaulted to a slightly lower value than the game launched at, so you may notice moodier environments. Push this value to "100" to restore the original brightness levels.
  
• The "Brightness" slider was fixed to allow negative values without breaking HUD transparency. You should be able to darken the game as well as brighten it now.
  

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• Most enemy sprites have been re-rendered to clean up aliasing and enhance shading, which should result in better visual clarity in conjunction with the in-game dithering/filtering.
  
• Survival Mode has a new map select menu, rather than clicking on the map to start the match.
  
• The FG-42 has a proper contextual indicator for toggling fire-modes, and the upgrade verbiage was altered to better illustrate the toggle.
  
• FG-42 scope visuals were cleaned up to provide a more usable crosshair
  
• Menu sliders are now locked to particular unit intervals when using keyboard/gamepad, and you can hold the directional keys to slide it continuously.
  
• Individual dynamite sticks now have a hitbox and can be detonated with gunshots
  
• Dynamite sticks no longer respond to physical impulses from other explosions to help with Cluster Toss consistency
  
• Enemy pathfinding was adjusted so they are more willing to drop off of ledges if they don't think the fall will kill them
  
• The previously selected Survival Difficulty is now remembered when you exit and return to that menu
  
• Survival Difficulty now defaults to Standard, rather than Casual
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Menu sliders should now work properly when controlled via keyboard or gamepad.
  
• Trees that were improperly showing their low-LOD sprite in E1M6 were adjusted
  
• Some stretched textures in E1M3 were fixed
  
• A sharpshooter in E1M7 had their AI zone changed so they'll correctly engage with the player
  
• A lighting issue in E1M4 was fixed
  
• Several instances of sound emitters ignoring the sound volume settings were fixed
  
• An issue was fixed with explosive projectiles that was causing damage to go through walls
  
• A see-through mesh in E1M4 was fixed
  
• Incinerator particles no longer cast shadows
  
• Certain enemies should no longer spam sounds when burned without first drawing their aggro
  

Hey all!

New dev diary just dropped on YouTube! I know it's been nearly a year since my last one, and news has been pretty light since launch, so hopefully this gets you caught up!

Enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Hello all!

The CULTIC x MAKESHIP Axeboi plushie is still available for pre-order, but only for a couple more days!
Unfortunately, we're currently only about halfway to the goal of total orders needed for the campaign to succeed and go into production, so any support is greatly appreciated!

The plushie also comes with a free Steam key for CULTIC to send to your friends!
Order at the link below:

www.makeship.com/products/axeboi-plush

In non-plushie related news:

The Survival update is going into testing this week, and I'm hoping to get a devlog out about what I've been up to since CULTIC news has been a bit light lately. Keep an eye out for both of these soon!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Finally! You no longer need to join a cult to get your very own axe buddy.
Axeboi may hold a low rank in the cult, but he's ready to ascend to a high rank in your heart!

Comes with a removable hatchet for customizable levels of violence.

I've partnered with the fine folks over at Makeship to bring you the Axeboi plushie! The campaign went live today, so if you're interested in snagging one, pop over to their site and get your pre-order in!
We'll need 200 pre-orders in order for the campaign to succeed, so spread the word!

www.makeship.com/products/axeboi-plush

Hello all!

The tide of feedback from the Custom Difficulty beta has come to a stop, so I'm feeling comfortable enough with it in it's current state to push it to the main branch! As always, please let me know if any issues pop up.

If you're already on the current beta, this is the same version you're already playing.

For those who are new to this build, here's what was changed:

[h2]Custom Difficulty[/h2]

A new difficulty mode has been added that allows you to deeply customize your play experience. Choose from a handful of modifiers to mix up enemy behaviors, damage, speed, adjust game rules, and even randomize enemy placements!

[h3]Optimizations[/h3]

• An optimization pass was made for the voxel models in game, which should greatly reduce the amount of verts rendered. A map-specific pass on E1M1 was made that reduced total verts by ~45%, which should dramatically reduce the amount of rendering power needed. Further map-specific optimizations will be worked on moving forward.
  

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• The below-deck area in E1M2 is now much darker, making use of the lighter more necessary
  
• Adjusted Survival starting cash to 750, so a secondary weapon can always be bought on Wave 2 if the player saves their cash
  
• Mowed the lawn at the Asylum to remove some grass that was unfairly obstructing the player's view
  
• Infested Armors can no longer spawn on Wave 2 - they've been moved to Wave 3
  
• Shield Phalanx group (4 shielded enemies) can no longer spawn on Wave 2
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Shotgun alt-fire now properly penetrates enemies as intended - test it out on your nearest crowd of cultists or cultist shield!
  
• Shotgun alt-fire now properly fires 2x the pellets of the primary, rather than missing 2 pellets
  
• You should now be able to properly overwrite presets without the names getting reset
  
• A rounding error was fixed that was causing slider values to adjust themselves slightly
  
• Enemy Bullet Speed is now properly tracked in Presets.
  IMPORTANT NOTE: Any already existing user-created presets will have Bullet Speed defaulting to 10% now, since the stat wasn't being properly tracked at the time that preset was made. You'll want to adjust this to the proper value and overwrite your presets to adjust this.
  
• A rare (but reproducible) issue where Brutes would try to trigger a non-existent X-Death state has been fixed
  
• A soft-lock that could be triggered by trying to create a new preset while in-game has been fixed
  
• Disarmed TNT traps now properly grant the TNT weapon in addition to the TNT ammo
  
• A potential fix was implemented to catch the "immortal enemy" issue when it happens and reverse the effects of it. This is a "reactive" fix to hopefully alleviate the issue until the actual cause is found and a "proactive" fix can be put in place
  
• "Disable Health Regen" will also now disable the OHKO Protection that leaves the player with 1HP after receiving devastating damage
  
• Enemies will now properly have a -chance- to be Chosen (red aura) variants, rather than being 100% Chosen after Wave 5. This chance becomes greater with each wave
  
• The line of sight check for Survival spawns now properly checks head instead of floor height, and the minimum distance check was fixed. This should greatly reduce the chances of enemies spawning within line of sight and immediately attacking the player