Cultist Simulator News

Alexis has been updating Cultist's modding framework, so there's new loc options, better UI and a better loading system overall. Full deets here!

We now have 22 mods (!), even if one of them is just about taking off Laidlaw's shirt. 🙄





Our long-awaited Travelling at Night case is now live on the Church o' Merch! It fits almost all branded 6" / 7" Kindles, eReaders and tablets and will make its author, Christopher Illopoly, very proud. 😭





Alexis waxes lyrical about 'art' and why he gets so cross about the term 'world-building'. If you're interested in Cultist's narrative design or the world of the Hours, this is a good ep to listen to!



Finally, in case you enjoy seeing the merch process live, an update on our fortune-telling playing cards...



More on mods, BOOK OF HOURS and those cards soon!

In case you missed it, as of 7th August we now have an improved modding framework and also STEAM WORKSHOP INTEGRATION - on the beta branch only.

It's on the beta branch because I'm still adding features and fixing bugs. There have been a couple more patches since the 7th, mostly to improve localisation support. There's a couple of other bits, though...

v2020.8.a.3; 'The Bottled Ink'

- available languages are now specified by the 'culture' entity in /core/cultures - which you can mod by adding a culture entity to your json.
- 'culture' also specifies UI labels, so you can add them for a given localisation
- you can also specify which base font script a mod will use - Latin, cyrillic, or 'cjk' for a font which should support Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. This is pretty primitive and you're out of luck if you want to localise into e.g. Arabic. I'll update if there's any demand for that.
- in response to modder pleas: it is now possible to have the same entity id specified twice in two different mods (or in the same mod, if you're being weird). Specifying an entity id in a mod for an existing entity will merge-overwrite the two, with the mod values taking precedence. This is also how mods will now affect existing entities. NB, then
(a) if you want to remove existing values from a core entity, specify an empty string or dictionary [I'm much happier with this, because it makes altered behaviour explicit]
(b) you no longer want or need to use 'extends' to build on an entity with the same id - just merge-overwrite it.

v2020.8.a.2; 'The Correspondence of Origin'

- updated to latest major version of Unity
- /images/ui added to modding framework. You can now use tablecoverimage:, tablesurfaceimage:, and tableedgeimage: on Legacies to customise table appearance.
- Fixed Chinese loc
- Fixed Chinese and Russian slot labels, which were showing in English
- loc files renamed to loc_[culture]
- loc files are now loaded *after* mods - so if you've extended an entity in your mod, any relevant loc will still apply to it
- you can now add loc files to a mod (or create a mod consisting only of loc files) - just add loc json files to loc/loc_[culture]

v2020.8.a.1; 'The Solution of Memory'
- substantial code rewrite; there may be odd bugs.
- mod framework rework and upgrade
- Steam Workshop integration, styled as 'The Invisible Serapeum'. (GOG players: the mods will work if you install them locally.)",

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More on modding Cultist:

https://weatherfactory.biz/daybreak-in-the-invisible-serapeum/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/718670/discussions/1/2800629075194099834/

If you couldn't tell, Cultist Simulator is heavily influenced by weird fiction, and weird fiction by H. P. Lovecraft. He turns 130 next Thursday, so we're running a week-long merch giveaway to say YAY to his ghost.

You could win any of the following...



All you need to enter are any social media account on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Pick your poison, then check out the relevant post!

• Twitter - retweet this tweet and follow @factoryweather
  
• Facebook - like the Cultist Simulator page and comment on this post
• Instagram - tag a friend on this post and follow @weatherfactory
  

There's a full FAQ on the blog about how it all works. Winners will be announced on 20th August - good luck!

Happy Friday! I come bearing two bits of info.





Alexis just published our new Steam Workshop - AKA the Invisible Serapeum - to beta. If you're on the gateofhorn beta branch, this means you can now use the Workshop to upload, browse and use mods for Cultist Simulator. Lots more info on the particular set-up here.

It's pretty bare at the moment, for obvious reasons! But we know there're a lot of mods out there already - and I hope to have 'em corralled in Steam Workshop soon.





I also announced on the blog that I'm working on a new deck of occult cards, similar in magic but not motif to the Tarot of the Hours. They'll be a standard 52-card deck of poker-sized playing cards, which you can use for all normal card games, but they'll also double as a fortune-telling deck, a la early 20th-century carnival magicians and gypsy oracles. Also I'm planning to have them gold-foiled, so they'll be exceedingly shiny.

I leave you with news that we're running a fun giveaway competition next week, in the run up to #lovecraftday - so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement, and a chance to win a bunch of delectable merch. More info on localisation soon, but for now, happy weekend.

Hey cultists! A quick update from us on what we've been up to recently.



Each month, we give 10% of our profits to charity. June was a bumper month for us because of Cultist Simulator's free weekend and the release of EXILE, so we've given away our largest ever charity donation of nearly £10,000!

We shared it across two charities, 'cause £10k seemed huge: Cybersmile (against the internet being horrible) and the Arthur Ashe Institute (for equal healthcare and racial equality in the US).



Not bad for a two-person team who work out of their flat. Woohoo! As ever, it's the Cultist community that enables us to do this, so thank you very much. ♥



We mentioned a while back on the blog that I'm working on a host of new pins which you'll be able to buy individually or in the mega BEACH-CROW'S TREASURE bundle. The last pin finally arrived - take your time, Marinette - so they and the whole bundle will go live at the end of this month. Keep your eye on the Church o' Merch for this!



I also received our first Kindle cases, which I teased last update. We've made Christopher Illopoly's Travelling at Night into a universal eReader case which should fit almost all eReaders and Kindles. Here's what they look like IRL, now with added cat.



I'll probably put these live at the end of next month, so again, keep yo' eyes on our Etsy.



Finally, I leave you with a new Skeleton Songs episode on Alexis's and my weird, gothic family tales. A heroic great-uncle? A poisonous hat? Listen on, sweet summer child. And if this is the first time you're hearing about our podcast, you can listen on all the usual podcasty places, all listed here. Enjoy!

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