CULT VACUI Update
Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last devlog update.
I always promise myself to be more regular with these posts, but balancing family life, work commitments, and the game development itself often means these communications unfortunately take a back seat.
My apologies!
This is certainly one of the challenges when you're a solo developer.
Regardless, quite a bit has happened since the last time we talked, so I'm excited to share the news with you all.
🔥 A Little Media Buzz
I'm incredibly proud to announce that CULT VACUI was featured live during the Horror Game Awards this past September! It was truly thrilling to see the game's trailer broadcast to such a wide audience.
Thanks to the exposure from this event, the game also caught the attention of IGN's Game Trailers channel, which was a massive highlight for me.
In other news, the demo was live throughout the entire Steam Next Fest in October.
Despite a few known issues (which I'm working hard to address!), the overall reception has been positive.
We are now nearing 4,000 wishlists! This incredible support has injected a fresh wave of motivation into me to finish this project to the best of my ability.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you all once again for this fantastic milestone. My thanks also go to our publisher, Dionous Games, for their continued efforts in marketing.
💻 Development Status & A Small Confession
Getting back to the core of development:
The main part of the game is almost finished!
I still need to fix various bugs and do a thorough review of everything. I'm planning to take some time off from my regular job specifically to tackle this final polish phase.
While I should be feeling completely satisfied with the result, I have a small confession to make:
The demo was never originally planned!
I created it as an afterthought, mainly to give you all a taste of the mechanics I envisioned for the game. The story threads involving Henry are well-connected to the main game, but creating the demo has slightly reshuffled my initial plans.
I now have so many exciting ideas in my head to create a more defined and compelling narrative arc. However, achieving this would require adding a new section to the game that wasn't in the original scope... It’s a tough decision, but one I’m currently wrestling with!
Some new screen:
🛠 Key Areas for Improvement
Seeing so many of you play the demo provided invaluable data, highlighting several crucial aspects I need to refine before launch:
English Localization Okay, I admit it: my English is not the best. As a non-native speaker, it's complex for me to accurately convey the nuanced meaning of my writing in English. I plan to hire a professional proofreader or work closely with my publisher to ensure the quality is top-notch. (If any fluent native speakers are available and interested, please let me know—I desperately need the help!)
User Interface (UI) During the demo, many players missed reading the very last page of the in-game notes, which is actually critical to progressing in the game. This has clearly shown me that I need to add more UI elements or visual prompts to guide players more effectively.
Bug Testing While I received excellent feedback, the open nature of the game and the multiple-choice paths require significantly more bug testing. Its complexity makes this step quite challenging.
Thank you for sticking with me on this journey. More updates will follow soon!