Weather Factory

“This has long been a holy place, but shadows are the only worshippers here now. The windows have been painted black, the pews overturned, the organ hung with black ribbons.”

Just a quick update to say that SOLAR is now live for all beta testers on Steam and GOG! New and old testers will get an email shortly, so check your inboxes. And if you miss out, don’t worry – we’ll email at least once more before SOLAR closes on 9th June, so you might just make it in yet.

New content includes all of the abbey complex at the top of Hush House, and the dilapidated Gullscry Tower – probably the most melancholy place in the game, but also where you’ll meet a good few friends. It also allows me to go totally bananas with flame animations, like the Chancel –

We’ve also been working with some Unity specialists to improve the look and feel of the Wisdom Tree, which I always wanted to make a little bit more ‘alive’ and magical. I’m very happy with what we have now, and SOLAR testers will get to be the first to see it in action today.

Now, I promised in our last blog post that there would also be something fun for non-beta players. And I wasn’t lying! As we’re launching BOOK OF HOURS on GOG for the first time, we thought it was a nice opportunity to re-release an updated version of the demo so everyone can play the game again. This is the same demo we first released in Steam’s Next Fest earlier this year – it ends at the same place, just after you unlock the Lodge – but there are a large number of improvements to the rest of the game since February. There’s more of AK’s magical writing, more (and more refined) features like seasons and crafting recipes, there’s better UI, better polish… and thanks to my valorous efforts, there is only one set of pugs. (I love pugs really. Removing them is sadly just part of my job. However, I have introduced Terrence and Tuppence, so I hope they win me some points back.)

Play the BOOK OF HOURS demo on GOG!

Now – I’m off to draw 1,00000000000000000 more tidily organised vessels with decreasing amounts of liquid in them, so you can realistically quaff armagnac while crafting azoth in your snootle jar.

And AK’s off to the Cucurbit Prison. Stay tuned, lest you miss an inmate steathily jimmying their lock…

“The occupant of *this* cell could not be allowed fresh air and exercise. It could not have reasonably expected to leave this cell ever again, even while it wore human shape. But it could not be confined forever; in the end, somehow, it found its way into the walls.”