Weather Factory

Hey all! It’s been a while. But there were BIRTHDAYS, and there were CONFERENCES, and there were AWARDS, so… forgive me! We should be back to normal service here on out. 🙏

I’ve updated a (very brief) new roadmap to cover the rest of this year, replacing the older Cultist Simulator-specific roadmap that no longer makes sense now that we’re big and fancy and can develop two games at a time. I’ll add more to this as and when we confirm things in-studio, so keep an eye out.

The key thing I hope you all know already is: ✨ we’re bringing BOOK OF HOURS to Kickstarter on Tuesday 3rd September ✨! We’ll be asking for £100k of our English pounds (or your equivalent coinage) to make this melancholy, mystical Rainy Mood melange of Histories a real thing.

I honestly think BoH could be pretty special! Alexis will be emailing all of you on our mailing list next week with a preview link, giving you first eyes on the pitch, the GIFs and those all-important rewards… So make sure you’re signed up!

I’m sorry to say the game has come on a little since you may have last seen us tweet some gameplay. The mechanics you’ll see in the KS are likely to be extremely placeholder, and will almost certainly change a great deal between now and the final game. But… WE WILL NEVER FORGET. ✊

The Kickstarter has eaten up most of our time this sprint. Alexis has been designing the game’s setting and primary narrative, as well as working with Hannah and Marc on the BoH demo. He’s also written some rather delectable letters to the Librarian, which we may choose to share with you at another juncture…

Hannah’s been hard at work on the demo itself, aiming to showcase shelving mechanics, a feel-y title screen, a seasonal and day/night cycle, something mysteriously referred to as ‘Revelations’…

Marc’s been supporting the BoH demo while keeping our beloved Cultist Simulator ticking over. He’s fixed bugs and primed the build to go live on the Mac Store, as well as updating VAK in line with newer design from Alexis. Most delectably, he’s been working on a BoH book generator for all your bookwormy needs! We’ll release this in the near future, but here’s what Team Weather Factory came up with…

Claire, meanwhile, has been doing some big picture strategy for the rest of the year, postmorteming our anniversary launch, prepping all manner of social fun in the run up to the Kickstarter’s launch (AMA, anyone?), and priming the press for BOOK OF HOURS to turn and bare its teeth at the start of September.

I’ve been graphic designing my little heart out with KS rewards (all shall be revealed next week), alongside reward planning, budgeting and page snazzing. It turns out that Kickstarters are a TOTAL MIND MELTER but hey I’m sure it will go TOTALLY FINE and nobody in Weather Factory will be REMOTELY STRESSED ABOUT THE KICKSTARTER AT ANY POINT.

Anyway, it’s hot and nobody’s had any sleep, so I’m off to wuzz the cats. Happy weekend, everyone, and can’t wait to hear what you think of the BoH pitch next week!