It has been roughly a month since the announcement on STEAM of Cult Vacui, and I wanted to use this devlog to keep you updated regarding the latest developments and share with you some thoughts.

First thing first: thanks
To begin, I would like to thank you for the reception received after the announcement.
As a solo developer i spent spend months working on design and graphics without having the slightest idea if this project could interest to anyone.

This on a personal level can create a lack of motivation,
because is not clear if the effort could justified this effort or not...
After sharing the first information about the game,
many people were enthusiastic, both for game's horror and esoteric themes
and the pixel art graphics.

At the moment Cult Vacui has almost reached 400 wishlists,
this number may not seem exciting to many developers,
but from my point of view it is a very good sign!

How the development is going?
As written in the previous devlog I started implementing the puzzles of the game.

I noticed very soon that although I have a well-defined design document, while implementing there is something missing...
I get assailed by questions such as:

-how can I suggest to the player what to do? is this puzzle clear enough?
-How many interactions should I anticipate for a hotspot?
-is this dialogue interesting? are the motivations of the characters clear enough?

These questions I believe are essential to ensure the best possible experience for the player.

Although I want to optimize these aspectsat the best,
I am also convinced that i will have to initiate extensive beta testing...
Cult Vacui has a nonlinear game design
and it is difficult to get an overview and understand right away what works and what doesn't..

What I developed.
-I Set up the main menu, save/load and options.
-I Set up the time management popup, which is one of the main game mechanics.
-Detective notes interface (narrative notes scattered throughout the game).
-In the game you will find survivors who will help you in your activities.
I developed an interface to see how many of them you saved and who they are

Conclusions:
So far the development is going well, there are no particular problems.
This month I would like to concentrate more on finishing the puzzles.

The narrative part is sketched out, I am setting placeholder dialogues, which will be revised later...
I need to be in a different mindset and devote the right amount of time to write properly.

Today I announced Cult Vacui and I am very excited!

Especially because it is the first time I will release a game on STEAM for the first time!

Behind LBRTY games is one person, which is me (Alessandro).

I am an independent and passionate developer who comes from game jams, which are contests that last a few weeks where the goal is to create a game that will be evaluated by the jam community itself.

The inspiration for Cult Vacui comes as a result of one such game, namely “Don't drown,” developed for the 2024 pixel game jam, which in turn was inspired by scriptwelder's “Don't escape” series.
It is a point-and-click where you have to survive an impending storm.
The type of gameplay is based on choices that have a consequence on the final event.

This allows you in retrospect to figure out what choices you should have made and generates a sense of challenge in the player who is encouraged to other gameplay sessions.

This game was very popular and was played a lot, which prompted me to make Cult Vacui.
In this case, however, I wanted to create a situation of tension and threat depicted by a very specific figure, cultists.

The cultists serve to create a veiled sense of mystery.

Who are the cultists, what do they want?

To date I have been working on this game for about 7 months.

I have a design document ready and have created most of the assets.

The plan for the next few months is to implement everything and prepare for a beta test.

I will keep you updated.

Thanks in advance for your support

Alessandro - LBRTY games