MOTHORCHID
Author: AK,
published 1 year ago,
[i]Phalaenopsis[/i], better known as the moth orchid. It's a flower that looks like a thing with wings. The etymology means the name means literally something like 'mothy'.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/a7d3eeb36fb51d6e276a8d0b18f386e320fed689.jpg[/img]
[i]Phalaenopsis philippinensis Golamco ex Fowlie & C.Z.Tang, Orchid Digest 51: 92 (1987)[/i]
MOTHORCHID is the final release of the year. In all we've had I think forty patches. I often point out that's not bad for a four-year-old game. In turn people occasionally point out that I completely borked the game for a little while back in March, and I have to admit that yes, that was [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/718670/view/3099044462450223683]a godawful two weeks[/url] followed by a grim month.
What have all those patches done? roughly,
(1) much, much better modding support
(2) various long-standing bugs and save stability issues
(3) quality of life stuff ('a dropbox for verbs finally'!)
Behind the scenes, we've also been prepping the codebase so it can support [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1028310/BOOK_OF_HOURS/]BOOK OF HOURS,[/url] our next game (out in June next year). This means that we can _keep on_ supporting Cultist into the indefinite future.
Ra ra loads of patches ain't we great... sure, but it's also enlightened self-interest. It's so tempting as a small dev to release-and-forget. Support takes time away from the development of new games. The codebase you worked on three years ago is the ugliest thing in the world and the codebase you're working on now is the one where you Get It Right. Same with the design. Fresh start! Green fields! But that means that you forget half the lessons you learnt on the previous project... and it also means your sales will suffer. Cultist hits its fifth anniversary next year, and it looks like we'll pass the million-sales-on-Steam mark around then. There's no way we'd have got there if we'd left the game to languish unpatched after release. We might have got BOOK OF HOURS out sooner, but then we'd have left _that_ to languish too, and ended up chasing the next release. Nasty cycle to get into.
This has been a hell of a lot easier since we brought in Chelnoque, the gentleman behind the Roost Machine, to do freelance work on bughunting and modding support. Chelnoque understands the game systems intimately, he's a lot better at QA than I am, and he's a steady source of thoughtful ideas. A toast to the gentleman behind the sealion avatar!
Anyway thanks for taking a chance on this weird, eternally uninviting, sempiternally janky little piece. We've got a lot more Secret Histories plans. I'll get on to the patch notes in a moment, but first...
[h2]WHAT ELSE LOTTIE AND I HAVE DONE THIS YEAR:[/h2]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/b2b74e80e0fdc30ecaaf35bd02488b639ec7fcad.png[/img]
[b][url=https://weatherfactory.biz/sixth-history-community-licence/]The Sixth History Community Licence[/url], which opens up our IP for use by anyone who fancies a pop at a Secret Histories creative work[/b]
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[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/2f9da6a4328c38e709d8f1c160a8a72e50b3d6b1.png[/img]
[b][url=https://weatherfactory.biz/secret-histories-box-crossrow/]The Secret Histories boxes[/url], limited edition treasures themed around the libraries of the Secret Histories - all sold out but we'll do a wider release for Hush House [/b]
[hr][/hr]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/0e1a2a8f32382230ebfecca7646678b7c51a4776.png[/img]
[b][url=https://weatherfactory.biz/xvii-the-vagabond-nicola-rigby-2022/]The Vagabond[/url], an incarnation of a certain Hour - a collaboration with the sculptor Nicola Rigby[/b]
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[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/1bebec1724f730ad2aa096592eea6b129485d101.jpg[/img]
[b][url=https://weatherfactory.biz/the-beech-gallery/]The Locksmith's Dream[/url] - an experimental live event, a collaboration with Ivan Caric of Tricuspid[/b]
[hr][/hr]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/16592043c284c84114e28aa1121c26f1fa4e025c.png[/img]
[b][url=https://weatherfactory.biz/mpc-x-the-lady-afterwards-now-available/]The Lady Afterwards x Mysterious Package Company[/url], a wildly luxurious version of our already luxurious TTRPG pack - a collaboration with the MPC[/b]
[hr][/hr]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/8bc2ba9f4161fc3f9f7f2ca54c27746f4e1ed45d.jpg[/img]
[b][url= https://weatherfactory.biz/snare-of-the-tree-and-other-perilous-seductions/]The Snare of the Tree[/url], "Essays on the Dangers of Game Design", my second book, which came out a year ago last week[/b]
[hr][/hr]
We also released[b] a series of free in-universe letters and documents that you really shouldn't miss if the lore has its hooks in you: about [url=https://weatherfactory.biz/tabriz-january-1866/]the arts of light and war[/url], about the [url=https://weatherfactory.biz/to-superintendent-wynford-of-nocturnal-branch//]horrible secrets of expansion[/url], about [url=https://weatherfactory.biz/limassol-easter-1925-gwen-dear/]bothering rabbits[/url], about [url=https://weatherfactory.biz/reverend-timothy-on-the-history-of-hush-house/]the long peace by the sea[/url].[/b]
(also we got married, FINALLY, after years of pandemic. That's right, the two halves of Weather Factory are now united in the bonds of etc etc)
Next year we have [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1028310/BOOK_OF_HOURS/]BOOK OF HOURS[/url], [url=https://weatherfactory.biz/the-lucid-tarot/]the Lucid Tarot[/url] ("I'M DRAWING IT AS FAST AS I CAN" says Lottie), a collection of unreleased papers from the Suppression Bureau's archives, and whatever other unlikely ideas occur to us after too much mulled wine at Christmas.
PATCH NOTES! Bold is Chelnoque, italics are my exegeses.
[h2]MOTHORCHID, v2022.12.m.2[/h2]
[b] A quirk in Bureau's logic made it prosecute the player if the player tried to bail out a rival.[/b]
[i]Some would say that pre-fix, this was a more accurate simulation of the Bureau's operating procedures. I definitely wouldn't, which is one reason the Bureau hasn't locked *me* up.[/i]
[b]- An impossible looping Long bug became more impossible.[/b]
[i]This was a bug that showed up in one case in one legacy save, and should have been theoretically impossible. But it wasn't. Which worried us. So Chelnoque took some time to track it down, and sealed the mouseholes where it might have got in.
[/i]
[b]- Sometimes cards yearned to connect with their relatives inside verbs and spammed the hover sound.[/b]
[i]"Love, like the Mansus, defies boundaries."[/i]
[b]- Achievement descriptions were invisible with High Contrast setting on.[/b]
[i]'Does anyone really care about cheevos?' I occasionally incredulously ask Lottie, or Chelnoque, or the postman. The answers are approximately 'yes', 'yes duh', and 'wot?' from each.[/i]
[b]- The deck details window didn't hide when the element details window was opened, and was hanging there awkwardly.[/b]
[i]Very few people even know the deck details window _exists_, which is why this happened at all[/i]
[b]- Made it very subtly clearer that taunting the Foe is repeatable.[/b]
[i]The subtlest problems generate the most complicated conversations:[/i]
[expand type=details]alexis
I remember going back and forth on this one when I was designing it. I can't remember if I took the limit out because I wanted to be generous, or whether I forgot to put the limit in properly
if you keep repeating it, you've got to keep spending resources on defending, haven't you? so it's not really a degenerate strategy?
oh goodness even worse
you get two wounds
chelnoque
You'll keep getting wounds, so there's a downside, but wounds cure on their own, so no, you aren't forced to spend anything but your time
So it can be like "get 3 defiance marks, run away, and return for ascension"
It's not terribly broken by all means, and without it the player is softlocked out of ascension if they ever betrayed a rebellion (cause they got -1 defiance mark, and there's only 7 overall)
On the other hand, Colonel players are softlocked in the same circumstances without any way of changing it
Overall, if there's no certainty, I think it's ok to leave it as it is, it's not like it turns the balance upside down
Asked more to check if there's a straightforward answer
alexis
I agree. I don't think 'too easy' has ever been reported as an Exile issue.
the other issue is that if we add the limit, we have to provide meaningful feedback if the player tries to repeat it. I'm reasonably sure this is why I didn't finish implementing it: that it was slightly challenging to write, approximately, 'that trick only impresses the Lionsmith once' in a flavourful way
chelnoque
Well, slot can just forbid it
alexis
It can, and that's probably apohenically sufficient, but it can also incite questions as to why only once
very much not a big deal, but let's leave it. Can you remove the -1 requirement? just to avoid future reports
[/expand]
[b]
- Cards warn about the nearing expiration by displaying their timer without hover-on.[/b]
[i]
This used to happen, then didn't, did, then didn't... I think I broke it in the notorious March Update
[/i]
[b]- Fixed a couple of typos in Exile.[/b]
[i]"And still they come."
[/i]
[b]- HOTFIX: Alt recipes with a chance weren't always working correctly.[/b]
[i]This was a rare, weird issue that would probably have made someone ask me in another month or five "are you sure probabilities are working" and I would have answered grumpily "yes let me tell you about streaks" and I'd have been wrong. Fortunately the issue actually crashed Chel's own mod, so we spotted it.[/i]
[b]
- MODDING: Mutation level can be defined as a reference - { \"mutate\": \"grail\", \"level\": \"heart\" }[/b]
[i]I needed this for BOOK OF HOURS , so you ladeez and genz and others are getting it for CS
[/i]
[b]- MODDING: Reference-values can use negatives in appropriate contexts - \"effects\": { \"lantern\": \"-forge\" }
[/b]
[i]And this.[/i]
[b]- MODDING: All verb refences (in slots' and recipes' actionIds) can now use wildcards - \"actionId\": \"verb.*\"
[/b]
[i]This opens up all sorts of really ooohhhh approaches, especially in the context of verbs now having aspects. Did anyone say BOOK OF HOURS workstations?
[/i]
Have a glorious Yule, everyone. May ye neither eat anyone else nor by anyone else be eaten.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//31397842/f7262fe5feedeb6761a2dd266bf071b7dd5a7617.jpg[/img]
[i]pictured: tree + cat infestation[/i]
