Hey Kinoko fans!

It’s been a while since our last proper blog update, but between the ongoing development of our game, the redecoration of our office, and some exciting changes in how we’re going to be structuring things going forward, it’s been a busy time for the Cult of Galaxy team – so let’s get right into it!

First of all, you might’ve seen on Bluesky already that we’ve finally got a name for our game. That’s right, our game is now officially set to be titled ‘Star Heretic’! I know that some people thought our game was called ‘Kinoko and the Cult of Galaxy’, but that was never our intention. ‘Cult of Galaxy’ is the name of our studio and the wider project, and Kinoko is obviously our protagonist, so for ease of recognition we simply slapped the two together for our social media display names. Until now we always considered the game itself untitled, but that’s no longer the case, so from now on we will be making a clearer distinction by referring to our game as ‘Star Heretic’, and our studio as ‘Cult of Galaxy’.

Of course, it isn’t just our game’s title that we’ve been working on. Since our last update, we’ve finally begun working on the starsprites’ abilities. Unlike their passive buffs which are always active, the starsprites’ abilities are things that must be cast in exchange for starlight, and they’re absolutely core to our game’s whole metroidvania experience. You’ll use abilities to fight enemies and bosses, solve puzzles, and navigate the game’s various worlds. With the starsprites’ help, and as you continue to forge Kinoko’s bond with them, you’ll be able to create checkpoints, reveal hidden doorways, incinerate enemies, create impenetrable bubble shields, and so much more besides.

Yellow, blue, red, orange, pink, green, purple and white starsprites all have their own sets of abilities, and you’ll be able to unlock more via the game’s skill tree, for which you will gain skill points by gaining the starsprites’ trust and winning their friendship. With each starsprite type having its own specialisation, you’ll be able to mix and match them according to your preferred playstyle. Want to explore? Focus on your yellow starsprites. Like using melee? Summon orange starsprites to buff Kinoko’s attacks. Going for a speedrunning record? The green starsprites are your friends…

In addition, I’ve also introduced a new system for status effects. Enemies in the game will be able to apply all sorts of nasty status effects to Kinoko, from burns and poisons to silence and drowsiness. It’s not all bad news, though, because starsprites, on the other hand, will be able to bless Kinoko with an array of good ones, such as a temporary weightlessness, which will come in useful for solving puzzles and avoiding enemy detection!

In other news, we’re finally, almost able to move back out of our living room and back into our upstairs office! I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I tore down the wallpaper in there 18 long months ago, and it’s been out of action and off-limits ever since. After many botched attempts to paste and hang the first piece of wallpaper, I finally relented, and I agreed, begrudgingly, to do what Chel said we should’ve done from the start, and hire a decorator. With stubbornness removed from the equation, the walls got done last month, and the flooring got done today.

With the time-consuming and most expensive bits out of the way, all that remains now is to get the room furnished, and we’ll be able to move back in there. Space has certainly been an issue, with a whole room in our house being off-limits, so we’re looking forward to winning some of that back, and having some separation again between our living and working spaces. We’ve got some curtains to hang and shelves to mount, but soon enough we’ll have our desks back in there and we’ll be back in business.

And finally, on the subject of business, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve officially taken the step of incorporating one! That’s right, Cult of Galaxy Ltd is now a registered business in our jurisdiction of England and Wales. This is really just more of a legal arrangement than anything, affecting how we handle our game’s budget as well as things like intellectual property and trademarks. This doesn’t really affect anything we do publicly, except perhaps for how we handle taking commissions and hiring help. If you’re affected, you’ll find out how in due course – and if you’re not, then don’t worry. We’re still the same old scrappy upstarts we’ve always been!

Anyway, that’s all we have to say for one month. Until next time!