Community god polls opens for category #3: gameplay impact!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 08:39:00 PM

It is now the time for the polls of the third category of the community god event! Before showing you the entries that we have selected from the community, I wanted to say how impressed we were. Diving into some gameplay aspects for this new god is no easy feat. We've read a lot of coherent and inspiring entries from those who participated, you did great! The hard part was to select only 3 of them to join the CRG entry in the polls. Here are the entries we selected from the community contest in no particular order:

Entry A, by CreepityGrimbo, Carol2015, and Cult Mom :

Entry B, by Megan Nyquist :

Entry C, by Quiddity :

Congratulations to the winners, they will be joined by the CRG entry as entry D for the polls. We can't wait to see how things will turn out this time! No matter what happens Kessessa is already shaping up to be an awesome addition to the Worship pantheon. Here's how the polls will appear on the Discord server:

FULL SIZE

Honorable Mentions

Now for the honorable mentions, which were also hard to pick because a lot of entries deserved a place in the spotlight. We could've displayed many more cool entries but we'll stick to 3 for the mentions to be more meaningful. Check them out!

By Dobromir:

We loved this entry and found a lot of the mechanics very inspiring, original and fitting for Kessessa. The writing was also great, definitely worthy to be among the selected entries. Sadly the thing that prevented us from selecting this entry was because we figured it would've needed a very significant amount of work to implement mechanics solely designed for this god. That said fantastic entry! Here it is:

"As an Acolyte of She Who Knows, you begin the game with the Research basic ritual, which allows you to examine and destroy a landmark, object, or a slain enemy. This in turn feeds your Gnosis - a secondary resource unique to Kessessa's followers. Gnosis will not only increase your Devotion, but can also be spent to learn rituals known only to other cults and then alter them to your liking – a wall of fire suddenly turns to ice, while a resurrection circle repairs your buildings instead of your followers. Through Gnosis you will also be able to upgrade buildings in strange ways, unlocking additional functions and utilities, while your followers will eventually gain access to bizarre alchemical weapons and contraptions like arcane explosives or brass sulfur sprayers.

To achieve all of this you need to build a Knowledge Shrine early on and impress the Coven enough to recruit some of their Alchemists. Doing so will permanently increase your Gnosis cap and unlock options to purchase and augment rituals, or build enhanced buildings and tools. Befriending the Coven will surely bring the ire of the Church, proportional to the number of Witches you have, while the Untamed will attack you for destroying natural landmarks or researching beasts.

You will also learn rituals unique to your cult like Rite of Sight for scouting ahead safely, Curse of Brainrot which slows enemies and disables their powers, or Stasis which suspends a monster so you can vivisect it (for extra Gnosis). Whatever your approach, you will have a wide range of rituals, augments and equipment to mix and match. "

By Robert Barlow:

The idea of having to sacrifice followers to unlock new rituals was very interesting to us. Additionally we found clever and funny that some of your followers would turn against you if you did to many sacrifices in order to earn more rituals. Check it out:

"When one chooses to worship Kessessa, one chooses to worship knowledge itself. Stuck between the oppressive church and the anarchical cult, the coven sticks out as prime apostles for the next stage of knowledge, one that is both forbidden and difficult for the mortal minds to comprehend.

Crazed by the lurking unknowable truths scattered throughout the world, these scholars will go to any cost if the reward is that of understanding. Though a master of knowledge, Kessessa only provides you with one ritual, though this one will be all that you need, in sacrificing followers, you may gain another old god's rituals. Her devotion increases as you learn more and more rituals from the other old gods. As devotion increases, so too does the chance that your own followers may attack you, for anything is worth the price of knowledge."

By Lucy Bursford:

The flavor of this entry was very appreciated by the team. We also loved the concept of having the ability to avoid conflict with the church so that Kessessa would not lose any more disciples she consider as her own kin in this take:

"Knowledge and wisdom are what Kessessa covets, and her cults follow her example into all kinds of dark arts. But Kessessa also considers a mother to your cult. She craves sharing knowledge with a growing group of children and cultivating their minds. She also rewards her children for working together, rewarding players for working with the coven.

Whilst helping the coven shows devotion, showing new people Kessessa’s motherly love and converting them makes her the prouder. Overall, new knowledge, found by solving puzzles and landmarks rewards you her highest praise. Your quest for knowledge and worship of Kessessa makes you interchangeable with the coven, and a big threat to the church.

Especially after the death of so many of her children, this threat from the church makes Kessessa fear losing her children. For this reason, she limits access to the most offensive rituals, afraid to embolden her children too much to fight the church head on. From this fear and as a strict mother, she harshly punishes those who bring to much attention to the cult through slaughter. Instead, from the beginning, she allows her children to erase their recent activities from the minds of the church, allowing them to slip past their enemies. Even in death, you aren’t separated from your mother, as her more powerful followers can revive dead followers. Once you have accepted her as your mother, you have accepted her truth, but also her control over you. And Mother knows best for you and the world."

That sums it up for the community contest. A big thanks to all participants, reading you entries was a lot of fun and very inspiring! As we mentioned earlier, a lot of very nice entries were not showcased in this update, so don't bring yourself down if your entry doesn't appear here! Now its up to the community to decide upon Kessessa's gameplay impact! You have until April 1st to cast your vote in the Discord!

This time the closing fanart is a little different! One of the winning entries had additional art along with it that we couldn't display as to not skew the results of this text/design based category. So here it is:

Entry made by CreepityGrimbo, Carol2015, and Cult Mom: 

Gods summoning cinematics REACHED! All remaining stretch goals revealed!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 08:35:13 PM

We can’t thank you all enough for your incredible support enabling us to reach a fifth stretch goal for Worship! The team is really excited about having gods summoning cinematics to make it even more badass when achieving your ultimate goal as a cultist! Check out the latest stretch goal update to learn more about our goal with these amazing cinematics. 

Now that we have the support of more than 3595 backers and the freshly summoned Eldritch Gods behind our backs, it is time to tackle the remaining stretch goals! This time around we’ll do it a bit differently since we are entering the last straight line of the campaign. We will reveal all 3 remaining stretch goals in this update! These goals, especially the last two are among our wildest dreams for Worship and we hope it’s as exciting for you all than for the team at Chasing Rats Games!
 

300k CAD$ – “Sacrificial Lamb” Difficulty Level

In this mode, the space between worlds is fractured, deadlier eldritch horrors roam the realm of man. Everything is trying to kill you. BEWARE of goats, you are the sacrificial lamb.

It is no secret, especially for those who have played Struggling, that we do love ourselves a good challenge here a Chasing Rats. If we reach this goal, we’ll be able to develop a very special alternative mode for Worship dedicated to those seeking an unforgiving experience. This mode will even come with its own set of Eldritch Prophecies and rewards! Will you be able to stomach leading hundreds of faithful followers to their gruesome deaths as your mind topples into madness?   

400k CAD$ – Orchestral Recording Sessions for the OST

We love how the Worship OST is shaping up, but with this stretch goal we'll go above and beyond with recordings sessions with a reputed orchestra in the flesh for the OST!

With only 4 tracks revealed from the Worship OST, many of you already fell in love with it. If you haven’t heard them all yet, take a look at our audio spotlight update. With this stretch goal, the already amazing OST is about to blow up to epic proportion! Professional recordings session with a live orchestra will make your cultist experience sound even more sacrilegious (and awesome)!

500k CAD$ – Cult Wars, Worship PvP

Thanks to your phenomenal support we can plan a very significant post-launch feature dear to our hearts, PvP! You'll be able to start games against other player managed cults and prove the might of your god.

This is our absolute dream goal for Worship! Early in the development, we’ve discussed internally how cool PvP would be with Worship's design and mechanics. We determined at the time that it was out of scope for our initial vision, but if we reach this stretch goal it will become a reality. We will be able to plan the development of Cult Wars as a big post launch content update that would represent a whole new way to play Worship! Answer the call of the eldritch gods: Arm your followers and prepare your rituals to go on unholy crusades against other cults!

We hope that what we have in store has strengthened your devotion towards the old gods and your excitement for the game. Help us spread the word to rally even more heretics to the cause and we might reach some of these dream goals, or even all of them (if some unholy miracle happens)! Here's the list of all the stretch goals for Worship:

We still have more forbidden knowledge to unveil about Worship until the end of the campaign, so be sure to check out the upcoming updates!

Time to close the update with a dope An-Ansgaidh fanart:

Artist: Cole Zaveri

Unspeakable Horrors enemy reveal: Scarlet Behemoth! - Factions patron tiers announcement
about 3 years ago – Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 09:25:57 AM

We have something super exciting and also terrifying in store for every aspiring cultist today. You all know that the world's factions are a very important part of Worship's gameplay, so we wanted to show a glimpse of the characters and enemies associated with them. Today we scratch the surface of the most nightmarish of all factions: The Unspeakable Horrors.

These abominations slither through the cracks in between the world of the old gods and the mortal realm. Most of them are living nightmares that pose a threat to anyone and anything crossing their path. It is now time to meet the one you'll learn to dread while playing Worship.

New Ennemy Reveal: Scarlet Behemoth

Lore

The sheer sight and scent of this humongous bloody mass of muscles is enough to make one retch. Glancing at a scarlet behemoth, one might think its an ancient species of the untamed, but a more thorough examination would reveal something far sinister. A parasitic entity that envelops its host and bolsters it with the flesh and bones of any victim in its path. This results in a hulking creature of skinless muscles, using the bones gathered along the way as claws and fangs. Forever bleeding and starving, it seeks to find more of this precious scarlet fluid to fuel its host and the ever growing “improvements” merged with it.

Gameplay 

Scarlet behemoths are dreadful otherworldly foes, natural enemies for cultists because they are incessantly drawn to blood. Stabbing yourself makes you a prime target for these horrors, threatening to end your life before you have the chance to activate a ritual. You’ll need to use your blood in clever ways to bait it in traps or make some sacrifices. When it absorbs the body of a dead follower, you can use this opportunity to strike with your mob of fanatics or run away before it smells more blood.

Concepts:

Thats all we wanted to show about this aberration you might encounter in the world of Worship, but this update still have more to show!

New Limited Backer Tiers - Factions Patrons 

Since people have been asking about new slots for the Elder God tier, we have been thinking about opening a final backer tier that offers another unique opportunity to have an input in an aspect of Worship's design. Our answer is the factions patron tiers, limited to 1 for each faction of the game (doesn't include the Heretics faction). This unique reward has will have you design, with our team, one of the characters/enemy from the chosen faction! For example, the "Patron of The Untamed" backer would get to design with us an enemy or character from the Untamed faction. Aside from that, it offers everything from the Avatar of Greed tier, but with 10 digital copies of the game (in addition to a physical limited edition of Worship), 5 t-shirts instead of 3 and the physical vinyl OST! We don't want anybody to put themselves in a tight spot for such a high tier so make sure you can afford it without issues if you want to go for it. With that said, we can't wait to show more about these factions as production goes forward!

Patron of The Coven

Become a beacon of hope in these dark times for the witches, scholars and alchemists of the Coven! Design with our team one of the enemies from the Coven. Also includes all physical rewards and 10 digital copies (check reward grid for details).

Patron of The Church

Join the zeal of the inquisition and go on a crusade to eradicate heresy! Design with our team one of the  enemies from the Church. Also includes all physical rewards and 10 digital copies (check reward grid for details).

Patron of The Untamed

Show the Untamed who's the boss and lead their tribes! Design with our team one of the enemies  from the Untamed. Also includes all physical rewards and 10 digital copies (check reward grid for details).

Patron of The Unspeakable Horrors

Embrace madness and give shape to otherworldly horrors! Design with our team one of the enemies from the Unspeakable Horrors. Also includes all physical rewards and 10 digital copies (check reward grid for details).

Unspeakable Horror Ennemy : Spawn of Hubryus

This one might be a familiar face to those who have consulted the "factions" section on the campaign page.  You might've seen what it looks like, but since this update is focused on Unspeakable Horrors, its time to unveil a bit more about those tentacular hounds.

Lore

Six legged aberrations that are said to have been made this way by the Sower of Insanity himself. Nobody has confirmed the existence of such creatures in the mortal realm, most likely due to how deadly they are when encountered. Few know the name they were given but among the cultists and followers who do, the affiliation of these nightmarish creatures with Hubryus is questioned. Especially by those serving this eldritch god whose lives are ended, crushed by their maw.

Gameplay 

Encountering Spawns of Hubryus while you explore the world might prove problematic if you aren’t prepared for it. These abominations are fast with their six insectoid legs, so they are hard to shake off. They tend to go for easy preys, so the more followers you have with you, the better your chances of survival. Be wary of their tail, they will use it to sweep many assailants at once. Their origin makes them naturally resistant to some ritual effects, which means they are hard to take down with the powers of your god alone. Nothing a good old mob of followers cannot solve!

Community God Category #3 Upcoming Polls

We can't wait to check out your entries for the community god gameplay impact with the team! Sometime tomorrow, March 30th, the polls for this category will go live with the selected community entries. Don't forget to cast your vote before April 1st, 1pm EST.

That's it for this special update! If we did this right you might have a few nightmares about the eldritch creature that were shown, sorry about that. Time for the fanart showcase!

Artist: Carol2015

The community god now has a look! - Polls closes for god appearance, contest for category #3 begins
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 08:20:47 PM

The polls for the 2nd category of the community god just closed and we have a winner! Many of you took the time to cast their vote to determine how this new Worship god would look like, thank you all for your participation. Here's the amazing community entry that is selected for Kessessa's appearance by popular vote:

Artist: Fayley

Towards the end of the community god event, Kessessa will be redrawn into the Worship aesthetic by our own artists while staying true to the winning concept! Stay tuned with the updates to see the completed community god reveal at the end of the campaign!

 Category #3 - Cult playstyle and signature rituals

Like for the 1st category, this category focus on writing, but this time around its a little bit trickier since it is directly linked to gameplay. Since what you know about the gameplay of the game is contained within the Kickstarter campaign, submissions for this category are meant to stay relatively in surface and not dive into details too much. The "Gameplay impact" text for each god on the campaign are good examples/template of what we expect for this category.  In addition to that we wanted to give you a small list of the gameplay elements we expect to see in submissions.

Category #3 entries should contain:

• The in game actions that are rewarded with more devotion when you serve that god. Example with Salithys: Using followers as your own puppets will reward more devotion when they complete meaningful tasks for you. Obeying the whispers of Salithys will also offer more rewards than other deities. 
• (1-3) signature rituals you may obtain and use while worshiping Kessessa. Example with Salithys: Salithys has plenty of powerful rituals to offer her faithful. Mind control, powerful healing, and even resurrecting the dead are among her rituals of choice. 
• A double edged particularity that affects your game as a devotee of Kessessa. Example with Salithys: Worshipping the Deceit Weaver also makes the church less of a menace and even sometimes allies when she deems it necessary. This has the effect of making the coven particularly heinous and dangerous for your cult. 

Chasing Rats official entry

Because of the nature of this category, we decided to submit an entry for this one. This time, only one as opposed to 3 for category #1. Here's the entry we made for Kessessa, Mother of the Coven:

Criterias

Even if they appear in the Discord, we wanted to put these here so that more people know what we will look at when judging the entries we receive via the contest: 

• coherence with Worship's world
• cohesion with Worship's gameplay/game design
• quality of the writing  
• originality and creativity

Keep in mind that for this category, it's important to stay realistic in your propositions. If your entry contains things that are technically very hard to put in the game or that doesn't fit with Worship's mechanics, it probably won't make the cut.

For your submission, try to aim for a maximum of 1500 characters. Any more than that and it would be too long for the polls and it would not fit well visually. If you have tons of ideas and you feel inspired, feel free to send the "uncut" version with your submission, the team will be happy to read it all! Do keep in mind that we will have to make our decisions on the more concise version.

With all of that said, it's amazing to see how the community god is shaping up and we can't wait to see what you have in store for Kessessa's gameplay impact!

 Community goals update - Almost there for Discord goal!

That's it for this update, as always here's the featured Worship fanart:

Artist: Snickering0

Community god category #2 polls opens! - God appearance
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 02:40:01 AM

Sorry for how cliché this will sound but it doesn't get any easier choosing winners for this community event! I know a lot of you, especially those active on the Discord server, are looking forward to seeing which entries have been selected for the polls. We wanted to say that we've received truly awesome pieces of art to depict Kessessa, Mother of the Coven! Both the entries that were selected and a lot of those that weren't were truly inspiring for the team! 

We wanted to thank our amazing community for participating in the community god event! We can see that a lot of love was poured in the community submissions and we can't wait to see how this god will continue to shape up with this next poll and the following categories. This time around we decided to go beyond the limit we set upon ourselves and selected 4 entries! The choices were very hard to make and some entries we loved had to go in honorable mentions because of various reasons like "coherence with Worship's world". Without further ado, it is time to reveal the winning entries that will make their way into the polls, in no particular order.

Category #2 selected community entries

Selected entry A: by Megan Nyquist

Selected entry B: by Félicia Giroux-Lavergne

Selected entry C: by Jelle Vermeulen

Selected entry D: by Coop

Congrats to the winners and here's what the polls for category #2 looks like:

The polls will open on the Discord server,  head to the #community-god-polls channel to cast your vote! We look forward to see how the polls for category 2 will turn out! Keep in mind, the winning entry will be redrawn into the Worship aesthetic by our own artists at the end of the entire event. We're mainly focusing on the design itself, not just the quality of the drawing.

Honorable mentions

So many awesome submissions, its only fair that we give the spotlight to those that gave us a hard time deciding on the winning entries. Thanks again to all the artists for submitting your take on Kessessa's appearance!

By Clover (Cult Mom):

By Quiddity:

By Snickering0:

By Froggynaut:

Community entries compilation

Its almost over for this community god event update. Before closing we wanted to take the time to show you a compilation of every submissions we received for this category! Apologies for the amount of cropping we had to do to make everything fit, we mean no disrespect toward the artists. Thanks again for taking the time to participate for this very special category!

Here's the closing fanart for today:

Artist: coco