DD#75 More Toys
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's Developer's Diary.
The Steam summer sale is currently running and a -20% discount is active.
Some may wonder why the discount is less than any of the previous discounts.
It is because, as we are getting more and more content added to the game every day, it will only be illogical to have a discount more significant than any previous ones. I will also not betray anyone who purchased the game earlier by allowing the game devalues. Let's consider this as another unique trait of this game. After all, the game, after almost 18 years, is still well alive.
Unless some significant historical events that I consider we shall celebrate happen to make an exception, I will stick to this price policy.
Now let's go down to what happened this week.
First, as the title says, we are getting more interesting new toys to fight against supernatural threats.
For example,
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The new alarm device combined with our booby traps can help clear an area without direct confrontation.
The device itself can also be used to wake up anyone who fell asleep, in addition, its noisy sound makes all enemies in the battle more willing to attack the user. It's a multi-purpose item that can be useful in different circumstances.
To make the strategy more accessible, the blueprint of the booby trap has been added to the game. It can be found in a new area inside the Junkyard House of Queensmouth. Just as I mentioned before, ammonium nitrate, which can be found in fertilizers, can be also used to make explosions. Combine it with some springs, adhesives, and aluminum, you can make your very own booby traps that can bring the kingdom come to most of the enemies who unfortunately step on them.
Adhesives can also be used in alchemy to add a slow effect to the potion or poison you make.
By the way, we also get some other new alchemy materials added this week.
The change has been updated to the wiki page: https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Alchemy
With the new toys added to the game, it also comes with more customization options.
We can now use Scroll of Item Illusion to copy the icon of one item to another.
With the magic pens we already have in the game, we can go wild to wield all kinds of strange weapons, and wear all kinds of funny-looking armors. Although the illusion does not really change the inner nature of an item, to able to have diversity is all that matters. Some games sell skins, I'd prefer to allow you to have all the possibilities.
The above are the things about making fun and joy.
Yes, it's our human nature that wants to enjoy our life. However, that's just a facet many try to maintain on the surface. Another dark story has been indirectly added from the dialogs of the new enemies of this week: the Cat Face Old Ladies. For the modern urban legends in China, the first incidence was reported in 1995. There were many different versions. That was documented in Officer Lim's office in Liu's PSB. However, the encounters that may take place in the sewer may now tell a different story spells sorrow.
If the sadness from a mystery story based on the legend of a long-forgotten past is too detached from many of our audience, let's talk about the real-life story that is ongoing right now. Once again, it's about Ukraine. As many of you may have noticed I have added another sector in every day's update log known as the "Records of The War in Ukraine." Some may feel annoyed. But, I consider that a necessary step to help break through the censorship of China to bring the truth across the Great Firewall. The suspension of one of my accounts on China's social media proves it's necessary. The censorship is tightened and I shall do something against it. Previously, that was just another of my side projects to translate and provide the daily news about Ukraine outside the Great Firewall to combat the misinformation the mainstream Chinese media copies from the Kremlin. Now, each copy of the game shall also have a copy of up-to-date news in one of the game's folders. Although that cannot achieve blockchain-level undeletable records, it can certainly make censoring it harder. Those records are just some small text files. They will not have any direct impact on the gameplay other than telling some background stories about why we have some Ukraine-related content in our game. But, by having those files among the game files, together we are preserving a memory we are experiencing right now from the censorship. Thanks to Steam's auto-update feature, whenever the game updates, which happens quite frequently, the news will also be updated. If that annoys you, feel free to delete those files. I only hope such efforts can bring some help to the brave people of Ukraine even if that may just be a tiny little.
That's for this week. Next week's developer's diary will be about the 18th anniversary of the game.
Some may call my persistence in supporting Ukraine naive and stubborn as it basically wipes out the game's sales in China and Russia.
But, if those are not my traits to keep doing what I think is right, it's unlikely we can still have this game updated after almost 18 years.
"The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits—not animals." --- Winston Churchill
Today's changelog:
English
##########Content##################
New crafting material: Spring
New crafting material: Adhesive (It can also be used for alchemy.)
New crafting material: Aluminum (Special mention of French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall, they made such material quite common nowadays.)
All the above can be purchased from the 3D Printing Store of Liu at a relatively high price.
Changed the way that adjusts the material price in the 3D Printing Store of Liu. Previously, it directly changed the value of items. Now, it uses a modifier.
Added sound effects when gaining new blueprints.
New blueprint: 3 x Booby Traps. (Located in the 3D printer in the Junkyard House of Queensmouth)
###########System#################
The crafting material requirement texts are now dynamically generated based on the required material list. (Previously, it was hardcoded in the localization files.)
#####RECORDS OF THE WAR IN UKRIANE####
The new entries have been added. The records have been running for more than 99 days.
简体中文
##########Content##################
新的物品制造原料：弹簧
新的物品制造原料：粘合剂（同时可以作为炼金材料使用）
新的物品制造原料：铝 （特别提及法国工程师Paul Héroult与美国工程师Charles Martin Hall让这种原料在现代更容易获得。）
以上均可在疁城3D打印店买到，不过价格略高。
调整了疁城3D打印店出售原料的定价方式。此前使用的是直接调整物品的价值。现在使用的是一个价格修改器。
在获得新的3D打印设计图时现在会有一个音效播放。
新的3D打印设计图：3 x 诡雷。（设计图位于王后镇垃圾场小屋的3D打印机内。）
###########System#################
物品铸造所需要的原料文本现在会基于物品制造的需求列表动态产生。（此前，是直接写在文本文件里的。）
#######乌克兰小剧场####################
加入了6月25日的新闻，小剧场已运转超过99天。
The Steam summer sale is currently running and a -20% discount is active.
Some may wonder why the discount is less than any of the previous discounts.
It is because, as we are getting more and more content added to the game every day, it will only be illogical to have a discount more significant than any previous ones. I will also not betray anyone who purchased the game earlier by allowing the game devalues. Let's consider this as another unique trait of this game. After all, the game, after almost 18 years, is still well alive.
Unless some significant historical events that I consider we shall celebrate happen to make an exception, I will stick to this price policy.
Now let's go down to what happened this week.
First, as the title says, we are getting more interesting new toys to fight against supernatural threats.
For example,
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The new alarm device combined with our booby traps can help clear an area without direct confrontation.
The device itself can also be used to wake up anyone who fell asleep, in addition, its noisy sound makes all enemies in the battle more willing to attack the user. It's a multi-purpose item that can be useful in different circumstances.
To make the strategy more accessible, the blueprint of the booby trap has been added to the game. It can be found in a new area inside the Junkyard House of Queensmouth. Just as I mentioned before, ammonium nitrate, which can be found in fertilizers, can be also used to make explosions. Combine it with some springs, adhesives, and aluminum, you can make your very own booby traps that can bring the kingdom come to most of the enemies who unfortunately step on them.
Adhesives can also be used in alchemy to add a slow effect to the potion or poison you make.
By the way, we also get some other new alchemy materials added this week.
The change has been updated to the wiki page: https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Alchemy
With the new toys added to the game, it also comes with more customization options.
We can now use Scroll of Item Illusion to copy the icon of one item to another.
With the magic pens we already have in the game, we can go wild to wield all kinds of strange weapons, and wear all kinds of funny-looking armors. Although the illusion does not really change the inner nature of an item, to able to have diversity is all that matters. Some games sell skins, I'd prefer to allow you to have all the possibilities.
The above are the things about making fun and joy.
Yes, it's our human nature that wants to enjoy our life. However, that's just a facet many try to maintain on the surface. Another dark story has been indirectly added from the dialogs of the new enemies of this week: the Cat Face Old Ladies. For the modern urban legends in China, the first incidence was reported in 1995. There were many different versions. That was documented in Officer Lim's office in Liu's PSB. However, the encounters that may take place in the sewer may now tell a different story spells sorrow.
If the sadness from a mystery story based on the legend of a long-forgotten past is too detached from many of our audience, let's talk about the real-life story that is ongoing right now. Once again, it's about Ukraine. As many of you may have noticed I have added another sector in every day's update log known as the "Records of The War in Ukraine." Some may feel annoyed. But, I consider that a necessary step to help break through the censorship of China to bring the truth across the Great Firewall. The suspension of one of my accounts on China's social media proves it's necessary. The censorship is tightened and I shall do something against it. Previously, that was just another of my side projects to translate and provide the daily news about Ukraine outside the Great Firewall to combat the misinformation the mainstream Chinese media copies from the Kremlin. Now, each copy of the game shall also have a copy of up-to-date news in one of the game's folders. Although that cannot achieve blockchain-level undeletable records, it can certainly make censoring it harder. Those records are just some small text files. They will not have any direct impact on the gameplay other than telling some background stories about why we have some Ukraine-related content in our game. But, by having those files among the game files, together we are preserving a memory we are experiencing right now from the censorship. Thanks to Steam's auto-update feature, whenever the game updates, which happens quite frequently, the news will also be updated. If that annoys you, feel free to delete those files. I only hope such efforts can bring some help to the brave people of Ukraine even if that may just be a tiny little.
That's for this week. Next week's developer's diary will be about the 18th anniversary of the game.
Some may call my persistence in supporting Ukraine naive and stubborn as it basically wipes out the game's sales in China and Russia.
But, if those are not my traits to keep doing what I think is right, it's unlikely we can still have this game updated after almost 18 years.
"The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits—not animals." --- Winston Churchill
Today's changelog:
English
##########Content##################
New crafting material: Spring
New crafting material: Adhesive (It can also be used for alchemy.)
New crafting material: Aluminum (Special mention of French engineer Paul Héroult and American engineer Charles Martin Hall, they made such material quite common nowadays.)
All the above can be purchased from the 3D Printing Store of Liu at a relatively high price.
Changed the way that adjusts the material price in the 3D Printing Store of Liu. Previously, it directly changed the value of items. Now, it uses a modifier.
Added sound effects when gaining new blueprints.
New blueprint: 3 x Booby Traps. (Located in the 3D printer in the Junkyard House of Queensmouth)
###########System#################
The crafting material requirement texts are now dynamically generated based on the required material list. (Previously, it was hardcoded in the localization files.)
#####RECORDS OF THE WAR IN UKRIANE####
The new entries have been added. The records have been running for more than 99 days.
简体中文
##########Content##################
新的物品制造原料：弹簧
新的物品制造原料：粘合剂（同时可以作为炼金材料使用）
新的物品制造原料：铝 （特别提及法国工程师Paul Héroult与美国工程师Charles Martin Hall让这种原料在现代更容易获得。）
以上均可在疁城3D打印店买到，不过价格略高。
调整了疁城3D打印店出售原料的定价方式。此前使用的是直接调整物品的价值。现在使用的是一个价格修改器。
在获得新的3D打印设计图时现在会有一个音效播放。
新的3D打印设计图：3 x 诡雷。（设计图位于王后镇垃圾场小屋的3D打印机内。）
###########System#################
物品铸造所需要的原料文本现在会基于物品制造的需求列表动态产生。（此前，是直接写在文本文件里的。）
#######乌克兰小剧场####################
加入了6月25日的新闻，小剧场已运转超过99天。