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DD #32 Unusual Items of Normal People

Hello! Welcome to another week's developer's diary!

It's an unusual week in the game industry of China.
On Monday, a government regulation banned all people under 18 years old from playing games except from 8 pm to 9 pm on the weekend. That effectively killed every companies stock price. However, some good companies immediately took action to save the market. For example, Perfect World announced another round of stock repurchase that worked miracles the next day! I will also not comply with such ridiculous regulations. I consider it lacks basic humanism. It's only fair to let NEOLITHIC can be played by anyone at any time no matter their age or nationality. (Still, a mature content warning applies. But, I will leave the choice to you instead of conceding it to a big government.)

Maybe we are all normal people who live in this world, carrying on to mind our own business. However, all normal people have their own stories. As I am working on the loot systems, I consider it may be a good idea to reflect that part even in the loots you get from the enemies.

With the prefixes system in place, there are some fancy loots with great attributions you can acquire from defeating lots of different enemies. However, a random zombie you put into peace may have their family and loved ones before the tragedy happens to the Queenmouth; an office worker you decide to rob in Liu may need that money to pay his family's bills; there are also rumors that whenever a life ceases to exist, a clock will stop permanently on the exact time. I wonder if that can make them a bit more like living or once-lived people in the game.

In addition to those that may be viewed as "junk items" by some, they shall now also have the possibility to possess items with special attributions. Some "normal" items held by "normal" people may not be just so "normal" after all. One example from real life is, you may find an amulet saving someone from a gunshot. That may happen in the game now as well.

The logic in a supernatural world is that people live on, no matter how humble they are, their life stories will make those "normal" items meaningful, Which transcended into special attributions. There are many people generated in the game every minute in the streets of Liu. Some you may never see again. There may be no chance to tell their life stories for each one of them. However, at least, let what they remain as evidence of their short-lived life.

From the technical point of view, by this week, the most common enemies (some may just be your victims if you decide to be evil.) have their drop list updated to the new prefix and procedurally item generation systems.

Other updates of this week include the open of the 2nd floor of Queensmouth fire department with interesting loots; Item detail window improvements; some quality of life improvements and bug fixes regarding the prefix and item generation system.

That's for this week.

Today's changelog:
#########Content#####################
New item: Pants (Procedurally generated version. It can have prefixes)
New item: Photo of Loved One. (Procedurally generated item with randomness in its value. It's a test for Bazaar to take procedurally generated items. It can also be melted into paper.)
New item: Dunning Letter. (Procedurally generated junk item. Can be melted into paper.)
New item: Briefcase (Procedurally generated offhand equipment. It can have prefixes.)
New item: Costume Jewelry (Procedurally generated. It can have prefixes.)
Updated the firefighter zombie's drop list to include the "Photo of Loved One."
Added a new drop list for random office workers in Liu. It includes: "Photo of Loved One","Briefcase ", " Dunning Letter", "Rou Baozi", "Magic Pen", "Stopped Clock", "Business Suit", and random shirts/pants/boots.
Added a new drop list for random young girls in Liu. It includes: "Photo of Loved One", " Dunning Letter", "Stopped Clock", "Tea", "Bobby Pin", "Costume Jewelry", and random shirts/pants/boots.
Added a new drop list for all zombies that currently do not have a drop list, the list contains: "Photo of Loved One", " Dunning Letter", "Stopped Clock","Bone","Life Potion", "Bobby Pin", "Costume Jewelry","Empty Can", "Scrap", and random shirts/pants/boots.
##########DEBUG######################
Fixed a bug that equipment's attack value was not displayed in item detail windows.

Public Beta Version 20210901

English
#########Content#####################
New area: Queensmouth Fire Department 2F
There is a chest behind a door with a difficult lock.
The chest contains the blueprint of fire axe and a turnout coat with 3 random prefixes.
The name of the coat will likely be very long. Thus, maybe consider using a "magic pen" to rename it to whatever you want.
Added Fire Extinguisher into the firefighter zombie's drop list.
Removed some high-tech items in the map of the 1978 versions of the Queensmouth.
#########System#####################
A system is now in place to allow external code to overrule the default prefix-list in an item's procedurally generation code.
简体中文
########内容更新########################
新区域:王后镇消防局2楼
该区域有一道有较高难度的上锁的门。
门后有一个箱子里有消防斧的设计图和一件有三个随机词缀的消防服。
因为词缀很多,所以这件消防服的名字会很长。因此,建议用"魔术笔"把它的名字改成任何你觉得更好听的名字。
消防员僵尸现在可能掉落灭火器。
在1978年版本的王后镇的地图上移除了一些过于高科技的物品。
########系统改进#######################
一个允许外部代码重载一个动态生成物品的默认的前缀代码的系统被加入。

Public Beta Version 20210831

English
#########Content#####################
New item: Stopped Clock (Of course, there is something creepy about it. It may have prefixes. )
New item: Shirt (Procedurally generated version. It can have prefixes.)
New item: Boots (Procedurally generated version. It can have prefixes.)
Updated the firefighter zombie's drop list to include Stopped Clock
Updated the crazed survivor's drop list to include Stopped Clock and Boots.
New item drop list for the zombies in business suits. They are still most likely to drop business suits. However, they may now also drop boots, shirts, and stopped clocks.
#########System#####################
Removed the test_nuke's animation as it slows down the testing.
##########DEBUG######################
Fixed a bug in the "sharp" prefix
Fixed a bug that causes text overlap in item detail windows if a special attribution's description will need to be drawn in multiple lines
Fixed a bug that equipment item details have an empty line between defense attributions and other attributions.
简体中文
########内容更新########################
新物品:停滞的钟表(当然,可能会有细思恐极的细节。可能带有前缀。目前由发疯的幸存者和消防员僵尸掉落。)
新物品:衬衫(动态生成的版本。可能带有前缀)
新物品:靴子(动态生成的版本。可能带有前缀)
更新了消防员僵尸的掉落列表,现在他们可能掉落停滞的钟表
更新了发疯的幸存者的掉落列表,现在他们可能掉落停滞的钟表和靴子
穿西装的僵尸现在有了新的掉落列表。他们依然最有可能掉落的是西装。但是,现在还可能掉落衬衫、鞋子、停滞的钟表
########系统改进#######################
消除了测试用的核弹的动画,因为动画太长降低测试效率
##########DEBUG######################
修复了一个在“锋利的”前缀中的BUG
修复了如果一个特殊属性很长写到两行的时候会导致文字重叠的BUG
修复了装备物品细节窗口中防御属性和之后的属性之间有奇怪的空行的BUG

Public Beta Version 20210829

English
#########Content#####################
Made the description of the baseball bat funnier. (It does not affect already generated items.)
Baseball Bat/Police Baton/Police Uniform may now have a new possible prefix.
Dirty Coat (dropped by crazed survivors) may now have 6 possible types of prefixes. (The chance to have a prefix on it is a bit lower than normal as it already has one special attribution on it by default.)
When cleaning up your bounty in Liu, the Captain's portrait will now show on the right side instead of the left side of the screen so that it's more consistent with his other dialogue.
New drop list for firefighter zombies.
New item: Turnout Coat. (It has good fire resistance. It can have prefixes. Dropped by firefighter zombies.)
#########System#####################
Adjusted the x coordinate of the item detail window so that it follows the selected item better.
Adjusted the y coordinate of the item detail window so that its y position can never go below 0 to make sure the entire window is always inside the game window.
New generic prefix: Courageous (increase resistance against fear)
##########DEBUG######################
Fixed 2 typos in English localization.
简体中文
########内容更新########################
修改了棒球棍的说明,使之更欢乐。(不会影响已经生成的物品。)
棒球棍、警棍、警服现在可能有一种新的词缀了。
肮脏的大衣(发疯的幸存者掉落的那种)现在可能有6种前缀。(拥有前缀的概率略微低于其它物品,因为其默认就有一种特殊属性了。)
当清理你在疁城的犯罪悬赏金时,无名队长的头像现在会在右侧显示而非左侧,这样能和他的其它对话保持一致。
消防员僵尸现在有了新的物品掉落表。
新物品:消防服。(自带一个不错的火焰抗性。能带有前缀。由消防员僵尸掉落。)
########系统改进#######################
调整了物品帮助窗口的X坐标,以便使其更好地和被选择的物品对齐。
调整了物品帮助窗口的Y坐标,确保其值不会小于0,从而使该窗口永远能完整地出现在游戏窗口内。
新的通用前缀:勇气的(增加对恐惧的抗性)
##########DEBUG######################
修复了两处英文文本中的通假字。

DD #31 Bag of Tricks #1

Welcome to another week's developer diary!
It is a quite busy week in the "normal" world.
There are investigations to do, people to sue, documents to file, fraud to expose, and kittens to pet. :D

But, let's go back to our supernatural business now. As it's a quite busy week, there is no real focus on the development schedule. However, a lot of things have been done.

First, more item prefixes have been added to the game.
The current list is as follow:
Sharp (causing bleeding.)
StatTrack (Basically, it will record how many creatures you have killed.)
Strong (Increase weapon's attack for a percentage.)
Feeble (Decrease weapon's attack for a percentage.)
Anti-human (Increase damage on human targets.)
Lockpicking (Increase lockpicking skill level.)
Mighty (Increase strength bonus on this item)
Defender's (Increase physical defense bonus on this item)
Warding (Increase magical defense bonus on this item)
Electroshock (Grant skill: Electrical Discharge)
Exorciser's (increase damage against ghost enemies)
Speedy (increase the item's speed bonus)
Accurate (Increase physical attack hit rate to counter high evasion enemies.)

You can also find the ever-expanding list here as I am making documents: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1519140/discussions/6/3046109410083823630/

Second, with the help of our fellow player 7.Ti, there are a few bug fixes and system optimization took place.
Some highlight includes:
1, An option to turn on/off an optimized version of the font rendering. In theory, it can make font rendering 100% faster than before.
2, Implementation of a graphics cache in most of the selection windows, including item selection windows, skill selection windows, buy/sell windows which can see a significant improvement in performance. However, although the equipment windows are also benefiting from this change, it is also affected by something else that needs further investigation to make the performance there even better.
Overall, it can usually provide a 50% to 75% performance improvement in most cases.
3, A few crash fixes. Some can not really be triggered in TtE yet. The reports are based on SAPC++. However, as TtE and SAPC++ share the same technical structures, some preempt fixes will likely benefit both.

Third, the zombie situation is getting worse in Queensmouth.
Not all zombies are slow, feeble, and clueless.
Some can be more devastating.

On the good side, you can bind new types of zombies under your command as well.
Stronger zombies can be harder to bind. Thus, you may want to weak them a bit first.

That's for this week. Stay safe and have fun!

Today's changlog:
#########Content#####################
A new type of zombie may now appear in Queensmouth. It has better attributions than normal zombies, with a small bullet damage resistance bonus. Can be turned into pets.
They also have a higher chasing speed if they detect you.
Reduced the number of zombies near the Queensmouth Church. But, increased the variations of zombies that may appear in this area.
Added one more possible prefix for baseball bat, pipe, police baton.
#########System#####################
Added localization text for physical/magical hit rate increases in item detail windows.
New generic prefix: Accurate (Increase physical attack hit rate to counter high evasion enemies.)
##########DEBUG######################
Fixed a rare crash that happens when all team members died at least once in the same battle without attacking any enemies after they are revived. (Thanks to 7.ti's bug report)
Fixed a Mod/DLC crash that the game may fail to find external graphics transition files. (Thanks to 7.ti's bug report)
Fixed a bug that the system option about whether to optimize the font rendering is not recorded into the configuration file. (Thanks to 7.ti's bug report)