DD#153 The End of 2023 news - [Neolithic]To the End

The 151st Week and Version 20231229

Hi, everyone! Welcome to the last developer's diary of the year 2023.

It has been another year. So, let's summarize the current progress in this game.

Full transcript of the video:
The end is coming!
It's the end of 2023!
Have you lived a meaningful life this year, or wasted it like many others unaware of what is happening behind the veil?
Let's take a look.
This is not a rogue-like game. But you explored endless procedurally generated dungeons in addition to our vast world.
This is not Elona. But you completed countless random quests with no stop alongside our stories.
This is not Diablo 4. But you've collected innumerable trophies with unique combinations of special attributions on your journey.
This is not Crusader King 3. But you forged your extraordinary faith and ideology with remarkable tenets, illustrating the world with your truth.
This is not Stellaris. But you've heard the machine spirits turning text to speeches, whispering to you.
This is not Hearts of Iron 4. But you designed your exceptional firearms with distinct components.
This is not the Secret World. But you enhanced your weapons and armor the same way.
This is not Skyrim. But you installed mods just with an identical level of freedom.
This is not Fallout 4. But you picked the lock alike.
This is not Mass Effect 2. But you found computers are similar to hack.
This is not Pokemon. But you tried to capture all kinds of enemies and turn them into pets.
This is not a dating simulation. But you grew bound with various people and factions.
This is not a hentai game. But you collected colorful 3D cutscenes in your gallery of memories. Some are not for kids.
This is not the Sims. But you crafted, planted, cooked, and made potions.
This is not Minecraft. But you reshaped your pocket dimension to your desire.
This is not Hearth Stone. But you spent time playing your cards right.
This is not the Saints Row. But you made money from traffic insurance fraud.
This is not Microsoft's long-dead "Games for Windows" brand. But you enjoyed yourself with Minesweeper, Gobang, Black Jack, and much more, collecting GPA coins for various rewards.
You've been playing this game. The game from 2004 is still updated. The truth behind its story is indisputable.
You may not be Homelander. But you are stronger! You are smarter! You are better!
But, you are cursed with free will. You must choose your own destiny.
To be a tyrant over the powerless, or a defender of humanity.
To be a monarch or a beggar.
The choice is all yours.
You are about to see the end days of 2023. You will see the dawn of 2024. Ready or not, the story will continue.
Please go on. We are fascinated by you. No matter who you are, who you want to be.
Time is not your enemy. The eternity is. Happy New Year!
The Game Engine is irrelevant. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add all your magical and technological features to our own. Resistance is impolite!

As you can see, it's not something quite serious. More or less, I am making fun of other games and popular culture references. The reason is that I still don't think the game is ready enough for some serious marketing efforts even though it's already better than many, and properly the best RPG Maker XP game in the world. For example, I played Owlcat's Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader recently. They have even more texts than in our game. Yet, they don't even have any basic text-to-speech support. People need to read through all the text like decades ago. Well, at least, we are better than that. We have ALL text-to-speech to all your system-supported languages! :D
Sure, maybe some people will disagree that this is the best RMXP game in the world. I'd welcome them to nominate any better games they think exist. Then, maybe I will add those games' biological and technological distinctiveness to our own like many mentioned in the video. Resistance is futile. :P

That's enough for this year's summaries.
Now, let's see what happened this week.

First, Katan's development continues.
We got a new character that will appear in a future update.

It's for the brothel that is still not opened yet. But, you can use this appearance on your character or your customized teammates now.
We got a relationship entry with those outlaws.

We also got a witch who sells suspicious food in the Den of Pleasure. (Well, first Slaanesh references, and now some Nurgle references. Things are getting more and more interesting here.)

Here also comes something you can find in CP 2077 and Saint Rows.

Plus, some references to a very very old historical movie from 1978. In case someone asks, let's pretend it's just an item missing its texture files, leaving only purple on its edge. Technically, that's how it was made. :)
Oh, by the way, the "horny" effect is also something new. It's one of the most complicated state effects in the game right now. Under its effect, a character may gain a small boost on attack, strength, and endurance, they can even gain a temporally seduction skill level. However, they will lose some defense, accuracy, resistance to emotional damage, and resistance to confusion. When the effect is expired, they will become weakened. Maybe, it can never precisely picture how exactly it is in real life. But, it shall provide a similar feeling. To this goal, hentai books also no longer directly apply a "weakened" effect on the target. They now first apply a "horny" effect on the target. Then, when the "horny" effect expires, they will automatically become "weakened." With this new state effect in place, we can now also set the "sexual desire" value of any creature, no matter friend or foe, more accurately. There can be a lot of potential here. I guess only Steam's content policy can stop us from going too deep. :P

Now, enough about Katan.
Time to purge all those heretic thoughts as the Inquisition has equipped another new weapon module!

May whatever kind of religion/ideology you follow to protect you from such corruption as you can now gain more devotion from your prayer with a holy text attached right now to your firearm barrel. It's a generic module. Thus, it can attach to most of the guns except RPGs.
Also, as a game of high level of freedom, nothing is stopping you from worshiping an evil god while still using this module. But, in that case, it's you who turned a holy relic into something unholy. :)

Meanwhile, we also have some progress in the sea. We've now reached Qinuyi's Underwater Checkpoint, and the story of the Dark Elf King can continue a bit. To make traveling in this area easier, some guides have also been added. You can purchase their services to move around the underwater tunnels fast without the need to maneuver around potential enemies. A new BGM asset I just bought from Steam's Winter Sale was also added to this area. Have fun, and enjoy this sunless sea. And...here comes my bad habit of random reference again. :P

In addition to content updates, some development maintenance also took place this week. The main development environment has been moved to a new hard drive as the old one is showing a slight sign of defection. I decided to leave nothing to chance.

That's for this week. Happy New Year!


This week's full development log:
20231223
English
############Content################
[Den of Pleasure]Added 3 dialog options on Lao Wang, including his backstories.
[Den of Pleasure]Area expanded.
[Den of Pleasure]Added a trash dump that can be dug for resources.
[Den of Pleasure]Added a Witch Cauldron.
[Den of Pleasure]Added some random drifters.
[Den of Pleasure]Added some random rats.
[Gun Modification]New Gun Module: Barrel of Faithful Prayer. (It can be attached to any type of firearm, except RPGs)
[Samujier Cathedral]The Church Merchant now sells Barrels of Faithful Prayer
#######Debug#####################
[Den of Pleasure]Fixed a bug in this area. If you see NPCs not moving, leave this area and re-enter again shall fix the issue.



20231224
English
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[Underwater Tunnel]The Underwater Tunnel now has a new BGM and a BGS.
[Bazaar]The Servant of Bazaar will now buy Hentai Books from you as they are now also considered "love stories." However, he will not pay as much as other "lover stories" to Hentai Books.
[Bazaar] Likely, you can only make a good profit by trading Hentai Books to the Bazaar on Valentine's Day. But, still, other "love stories" are more profitable.
[Underwater Tunnel]New Location: Qinuyi Underwater Checkpoint (But, the story of the Dark Elf King is still a work in progress.)
[Qinuyi Underwater Checkpoint]A guard will block your path to Jiru Island. But, he will provide you with some information.
[Skill]New Skill: Flamestrike

20231225
English
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[Qinuyi Underwater Checkpoint]Added more story content for the Dark Elf King.
[Item]Added a spell book that teaches Flamestrike.
[The Stranger on the Dock]Mission Complete!
[Quest]New quest: The Legend of an Elf King (It starts right after The Stranger on the Dock)
[Underwater Tunnel]Added 2 guides that can allow you to skip the dangerous part of the underwater tunnel.


20231226
English
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[Character Customization]Added a new playable female character variation.
[Relationship]After your visit to Katan, Katan Outlaws will now appear on your relationship UI.


20231227
English
############Development################
A "Relocated Sectors Count" anomaly was detected on the working driver. Although there is no indication that a total hardware failure is imminent, The main development branch has been moved to another driver as a precaution.
############Content################
[Effect]New State Effect: Horny. (It's likely the most complex state effect so far. -20 Accurate, +15% Strength, +15% Endurance, +25% Magic, +15% Attack, -30% Physical Defense, -30% Magical Defense, -15% Evasion, -30 Confusion Resistance, -25% Emotional Damage Resistance, +1 Seduction Level. When the effect expires, becomes "Weakened.")
[Item]Hentai books no longer directly apply a "weakened" effect on the target. It now applies to "horny." When "horny" is expired, the "weakened" effect shall automatically apply.
[Item]The definition of "a sexual desire" is no longer linked with emotional damage resistance. Instead, we now have a new variable of the horny resistance. Thus, it's now possible to use items such as Hentai Books to affect the undead. It's just much harder to succeed compared to using those books on the living. But, it's no longer impossible. (So, some people can go wild on their fantasy. :P)
[Effect]Added horny resistance data on all allies and enemies. Some Bosses can have very high resistance while some characters such as Genzou and random bandits may have a relatively low resistance.


20231228
English
############Development################
Added a new video about the end of 2023

############Content################
[Weapon]New Weapon: Biggus Dickus (It can have prefixes and additional special attributions. However, the prefix is not shown on its name.)
[Den of Pleasure]Lao Wang now sells "Biggus Dickus."


20231229
English
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[Special Attribution]Added a new special attribution that heals you when you are poisoned instead of damaging you.
[Faith]New prayer type: Pray to self-poison.
[Den of Pleasure]Added a witch who sells suspicious food.
[Den of Pleasure]You can also ask her about the source of the food ingredients. (Technically speaking, it's the same result of the same ingredients made by a character with lv5 cooking skills.)
[Den of Pleasure]The ground near the witch is turned green.