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Hi, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving. Welcome to another week's developer's diary.
This week, everything went smoothly.
First, on the Atenist side,
The Aten Cult continues to receive new content. They now have another unit.
The Aten Preachers walked among towns and cities, spreading their religion in ancient times.
When they are alone, they can cast spells such as Sun Beams.
But when they are in a group with other Atenists, they act more like a supportive unit, providing healing and buffs.
During the story, you will also encounter an enhanced version known as the Voice of Aten in a small Boss fight.
The story in the Secret Atenist Base near the North Peak is now completed. After a long chase of Zhang Yin, you finally found him, changed.
He gave a long speech before departing through a portal to execute the last stage of his plan.
The idea here is that, even after he has been brainwashed into an Atenist, his other beliefs remain the same. That somehow makes him more dangerous, as he now controls the Aten Cult with nothing to hold him back. From a design point of view, have you ever wondered what you can become if you are out of the boundary of the social norm, all meanings are allowed to achieve a goal you know is right? What will you do if you have all the resources and can be the most authentic version of yourself without pretending to be someone else? The idea here is not to create a villain that people love or hate. It's about creating a villain people wish they could become. Well, I know some of you may want to be in a state just like him right now. Maybe all of us should be. It is not something you can only do after you take over an ancient, powerful cult.
On the other hand, he had the potential to become such a villain from page one of this story. Remember, he shot you at the beginning of the game when he was supposed to be on your side back then. Some would call it evil. Others call it pragmatic. Anyway, that part doesn't change either. He will not hesitate to throw his subordinates at you to delay you.
Meanwhile, if you have certain teammates in this part of the story, they also have some additional content.
Just to spice things up a bit, Zhang Yin also received new background music for this part, in a strange mix of Chinese and Egyptian, Sci-fi and Dark Magic.
That's the conclusion of the story in that secret base. Some polish may follow next. But, for now, let's switch our focus to the ongoing development of the North Peak content.
To go through this demon-infested area, we shall, of course, have more demons. As such, another demon lord just entered our universe. It's likely the most influential one in human society.
Welcome, the Prince of Greed, Mammon!
It has often been said that Greed is Good. And that is his religious book.
You can find it dropped by almost all human enemies you encounter.
From a business person in Liu's commercial street to a seemingly spiritually transcendental monk in temples. They may all secretly worship money over anything else. After all, no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. But you can claim you are serving one while actually serving another. As Niccolò Machiavelli says, Everyone sees what you appear to be; few experience what you really are. That's the most dangerous part of Mammon. Mammon worshipers are everywhere; they can be anyone, as long as there is gold and material desires. Everyone has a price. Some people may seem incorruptible. But, think about that, I have seen people who lost everything in a stock market crash, desperately want a chance to come back; I have seen people in hospitals, looking at their loved one dying while they cannot afford the medical expense; I have seen people starve on the streets, begging for food. They are all potential new recruits for Mammon. His faith is also polytheism. He does not mind you acknowledging other "gods. As long as he is on your worship list, he will send you paychecks. All is to make his influence spread wider and farther.
Mammon's worshipers also sing a new song to their lord. The lyrics discuss various financial topics. From taxing to the overprinting of fiat currency. From traditional stock investing to modern-day Bitcoin. The battlefield of fighting humanity's soul is everywhere. Again, Captain Nameless has hinted that in those earlier chapters of the game.
But here is the catch. Wealth has its own burden, and it may crash you.
A new skill just appeared. The damage calculation is affected by the target's gear value. Which means, if you are wearing luxury clothes, you will receive much more damage than when you are naked if targeted by this skill. Many of Mammon's demons have this skill. That's by design. It's easier to collect those souls drowned in their desire for wealth this way.
Now, let's talk about Mammon's demons. They shall all have some connection with wealth and gold. This week, the first of them to appear is a kind of golden insect demon known as the Aurscuttles.
This is the enlarged version of them to show them clearly. In the game, they are smaller and engaging in swam-like behaviour. Defeating them can give you a lot of money and other luxury loot. Maybe that's also part of Mammon's plan: make you rich first, then harvest you.
On the other hand, you can also bind them to become your pets.
Once bound, they retain their skills to cast the "Burden of Wealth", which can be weaponized to eliminate your other enemies who enjoy their expensive gear.
Like all other minor demons, they also retain their old faith in their lords. But you can convert them to your customized faith as well. There are many theoretical debates about whether demons can be redeemed. Personally, I believe that if there exists a God with boundless mercy. He would not create something totally irredeemable, as such existence itself is a cruelty. But this is your game to play. You can fill in your own narrative however you like. The feature simply exists.
That's the serious part of the content. Now, let's have some fun with something light-hearted.
Let's do some shit-talk.
Look, it's literally shit-talk. :D
As most of your pets can poop and thus give you free fertilizer and alchemy ingredients. Those golden insects of Mammon can as well! But their poops is different. They literally contain gold. When you recycle them, you can get gold. You gain a source of passive income. When you use them for alchemy, they follow the formula of gold instead of normal poops. Even if you don't recycle them, those poops themselves have a much higher value than normal poops. Of course, you can still use them as fertilizer. But why would you if you have other cheaper poops?
Fun fact: In many cultures, golden poops is a symbol of good luck. For example, in Japanese, you can even find an entire wiki page about this, talking about 金のうんこ. Deep down, it's rooted in thousands of years of human history. In ancient times, when farmers had no better fertilizer for their crops, they could only use shits. And the best shits are from nobles and elites. As those nobles and elites eat luxury food, their shits also contains a greater amount of nutrients that crops can benefit. Farmers may pay a lot to get those shits. That's the origin of the legendary story of the golden poops. :D
Of course, as a game with a lot of freedom, if you don't like this feature and all those shits, you can just tell your pets to stop pooping and effectively turn this feature off. Well, that's going to be boring. But it's up to you.
That's for this week. There will likely be more variations of demons as I work through the North Peak.
The full update log of this week:
20251122
English
##########Content################
[Character Customization]Added a new female character appearance. (Female Aten Cultist.)
[Faith]New Faith Core: Mammon
[Faith]New Religious Book: Greed is Good.
[Grand Library]A copy of <> can be found on the Floor of Religion.
[Loot]Almost all human enemy has a small chance to drop a copy of <>
[Wiki]Updated the faith page.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【角色自定义】加入了一个新的女性造型。（女性阿腾信徒。）
【信仰】新信仰核心：玛门
【信仰】新宗教书籍：贪婪是好事
【大图书馆】一本《贪婪是好事》可以在宗教层被发现。
【掉落物】几乎所有的人类敌人都可能掉落《贪婪是好事》
【维基】更新了信仰界面。
20251123
English
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[Enemy]New Enemy: Aten Preacher. (They have unique AIs when in a group with other Atenists. Their main role is to support.)
[Loot]Added a unique item drop list for Aten Preachers.
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]A few Aten Preachers will spawn here.
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]Old generic Aten Cultists now spawn here. They will directly attack instead of talking to you like the ones in Egypt.
[Wonderland Travel Agency]Aten Cultist-themed locations may now have Aten Preachers.
[Wonderland Travel Agency]Aten Cultist-themed locations may now have generic Aten Cultists.
[Other Worldly Egypt]Aten Preachers and Aten Cultists now also spawn in various locations of this part of the world.
##########Debug#################
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]Fixed a tileset bug.
简体中文
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【敌人】新敌人：阿腾布道者。（在有别的阿腾教团人员存在时会有独特的AI行为。主要的角色是辅助。）
【掉落物】为阿腾布道者加入了物品掉落列表。
【阿腾教团秘密基地】该地点会出现少量阿腾布道者
【阿腾教团秘密基地】该地点会出现埃及版本的阿腾狂信徒。（不过这些会直接攻击你而不是和埃及的那些那样试图和你交谈。）
【奇幻之地旅行社】阿腾教团主题的场景会有阿腾布道者出现。
【奇幻之地旅行社】阿腾教团主题的场景会有埃及版本的阿腾狂信徒出现。
【异世界埃及】阿腾布道者和普通的阿腾狂信徒现在也会在这里出现。
##########Debug#################
【阿腾教团秘密基地】修复了一个图块错误。
20251124
English
##########Content################
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]Only the last room remains.
[Music]New BGM: Zhang Yin's Ascension
[Boombox]You can now listen to << Zhang Yin's Ascension>> from your boomboxes.
[The Anomalous Nation]The text files for the next part are ready. Everything else still needs to be implemented.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【阿腾教团秘密基地】只剩最后一个房间还在施工了。
【音乐】新背景音乐：张银的飞升
【音乐播放器】你现在可以在音乐播放器里听《张银的飞升》。
【异常国度】下一部分的文案完工。其余还在施工。
20251125
English
##########Content################
[The Anomalous Nation]Story continues. The part in the Secret Aten Cultist Base is done. Zhang Yin gave a long speech. Harold, Alicia, and Trump get additional content if they are in your group during this part of the story. A mini-Boss fight against the Voice of Aten. (An empowered version of Aten Preacher.)
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]All areas are now accessible. The location is no longer WIP, but some polish will still happen.
[Secret Aten Cultist Base]New Document: Kheperheb's Note#4 (In the final room, this is the last one.）
[Wiki]Updated the Anomalous Nation page.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【异常国度】剧情继续。在阿腾教团秘密基地的部分完结。张银有一段演讲。哈罗德、艾丽西亚、川普如果在队伍里的话会有额外的剧情。有一场简单的Boss战对战阿腾之声。（阿腾布道者的加强版。）
【阿腾教团秘密基地】全区域开放。该地点已经不再从处于施工中的状态，但是之后还有优化。
【阿腾教团秘密基地】新文档：赫佩尔赫布的笔记#4 （在最后的房间，这是最后一篇了。）
【维基】更新了【异常国度】页面。
20251126
English
##########Content################
[Skill]New Skill: Burden of Wealth
[Wiki]Updated the skill page.
[Asset]Added art assets for Aurscuttle (Mammon's golden bug.)
简体中文
##########Content###############
【技能】新技能：财富的重担
【维基】更新了技能页面
【资源】加入了奥斯卡特尔（玛门的金甲虫）的美术资源。
20251127
English
##########Content################
[Pet]Newly bind Hell Mosquitos now have Beelzebub by default.
[Pet]Newly bind Plauge Zombes now have Beelzebub by default.
[Faith]Added a generic Mammon Worshiper faith for NPCs.
[Enemy]New Enemy: Aurscuttle
[Pet]You can turn Aurscuttles to pets (They keep their "Burden of Wealth" skill and the Mammon faith.)
[Loot]Added an item drop list for Aurscuttles. (They usually also drop a lot of money.)
[The Entrance of the North Peak]Aurscuttles appear in this location.
[Wonderland Travel Agency]Aurscuttles appear in random demon-themed locations.
[Dark Alley]Aurscuttles appear in this location. (Well, it's because this location is near the commercial street.)
[Wiki]Updated the pet page.
[Music]New Song: Hymn to Mammon
[Boombox]You can hear <> from your boomboxes.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【宠物】新封印的地狱蚊现在默认会自带别西卜信仰。
【宠物】新封印的瘟疫僵尸现在默认会自带别西卜信仰。
【信仰】加入了一个NPC通用的玛门信仰。
【敌人】新敌人：奥斯卡特尔
【宠物】你可以把奥斯卡特尔变成宠物（它们会保持【财富的重担】技能。它们会保持玛门信仰）
【掉落物】为奥斯卡特尔加入了物品掉落列表。（它们一般也会掉落大量的金钱。）
【北方之顶入口】奥斯卡特尔会出现在这个区域。
【奇幻之地旅行社】奥斯卡特尔会出现在随机的恶魔主题的地点。
【暗巷】奥斯卡特尔会出现在这个区域。（因为这里距离商业区很近。）
【维基】更新了宠物页面。
【音乐】新歌曲：玛门颂歌
【音乐播放器】你可以在音乐播放器里听玛门颂歌。
20251128
English
##########Content################
[Pet]Aurscuttles can now passively generate poops. But, unlike normal poops, they make golden poops, which have a much higher value.
[Recycle]You can actually get gold if you recycle those golden poops.
[Alchemy]Golden Poops follow the alchemy ingredient formula as gold, instead of normal poops.
[Wiki]Updated the alchemy page.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【宠物】奥斯卡特尔会产生便便。但是，不是普通的便便。而是黄金便便。比普通的便便的价值高出很多。
【回收】你可以从黄金便便中提炼出黄金。
【炼金】黄金便便在炼金时使用黄金的配方规则而不是普通的便便。
【维基】更新了炼金页面。
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