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Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first DD of September!
There has been great progress in expanding the game world.
However, before we go into any details, here is something I'd like to talk about in advance.
In case you missed my previous announcement, I will recap what happened again here.
This week's update contains fictional criminal content. The "Town Simulation" system from Liu has been migrated to a new city, Venice.
As part of this system, you can commit the following illegal activities:
1, You can murder almost anyone on the street.
2, You can pickpocket almost anyone on the street.
3, You can push almost anyone around on the street.
That is because the game has a lot of freedom by design. It's meant to be something like Skyrim / GTA / Saints Row (those old ones).
Those three actions already exist in Venice in this build, same as Liu.
However, one day after that big update was released, a tragic event happened in New York, in real life.
A 32-year-old woman was murdered by a mentally ill woman on the street.
A brilliant woman worked very hard to graduate from top schools in America and became the VP at Bank of America.
A UPenn alumna of mine.
She died not too far away from where I once worked more than 10 years ago, in that familiar city where I once called home.
Her kid is just a few months old.
It brought me great sorrow after I lost my mother last year. I can't imagine what kind of regrets a child that young will experience for the rest of her life.
The blood is on whoever let such a mentally ill woman loose on the street.
That is not the New York I remembered. I worked overtime in this industry quite often. I took the latest trains. I visited some of the darkest corners in Brooklyn. I lived in Queens. Never once had I experienced something like this back then. I wonder what Zohran Mamdani and his democrats have done to this city.
Anyway, the humane thing to do in a moment like this is not to keep building out that playground. The actions are still in the game. I am just not adding more of them this week. I trust all of you have the common sense to know the difference between fictional illegal activities and real life. But let's make sure nobody is getting the wrong idea.
Alright, let's continue.
What shipped just before the news.
Because of cooperation among EU cities, the EU shares a common legal system. That means any crimes you commit in Venice will carry over to other EU cities. The police will come after you without stopping. (You can still try to bribe, intimidate, seduce, or try other things to get away with it. Each police officer is calculated independently.)
And...
Captain Nameless will also help you clean up all the mess you made when you are back at the safehouse.
But here is a slight change: he has been getting quite tired of helping you get away with all of that, even under the "greater good" of saving the world from supernatural threats. Each time he has to step in to do some cleaning for you, his relationship points will now drop a bit.
Of course, just like what you can do in Liu. You can also try to convince people to believe what you believe.
By default, Venice is a city with a predominantly Christian population, and some people follow Atheism or Nihilism. (Data based on public official sources.)
You can try to spread your own faith here to change it.
Your faith may be a different kind of Christianity, another religion, or something quite messed up. Everything can happen. The game is meant to be fun and hilarious. Once you convince enough people, it will start to affect the city itself, depending on what tenets your faith has.
In the example above, a cat-loving faith will make more cats appear in Venice.
For the love of God! We must have more cats here than those Muslims in Istanbul! (Or call it Constantinople, if you are more fanatical.) :D
That's the part of the town simulation system we have so far.
Further development there is paused because of the incident.
What I worked on after that, instead
Let's talk about the food of Venice.
Everything below is implemented in reverse order. But the story here is not, for a better narrative purpose.
Of course, Venice has some great food you can even get right on the street.
Baccalà Mantecato is one of them.
Of course, if you know how to cook them. You can make them all by yourself with the right ingredients.
Except...I didn't have garlic in the game.
That's unacceptable! How can we not have it when we're fighting vampires?
OK, so let me add it really quickly.
Then someone says. I don't trust those merchants! Who knows what kind of chemicals they put into the food they sell?!
OK, you can plant them yourself as well.
Of course, garlic can be used in alchemy.
But, I found a problem.
Our alchemy system was very hardcore. You have to experiment with those ingredients on your own, maybe even take some notes or check the wiki. For decades, it has been like this since the SAPC++ era. But I think I shall make everyone's life a bit easier now.
The item detail window has been made context-sensitive. It now knows when you are doing alchemy. In such a case, it now displays the alchemy effects instead of item descriptions. You may still need to do some math to decide how many portions of each ingredient to put into the potion you want to create to maximize its effect. But everything an item's alchemy effect has is now here. There is no need to check the wiki or your notes back and forth anymore.
Some would say that's less immersive for some hardcore alchemists. But, hey, you can always turn off this window.
Meanwhile, you know what's the most cursed food in China right now?
KFC China is working with Oreo to make such an abomination. I tried it. It tastes interesting.
I figured I should put a parody item in the game so that more people can suffer.
Sometimes, there are such little things that make you linger in the "normal" side of the world just for a while, leaving the whole secret world behind.
But eventually, our work continues behind the veil.
Hundreds of years ago, the Venetians had long been competing with the Muslims in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to the war in business and politics, they also fought over the narratives. Marco Polo was the legendary story they told. Another Muslim figure was the one they censored. Yet, they only censored it from the public so that the Republic would prevail! Meanwhile, what once surpassed them shall be studied in shadow by the elites. Such is the puzzle to come in the main story.
That's for this week. We now have another "normal" city in the game. The system has been modified into something highly generic. It's a part of the groundwork for Chapter Four, where the Black Signal outbreak affects the entire globe. (You don't need to finish the first three chapters to get into those cities. They will all be part of the open world.)
The next week, the work in Venice and the Sunken Library shall continue.
The full update log of this week:
20260829
English
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【Food】A new Food hath been revealed: OKFO Burger
【Shopping】OKFO Burgers are now sold in fast food restaurants in China.
【The Sunken Library】The sound effects “Marco” and “Polo” have been added for the bookshelf puzzle.
【The Sunken Library】Dialogs for Orsino Castiglione have been added. He shall give thee some clues concerning how to solve the bookshelf puzzle if thou hast finished the previous main quests.
简体中文
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【食物】新食物：奥鸡奥汉堡
【购物】奥鸡奥汉堡在中国的快餐店里有售。
【沉沦的图书馆】为书架的谜题加入了【马克】和【波罗】的音效。
【沉沦的图书馆】为奥尔西诺·卡斯蒂利奥内加入了台词。如果你已经完成了此前的主线剧情，他会为你提供解决书架谜题的线索。
20260831
English
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【Tileset】A new Tileset hath been revealed: Venice
【Location】A new Location hath been revealed: Venice (Still under construction.)
【The Sunken Library】Thou mayest now speak unto the gondolier to travel between the Sunken Library and the city area of Venice. (The return is free.)
【Venice】Fishing data hath been added.
【Venice】Free water from fountains hath been added.
【Venice】Trash bins have been added. (That is, thy endless environmentally friendly renewable resource.)
简体中文
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【图块】新图块：威尼斯
【地点】新地点：威尼斯 （仍然在施工中。）
【沉沦的图书馆】你现在可以和贡多拉操船手交谈来往返于沉沦的图书馆和威尼斯城区之间。（从威尼斯返回免费。）
【威尼斯】加入了钓鱼数据。
【威尼斯】在喷泉可以获得免费的水。
【威尼斯】加入了垃圾桶。(也就是你无限的环保的不断刷新的资源点。)
20260901
English
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【Butterfly】Thou mayest now use Butterfly Wings to teleport from Venice unto the Sunken Library.
【Venice】Randomly generated citizens now walk upon the streets of Venice. (It is the town simulation system similar unto Liu. Thus thou mayest do whatever thou wilt with them.)
【Law & Order】When thou returnest unto the Safehouse, Captain Nameless shall now also cleanse thy bounty in the EU.
【Relationship】Captain Nameless disliketh thee violating laws upon the “normal” side of the world. Thus, whenever he helpeth thee to cover up thy crime, his relationship with thee shall be reduced.
【Venice】The city hath its own rumors.
【Venice】Thou mayest now spread thy faith in this city.
【Venice】Thy faith within the city shall automatically grow over time if thou hast converted enough followers.
【Law & Order】The minimal required influence to make local police officers begin to ignore thy crimes hath been reduced globally. (From 20 unto 10. Each individual police officer still calculateth independently.)
【Venice】Thy faith can influence the city to have more cats.
【Venice】Thy faith can influence the city to have more bunnies.
##########System################
【Law & Order】A new system module hath been added for the Law & Order system.
【Law & Order】Options to convert, push away, pickpocket, and assault random citizens upon the street have been made more generic in the common events.
【Law & Order】All EU cities share a bounty system. (But China and the EU do not share their bounties.)
【Law & Order】The police force hath been made more generic.
【Map】A new Location Group hath been revealed: Venice
【Faith Influence】The faith influence module hath been refactored to make things more generic. A set of influence rules for Venice hath been added.
###########Debug###############
【Law & Order】A bug hath been fixed which caused police officers to be unable to serve as witnesses.
简体中文
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【蝴蝶之翼】你现在可以用蝴蝶之翼从威尼斯传送到沉沦的图书馆。
【威尼斯】随机生成的市民现在行走于威尼斯的街道上。(使用类似疁城的城镇模拟系统。你可以对他们做你想做的一切。)
【法律与秩序】当你返回安全屋后，无名队长现在也会帮你消除在欧盟的犯罪记录。
【关系】无名队长讨厌你在【常态】世界进行犯罪活动。所以，每次他帮你清除犯罪记录都会降低他和你的关系度。
【威尼斯】这个城市有着自己的传闻。
【威尼斯】你可以在城中传播你的信仰。
【威尼斯】当你在城内转化了足够的信仰者，你的信仰会在这里自然增长。
【法律与秩序】在世界范围内，让当地的警察中出现你的信徒从而无视你的犯罪行为的最低下限降低了。
【威尼斯】你的信仰可以让这个城市出现更多的猫猫。
【威尼斯】你的信仰可以让这个城市出现更多的兔兔。
##########System################
【法律与秩序】为法律与秩序系统加入了一个专门的系统模块。
【法律与秩序】信仰转化、推开、扒窃、攻击随机市民的选项现在在公共事件中被更加通用化。
【法律与秩序】所有欧盟会共享一个悬赏系统。（但是，中国和欧盟之间不会贡献悬赏机制。）
【法律与秩序】警察现在被更加通用化。
【地图】新地图组： 威尼斯
【信仰影响力】重构了信仰影响模块使其更通用化。为威尼斯区域加入了一组信仰影响规则。（从20降低到了10。每个警察可能是你的信徒的概率单独计算。）
###########Debug###############
【法律与秩序】修复了一个导致警察无法成为目击证人的Bug。
20260902
English
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【Item】A new Food/Ingredient hath been revealed: Gralic
【Alchemy】Gralic may also be used for alchemy.
【Item】A new Tag hath been revealed: Contain Gralic.
【Shopping】Random food ingredient merchants now sell Gralic.
【Shopping】Random witchcraft merchants now sell Gralic.
【Wiki】The cooking page hath been updated.
【Wiki】The alchemy page hath been updated.
【Venice】A food ingredient merchant hath been added. The city hath its own food price and inventory.
【Plant】A new Seed hath been revealed: Gralic Seed
【Shopping】Random gardening vendors now sell Gralic Seeds.
【Wiki】The gardening page hath been updated.
###########Debug###############
【Samujier Supermarket】A crash with the food ingredient vendor hath been fixed.
简体中文
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【物品】新食物/食材：大蒜
【炼金】大蒜也可以用于炼金。
【物品】新标签：包含大蒜。
【购物】随机食材商人现在会贩卖大蒜。
【购物】随机巫术商人现在会贩卖大蒜。
【维基】更新了料理页面。
【维基】更新了炼金页面。
【威尼斯】加入了一个食材商人。这个城市有自己的食品物价和列表。
###########Debug###############
【萨姆吉尔超市】修复了一个食材商人的崩溃。
20260903
English
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【Alchemy】During alchemy, when thou addest ingredients, the item detail window now showeth the ingredient’s alchemy effects instead of the item descriptions.
##########System################
【Item Detail Window】The window hath been made context sensitive. It can now know whether we are doing alchemy at the moment.
###########Debug###############
【Alchemy】The bug whereby Gunpowder had not its alchemy effect hath been fixed. It now enhanceth fire with a power of 0.34.
简体中文
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【炼金】炼金中加入原材料时，物品详情窗口现在会显示物品的炼金效果，而非普通的物品介绍信息。
##########System################
【物品详情窗口】该窗口现在对上下文敏感。可以知道我们正在炼金。
###########Debug###############
【炼金】修复了火药没有炼金效果的Bug。现在它自带强化火属性0.34.
20260904
English
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【Cooking】A new Recipe hath been revealed: Baccalà Mantecato
【Wiki】The cooking page hath been updated.
【Northern Start Tavern】The cook now selleth vodka here.
【Venice】A food vendor hath been added.
【Venice】The city now hath its own faith list. A great amount of the population now followeth Christianity, plus a small amount of people follow Atheism and Nihilism. (Data based upon official source.)
【Law & Order】Police officers now also have their faith lists. They useth a different list compared unto the civilians.
##########System################
【Law & Order】The module UtilityLawAndOrder now also controlleth the faith of the local population.
简体中文
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【料理】新料理配方：威尼斯鱼泥
【维基】更新了料理页面。
【北极星旅店】这里的厨师现在也会贩卖伏特加。
【威尼斯】加入了一个食品商人。
【威尼斯】该城市现在有了自己的信仰列表。大部分人口是基督徒，此外有少部分的无神论者和虚无主义者。（数据基于官方公开信息。）
【法律与秩序】警察现在也有了自己的信仰列表。使用的是和平民不同的一张表格。
##########System################
【法律与秩序】UtilityLawAndOrder模块现在也会控制一个区域的人口中的信仰分布。