DD#287 Build a Drug Economy

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's developer's log.

Continuing from last week's new feature, let's talk a bit more about those drugs and addiction. This week, we shall monetize it! After all, what's the good of those addictive drugs if we cannot profit from them?

As many of you already know, I have been a real-life international drug kingpin for more than 20 years, but since I am also a lawyer, I always get away with it. That's one way to put it. Or, we can put it in a less fancy way by simply saying that many Chinese mainstream media outlets have been calling video games "electronic opium" for decades.

Anyway, time for the game content! This time, let's go to China.

In China, there exists a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient called "Ma Huang." Various traditional Chinese medicine books mention that it can cure various negative effects and make people a bit more energetic. But, well, it also has a slightly change you may get addicted to it. Today, it's still used in various medical products, such as cold medicine. (So, don't feel too strange if you start to feel you are getting addicted to your cold pills.) Of course, those sold in stores are a bit expensive; the shop owners take a slice of profit after all. Thus, an alternative solution is to plant them from seeds yourself.

Your gardening skills are now becoming more useful. You can also use your alchemy skills to brew potions from it. (Just be careful; like other ingredients, the denser the element you put in, the more likely the potion will cause addiction.)

In an ideal world, this can be the base of your regular cold medicine at home, while traveling, or killing monsters when also "accidentally" burning down some villages or robbing some civilians.

But history didn't end there. In the early 20th century, some talented Japanese doctors found this ingredient. Just like many talented medical researchers in various universities nowadays, the first priority is to...

GETTING THE GREATEST HIGH!!! They created the good damn methamphetamine from Ma Huang!

OK, currently there is no plan to directly add any obviously methamphetamine-related drugs in the game because, well, you know, some stupid woke leftist censorship laws in some countries that want to keep people stupid. But Ma Huang as a common ingredient shall exist. And let me move on to hint more about the potential methamphetamine connection. Let's go to the dark alley. A new character just appeared, and he will happily take all the Ma Huang you can gather, either from your own planting or other sources, for $800 each.

Yes, in modern day, you can hardly find Ma Huang. But no, the real reason is that China put some heavy regulations on it since 2000 so that people cannot just go around planting and harvesting it in their apartment, create some meth in their bedroom labs, and then sell it on Temu. But, hey, one reason people play games is that they can do things they cannot do in real life. Here, you are a secret-organization agent fighting monsters behind the veil. You are allowed to break those mundane laws left and right wherever you see fit, only at the cost of some relationships and karma if it applies. So, feel free to do whatever you want! In addition to that, this new NPC, Lei Dongsha, can also train you or any of your teammates' alchemy skills if you pay him a Mark of Dragon. That shall prepare you to become a drug kingpin, especially if this system keeps expanding.

Now, since we are here talking about the entire supply chain from planting to selling drug ingredients, one thing many people complained about is the growth speed of various plants in the game. I think it's a good time to address this. If you really don't want to use those fertilizers, you can now also just change the plant growth speed in the game settings.

There is no penalty. Nobody is here to judge you. It's just like even though I am against drug use, I didn't even use any addictive drugs in other games such as Fallout; I will not stop you from having fun. You have the freedom to play the game however you like. You can set the plant grow speed to 1000% and see apples start to appear on trees every 18 seconds to keep a lot of doctors away. :D

Alright, that's the main feature of this week. Unfortunately, during the development of this circle, a very decent American senator passed away. Lindsay Graham is dead. His last words with "I can’t die right now. I still need to push through sanctions against Russia, deal with Iran, and help normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia." I can't say I agree with him on every matter. But he has my respect. He was a man of faith and stays true to that faith, unlike those hypocritical woke leftists. Thus, a new game item has been added to the game for those memories along the way of this journey.

At one's funeral, normal people only need to agree with him on one single aspect of his life to pay him respect. But those woke leftists are insulting him for not meeting all of their ridiculous demands. They hate him because he is Christian. They hate him because he supports Israel. The Woke Mind Virus must be eradicated to secure a bright, inclusive, tolerant, and diverse future of humanity. Thus, the war in SpaceX continues. Yes, the spaceship didn't launch according to the plan. Yes, the stock price is falling. Yes, there are some positions encircled. But, does that really matter? Even if the stock price is falling, all that matters is the adjusted cost. I can meat-grind it for decades to turn it into a negative number, and all stocks will be technically free. I have done that in G-Bits. I can certainly achieve that here again, especially with all those fancy financial tools I have access to in the US market that are not available in China. You can think about how the Russians are fighting in Donbas right now. (This may not be a good example. Because I am likely far more efficient than their commanders.) You can think about how Perturabo fights in Warhammer 40k. (OK, this is more like it.) It has always been my style. Maybe it's because my mother's father was a Red Army officer and many of my relatives are still working in this system. Even some of those who migrated to the US are still working in similar jobs. Sometimes we joke that if a war breaks out between the two great nations, it could be a family civil war. By Monday this time, her ashes will be put underneath her tombstone, and the ritual will be completed.

Fun fact: in China, people usually compare stock trading to making fried dishes. We don't call it trading stocks; we call it frying stocks. And you know I love cooking. Thus, a new song < > has been added. But it's all about war!

Meanwhile, the work on finishing Chapter 3 continues. But it's not currently in the game. There will be another cutscene. I am trying to make things a bit more interesting by testing some new techniques. Here are some teasers. Feel free to use them as wallpapers if you like.

That's for this week. Big ceremony work ahead in the next few days. It's amusing to see how family members with different faiths discuss how to work out things from different perspectives.

This week's full log: 20260712 English ##########Content############### 【Furniture】A new Furniture hath been revealed: Portrait of Lindsey Graham 【CIA Safehouse】Michael now selleth the “Portrait of Lindsey Graham.” 【CIA Safehouse】A Portrait of Lindsey Graham hath been hung upon the wall. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【家具】新家具：林赛·格雷厄姆肖像 【CIA安全屋】麦克现在会贩卖林赛·格雷厄姆肖像 【CIA安全屋】林赛·格雷厄姆肖像现在会出现在一面墙上。

20260713 English ##########Content############### [Music] New Song: < > [Boombox] You can now listen to < > from your Boombox. [Localization]All generated plants now have their own localization files. [Addiction]New Addiction Type: Ephedrine [Perk]New Perk: Addicted: Ephedrine [Item]New Item: Ma Huang [Shopping] Ling Feiyan can now sell you Ma Huang. [State Effect]New Effect: Ephedrine [State Effect]New Effect: Ephedrine Withdrawal [Wiki] Updated the Effect page. All addiction effects now have their own category. [Wiki] Updated the Addiction page [Wiki] Added a link from the effect page to the addiction page. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【音乐】新歌：《诸君！我喜欢料理！》 【音乐播放器】你现在可以从音乐播放器里听《诸君！我喜欢料理！》 【本地化】所有生成的植物现在有了它们自己的本地化文件。 【上瘾】新上瘾类型：麻黄碱 【特性】新特性：上瘾：麻黄碱 【物品】新物品：麻黄 【购物】凌飞燕现在会向你出售麻黄 【状态效果】新状态效果：麻黄碱 【状态效果】新状态效果：麻黄碱戒断效果 【维基】更新了状态效果页面。所有上瘾状态有了一个新的分类。 【维基】更新了上瘾页面。 【维基】在状态效果页面加入了到上瘾页面的链接。

20260714 English ##########Content############### 【Alchemy】Ma Huang can now be used in Alchemy. (If thou addest a great quantity thereof, the resulting potion may cause Ephedrine addiction.) 【Wiki】The Alchemy page hath been updated. 【Gardening】A new Plant/Seed hath been revealed: Ma Huang Seed 【Shopping】Ling Feiyan can now sell thee Ma Huang Seeds. 【Shopping】Ling Feiyan’s Chinese medicine store hath been upgraded with better code. 【Wiki】The gardening page hath been updated. 【Dark Alley】The map hath been expanded. 【Dark Alley】A set of chemical devices hath been placed in the new area. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【炼金】麻黄现在可以用于炼金。（如果量大的话，很容易造成麻黄碱上瘾） 【维基】更新了炼金页面。 【种植】新植物/种子：麻黄种子 【购物】凌飞燕现在会向你出售麻黄种子 【购物】优化了凌飞燕的中药店的代码。 【维基】更新了种植页面 【暗巷】地图扩展 【暗巷】新区域中加入了一套化学器材。

20260715 English ##########Content############### 【Dark Alley】A new NPC with dialogs hath been added. 【Dark Alley】This new NPC shall now buy Ma Huang from thee for $800 each. 【Wiki】The quest page hath been updated. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【暗巷】加入了一个新的有对话的NPC 【暗巷】这个新的NPC会向你购买麻黄，每份800. 【维基】更新了任务页面

20260716 English ##########Content############### 【Dark Alley】Lei Dongsha can now train thee in the arts of Alchemy. (He asketh a price.) 【Wiki】A new page hath been added for Life Skill Instructors. 【Wiki】Links from the character page and the skill page to the Life Skill Instructors page have been added. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【暗巷】雷东煞现在可以训练你的炼金技能。 【维基】新增了生活技能训练师页面。 【维基】在角色页面和技能页面增加了指向生活技能训练师的链接。

20260718 English ##########Content############### 【Game Setting】Thou mayest now change the default growing speed of all thy plants. (This changeth not those already planted. Take them up and plant them anew to see the effect.) 【Wiki】The gardening page hath been updated. ##########System################ 【Event】A new function hath been added in UtilityEvent that returneth all events within a Chebyshev square using the ELL system. 【Event】A new function hath been added in UtilityEvent that returneth all events within an Euclidean disk using the ELL system. 【Event】Various NPC behaviors upon the map have been optimized with these new functions. (Mostly concerning the Crime and Punishment system.) 【Event】A new utility module hath been revealed: UtilityEvent_Plants 【Plants】A function hath been added to discern whether an event is a growing plant. 【Plants】A function hath been added to find all growing plants within an Euclidean disk. 【Plants】Code support hath been added to allow the changing of plants’ grow speed. 简体中文 ##########Content############### 【游戏设定】你现在可以调整你的种植物的默认生长速度。（不会影响已经种植的那些。需要拿起来再放下去来刷新设置。） 【维基】更新了种植页面。 ##########System################ 【事件】在UtilityEvent新增了使用ELL系统获得所有在一个柴比雪夫方块中的所有事件的函数。 【事件】在UtilityEvent新增了使用ELL系统获得所有在一个欧几里得圆环中的所有事件的函数。 【事件】通过上述两个函数优化了各种NPC在地图上的行为。（主要集中在犯罪和执法系统中。） 【事件】新功能模块：UtilityEvent_Plants 【植物】加入了一个函数判断事件是否是生长中的植物。 【植物】加入了一个找到所有在一个欧几里得圆环内生长的植物的函数。 【植物】加入了可以调整植物生长速度的代码支持。