Dead Villagers
I'm still playing Virtual Villagers, though once I managed to max out farming technology my village ceased to be in constant threat of annihilation, and so I am able to play it in little 2-5 minute snatches.

Tamagotchi villagers, indeed.

All my original villagers are now dead. Due to old age, injury, or misfortune (Ah, Chika, I guess eating those strange berries wasn't such a good idea after all. Sorry about that...)

My second-generation villagers are starting to die off now. It's morbidly fascinating to guess which villager, who used to run around as a little child and gather mushrooms, is going to kick the bucket next. There's a bit of gameplay for a Virtual Villagers II - you could place bets. Death by unnatural causes invalidates the bet, to prevent cheating.

It's silly. This really isn't my kind of game, as I stated before, but it has kept me amused for several days. I'm in "Play To Crush" mode right now, trying to figure out all the puzzles and max out my village's technology and population. With an apparently unlimited supply of fish for my village, now, I have been encouraging my population to breed like bunny rabbits.

Some tips I've picked up while playing this game:

* Don't have your villagers breed early in the game - wait until you have the first farming upgrade. A child consumes food at the same rate as an adult, so breeding not only drops the mother out of producing anything for the village for 2 years, but adds another consumer for 13 years who will contribute nothing unless you spend a lot of time hunting mushrooms (which gets old fast). If you don't have your food supply stabilized, you can end up starving the entire village.

* Villagers don't know how to get started with tasks, even if you have checkmarked a job as their preference. You'll need to train them manually at first to help them learn what to do. After that, they will figure things out on their own. So start them out by having them work on a hut for building, or working in the fields or on the berry bush for farming, and the table for research, etc. Keep 'em at the task until they have gained some points in that skill.

* When you've just upgraded technology (or solved a new puzzle), pick up an adult villager and move them around the island and see what kind of messages pop up. Sometimes new tasks might appear, which may suggest ways to solve other puzzles.

Besides guessing which villager is going to kick the bucket next, I've also been fiddling with the Torque Game Builder some more, and I have to say I'm fairly impressed. More on that later.

Have fun.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 10:48 PM (Permalink)