Virtual Villagers 3:
The Secret City

May 28, 2008

Platform: Download (Mac, Windows)

Tags: affiliate, demo, download, game, kidsafe, lastdayofwork, macwin, realtime, simulation, strategy, virtualvillagers

By JohnB | add to favorites | add to your website | Comments (346)

Virtual Villagers is back, and we're so excited we couldn't wait until the weekend to tell you! With Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City, the surprisingly addictive real-time simulation game sticks with its proven formula and makes a few minor tweaks to freshen up gameplay. With new secrets to uncover, new technologies, real-time weather effects and a whole new island to explore, Virtual Villagers 3 has all the ingredients that made the first games so compelling, plus more.

The people of Isola have prospered over the years, but they're quickly outgrowing their villages. A small group sets out over the sea to find a new part of the island to inhabit. A mighty storm hits and blows the raft off course, setting your people in the ruins of a once-great city. Explore the new corner of Isola, rebuild the structures rotting on the land, and unravel the mysteries within.

If you're unfamiliar with the Virtual Villagers series, here's the scoop. Your goal is to help the village thrive by keeping its occupants fed, healthy, happy, and busy. Train villagers to perform tasks by dragging and dropping them onto different areas on the map. Placing a character over berries, for example, sets him or her to harvest food, while dropping someone on an unfinished structure puts them to work building. As each villager performs a task, his or her skill in that area increases, creating a faster, more efficient worker than before. Technologies can also be researched to give your villagers more powerful skills that make your job easier to accomplish. They're also the key to uncovering over a dozen hidden secrets of the ancient ruins...

Virtual Villagers takes place in real-time, meaning even when you aren't playing the game your villagers are eating, drinking, gathering food and carrying out other assigned tasks. If you leave them alone for too long, you'll return to find starving villagers or worse, a town full of skeletons. This creates a wonderful virtual pet kind of feeling and makes you want to hop on and check your villagers' progress several times a day. It's great for short spurts of gaming and has loads of replay value.

The third game in the series doesn't mess with the established formula, keeping the drag and drop interface and basic tasks unchanged. The technologies are tweaked slightly, and new Nature and Magic factions allow you to increase food production or scientific research, altering the flow of the game. One fun new feature in Virtual Villagers 3 is real-time weather effects such as rain, clouds, fog, thunder and sunshine. These play a role in uncovering the game's secrets and can cause your villagers to change their behavior, such as scampering for cover when it begins to rain. There's even an in-game achievement system that rewards you for hitting certain milestones.

Analysis: It's no secret that Virtual Villagers is one of the most entertaining and loved casual game series around. The combination of simple but rewarding village management tasks, real-time gameplay and long-term mysteries to be solved creates a strong bond between player, game, and villagers. The result is something you can't wait to check up on a dozen or more times throughout the day and keep playing week after week. The down side to this consistent gameplay is that many times you'll run out of things to do. Often you'll set a few villagers to work and run out of tasks, forcing you to take a break even though you just got started.

Be sure to also read our reviews of the first two games in the series:
Virtual Villagers: A New Home and
Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children
Looking for some hints and tips or a walkthrough for getting the most out of Virtual Villagers 3?
Try our Virtual Villagers 3: Hint-through

Virtual Villagers 3 shows some improvements over previous games in the series, but I feel it's evolving a bit too slowly. Some crucial villager management tools — like the ability to zoom or group multiple people to assign tasks — are still missing, and when compared to the first two games the engine is practically identical. The series could use a little stirring up at this point, though the third installment doesn't show any signs of going stale. Graphical refinement is by far the most needed upgrade, as the tired visuals and jerky animations are showing their age the third time around.

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City is more of the same casual strategy from previous games, which is definitely a good thing. Whether you're a Virtual Villagers veteran or a new player looking for something unique, engaging and fun, this game is sure to captivate you for weeks on end.

Windows Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Virtual Villagers 3 is available to download from these affiliates:

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City walkthrough now available!

Currently 4.8/5
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Rating: 4.8/5 (158 votes cast)

Walkthrough Guide

We've completed a Virtual Villagers 3 walkthrough hint guide to help you through...

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

Posted by: Jay | May 29, 2008 4:40 AM

Virtual Villagers 3 Strategy Guide and Walkthroughs

Getting Started

Fire
Drop a villager on the dry wood in the pile by the beach (FYI, this wood is always "dry" even if it's raining). He will carry it to the fire pit automatically. Drop a villager on the pile of dry grass near the waterfall. When grass and wood are in place, drop a villager on the fire pit again. To replenish the fire, occasionally drop a villager on the wood pile again and he will just add dry wood. You can monitor how much fire time remains by clicking on the fire pit.
Get Honey (Puzzle #2):
Drop a villager in front of the beehive, on the torches, until the status bar reads "Trying an Idea". To harvest the honey, you will have to drop a villager in front of the hive repeatedly; it helps if it's a farmer. Monitor the honey's output by clicking on the hive.
Identify the Chief (Puzzle #1):
Drag villagers one by one to the red and yellow robe that is hanging at the amphitheater. Have each one try it on till the chief is identified. If you've tried all your villagers and none are the chief, it's probably the baby of a nursing mom. Wait and try it again. Later in the game, you'll need to repeat this process if your chief dies. At Level 1 of Leadership, your chief can grant magic food: drop her on the food bin in case of emergency. The Chief can only do this once every 24 hours, so use it wisely.
Plant the Seed:
Something fruit-shaped will appear on the ground in the soil area (keypad section 6). Drop a villager on it. He will plant it and it will become a fruit tree.
Get a Scientist, a Farmer and a Builder Going:
You need a villager to continually harvest honey. Then, you need one to begin researching, at the table in the messy lab (keypad section 4). At this point, if you have a third free adult villager, start him or her clearing the leaves (in keypad section 3).
Rebuild the Lab (Puzzle #3):
When you have an Adept Scientist, drop him or her on the items that are strewn around the village in random places. There are five items total. You'll have to drop a villager on each one separately; he won't go back and forth. The items are: a plain brown pot, a yellow and white pot, a red and white pot, a gray bowl with spoons, and a multi-colored stick-shaped item. The items are in a different place in each game.
Collect Herbs:
Any villager can collect the herbs that are located around the village. The five herbs available to you at this time are (starting at top of map and working counter-clockwise):
- Tiger Lily: Orange flower at the top of the path (keypad section 8)
- Rose: red and pink bush at the base of the rock wall in the orchard (keypad section 6)
- Black Orchid: dark purple flower in the grassy area under the orchard (keypad section 3)
- Lotus: small pink flower just to the right of the bath (keypad section 1)
- Cactus: a prickly-pear plant just to the right of the lab, on the dirt path (keypad section 4)
- 6th herb:
  Another herb will become available to you when you buy Level 2 Faction with tech points. It is a pitcher plant or a berry bush. It will appear to the left of the lab, near the community toilet area. (Nice!)
A villager will bring an herb to the lab and put it on the table. Only three herbs can be collected and stored at any time.
Make Potions:
A potion requires three herbs, in any combination of the five or six available. See the Potion Recipes section for specific potion walkthroughs. When the lab table is holding three herbs, drop an Adept or Master Scientist onto the table and he or she will begin preparing the potion. You can have the scientist or any other villager test a potion—but if it is harmful, the villager's health will be compromised.
Any time you have free people that aren't researching or nursing or collecting food, keep them working on Clearing Leaves:
Sending lots of untrained villagers to clear leaves at the grassy area to the far right of the village will help you complete Puzzle #4, and is also an easy build project that will give builders experience. People tend to wander off from this project so use the chief to help direct work. You might consider setting your villagers to this before you turn the game off for the night, and coming back to the completed results in the morning (a burial area).

Once Your Village is Running

Buy Some Technology:
At this point, if you are going to keep playing for a while and want the instant gratification, purchase Level 2 Alchemy so that your scientist can make more potions without blowing himself up. But, if you can take a break and let the clock run for awhile to accrue more tech points, wait to buy... then when you return, buy Level 2 Restoration first. Save for Level 2 Alchemy when your points are back up.

So, if you buy Level 2 Alchemy at this point, I would keep your scientist on potions, your farmer harvesting honey and fruit (when the tree is mature), and your builder on clearing leaves.
When you buy Level 2 Restoration, Rebuild the Lift (Puzzle #6):
You'll need a couple of Adept Builders for this; the Chief will be of assistance too.

Drop at least two builders on the broken machine in the orchard. When they have repaired it, it can be used to harvest seeds from the tree above the orchard. Two more seeds can be planted in total.

The lift only works in the rain, so you'll have to either wait for rain to come, or create rain by performing a weather dance (Puzzle #5). When it starts to rain, drop a villager on the platform of the lift while it is still on the ground (a villager cannot board the lift once the platform has begun to raise). The rain will fill the bucket which will raise the villager up to get a seed. Plant the seed right away. After the third tree has sprouted, the seeds that drop from the tree will go into the food bin. Once all three trees are mature and producing fruit, you will have completed Puzzle #10 (The Orchard).
If you can support them with food, don't forget to make babies if you haven't already... and don't forget that nursing moms are out of commission for two game years (or, approximately 240 minutes on "normal" speed). Try to always have a baby in the village, as long as your population will support it.
If you have a Master Builder at this point, then A:
Draw the Bath Plans. Drop the Master Builder onto the blank drawing board in the alchemy lab. He will make plans for repairing the bath (Puzzle #8), and you can start putting builders on this. This project takes a long time; a Chief directing work will help.

If you don't have a Master Builder at this point, then B:
either leave your villagers clearing leaves—or if that's finished, drop them onto another project: rebuilding the hut nearest the food bin, or clearing the rubble to the right of the bath.

At this point, the game can go many different directions, based on your play variables. Here are the specific solutions for the remaining Puzzles:

Puzzle #5
The Weather Dance:

Prerequisites: Level 2 Leadership, at least 2 Adept Farmers, and a completed Puzzle #1. Drop your chief on the fire and he will start to do a rain dance. Drop at least two other farmers on the fire as well, and rain will happen. If you did not get a "puzzle completed" pop-up window, you might need to add another farmer, so repeat the process of dropping the Chief and then three farmers onto the fire.
Puzzle #9
Repairing the Statue:

Prerequisites: Level 3 Restoration, Level 3 Leadership, completed Puzzle #8, a Chief, lots of trained builders.

Make sure the bath is totally completed, at which point the plans will disappear from the lab chalkboard. Drop a Master Builder on the chalkboard again to draw plan for repairing the statue.

Then, fly a Master Builder over the stone path to the key door. At some point, the builder will "see a good place to anchor the statue." Drop him on that spot and he or she will build the scaffolding. Then, drop your chief onto the statue to direct work. Put as many builders as you have free onto this project, which takes a really long time. They will slooooooowly inch the statue up the hill and back into position.
Puzzle #11
Getting Rid of the Sharks.
Prerequisites: Level 2 Faction, a working alchemy lab and Adept Scientist.

Once you have the sixth herb from leveling up in your faction, you can get rid of the sharks with a potion. The potion recipe is Orchid + Orchid + 6th herb (for Nature Faction), or Rose + Rose + 6th herb (for Magic Faction).

Have a scientist make the potion, then use it. She will then fill a vial with the potion, carry it to the ocean and dump it in. The sharks will disappear and your villagers can fish in peace. From here on out, you don't have to worry about food any longer.
Puzzle #12
Aromatherapy

Prerequisites: Level 3 Medicine, a completed Puzzle #8, and a Master Doctor.

Put a Master Doctor near or in the bath; he will begin collecting lotus flowers and placing them in the bath bowls. Once all six bowls are filled, drop the doctor on the fire. He will light a torch and then light the flower bowls to create aromatherapy.
Puzzle #13
The White Gem Key

Prerequisites:(None, but you have to wait for the fire to burn a certain amount of time. You will know it's ready when it is giving off sparkles. If you can't see sparkles but think it might have been long enough, you can check by dropping a villager on the waterfall on the right. If he or she collects water in a bowl and dumps it on the fire pit, you can solve this puzzle. If she just gets a drink, you'll have to wait longer.)

So, you can either have the villagers put the fire out (with water in bowls), or you can just wait for the fire to burn out. When the fire is out, you will see a white diamond gem on the fire pit. Immediately afterward, it will be too hot for your villagers to pick up—but again, you can either have them pour bowls of water on it, or just wait for time to pass. When the gem is cool, drop a villager on it and he will take it to the door.
Puzzle #14
The Pink Gem Key

Prerequisites: completed Puzzle #3 (alchemy).

To reach the pink gem key on the cliff over the rose bush, a villager will need to jump up and grab it. Have a scientist make a "light and springy potion" (Rose + Cactus + Lotus). Drop a villager on the potion, wait till he drinks it, then drop him on the ground right under the gem. He will jump up and collect it, then take it to the door. Do not pick him up during the trip to the door, or he will drop the key and you will have to start again.
Puzzle #15
The Round Pearl Key

Prerequisites: A Chief, a Master Builder, a Master Scientist and a completed Puzzle #9.

After the statue is complete, a Master Builder can collect an odd-looking item from the base, near the amphitheater. It looks like a dark blue seashell. It will need to be rounded off in the waterfall, but only by a Master Builder. Then it will need to be polished, but only by a Master Scientist. Once the pearl is completed, the Scientist will leave it in the lab. Drop the Chief on the pearl, who will then take it over to the giant clam on the coral reef, and swap the light blue pearl for the dark one. This is the third key to the door at the top of the path.
Puzzle #16

Prerequisites: Completed Puzzles #13, 14, 15
[I am sorry to report that I played a test version of VV3, which had a bug that prevented one from reaching the final puzzle.

I got this puzzle tip from someone else but haven't played this piece myself. I am currently trying to re-play to the end in order to correct this. But, proceed at your own risk from here! ~ pineapple]

Once you have the three keys in the door, a special room will appear.
Put a villager on the farthest left position of the sun dial.
Wait for the sun.
Have a villager interact with the people that appear.

Posted by: pineapple | May 30, 2008 9:27 PM

Virtual Villagers 3 – FAQ

We see a lot of the same questions on this game, so here is a FAQ from JIG. Please read through these questions and answers before posting your question on the thread.

Question #1 – I’ve bought level 2 Faction, but I can’t find the sixth herb. Where is it?

Nature Faction will give you the Pitcher Plant and Magic Faction will give you the Berry Bush. Both are located to the left of the Alchemy Lab. Here are screenshots to help you.

Pitcher Plant:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_virtualvillagers3_pitcherplant.jpg

Berry Bush:
http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_virtualvillagers3_berrybush.jpg

Question #2 – My villagers are starving. How can I get more food?

Plant all three fruit trees. You’ll need level 2 Restoration to repair the lift. It will take three Adept Builders at the same time. After repairing the lift, put a villager on it when it starts to rain. The villager will be lifted up to the tree and a seed will fall. Do this twice to plant the fruit trees. You can support 12 to 15 villagers with the fruit from these trees.
Make it a priority to get level 2 Faction so that you can get the sixth herb. You must have this herb to make the potion to get rid of the sharks. Check the list of potions in the walkthrough to find the one you need.
In the meantime, have your children collect mushrooms to help with food points. You can use a trick to double your food points when a child picks up a mushroom. Pause the game by tapping the spacebar, drop the first child on the mushroom, unpause and re-pause quickly by tapping the spacebar twice quickly, drop the second child. Unpause and both children will pick up the mushroom if you are quick enough. You can try to get three children if you’re really quick.

Question #3 – I put two Adept Builders on the lift, but they won’t fix it. What am I doing wrong?

You need three Adept Builders to fix the lift. Put them on it at the same time.

Question #4 – How can I get more tech points?

One thing that will help is duplicate collectibles. After you already have an item, the duplicates of it will earn tech points for you. Common items earn 100 points, uncommon items earn 250 points, and rare items earn 1,500 points. You can also double that amount by dropping two children on the item: pause by tapping the space bar, drop the first child, unpause and re-pause by tapping the space bar twice quickly, drop the second child, unpause one last time. If you do it quick enough, both children will pick up the item (or mushroom) for double the points.

Question #5 – My statue is stuck at the top of the path. My chief won’t direct work. What do I do?

This is probably a bug that has been fixed in Version 1.00.04. Check the lower left corner of your details screen for your version. If you have the older version, go back to the site where you originally purchased the game and download it again. Save it on top of your existing game and you shouldn’t lose your progress.

Question #6 – My chief died and I can’t find a new one. What do I do?

One of your villagers is definitely your chief. You can use the details screen to make sure you test every villager or you can pause the game and drop everyone on the robe at the same time. Keep in mind that nursing mothers cannot try on the robe. If none of your villagers is the chief, have the mothers and babies try on the robe when she’s through nursing.

Posted by: Pam | September 2, 2008 4:05 PM

346 Comments [leave a comment]

Right now I'm having to play the demo, until next week and pay day lol.

As I was playing the demo, one of my people found a crystal and I decided to keep it.

It cloned my person, but opposite to him

Posted by: RuthieJo

| May 28, 2008 8:53 PM

One thing I didn't like though, is when my people landed, one of the girls had a baby. Well running the tutorial, we wound up with another baby, so that leaves the only two women out of commission for a while.

Then too, two of the members are children, so out of the new group, there are six people not being able to work, or not of age to work. Makes it pretty rough to start out.

Posted by: RuthieJo

| May 28, 2008 9:06 PM

I really would like to get into the series but, as you noted, John, the graphics and old-school interface do keep me away from the game. I would like the get into it, but the first question I asked myself when saw your review was "did the engine change at all? Did they work with the graphics?" It appears they did not?

Posted by: Imok

| May 28, 2008 9:11 PM

Imok - look at it this way: with any game you have to be willing to suspend disbelief to some extent unless, of course, you're playing a realistic simulation type game (which this is not).

That being said, if you can view the quirky little movements and behavior of these little villagers as "charming", then you are likely to become easily immersed within the fictional island of Isola and have yourself an enjoyable experience that borders on magical at times as you uncover the discoveries that await you.

Those that require something a bit more realistic in order to become a believer may better wait for something to come along like Spore.

Posted by: Jay

| May 28, 2008 9:34 PM

Why didn't I notice? I was searching BFG just earlier to see what was new... odd.

Posted by: Kirkpad

| May 28, 2008 9:46 PM

Kirkpad - They added it late in the day.

Posted by: Jay

| May 28, 2008 9:49 PM

Hey.... this game isn't supposed to be out until tomorrow. JiG is sneaky. ;D

Posted by: Kirkpad

| May 28, 2008 9:50 PM

Imok: As far as I could tell, the engine is the same. The visuals do their job, but after seeing two games that look practically the same, I'm seriously ready for the graphics to go up a notch in quality. At least they didn't go bonkers and use the old "10 polygons per model" trick that Westward II pulled. :-P

Posted by: JohnB

| May 28, 2008 10:24 PM

It's been out direct from the developers for a while now, Kirkpad. :)

And it's fun! I don't find the graphics crude at all -- I don't play VV for photo-realism, after all -- and there were some nice additions in this game. Awards, for one thing, which will keep you playing after the basic set of puzzles are done. And weather! Nice touch. It does suffer from a couple of problems that the series as a whole has trouble with:

Firstly, it's difficult to train your villagers in certain skills after you reach a certain point in the game. VV3 has attempted to address the perennial doctor problem by giving you a place to train villages in Healing, which is great. It also gives you lots of things to build, but it's still hard to train new builders as you get toward end-game and all you have left is that clothes hut... Secondly, some of the puzzles suffer from a lack of hint-age. I finally gave in and looked at the guide page after spending two days trying to get the very last puzzle. I flew villagers all over the place, trying to see what they might be able to do. I did everything with a Master everything, just in case it was skill-based. But the puzzle turned out to

be something I'd written off as 'finished', with nary a hint that there might be more to it.

There were a couple of others that were like that, but you could kinda guess from the puzzle picture. Like the treasure chest in VV1; you knew it had to turn up SOMEwhere. Thirdly, at this point the puzzles are getting a little repetitive. Find food, build things. The developers do a good job keeping it reasonably fresh, and it's good to have a pattern, but you start craving more. Especially more of the storyline stuff, which in this installment

starts out intriguing and very cool, then sort of peters out into a final puzzle of 'that's it?'

Posted by: LS

| May 28, 2008 10:31 PM

A beta was quietly launched a couple weeks ago at the developers' site to work out any last-minute bugs and issues.

The worldwide release is today, 5/28.

Posted by: Jay

| May 28, 2008 10:36 PM

I don't want it to sound as though I yearn for photorealism. The issue for me with the graphics has nothing to do with how realistic they appear, but rather how they seem to fall short of the level of realism attempted. I love 2D games, and games with cartoony graphics, cell shaded graphics, black and white graphics, downright goofy graphics. And the way a game appears won't keep me away from it either - in this case they are by NO means awful, they simply don't quite give me the feeling of being in a tropical paradise. The "problem" may very well lie in the jerky animation then the actual illustration, too. Maybe it's just me, but a few more frames per movement would certainly liven it up a bit.

Again, it is not simply the look of the game that keeps me from buying this third installment, but the interface - which John noted was unchanged. Perhaps that is the non-casual gamer side of me coming out, but I absolutely loath inefficiency. Extra clicks in a sim game is less time I have to relax and look around my little creation.

I don't want to sounds as though I am attacking the game, but I wanted to defend myself a bit :-) I suppose I came off as overly critical: the last question mark on my previous comment was accidental too, and I don't think that helps my tone :-\

Posted by: Imok

| May 28, 2008 11:29 PM

My main problem with Virtual Villagers is, while the graphics are pretty lame in comparison to other casual games, is the inexplicable way my villagers stop fishing and start consuming all the food in the village as soon as I turn off the game and go to bed.

As soon as I wake up I turn the game on and they're splayed out across the island Uncle-Owen-Aunt-Beru style, and there's no more food left. Even after I left pretty much all of them fishing.

I'm probably just missing something, but this defies the definition of casual gaming for me. I want it to be casual, I don't want to worry about my people constantly because they're too stupid to gather their own food.

And, more on topic, the graphics ARE rather terrible. Look at games like Insaniquarium or Airport Mania, then come here and look at Virtual Villagers: I feel like I'm in 1999.

Posted by: Tranchera

| May 29, 2008 12:03 AM

I feel the graphics are well-stylized and fit the mood and the theme of the game well. I actually enjoy that aspect of it very much.

And if you wish to play the game more casually, simply set the game speed to "Pause" in the game's Options menu when you're finished playing for the day. The villagers won't misbehave while you're gone. :)

Posted by: Jay

| May 29, 2008 1:10 AM

We've completed a Virtual Villagers 3 walkthrough hint guide to help you through...

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

Posted by: Jay

| May 29, 2008 4:40 AM

Tranchera-

Did you make sure to go into the character screens and check the "Farming" box for each villager you want to keep fishing? I think that even if you leave them fishing, they will stop to do something eventually and not go BACK to fishing/farming unless you assigned that to them via the character info screen.

That's my only possible explanation.

Posted by: Josh

| May 29, 2008 6:56 AM

Where exactly are the torches to light to scare the bees away?

Posted by: Lori | May 29, 2008 2:24 PM

I found this game a few minutes ago and thought "OH MY GOD MUST REPORT TO JIG" & then discovered it was here. xD

Posted by: Vault

| May 29, 2008 2:55 PM

I cant find the Pitcher Plant can anyone help me??

Posted by: kym | May 29, 2008 3:37 PM

@Lori:

The torches are under the beehive on the ground

@kym:

You have to have Level 2 in your Nature or Magic Faction for that herb to appear.

Posted by: pineapple

| May 29, 2008 5:34 PM

I almost had a master researcher and then I found that they were destined to be chief, now I have to start all over for a master researcher!

Posted by: Jessica | May 29, 2008 5:59 PM

I purchased level 2 in nature and I still can't find the pitcher plant!

Posted by: sonni | May 29, 2008 7:13 PM

Great review, John. Whenever we release a new VV game, JayIsGames posts a review and I come running to check it out and give my $0.02. :)

I'm the Lead Designer of the Virtual Villagers series. Oh and the Lead Engineer. Oh and I am the CEO of the company. Oh also I unclog the toilets here in the office when they stop up.

Don' worry--I am going somewhere with this. The fact of the matter is that the graphics in the game _are_ fairly simple...the engine somewhat less so. It is because we are a tiny TINY team so we try to just focus on the parts of the design that we do well. For us that is an innovative design, a game that is not like what is out there, and a game that I would personally play. Our energies generally focus on the AI, the biology, and stuff 'under-the-hood'.

Within the casual games space, we will leave the polish to Popcap. We will never catch up to them on that, and we are not even trying. We are going for games that simulate life, to some extent, to a degree where you care about the tribe..at least a little.

In our defence, however, if you compare VV3 right next to VV1, I think it is clear that the graphics are much better. We also upgraded the animation engine...they shake their head and jump very smoothly now...they leave footprints in the sand--only where sand is present on the map. It rains. Puddles form. The villagers see them. That's the type of 'polish' where we focus our very limited resources. We have also put more effort into the story, and we are starting to unravel details about this mysterious island setting of all of our games.

Anyway, thanks for checking it out, everyone, and I appreciate the feedback, both good and bad. I have not seen a post here that I would consider unfair. :)

Regards,
Arthur Humphrey
Lead Designer, Last Day of Work

Posted by: Arthur Humphrey | May 29, 2008 8:25 PM

@sonni

You get different herbs depending on which faction you choose. One's pitcher, the other's berry. Both are located left of the research lab, where the kids answer nature's call.

Posted by: LS

| May 29, 2008 9:18 PM

Just wanted to say thank you for a nice game without time limits...lol... needed something to unwind with and got addicted after the first one.. thanks again

Posted by: Anonymous | May 30, 2008 1:24 AM

Hi Arthur! Thanks for stopping by! Virtual Villagers 3 is an excellent game, and I did notice some of the small tweaks that your team made that actually go a long way to make the experience more immersive. My point with the visuals is that they didn't elicit a renewed sense of wonder when I fired up the third game in the series, that's all. The comfort of a familiar visual presentation is nice, and the layout and design are excellent (which is why I'm glad you guys haven't tried to overhaul it!), but some part of me wanted a bit more of a change. I felt it was worth mentioning in the review, but it by no means detracts from the game. Not one tiny bit.

In terms of polish, Virtual Villagers definitely doesn't fall short, and it wasn't my intention to compare it to a big studio production. What really counts is how fun the game is and the work that's done "under the hood", as you said. I still care about those clumsy little villagers and will continue to do so, even if you switched to ASCII characters!

Great work from everyone at Last Day of Work. You keep making games, I'll keep playing. :-)

Posted by: JohnB

| May 30, 2008 12:30 PM

I'm actually a lot picky when I'm buying games. For me, it's not just the fair price, or the quality of the game; there are companies that I definitely don't buy games from because I don't support their attitude.

I bought the Virtual Villagers3 the very first day it was released. From the first two of the series, my expectation was to find a well-designed, nice game, and I think that the people behind the game are well worth supporting.

I played most of the games of Last Day of Work, and I don't remember any instance that I had a problem about a game which they didn't deal with patiently.

As for the game, I like the graphics; they are cute and nice to look at. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with an over-polished 3d graphics. I'm also glad that no radical changes were made about the game play. This is one of the rare games that I can play without the stress of winning, and I definitely want it stay in that way. Playing just for the sake of gaming and watching my happy tribe working, doing the laundry, rain dancing, running around and celebrating is actually all I want to keep me off the stress of the day.

Posted by: misky | May 30, 2008 8:22 PM

Virtual Villagers 3 Strategy Guide and Walkthroughs

Getting Started

Fire
Drop a villager on the dry wood in the pile by the beach (FYI, this wood is always "dry" even if it's raining). He will carry it to the fire pit automatically. Drop a villager on the pile of dry grass near the waterfall. When grass and wood are in place, drop a villager on the fire pit again. To replenish the fire, occasionally drop a villager on the wood pile again and he will just add dry wood. You can monitor how much fire time remains by clicking on the fire pit.
Get Honey (Puzzle #2):
Drop a villager in front of the beehive, on the torches, until the status bar reads "Trying an Idea". To harvest the honey, you will have to drop a villager in front of the hive repeatedly; it helps if it's a farmer. Monitor the honey's output by clicking on the hive.
Identify the Chief (Puzzle #1):
Drag villagers one by one to the red and yellow robe that is hanging at the amphitheater. Have each one try it on till the chief is identified. If you've tried all your villagers and none are the chief, it's probably the baby of a nursing mom. Wait and try it again. Later in the game, you'll need to repeat this process if your chief dies. At Level 1 of Leadership, your chief can grant magic food: drop her on the food bin in case of emergency. The Chief can only do this once every 24 hours, so use it wisely.
Plant the Seed:
Something fruit-shaped will appear on the ground in the soil area (keypad section 6). Drop a villager on it. He will plant it and it will become a fruit tree.
Get a Scientist, a Farmer and a Builder Going:
You need a villager to continually harvest honey. Then, you need one to begin researching, at the table in the messy lab (keypad section 4). At this point, if you have a third free adult villager, start him or her clearing the leaves (in keypad section 3).
Rebuild the Lab (Puzzle #3):
When you have an Adept Scientist, drop him or her on the items that are strewn around the village in random places. There are five items total. You'll have to drop a villager on each one separately; he won't go back and forth. The items are: a plain brown pot, a yellow and white pot, a red and white pot, a gray bowl with spoons, and a multi-colored stick-shaped item. The items are in a different place in each game.
Collect Herbs:
Any villager can collect the herbs that are located around the village. The five herbs available to you at this time are (starting at top of map and working counter-clockwise):
- Tiger Lily: Orange flower at the top of the path (keypad section 8)
- Rose: red and pink bush at the base of the rock wall in the orchard (keypad section 6)
- Black Orchid: dark purple flower in the grassy area under the orchard (keypad section 3)
- Lotus: small pink flower just to the right of the bath (keypad section 1)
- Cactus: a prickly-pear plant just to the right of the lab, on the dirt path (keypad section 4)
- 6th herb:
  Another herb will become available to you when you buy Level 2 Faction with tech points. It is a pitcher plant or a berry bush. It will appear to the left of the lab, near the community toilet area. (Nice!)
A villager will bring an herb to the lab and put it on the table. Only three herbs can be collected and stored at any time.
Make Potions:
A potion requires three herbs, in any combination of the five or six available. See the Potion Recipes section for specific potion walkthroughs. When the lab table is holding three herbs, drop an Adept or Master Scientist onto the table and he or she will begin preparing the potion. You can have the scientist or any other villager test a potion—but if it is harmful, the villager's health will be compromised.
Any time you have free people that aren't researching or nursing or collecting food, keep them working on Clearing Leaves:
Sending lots of untrained villagers to clear leaves at the grassy area to the far right of the village will help you complete Puzzle #4, and is also an easy build project that will give builders experience. People tend to wander off from this project so use the chief to help direct work. You might consider setting your villagers to this before you turn the game off for the night, and coming back to the completed results in the morning (a burial area).

Once Your Village is Running

Buy Some Technology:
At this point, if you are going to keep playing for a while and want the instant gratification, purchase Level 2 Alchemy so that your scientist can make more potions without blowing himself up. But, if you can take a break and let the clock run for awhile to accrue more tech points, wait to buy... then when you return, buy Level 2 Restoration first. Save for Level 2 Alchemy when your points are back up.

So, if you buy Level 2 Alchemy at this point, I would keep your scientist on potions, your farmer harvesting honey and fruit (when the tree is mature), and your builder on clearing leaves.
When you buy Level 2 Restoration, Rebuild the Lift (Puzzle #6):
You'll need a couple of Adept Builders for this; the Chief will be of assistance too.

Drop at least two builders on the broken machine in the orchard. When they have repaired it, it can be used to harvest seeds from the tree above the orchard. Two more seeds can be planted in total.

The lift only works in the rain, so you'll have to either wait for rain to come, or create rain by performing a weather dance (Puzzle #5). When it starts to rain, drop a villager on the platform of the lift while it is still on the ground (a villager cannot board the lift once the platform has begun to raise). The rain will fill the bucket which will raise the villager up to get a seed. Plant the seed right away. After the third tree has sprouted, the seeds that drop from the tree will go into the food bin. Once all three trees are mature and producing fruit, you will have completed Puzzle #10 (The Orchard).
If you can support them with food, don't forget to make babies if you haven't already... and don't forget that nursing moms are out of commission for two game years (or, approximately 240 minutes on "normal" speed). Try to always have a baby in the village, as long as your population will support it.
If you have a Master Builder at this point, then A:
Draw the Bath Plans. Drop the Master Builder onto the blank drawing board in the alchemy lab. He will make plans for repairing the bath (Puzzle #8), and you can start putting builders on this. This project takes a long time; a Chief directing work will help.

If you don't have a Master Builder at this point, then B:
either leave your villagers clearing leaves—or if that's finished, drop them onto another project: rebuilding the hut nearest the food bin, or clearing the rubble to the right of the bath.

At this point, the game can go many different directions, based on your play variables. Here are the specific solutions for the remaining Puzzles:

Puzzle #5
The Weather Dance:

Prerequisites: Level 2 Leadership, at least 2 Adept Farmers, and a completed Puzzle #1. Drop your chief on the fire and he will start to do a rain dance. Drop at least two other farmers on the fire as well, and rain will happen. If you did not get a "puzzle completed" pop-up window, you might need to add another farmer, so repeat the process of dropping the Chief and then three farmers onto the fire.
Puzzle #9
Repairing the Statue:

Prerequisites: Level 3 Restoration, Level 3 Leadership, completed Puzzle #8, a Chief, lots of trained builders.

Make sure the bath is totally completed, at which point the plans will disappear from the lab chalkboard. Drop a Master Builder on the chalkboard again to draw plan for repairing the statue.

Then, fly a Master Builder over the stone path to the key door. At some point, the builder will "see a good place to anchor the statue." Drop him on that spot and he or she will build the scaffolding. Then, drop your chief onto the statue to direct work. Put as many builders as you have free onto this project, which takes a really long time. They will slooooooowly inch the statue up the hill and back into position.
Puzzle #11
Getting Rid of the Sharks.
Prerequisites: Level 2 Faction, a working alchemy lab and Adept Scientist.

Once you have the sixth herb from leveling up in your faction, you can get rid of the sharks with a potion. The potion recipe is Orchid + Orchid + 6th herb (for Nature Faction), or Rose + Rose + 6th herb (for Magic Faction).

Have a scientist make the potion, then use it. She will then fill a vial with the potion, carry it to the ocean and dump it in. The sharks will disappear and your villagers can fish in peace. From here on out, you don't have to worry about food any longer.
Puzzle #12
Aromatherapy

Prerequisites: Level 3 Medicine, a completed Puzzle #8, and a Master Doctor.

Put a Master Doctor near or in the bath; he will begin collecting lotus flowers and placing them in the bath bowls. Once all six bowls are filled, drop the doctor on the fire. He will light a torch and then light the flower bowls to create aromatherapy.
Puzzle #13
The White Gem Key

Prerequisites:(None, but you have to wait for the fire to burn a certain amount of time. You will know it's ready when it is giving off sparkles. If you can't see sparkles but think it might have been long enough, you can check by dropping a villager on the waterfall on the right. If he or she collects water in a bowl and dumps it on the fire pit, you can solve this puzzle. If she just gets a drink, you'll have to wait longer.)

So, you can either have the villagers put the fire out (with water in bowls), or you can just wait for the fire to burn out. When the fire is out, you will see a white diamond gem on the fire pit. Immediately afterward, it will be too hot for your villagers to pick up—but again, you can either have them pour bowls of water on it, or just wait for time to pass. When the gem is cool, drop a villager on it and he will take it to the door.
Puzzle #14
The Pink Gem Key

Prerequisites: completed Puzzle #3 (alchemy).

To reach the pink gem key on the cliff over the rose bush, a villager will need to jump up and grab it. Have a scientist make a "light and springy potion" (Rose + Cactus + Lotus). Drop a villager on the potion, wait till he drinks it, then drop him on the ground right under the gem. He will jump up and collect it, then take it to the door. Do not pick him up during the trip to the door, or he will drop the key and you will have to start again.
Puzzle #15
The Round Pearl Key

Prerequisites: A Chief, a Master Builder, a Master Scientist and a completed Puzzle #9.

After the statue is complete, a Master Builder can collect an odd-looking item from the base, near the amphitheater. It looks like a dark blue seashell. It will need to be rounded off in the waterfall, but only by a Master Builder. Then it will need to be polished, but only by a Master Scientist. Once the pearl is completed, the Scientist will leave it in the lab. Drop the Chief on the pearl, who will then take it over to the giant clam on the coral reef, and swap the light blue pearl for the dark one. This is the third key to the door at the top of the path.
Puzzle #16

Prerequisites: Completed Puzzles #13, 14, 15
[I am sorry to report that I played a test version of VV3, which had a bug that prevented one from reaching the final puzzle.

I got this puzzle tip from someone else but haven't played this piece myself. I am currently trying to re-play to the end in order to correct this. But, proceed at your own risk from here! ~ pineapple]

Once you have the three keys in the door, a special room will appear.
Put a villager on the farthest left position of the sun dial.
Wait for the sun.
Have a villager interact with the people that appear.

Posted by: pineapple

| May 30, 2008 9:27 PM

I found out by mistake that if you kill off a person you do not have to go through the long~~ process of "clearing leaves"
The Roster for the Dead appears automatically.

Posted by: christine | May 30, 2008 11:12 PM

I killed off a person so I can no longer clear the leaves. However, puzzle 4 remains unsolved on the puzzle page. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Julie | May 31, 2008 8:42 PM

Julie: that's a tough one. I didn't even know that you could just have a villager die and then fast-forward through clearing leaves.

Maybe christine left the game and then returned, and the villagers had "finished clearing leaves" because someone died when the game was off?

Maybe it doesn't work the same if you are in-game and kill someone intentionally?

Posted by: pineapple

| June 1, 2008 4:32 PM

For those that are running out of food. I found this out by accident. Gave me 1000 fruit and 3000 honey points without affecting anything else in the game.

Set computer clock back 3 hours.

Posted by: M.B | June 1, 2008 6:06 PM

M.B., that might work, but not if you've used this trick to speed up things.

Moving your computer clock ahead

Posted by: Holly Haynes | June 1, 2008 9:15 PM

M.B. and others, I'm an idiot...lol...it did work. :-/

Posted by: Holly Haynes | June 1, 2008 9:22 PM

Help please! As much as I have tried I can't find the stick like object for the alchemy lab. I found the bowl with spoons on the top of the path, if anyone who found their's in the same location can give me a hand I would appreciate it thanks

Posted by: tamly

| June 2, 2008 9:49 AM

@tamly:
This one's tricky, as the position of the five items is randomized in each game. Here's my best advice:

The items are usually truly randomized. For example, if you found your bowl at the top of the path, then you won't find anything else in that general area. So, wherever you found the other four items, you can likely eliminate, and assume that the stick will be somewhere else in the game.
Places that I remember finding the colored stick before include by the waterfalls, in the grassy area around the lab or around the bath, and in the grassy area to the right of the clinic.

Sorry! :(

Posted by: pineapple

| June 2, 2008 10:01 AM

Hiya can anyone tell me if theres a herb way of restoring health? and if there is can u tell me how to get it please x

Posted by: tricia | June 2, 2008 3:02 PM

@tricia

Cactus + Cactus + Lotus

Posted by: pineapple

| June 2, 2008 9:06 PM

Here are a couple of herbal formulas for health 1=lotus 2=orchid 3=rose 4=tiger lily 5=cactus

555,151,155

Posted by: zaakiya | June 2, 2008 9:06 PM

does anyone know the maximum population for 3?

Posted by: Sandy | June 3, 2008 10:57 AM

Can anyone tell me how do I take the potion to she sharks????

Posted by: jssica | June 4, 2008 12:02 AM

HELP, I have no women so I cant breed any children hence all my male villagers are dying off !! I have however had a chest of kids wash up on the beach but guess what, yes they were all boys ahhhhhhhhhhhh anybody know any potions etc to get women on my island as I just cant face starting again !!! please help

Posted by: jonc46

| June 4, 2008 12:22 PM

Just make the shark potion and drag a villager to the pot, they will take it for you.

What happened to the other page? There were alot of good questions on that page. :(

Posted by: geniegamer

| June 4, 2008 3:30 PM

Jay- Just checked the other page and saw that the comments were back, thanx!

Posted by: geniegamer

| June 4, 2008 3:33 PM

Hi geniegamer - yes, we have some technical issues with that page this morning, but it's fixed now. Thanks for reporting it!

Posted by: Jay

| June 4, 2008 4:22 PM

If you're looking for help, hints, tips, or a strategy guide walkthrough, be sure to check out our Virtual Villagers 3 Walkthrough in the form of a hint-through...

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

Posted by: Jay

| June 4, 2008 6:01 PM

I just wanted to say that I know all these pages seem to mention in the beginning to try the robe on all the adult villagers to get the first chief, but my first chief was a 5 year old child, so make sure to try the kids too!

Posted by: Krisie | June 4, 2008 7:12 PM

rose plus tiger lilly plus cactus is funny

Posted by: ash | June 4, 2008 9:20 PM

Did u recognize that when a villager grows older it walks slower.That's why i im gonna tell u how to make a potion thet lets your villagers walk faster and gets a work done.

Cactus + Lotus + Rose = The Potion

Posted by: inna | June 5, 2008 7:18 AM

the best way to make potions fast is to let children collect the herbs for you.
i found a gem where the fire was but it is too hot for about 24 hours now i made a villager drop water on it , but it is still hot ..... how do i get it? please?

Posted by: H and B | June 5, 2008 5:11 PM

@H&B- Just get your kids to continue watering the fire. They do it a lot faster, it takes a little while.

Posted by: geniegamer

| June 5, 2008 10:10 PM

H&B - I just put all of my adults on watering the fire - I had about 10 of them - it put it out very quickly.

Posted by: melisalyn

| June 6, 2008 12:04 AM

I love the game....finished it in just over a week and a half. Am hoping they bring out a 4th one very soon.

Posted by: Tanya

| June 6, 2008 5:46 AM

my village is starving.. my faction is on its second level already i just don't know where the 6th herb is. can anyone tell me pls..

Posted by: Anonymous | June 6, 2008 6:52 AM

I need some help please...I only have 2 female villagers and they are too old to have any more kids, all of my kids are males, so now I can't have any more kids. Does anyone know how to get more female villagers? I really don't want to start over again.

Posted by: Anonymous | June 6, 2008 12:59 PM

my 2 adept builders wont repair the lift and i have the level 2 restoration, they just wont do it. what do i do

Posted by: Anonymous | June 6, 2008 2:29 PM

I have never played any of the virtual villager games, and I want to start playing them. do you guys think I should start with the first one or just start playin #3?

Posted by: Gryphon78

| June 6, 2008 6:09 PM

Gryphon78 - they are all good games, and if you enjoy playing one you will enjoy playing them all.

There is a little intro story that connects them all, but it is very minor and you won't really miss out on anything by playing them out of order.

I suggest starting with this one, #3. It's the most polished of the three, and if you enjoy playing it as much as many of us do, then there are 2 more waiting for you to explore. :)

Posted by: Jay

| June 6, 2008 6:20 PM

can someone help me please, my tribal cheif died and now i cant seem to get another one, i have tried about 10 children and 5 adults... how do i get a second tribal cheif?

Posted by: jen | June 6, 2008 7:27 PM

Interesting potion: Tiger Lily + Cactus + Rose

Posted by: jf | June 6, 2008 9:12 PM

I NEED HELP!!

Does anyone know exactly where the chalkboard is. I have my master builder and I have restoration level 2...but everywhere I look and drop the builder he doesn't do anything...did I miss something???

Posted by: ecpoole | June 7, 2008 11:50 AM

Hi!! Please help me!!
I have completed all the puzzles, excepting the statue (puzzle 9)...
And I have only a few skilled builders, and I don't know how to teach the peoples to build:(
Because I have built all the huts and the clothing huts...
How can I teach they to have higher skills?? By doing what? Please help me, thanks:)

Posted by: betty | June 7, 2008 12:52 PM

jen: Hi! if your tribal chief is dead, you have to drag all your villagers to the robe, because they need to try it, and one of your villagers will be the chief...

ecpoole: Hi! the chalkboard is in the alchemy lab, near the pot. You need to drag a master builder to the chalkboard, ang automatically he will draw the plans what the villagers need to follow.

Posted by: betty | June 7, 2008 1:09 PM

hi please can anyone help me i have done all the puzzles except 7 and i cant work it out and i cant find the spoiler for.thanks.

Posted by: redsasha75

| June 7, 2008 4:11 PM

For puzzle 7 just put all your builders on the rocks at the bottom of the screen (close to the bath) and they should start moving the rocks.

Posted by: Rachael Marshall | June 7, 2008 6:54 PM

How in the world do you get a total of 50,000 tech points before you're villagers starve to death and why do you have to have so many in order to feed your villagers?

Posted by: Rusty | June 8, 2008 10:48 AM

My villagers finished clearing the rubble, but I have not collected all the tablet pieces....Will they continue to appear, or have I lost out?

Posted by: susan | June 8, 2008 2:37 PM

I have Virtual Villagers - Secret City although I have not played the two previous games. Love it, addictive, etc. but I am stuck in several games.
1). I cannot find food past the honey and fruit tree. I read that there should be other seeds but I can't find them. Can't get berries, fish, anything. I don't see this addressed in other comments.
2). Do the "gold sparkles" that appear occasionally when a villagers moves or does something mean anything?
3). When a villager goes off the do the laundry, look at the fishies, etc., should they be taken back to their jobs or are they accomplishing something else?
4). I can't find a kid and get him/her to an object before it disappears. Any trick?
Any other basic and new learner hints would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by: Lynjohn2

| June 8, 2008 3:49 PM

Rusty - there is an alternative food source that doesn't require any tech points. All you need is a trained farmer:

just plant the seed that appears in the orchard.

Other than that, as you get low on food, mushrooms (and red mushrooms in particular) begin to show up more frequently. You just have to micro-manage things for a while until you get alternate food source(s) going.

susan - more tablet pieces will appear during other building activities. Keep an eye out for them! :)

Hi Lynjohn2 - I'll try to answer some of your questions:

1) There should be a lone banana or other piece of fruit laying around. If you drop a master farmer on it, s/he will plant it in the orchard.

2) sparkles? If you mean when you pick them up, no it doesn't mean anything special.

3) If you need them to stay on a particular job, then taking them off the laundry or looking at fishies is fine. However, if they're going to take a drink, or eat food, you might want them to continue that activity or it might adversely affect their health.

4) The collectibles and mushrooms generally stick around long enough, you just have be more diligent about looking for them. Keep it up, you'll make out fine. :)

There seems to be a more active comment thread going on over at our Virtual Villagers 3 walkthrough...
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

You might want to check out there for some hints and tips. :)

Posted by: Jay

| June 8, 2008 4:16 PM

What is going on with the giant clam? Is there something we are supposed to do?

Posted by: Jacinda | June 8, 2008 7:20 PM

Does your second chief have to be a child????

Posted by: Penny | June 8, 2008 9:17 PM

Posted by: betty | June 9, 2008 10:38 AM

Hi betty - there is actually a potion that improves your villagers building skills.

Check out our Virtual Villagers 3 walkthrough page for more information:

Penny - your chief doesn't have to be a child, but it's best if it is since the chief no longer works like normal adults, and any skills you may have built up in the adult won't really be available to you any longer.

Posted by: Jay

| June 9, 2008 10:48 AM

Ok, somehow I have managed to let all my male villagers die. All I have is women and that means i cant make anymore children and i cant collect any more collectibles.

Am i doomed or is there a work around?

Posted by: LadyTonya

| June 9, 2008 12:59 PM

There are 'events' the game may introduce when you get into a 'stuck' spot like this, such as send you a barrel of children.

It's a rare occurrence, however. And yet there are provisions in place to help you when you get stuck. You just have to keep at it and hope good fortune smiles upon you. :)

(Or just start a new tribe if you get bored waiting) ;)

Posted by: Jay

| June 9, 2008 1:15 PM

hello:

I have gotten pretty far along in this game, but have had to keep my population low due to how long it took to find good food sources. Now, I have 10 villagers, only one of whom is a woman of child-bearing age. Each time she has a baby, it's a boy! Any way I can get her to have girls??????

Posted by: Anonymous | June 9, 2008 9:02 PM

Has anyone been able to get a villager to live until 90 yet?

Posted by: Happy

| June 9, 2008 11:48 PM

Hi, does the research side of the lab clear up too in the same way the alchemy lab does?

Thanks, Erin

Posted by: Erin | June 10, 2008 5:03 AM

I left my villagers overnight and when I returned, one of my 14-year-old girls has a baby. Aren't they supposed to wait until 18 before they can "go indoors"??

Babies having babies...

Posted by: Katie | June 10, 2008 10:55 AM

ok my virtual villagers 3 just died. it says i can't make a connection!!! ahhhh i can't play!!! has this happened to anyone yet??? :(

Posted by: mcc | June 10, 2008 6:12 PM

Hi everyone

So far I have tried putting a Chief to the left of the sundial and then putting three skilled villagers on the circle that contains the sundial but all to no avail, I have also tried to put a skilled villager in various places in the sundial room but nothing seems to work.

I have version 1.00.04 can anyone please help me complete this part of the game as it's driving me insane!

Posted by: Jo | June 11, 2008 7:51 AM

Hi can anybody please help me? I have no food and the bees won't make honey the tree's don't make fruit, i can't get crab because i don't know how to get rid of the sharks!

Check out our Virtual Villagers 3 Walkthrough

Posted by: Yassen | June 11, 2008 10:31 AM

yassen - keep an eye out for mushrooms, and

your chief can make magic food once every 24 hours to tide you over.

Posted by: eileen

| June 11, 2008 1:46 PM

Hi I have tried everything i can think of for getting rid of the sharks can someone please tell me how to get rid of them, in what order do i need to put the herb.

Posted by: caller

| June 11, 2008 5:52 PM

Please help
How are you supposed to have food when there is no honey, no fruit, not enough tech to make the shark repelant
Where are the other seeds I only got one
(mushrooms and magic food don't work, I started over 3 times for this problem

Posted by: Shauna | June 12, 2008 6:20 PM

Shauna - don't start your game over! :o

Just pause the game for a while.

Magic food works once every 24 hours, so you can always pause the game until tomorrow's magic food moment.

Also, when food gets low you have to look for mushrooms, they do appear more frequently, especially the red ones. Just keep on mushroom search while your villagers keep working to build up your tech.

Keep at it, you'll get by without having to restart your game. :)

Posted by: Jay

| June 12, 2008 6:27 PM

caller - you don't have to put the herbs in any special order, but you do need the correct combination:

Orchid + Orchid + Pitcher Plant (for Nature Faction), or Rose + Rose + Berry (for Magic Faction)

Posted by: Jay

| June 12, 2008 6:29 PM

For everyone starving to death!!!

You have to fix the machine, then wait for rain to get another seed!!
For some reason I missed this.
(I figured this out on my 3 restarted game when I had 2 females left boo hoo)

Posted by: Shauna | June 12, 2008 6:30 PM

Am I supposed to do anything with the burned out torches by the beehive/

Where are the rest of the puzzle pieces?

There are etchings in the mountain by the roses. Am I missing something. No one pays attention to them.

Posted by: k2chat | June 13, 2008 1:22 AM

hi there all, ok this is my fist time playing this game, and, have to say it's very frustrating,, hard to get tech points up ( it is soo slow and hard work)maybe it's my management, hmm or lack of it.. but am sick of tryong to keep them all alive,I have more than tribe on the go, so, if I mess up i got fall back..but, it still doesn't sort out why it takes soo long to get the tech points you need, I mea,. I been playing 4 wks now on one tribe, not sure I will complete, an d no .. O don'#t mess with clock. it's lethal.. and for the person who had all boy's, well yes I had that prolem, tryint to over populate? anyway I let them all grow up and the next were 2 were girls :-) so, work out when you know you will need a toddler 14 yes ols, can't pick up things, so work 2 yrs before hand.. a women 50 can't have kids, but good use of you want to all five and parenting needs a boost. (can't have kids) sorry, but I stll can't use the spoiler thingy.. like when it says click on villigerss to get more and it don't work hmm

Posted by: chezza

| June 13, 2008 7:57 PM

How do you get a master doctor? My villagers aren't sick very often. Is there another way other than healing the sick?

Posted by: Christina Frey | June 14, 2008 10:26 AM

how do you know if you beat or finished the game?

Posted by: Marla | June 14, 2008 6:45 PM

What is next? I have found the sun dial room, i have solved all the puzzles i think, I have 90 population. The only things I have not done is collect all my collections and all my puzzles are not complete. Is this all that is left? i even built my clothes hut.

Posted by: Marla | June 14, 2008 6:54 PM

1) My village is starving!!!, im surviving on magic food and mushrooms, but goes down quickly

2) My builders wont repair the lift, they start then refuse. WHY?? Do i need level 2?

Posted by: Kayleigh Robinson | June 15, 2008 1:51 AM

Hello everyone!i need help!!! i was lifting the statue and i was almost done but then i got my chief pregnant by mistake and now that she doesnt carry the baby anymore, i put her on the statue but she doesnt do "directing work" neither does any builder. Any suggestions? my friend had the same problem..

Posted by: Violet | June 15, 2008 7:50 AM

how do you get the cheif to show the kids the rare items and educate them? I have level 3 leadership.

Posted by: Carolyn | June 15, 2008 8:59 AM

Place you cheif on top of the path; next to the door

Posted by: Shauna | June 15, 2008 3:55 PM

To Kayleigh:

About the lift:

You need 3 adept builders to fix the lift, all working at the same time.

Posted by: Pam

| June 15, 2008 4:47 PM

To Christina:

You can train doctors after purchasing level 2 Medicine. They will attain Master status as easily as Science, Farming, and Building.

Posted by: Pam

| June 15, 2008 4:50 PM

To Chezza:

Are you running the game on Fast speed? It will help you get tech points faster.

Posted by: Pam

| June 15, 2008 4:52 PM

To Violet:

About your Chief and the statue:

Try dropping the Chief on the path to the right of where the scaffolding is. It's like a "hot spot" that makes them work on the statue.

Posted by: Pam

| June 15, 2008 4:57 PM

Ok, so I just found out about the cheat for puzzle #5, it's the puzzle where the chief and farmers have to do a rain dance,but I think I waited to long to do it because now every time I put my chief onto the fire she just runs away because the gem is to hot. Now what do I do about the unfinished puzzle?

Posted by: kinab

| August 8, 2008 10:03 AM

To kinab:

I answered your question in our other Virtual Villagers 3 forum. Look for the response dated August 6, 2008 at 4:32 p.m.

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

Posted by: Pam

| August 8, 2008 12:02 PM

where is the multi-coloured stick shaped thing?

Posted by: Jess | August 9, 2008 1:55 PM

To Jess:

The alchemy lab items are located in different places every time a new game is started, so I can't tell you where your stick is. However, I can show you a screenshot of what the stick looks like. It is often located at the edge of some bushes, half hidden.

http://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_virtualvillagers3_alchemystick.jpg

Posted by: Pam

| August 9, 2008 3:11 PM

Is it possible for anyone to put up a list of potions and what they do? thankyou

Posted by: anon | August 11, 2008 6:36 PM

To anon:

We have two Virtual Villager 3 forums. The other one is a complete walkthrough and includes Important Potion Recipes. Click here to visit:

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/05/virtual_villagers_3_hint_through.php

Posted by: Pam

| August 11, 2008 6:41 PM

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Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City

Platform: Download (Mac, Windows)

Tags: affiliate, demo, download, game, kidsafe, lastdayofwork, macwin, realtime, simulation, strategy, virtualvillagers

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City walkthrough now available!

Walkthrough Guide

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Virtual Villagers 3:
The Secret City