Virtual Villagers
Platform: Mac, Windows
Virtual Villagers is a downloadable real-time simulation game developed by Last Day of Work, the creators of Fish Tycoon and a number of other casual sim games. Take charge of a village of crash survivors and help them carve out a living on a jungle island. Teach them to farm, help them research scientific advancements and expand their population. It's a remarkably addictive game that's easy to play but impossible to stay away from!
You begin with a small handful of untrained villagers. Teach them to perform various tasks such as farming, building, researching, breeding and healing. An extremely helpful tutorial guides you through the game's basics, but everything operates on a simple drag-and-drop mechanic. Want to train a scientist? Drop a villager on the research table. Need to pick berries for food? Drag someone over the berry bush. Villagers may not take to a task immediately, so sometimes you'll have to be persistent.
Once you get everything started, it's time to leave your people alone. Virtual Villagers plays out in real-time so even when the game isn't running the villagers are working hard. Each time you play you'll see the fruits of their labor and can give them new directions or just check up on their progress. You can also adjust the speed to anticipate any gaps in your playing time or to get things moving a little more quickly. Virtual Villagers is just as much about waiting as it is playing.
The strategy in Virtual Villagers comes from how many villagers you assign to each task and how you choose to upgrade your abilities. You accumulate Tech points by getting people to do scientific research. Use these points to upgrade your population's building skills, farming abilities, etc. With each new level opens more possibilities of exploration and survival. The trick is managing which abilities get upgraded first and how you use those new skills to better your village.
Now available for your mobile device! Be sure to check out our review and walkthrough for:
Your main goal is to build a thriving population, but there are also various mysteries to solve along the way. Some are fairly obvious, such as the large boulder sitting on the north end of the village, but others you must seek to discover. In all there are 16 puzzles waiting to be unearthed. As you accumulate tech points and upgrade your abilities you can explore each new mystery and see what surprises await you.
Analysis: I've had a blast playing Virtual Villagers. It's a great blend of casual gaming and strategy, which, honestly, is a tough balance to strike. Throughout the day I wonder what my villagers are up to. Are they still farming like I taught them? Any new babies in town? It's always great to come home and check up on my new family. It's great to see the little surprises, such as random events or the occasional new discovery.
Each time I fired up Virtual Villagers I only played it for ten or fifteen minutes. Really, that's all that's required. It's no different than playing a game of Solitaire just to pass the time, only now I actually accomplish something in the long run. Enticing players to return is one of the toughest jobs a casual game designer has, and Virtual Villagers does it extremely well.
Play all the Virtual Villagers games:
If the game suffers from any drawbacks it's that sometimes there just isn't much to do, especially later in the game. In the beginning you must coddle your village and make sure everyone is working hard to keep the population alive. But as you gain villagers and start farming, it's safe to leave your people alone for days at a time. The occasional random event must be dealt with, but otherwise everything runs smoothly. Of course, if the game required your constant attention it wouldn't be casual, would it?
Virtual Villagers is a great simulation game that doesn't require a lot of time but gives you the satisfaction of an intricate game. You'll have a lot of fun managing your population, teaching them new abilities and exploring the island. You'll know how addicted you are when you wake up in the morning and your first thought is "I wonder how my village is doing?"
Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Cheers to Urizzato and Brieya for suggesting this one! =)
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
A Complete Walkthrough for all 16 puzzles
Puzzle 1 - Get a builder to clean the well. This is the village water supply. Get a villager with building skill, drag them to the well and let them fix it.
Puzzle 2 - Build a new hut. Population is maxed out at 7 until you build a new hut. A villager trained in building is required to build new huts.
Puzzle 3 - Clean up the beach debris. You need to clean up the debris so the villagers can fish. Drag a villager to the debris and it will start cleaning.
Puzzle 4 - Starting a village school. You need a master scientist. Drag them to the long building north of the reasearch table to start a school.
Puzzle 5 - Remove the blockage of the creek in the northwest corner of the village. Villagers need level 2 in construction to work on this. Drag a villager to the rock pile blocking the water flow from the creek. When the blockage is cleared, water will flow to the lagoon. This puzzle is the key to solving three more puzzles.
Puzzle 6 - You need to complete puzzle #5 first and have a villager with level 3 harvesting. Take a master farmer to the lagoon and they will start hunting fish. This may take awhile.
Puzzle 7 - Discover the graveyard (requires Level 2 of Spirituality). When a villagers dies, drag an adult villager to the northeast corner of the island. The villagers will provide a proper burial the pile of bones in village center. After this first burial, villagers will automatically have burial ceremonies for any deceased villager.
Puzzle 8 - Discover the medicinal properties of 4 plants. One plant is the cactus near the boulder, one plant is near the lagoon, two are on the east side of the island. Drag a villager to each plant until all four are mastered.
Puzzle 9 - You need to complete puzzle #5 first. Drag a villager to the field on the east side of the island (where the dead flowers are). They will water the field with water from the lagoon. Make sure to use a villager with building skill so that the watering continues until the flowers bloom.
Puzzle 10 - Solve puzzle #14 first. Wait for the butterflies to follow the golden child, then drag the golden child to the strange plant north of the berry bush where the butterflies will pollinate the plant.
Puzzle 11 - Restore the temple at the ruins (requires Level 3 of Construction). Drag a villager to the ruins in the southeast of the island and they will begin restoring the ruins.
Puzzle 12 - Requires puzzle #11 complete and Level 3 Spirituality. Drag a builder to the shiny rock on the west side of the village and they will chisel the rock to create an idol.
Puzzle 13 - the birth of the golden child (requires Level 3 of Fertility) . This requires puzzle #5, puzzle #12. Drag a nursing mom to the lagoon.
Puzzle 14 - Requires puzzle #13. Drag the golden child to the magic flower garden and wait for the butterflies.
Puzzle 15 - Buried treasure (requires Level 3 of Construction and Level 3 of Science). Search the sandy areas on the south part of the island between the food bin and the temple.
Puzzle 16 - Moving the boulder (requires the golden child). This one just happens on its own when the golden child is ready, you can't force it.
Posted by: Niicol3 | February 25, 2007 3:08 PM
Virtual Villagers - A New Home - Walkthrough
Screens:
Menu Screen
- Play, Start Over, Options, Help, Quit, and Change Player.
Play - Starts currently selected village.
Start Over - Deletes currently selected village and starts a new one.
Options - Audio controls, Full Screen control, Difficulty levels, Game Speed.
Help - Shows instruction pages.
Quit - Exits game.
Change Player - In upper right of Menu Screen is your name and an option to Change Player, you can have up to 5 Villages.
Difficulty Levels
- Easy, Normal, Hard
Easy - 7 Villagers, 225 Food, 99 Tech Points, 1930 Berries
Normal - 6 Villagers, 50 Food, 99 Tech Points, 1430 Berries
Hard - 5 Villagers, 50 Food, 99 Tech Points, 1430 Berries
Village Screen
- Population, Food, Tech Points, Puzzles, Map, Tech, Menu, Detail.
Population - How many people you have in your village.
Food - How much food is in the Food Bin.
Tech Points - How many tech points you have to spend.
Puzzles - 16 icons representing the puzzles to be solved.
Map - Overhead view of village.
Tech - 6 areas of research to spend tech points on.
Menu - Returns to Menu Screen.
Detail - Shows details about selected villager.
Detail Screen
- Age, Gender, Health, Skills, Likes and Dislikes.
You can change the villagers name and control what skill will show when that villager is selected on the Village Screen by checking the box next to the desired skill.
There are Farmers (Farming), Builders (Building), Scientists (Research), Doctors (Healing), and Parents (Breeding).
Each job has 3 levels, Trainee, Adept and Master.
Note: Children born with Trainee level skills are called Apprentices.
Tech Screen
- Farming, Construction, Medicine, Science, Fertility, Spirituality.
Level 2 Farming - 6,000 points - Allows Farmers to plant crops in the Field.
Level 2 Construction - 2,500 points - Allows Builders to clear pile of rocks from Lagoon.
Level 2 Medicine - 15,000 points - Allows Villagers to live longer.
Level 2 Science - 12,000 points - More Tech Points per experiment.
Level 2 Fertility - 11,000 points - Allows multiple births.
Level 2 Spirituality - 5,000 points - Allows villagers to establish burial grounds in the Clearing.
Level 3 Farming - 50,000 - Allows villagers to fish in the ocean.
Level 3 Construction - 80,000 - Allows restoration of Ruins.
Level 3 Medicine - 250,000 - Allows Villagers to live even longer.
Level 3 Science - 150,000 - Allows carving of Idol.
Level 3 Fertility - 250,000 - Allows creation of the Golden Child
Level 3 Spirituality - 80,000 - Allows restoration of Ruins.
Puzzles Screen
- Well, New Hut, Debris, School, Lagoon, Magic Fish, Graveyard, Healing Herbs, Garden, Fruitless Plant, Temple, Idol, Golden Child, Butterflies, Buried Treasure, Hidden Cave.
Well
- No requirement - Place Builder on well to clear it.
Healing Herbs
- No requirement - Place any villager on each herb to study until plant is understood.
New Hut
- No requirement - Place Builder on New Hut site until New Hut is built.
Clear Beach
- No requirement - Place Builder on debris on beach until beach is clean.
School
- Requires Master Scientist - Place Master Scientist on Double Hut to turn it into a School.
Lagoon
- Requires Level 2 Construction - Place Builder on pile of rocks at top of Lagoon to release the water.
Garden
- Requires Lagoon - Place any villager on Patch Of Strange Dead Flowers, they will water. Patch with Lagoon water until the Garden grows.
Magic Fish
- Requires Level 3 Farming, Lagoon, and a Master Farmer - Drop a Master Farmer into the Lagoon to catch Magic Fish of Fertility. Special Note: Magic fish is from Fish Tycoon.
Graveyard
- Requires Level 2 Spirituality and a dead villager - When skeleton of dead villager is on the ground, place any live villager in the Clearing to designate the Burial Grounds.
Temple
- Requires Level 3 Spirituality.
Idol
- Requires Level 3 Science.
Buried Treasure
- Requires Level 3 in all Tech.
Golden Child
- Requires Level 3 Fertility - Drop a female villager with a baby into the Lagoon.
Hidden Cave
- Requires Golden Child.
Butterflies
- Requires Golden Child.
Fruitless Plant
- Requires Golden Child.
Village Item Locations:
Lagoon - Teardrop shaped dark patch of dirt in Northwest corner of village, has pile of rocks at top with blue water behind them.
Berry Bush - Large green bush covered with 1930 red and yellow berries surrounded by large circle of grass in upper center of village.
Clearing - Rectangular light patch of dirt in Northeast corner of village
Well - Southeast of Berry Bush
Giant Rock - Southeast of Lagoon
Double Hut - Southeast of Giant Rock
Hut - East of Double Hut
Research Bench - South of Double Hut
Small Hut - Southeast of Research Bench
New Hut - Board leaning on stilts with rock next to it located between Hut and Double Hut
Food Bin - South of Hut
Field - West of Small Hut
Debris - On beach South of Field
Pile Of Strangely Straight Rocks - Southeast of Food Bin
Patch Of Strange Dead Flowers - East of Hut
Fruitless Plant - Orange plant Northwest of Berry Bush
Healing Herbs - 4
Green Strange Plant directly below Lagoon
Medical Cactus above and to the right of the Berry Bush, left of Clearing
Strange Lily at bottom right corner of Clearing
Rare Rose below Patch of Dead Flowers
Buried Treasure - Directly West of Pile of Strangely Straight Rocks and directly South of Food Bin
Walkthrough
Open Virtual Villagers Game.
Go to the Menu Screen.
Go to Options and set Game Speed to Paused, set Difficulty to Easy, then click Done.
Go to Start Over until you have 7 Villagers that are 4 women, 2 men, a child, and the Builder is a man.
Place the Builder on the Well.
Place the other man (Farmer) on the Berry Bush.
Place 3 women (Scientists) on the Research Bench.
Place the youngest woman (Doctor/Parent) on the Green Strange Plant.
Go to Menu.
Go to Options, set Game Speed to 2x Speed, click Done.
Click Play, the villagers will begin their tasks. They may fail a few times, begin doing laundry, or become curious about other village features, so you will have to replace them at their tasks when they walk away.
When any milestone is reached or a good event happens, all the villagers will go to celebrate, so when the Builder is done clearing the well all the villagers will leave their tasks and go to the well to celebrate, and you must replace them to their tasks.
Place the Farmer back on the Berry Bush.
Place the 3 Scientists back on the Research Bench.
Place the Builder on the New Hut site, you can not make a baby until the New Hut is complete.
When the Doctor finishes studying Green Strange Plant, place her on the Healing Cactus, Strange Lily, and Rare Rose until all the plants have been understood. Any order will work.
When all medical plants have been studied there will be another celebration and you will have to replace your workers to their tasks.
Place the Farmer back on the Berry Bush.
Place the Builder back on the New Hut.
Place all 3 women Scientists and the Doctor/Parent on the Research Bench.
The Scientists will twitch when the current portion of research is complete, and they will either walk away (failed research) or points will be added to your Tech Points. Either way, as soon as they twitch you can pick them up and place them on the Research Bench again to start their next experiment. This will add Tech Points at the fastest possible rate, and you should have enough points to buy the next level of Farming while still having around 1000 berries on the Berry Bush, assuming that your Farmer does not like Running.
Also, there is an audio cue which sounds like bamboo chimes when the Scientists begin research and complete research.
When your Scientists have gained 6000 Tech Points, go to Tech screen and purchase Level 2 Farming.
This allows your Farmer to plant the Field, (planting the Field also requires that the Well has been cleared) and he will stop foraging the Berry Bush, saving the berries in case of an unfortunate event such as a Typhoon which wipes out all of the food in the Food Bin.
Place the Farmer on the Field.
Keep the Scientists researching until you can buy the next level of Construction.
When the Builder has completed the New Hut, place him on the debris on the beach.
Once the New Hut is complete you will need to begin breeding in order to have a population to carry on when your original 7 villagers die. The villager that you drop on another villager is the one who receives the breeding points and becomes a breeder. A breeder initiates breeding with all members of the opposite sex.
If your breeder is a male, all 4 women will end up with babies and no research will continue until they are done caring for the babies, which takes around 2 hours, until the baby is 2 years old, and the male breeder will breed with all 4 women again.
A female breeder will initiate breeding with any man , and only she will have a baby, so you have much more control over breeding and gaining tech points with a female breeder.
A villager may not breed until they are 20 years old.
Choose the youngest woman (20 or older) to be your breeder. Drop her on a man. The man may run away a few times, just bring him back and keep dropping the woman on him until they kiss. Once they kiss, your population will increase if a baby has been made. If your population does not increase, pick up the woman and drop her on the man again until your population does increase. You do not have to wait for them to go indoors, if a baby is made it will show in the population count as soon as the kiss happens. Continually breeding her will give you a steady supply of villagers.
Note: When your breeder self initiates breeding it will cause her chosen mate to stop work and wait for her embrace.
When the Builder completes clearing the debris from the beach, and you have bought Level 2 Construction:
place him on the pile of rocks at the top of the Lagoon to clear it.
When the Lagoon is cleared:
place a villager on the Patch Of Strange Dead Flowers, the villager will water the Patch from the Lagoon and create the Garden.
When one of your Scientists reaches the title Master Scientist:
place her on the Double Hut to create the School. Once the School is established, children will be born with some skills.
When your first villager dies:
buy Level 2 Spirituality, then drop any adult villager in the Clearing to create the Graveyard, or Burial Ground.
When you have purchased Level 3 Farming:
place a Master Farmer in the Lagoon to catch the Magic Fish Of Fertility. Note: The Magic Fish is a Greenfin Spotanus, the same Magic Fish Of Fertility in Fish Tycoon ;)
When you have purchased Level 3 Spirituality:
place a Builder on the Strangely Straight Rocks to build the Temple.
When you have purchased Level 3 Science:
place a Builder on the Large Rock to create the Idol.
When you have purchased Level 3 in 6 Tech areas:
place a Builder on the beach directly South of the Food Bin and directly West of the Temple to uncover the Buried Treasure.
When you have purchased Level 3 Fertility:
place a mother with a baby in the Lagoon to create the Golden Child. The remaining Puzzles are dependent on the Golden Child.
Notes on the Golden Child:
The Golden Child never gets sick or dies.
You can not kill him, no matter how much you may want to…
He never ages, he never grows up, he never changes appearance from a toddler.
You can not force him to perform his tasks, he does them all on his own.
Shortly after birth, he will move the boulder and you can place a villager into the cave to see a teaser for the next chapter.
The Golden Child is said to create the Garden as well as move the Boulder, but by the time there is enough tech points to buy level 3 Fertility, my villagers have already watered the Garden into bloom, so I myself have not witnessed the Golden Child creating the Garden.
To date I have been unable to get him to do the Butterflies or the Strange Fruitless Plant, in fact, it seems that the entire game there is a flock of Butterflies on the screen, and as soon as the Golden Child appears, the butterflies vanish…..
The Golden Child also makes berries on the Berry Bush, restores the crops in the Field, and makes food in the Food Bin.
He also make parties which cause all villagers to leave work and join him in dancing.
And he can walk on water. Imagine that. ;)
Other Notes:
Occasionally you will see a Mushroom pop up, place a child on the mushroom and he will pick it up and take it to the Food Bin.
Brown Mushrooms are 8 food, Orange Mushrooms are 45 food.
Fish are 9 food, Crabs are 55 food.
Children can not swim.
Maximum number of villagers appears to be 90, although some screen shots seem to show over 300 villagers. If this is actually possible, I wish I knew how to do it.
Occasionally you will have a villager whose dislikes conflict with their job, like a builder who hates driftwood will take forever to clear the beach, and when you try to start him to the task he stands there and does nothing for a very long time. When this happens, I have found it to be more expedient to restart the village. Conversely, you will sometimes have a villager whose likes compliment their job, such as a Builder who likes Running, so can complete the New Hut in less time than usual.
Occasionally you will find items washed up on the beach. Among these there may be:
Brass Compass - Letting researchers have it improves skill somehow.
Black pearl - Sharing makes your villagers happy.
Badly weathered crate - Rusty tools, adds 1000tech points, makes some villagers ill
Crate with 1, 2, or 3 babies in it - Adds to Population.
Crate with juicy steaks - Adds 1500 food.
Crate of golden ripe bananas - Adds 1000 food
Crate with well preserved tools - Adds 1000 Tech Points.
Crate of rats - Causes injury and disease.
Crate of diapers…..
Vial of blue liquid - Causes illness or lowers skill.
Vial of red liquid - Alters appearance.
Vial of watery fizzy liquid - Lowers skill.
Other Events:
Isola Day Celebration - Dancing and feasts!
Big Wave - Puts debris on beach that must be cleared by builder.
Honeybees - Pollinate Berry Bush and make it thrive.
Humid weather molds food - Removing moldy pieces saves some food, makes some villagers sick.
Measles Epidemic - Makes children sick.
Monkey eating mushroom - Trying the mushroom allows adults to pick mushrooms?
Monkey hiding large cache of bananas - Adds 600 food.
Monkey ransacks research table - Lose 9000 tech points.
Monkey stealing food - Allowing it to steal food results in better healing.
Moth in cocoon - Helping moth kills it.
Plague of Locusts - Eats all your crops.
Ripe Red Berries - Eating them kills villager instantly. Oops…
Shipwreck - Blocks beach access, again, and debris must be cleared from beach by a Builder, again.
Stranded whale - Harvesting the whale adds 1000 food.
South Wind - Withers berries, scorches crops and damages food in Food Bin.
Troubled Child - Allowing child to try work increases child's skill
Typhoon - Destroys all food in the Food Bin.
Authors Note:
This walkthrough was created by restarting my game each time I realized I had made a mistake, or had a question which could only be answered by restarting the game and following specific parameters.
I am not certain if trying the mushroom allows your adult villagers to pick the mushrooms, as I didn't think of trying it until after I had deleted that game, but the text for it strongly suggested that this was the case. If it happens to me again I will be sure to update the walkthrough.
[Edit: Thanks Cathy for the extensive walkthrough! Spoiler tags have been added to make it take up a bit less space :) -Harukio]
Posted by: Cathy | July 22, 2007 3:17 PM
Virtual Villagers: Origins (iOS) If you're looking for a walkthrough for the mobile version of Virtual Villagers, visit our Virtual Villagers: Origins Walkthrough and review page.
Posted by: Jay
|
April 21, 2012 10:13 PM