| Virtual Villagers |
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''Virtual Villagers'' is a village simulator from independent game publisher Last Day Of Work released as Shareware for Windows and Mac OS X . GAMEPLAY Players must guide the villagers through island life, improving conditions and technology, developing sustainable farming techniques and increasing the villagers' population.3 The game progresses in Real Time , even when the game is not running, the completion of some tasks can take hours or days. The game calculates the result of the simulation during the intervening time since the last time the player played. Villagers can die due to lack of food or neglect. Once there are no more living villagers, the game is over.4 The villagers are not under direct control by the player and undertake tasks themselves. Individual villagers can be dragged and dropped by the player, the villager then attempts to interact with the object or location where they have been placed. These tasks include Foraging , research, breeding to produce children and others. If the villager is unsuccessful, he or she will wander off, however if the villager is encouraged to successfully complete a task a few times, they will continue to perform that task without guidance from the player.5 Research generates tech points which are used to upgrade the technology level of the villagers in six areas such as fertility, farming and medicine. Advancements allow villagers to complete certain puzzles, increases their chances of survival and allows different actions to be performed. For example, an advancement in farming gives villagers the ability to fish to gain more food, advancements in science improve the rate at which researching villagers generate tech points.6 Puzzles play a major part in the ''Virtual Villagers'' series, both episodes contain sixteen different puzzles for players to complete.7 The first puzzle from ''A New Home'' is solved by the player during the Tutorial , it clears the island's well so the villagers have access to fresh water. Although the first puzzle involves only one step, moving a villager to the well, later puzzles are more complex and have different criteria to be satisfied before the puzzle becomes available. CHAPTERS The game is split into chapters which are released separately and must be purchased individually. Two chapters have been released, with a third episode currently in development.8 Each chapter advances the storyline and provides new puzzles, activities and events. Chapter 1: A New Home A volcanic eruption forces villagers from their homeland into the sea. The few survivors eventually come ashore the island Isola, where they must begin rebuilding their community. Chapter 2: The Lost Children After living on the island for several years, two villagers ventured into a mysterious unexplored cave. They slip on some rocks into an underground river and are swept down a waterfall onto the west side of the island, where they encounter the island's native population. All of the native adults are missing, however, leaving the two teenage villagers to tend to the children as best they can. RECEPTION ''Virtual Villagers: A New Home'' has received a number of awards, including a Zeeby Award for Best Simulation game of 2006 and the Best Sim Game of 2006 Award from website Game Tunnel.910 The game received two "Highly Commended" awards from the 2006 GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards, in the Best Casual Game category and the ATi Crossfire People's Choice Award category.11 REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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