Unique features in the Forest Village

We’ve recently had quite a few questions regarding what makes us stand out from other strategy/simulation games, and what it is that makes us unique in general. So check out the text below, where we’ve discussed some of our exciting features.

First person view and control

In Forest Village, you have the ability to submerge yourself in your creation on a whole new level by possessing any villager and observing your village from a first person point of view. You can wander around aimlessly and enjoy the view, help to develop your village by performing tasks by yourself, or by issuing inspirational commands and buffing villagers around you.

That is an entirely new layer of immersion and gameplay!

In-depth Ecosystem

One of our biggest and most important difference is that Forest Village boasts a very carefully designed ecosystem, with many actions having an affect on it – for example, deforestation can lead to the disappearance of many important resources, such as medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms. Wandering too close the woods can scare the wildlife deeper into the forest, and further away from the hunters.

Real-time weather and changing seasons

The changing seasons have an impact on your town: hot droughts can impact your crops, whereas firewood and warm clothing will be required during the winter, and highly rainy days will force your farmers to loosen soil and encourage drainage. Some resources or also only available in certain seasons.

Crops are impacted by particular seasons: in a searing hot drought, the farmers will need to manually take water from nearby wells. On the other hand, if it is raining, they will need to loosen the soil in their fields to ensure drainage.

If you have no available farmers working on the fields, your crops will grow poorly and your people may go hungry. The various crops also have different requirements to keep in mind – some plants can grow in cooler temperatures, whereas some plants will require more warm weather. They may also require different amounts of time before being harvestable and will yield different types and varying amounts of food.

Full 3D landscape with terraforming

Fully three-dimensional landscape creates an engaging and exciting challenge for your settlement development. You have the ability to flatten terrain for your buildings, fill ravines and beautify the lands however you see fit.

You have the opportunity to construct buildings in the lowlands or on the tops of hills or slopes – remember to keep environmental factors in mind and build steps and pave roads to help villagers access harder to reach areas.

Housing System

Homes don’t just provide a place for your residents to stay, the different buildings can impact your people’s mood: a good home makes for a happier resident, and the higher the happiness, the more efficiently they’ll work. On top of the building type, other factors can have an impact on the inhabitants happiness, including the death of a member of the house.

The level of the house also affects the change of conceiving a child. Conception in a little shack or hostel is much lower than in a large comfortable house! The smaller homes require less resources, however, so there are many factors to keep in mind to find a good balance.

Disasters

During a storm, lightning can hit the ground, which could spell disaster! If lightning strikes a building, a fire could begin to spread – make sure to keep this in mind when deciding on construction: avoid overly elevated areas that could put you at a higher risk.

Mining and the extraction of resources can also have dire consequences if not careful, a basic mine could lead to destructive earthquakes. Earthquakes don’t just cause damage to buildings, they can also cut through large areas of trees. Strengthening the walls may require a high amount of resources, but it greatly lowers the chance of an earthquake.

The spread of disease is also something to be wary of. Sickness can be caused and accelerated by different factors:

• unvarying and monotonous food: Ensure your citizens are eating a vitamin-rich diet by covering all food groups and providing variety – meats, bread, berries and mushrooms – to keep them healthy and productive.
• harsh cold weather: keep your people out of the cold with firewood and warm clothing.
• contact with sick wild animals: you’ll need hunters to protect against the wild animals.

Hunters are also imperative for protecting your pastures from wolves, foxes and other beasts who will make a snack out of your livestock. You can also control the animal population by cutting down the surrounding forest where most animals prowl. Doing so, however, may end up in a lack of meat and hides, among other things. If the wild animals disappear completely, your residents will have no clothes on their back and no food in their bellies!

Cosmetic features and Miscellaneous

There are a number of animated buildings, such as the windmill, stone pit and ore mine. (Game modders will have all access to animations modding – for buildings, peasants, animals)

Forest Village also has a dynamic day and night cycle (currently only for aesthetic purposes), with the sun moving across the sky as time goes on, casting shadows on the ground.

You are able to think ahead and decide your plans. Oats grown in fields can be fed to your livestock, or milled and turned into flour and used to make pie, keeping your workers’ hunger satisfied.

Mod-friendly

90% of game AI is scriptable and can be completely redefined by modders – task and resource management, navigation, animations, sounds, etc can be completely changed through game scripts (game scripting language is LUA).