It Takes a Village

What you do

A cozy crowd builder in twelve short days. Each day your whole village works one job, from picking the early peas to lighting the winter lantern walk, and you watch it happen: walls rise, baskets fill, bunting goes up and the sky turns to dusk as time runs out. Days run on their own, apart from little village moments like a loose goat, a rain shower or a peddler with a good tool. The day waits while you choose. Children get stronger the bigger their gang, neighbors are experts in one trade, grannies bake pies and cats just cheer everyone up. Finished buildings stay in the village all year with a small bonus each, and every year has a number you can retry.

• Eight buildings to raise, from a well to a village hall.
• Fourteen village moments, six kinds of villager and thirteen improvements.

How to play

1. Press Start the year. Your village begins with three children, a farmer and a cat.
2. Each day, fill the job bar before dusk. The crowd works on its own. The sun clock beside the job counts the seconds to dusk, and the pale band on the job bar shows where today's work will reach by then: green means you will make it, striped amber means you are falling short.
3. When a village moment card appears, the day waits for you. Each answer lists what it does, one line per effect: green lines help, rose lines cost you. Tap the answer you want.
4. Finished jobs earn thanks. Missing a job before dusk costs one of your three hearts.
5. At each village meeting, pick tomorrow's job (steady or stretch), welcome one newcomer, then spend thanks on improvements if you like. Finish all twelve days to complete the year.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: tap a moment answer during the day, and the job, newcomer and improvement cards at each meeting.
• Keyboard: 1 and 2 (or the left and right arrow keys) answer a village moment. In a meeting, 1 to 4 choose a newcomer. Tab and Enter or Space work on every button.
• Use the toolbar for pause, help, restart, optional sound and fullscreen. Pausing stops everything, and a moment card stays open until you answer it.

Tips worth knowing

• Read a moment before you answer. Sheltering from rain costs a little work now but saves your crowd's energy; pushing on is better when the job is nearly done.
• Stretch jobs are worth it when your village has time to spare. A building helps every day after, but a missed stretch still costs a heart.
• Children are weak alone but each extra child, and each sheepdog, makes every child stronger. A big gang grows fast.
• Pick jobs that match your neighbors. A neighbor whose trade matches does double work and gains experience each time.
• Thanks are limited. Improvements that fit your crowd are worth far more than a little of everything.

Accessibility

• All actions use native buttons at least 44 pixels high, reachable with Tab and Enter or Space. Number keys answer moments and choose newcomers.
• Job progress, time left, hearts, work rate and cheer are shown as text as well as in the scene, and each moment answer says what it does.
• Moments happen at most twice a day, and the day waits while one is open, so there is no time limit on reading or answering them. Every moment has a free answer.
• Reduced motion stops the crowd animation, particles and weather movement. Days still run on a 20-second timer.
• Sound is optional and never needed to play.

Guides and roundups

• It Takes a Village Guide: Villagers and Builds