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 the job site fills up in front of you as they work. Every day asks for half as much work again, so the crowd has to grow. Between days you welcome one newcomer and can spend thanks on village improvements. Children get stronger the bigger their gang, neighbours are steady experts in one trade, grannies hardly work but bake pies, and cats do nothing except make everyone happier. Grannies serve their pies automatically, so every decision happens at the meeting: pick newcomers and improvements that suit your crowd, and try to finish the whole year with hearts to spare. Each year uses a fresh mix of jobs, newcomers and improvements.

• Twelve 20-second village jobs across four seasons, with the job site visibly filling as your crowd works.
• Six kinds of villager with different strengths: gangs of children, skilled neighbours, teenagers, pie-baking grannies, story-telling grandpas, cats and a sheepdog.
• Thirteen village improvements that change how your crowd works, so children, specialist and cat-and-pie villages each play differently.
• No tapping during the day: the crowd works on its own and grannies serve pies automatically, so every choice is who to welcome and what to build.
• A fresh mix of jobs, newcomers and improvements every year, with your best score kept on this device.

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 whole crowd works automatically; the next target is half as big again.
3. Grannies bake pies by themselves: every 7 seconds with one granny, faster with more. Each pie refreshes tired villagers and gives five seconds of 40% extra work.
4. Finished jobs earn thanks. Missing a job before dusk costs one of your three hearts.
5. At each village meeting, choose one newcomer, then spend thanks on improvements if you like. Finish all twelve days to complete the year.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: tap the newcomer and improvement cards at each meeting. Days play out on their own.
• Keyboard: 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.

Tips worth knowing

• Children are weak alone but each extra child, and each sheepdog, makes every child stronger. A big gang grows fast.
• The meeting shows the next job. A neighbour whose trade matches does double work, and gains experience each time they finish their kind of job.
• Two grannies keep pie power running almost all day; more than that mainly adds energy. Pair grannies with improvements such as Big oven or Busy hands.
• 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 1 to 4 choose a newcomer at a meeting.
• Job progress, time left, hearts, work rate and cheer are shown as text as well as in the scene.
• Reduced motion stops the bobbing crowd and the pie steam. Days still run on a 20-second timer.
• Sound is optional and never needed to play.