Babies & Children

Families are becoming a much more visible part of village life. Villagers can now become pregnant, have babies, and watch those babies grow into children on their way to adulthood.

A New Arrival

When a baby is born, they begin life in a cradle at home. Parents can tend to them there, making a newborn feel like part of the household rather than a relationship value tucked away in the background.

Babies have their own needs and interactions. They can be fed and rocked, and their parents have to make time to care for them as part of everyday village life.

The mother of the family will stay home during the baby period to care for the newborn. This means she is unavailable for work tasks outside the home during this time.

If the mother unfortunately passes away or is otherwise unable to care for the newborn, other available mothers can step in to provide wet nursing. If there are no other mothers, then a father, or another villager will try to feed the baby animal milk. If there is no one available to care for the baby, it may unfortunately not survive.

Growing Up

After the baby stage, villagers grow into children. They are not simply scaled-down adults: children have their own sprites, clothes, hairstyles, and child-sized animations and poses.

Children inherit visual traits from their parents and can inherit their parents' stats too. This can make for an interesting family dynamic: perhaps a family of strong children is great at forestry, while an intelligent family excels at crafting and learning. There is still a chance for a child with randomised stats to be the odd one out in the family, doing their own thing!

Children continue ageing toward adulthood, making generations much more tangible. Over time, a village should show the story of the families who built it, cared for one another, and grew up there. Once they become adults, they can take up a role and get to work.

I intend to develop the child life stage further in the future, such as by adding an in-depth schooling system and child-specific activities and interactions within the village, like climbing trees and playing with other kids. For now, they can grow from babies to children, talk, eat, sleep, and hang out within the village until they become adults. This is a good stopping point for now, as they are a functional part of village life and importantly support the growth of your village population.