Forge a medieval community with intelligent AI villagers. Gather resources and transform the village into a town, or simply listen to captivating stories from various simulated and evolving lives. All in a beautiful, relaxing, and immersive fantasy world.
All Reviews:
Positive (22) - 95% of the 22 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Sep 14, 2023
Developer:
Publisher:

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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“As well as Early Access being a good opportunity to gather and incorporate feedback, it's also a great chance to provide extra revenue to hire a professional artist. At the moment, the team is comprised of a developer handling the art and programming, while there is a composer for the music. Whilst not required to finish the game, having extra resources to hire an additional person for the art would drastically help improve the visual quality and tremendously increase the amount of content which would be possible to include in the final version of the game.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“The game will be in Early Access for 1-2 years as the content and initial roadmap will be fully built out. However, the plan is to continue adding new features, and content for many years after that!”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“For the V1.0 release version, the biggest aim is to expand on the content for the game. The goal would be to especially focus on increasing the number of buildings, items, and related actions available to you and your villagers. Since the core of the game is centered around the AI, we would also like to continue expanding on additional and deeper functionality surrounding the villagers. Furthermore, during Early Access we'd really like to explore how merchants & markets would work, as well as the world-building side of things.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“- ~600 different dialogue phrases where (for most of these) each is dynamic and specific to the experiences and knowledge of the villager and your world state
- 147 different items
- 21 different buildings including a unique modular house building system with thousands of variations
- 3 biomes
- Procedurally-generated playable map
- AI: experiences, likes / dislikes, personalities, quests, stories, changes, villagers talking to each other, friendships, pleasure-based emotions, goals, family history, trading”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Throughout the Early Access period, the game will be discounted until it reaches its complete set of features and content, then it will increase to the full price.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The feedback from play-testers and on social media posts has already hugely benefited the game in many places and has helped raise the quality of features significantly. The best place for this feedback has been in the Discord. There's also an opportunity to help shape the game by voting on any feature in the roadmap and through occasional polls which deep dive into a choice between a handful of features to decide what comes next.”
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About This Game

Heard of the Story? is a cosy medieval city-building simulation game with self-aware AI villagers who think, reason, and tell their own unique tales.

The game is about forging your own medieval town, community, and relationships with procedural characters that really feel alive, self-aware, and grounded in your world. Embark on an adventure with them to transform a few sticks and pebbles into a beautiful prospering town from the ground up. Alternatively, simple sit back and watch as your townsfolk discover their passions, spread rumours, or divulge captivating stories with you and between each other.

Join the Discord to ask any questions, vote on features, and keep up-to-date!

Features

  • Build up a small cottagecore village or a bustling town. Cooperate with the villagers in your town to gather resources, construct new buildings, fields, and other utilities. With more houses and a prospering village, your town’s reputation will grow and new villagers will be eager to immigrate and join.

  • Watch as villagers create a new unique life in your town. Filled with needs, personality, thoughts, and knowledge, each villager will go on to develop a unique lifestyle of their own. Each interaction they have with the world forms an experience which will shape their personality and expectations. Perhaps they'll discover they are really interested in crafting, or perhaps they'll be lazy and lay around watching the clouds all day. Ultimately, these experiences will allow them to change and evolve. As the village fills with more and more villagers, watch the orchestra of life play.

  • Explore to gather resources. Beyond the village lay forests, fields, and mountains - each with their own fruit and treasure. Explore the landscape to gather and discover a source of profit for a town, or to find a colourful place to frolic amidst long grass and arrays of countless flowers.

  • Form friendships by helping villagers through quests based on real simulated desires. Villagers are driven by various emotions, and of course, what they know. Sometimes they'll struggle or won't know how to get there. Build up a relationship by helping them. They'll then tell you stories and perhaps help you when you need it.

  • Craft your way up to an expert, perhaps a blacksmith? Discover new item recipes through sparks of creative genius, or leverage the wisdom of your peers to learn how to craft even the most complex of tools or toys. Specialise into a role and provide your village with crucial items.

  • Talk to villagers to learn the latest gossip, problems, or about their dreams. They'll give you useful info… sometimes. They might also ask you why Henry is a really awful person. Small talk about relationships, past events, goals, skills, and various opinions. Tell them what you think about their ideas and influence their lives.

  • Witness a civilisation emerge. As villagers also talk to one another, they pass on information and cooperate. Together, villagers will form an emergent interconnected and functioning medieval society.

  • Discover a living and breathing medieval world filled with its own generated history and map. Each villager has their own family history, perhaps you’ll find their sibling joining you as you expand the town. World history is generated, each with its own unique regions and towns.

  • Keep warm with a fireplace and listen to endless uniquely authentic stories. As the villagers go about their day, they'll encounter new experiences and conflict. Some of these will have deep impacts on their lives - they'll tell you how and why. Perhaps an accident while chopping wood, a danger lurking in the forest, a cooking disaster or miracle. Or will they tell a story about you?

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10
    • Processor: Intel Core i5 or equivalent
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

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