If nothing else the nursing mothers can forage. And if the kids can pick mushrooms they can forage. I grew up in the woods and it's a lot safer to have kids eating fruit from a tree than having them eat unknown mushrooms. Maybe the kids can only forage when there is a nursing mother nearby. That keeps some kind of restriction on them. I'd prefer seeing the same restriction when they are picking mushrooms. That way nursing mothers have more realistic roles.

I agree. Parenting SHOULD count for more. But I would add that while the kids are being parented they could also gain experience somehow that relates to a future profession. The children have a preferred profession that the user can't change like you can with the adults. Then the child reaches 14 years with some direction in life. Then if the user needs to make a builder become a researcher or a farmer become a healer that's when you can do it, but not before. The child gains experience in something AND the mother could gain experience in that same skill. Since she is probably doing the teaching! So having children would have more of a positive increase for the mother.

I'd like to see more realism.

day and night cycles
. the villagers sleep at night
. this only works if the builders build enough huts

season cycles, and related, growing seasons
. must grow enough food to support population during winter
. must subsist on stored food and other sources when can't farm
related
. a skill for caring for and preparing stored food
. not sure what you would call this
. builders need to build more storage before food starts going bad

weather
. every few days everyone has to quit what they are doing and take shelter in the huts from the weather
. builders must build enough huts for these times or some of the population dies from exposure
. keeps you from growing your population too fast
. crops and berries grow faster after a rain so everyone should be put on food gathering for a day or two

I do think that the children need to do something else rather than running around and getting in the way at times.
I'm not saying they should work.
But I do think that maybe they should not be running around at certain times of the day,they should take a nap be schooled inside a school.
I especially think they shouldn't automatically pickup anything. What would be the sense of us even turning the game on for.Isn't the object of the game to find the thing's for yourself.
That means to stay alert and keep an eye out for those thing's.
TO PLAY THE GAME.
I have maybe 500 or more mushrooms, I worked for them. And I worked for every collectable I have.
But what I do think is that a mother should get points while nursing.
Because the whole time they are nursing they can't become masters at anything.
And sometimes the males constantly keep certain woman nursing. Then they get way to old to be able to master anything. And all they contribute to is adding the population.
I have a lot of ideas for the new game.
But if we tell you everything we want in it. Then it will no longer be virtual villagers, because we will change it to be like a modern day city and what fun would that be?

I think that children shouldn't go hunting for mushrooms or collectibles, but they should be able to pick them up on their own if they walk right over them.

How about a small clock that measures the time from when they first arrive at that part of the island? Then when we complete puzzles and such we could measure how long we can sustain our little tribes.
And it would probably be too hard to do, but it would be great if we didn't have to go off the main screen to get details about our little people.Maybe a sidebar or something?

I have to say that, once a child has been dropped on their tenth mushroom, you'd think they'd get the idea and pick them up on their own. The same with items, for that matter. Several times a child has been practically standing on a mushroom or item that has appeared near them, so it seems like they'd have to see the darn thing!
I also agree about the mothers. I like to have at least two children for when mushrooms and items are coming close together, but I hate to constantly be short a worker because she's caring for her child.
It also seems to me that, most of the time, the villagers act like the other villagers don't exsist. Might be nice to have, say, two scientists compare notes as they worked. Some kind of interaction would at least make sense.

Mistie Ann

To clarify my last post, I meant that kids would automatically pick up what appeared near them, not all things.
Also, it occured to me that having a common, uncommon and rare mushroom could be good. There's two kinds now, so maybe having an occasional mushroom worth, say 70 food could REALLY help in a pinch.

Mistie Ann

If there was away to pinpiont a person you wanted to select. Maybe by going into details and clicking on that person you could find him/her easier

and also somthing else to do with the tech points when you have completed all the technologies