Good idea.

Yes, kids in the school learning would be nice.

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum but not to the villagers. Ok I'm ancient, and I got my drivers lisence on the back of a T-Rex, so can fully relate to these lil guys. Having said that, and I know I risk a royal coconut kicking for this, but having 8 of my own kids think Moms should really be given extra points for having the babies in the first place. Afterall, if our villager ladies decided to be career peeps instead, what would happen to our village? Anyway, awesome awesome awesome games, and like the rest of you, look forward to vv200000++++

Perhaps the builders could also train as hunters? A tropical island has to have some type of wildlife that is moderately edible with this new concept of herbs and stews. It is true that once everything is built they are a lost child in their profession, what if they had another profession to train for that could continue long after the construction. I like the idea of hurricanes, floods, some sort of disaster to wipe out/ruin/damage existing buildings so that the builders are once again earning their coconuts to pay their union dues. Also agree that nursing moms can do plenty to occupy/teach the children during their nursing days. And would be really good if once taught, the children could pick mushrooms on their own. It gets really hectic with a full population island to keep tracking down them wandering kids to grab a mushroom before it poofs.

Wow I have been reading through all these pages of ideas and they are great! I hope your designers are reading.
The idea about the eggs is great. It makes sense if you were marooned on this island and there were any sort of egg-laying birds about, that the villagers would be gathering eggs. Realistically you are going to look for any sort of food you can find and make use of it. Hunting is a good idea.
I agree that the children should have more to do. Taking naps, going to school, etc. In the first version of Virtual Villagers we had a school with the drum to summon the children. But there was no teacher and they did not go inside. I had them marching plenty, but I soon got tired of that. LOL
They need a hut for a school, and a teacher. Being a teacher would be a skill for some of the villagers. The children need to go inside for intervals as long as possible. When the village gets large they run around and get in everyone's way. As children will if let run wild. LOL
A nice period of rain would be more realistic than always sunny. Most tropical climates have storms occasionally. This has been mentioned and I agree. I mentioned in an earlier post that it would be nice for the villagers to show emotions. Especially love and affection. Other than that proverbial kiss which produces a baby. Most organized villagers have parties and gatherings, special ceremonies. You have done well so far with the idea of this. The villagers do dance and praise. And show reverance with flowers as offerings. It would be nice for them to have periodic spiritual gatherings. They need a shaman.
One person who has heightened spiritual powers.
When one of my villagers dies I coax all of the villagers to go and honor the dead. It takes awhile especially if the village is large. When we die we have a funeral. There should be funeral services programmed in to the Virtual Village. They alreay bury the dead but it is not quite the same. The nursing mothers will not gather flowers or even go to the burial ground unless I coax them. Then they won't stay or pick up flowers.
The women should be able to make pottery and sew cloth. We have the clothes hut which is great. It's one way of adding variety to the village. Being able to change thier clothes. I thoroughly enjoy this.
Another suggestion is that what I read in an earlier post.
There should be day and night. When we decide to leave the game if it's on any sort of time clock, it would be nice to be able to put our villagers to bed in the huts. They never sleep. I am sure they could create a stew to keep them going 24 hours a day. LOL But in the real world they would soon be dead from exhaustion. So, we could put them to bed and when we come back to the game they may have risen and are back doing thier chores. LOL.
And the following questions. Are they ever going to find a way off the Island? Can they build a boat? Can they do even more exploring to other parts of the Island. We still have East and North.
I want to mention that the things you have added this time are great. It's much better than the first version. Thanks.

About the fathers being parents, maybe one two villagers have a kid, they could be sorta linked in their menu like the kids are to their parents now. Then you could drop the mother on the father to "Give the baby to dad". The mother would still not be able to breed again in those two years though. (She needs some rest). It could apply to the father too, but sometimes you end up needing one male to father the whole village to be able to get by, so it might not work out as well.

I love the 'special' fish in VV, from fish tycoon. Wonder which one it will be next time?

Like the idea of rain. Like you others I would like to be able to continue playing 'god' after all puzzles are finished. More Island events would give this opportunity. What about a level 4 tech points, intended to make the game last longer. Would like to see more ceremonies, not necessarlly marriages. Rain dances, fetility dances, and the like, with all the villages participating. Definatly DON'T want to be able to choose sex of babies. Like the idea of hunters, just like the fishing (we don't actually see the fish being caught) villages could go off into a groupe of trees and return with the catch. Could the elders sometimes hold a trible meeting, sit around the fire and discuss (virtually) the islands problems. When we click on them the message could be "attending meeting" or a like expression.

Still thinking!

I'd like to see an option for farmers to hunt

They could be dropped on a special hut and have a pop up asking if you are SURE you want to send them hunting (much like how the sewing hut prompts a pop up which asks first). A "fee" of either tech points of food should be taken. (Maybe the pop up box could have the options "Send hunter with 100 food to aide survival" "Give hunter 1500 tech points to aide in the hunt" "Do not send villagers hunting". The choioce you choose to pay with could even have an effect on the outcome of the trip. The hunting trip should last a total of 1/2 a vv year (30 minutes on 2X). If you send the villagers, a variety of events could occur. . .

1)villager never returns (15%)
2)villager returns within a few minutes claming the paths were blocked and they could not go hunting (25%)
3)villager returns after full time with meager food allowance -say 100 (50%)
4)villager returns with a huge amount of food - say 5,000 (10%)

I think this would definately give players a new strategy to develop, and hunting would still be a risky venture that could either go very very wrong or pay off big time

other options could be that no food is brought back but a new rock is discovered and give tech points to village or that when the hunter gets back he brings a disease that sweeps the village leaving them weakened

Hunters could return with a "lost" villager they have found...this villager could be good in that he/she brings help/technology/master skill in something to help the village.....or could turn out to be really bad...a shawman that creates problems...storms...drought...famine..disease to the village?
I love the idea of them possibly not returning at all...or returning with little or tons of extra food.
These lil guys must have the ability to build boats....they built one to get off the first island that was being destroyed...could they not build small type crafts that would not rescue them, but perhaps open areas surrounding their island to fish for more 'special' fish, or tropical creatures?
Could it not be up to the Elder(s) to decide if a boat/hunter should be sent out? They would be the ones to make that decision?
Could the fresh water well be put back...only that its the childrens chore to retrieve fresh water each day? Someone mentioned wild birds or chickens...the children could gather the eggs? We have a sewing hut for clothes, what about a storage to keep the various food stuffs seperated, to create different stews with your own option of food to put in it...with different effects depending on the combinations put in? Maybe thats getting a lil too complicated? They could uncover more relics of days gone by (masks..arrow heads...spears...pottery..ect that could either aid in their daily living and skill building or be cursed?

with all of those ideas, hunting would be more like an event you choose to have, thus solving two hungers-the want of huntnig, and the want for more events