Dev Diary #10: Villager Life Spans

Grow up! No, not you, the villagers of Cataria. Growing up to us happens to everyone every second of the day. It also happens to the villagers in Ages of Cataria! At different stages of our life, we contribute differently to society and have different worldly experiences. We are working to capture this in our villager aging system.

Villager ages will occur in four stages: Infant, Youth, Adult, and Elder. Each stage defines a villager's life differently and has unique milestones.  A villager's life will average around 12 real-world days. 

Infant Stage

During the Infant Stage, villagers will contribute nothing to the village besides being cute.

During the Newborn Milestone, the villager will appear swaddled and carried around on one of their parent’s backs.

Once they hit the Toddler Milestone, a full model will walk around in their home area and won't need constant supervision. 

Young Stage

In this stage, villagers will start contributing more or preparing to contribute through education.

The Child Milestone will go around town and is allowed to enter school now and start to educate themselves in a certain skill to boost for adulthood. 

At the Teenager Milestone can start to work at the Dock, Farm, Herbalist, and Barn but only half the amount of time.

Adult Stage

At this stage, villagers can contribute full-time to production and construction around town. They will also start showing their age towards the end of the milestone.
Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult help the player know what stage of adult life the villager is in. This whole stage will take up the bulk of a villager's life and where they will start forming romantic relationships and families.

Elder Stage

Entering the Elder Milestone, the villager will start to show their age, and it's a heads up that the villager will soon pass away. 

The final Milestone is becoming a village Senior. After a few days, the villager will pass away and enter your town’s Spirit Tree. 

Afterlife

It’s tragic losing a villager, but village life will move forward because your village has its own needs that won’t wait. However, your villager who passed will continue to support the village by contributing their soul power to the Spirit Tree, unlocking new buildings and upgrades as the Spirit Tree grows. They will also, at times, come back to boost your villager’s moods.

What would you like to see from villagers' life stages?