Poll of the Day > Are there any games you guys can think of that are in between Stardew Valley and

(+) Yeah! (+)

a full on city builder? Want something where I can build up a settlement/village, but don't want to just build up a whole city where you just wait and watch it grow. Something a step further in scope than Stardew goes basically. I'd like to be part of the world and see my settlement from a players point of view, not just an on-looker. Minecraft is about the closest thing I can think of, but there'd only be the civilization that I built and of course no other places to visit and no neat npcs to come live in my place.

Dwarf Fortress

Arv was looking for a builder game for his kid that isnt minecraft

Sim Ant

uhhh

probably spore

we don't really have that kind of dynamic ai on that kind of scale to do something like that very well.

which is why i can't wait for like, current ai to be inserted into games eventually, like i can see the future and i like the future i can see for the kind of game i'm envisioning

Cities Skylines

Maybe Dragon Quest Builders 2.

Huge stretch, but Scroll of Taiwu treats the player as essentially another NPC (except you've also got mayor privileges) and the NPCs can use town functions the same as you can, plus they all interact with each other a ton. It's not 3D and there's a lot more focus on interpersonal relationships/actions than city interactions though.

The Dark Cloud games are primarily dungeon crawlers but you do build up a somewhat customizable hub city with stuff you've found over time, and they usually unlock functions. I didn't like the gameplay that much though.

Necesse might work? It's reminiscent of Rimworld in how NPC automation is handled, but it's primarily a combat RPG. You can do everything the NPCs can be set to do, though.

JoeDangIt posted...

Maybe Dragon Quest Builders 2.

definitely fits arv's request probably

Lokarin posted...

Dwarf Fortress

Graphics are kind of janky, but it does look fun, will keep it in mind.
funkyfritter posted...

Sim Ant

Now that's an ancient suggestion.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

probably spore

Doesn't seem quite right, but I never have played it.

Metalsonic66 posted...

Cities Skylines

Definitely not. While a seemingly good game, it's too large in scope for what I want.

JoeDangIt posted...

Maybe Dragon Quest Builders 2.

Definitely a fun game. I had a lot more fun with it than I was expecting to and I hope they end up making a third one eventually.

agesboy posted...

Huge stretch, but Scroll of Taiwu treats the player as essentially another NPC (except you've also got mayor privileges) and the NPCs can use town functions the same as you can, plus they all interact with each other a ton. It's not 3D and there's a lot more focus on interpersonal relationships/actions than city interactions though.

The Dark Cloud games are primarily dungeon crawlers but you do build up a somewhat customizable hub city with stuff you've found over time, and they usually unlock functions. I didn't like the gameplay that much though.

Necesse might work? It's reminiscent of Rimworld in how NPC automation is handled, but it's primarily a combat RPG. You can do everything the NPCs can be set to do, though.

Scroll of Taiwu does seem pretty interesting, but you're right, it's not quite what I'm looking for. I've got no way to play Dark Cloud games and don't feel like emulating anything atm. Threw Necesse on my steam wishlist, seems like it's pretty close to what I want.

You also mentioned Rimworld, which I've heard nothing but good things about. How does that stack up to what I'm asking for?

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

You have little direct control in Rimworld (can conscript soldiers, but they're still subject to their own AI to an extent). No player character, just villagers. It's sort of like Dwarf Fortress in that you schedule things to be built, zones to used as storage spaces, job priorities for your villagers, etc. It's got a heavy focus on survival with random events, attacks, and dealing with villagers' moods. Once you've got things set up you can mostly speed the game up and coast till something happens, but in general you're probably gonna constantly be tweaking or improving things.

If you want your player character to interact with the world, Rimworld ain't it, but it is very rewarding to design a good base that the AI can efficiently fulfil their needs in

Good information, thanks.

What about Forager?

Lokarin posted...

What about Forager?

Straight to the wishlist. Seems kind of adorable.

I could help more, but I'm rather mindless and don't fully understand your OP

Littlewood?

So, in Stardew and the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games I've played, you're only really able to build up your own section of the game and you start with something that's already somewhat established. The games are fun, but their scope and world size feel rather limited.

It would be great to be able to build a whole village from scratch, have npcs move there, and have more of the world to explore an interact with, while having other towns/villages/cities you can go to.

I may be asking for something that doesn't exist, so it's ok, some neat looking games have been recommended already.

Maybe Fallout 4 Sim City mod series?

Honestly that's a genre I've been looking for myself. I like being one cog in the machine but still having a customizable world you can impact, filled with NPCs that can shape the world as you can. You can find a lot of adjacent stuff that scratches part of the itch, but it always feels like the world is either too unmeaningful or too scripted

agesboy posted...

Honestly that's a genre I've been looking for myself. I like being one cog in the machine but still having a customizable world you can impact, filled with NPCs that can shape the world as you can. You can find a lot of adjacent stuff that scratches part of the itch, but it always feels like the world is either too unmeaningful or too scripted

That sounds like Crusader Kings

agesboy posted...

Honestly that's a genre I've been looking for myself. I like being one cog in the machine but still having a customizable world you can impact, filled with NPCs that can shape the world as you can. You can find a lot of adjacent stuff that scratches part of the itch, but it always feels like the world is either too unmeaningful or too scripted

If someone turned Isekai Nonbiri Nouka into a game, that'd be perfect.

Lokarin posted...

That sounds like Crusader Kings

CK is close, but it's not 3D and the building paths are rather generic, so it's kinda hard to develop an attachment to any provinces except for your capitol's duchy. Almost mentioned it (I've played metric shittons of CK2, CK3, EU4, V2, and HoI4) but it's a fairly niche interest and not what dragon wants probably

(if these games do interest you somehow tho dragon, HoI4 for the military combat or CK2 for the political shit)

dragon504 posted...

If someone turned Isekai Nonbiri Nouka into a game, that'd be perfect.

god i wish

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/8/5/AADnJsAAEmL5.jpg

Littlewood pretty much perfectly fits the broad description of what you're looking for, but the core mechanics are quite simplistic compared to Stardew and the like and there isn't a ton of depth to the game. Still, it's probably worth looking at.

REtroGeekery posted...

Littlewood?

What does my boner have to do with this?

Harvest Moon?