Bukenstrand is being built as a true town simulation, like a city-builder such as Emperor, with two big differences: every NPC is a real person who decides their own day, and you live among them instead of ruling from above. The town keeps going when you log off, nothing resets just for you, news travels by word of mouth, and promises are remembered. This is the design we're building now, not a finished feature.
It's early on the cobbled road through Bukenstrand. Smoke is already rising from the Baker's Household, where Elisabet has her first loaves in the oven. Down at the harbour, Nils is hauling crates off the supply ship, one load at a time, because nothing counts in the town's stores until it's actually unloaded. Up in the woods, Martha is gathering herbs for her salves.
Nobody here is waiting for you to log in. None of this was scripted, and none of it stops when you log off.
If you've played Emperor, or any of the city-builders like it, the bones will feel familiar. There are producers and raw goods, a town storehouse, goods moving from where they're made to where they're needed, and households whose needs drive demand.
And a shortage ripples through the whole town. If the barley runs short, the brewer can't brew, and before long the tavern runs dry.
Every NPC is a person, not a walker. In a city-builder, a delivery walker follows fixed rules, and every citizen is interchangeable. In Bukenstrand, every NPC has a name, needs of their own, a personality and relationships, and decides their own day. The baker eats when she's hungry, goes to find her friends when she's lonely, and will leave a batch of half-baked bread when there's an emergency.
You stand among them, not above them. In a city-builder you rule the city from above. Here you walk among the townsfolk as an equal. You buy the bread, mend the tavern's broken table, hear the shopkeeper grumble about being woken, and change the town's economy one trade at a time.
(For the technically curious: the town grows by writing more into its data, not by adding more code.)
NPCs aren't quest dispensers or scenery. Their days are built from their own needs and work. They get hungry, tired, lonely and stressed. There's no schedule telling anyone where to stand at noon.
One shared world. Nothing resets just for you. There's no private copy of the town. If the baker sold out of bread, she sold out for everyone.
The town keeps going while you're offline. Log off for the night, come back the next day, and things have moved on. Bread got baked, the ship got unloaded, someone mended that table.
No glowing marks over NPCs' heads. Help is asked for and offered in conversation, the way it is between people.
News travels by word of mouth. Nobody knows something they couldn't have seen or heard. If the bakery catches fire and nobody fights it, the fire spreads to the butcher's next door. And if the baker is across town, she finds out from the smoke, or from a neighbour running to tell her, not by magic.
Promises are real. When an NPC agrees to something, it goes on their list of things to do, and keeping it or breaking it changes how people regard them. The same goes for you.
Every NPC is weighing what needs doing, what they're good at, and who they are. Skills decide what an NPC can do. Personality decides what they'd rather do.
They keep working while they talk. The barkeep keeps washing mugs while you chat across the counter.
Emergencies win. A fire pulls people away from their chores.
And when nobody in a place can do a repair, like that broken table, word goes out to anyone in town with the skill, and to players.
The quiet role-player. Introverted NPCs look for quiet places and one-on-one conversations. If the tavern's too loud for you, you won't be the only one who thinks so.
The social role-player. Extroverted NPCs fill the tavern. Gossip moves through real conversations, and when something big happens in town, everyone's heard about it.
The crafter or trader. Commission a dagger from the forge, with a date it'll be ready by. Tell the baker that if she makes honey muffins next week, you'll come in and buy some. Watch Nils cart goods around town. And know that the supply ship's cargo only reaches the town's stores once someone unloads it.
The helper. Ask an NPC, "Is there anything I can help with?" and they'll offer you work meant for players. Promise to bring something back, and they'll remember, and remind you the next time you meet.
The troublemaker. Steal something and a witness might tell the shopkeeper, then go and find Ragnvald the lawman and Grunthold, his truffle-pig tracker. Start a fire and it grows. Nothing a player starts on purpose is ever ignored.
The player who logs in once a week. The town has moved on without you, and people remember what you promised them.
This system will integrate with the reputation system, the writing desk, the Active Scene window and the game master tools.
Have a question or comment? Join the discussion on our Studio Discord in the #design-discussions channel.