Virtual Villagers 1: A New Home

Strategy Guide & Puzzle Guide

Your little band of villagers has washed up on a remote island, and theyre lost and confused.
Now what? There are two basic objectives in Virtual Villagers: successfully managing the day-
to-day routine of your little band of castaways, so that they are able to thrive in their new home,
and unlocking the mysteries of Isola. The former is absolutely necessary to make sure that your
little villagers survive, which will allow you to pursue the second objective of solving the
puzzles. The best strategy is to find the right balance between the two. The more villagers you
have, the faster they can research new technologies and solve the puzzles, but having too many
mouths to feed can quickly deplete available food supplies and spell disaster for your tribe!
The first thing you need to work on in Virtual Villagers is making sure that your villagers basic
needs are met. Their most urgent need is food, which youll find in limited supply at the berry
bush. They will soon need additional housing, too, and there is already a partially completed hut
that your builder can get to work on. Turning on tutorial mode (Help) the first time through the
game will help familiarize you with the mechanics of playing Virtual Villagers.
A good strategy for success early in the game is to make sure that you keep the food
supply above the 300-400 level, if at all possible. Your villagers will be less worried
about food, and much more productive if you do that.
Dont be in too big a rush to create a baby boom, or you might find yourself scrambling
to save your tribe from the brink of starvation.

There are some important points to keep in mind as you develop your own strategy for playing
Virtual Villagers:
The berry supply is limited and youll need to find another food source as soon as
possible.
Nursing mothers devote all of their time to caring for their baby and dont do any
productive work in the village for 2 years of game time.
Babies eat as much as adults and making too many babies too soon can quickly
create a food crisis.
Any villager (even a sick one) can heal another villager, but healing is only
possible when a villagers status is Sick (check the Details screen).
Sometimes a villager will "resist" healing attempts by a specific doctor. If that
happens, try to heal your sick villager again with a different villager.
Sick villagers need to be healed or they will weaken and die [*] Villagers can
become weakened by such things as prolonged disease, starvation, on-the-job
injuries, animal attacks, or old age.
Villagers who show a status of "Weakened" will generally improve in health over
time unless they are sick, elderly or continue to suffer injuries.
The villagers need to be taught to perform a job they will not initiate tasks in an
occupation in which they have no skill.
You can view information about various technology advancements on the Village
Tech screen by clicking on the ? button for that technology. This information
will help you choose the order in which to purchase new technology.
The villagers curiosity is often a clue to puzzles.
The children can find and harvest a certain kind of food.
Picking up a villager while theyre working will interrupt them, and they will
drop the object that they were carrying.

General puzzle strategy guide:
Most of the puzzles are dependent upon some combination of Village Tech, villager skills, and
other puzzles.
Although some puzzles depend upon the completion of specific puzzles, the 16 puzzles
are rarely completed in the order that you see them on the puzzle screen.
Pay attention to the things that your villagers are curious about and the messages that you
see when you take one of your villagers exploring around the island. These often
provide clues that will help you solve the puzzles.
Another good strategy is to drag one of your adult villagers around the island after every
tech purchase and look for new things that they can work on.
Most of the frustration related to solving the puzzles is brought on by impatience. It takes
time for your villagers to gain the necessary skills and technology to work through all of
the puzzles.

Hints for the 16 puzzles:
You can safely browse these if you just need a gentle push in the right direction. Each puzzle is
referred to by number. The puzzles are counted sequentially, with 1 being the leftmost puzzle in
the top row, and 16 being the rightmost puzzle in the bottom row.
Puzzle 1 is something that a builder can to do to provide a source of fresh water for your
tribe.
o Get a builder to clean the well. This is the village water supply. Get a villager
with building skill, drag them to the well and let them fix it.
Puzzle 2 allows your population to grow larger by providing additional housing for your
villagers.
o Build a new hut. Population is maxed out at 7 until you build a new hut. A
villager trained in building is required to build new huts.
Puzzle 3 allows access to the ocean. Villagers dont like dirty beaches.
o Clean up the beach debris. You need to clean up the debris so the villagers can
fish.
o Drag a villager to the debris and it will start cleaning.
Puzzle 4 you should take a highly skilled villager exploring just north of the research
table.
o Starting a village school. You need a master scientist. Drag them to the long
building north of the reasearch table to start a school.
Puzzle 5 requires a certain level of Village Tech.
o Take a villager exploring in the northwest portion of the island.
o Remove the blockage of the creek in the northwest corner of the village. Villagers
need level 2 in construction to work on this.
o Drag a villager to the rock pile blocking the water flow from the creek. When the
blockage is cleared, water will flow to the lagoon.
o This puzzle is the key to solving three more puzzles.
Puzzle 6 requires a certain level of Village Tech, a highly skilled villager, and the
completion of puzzle 5.
o You need to complete puzzle #5 first and have a villager with level 3 harvesting.
o Take a master farmer to the lagoon and they will start hunting fish. This may take
awhile.
Puzzle 7 allows your poor, departed villagers to receive a proper burial.
o Level 2 of a certain Village Tech is required, along with a peaceful place away
from the hubbub of village life.
o Discover the graveyard (requires Level 2 of Spirituality).
o When a villagers dies, drag an adult villager to the northeast corner of the island.
The villagers will provide a proper burial the pile of bones in village center.
o After this first burial, villagers will automatically have burial ceremonies for any
deceased villager.
Puzzle 8 has no dependency on either Village Tech or other puzzles, and can be
completed very early in the game. It involves more than one game location.
o Discover the medicinal properties of 4 plants.
o One plant is the cactus near the boulder, one plant is near the lagoon, two are on
the east side of the island.
o Drag a villager to each plant until all four are mastered.
Puzzle 9 depends upon the completion of puzzle 5. Take a villager exploring on the east
side of the village. You need to complete puzzle #5 first.
o Drag a villager to the field on the east side of the island (where the dead flowers
are). They will water the field with water from the lagoon.
o Make sure to use a villager with building skill so that the watering continues until
the flowers bloom.
Puzzle 10 depends upon the completion of puzzle 14. Take a special person exploring the
island.
o Solve puzzle #14 first.
o Wait for the butterflies to follow the golden child, then drag the golden child to
the strange plant north of the berry bush where the butterflies will pollinate the
plant.
Puzzle 11 requires a certain level of Village Tech.
o Take a villager exploring on the southeast side of the village.
o Restore the temple at the ruins (requires Level 3 of Construction).
o Drag a villager to the ruins in the southeast of the island and they will begin
restoring the ruins.
Puzzle 12 depends upon the completion of puzzle 11 and additional Village Tech.
o Take a villager exploring on the west side of the village.
o Requires puzzle #11 complete and Level 3 Spirituality.
o Drag a builder to the shiny rock on the west side of the village and they will chisel
the rock to create an idol.
Puzzle 13 will produce a very special person who will be able to do very special things.
o Certain levels of Village Tech and the completion of the idol are required to
complete this puzzle.
o The birth of the golden child (requires Level 3 of Fertility) .
o This requires puzzle #5, puzzle #12.
o Drag a nursing mom to the lagoon.
Puzzle 14 depends upon the completion of Puzzle 13.
o Take the special person exploring the island.
o Requires puzzle #13.
o Drag the golden child to the magic flower garden and wait for the butterflies.
Puzzle 15 has no dependency on other puzzles.
o It can be solved as soon as you have the necessary Village Tech and a villager
who has mastered a specific skill.
o Unlike the way you located the other puzzles, you have to actually drop your
skilled villager in the right place to find what you're looking for.
o Dragging him around the island won't reveal the location.
o Buried treasure (requires Level 3 of Construction and Level 3 of Science).
o Search the sandy areas on the south part of the island between the food bin and
the temple.
Puzzle 16 depends upon the completion of puzzle 13.
o A special person will do something that no other villager can do.
o Moving the boulder (requires the golden child).
o This one just happens on its own when the golden child is ready, you can't force it.


Village Item Locations:
Lagoon - Teardrop shaped dark patch of dirt in Northwest corner of village, has pile of
rocks at top with blue water behind them.
Berry Bush - Large green bush covered with 1930 red and yellow berries surrounded by
large circle of grass in upper center of village.
Clearing - Rectangular light patch of dirt in Northeast corner of village
Well - Southeast of Berry Bush
Giant Rock - Southeast of Lagoon
Double Hut - Southeast of Giant Rock
Hut - East of Double Hut
Research Bench - South of Double Hut
Small Hut - Southeast of Research Bench
New Hut - Board leaning on stilts with rock next to it located between Hut and Double
Hut
Food Bin - South of Hut
Field - West of Small Hut
Debris - On beach South of Field
Pile Of Strangely Straight Rocks - Southeast of Food Bin
Patch Of Strange Dead Flowers - East of Hut
Fruitless Plant - Orange plant Northwest of Berry Bush
Healing Herbs 4
o Green Strange Plant directly below Lagoon
o Medical Cactus above and to the right of the Berry Bush, left of Clearing
o Strange Lily at bottom right corner of Clearing
o Rare Rose below Patch of Dead Flowers
Buried Treasure - Directly West of Pile of Strangely Straight Rocks and directly South of
Food Bin


Occasionally you will find items washed up on the beach. Among these there
may be:
Brass Compass - Letting researchers have it improves skill somehow.
Black pearl - Sharing makes your villagers happy.
Badly weathered crate - Rusty tools, adds 1000tech points, makes some villagers ill
Crate with 1, 2, or 3 babies in it - Adds to Population.
Crate with juicy steaks - Adds 1500 food.
Crate of golden ripe bananas - Adds 1000 food
Crate with well preserved tools - Adds 1000 Tech Points.
Crate of rats - Causes injury and disease.
Crate of diapers
Vial of blue liquid - Causes illness or lowers skill.
Vial of red liquid - Alters appearance.
Vial of watery fizzy liquid - Lowers skill.

Other Events:
Isola Day Celebration - Dancing and feasts!
Big Wave - Puts debris on beach that must be cleared by builder.
Honeybees - Pollinate Berry Bush and make it thrive.
Humid weather molds food - Removing moldy pieces saves some food, makes some
villagers sick.
Measles Epidemic - Makes children sick.
Monkey eating mushroom - Trying the mushroom allows adults to pick mushrooms?
Monkey hiding large cache of bananas - Adds 600 food.
Monkey ransacks research table - Lose 9000 tech points.
Monkey stealing food - Allowing it to steal food results in better healing.
Moth in cocoon - Helping moth kills it.
Plague of Locusts - Eats all your crops.
Ripe Red Berries - Eating them kills villager instantly. Oops
Shipwreck - Blocks beach access, again, and debris must be cleared from beach by a
Builder, again.
Stranded whale - Harvesting the whale adds 1000 food.
South Wind - Withers berries, scorches crops and damages food in Food Bin.
Troubled Child - Allowing child to try work increases child's skill
Typhoon - Destroys all food in the Food Bin.


Leveling:
When the Builder completes clearing the debris from the beach, and you have bought
Level 2 Construction:
o place him on the pile of rocks at the top of the Lagoon to clear it.
When the Lagoon is cleared:
o place a villager on the Patch Of Strange Dead Flowers, the villager will water the
Patch from the Lagoon and create the Garden.
When one of your Scientists reaches the title Master Scientist:
o place her on the Double Hut to create the School. Once the School is established,
children will be born with some skills.
When your first villager dies:
o buy Level 2 Spirituality, then drop any adult villager in the Clearing to create the
Graveyard, or Burial Ground.
When you have purchased Level 3 Farming:
o place a Master Farmer in the Lagoon to catch the Magic Fish Of Fertility. Note:
The Magic Fish is a Greenfin Spotanus, the same Magic Fish Of Fertility in Fish
Tycoon ;)
When you have purchased Level 3 Spirituality:
o place a Builder on the Strangely Straight Rocks to build the Temple.
When you have purchased Level 3 Science:
o place a Builder on the Large Rock to create the Idol.
When you have purchased Level 3 in 6 Tech areas:
o place a Builder on the beach directly South of the Food Bin and directly West of
the Temple to uncover the Buried Treasure.
When you have purchased Level 3 Fertility:
o place a mother with a baby in the Lagoon to create the Golden Child. The
remaining Puzzles are dependent on the Golden Child.

Notes on the Golden Child:
The Golden Child never gets sick or dies.
You can not kill him, no matter how much you may want to
He never ages, he never grows up, he never changes appearance from a toddler.
You can not force him to perform his tasks, he does them all on his own.
Shortly after birth, he will move the boulder and you can place a villager into the cave to
see a teaser for the next chapter.
The Golden Child is said to create the Garden as well as move the Boulder, but by the
time there is enough tech points to buy level 3 Fertility, my villagers have already
watered the Garden into bloom, so I myself have not witnessed the Golden Child creating
the Garden.
To date I have been unable to get him to do the Butterflies or the Strange Fruitless Plant,
in fact, it seems that the entire game there is a flock of Butterflies on the screen, and as
soon as the Golden Child appears, the butterflies vanish
The Golden Child also makes berries on the Berry Bush, restores the crops in the Field,
and makes food in the Food Bin.
He also make parties which cause all villagers to leave work and join him in dancing.
And he can walk on water. Imagine that. ;)