Project Civic Core

What if villages were more than static points of interest? What if your actions could shape their future?

Project Civic Core is built around that idea: villages are no longer just places to loot and leave behind. Instead, they become living settlements that can grow, expand, and evolve through the labor of their citizens — or decline if their resources are taken away.

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Overview

Project Civic Core introduces a new type of village that can spawn in Zone 1 of the Overworld, or be created manually with:

/village spawn

Each village begins with enough starting resources to support its early development. From that point on, its survival and growth depend on how well its citizens work together — and on how the player chooses to interact with it.

Players can:

Support the village by donating resources to its core, mainly Life Essence and Wood, which are required for upgrades and expansion (wood is required to level up the village).
Exploit the village by stealing resources, slowing or even preventing its development.
Interact with villagers’ inventories and take items from them directly. A more advanced stealth system is planned for the future.

At the center of every village is the Village Core, represented by the cauldron beneath the Town Hall, which acts as the heart of the settlement.

NOTE: if the Village Core gets destroyed, the village too invalidates, so be careful around the Village Core and the other Workplaces.

What the Mod Adds

Each generated village includes a set of structures and specialized NPCs that work together to keep the settlement functioning.

Structures

Villages can contain the following structure types:

Town Hall
House
Farm
Sawmill
Mine
Tavern
Storage

Villager Roles

The village is populated by NPCs with distinct responsibilities.

Mayor

The Mayor manages the settlement’s development. They decide when to:

build new structures
upgrade existing ones
spawn new villagers
assign houses / jobs

If the required materials are available, the Mayor will queue the action and the village will proceed with construction or population growth.

Storage Keeper

The Storage Keeper is one of the most important NPCs in the village. They manage the central storage and are responsible for:

delivering requested materials to workplaces (such as farm, tavern, etc.)
collecting items from workplace containers
keeping production chains supplied

Farmer

The Farmer manages the farm and food production. They can craft and use farming tools such as:

hoes
seeds
watering cans

These are made using resources, including Life Essence, supplied through the storage system. The crops available depend on the current village level.

Wood Cutter

The Wood Cutter operates the sawmill and handles wood production. They are able to:

craft and plant saplings
craft and use hatchets
cut trees
collect dropped items

Like other workers, they receive required materials through the storage system. The planted saplings depend on the village level

Miner

The Miner works in the mine and is responsible for mineral extraction. They can also craft and use pickaxes as needed.

Inn Keeper

The Inn Keeper feeds the villagers and manages meals in the tavern. They prepare different dishes depending on the village level.

At the moment, villagers track when they last ate. A full hunger system is planned for future updates.

Day and Night Cycle

Villagers follow a daily routine instead of working constantly. Some parts of the system are already implemented, while others are still placeholders.

Daily Schedule

21:00 → 05:00 — Sleep Villagers return to their assigned house and bed.

05:00 → 06:00 — Breakfast Planned for the future. Currently villagers wander.

06:00 → 12:00 — First Work Shift

12:00 → 13:00 — Lunch Villagers go to the tavern if seats are available.

13:00 → 14:00 — Relax / Social Time Planned for the future. Currently villagers wander.

14:00 → 17:00 — Second Work Shift

17:00 → 19:00 — Relax / Social Time Planned for the future. Currently villagers wander.

19:00 → 20:00 — Dinner Villagers go to the tavern if seats are available.

20:00 → 21:00 — Pre-sleep Relax at Home Planned for the future. Currently villagers wander.

Housing

Each villager is assigned to a specific house and bed. They remember their home and return to it when it is time to sleep.

Dynamic Building System

Village expansion is dynamic and partially randomized.

At the start, the village generates with:

the Town Hall
the first 2 Houses
the initial roads

After that, new structures are placed dynamically as the village grows.

How Construction Works

When a new structure needs to be built:

The system searches for a valid road connection.
It starts from roads closest to the village center.
It expands outward toward the village limits.
If no valid road is found, a new one is created.

Road generation attempts to create curves when possible, but because part of the process is randomized, each village can develop differently.

Construction is:

queued before being built
processed across multiple ticks
designed with performance in mind, even during fast progression

Future improvements for the building system are planned.

Player Impact

A core part of Project Civic Core is that the player’s choices matter.

You can help a village thrive by supporting its economy and growth, or you can weaken it by taking away the resources it needs to survive.

The goal is to make villages feel less like passive structures and more like living systems that respond to player behavior.

Many more interaction will be possible, for example a market to buy and sell to villagers

Known Issues

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, this mod is being released before it could be fully polished. The core features are already implemented and working, but some bugs and rough edges may still occur.

Current Known Issue

Villagers may occasionally get stuck.
Some commands could not work (they were intended as dev tools only)

Possible Fixes

If that happens, try one of the following:

use the entity tool
wait one in game day
run:

  /time 0
  /time 6

In most cases, this helps reset their behavior.

Planned Features

Some systems are not complete yet, but are planned for future updates:

proper breakfast and social behaviors
pre sleep home routines
a full hunger system
a stealth system for stealing from villagers
further AI improvements and bug fixes
other workplaces and ways to interact with villagers

AI usage disclosure

AI was used for a few small repetitive tasks and some last-day bug fixes, which I plan to rewrite personally. I personally love programming, from planning architecture and solving problems to writing the code itself, so I’ve made it a principle to keep AI use minimal and not rely on it for major technical or creative decisions.