They came on purpose

Until now a new game opened on a stranded camp: a broken wagon, a split wheel, people who could not go home. I never liked that they ended up there by accident. So the story changed. The mine at their old town went quiet, the town emptied, and thirty years later the company sold the claim for the price of a good mule. Twelve of them pooled every coin, loaded one tired old wagon and walked three weeks to get here. The wagon is whole now, just worn: a patched hood, mismatched boards, one wheel sitting a little crooked.

And a new game now shows them arriving. It starts at 06:00, before the sun is properly up. An old ox pulls the wagon in, the settlers walk behind it two by two, and the story plays in black film bars at the top and bottom of the screen. At the camp the ox lies down and does not get up again. The settlers split up two to a tent and hammer them up, the first pair builds the fire, and at 08:00 the player takes over. None of this is in the simulation itself: the town waits at its first moment while the intro plays, so it never ends up in a save.

The first time I watched it, most of it was wrong. The settlers glided over the grass instead of walking, because the animations only run as fast as the game’s clock, and the clock stands still while the intro plays. The camera followed them from behind, so the whole walk was backs, and the ox was hidden behind the wagon’s hood the entire time. The story was there, in small pale text at the bottom, and I did not see it at all. Once I did, each line was gone after four seconds. And all twelve walked in perfect step, like a marching band.

So the intro now runs the animation clock itself. The camera walks ahead of the ox and looks back at their faces. The story got the film bars, with big white text in the bottom one, and each line stays up longer the more words it has. Every walker starts their stride at a different point and moves their legs a little faster or slower, so nobody is in step. And the wagon’s wheels turn now, slowing down with it as it stops.

Then it was too long. The walk lasted as long as five story lines took to read, 42 seconds of people walking, and watching it again it was almost boring. Now the walk carries two lines and is over in about 16 seconds. The rest of the story plays at the camp, while the tents go up and then while everyone sits round the fire talking. The whole intro went from about a minute to about 50 seconds.

Sitting round the fire also became where the game starts. The settlers now begin the game on the logs and at the corners of the fire, talking, instead of standing about. And it is their normal state: during the day anyone without a job goes and sits at the fire while it burns and has a free seat. They only get up when there is work for them.