About this game MiniWorld
Development notes
Four stages instead of everything at once
New players used to face 26 shortcut keys, 16 buttons, planes, auctions and racing at once. I split them into four stages whose goals are counted from records the server already keeps, so the screen can't claim progress. Older accounts kept everything open: taking away a plane someone flew yesterday would be confiscation, not guidance.
The same function on both sides
Tree fruit, bug grades, weather, dig marks, money rocks and the price board are pure functions of place and date that the screen and the server share. Only what players do is stored, and the price the shop shows is the price the server pays.
Moving out, but not behind your back
Neighbours used to leave only when a friendship cooled, so a well-kept village never changed. Now, once a village is two weeks old, a neighbour you know may bring up moving: "Don't go!" keeps them and stops the question for a month; "I'll cheer you on" starts a 20-hour farewell. Unanswered, they stay after a week: losing someone unnoticed is an accident, not a story.
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