Your Smol lives here.

It has a life of its own, in a town that never stops growing. You're its friend: drop in, and take the controls.

Off the ferry
Day one

Off the ferry

Every Smol arrives the same way: down the gangplank and onto the quay, with nothing but a letter. No home yet, no plan. Just a town up over the harbour, and a dog who's very pleased to see you.

Your Smol on the ferry's deck with its letter: Smolville has room for every Smol there is
Smolville has room for every Smol there is. Yours is welcome whenever it comes.

And then, before long…

  1. A rod, borrowed from Biscuit
  2. A first fish for Bramble's window at the General Store
  3. A day's pay, and a tent of its own on a plot in Driftwood Camp

While you're here,

you take the controls.

Every Smol can do everything. Take a tool off the wheel and go and bother some wildlife. More hobbies on the way!

Fishing rod

Cast near it. Not on it.

34 fish in the ponds, the canal and the sea, some only about at odd hours. Every one fights its own way, and your Smol has something to say about every single one.

  1. 1Spot a shadow
  2. 2Cast near it
  3. 3Nibble… nibble…
  4. 4Press on the bite!
  5. 5Hold it up

A few of the 34 fishtap one

Away for the day? Your Smol has a favourite hobby of its own, and spends its days at it.

What's it all for?

Your name,
in the Museum.

Archie has a case for every fish, bug, fossil, shell and find in town. The whole town fills it, one first at a time.

Golden carp.

Rare

Given by Smol #1234, day 14.

A Museum card, as the game writes them

Coelacanth.

Legendary

Given by you?

First one in gets the card. For good.

The Museum is the whole town's. Bring Archie a kind it hasn't got and it goes in the case with your name on its card, and the day. After that, he thanks you and keeps the one he has.

Archie: “Thank you. The town will remember it was you.”

Over a hundred cards to fill, and more on the way. Every one has a blank for a name.

Every kind there is, as the game has them: 126 the Museum takes, counting the scamps' trinkets. Tap one to peek.

34 fish

They swim in the tank on the back wall. Tap a case to peek.

0 of 34 peeked at

The collection screen open on the fish, a golden carp picked out

And a collection of your own.

Everything you've caught, counted, in your pocket, and every one a story to tell.

Your Smol's own life

It's its own Smol.

Its traits make it someone: a temperament, a quirk, a way of talking, a favourite hobby and place, a fear and a dream. It has opinions. You're the friend who drops in.

A Smol holding up a garden spider, its line in the dialogue box: Eight legs! That's six more than me. Show-off.
Meanwhile, in town…

While you're away, it lives its day.

Fishing at dawn, rowing round the bay, flying a kite on a breezy day, bonking scamps in Whisperwood, errands near home, an afternoon beside another Smol. Anyone in town can stop and talk to it. Pop back soon after, and you pick it up right where you left it.

Every day its own, out where everyone can see, and lots more on the way.

Come back, and it's waiting.

The first time you drop in each day, it's where its day ended. It tells you about it, hands you what it found and a tip that's true. Meet a few Smols, and press Next to hear the rest.

Smol #21grumpy but kind
Quirk
apologises to furniture
Talks
exclaims a lot
Loves
fishing
Fave place
the Furniture Store
Afraid of
thunderstorms
Dreams
to catch the biggest fish in Smolville
Smol #21, grumpy but kind, shrugging with its rod in the Furniture Store
Out fishing
1 / 5
Its day
…
A find
…
A tip that's true
…

Then it writes a page.

A page of its journal for every day you play: its own days first, then what it made of yours. Day 1's page is the ferry over. It keeps the memories that matter, a first catch, a friend, an opening, and brings them up when they fit.

The journal screen open on a page of your Smol's journal: day 7, Mackerel weather

Day 1 · the first page

I have arrived!

I stood at the front of the ferry the whole way over, wind in my ears, clutching my letter like treasure. It says Smolville has room for every Smol there is. Every one! Including me!

And on the quay, a dog. A TALKING dog! Biscuit, he's called, and he lent me his very own rod. Next: a fish for Bramble's window at the General Store. Then a tent. One day, a house with a red door!

Smol #44, dramatic

1 of 4

A home of its own

From a tent to an estate.

It steps off the ferry with nothing but a letter. A day's wage buys a tent on a plot in Driftwood Camp. Build it on to a cabin, then climb the town's housing market, one rung at a time.

A tent pitched on a fenced plot in Driftwood Camp, plots for sale either side

A day's wage

Tent

It starts empty. The bedroll's extra.

Where
A plot in Driftwood Camp
Room for
16 pieces
Repaint
Canvas, front panel, pennant

Never sold Smol to Smol: the town sells its own empty homes. Moving up leaves the old one for whoever's next.

Then make it yours.

Every home starts empty. Birch sends what you buy home, and you set it out yourself. Ten little things make a room feel like home, each a petal, and your Smol tells you how it feels.

Visitors sign your guest book on the way out:So cosy!Love the rug!Thanks for having me!

Decorating
Set out a tentSomewhere to sleepSomewhere to sitA lightSomething growingA rug under somethingA seat by a lightThe bed against a wallA tidy floorRoom to moveA bit of everything2/16

Tap the floor to set it out, tap a piece to pick it up. Rugs go under things.

The town

The town grows, and you build it.

Every few days there's something new going up, and your Smol's BUILD is what builds it. Back a building, and it pays you back twice over.

Hamlet, Village, Town, City… and on

Every area the town opens is earned: pay off enough projects and the land comes up out of the sea.

  1. The Hamlet: the plaza in the morning, the General Store, the Furniture Store and the Town Hall
    The plazaA Hamlet, day one

    A quay and a plaza, the founding five round it.

  2. A Village: rows of orange-roofed cottages in their gardens
    The LanesA Village, 3 projects paid off

    Cottages in their gardens either side of the old town, and Picnic Isle comes up in the bay.

  3. Canalside in a Town: the canal and its bridge, row houses along the street
    CanalsideA Town, 8 paid off

    Over the canal: row houses, Swan Reach's manors, and Tumble Falls up the river's gorge.

  4. A district's landmark: its windmill on the green, the canal behind
    LandmarksA City, 16 paid off

    Every district gets one of its own: a windmill, a lighthouse, an observatory… and up on the Heights, Ember Peak.

And on, for ever. East along the quay, then north, then west: a whole new area each time the town's projects are paid off.

Every building, built by Smols

Apart from the founding five, everything in town is built by Smols, together: a Pizzeria, a Hat Shop, a Bandstand, a Greenhouse, and lots more.

Putting BUILD into the Skate Shop at its site sign: 45 of 60
  1. A sign goes up. A new project every few days, on a lot the town's plan kept for it.
  2. BUILD goes in. Back it at its sign. Everyone's in its book, the top ten on its plaque.
  3. Snip! It opens. Paid for: a ribbon to cut, its keeper moves in, and it's open to all.
  4. Then keep it up. It wears with the days and the storms. A repair puts it right again.
  1. Earn it. A day's pay every day you play, plus jobs and firsts.
  2. Back a building. Put BUILD in at its sign. The top backer's Smol gets its name on it.
  3. Get it back. Twice over, a little each day for its first month open.

Postcards from round town

Tap one to turn it over. There's lots more round town, and more opening as it grows.

Together

One town, shared.

It's multiplayer: everyone plays in one town, live. A little gamepad on a Smol's name tag means a real player's there, waving back. And when they're off, their Smol stays in town, living its own day.

Say something:

Waves, cheers, kind words and more. Always cozy.

  • Your Smol is in town whether you're on or not: out living its day while you're away.
  • The Museum is shared. The first to give a kind gets their name on its card, for good.
  • Every toy is shared, too. Bonk a lamp post and someone across the square hears it.
Tonight

Fishing under the moon

The lamps come on along the street, the fireflies come out one by one, and down by the water there's a float bobbing in the moonlight. Some fish only bite after dark.

After dark

What's about once the sun's gone down. Pick one up.

rarethe sea, 9pm to 4am

Fireflies come out over the grass at night, blinking round the trees.

The town at night: windows and lamps aglow, quiet and cozy.

Smolville is on its way.

It's being built right now, with new hobbies, shops, homes and lots more on the way. Follow along as it comes together, and be first to hear about playtests.

Smol

Bring your Smol

Smolville is for Smols. Your Smol is who lives there: its own personality from its traits, its own opinions, and a voice of its own. You're the friend who drops in.