In the city builder game Banished, the player manages a small medieval village. While the beginning of the game heavily focuses on survival elements like gathering food and firewood supply, another threat arises once the basic needs have been met: demographic change. The population ages and the village may die out, if the younger generation does not replace the old quickly enough. But growing too fast might deplete the resources, which also leads to the downfall of the village.
Citizens only reproduce, if they have homes for themselves. If empty houses are available, couples move in and conceive children. If not, they stay with their parents. Thus the growth of the population can be controlled by the amount of houses being built. Unfortunately the game does not provide detailed enough statistics to foresee imminent drastic changes in the population. If the population size reaches a stable equilibirum is another interesting question.
The aim of this project is to simulate the demographics of the game under the assumption that all needs for resources are met. Just like in the game, each citizen is simulated individually. The rules of the game are applied with the best knowledge of the author, while also trying to keep the logic as simple as possible.
Blog post: https://gerritnowald.wordpress.com/2022/07/06/simulating-game-demographics/