What's a "villein"?

[Drakhor]

Lords & Villeins? Do you perhaps mean "villains"?

Seriously, if you can't even get the title of your game correct, it doesn't really give us much confidence in the rest of the game.

[Granite]

Simple google search would give you answer, just because the word is no longer used today, doesn't mean it's incorrect:

A member of a class of partially free persons under the feudal system, who were serfs with respect to their lord but had the rights and privileges of freemen with respect to others.

(Yes, I had to google search as well, since I am not native speaker and it's an arcaic term)

[Honestly Games]

Hello!

Indeed, Villeins is fully intended and a little play on words. As the noble class has been sharing the sentiment that working villagers are criminals and thieves with evil intentions, we eventually ended up with the word villain as we know it today, but it used to refer to a simple villager / peasant. Our goal is to make a game where this kind of conflict will be very visible and an interesting part of the gameplay and so I felt like it also fits the name of the game well.

Nonetheless, I understand the confusion and it's completely legitimate to be suspicious about the game if the title seems like a typo. We definitely don't expect our players to make their own research on this (however, it's very nice to see that people do!).

Thank you for your feedback and I hope you will enjoy the game! :)

[Davadin]

While I'm frustrated that people didn't try a google search before accusing the devs of being incompetent, I'm going to jump on this thread for another reason...

People will talk about, post, and refer to your game as "Lords and Villeins". But Steam's search engine doesn't trigger well for the "and", because it's looking for a "&". I'd talk to Valve either about trying to get you double-listed in their search engine for both spells (and or &), if that is possible. Otherwise, I might consider renaming the game's title.

[Honestly Games]

Thank you for notifying us about this! We will be working on replacing the & with and in the near future :)

[Davadin]

That's probably a grand idea. The '&' causes a problem with a number of games. I'm sad that Valve hasn't fixed this in their search code. But in the meantime you might be doing yourself a favor to purse the "and". Best of luck to you!!

[Daud]

Honestly (pun intended) expecting a thread to clarify the word choice, not disappointed that devs intentionally played on the word villeins. Wishlisted anyways since i do like colony managements like rimworld ect.

[Elijah Baley]

Villein/vilein and villain are derived from Latin "villanus", someone employed at or belonging to a large Roman agricultural estate (with the "villa" at the centre). Over time, the meaning changed from peasant, farmhand (villanus) to commoner, low born person (villein) and eventually to scoundrel, evil person (villain).

The game looks like fun, I just added it to my wishlist.

[Failsauce]

Originally posted by Honestly Games:

Hello!

Indeed, Villeins is fully intended and a little play on words. As the noble class has been sharing the sentiment that working villagers are criminals and thieves with evil intentions, we eventually ended up with the word villain as we know it today, but it used to refer to a simple villager / peasant. Our goal is to make a game where this kind of conflict will be very visible and an interesting part of the gameplay and so I felt like it also fits the name of the game well.

Nonetheless, I understand the confusion and it's completely legitimate to be suspicious about the game if the title seems like a typo. We definitely don't expect our players to make their own research on this (however, it's very nice to see that people do!).

Thank you for your feedback and I hope you will enjoy the game! :)

Fair enough. Most people won't know that through, they'll just assume you guys don't speak proper English. That could be detrimental to your product.

[Davadin]

Originally posted by Failsauce:

Originally posted by Honestly Games:

Hello!

Indeed, Villeins is fully intended and a little play on words. As the noble class has been sharing the sentiment that working villagers are criminals and thieves with evil intentions, we eventually ended up with the word villain as we know it today, but it used to refer to a simple villager / peasant. Our goal is to make a game where this kind of conflict will be very visible and an interesting part of the gameplay and so I felt like it also fits the name of the game well.

Nonetheless, I understand the confusion and it's completely legitimate to be suspicious about the game if the title seems like a typo. We definitely don't expect our players to make their own research on this (however, it's very nice to see that people do!).

Thank you for your feedback and I hope you will enjoy the game! :)

Fair enough. Most people won't know that through, they'll just assume you guys don't speak proper English. That could be detrimental to your product.

Hmmm... I don't know if I agree. I mean- if weird words popped up in game, or if there were a number of errors, I might indeed doubt them/their translations. But I usually assume that people can pull off a correct title, and if the title DOES seem odd, it's probably intentional. I'm not always a typical person, so perhaps you're right, but I like to think that most people give at least a small measure of benefit of the doubt to others.

Since the main mechanic hinges on social dynamics from another era of history, I think "villein" does a good job setting the period and feel with a single word.

[labtob]

I would not have went with that name. Looks like a really bad typo.

[Swinging From Nosehair]

If people have read a few history books (written in the English language) they'd likely have heard it used. I have many times.

[Μιχαήλ]

Originally posted by labtob:

I would not have went with that name. Looks like a really bad typo.

Perhaps only to non-native English speakers without higher education. It's a pretty normal word in the context of feudalism.

[kpt. Wodzionka]

Yeah I'm very fluent in English (non-native though) and I'm quite a history nerd, yet never have I heard the word. Unless the devs expect the target audience to be native English historians, this is a bad choice. I appreciate the word play, still I guess it will confuse rather than interest.

[Saxton]

As a medievalist, I love the name! Keeping my eye on this, as I would love to see a game that reflects the ups and downs of a feudal system.

[eternalsway]

Originally posted by Honestly Games:

Hello!

Indeed, Villeins is fully intended and a little play on words. As the noble class has been sharing the sentiment that working villagers are criminals and thieves with evil intentions, we eventually ended up with the word villain as we know it today, but it used to refer to a simple villager / peasant. Our goal is to make a game where this kind of conflict will be very visible and an interesting part of the gameplay and so I felt like it also fits the name of the game well.

Nonetheless, I understand the confusion and it's completely legitimate to be suspicious about the game if the title seems like a typo. We definitely don't expect our players to make their own research on this (however, it's very nice to see that people do!).

Thank you for your feedback and I hope you will enjoy the game! :)

I do think it's a good concept, however, I was really expecting that the families should not be so peaceful. They should be stealing, robbing and doing other indecent stuff, if they are lacking supply or protection. That way it gives the player to further plan the building or their family.

For now you can simply place everything on open ground, give a house without roof, give only potatoes and tax 50% of their belongings without actual penalty.

In other word, I think morale(mood) and safety(security) should play a bigger role in this game.