Silk Road Caravan: Desktop Idle

Silk Road Caravan: Desktop Idle is a desktop idle trading game to keep you company while you work or study.

You get on with your day; your caravan follows the Silk Road. When you have a moment, open your caravan journal, make a few trades and discover what your travelers have found along the way.

While you work, your caravan keeps traveling

Keep a tiny caravan along the bottom of your Windows desktop as you work or study. City gates, deserts and oases drift past. Glance over now and then to see how far this journey has taken you.

Spread it across the bottom of your screen, or tuck it into a mini window in the lower-right corner. Let it travel quietly, then open the separate caravan journal when you want to manage your trade.

Hire a few camels and make your first trade

Open the Warehouse and arrange transport across 12 goods, from tea and silk to goods from the western regions. Check each goods line, assign more camels, earn silver on arrival and invest it in your next trip.

When you can afford it, buy preparation upgrades or save for the next city. As you unlock legacy abilities, you can also automate hiring, upgrades and opening new cities.

Unroll the trade map and head west, one city at a time

Gradually open a route through 13 cities, from Chang’an to Constantinople. Explore an illustrated trade map, inspect the cities ahead and check the costs and requirements for your next stop before deciding where to spend your silver.

The scenery changes as the route stretches farther west. Random events and fellow travelers bring a few surprises to the journey.

Turn your travels into an illustrated collection

Cities you visit, goods you carry, travelers you meet and events you encounter gradually fill your Collection. Browse illustrated cards inspired by traditional Chinese art, read the stories of the cities and see which entries this journey has added.

Export your favorite collected entries as postcards to keep a little souvenir of the trip.

Bring your bells home, then travel a little farther

After a stretch on the road, return home to earn bells and fame. Review your journey summary and the starting conditions for your next run before deciding when to begin again.

Back in Chang’an, spend bells on permanent legacy abilities. Your collected travel memories stay with you, too. Set out from a familiar starting point and work your way toward more distant cities.

Is this your kind of journey?

• You would like a slow-moving journey on your desktop while you work or study.

• You enjoy saving up, buying upgrades and watching a small trading business grow.

• You like pixel caravans, Chinese-inspired illustrations and the satisfaction of gradually filling a collection.

Single-player, with local saves and offline earnings. The first release supports Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English.