Once the Silent Forest area has been unlocked you will be able to start building your village with the stranger who just so happens to be a carpenter. This will involve accumulating resources and building various structures when you have the necesary requirements. Each action you can take in A Dark Room has a cooldown period. Until the bar becomes blue, you can’t perform that action again. Below is a list of the different items/structures and how they can be obtained/built and what they are useful for.
Cart:
Used to transport +18 wood quicker than the usual gathering of +10. Cost: 10 wood.
Hut:
Houses strangers. Up to 4 per hut. Cost: Increases with each hut.
Trap:
Used to catch game. Provides fur, meat, teeth, and sometimes scales. Cost: increases Traps.
Lodge:
Unlocks hunting that brings in more meat and furs. Cost: 100 wood, 10 fur, 5 meat.
Trading Post:
Allows purchase of scales, teeth, and leather by means of fur. Cost: 300 wood, 100 fur.
Tannery:
Creates leather from fur that can be used in armor. Cost: 500 wood, 50 fur.
Smokehouse:
Turns raw meat into cured meat that can be carried on journeys. Cost: 600 wood, 50 meat.