Live Mode: Our Goals and Next Steps

*easy for me to play, I'm sure it's not easy to implement!! But yes, kids going to school, a notification to say they're hanging out at friend's and the relationship going up etc., my paras getting invited to things... Clicking one or two buttons and having my paras go off and do something. Sorry - the 'control the whole household' got me thinking about things 😁!

Charlotte Neill

Sounds too good to be true! I'm most excited about my para getting in their car and driving around town - sounds so good! In the Sims, I personally don't like playing an 8-sim household because I just find I have to pause the game loads to get my Sims doing things and it's hard to make the game feel authentic (have everyone leave the house to socialise etc.). I like the idea of controlling the whole household - telling everyone to gather together for a meal or watch a film or play a boardgame would be unreal! Also, a nice Sims mod... Let's the sim use their phone to arrange an outing and then the sim leaves the lot for 3 hours with a friend or by themselves and they come back and that just adds to the realism without me having to orchestrate - just sending my Param to the shops without having to go to the shops with them would be grand and easy and super realistic - I think I would actually enjoy family gameplay if this was a thing 😅!

Charlotte Neill

EVERYTHING!!!

eoghan

I think an optional campaign would be nice. have a small story to the premade town to introduce us to the characters already there, and then after everything would be freewill. Plus you could make it fun and unlock special items or places.

Justin Barnett

*quietly chants in the corner* 💜 Building! Building! Building 💜

QueenWarrior4

I agree but I've been dabbling in Sims 3 CAW and am realizing just how much work/practice goes into it; it's what made me join this Patreon - the fact that you all are out here doing this is incredible/pioneering/rebellious (cuz screw EA) I think about all these kids out here who've never even played S3 so they have no idea what they're missing; greed ruins everything.

I am really excited about interacting with the town - if its open world that would be awesome! I still prefer the Sims 3 over TS4 bc I love how interactive the town/world is

Amanda

hey alex, i think it would be cool for your paras to have their own desire and fear like in the sims 2, it really bring their character to life. with the sims 4 abandoning whims, along with the shallow traits, i need a lot of mods just to make it playable. thankyou!

I don't know what could be included to help this, but something to help us create stories for our families? Thinking of stuff similar to the old Sims stories franchise

while I was reading about the having to set up the internet etc i got so excited hahaha. maybe if you could make it so we have the choice to either have everything figured out by a "company" (with a higher price to pay of course) or do it ourselved, manually, for a cheaper price. this could be used for many different things, not about internet necessarily.

Hopefully this makes room for paras to remember events and memories that happened whether they’ve forgiven the person or not, but they’d remember every so often or certain events remind them of it it’s that’s possible

S&M Gonzalez

I love the idea of having features for advanced players

Asking me what I'm *most* excited about feels a bit like asking a parent who their favourite child is, lol, I'm so excited about everything! I guess my top three are family/generations, relationships, and personality. I love create families and characters with indepth lives, wants, desires, and be able to both tell my own stories, as well as seeing what the game's story progression has in store, and letting stories develop on their own!

LaurenCheerio

I love the idea of Parafolk picking up their personality by the things they tend to love more so than a trait. Like for instance, if a Para child loves collecting bugs then they will grow up to want to do something that pertains to insects or collecting insects.

Fosette Anderson

I would love a little bit of everything. Generations gameplay, interacting with the townsfolk, events, parties, and festivals, a town that feels alive where you don't just walk in and it's empty but other paras are hanging out. Jobs that you can do inside and outside the home. Schools graduation with high school graduation. I am sure I am missing stuff but that's just the basis.

Twilightbutterflypink

All I really want is a nice family tree interface. Maybe you could research ancestry to.. idk, find out bio parents of adopted children? I just really want a complex family tree for my sims. One that I could print if I'd feel like it.

Desirée Eriksson

It would be neat to see how Parafolks' actions/behaviours/relationships impact other things in the game where it be other Parafolks, pets, community, etc. Perhaps a AI-driven "ripple effect" feature (or something similar) could help to achieve this effect so that game play doesn't seem siloed to a particular household/Parafolk.

hjs_wells

I love the idea of having a "dystopia" like environment. For example, if a "steal trait" para doing harm to another was spotted by a "like to see others suffer" para, the "see others suffer" would let that behavior of the stealing para go instead of calling police paras. I never found that action realistic by the "evil" sims in Sims3. Why would they call the police? They are evil...

M. Findley

I dont know how much of this would be possible but I really really would love to see paras having more in depth free will on other public lots, in other paras homes, and choices to allow paras more freewill actions outside the home whether it’s good or bad. As another suggested this would include being able to steal from another paras home being able to sneak into their homes when they’re asleep or away, and taking anything from another’s home (realistic wise) for example a neighbors car. On public lots like a store for example paras could steal items we click on , leaving without paying, sneaking in buildings when they’re closed. Just being able to see paras choose certain actions and choices and revealing the consequences of these actions taken whether they’re caught/successful or not. Seeing how the community in their world react and view certain behaviors and maybe even intervene if they’re the confident type. Being able to sit, eat, drink, use certain objects anywhere. Paras being able to interact with many objects around them both outside the home and inside the home more, like window shopping, and also nature like picking flowers as they walk home or being able to take in a stray cat/dog they see across the street, climb a tree. Just to name a few examples of free will i’ve seen in other games like elder scrolls and we happy few. I’m also excited to see whether or not environmental sounds will change depending on where you are and the elements around you, like a hallway made of stone would echo vs a hallway made of wood that’s in a home. Hearing muffled noise outside apartments in a busy city or rain on the rooftops or hearing chickens crowing outside if your para lives on a farm.

S&M Gonzalez

For me personally I would play the game with aging turned off, thus generations would not be a big deal for me (my paras would have background stories, etc.). I would like my paras to develop as characters as the games progresses with game play, but again with aging turned off. That said about aging turned off, for each age group there should be limits of abilities. Examples: Kids can’t lift 100 pounds like adults can. Their intelligence limits would not develop to the level of a teenagers intelligence, unless the kid is a prodigy. An old person can’t lift 100 pounds.

It would be nice if the Parafolk could play millions by completing objectives with which to unlock new items, interactions, or vehicles. The Sims Bustin 'Out and the three chapters of The Sims Stories could be considered. You may be interested in inserting an interactive and customizable diary (perhaps with photos, signs and notes) which is updated based on events and choices outlining the Parafolk biography. As far as relationships are concerned, in addition to the classic marriage, traditional Hindu and Wicca weddings could also be introduced. Various ways of meeting and getting to know people could be interesting, for example in Speed ​​Date clubs, during activities such as cooking classes. Or a simple chat or the classic exchange of letters for nostalgic romantics. As for children, I would introduce the possibility of adopting children at a distance. As for hobbies, it would be nice for example to dedicate oneself to the restoration and reconstruction of a car, a motorcycle, a scooter, a musical instrument or a piece of furniture. Other interested hobbies could be besides playing an acoustic and electric guitar or other instruments such as drums, bass, cello and electric violin, maybe some exotic instrument like the Sitar, belly dancing, yoga and meditation would also be interesting. An original thing would be if Parafolk could tap into the internet to learn their skills. As for work careers, I would consider The Sims 4: Get to Work where it was possible to use your character in the workplace. It would be nice and interesting to have a wide choice of active careers: for example that of the cook, baker, tattoo artist, football player, spy, thief / gangster / supervillan. For example consider both The Sims: Superstar for fashion, music and film careers. I would also consider The Sims 4 Get Famous with regards to acting career, fame and reputation. As for other activities it would be nice if the Parafolk could travel or go on vacation. It might be nice to choose between a trip to the mountains or a lake, a picnic in the countryside or a trip to somewhere in Europe, Asia or Africa. It might be interesting if there were markets in the city where you can buy, sell and trade vintage items, books and vinyl records. It would also be nice to have some shops to visit in which to shop interacting with the shopkeeper. Among the various shops I would put a Coffee-shop. It could also be nice if your Parafolk could devote itself to magic as it did in The Sims: Makin 'Magic and The Sims 3: Supernatural or as it happens in real life as Wicca priests and priestesses do. It might be interesting that the Parafolk are dedicated to the environment with activities such as adopting a tree or an endangered animal and everything that determines the ecological footprint and its impact on the entire game world, from recycling to reuse of equipment. electronic etc.

Sabino Mutino

I think the thing that makes gameplay the most fun and exciting is consequences. That's one thing that makes the Sim 4 so boring to me is the lack of any kind of consequence. I love cute and family friendly gameplay but i think that can get old pretty quick. But i'd love the options for bad things to happen, like stealing from another paras house and then there to be a consequence for that would be so fun to play. Consequences like a para wanting to divorce after they catch the significant other cheating or the para getting ill would be so fun. <3

One of the things I would love to see most in live mode would be to have different facial expressions in certain situations depending on traits. One of the things that makes Sims look the same to me in Sims 4 despite excessive customization is their facial expressions during interactions and such. I know this is hard work but I think it would bring the characters much more to life and have them seem different!

Maxx

This was honestly a hard choice of what I am looking forward in the game! But as mentioned, multitasking is something I am interested in as well. And thank you for doing an amazing job!

Anastasija Duk

timing is important. if I call someone to visit me, but it is working time, he shouldn't come!

I’d really love to see paras being able to multitask such as talking to someone over the phone or in person, having a drink and drinking that here and there while using the computer. Or being able to go back and forth between cooking and washing dishes when cooking

S&M Gonzalez

Hey! I don't know to which topic I could connect this, but I really wanted to share a small suggestion, and it seems to fit to the live mode topic, so :) The thing that always seemed to be lacking in all of the life simulation games that I played was, you know, intimacy between characters if I may say so? XD I mean it in a most banal and ordinary way: when characters (that are close to each other), for example, are sitting together and watching a movie, it would be great if they're not sitting a meter apart like robots but close to each other cuddling and one of them could rest their head on the other's shoulder. Or when they sleep they could sleep hugging each other and/or one of them could lay on the other's chest you know? XD I just mean characters that are a bit more tactile and better in showing affection than in other life simulation games XD I think that Paralives has a unique vibe of "warmth" and those sweet little interactions between paras would suit the game so well😭 Thanks for your work!

I’m not sure if this has been discussed in other posts, but I’d really like to have a few distinct autonomy levels where level 1 Paras would only perform autonomous actions to fill low needs and at the highest level Paras can autonomously make big decisions like breaking up with a partner, trying for a baby, proposing etc. I think this could help accommodate lots of different play styles as sometimes I have very specific stories I want to play out and sometimes I really just want to see what a character would choose to do with free reign. So excited you guys are starting to work on the live mode!! Can’t wait for this game 😊

I would love to control my family but I also want the option to not play them if I wish. Or, choose when I want to play with them. These comments and even this poll has gotten me more excited than I already was. I want to play this so badly already.

Sara Morgan

Bonjour à tous :-) Concernant les actions des parafolks, j'aimerai qu'ils puissent interagir avec presque tous les éléments du jeu (je veux dire par là qu'il serait bien qu'il n'y ait pas trop d'éléments de décoration seule, qui seraient sans interactions). Lorsqu'ils sortent de la maison, qu'ils puissent enfiler leur manteau, prendre le parapluie sur le porte-manteau, par exemple. Le but serait qu'il y ait toujours quelque chose à faire pour ne pas s'ennuyer. Que le parafolk puisse trouver du travail au sein d'une entreprise, administration, école... ou encore travailler à son compte, tout en gagnant un salaire similaire et réaliste des deux façons. Garder les enfants. Arroser les plantes en sifflant un petit air de musique. Après, effectivement, il faudrait que le jeu reste un plaisir, et qu'il n'y ait pas trop de détails techniques, trop précis, ou encore trop compliqués, pour une expérience de jeu optimale et accessible à tous. Par contre, je pense que ça serait drôle qu'il y ait des petits événements inattendus et farfelus : comme une voisine un peu folle qui crie et réveille le quartier à 3 heures du matin (lol). Les parafolks pourraient aussi, d'eux-mêmes, nous émettre des envies, suggestions, besoins, projets, remarques, etc. En fonction de leur caractère et personnalité définis au moment de leur création dans le Paramaker. Et qu'ils soient réactifs et régulièrement en mouvements. Par exemple, une réaction de surprise, d'inattendu... Quand un moustique passe devant leur tête, ou un gros et soudain bruit d'avion dans le ciel, etc. Qu'ils puissent éternuer, tousser, se gratter, se moucher (exemple : rhume), etc. Je veux dire par là que ça serait bien qu'ils n'aient pas trop des attitudes ou postures "robotisées" ou statiques. Enfin, ils pourraient réaliser plusieurs actions en même temps, comme utiliser un smartphone tout en mangeant ? Répondre au téléphone en rangeant des courses dans le frigidaire ? En résumé, vous avez carte blanche, faites nous rêver :-D Merci beaucoup pour tout ce job et à très bientôt ;-)

Ludivine

"Avoid ultra realistic gameplay elements to prioritize fun instead" absolutely agree with this point. For example, things could be very realistic in North America, but totally unrealistic in Europe or Asia. But when you leave out those tiny details, everyone can imagine them the way they want to. My Parafolks will have free wifi with unlimited data because in the country my Parafolks will live, those things are provided by the government for everyone. I don't want them to have to deal with annoying contracts that are unfair to consumers.

Nina Felwitch

In all seriousness, we need a clumsiness slider or trait! 🤣

Maxx

Also having roommates you can't control would be fun

someone said being able to not play some members of the family and i like that a lot! I also would love the option to play MORE than one household at the same time-- Or at least make it so we can play rotationally and not miss out on our "out of turn" families. Maybe a toggle for story progression could aid in that :) Ahh i'm so looking forward to this!

Luna

Im excited to see the town and world come alive everyone going about their day seeing the neighborhood bustle throughout the day seeing other paras routines around me, and having a different culture in the day time vs the night time in the world. Maybe more or less events happen at night in town on public lots.

S&M Gonzalez

I remember the sims 3 university being non rabbit hole. And I also remember lots of people getting bored with having to spend most of the day watching their character sit down and write. Lots of people say they don't want their schools to be rabbit holes. But realistically speaking, I can't see how it would be engaging day by day. So, I'm in your camp

Angela

I'm not sure if this has already been discussed, but I know a lot of people like the idea of a non-rabbit hole school that you can interact with. While that sounds fun, I actually don't mind sending my kids to a rabbit hole school as it allows me to focus on the other sims for a while and I feel like it would get annoying having to pay attention to what they were doing at school and what the people not going to school where doing. Perhaps there could be an option whether or not to go with them to school? Then again, I am unsure how this is going to be implemented or how it will work in game so maybe my worries are unfounded.

Amy

I am in love with all of this!! 😍😍😍 Specially the part of having a world that is interesting and filled with things to do!! If I may suggest, I'd love it if the game included some sort of rush hours that partially conditioned some of the paras' behaviours, which could be seen or even experimented by the player when visiting the town: 🏠Both NPC and player's paras leaving their homes at 8:00-8:30am to go to work or school; (cars departing from neighboring homes, paras walking to bus stops and waiting there, or even walking/biking directly to where they need to go!) 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Agglomerations of paras arriving at said destinations (going inside buildings, which could be rabbit holes since there won't be active schools or careers at launch) around 9:00am, then leaving en-masse around noon and/or 5:00pm. Maybe they could also hang around the place they just left for a while! So, if your para happens to walk in front of a school or a factory around exit time, they'll see a lot of students or blue collar workers gathered around respectively, just talking among them and/or walking together, either to head home or to visit someplace now that the workday is over! (Co-workers heading for dinner and drinks at a nearby pub or restaurant on friday nights, maybe? 😆🍻🍕)

Stefanía Torrealba D

Hi :) First I wanna say, you are doing incredible work! All the thinking and details you consider are amazing! I would maybe consider pets not to be included in the base game, so you can polish everything else (but maybe it's easier to do it this way, you know what you're doing :) ) 100% support all your points, with the new players - maybe a short tutorial could be at the beginning (which could be skipped). Or lessons like in TS games.

Marta Čisáriková

"they need to look natural while doing so" me who trips over himself constantly and constantly forgets what I'm doing and where I'm going... I see

Adam Snyder

Can't wait to see more about character personality. Thank you for all your hard work with Paralives <3

You may be interested in inserting an interactive and customizable diary (perhaps with photos, signs and notes) which is updated based on events and choices, outlining the Parafolk's biography.

Sabino Mutino

When it comes to personalities, I would love them to be distinguishable from the outside. A very confident para might just use grand gestures with others, whereas a shy para might just stare to the ground a lot more often. A tired para might close their eyes when sitting, a very energetic one might be a bit fiddly and switching between idle poses a lot more. Little things like that!

Sam Caledonia

Stuff that happens that are not on our control are very welcome, being ill or a bulgar invading your home, or even having a Vampire attack you at night or transform you, without you wanting. Maybe there should be an option to turn off "hostile invaders" but separately from Bulgars. Potions or medicine that cure you from those thing is also needed, so you don't get stuck with a situation that is inconvenient

Hoff Fondue

If you're starting to work on interactions make sure to make space for "background" interactions, for example, when someone is walking, they can talk to other people around, the same when cooking/watching tv etc. Paras walking around can do simple "hi" to others without disturbing the whole action queue. At this stage it doesn't matter what they do but it's important to make this possible. Stuff like this makes simulation more immersive and paras feel like living things, not mindless drones that follow orders. The same goes with conversations with other paras, there should be a place for group conversations/activities and it's important to include this at the very beginning of interaction's implementation because it may prove to be difficult to change already established mechanism later on.

Marek Mikołajczyk

I'm looking forward to all of that, but mainly CONSEQUENCES for Parafolks' actions! And random events! Those random events (like choice cards when Patafolk is at work) could be disabled in the options for people who don't like that. Same with life threatening events (disease, for example) or actions.

Océane Gougeon

I just hope that you will make interactions that can be interpretatet in many ways, depending on the situation, so we who like to tell tales can use our imagination. The sims made so many that it got tedious especially when sims interacted with each other. Please leave room for the imagination!!!

Bodil Bührmann

What I'd love the most would be seeing personalities at play, maxing out skills and achievements, and having different kinds of relationships.

Matilda Lindholm

It's been an amazing journey so far and I'm so excited to see what you integrate into live mode. I'm loving every piece of the game so far.

Stephanie Cutler

I'm just excited for everything 😂

xPami

I think that the team should focus on the core elements of the live mode(according to the vote/people's choice) and make it as detailed as possible,after the release in time to just add on more and more,because it is impossible to implement everything all at once.Good luck, Paralives Team <3 ^^

Kristian Dimitrov

I think it would be cool if the control scheme worked a little bit like Sims 2 for console; where you had the option of free roam or point and click.

Ashleigh Cunningham

I'm most excited for the relationships, it would be so nice so have complex interpersonal relationships! For example, one sided crushes, love/hate relationships, two paras who once cared about each other deeply now it hurts to be around each other, etc

MapleBurger

It would be cool if you could integrate public school, private school and boarding school, it would also be pretty cool if we could have the option to choose and create our own school uniforms, or turn on/off uniform option in the gameplay menu

I'm excited for ALL of those things!! 🤗🤗 Reading through the comments so far I've seen a lot of people talking about story progression and while YES this is absolutely essential and wonderful, please still let us control who is affected by it and who isn't, so that I can have multiple households I control as well as multiple that I don't! - i.e. a story progression toggle in the household options, or something, so I can play rotationally or focussed on a sole household. Pretty please... With a cherry on top!!

Bethy Grace

I love playing with one charcter and turning it into a legacy game! Creating a big empire and dynasty of my unique charas 😄 thats what I hope for!

Asano

Having a way to toggle utilities on and off for a given lot or Para would be pretty cool, I agree. For example if I wanted to do historical or off-the-grid gameplay, it would be nice to be able to have my paras actually off the grid.

Megan Santucci

Onestly i think that all points of poll Need to be thorough all are essentials to made realistic and complete the esperience of game i Hope only one thing... That the time to made any action like est a sandwich or wash the rooms have the correct time not like on the Sims that whashing hands and eat a snack use the dame periodo of time isn't realistic...

I’m excited about all of these! I had a hard time picking which one, but I’m very interested to see what new things Paralives will bring to the life simulation genre

Katie Ballinger

Totally see what you mean! I very often like to play with a single character as well!

Alex Massé

You are totally right and we were discussing that the other day. Sandbox shouldn't mean that nothing ever happens unless the player chooses to. A robust autonomy system and events happening that throw you a curveball are really important in order to make the game more interesting and alive. I think there's a good balance to find between "the players need to do everything themselves" and "the players are forced to go through drama that they didn't choose all the time". There's a lot of thinking to be done and we will be working on that for sure. Thank you for the video recommendation, I love Carl's Sim Guides!

Alex Massé

I'm really excited about some of our secrets, oh yes!

Alex Massé

Good point! We have been thinking about all this ourselves and we are working on finding a good way to customize the identity, personality, likes, dislikes, etc

Alex Massé

I really would like to see the little things. Opening drawers and cabinets while cooking certain things. Opening the curtains or making the bed/couch could also contribute. A wide variety of traits would definitely make the game feel more alive as well!

Brandon-Lee Ensing

We are looking into wants/wishes/fears and how they could work but it's too early to confirm anything about them yet. Being able to fully customize them would be really cool though

Alex Massé

I like the idea! I played World of Watcraft a lot a long time ago and it would have been cool to customize your dance. Maybe we could study the idea for Paralives!

Alex Massé

Thank you so much Lane!

Alex Massé

Thank you for your input! > Customization of lot sizes that aren't limited to boxy 4-point rectangular shapes (can bend around corners or be angled)! - It's already planned! See our video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Bsg7zrxmw

Alex Massé

I would love anything that helps our parafolk feel different from each other. Many have pointed out Maggie's (random) reaction to her socks in the Christmas video a while back. It would be great to see those reactions NOT be random! For example, if I direct a lazy para to clean, they should be mad about it! Maybe it should even take a couple of tries before they begrudgingly agree to clean. I want our paras to feel full of personality that expands beyond just a few interactions.

Christina Renna

I really like your idea and we were thinking about it ourselves! We will have to think about it more to see what it would imply!

Alex Massé

Yes!!!

Alex Massé

Thank you Greg!

Alex Massé

Right now, script/code mods are not planned for the game. However, we are building many tools to let modders customize the game, its deep settings and its content without the need for code. At a later time, it's possible that we will also support script/code mods and it could be in C# since our game engine is Unity

Alex Massé

Merci beaucoup pour les bons mots et pour les suggestions intéressantes!

Alex Massé

We are starting to work on all that yes! Very exciting but also a lot of work before it will all be playable. Once it will, it should be very cool though!

Alex Massé

Answer: All of the above. I would like some realistic play please. I want my paras to have to get the electric and gas turned on...also cable. Internet for my smartphone. I want to be able to get a budget bill if my paraa is having trouble paying bills because they got fired or went on a spending spree instead of paying the bills. I want a car payment and maybe a loan payment too. I want separate bills so that I can see why my bills are high. I would love personalities that clash for my paras. Little quirks maybe ...like the para may love christmas, play the music, decorates their house and talk about it all season long which may make other paras annoyed. A para who must carry a certain item because it brings luck and if lost the para will spend time looking for it always without me guiding them. I would like animations for cooking like those in sims 2 please. I would like to have my teens learn to drive and have to take the drivers test or have drivers ed offered in school as well as home economics(can be rabbit hole). I would like parent -teacher conferences and if my para fails in school get left back and have to do that year again. I would like an option for year round school or summers off. I would like my paras to maybe wave at each other if my para is frendly. If my para is shy or a loner then they would not wave unless they know the other para. I want my para to be able to go to the doctor if sick or be able to lounge on the couch with a blanket and tissues. I don't want to just buy medicine. I would like an alarm clock so my para won't oversleep unless they don't set the alarm or have the phone have an alarm.

Maxayn Henderson

The old font was cool and I liked it too! In the end, we are going for a more flat and modern UI and we had to change the font to fit with it. The new font will also be easier to read on screens where there will be a lot of text or for people with vision problems so we think it's a best choice overall but I totally see what you mean and it wasn't an easy choice overall!

Alex Massé

We have thought about things like that and it would really help to make the town fun to explore! Maybe there could interesting secrets here and there in the town and some of them could have an impact on your Para or make them go on a mini quest

Alex Massé

I'm most excited for the activities that will be available for Paras around town. :) It may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like playing with families a lot of the time. Singletons are easier to manage and it's easier to be goal oriented with them, so having a lot of things to do around town will be awesome. :)

Celena Colegrove

I know you said it’s a sandbox game, but I sincerely hope we don’t have to control every part of a para’s life and there are no consequences outside of player control. A pure, open-ended sandbox with no surprises or consequences can be boring. Carl’s Sim Guides on YouTube made a video essay called “In Sims 4, I’m God - Must I Always Be in Charge of Drama and Story for EVERY Sim?” It’s a cautionary tale for how game design went wrong in that other simulation franchise. I encourage you to watch the video. Paras who have wants that give a sense of direction, personality that clashes with others, chemistry - these are the features that for me and many others matter the most.

Michael

Seriously, this was such a hard poll to answer 😅 I'm so excited about everything about the game! But I chose "other" so here we go; I'm more excited about the different parts/events of life, like weddings, pregnancy, birthdays, funerals, first day of school, parties, maybe getting treated in the hospital/at home for illness and injuries and so on. Can't wait to find out what you guys will bring to the game to make our parafolks lives richer! 😊

Amanda Hannu Näckros

I'm very excited about the team moving onto live mode. The "plan" looks like a good one as far as I, a complete noob in game design, can tell. One of the things I love about life sims is to (micro) manage the characters' lives, starting with their exterior (looks) and interior (personality), to jobs & hobbies and offspring. Creating my own town with a handful of households that grow into large families who interact, befriend and/or marry each other. I've previously referenced the Awesomemod for TS3 and I'm going to do it again: its story progression is such an improvement to the game's own version and allows the player to (in)directly affect other characters' lives. Like the number of cribs, beds or bedrooms determines the number of characters in a household when left to their own devices, exempt/include characters or households to story progression, there are certain slots for jobs and positions so one can't get a promotion if another playable character already fulfills that job and is better at it (or has more suitable skills etc), and more realistic effects for traits (and a stupid trait for slower characters). Another fabulous feature is instant switching of households by right-clicking a character from another household and the radar tracking of important characters in the neighborhood. The Supreme Commander is also a great assortment of macros to keep some of your household’s characters busy while still tending to their own needs autonomously. Another thing I’d like for story progression, is updates on what other paras are doing in town. That could be through the (physical or online) newspaper, social media, gossip, a card (birth, death, funeral, birthday, pregnancy, engagement, wedding) or a simple game announcements based on the relationship to the para(s) you’re playing. And perhaps the option for the player to make certain choices, like naming babies, agreeing/declining marriage or move-in proposals, moving out of the family home vs staying, going off to college/uni or getting a job. Maybe those are already things you’ve taken in consideration and some of them might even be things players can set, like a want/desire to go to college, start a career, get married to their love or have kids. Personally, I love realistic gameplay (I’m also a fan of the more rigorous accounting and unified billing features of the Awesmemod for example) and while I understand it’s next to impossible to include all of real life’s facets to the game, I don’t think the example given is a good one. Simply because all you need to do in my country to get internet, is contact an internet provider, choose a package, agree to their terms, share your banking info and they’ll send you a modem (and wifi amplifiers) and activate your internet connection within two weeks. I moved recently and got my new internet set up in five minutes by using the internet on my phone and since there was already a glass fiber modem, it was also activated the next day. So, to use this example, I’d love it if… - paras could use their phone (internet or call) or walk into a store and choose ‘internet package A’, ‘internet package B’ or ‘internet package C’ to set up internet from their new home OR use their computer to go online and switch packages if there’s an existing internet connection. Both actions could result in either an internet connection straight away or receive a package the next day to ‘set up internet connection’. - Paras could buy a smart phone with internet plan - Paras could opt not to get an internet connection or smart phone with internet plan - The player can install an internet modem when in buy or build mode and the paras have to ‘activate internet connection’ (and possibly choose a package/speed) by interacting with the modem and pay a couple of paradimes The above options would be preferable to me opposed to having to do nothing and there be internet in every household and on every para/phone. The same actions could apply to a TV, by the way. But I would also understand if that’s too complicated or too realistic for your tastes.

Zedef

I'm looking forward to all of it but the biggest ones for me I think are the personalities, skills and how the paras will behave because of them. I love having all kinds of different characters and personalities walking about in my games and interacting. I'm also looking forward to the innovation you may bring. I've already seen stuff from you all that I never even thought about so I'm guessing you have a few more surprises up your sleeves for us. Personally, I suspect there's been at least a little work done on some of the things you've listed above and those are your some of your secrets 😜

Kymberlee86

YES!! goals 1 - 6 are exactly what i want from a game. :)

Stewby

One thing I'm sure of, after playing a certain other game recently, is that it'd be nice if traits, likes/dislikes and stuff like that were kept separate. Like, "Loves the Outdoors", "Art Lover", or "Foodie", etc. shouldn't be traits, because they're interests/preferences.

flystad

I’m excited for lore! I love when the playables in the world have their own stories going on and then I can pick up where they left off or do whatever I want. I also can’t wait to see how their personalities will affect the town and their lives. I’m hoping for some drama and some chaos lol Also I wonder what will the wants/wishes/fears etc. system will be like. I really do hope there are a multitude of wants that paras can roll (and on another note, tied to their personalities) and can involve custom content. Like for instance, I have a bunch of custom careers in the sims and they’ll never roll a want to get a job in that custom career so I hope it’s possible to have paras roll a wish for a custom career or to buy a custom content item. Or maybe it’ll be easy for us more experienced players to customize our own wants/fears?

Michael Green

I am interested to see how good the autonomy of the paras will be because I like to have a somewhat hands off playstyle.

Kieran

Animations: A loooong while back, I played World of Warcraft, and they promised us we could design our own dances for our characters with a premade set of animations in a "dance studio" (but it never came through while I was playing the game -- it still might not exist). I'd love to have that option for something like walking style -- things that aren't interactions with objects or other Paras and wouldn't be too messed up by a little tweaking but would enhance immersion into the world.

Beth Anne

Answer to the poll: All of the above

What most excites me about Paralives is the opportunity for depth of gameplay. I'm not as excited about having a million different activities for my Paras to do, as much as I am about how rich the storyline and gameplay can be when I focus on one particular thing. In a conversation with two Paras, I would love to have them be able to talk in depth about a certain subject and ask each other questions, rather than jump around saying random things that don't mean anything. If my Para is interested in painting, I'm excited to see everything they can do in relation to that - buying new brushes? Having an exhibit of their work at the local gallery? Experimenting with different styles? I like creating stories about character growth, including goals, setbacks, and relationships, and so far it seems like Paralives is going to be great for that. I don't know that those specific examples above are all things that are going to be in the game, but I know that the community has made it clear that realism and depth are important to us, and I really feel like the team has been listening, and has the same values. That, and maintaining that respectful relationship between the players and the developers, is what I love so much about Paralives and why I am so excited to play it.

Lane Brettschneider

Interactions: I'm guessing you won't really have violence, or if you do it would be more like the Sims' cartoony "fights" where no one is actually hurt. (Tbh, I'd LOVE for violence to have physical consequences for Paras, but others might not.) I'm curious about other ways to skirt past the violence issue. Getting arrested for stealing (I said somewhere else I'd love to see a crime and punishment expansion someday -- it'd be interesting for criminals to be able to go to jail and build up a criminal network there), and on the other side to play cops trying to catch criminals in the act. Your town could make $$ off of tickets and fines (like for not picking up after your dog or parking by a fire hydrant). *happy sigh* Man, I love playing with town management. [edit] Oh! And maybe criminal or vigilante gangs with matching jackets and specialized graffiti! We could totally build a West Side Story. I'm getting ahead of myself. Ignore the West Side Story bit.

Beth Anne

I'm definitely looking forward to how you guys manage the time management in the game. I feel as if other developers don't quite get it right, and there's never enough time between struggling with a job, skill gaining, hobbies and fun things. I'm also still hoping for weather effects of rain water running down exposed windows. 😅

Elizabeth Gonzales

Being able to not play some members of a large household would be nice. :)

Beth Anne

"Personality, skills, needs" is also my #1.

Beth Anne

I think having following lights be a regular thing would fall into the too-realistic category. It would be good for a driver's ed mini-game. What would also be cool would be to have lights just aesthetically and then have the Paras autonomously choose to run them based on their mood or personality. But that's assuming cars have object collision detection, which could have mixed results. Using Sims as an example, routes had to be clear for vehicles to go in Sims 2, but loitering NPCs sometimes prevented the carpool from leaving in time. The next two games clip right through which removes that issue but takes you out of the experience a bit (and then in 4 roads are entirely cosmetic).

BonaparteBardithion .

More in-depth and inclusive gameplay and customizations. Having more control over the look (colors, textures, etc.) Open World Customization of lot sizes that aren't limited to boxy 4-point rectangular shapes (can bend around corners or be angled)! Fresh new look, feel, design, art style! Putting my own actual art and photography on my para's walls. Smoother animations with more realistic movements. (Sébastien and his son made me die of pure joy). Personalities that matter and impact gameplay... if I make a shy person, I want them to react like that in social interactions with strangers and acquaintances they haven't gotten to know (assuming that's not too complicated development-wise). If I direct a shy para to go up to a group and talk, they may not listen, may hesitate, may walk slowly and awkwardly, may walk up and listen a bit before participating in conversation, may be more easily embarrassed, uncomfortable or anxious in that situation... ect.

Melissa Toothman

I would love a quest log! I agree that directions/instructions on how to actually fulfill the quest should be present because it's frustrating when you want to do something but ... can't. I'd like there to be little quests avaliable in the game. And maybe some subtle interaction/playable options too. Like with fishing, maybe there's an option to actively fish if you're actively playing the fishing para? Or getting a quest to find X and getting something from it. That made me think that it could also be fun to have a decisions pop up for the paras too (sort of like in the Sims where they play out a scenario and you have to choose how to react and that could lead to getting a promotion or something else). So we can feel more involved in their day to day.

Christine Harvey

Please. Is there anything that we are NOT interested in really?? This game is what we all have been waiting for (still waiting) So I am just excited about everything that brings. I would like to be able to choose difficulty or like, how "detailed" you want the play to be. And also, how many in the household that you play :) Cause if we had 10 family members, that would take away the detail from all of their lives making us just keep them alive. Wich would take away alot of the fun. And having small households is probobly not for everyone :)

Kiiiwiii

I would love if you could have a large household but only have control of one para. Like the chose to control all of the Paras in your household or just one (or a few).

Justice

I'd love to be able to drive around town with my own car/bike/roller quad skates, etc. Possibly even creating a driving skill that increases while following traffic lights. Not sure if its something that can be done (at least not on the Sims) but I consider it'd add added value to the game to cover another simulated aspect of life. PS: please excuse my english, not my mother tongue.

I am so excited for this game and love all the updates you share! I'm so excited about being able to create paras that feel unique and seeing how they interact with the rest of their environment. I like how you're working on a balance between realistic and fun. I agree that some of the more intricate details (internet example) could clog the game up.

Christine Harvey

I have to say that what I am most excited about in the game is everything! I love the idea of moving dolls! I love the idea of creating a movie from the actions: music videos, short stories, or reenactments of scenes. I love escaping my reality, my body, my life, to a world with a better me and better environment. Too much negativity today? Paralives will end my day on the best note because I get to see the Paras I love or get the vengeance I crave on an unsuspecting Para I created to represent someone. I love that I can become a career woman climbing to the top of the corporate ladder as a single Para and still find love and family time among my hectic schedule. I love that I can be promiscuous! I love that I can be a layabout without any ambition and still manage to figure out my life.

Serasmiu

I'm very enthused about the building mechanics in game. It's refreshing to have so much control over shape and form of the environments

Greg Savage

Love the live mode goals. It will definitely be a challenge in many ways, but I'm delighted that y'all are willing to tackle it. Thank you. I adore that you'll work to find a balance between gameplay that's realistic and gameplay that's way too much realism. I 100% appreciate this. Reading through your goals, I'd like to suggest something. One of the things that made me wholly give up on mountain climbing in The Sims was that I couldn't find the beginner's climbing area because a) the area was too large, b) there were too many possible places for it to be, c) much of the area wasn't even usable, just decorative, and d) there were no tools in the game to help me find it. So my suggestion is a directional marker when playing in live mode when you want to go somewhere or find something specific. (Ex: if the Sims wishes system tagged a location on your map when you pin the wish, such as another person and the correct dialogue choice for the wish "tell a joke") What if Paras had a wee quest log instead of wishes? Like if there's a festival and you want to go, you can pop that on your log and it gives you directions or something. (I'm thinking of The Forgotten City, because I just played that. XD) Since you're working on actions, and thus presumably animation, I always liked the IDEA the Sims had of making different walk styles, but I hated the implementation. Having everyone in town move exactly the same way is a bit creepy, but I would have much preferred subtle differences to its "jaunty," "jaunty v.2," and "really tired." I just want variations of stride, or those common walking quirks like hands in pockets or only looking at the ground, and variations based on mood (very happy might lead to skipping in someone with the personality for it? hint hint, that's me).

Beth Anne

This makes a great point of the fact that Sims 4 feels lifeless. Like playing with dolls, even though my sims supposedly have traits, it doesn’t really matter and they don’t really have much actual character or personality to them, it’s just projecting onto them versus it actually being part of the game.

Toria Stock

Thrilled to see y'all are starting on live mode! I can't wait to see what this game grows into! Keep up the good work! <3

Katie Bellissimo

I agree! It's one thing if a para pees themselves because I'm having them do too many other things and they can't get a minute to go to the bathroom, but it's another for them to just pee themselves because I forgot to tell them to do anything and they'd rather autonomously stare at a painting or read a book.

Katie Bellissimo

I am so looking forward to this game! One of the things I love about the Sims is the modding community, allowing me to customize a great game and tailor it into exactly what I want it to be. Do you have any ideas about what coding languages someone would need to become proficient in to create gameplay mods for Paralives?

Charlotte Harland

Hello Alex! Thanks for these exciting updates. I'm sorry... But I just checked all the boxes but the last one... xD It's just that every aspects you mention here are elements I think everyone would want for sure, and it doesn't feel "right" to not check them, haha. But if I REALLY had to prioritize, considering how I spent my time on similar "life simulator" games everyone know well, I would say - "Personality, skills, needs" - "jobs", - (then slightly behind) "Actions and interactions around the house and town" are the main 3 elements/gameplay mechanic my play would use. To your question : "What are you most excited about regarding Paralives’s live mode?" I would say I'm most interested into knowing how you will handle the Parafolk living world. To take "The Sims" as example (yes, always them, but it's normal. They are mainly the only "life simulator" game to a big scale on the market... before you came around that is... ;-) ), their first 2 main titles (as well as the last one) were in an "instanced" world, with each household (or public space) running alone outside of the rest of the world. While "The Sims 3" was fully open-world. As far as I know, people are really craving more for open-world. Though, it obviously brings to the table the performance issue (and optimization). What will be Paralive philosophy around this ? Will it be a full openworld game, semi-open world, only instanced area ? And, will other parafolks outside of the player control but also outside of the player's view, live their lifes on free will (and freewheel) ?

Rémy DI-FANT

C'est vraiment plaisant de toujours lire vos avancée. J'adhère à tout vos détails et des liens qu'il pourrait avoir dans chaque interactions : - comme dans RED DEAD RÉDEMPTION 2 (RDR2)j'espère que les actions des Paras auront un réel effet sur le gaming et même sur les PNJ qui pourront répliquer. - qu'on aura pas tout à disposition et qu'il faudra les acheter pour les avoir en stock : par exemple lors de la création on pourra avoir certes des vêtements indéfinis mais après choisir 1 ou 2 tenues dans ce mode On n'aura que ceux-ci dans le live. Pour ajouter du fun et éviter de s'ennuyer au bout de 15 min comme dans S4. Merci à vous pour le travail que vous fournissez et have a great week-end

Landine

I'd love it if interactivity is balanced along different ages -- for example, a para would have an equal amount of stuff to do whether they're a child, teen, adult, or elder.

Petra Elliott

I'm excited to see all that for sure, but im super thrilled to see what the team will acomplish regarding to personality. In the lattest simulation game(forth of his franchise) one of the things that make most unsattisfied with the game its that every person you create in the game seems the same, they have traits but that doesnt impact much and for me it takes all the fun away. I remenber having a lot of fun in previous games dealing with the consequences and flaws of the traits and honestly I miss that a lot.

Ellen

OMG you are going to work on this right now????? This is exciting!! Good luck,❤❤

Daniel Asraf

I would like to see emphasis or at least attention to details for Parafamily activities, celebrations, and important events like weddings, childbirth, funerals, and simply going on a picnic, surfing, movies, eating out and family mealtimes. I look forward to gameplay being unified among all attending like the family members and invited guests and for the associated gameplay be seamless, coordinated, and actually work. My faith in the Paralives team runs high and I anticipate exciting gameplay ahead! Thanks in advance for being the wonderful and creative team that you are!! ❤

tey711

I'm really just hoping for more intelligent Paras with actual survival instincts. I don't want to have to micromanage them constantly because they're too dumb to save their own lives. Sure, it might be funny once, but that's the key word: ONCE...and most of us have already "been there, done that". What's the point of autonomy if they won't eat or go to the bathroom or go to bed? Everything beyond simple intelligent autonomy at this point would just be a bonus.

Maiden Minnesota

To quote my nephew "yes"

Tee W

This is definitely a good point!!! Don't get me wrong, I love dogs and cats, but they're usually the only pets you can have. I'd love to see characters walking around with a pet boa constricter or guinea pigs

Natashya Moran

Yes, or will they be completely inept at survival and set the entire lot on fire and kill everyone on it? Will they let themselves starve to death, or pee all over the floor? I'm hoping for more intelligent Paras with actual survival instincts. I don't want to have to micromanage them constantly because they're too dumb to save their own lives. Sure, it might be funny once, but that's the key word: ONCE.

Maiden Minnesota

Interact with ALL THE THINGS! [insert meme here] You can be damn sure I will be clicking on a lot of stuff to see what I can do in-game. As for pathfinding, I got the idea of Paras stepping over puddles - it might be too resource-intensive, but a neat idea nonetheless.

Vera Ohlsen

could u guys bring back the old font. that was something i really liked about the gui. a good example of this is in the name customization video. in the latest videos the font was a bit too basic? it would be fun to bring back the old goofy font.

sagebye

I’m excited about every single part of Paralives, not just the live mode. I can’t wait to see the town our paras would settle at, especially what name it would be!

Julio Saliba

Progression for sure (kind of encompassing a couple of options from the poll). Including personality, experiences, and, as Toria mentioned, progression outside the household. The the best part about sims 2 for me is that characters had unique memories and life milestones and that the decisions you make matter. And from the sims 3 that life carried on outside your household. The thing that always is the cause for me putting the Sims 4 down every time is the break in immersion when I realized nothing I do really matters--that the characters don't have personality and really I'm projecting onto them like dolls and that's not really a simulation game (imo). I'm so excited for Paralives and to be apart of the Patreon and watch this unfold and take shape!!

Kristen Rew

I'm interested in para autonomy. If I don't intervene in my paras' lives, will they make interesting choices and interactions on their own? If I set autonomy to max (hopefully there will be a way to do that), will they do activities in town, find jobs, flirt and fall in love, etc on their own? I'm sure that would be hard to program but watching the paras' crazy choices is what I love most in a simulation game.

Slippers

I am hoping for a wider variety of pets than the simple "cat and dog" scenario. My favorite animals I have shared residency with have been goats and snakes! You never see them in the companion animal spotlight in life sim games. If you do see a snake, it is a bland one animation tank (like the frogs in SIMs 4) with no interaction besides "view". Let me love my scaley babies!

Newgasse

Hey, could we have some secret places in town that we can only acces after doing a series of steps? The Sims 4 has at least 3 secret places that I know of, but when I get there they are so boring... that really left me with an itch to scrath in this department. Thank you ❤

Pedro Lima

I think a cool potential way around apartments (at least in the beginning or if they are never feasible) would be the ability to put small lots *directly* next to each other (or on top of each other even!?).

For me it's about the generations and growing up to have legacies! In other games like the Sims 3, that was my absolute favorite content that they added to the game. Adding more things to do with family, more options for babies, toddlers, children, and teens. My favorite things were daycare and teaching teens to drive. It's such important things that I feel there can be with family, and as someone who didn't have the most wonderful upbringing I would love to be able to play a game and have things like I would have wanted. Too bad unless I play that one game you can't find things like that, I am so excited for Paralives!

Queen_Starfly

I am so excited!!!

pekeniax

100% agree with this

Jack Eldridge

Something that is really important to me is feeling progression OUTSIDE of my para and even my para’s household. For example, something HUGELY lacking in the Sims is if I decide to have three kids, and then only play as one child when they are adults, the other two kids won’t get married, get jobs, have kids of their own without my intervention. The world needs to be growing and changing and progressing without my intervention otherwise it’s incredibly boring and tedious.

Toria Stock

will there be apartments at launch? or will we get that later with a new world?

sagebye