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New Community Brainstorming! (Patreon)

Published:
2021-02-19 15:06:54
Edited:
2021-02-19 21:00:09
Imported:
2021-08

Content

Hello!

New Monthly Community Brainstorming: Aging  (For Patrons only, please don't share for a few days)

The last monthly community brainstorming about relationships went really well and it was super helpful for us to read all your ideas and get your perspective on many subjects! We're excited to start this new community brainstorming about aging, life stages and growing up! As you know, we mostly worked on adults until now but in the near future, we'll start working on other life stages. So we'd like to brainstorm with you and hear different ideas you might have about aging. Ask yourself the following questions and feel free to write what you have in mind in the comment section of this post! We'll bring this brainstorming to the public next week on Discord and Reddit.

  • Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives?
  • Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't?
  • Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage?
  • Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day?


Aging Poll  (For Patrons only. Please don't share)

Since the very start of the Paralives project, a lot of people have been asking us if the characters will grow up gradually instead of by fixed steps and stages (baby, toddler, child, teen, etc). Today, we would like to know your opinion in the poll below: If you prefer the idea of gradual aging over life stages, which one of these reasons would you say matches yours more?

Thank you!

Alex

Comments

Anonymous

A big one. Non object babies! People want to take their babies on walks in strollers and have them be babysat by grandparents. No one wants the object babies!

Anonymous

It would be awesome to see them grow over time instead of having stages of life. But I wonder if this would also mean that we couldn’t make a Para of any age when we make new households/families. I think it’d be great to see them build skills and interests as they grow!

NHFoodie

It looks like the poll options got split a little funny. One of the options seems like it belongs with the entry above it?

Anonymous

Can we have more than one? These are all great ideas to play around with.

Anonymous

I feel like asking for gradual aging is asking for too much. I'd rather have stages because it's easier on the developers. What real benefit is there to me personally to see my para age gradually? I'm not in this for "realism" and I don't want to make things more complicated for the team. Just something for others to consider.

Anonymous

One thing I really liked in the Sims 3 was letting your toddlers play with certain stuff which would influence their skill gain later on. Maybe something like that could be implemented.

Anonymous

I’m fine with staged aging but with that I would like to see gradual. Not a lot but things such as one day my adult para would look in the mirror and find a gray hair or a wrinkle.

Lenny

Baby, toddler, child, pre teen, teen, young adult, adult, elder

Anonymous

I personally love the idea of gradual aging. It doesn't quite make sense to suddenly POP from one life stage to another and suddenly you're very different (new skills & abilities). I like the idea of there only being perks for certain ages, but would prefer it be with an age range rather than a life stage

Lenny

Teens should get acne if they don’t eat healthily

Anonymous

i’d love for my paras to slowly age and change appearance over time, along with that just somewhere that says there age and depending on lifespan every so often you’d celebrate your birthday? so like 1st birthday, 5th, 10th, 16th, 18th, 21st etc

Anonymous

I think that gradual aging is a neat idea, but would it be too ambitious? How would you craft paras on different life stages? And I love the ideas of different skills and abilities for the different stages, but would that be difficult with gradual aging? Very cool ideas that I’d love to see, but I wouldn’t mind life stages if that made it easier for the devs.

aza

I'm freaking out like crazy, yes having Paras age slowly over time to the point that you almost don't realize how quickly they've grown! And having time be fixable (ie, long vs short game-to-rl time) that determines how many days between each birthday. Or in the case where time is going very rapidly, maybe they only celebrate milestone birthdays like 1st bday, 5th, 13th, 21st, 30th, etc. And maybe makes the milestone birthdays customizable as well? Like in my culture turning 15 is a big deal but in others the age is 16. Same with some actions becoming unlockable after passing certain ages...oh the modding possibilities!

Michael

I think gradual aging and life stages could still work together. There might be a life stage “teen” where the game classifies the para as that and there are specific interactions and activities they can do. But they gradually look older and have an age that increase until they get classified into the next stage. Also. I love the idea of having a “age” you can view. Like “18.” Except only spending 7 in game days (13 to 19) as a “teen” seems too short. Maybe add a multiplier like 1.5 times in game days equals human years. So a para gains a year every 1.5 days

Anonymous

I would love to see baby carrier options so our Paras can bring them places while still being able to use both hands!

Anonymous

I'd love gradual aging but I do worry that it'd be a big challenge implementing it in-game

Anonymous

gradual aging sound amazing, but if i had to pick life stages they'd be the following: baby, toddler, preteen, teenager, young adult, adult, late adult, elder. the young adult life stage always seems way too long to me in the sims 4 (realistically isn't a young adult between 18-25?). so i think having an adult + a late adult (aka an adult in their 50-60s but not yet elderly), would make more sense. for activities i'd love for teens to have proms, high school graduations, mood changes and growth spurts. maybe adults could get a midlife crisis! kids could have higher energy levels that also decrease faster and could be able to have fun just from their imagination even without toys and the like. strollers could be added so parents could go on walks with their babies and toddlers. these are just some ideas from the top of my head, but the topic of parafolks aging is really exciting!

Anonymous

I'd love an option to ignore aging all together

Anonymous

I think it would be awesome to have them age over time, however, I really do want to know which "age stage" they're in as well. I also like birthdays so if we don't have age stages, I'm not sure how birthdays would work?

Anonymous

i like the idea of life stages being gradual. a para will change and grow over time but there will still be a progress bar depicting what stage of their life they are in. for example a child will slowly get taller over time rather than BOOM growing 3 feet in a day to become a teen. i think that would be a happy medium so players can still keep track of their paras ages while still having a seamless aging function. just my thoughts :)

Maiden Minnesota

I liked being able to bathe my babies, put them in a swing or take them for a walk in a stroller, like in TS3. I also liked having to teach my toddlers to walk and having interactive toys they can play with to teach them other basic skills. Now, I can only assume gradual aging would be difficult, but then again, maybe not. I did have a mod in TS3 that allowed my toddler, child and teen Sims to slowly grow taller as they got older. Nothing but their height changed. If a modder could incorporate that into the game, then maybe gradual aging isn't as difficult as it would appear to a non-developer.

Anonymous
>>53965529

Generally acne, in the sims 2 your teens would get acne and using an acne cream for two days or so could get rid of it. That is way more realistic than a permanent face detail!

Anonymous

I think the gradual aging thing would be sooooo interesting if you can implement it! It would really set you apart from the Sims, and personally would feel much more immersive and help with making the Parafolk feel 'real' and connected to the world y'know? However, I do think that there should be 'set' ages too, like they gradually age between 'set' ages. So you can still make Parafolk that are a 'baby' 'toddler' 'child' 'teen' 'young adult' 'adult' 'elder' but they physically age gradually between the life stages. So they are labelled 'child' for a say ten in game days, but throughout those days they are aging gradually up to teen. That sort of thing :) Would you also implement this with animals too? I would assume animals would age much faster than the Parafolk from puppies to oldies.

Sophie Goodman-Merel

Baby, toddler, little kid, big kid, preteen, teenager, young adult, adult, old adult, elder. Because I want so many of these life stages, gradual aging would be better than sudden changes. That being said, birthdays should still be a big celebration! Kids should be able to make friends faster, teenagers should learn skills faster but their sleep need should go down faster, and young adults should have their needs go down the slowest. I also think elders should need the least amount of sleep. I want school events ranging from recess to prom to graduation to be accessible to players! Play dates set up by parents for kids to help them make friends and being able to play pretend are such would be so cute and fun! For preteens-teenagers I want realistic puberty hardships like acne and bullying and gossip, as well as having favorites that help them make bonds with others (fandom culture).

Anonymous

In terms of skills and stuff for different life stages, the main thing I would say is I think Sims 3 Generations did that the best. Teaching teens how to drive, kids playing dress up and make believe, elders with canes, etc. I’m sure you can put your own twists on it to make it unique. I love strollers, tree houses, teen parties, after school activities, prom, wedding showers, bachelorette parties. Oh! Can baby showers be a thing? That’d be so cute!

Joanna Hinds

I would like to see the stages: baby, toddler, child, preteen, teen, adolescent, young adult, adult and elder. I know it’s a lot but when you think about it, in real life that’s how it goes. I would love to see gradual changes but it’s not a deal breaker as long as there aren’t short and limited life stages that make HUGE jumps in life. I also would like if birthdays weren’t attached to aging. I would like to celebrate my paras birthday once a year without there being a huge jump closer to death.

sm duta

I think l'd prefer life stages because I relate so much to them. There's a before and after 18(teens) , a before and after 35(total adult) - not only physically but culturally too. I don't know if it's like that for everyone but it is in my experience.

Lisa Sarver

I like the skill leveling mechanic used in games like Skyrim. As you perform a specific skill, you automatically level up in that skill. Each person/Para is different, so they would only level up in skills they actually use. Some skills may not be open to very young/very old Paras, as in real life. So age would figure in a little too.

Diamond Nicole

Gradual aging seems hard to do, but it sounds amazing! I think it would be cool to show para's actual age instead of showing how many days are left before a para ages, and when they celebrate their birthdays, certain ages will show subtle changes to the paras. Maybe that could be a way to show gradual aging? But I wouldn't mind having set specific ages like tods, kids, preteen ect.

Anonymous

You can make age stages with gardual aging sliders.. so every stage have it own growing slider until the para grow to the next stage that sounds cool we can make every para at specific age period. This way we can make two young adults with different ages. I hope I explained well😅

Anonymous

If we're going to have stages, would it be possible to not have the teens look like mini adults and more like teens?

Anonymous

My ideas for aging: Gradual aging is awesome, and would be a huge leg up on other life simulation games, but not a necessity. If aging is gradual, please have baby bumps in pregnancies be gradual too! Gradual aging would be awesome because teenagers are all so different, so maybe certain teens would mature faster than others (at random) and unlock different actions at different rates (such as dating related things). NO object babies, please. Sims 2 babies are lovely. I think it would be cool to see differences between a 6 year old child and 11 year old child, both in looks and actions, instead of them being completely the same. I also think it's very important that there is a young adult life stage, where paras can opt to get a college degree or not. I don't like how in Sims 2 the young adult life stage is for college students only. There should also be a "middle aged" stage where paras still look like adults, but lose fertility. I think it would be cool if paras lost their fertility at different rates as well, like how I suggested that teens do not all mature at the same rate. Same goes for graying hair and gaining wrinkles. Thanks!! I'm excited to see where this goes

Jana Mahlich

I’d love having gradual aging in game. With this, we could have a toggle in Paramaker “young—-old” and we can just drag it to the age desired! If that makes sense? Lol

Anonymous

I think that every life stage or life span (if you decide on gradual aging) should have its own perks. Like babies lying in a crib and babbling to get attention or toddlers asking their parents to wrestle together. Older adults worrying or partying over not having children yet (kind of like a midlife crisis) and elders that hat walk with a walking aid and having positive moodlets from a happy life. For me it is also important, that all Paras can interact with each other in a specific way. Elders arguing with their adult children about their parenting skills oder Teens getting annoyed by their younger siblings. Not only should the different life stages have their own skills but they should be an overall generational connection :)

Anonymous

Here are my ideas for life stages and approximate ages: Baby/newborn (0) Toddler (1-3) Child (4-9) Preteen (10-12) Teen (13-18) Young adult (19-29) Adult (30-44) Mature adult (45-64) Senior citizen (65-79) Elder (80+) I feel like the adult phase is too glossed over in other games, when there's actually a big difference between 20, 30, 40, 50, etc in real life... and an equally big difference between 65 and 85. It's weird to break down the first 20 years of someone's life into multiple stages and then rush through the rest.

Anonymous

It would be amazing to see gradual aging! Paras suddenly being taller during puberty, babies slowly getting bigger without you even realizing it at first 😯, it's such a realistic aspect of life- the changing of a person happens slowly. But I would like to see maybe life stages within the Paramaker, if you want to pre-build a family before playing

Anonymous

Gradual aging that slows its rate after the Adult stage would be amazing! And the occasional birthday for when they’re “officially” in a new life stage like 2 y/o (toddler), 5 y/o (young kid (thats when kids begin school in USA)), 8 (older kid),10 (pre-teen), 13/14 (teen (14 is when kids start highschool in USA)), etc.

Becky

Seeing paras age slowly instead of life stages would be really cool. But I'd rather have life stages if gradual aging will significantly decrease gameplay quality. If we do life stages, I'd love to see baby, toddler, child, pre-teen,teen, young adult, adult, elder. Also, I don't know how you guys will do traits, but I'm not a fan of the sims 4 model where you stop gaining new traits after YA. Adults and elders learn and change too! Thanks for listening guys.

Anonymous
>>53965632

That would be dope, especially for people like my friend who use Sims to act out stories for her blog

Anonymous

I think that for gameplay, having distinct stages with unique gameplay makes a lot of sense. If it can be managed, though, I love the idea of aesthetic aging happening gradually. One stage it might be fun to add that I haven't seen in many life sims would be something like Middle Age! As for gameplay elements, one thing I think TS4 nailed in a pretty satisfying way was the Parenthood pack--I really love the idea of parental interactions and "Toddler skill" objects that can set kids on a good course later in life. Like some other people have mentioned, inter-generational gameplay would be a really fun addition to enrich the family experience! Things like grandparents babysitting grandkids, maybe even spoiling them a little bit! Edited to add: Also, like some people are saying: more baby and toddler interactions! Would love to see things like playmats/tummy time for babies, changing tables and maybe even baby food? A step between milk/formula and solid foods could gel well with gradual aging.

Anonymous

Gradual aging sounds neat and all, but I prefer knowing the age of my parafolk. Perhaps the solution should be to implement more life stages, rather than gradual aging. So, as someone above stated, adding "late adult" stage, where they will have some gray hairs, instead of just jumping from adult to elder and going full gray, full arthritis over night. Also, isn't there a real-life category split from newborn to infant to toddler? I don't know the difference, personally, but maybe that could be an option? I feel like infants can learn to crawl and walk, but they don't really start talking till toddler stage... maybe? And I agree there should be another step between child and teenager. Child is really anywhere from 4-10, and a lot changes during that time in the real world. I always thought it was a bit weird that in the Sims, the child goes from looking 8 to suddenly looking 17....

Anonymous

I would like the paras to have a specific age, and instead of creating stages like "toddler, teen and adult" have them age gradually, so the age moves up slowly, and at some set ages, have them transition between the more common stages like the ones I mentioned. Example: you create a para you want and make them 16 years old, they're then classified as a teen, they age gradually and you see their age move up slowely, 17, 18, 19, and then when they turn 20 a transition moment occurs, and from that moment on they're classified as a young-adult, then at like 30 again, but with adult, and so on and so forth. This would be a combination of gradually ageing and the set stages, which in my opinion would be a great middle ground.

Anonymous

My fiancé also had the idea, since it’s a fictional world anyway, if ages just went like 1-toddler 2-young kid 3-older kid 4-pre-teen, etc. so you wouldn’t have to keep track of all the in-between ages

Anonymous

QUESTION: Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? ANSWER: Baby (0-1), toddler(2-3), pre-schooler (3-5), child (5-10), tween (11-12), teen (13-19) , young adult (20-29), adult (30-49), young elder (50-65 because you’re completely different at 55 than you are at 85) and elder (70+). QUESTION: Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? ANSWER: Toddlers and children have imaginary friends. Toddlers and children have the ability to see and sense ghosts and paranormal activity more than adults, tweens and teens can fanboy/fangirl over their fave celebs/singers/show etc. Advice given from elders should be more poignant and effective than any other life stage. QUESTION: Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? ANSWER: I’d personally prefer stages, but honestly, gradual aging sound amazing as well!

Anonymous

I think gradual aging could be cool but I personally like to play in the same life stage for a long time and I'm not sure if that'd still be possible then. For example I wouldn't want my toddlers to grow old automatically when I really wanna play a family with a toddler. So if gradual aging becomes a thing I hope it will be optional to a degree with options to stop or slow it down :)

Jana Mahlich

It’d be really cool if the elders don’t die at a set age, but rather depending on their lifestyle! Also including underlying health conditions (genetical health conditions as well, if that is to come in the game) thank you for your hard work!

Anonymous

I would be fine with Life Stages. Baby, Toddler, Adult, Elder.

Anonymous
>>53965876

I love the idea of some teens being more mature than others, but rather than it be random, it could be based on certain personality traits and experiences (:

Anonymous

Not everyone is aging the same way in real life, so I'd like the possibility to make things happen before or after the "normal" age. For example : having your paras' hair turning gray early, or a late onset of acnee. It would be very interesting to see some small differences, based on genetic and environment, like we can see in real life ^^

Court12413

Functioning babies, toddlers, kids, preteens, teenagers, young adults, adults, middle aged, elders

Tini

It would be awesome to see them grow over time instead of having stages of life. I think it’d be great to see them build skills and interests as they grow!

Anonymous

I think the best thing would be a sort of hybrid approach between gradual aging and life stages. So make Parafolk age gradually in terms of appearance and give them an age in the form of a number. Make it so that one year of aging is 2-4 days or something, or perhaps make this customizable by the player. But then maybe designate certain years as “milestones” that act as cutoffs designating when certain age-unique skills, features,and interactions appear and disappear, and these milestones can act as days when birthday parties can be thrown like in other life sims. Here is a sample outline: 0-1: Infant, self explanatory 2-5: Toddler, learning basic skills like talking, walking, potty training, socializing, maybe they go to daycare or nursery school rabbit holes. 6-9: Child, similar to children in other life sims. Maybe they have lifetime aspirations that informs their daily goals but it is highly fluid. 10-12: Pre-Teen, this could be when Parafolk first start getting serious crushes, start dealing with puberty, dealing with mood/personality swings, etc, and can start really honing in on hobbies and whatnot. 13-17: Teenagers, this is when they go to high school, learn to drive, and can get involved in serious relationships and is when they start to settle in on long term life goals 18-24: Young Adult, this is when they would go to college and try and get their life together just to realize that nobody knows what on earth they’re really doing with their life. And then maybe have more milestones at regular intervals like at age 35, 45, 55, 65 to mark end of fertility, mid-life crises, retirements, etc.

Court12413
>>53965302

It looks odd like there should be two polls with different answers. I have one poll and all the answers which dont fit together

Jana Mahlich

Some kid paras should grow earlier or later than others!! An interaction that only occurs between kids/teens should be: teasing about each other’s heights if the kid is particularly short or tall. Also! Please have one of the interactions between kid para and adult para be “wow you’ve grown so much!” Haha come on who hasn’t heard that irl

Anonymous

I think that something that is really important is the elder life stage. People tend to not like playing elders as much as other life stages. Give more for elders to do! Have them babysit grandchildren, have senior outings with friends, get new goals and things to focus on.. I can't think of much now, but there should definitely be specific perks for elders that other life stages don't have

EaselEar

Gradual aging is not something I'm expecting, honestly 😳 it certainly would be interesting, though I'm worried about it getting muddled easily. Like, when is a Para an adult? At 18 'years'? Then, would time have to be expressed in literal years? But then the seasons would have to change very fast to keep it dynamic rather than a slow grind... ect ect, you get my concerns

Mari R.
>>53966490

yes i love this! this is exactly what I had in mind haha i had just written this "i feel like paras could grow gradually inside each stage?like when they are children they would grow gradually from idk 6-10. then they would have a birthday to become a pre teen and would grow slowly from 10-13 or something like that. some stages would be bigger than others" but you said it better!

Anonymous

I'm not sure which pack it is in Sims, I think its probably parenthood, but theres like a phase thing that teens and children have and I think that would be cool if it was executed better. Also, I would love to have in depth relationships with the parents. Maybe when teens move out, parents feel empty nest syndrome. Also I think it would be cool if two paras dated and broke up then they're forever an "ex lover" or a "teen romance". As for elders, I would love it if there were individual death emotions. Like having someone be devastated they lost a spouse, or a child feeling lost because they lost their parent. Stuff like that! It's a lot to ask for though

Codi

It would be cool to do gradual aging over the course of a paras year. Let’s say each season is 7 days long so a para year is 28 days. A new born para is born on Wednesday Spring, so that new para would age to a toddler by the next spring Wednesday. Then 2 more para years go by and then the toddler is a child. Maybe 3 more para years the child turns to a teen. But in the settings we would be able to change how fast para grow. So maybe it takes a whole para year or maybe it takes two para weeks.

Anonymous
>>53965351

This is one of my favorite parts of family gameplay! I think a variety of toys for toddlers and kids that offer benefits or just unique gameplay effects would be really fun. Also, the ability to create playgrounds is pretty limited in TS4, would love to see some large scale objects like jungle gyms or sandboxes that could increase motor skills or creativity.

Amelia Holt

I'd love a clear difference in the appearance of teenagers and adults. I love the idea of gradual ageing, especially in children and teenagers (there is a clear difference between a 5 year old and 10 year old) and would definitely like emphasis on different features of different life stages. I'd like to see puberty (acne, body hair, boobs, etc.) in teens. I think it would be cool for different traits/personalities to effect how fast children and teens mature. I would also like to see more elder representation: walking sticks, health issues, maybe needing help with day to day activities as they get older.

Zacking16

Here's my idea, big text ahead i'm very sorry Babyhood: if you go for a gradual aging, maybe have a realistic evolution like "saying is first word" or "get up for the first time" so he learn over time how to do basic thing and not at a specific moment. Childhood: i would like to see the personality evolving on how they grow up (ex: if he don't have a lot of friend and don't interact with these friend often, the moment he arrive in like teenagehood he has way more higher chance of becoming a loner, or if he read a lot he become a bookworm ect...) because childhood is where our personalities develope the most. Teenagehood: they should be able to ask they parent to go out, do activites with they're friend on weekend, develope crush on someone, also where they start to question they sexualities I don't really have anything for adulthood since usually they are the one to get everything Elders: should be able to walk with cane or other way to help the movement, maybe have specific interaction like "talking about is young time or retired from a job" maybe sending them to a retired home? Anyway here's all my idea i hope it will give you some too, have a nice day and keep the excellent work ✌🏻

Elunæ

"Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day?" THAT would be so awesome! But only if it's possible to stop aging at any point.

Anonymous

I would love to have gradual aging, but I can imagine that would be difficult to achieve so I can accept stages. But maybe more stages than what the sims offers. Newborn, crawling baby (1 to 2 years) toddler (2 to 4 years), kindergarten age child (4 to 6 years) child (6 to 11), preteen (11 to 14), teen (14 to 18), young adult (18 to 25), adult (30 to 45) middle aged (45 to 60), retired (60 to 80), elder (80 to 100).

Serra Abak

I guess I'm in the minority here but I prefer life stages! Of course, I love simulation games to be realistic, but to a certain extent, I do want them game-ified because, well, it's a game. I feel that if they age without me noticing, it implies I won't notice so it won't add to my gameplay much. I think identity building is fun, so it's nice to be in a well-defined box or else it ends up too much like a sandbox? Though I think having an age that progresses within those life stages is a great idea.

Anonymous

I feel like this was a difficult poll to answer because there's some overlap in it, or at least the way I read it! I would love to see gradual aging where there are slow changes but I'd also like some kind of frame of reference like from the second option and the ability to start a new game with paras of any age. I wouldn't be as interested if all of my games required me to start with only adults.

Anonymous

As long as there's a way to turn off aging and/or do it manually. I never liked playing with natural aging because it went too fast for my gameplay.

Anonymous

I really like the idea of gradual aging. Distinct life stages perpetuates this myth people have in real life that "Oh no, two days until I'm 40! I have to live it up before I change forever!!" when in reality, there's no real difference between days there. You're the same, your life is the same, only a number changed. It'd be fun to see Paras change slowly over time. It will add a lot more variation to the gameplay. Will our Paras be able to ask other Paras how old they are?

Anonymous

Something I’d love to see if the ability to gain skills & interests at all stages. Like if a kid has a parent that’s into playing music, they have a natural attraction or aversion to that skill set just like a real kid would. I know this game doesn’t aim to be like the sims, etc - but I hate that kids and toddlers aren’t allowed to do so many things. I have a 2yr old cousin that I live with & all of the pandemic I’ve been watching his parents teach him to garden in the backyard. That’s the kind of realism I’d love to see - not so much in the way a body changes, rather the way external influences can affect a younger Paras personality, interests & skills gradually over time w different life stages.

Anonymous
>>53967004

I think you've nailed the life stage age ranges, I definitely think having more shorter life stages would be better than the big clunky ones in the Sims series.

Anonymous

If you can pull off the gradual aging I will forever be crying happy tears. So yes! YES!! If it’s possible, then go for gradual aging! If it’s not possible, it’ll be okay, as we’re used to the stages! Regarding lifestages: BABIES! Please, for the love of god, give us babies that interact like babies! Let us be able to sit and snuggle with them, take them out for a stroll in a PRAM when they are newborn, snuggle them up with blankets when taking a nap (not just a naked baby in a crib, like who would leave their baby freezing their ass of at nap time?) And most important of all! SIBLING interactions! Older siblings need to be able to snuggle on the floor with their newborn sister/brother and help momma bath the little one! Please please please, give babies the justice they never had in sims!! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 And also, really old people would be nice to see! Like a cute tiny 90 year old grandma, full of wrinkles, silver white hair and life experience! ❤️❤️

Faith Brightwell

For aging, I would love to have them age gradually over time. For me, it’s more realistic that way. However, I still really want to see the age differences between them. For example, telling the difference between a preteen and a teenager, or a young adult and a adult. Also an idea that I have, I was wondering in para maker if we have the opportunity to make babies from there as well. (Just thought that would be a cool feature :)) But like it said in the poll, I would still like to pick whatever age my para is. Maybe we could have a age slider in paramaker or something? I was also wondering if we could set the age time manually as well. I don’t want to feel rushed while I’m playing with my Paras and I feeling like having the ability to edit the time length of aging would be so helpful

Jana Mahlich

I’d rather have gradual gameplay but if we do get life stages, i’d like to have a nice variety: baby (0-1), toddler (2-5), kid (6-9), pre teen (10-12), teen (13-16), late teen (17-19), new adult/golden age lol (20-29), adult (30-45), late adult/ life crisis and 50s breakdown (46-55), pre senior (56-65), senior (66-80), elder (81+). I don’t mean to be picky, but if the adults don’t have as many stages as kids do, it makes the adults seem less important and I don’t want to be neglecting them in my game! Having many stages becomes much more realistic! Especially because all the adult phases are very different from each other in real life!

Anonymous

I desperately want to see pre-teens! I always felt like those three/four awkward years are never portrayed in any life simulator. Creating my younger brother for the past three years in games have been impossible!

Anonymous

The phrasing and alternatives are confusing and make me not able to answer the poll unfortunately.

Christine Harvey

I would love to see gradual aging, but I also like the idea of birthdays and to classify paras by age groups, so it's easier to understand Para friendships and relationships; whether that's by age (ex: 12 years old) or by life stage (ex: pre-teen). If there are life stages, I would want a large variety of stages so that the stages don't feel so ridged. Baby/Infant - babbling, learning to stand, learning to talk, etc. Toddler - continuing to learn to speak proficiently, walking/running, playing with toys, throwing tantrums/being mischievous Child - going go school, making friends, playing on playground sets, learning skills like reading and music, playing sports and similar activities Pre-Teen - having crushes, in middle school, school dances, beginning to question and understand themselves Teenager - trying to be more independent but still being young, learning to drive, dating, prom, thinking about college/university, etc, weekend and after-school jobs Young Adult - trade school/university/college, full-time work, marriage, kids, etc Adult - more maturity as an adult Middle-Aged - more maturity as an adult. More of a filler before elder. Some may consider retirement, etc Elder - using a cane or other help, reminiscing about the past, maybe living in a retirement home, active grandparent (if Para chooses) It would be nice to be able to set a "normal life span" for paras as well, but that each para doesn't need to perfectly confirm to this and their lives would impact their overall longevity.

Slippers

I voted for gradual aging but I normally play with aging turned off. I like to play slowly and I don't like my characters to start aging before I trigger it (if ever). I hope there will be the option to turn off aging or trigger when it happens.

Anonymous

1. Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? I agree with some others that stages that more closely mimic real life would be nice. Preteen, maybe middle aged. And I'd love to see some love given to elders. With life expectancy being what it is in real life, having elderly span one stage is not at all true to life. Gradual aging could be the best way to do it. 2. Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? This is probably a bit too AI to work, but it would be nice to see some differences in mental and creative abilities. An adult artist should have higher skills than a teen. An elder should have more wisdom than a young adult. 3. Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage? Toddlers should crawl before they can walk. It would be fun to see children and teens have some typical interactions with siblings. Adults with higher parenting skills would have an easier time dealing with toddler tantrums and teen rebelliousness. Children might learn a bit faster if taught lessons by grandparents. 4. Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? I like the idea of gradual aging. It would be nice if it was geared toward the individual in some ways. Maybe an adult that had a happy childhood might live longer. Perhaps a child that participated in community activities would get some perks as an adult. An adult that excelled in their career could have some advantages over those that didn't. A healthy diet might give an advantage in health as an elder. Basically I'm thinking of something that doesn't make every Para age in exactly the same way regardless of whether Paralives does gradual or stages based aging.

Anonymous

To speak to the gradual aging, I love this idea so much! When I had my kid (now 7 years old), I had no idea just how seemingly magical it would feel to see that she had "grown overnight" due to a growth spurt or that she had learned something about herself or others. Even her interactions with things around her shocks me as she continues to grow up. To experience that in a Para's life would be without measure. Just wow!

Anonymous

I was hoping to be able to pick more than one option on the poll. There are multiple things I would like to see, including gradual aging, gaining new skills and perks over time, a varied and realistic experience, and creating paras of a specific age!

Anonymous
>>53968412

Just breaking this up so it's not a wall of words... The stages I would love to see, specific to children (because I don't care so much about adult Paras right now) would be baby, toddler, small child, big kid, and teen. Beyond that, I will accept whatever is there. I Really want to see a difference between the small child and big kid life stages. Small children do things like get shy around strangers, go crazy when they get candy, lose focus when given directions, and (some) cry when their parents go to work. A big milestone is the first day of school for little ones; a milestone that made it apparent that I have a big kid on my hands is the independence. Big kids try to get out of doing things as they stop trying to please their parents as much as they used to, and they talk about more subjects and show the first struggles with identity. This is a good segue into being teenagers, who push boundaries in search of their truths.

AmorFati

I honestly would like for them to "age up weekly" and to see their actual ages (in weeks), with maybe every week being about a year (so a one week old Para would be equal to a one year old irl), and then maybe a birthday every year at the same "date", e.g. second day of spring (leap year birthday for all Paras, hooray!). Maybe if you can make seasons longer (like 2, 3 or 4 weeks) you can pick if you want your Para to age every week, or every season.

Anonymous

Please let the old paras really look old. I don't mind if it is gradual aging or livestages. But I would like to have birthday celebrations.

Anonymous

I've always wanted progressive aging! But I wasn't sure it was possible. Are you sure its realistic to accomplish?

Anonymous

I'd prefer gradual aging for sure in terms of appearance, so that families look more realistic and there can be a wide variety of different heights in the game. But for perks and things, there could be like "soft life stages" in terms of perks/abilities where Paras get the ability to be angsty in their teens, complain about younger generations when they're old, etc.

aza
>>53967616

omg yesss to the 90 year old grandma! It would be so nice to see people who are very old and watch paras with old grandparents instinctively go to help other elderly paras in need! It's kinda rude how perfectly healthy sims die of old age when they act like theyre in their 70s at most

Anonymous

These are all so good

Mari R.

For me, the reason is because gradual staging is way more realistic than jumping from a toddler to a 10 year old. like, that breaks the immersion a lot for me. as for the ages, i feel like it could be divided in shorter stages with gradual ages inside them.And traits would be a very important part!like, maybe you can have some traits that only children can have and depending on what you do, you would bring that along with you or lose it. like,children are usualy very creative no matter what, but depending on what you do, that would come along with you or you would lose it. to make it more visual, a creative trait could be on full color when you are a toddler and, if you dont work on it while a toddler and child, it would "fade away'' becoming black and white or barely visible once you're growing up.

Anonymous

i would love to see paras go to day care, then elementary school/middle school and high school. As far as aging goes it would be great to celebrate birthdays. Any perks given at the next life stage would only be available on/after their birthday. I think the teens are always the most overlooked in games! if we can see teens who deal with puberty (acne, soreness from growth spurts) that would be nice. Gradual aging could be fun because you will have to wait for their birthday to see their adult self, or teen self (etc) but you wont know their looks until they fully aged up! i think kids and teens should have a full personality that can either change over time, or stay the same if the player so wishes.

Anonymous

I personally would prefer life stages to gradual aging but I think it would be interesting to see Paras gradually age within these life stages, for example children and teenagers becoming taller and older adults and elders going greyer, getting more wrinkles, etc. I think getting the key life stages down is important as well: babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults, adults and elders - if there were any more added into the mix I think that it could be difficult to ensure each stage feels unique. I also personally don't see the point of massive breakdowns of lifestages if a Para is only going to be in that life stage for a few days. Perks and abilties: it would be cool to see children having the ability to learn lots of things quickly, but if they don't keep up with a skill then they lose proficiency in it, whereas adults and elders take longer to learn a skill, but they are able to "remember" it better. The idea for this kind of stems from it being easier to be fluent in a language the younger you are. An interaction I would really like to see is the ability to ask relatives to take care of young children, e.g. grandma comes over to babysit whilst the parents are at work.

Anonymous

I personally don’t like the gradual aging idea. How would that work when creating the Paras? Would there be a slider for age? That means sooo many different versions of the same para, if that makes sense. How would clothes adapt to fit them? It just seems like it’ll make the game much more complex, if every single Para has slightly different heights, how would animations work? They’d have to be gradually aged as well. I just see that being a huge drain for little impact. Just give varied life states that are actually fleshed out. Baby, toddler, child, preteen, teen, young adult, adult, middle age, elder. And then just allow us to set how long each stage is, or even opt out of some life stages if you don’t want generations to take forever

Anonymous

As much as gradual ageing would be cool I can't hep but feel concerned that it may be very difficult to implement for gameplay, for example, when creating paras. I would be worried to lose out on more detailed animation and specific objects for specific ages. Would there still be birthdays? I feel as though it would be better just to have more life stages. I also personally find that having a birthday with an age-up would allow me to feel as though I am accomplishing more in the game, sort of like a level-up, which I personally enjoy, but I understand others may feel its immersion breaking as well. Either way, I do like the idea of gaining new skills and perks over time. Sort of like babies learning to walk, and then over time being able to move quicker.

Anonymous

Maybe it is the fact that we just learned about language in psych but if the Para never learned how to talk in the toddler age then they will never know how to talk because I feel that that would create interesting gameplay.

Anonymous

I would love to have the paras age gradually but while still having life stages. Like if the paras age slowly every day without the player noticing but once they reach a certain age, they change life stages. I would love to see the paras age similarly to this game called Crusader Kings 3 which has gradual aging implemented into it. Your character ages realistically every year but it is difficult to have the player notice.

Anonymous

I would like to see Paras we create have some skills that they would naturally learn in life. I've always thought it strange that an adult would not have any charisma or similar skills for example. Similar to the making a sim by story but for more everyday things like charisma or handiness

Anonymous

I definitely like gradual aging, but regardless of which way you go, can preteens be included? A kid and a teenager are SOO far apart in terms of what they’re going through; there’s so much life that happens in that 12/13/14 age that’s significantly different from the 16/17/18 age.

Captain SebT

I would love gradual aging. I think it should be displayed to you they are a child, baby, teen but instead of jumping to that stage they just gradually end up there.

Sean McDorman

I’d like to see all age groups represented - baby (0-1), toddler (1-3), child (4-9), preteen (10-13), teen (14-19), young adult (20s), adult (30s), middle age (40s-50s), new retirees (60s) and elderly (70+). That’s A LOT of different types, and as I’m only 31 I know I am not understanding all the nuances and shades of a post-adult life, but this feels like the limit to me in terms of engaging gameplay without overwhelming the player. The young should learn at a faster pace (their brains are little sponges), the teens should be emotionally volatile, make and break friendships quickly, and change constantly, the young adults should be a hot mess but slowly reach a stable state, the adults should be more patient and resilient, the elderly should have more wisdom and restraint. I also think you should assign value percentages for affection/friendship between each group. So toddlers love to play with kids, are obsessed with their parents but may sometimes be afraid of elderly (I was afraid of my grandparents for a long time lol), kids worship teens but teens are annoyed by them, teens are embarrassed to be seen in public with their parents, teens idolize the young adults, young adults drift from parents and grandparents and then reconnect in adulthood, etc. Edit: Re: gradual aging, I’d like to see incremental changes rather than a child grow six inches overnight or an adult suddenly become craggy and gray in a day, but I’d still like them to behave certain ways depending on what “box” the game puts them in. Sometimes a teen does seem to shoot up overnight (though it’s really over a period of a few months) but they still play with toys because their brain hasn’t caught up with the fact that they’re not kids anymore!

Anonymous

One issue I’ve always had with a staged system is that sometimes there are weird situations, like one spouse becoming an elder before the other, or one twin suddenly being a teen and the other a child, that sort of break the immersion. So having some more nuance in age differences would be really cool. Also, I’ve seen this already commented here a couple of times, but having Paras look way more like tiny, wrinkly little grandmas when they get really old would be so great!

Anonymous

Gradual Aging is something that I would like to see, but it not something that I need if the time and resources need to be spent on other aspects of the game. I'd like the following life stages: Infant, Toddler, Kid, Pre-Teen, Teen, Adult, Middle Aged, Senior. Something that might help with life stages is Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. There are 8 Stages, and each stage involves a psychological crisis. Teenagers are in the "Identity vs Confusion" stage and must answer questions like "Who am I" and "What do I want to do with my life?" I think it would be cool if each stage included something like this.

Anonymous

Maybe some sort of hybrid model for the two would be useful? Like the Para ages gradually, but when their age reaches a certain range, they’d be understood to be in a particular life stage with new features unique to that life stage. So like a Para aging up from 19 to 20 would go from “teenager” to “young adult” and they’d then have new features, interactions, etc. available and their appearance might change slightly, then when they’d age up to 21 they’d have an appearance change but still be counted as a “young adult” without any large-scale feature change. Essentially, the age ranges would be like hitting a benchmark or milestone of sorts. Idk if that would make programming easier.

Emma Pelletier

If you achieve to put the progressive aging in Paralives, you would realize one of the things I always dreamt to find in a simulation game ! 🤩 I'm so excited. 👏

Lucy McClean

I would love gradual aging and I would love paras to be able to learn skills over time and across ages where babies learn to walk, talk etc. And the learning to talk is the first point in a communication skill. Then perhaps toddlers and kids get better at the communication skill and that opens up like - humour, persuasion, storytelling etc. As kids they can learn to read, write, do handstands, whistle etc. And they can develop these skills so for example learning to read might open up reading adult books, and learning to write paired with storytelling might open up the creative writing skill... Do you see where I'm going? So each life stage can branch into new skills and that the skills learned in each life stage informs the next life stage. So a baby that struggled with communication will then find it harder to build humour etc but might have spent a lot if time playing with a toy that builds logical thinking or musical awareness and builds on those skills as a kid who only has a couple of friends... and then that in turn informs traits and preferences as they grow to create a quite unique para. So if someone makes an adult maybe based on traits chosen that can randomise the skill trees that the para has and so it doesn't mean that your created characters are completely talentless when they start out? I am going to suggest it at all possible opportunities but I would REALLY really appreciate different styles of parenting. I would like to recreate my own attachment parenting, for example, with baby wearing (having slings and wraps to carry baby and breastfeed in) having an option to cosleep - at least with toddlers - in normal adult-sized beds. But it would also be cool to have Montessori style floor beds for babies and toddlers and the regular toddler bed/cot bed. I would also really appreciate there being a middle aged phase, where paras can't become pregnant but are still working, active and productive (basically the 45 to 65 age range)! And then an age like - OAP (65-80) where they can still enjoy life but are starting to get older. Then a really old age stage (80+). But where the OAP and really old age stages are random or respond to genetics/health. I would again love to create multigenerational families where grandparents do not have to be either young-looking fit 30 somethings or stooped old people who are on deaths door! There is a very large middle ground!!!! And again to be able to represent different life choices - paras who have different skill trees and life experience will spend their retirement differently. If a para is estranged from their grandkids then they shouldn't have a conversation prompt that's about grandchildren...? Or if an estranged grandparent dies the kids aren't completely distraught for 2 days, they either don't know or they get a but sad but move on quickly. Things like that, where the relationships that paras have to each other matter. Where deaths have different impacts on paras depending on age, strength of relationship and how regularly they see them. Just loads of variety for individuality. Gradual ageing would be the dream but I wouldn't take it over complex multigenerational gameplay.

Anonymous
>>53970255

The major reason why pre-teens are often excluded in games is because of the onset of puberty. Specifically, there are certain processes that start taking place in that period that the ESRB has effectively banned from being depicted. And without those items, it's usually a pointless stage to even bother with. There's really nothing to stop the devs from including a preteen lifestage, other than the fact that it would be kinda pointless if they want an ESRB rating. If they're fine without that rating and with the resulting inability to release on certain consoles, then it's pretty much down to what Valve or other online platforms will allow. Incidentally, the above is usually why some video game companies are so cool with their games being modded. Modders can add in the items the devs wanted to, but couldn't because of the ESRB or platform limitations. Incidentally, those are usually games where the devs themselves are also modders... So, there is a way to work around the above limitations. Incidentally, wanna guess why the teen life stage is usually 16-18, rather than a more sensible middle of the range?

Anonymous

I think having more life stages can feel a little more like gradual aging. Baby, Toddler, Young child (elementary school aged), preteen (middle school aged), teen, young adult, adult, pre-elder (not old & gray with the pooch but noticeably older than adult) and then elder

Anonymous

The existing comments suggested great stuff. I would love to see some soul, I mean I’ve never seen in real live toddlers being taught by someone to walk or talk. Usually they try it themselves and when a toddler makes a few first steps everyone who sees that acts very happily. There might be an option in the game to teach them these things but it may only make the process faster.

Captain SebT

I think children should have the ability to learn to speak, crawl, draw, basic problem solving and so on. Children should be about learning interests and starting to develop actual skills like writing or drawing. Teenager should be all about maturing and figuring out who they are with some rebellious and mature decision making. Your teen could underage drink, have sex and pull pranks as the irresponsible behaviour or as responsible behaviour could study for school, play Dungeons and Dragons, make friends, get honour role, learn about politics and form political opinions, join debate club. Young adult would be after a para has figured out who they are or maybe they still haven't. They could attend college, have serious girl friends/boyfriends and get married even if it's way to soon and untimely a mistake, they can move out for the first time and start their own lives. They can also prepare for the future getting things like retirement savings and such. Adult would be about enjoying the life you made for yourself and preparing for your children's future in some cases saving for their college. Elder would be about having fun with retirement. They lived their life and they are ready to enjoy the benefits. Those healthy enough might take up new sports and act like a young para but others might develop disabilities or dementia and might experience a hindered quality of life instead. Untimely I want each life stage to impact the later stages changing your health or making life easier/harder. For example a teen pregnancy will make life harder and get straight As will make thing's easier.

Candy Buckley-Russell

The reason I personally don't want gradual aging is that I like to create a story and I often make elderly individuals or couples in my Sims 4 game. If I wasn't able to do that and had to wait for aging to kick in I'd be very bored and unhappy!

Anonymous

Can we have the ability to turn gradual aging off if it is included? It may cause problems with some older or less powerful systems. Other than that, can we break up the staging a bit more? There is a massive difference between a one year old and a three year old, for example, and even between different periods in childhood and adulthood. One of my main complaints about the Sims series is they have always kinda glossed over a lot of important elements for anyone not a young adult or adult.

Anonymous

I like the idea of both options 1 and 3. The idea if gradual aging with gaining skills at the same time feels most realistic :)

Anonymous

I would like the gradual aging, but if it’s something that’s out of budget or skill set, then I can go without it. I would love to see them learn new skills over time that would be influenced by their day to day activities and whether they enjoy it or not. Can’t really think of special skills for each life stage, but I know we have plenty of other patrons with grand ideas😙

Ellen

I'm sorry if sometimes what I wrote seems a little off, this comes direct from google translator so it probably will have some mistakes. I am very interested in the age of gradual aging because it is something new and unexplored, certainly a step outside the comfort zone (which is something I really like about Paralives, the willingness to try new things). However, I wouldn't be bothered if it wasn't possible. What is important to me is that each life stage is unique, I want babies who have baby thoughts and wishes, who complete their milestones of learning to walk, talk, develop their imagination and have cute interactions with their parents and siblings. Children is an internship that I would like to be able to explore well with activities: boy scouts, ballet, football, etc. (including the ideas of TS3 generations of clubs in schools wich is something I find incredible), being able to throw sleepovers and slumber partys, more loving interactions with parents, like to see when they come home from work, feel upset because they are not receiving attention (or loved if they are) and that this attention reflects in something (perhaps less disobedience? or less rebellion when they become teens?). One step that I would like a little attention to be given is the teenagers who are almost always left out and turned into mini adults who do not do Woohoo, a cool idea for them are those of the clubs too, popularity at school (the healthy part of it) , like you being in the group of players, skaters, leaders, so on), they have crushs, proms, various parties (having friends also calling for random parties or concerts), seeking the opinion of parents on varied issues (that their response would also significantly affect tbm), etc.

Anonymous

I like the idea of gradual aging, though I would still want to be able to choose the age when creating a new para. Maybe even following traditional milestones. Aging up in stages is a bit jarring. I really like the idea of a mid-life crisis for paras that haven't accomplished their goals and such. And for elderly, there should be elder specific activities and perhaps even elderly communities. So things like yelling at kids to get off your lawn, listening to old records, old dance moves, telling stories of your youth, gossiping about the neighbors.

Lucy McClean
>>53969766

I feel like there is more nuance for this because that's not how children learn at all. Learning to talk is multi layered- copying, babbling, proto words, then words, short sentences etc. A baby who takes longer to learn how to talk is not going to never talk again! I was thinking more of a nuanced approach like having a communication skill for baby/toddler. And depending on gameplay the skill is gained quickly or slowly which then unlocks other pathways. So babies who learn to talk slowly dont unlock the humour pathway at the same time as his friends,so then they don't understand jokes and struggle to socialise with kids his age. Same with physical skills, a para who walks earlier unlocks dancing, running, balancing etc and those skills unlock others. So through basic skills you can create a whole variety of personalities and ability sets.

Jacklin

I'd like to see gradual aging but with 'milestone' birthdays. So a para would gradually age for a certain number of days or would need to accomplish a number of milestones before they can have a birthday that unlocks the next life stage's perks. That way you can still feel like your para is aging in a tangible way that you can control, while their appearance is changing in a more realistic way.

Anonymous
>>53972825

Maybe the elderly can also have special actions they take and opportunities presented based on what skills they maxed out before hitting that stage? Like, say, an old martial arts master being able to trick someone with their age or teach more effectively, or an old painter being stopped and lauded by people who recognize their work or asked to present lectures on their painting skills.

BonaparteBardithion .
>>53972366

I like the idea of gradual aging, especially if they get the procedural animation working with gradual height changes. But you make a very good point about it possibly leading to simulation clog. The alternative to that is, as you said, more life stages. Especially in the child to teen gap. Another thing the game could use is a way to manually age Paras when needed.

Stermatical

Thinking about how implementing gradual aging would be technically challenging, I’d be just fine with just life stages and they should be unique from each other. I think that the best case scenario would be a mix of life stages and gradual aging. Like baby-teen stages would be life stages and once teen becomes a young adult, it would be slow gradual aging all the way to elderhood with changes to posture, wrinkles and gray hair. Seems like people in the comments are fine with anything as long as babies aren’t objects and teens aren’t as tall as adults.

It'sMike64

There should definitely be consequences for children or toddlers not learning how to walk/talk/go to potty, maybe wetting the bed if they don’t learn that or have difficulty forming relationships if they weren’t taught to talk as a toddler, stuff like that so we as players have to put effort into raising the children of our Paras would be awesome!

Lucy McClean
>>53971989

I agree, I would like to see gameplay grow these skills naturally from birth - people talking to a baby should develop the communication skill. Walking round holding a baby's hands, or baby pulling up on furniture should develop the movement skill.

Anonymous

*LONG COMMENT *If you do gradual aging could you make it where the games notify us that they're about to enter a new stage so we could have the option of birthday parties or something of that nature. I would like to see gradual aging actually pulled off in a game but either or is actually fine with me. I would like to see Baby to toddler / toddler to child/ child to preteen ( like if middleschools are added) ( teen to young adult so highschool age to college age at least to 30 then adults that gradually age like they'll have a option to retire once they adulthood age begans to end then elder to death. Perks and abilities Children / preteens/ teens can get afterschool activities that'll help with certain skills/ field trips or teens can get certain activities based on the career or college path they will choose Preteens / teens can have school dances / curfews / maybe hang out spots for teens Toddler- elder can go to pools ( toddler accompanied by teen youngadult adult elder) Based on sebastian ziplining or jumping in to the pool from the roof .. pool parties rules varying from teen to elder like maybe a teen pool party can get too crowded uncontrollable or mom and dad not home kind of deal.. actual like punishments maybe for child to teens like go to room or take games away and they'll have to do chores or homework to get back on their parents good side. Teens can learn to drive by parent or driving school if enrolled .. Young adult to elder can have business relationships/ friendships thats based on just work or if they wanted to date it'll have to be on the hush and maybe one of the para can get tired of being a secret... young adults adult and elders can date .. Young adults can choose to go to college or start a job but maybe have some sort of skill level to go in to a career without a college degree ..or different promotions in the career based on if the para went to college or not .. Young adult to retired more responsibilities like bills / child support maybe but as an option for the para. Grocery shopping cause refrigerators dont automatically restock or for certain recipes / family dinners / events, etc Retiring to elder can have more activities like learning new hobbies / skills.. so they wont be too boring in game .. they can actually work small jobs maybe or continue their career and never retire / maybe more options being a grandparent Maybe having the ability to set the gradual aging speed / aging speed in general or turn aging off depending on gameplay/ storytelling options. Maybe an ingame story progression... long but just a few ideas

Anonymous
>>53973576

I'm not sure I'd want to call it penalties, but I like this idea as well for the realism. IRL people have developmental delays that keep them from potty training, learning to talk, etc. until much later (if ever). I like the idea of this, allowing them to age without necessarily meeting milestones, better than having to reach milestones to age up or automatically learning things at a certain age or stage.

Anonymous

I like the idea of gradual aging but it would put so much on the development team. Therefore I would prefer stages because it’ll be easier for the team to implement. Maybe the team could add more stages instead of the 6 stages everyone else uses. Add stages in between each individual stage. That way growing up doesn’t seem rushed.

Anonymous

I would love to see a preteen stage between child and teen. I like to story tell with life simulation games and (with sims) I felt, for a lot of situations, child was too young for what I was going for, and teen was to old for what I was going for. I think I would be cool of older sibling could be protective of their younger siblings. Deal with the younger siblings bullies. Give the younger siblings dates "the talk", etc.

Anonymous
>>53967197

I think we're of a similar mind. I think a great compromise might be something like sub-distinctions within a category? Teens, for instance. In real life, that's technically 13 to 19 *but* those are very different perspectives in your life. So, maybe, instead of a big spectacle on the "birthday"/age up day, there's a gradual change over the Paradays before and after it? If a life stage is 6 days across spectrums, then maybe on the 5th day of the current stage into the 2nd day of the next, the Para's physicality and/or appearance starts to transition? I don't know about other, but it's weird to me that a toddler spins in the air and gains two feet of height or an adult blows out candles and suddenly grows a bent spine 🤷🏽‍♀️ So, maybe, the last 4th of a life stage starts those changes gradually and they "settle" by the mid point of the next?

Anonymous
>>53966710

What would you think about life stages but the ability to pick how far in you start? In other words, you can select Adult Para and then a number based on the fixed length of the stage. The Other Simulation always starts at day 1/0 (depending on cultural interpretation) but, given an 8 Paraday Adult Life Stage, you could start them on day 4 but their partner housemate might be day 1?

Ava Wolchuk

If paralives were to have life stages, I would like them to be: baby, toddler, young child, preteen, teenager, young adult, adult, middle aged, and elderly. I like the idea of gradual aging but I think just adding some more life stages is a good way of adding realism as well.

Anonymous

I would love to see pre-teens as a life stage!

Anouk Geelen

Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? Baby, toddler, child, preteen, teen, young adult, adult and elders. I think preteens are important cause kids normally go through this awkward preteen stage which is important for development of the characters Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? Teens could have moodswings and rebellious phases, preteens/children could encounter growing pains. Adults could have a mid life crisis, elders are more prone to illnesses for instance. Toddlers need to learn the basics etc. Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage? Going for a walk with a stroller with babies and toddlers, playdates for kids and toddlers, sleepovers for kids and preteens, teen parties, sneaking out, getting a drivers license etc for teens, college for young adults and getting their first real job etc. Reminiscing, bingo nights etc. for elders Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? I think I would prefer a mix if possible, the have life stages set for a certain amount of time (so that you can also turn off auto aging) but at the last few days you can see some visual changes/they grow a little bit.

Anonymous

I'd prefer fixed stages but tempered by either additional stages/transitional stages and/or changes that appear gradually in the Paradays that overlap the transition Ex of transitional stages: Newborn/infants are "objects" but Baby would start to show personality/maybe mirror traits of Para caregivers. They would be more needy/less mobile than a Toddler. Additionally, Paratweens would still have their Child Traits/personality limits (like if a Child has 3 personality factors but a teen had 4, the Paratweens would maintain that 3 factor limit) but they could start to attempt Teenager interactions with possible Teenager results. Ex of gradual transition: if Paras followed the same Baby-Toddler-Teen-YA-Adult-Elder progression with each stage being 5 fixed days, then markers of the *next* stage would start to appear on the 4th day of the current stage and "settle" on the 2nd day of that stage. Since height will be something we can edit, that might look like a Child starting to get clumsy/taller on the 4th day of the stage and then by the 2nd day of Teenager they would have a height closer to whatever their game genetics intends for their Adult/Young Adult stage. Or an Adult starts to feel more tired and/or achy by the 4th day and they settle into their Elder posture/physicality by the 2nd day of that stage.

Anonymous

I would like to see a gradual aging but in the same time going throught certain age-steps, that allows the para to have a growing number of different feelings or needs und more komplex thoughts or reactions about their environment :) And steps that the player can roughly see in which phase of life the para is.

Anonymous
>>53973045

This. It's the best of both worlds: life stage system, but with gradual changes in appearance as a para gets closer to the next stage. I don't think the changes have to be incremental every day though, maybe each life stage could have 3-5 markers where the para's height increases or they get a few more wrinkles, that way if you have for example 2 child paras next to each other you could tell which is older, and there isn't as much strain on the devs to have to animate little details day to day

Anonymous
>>53975921

As to perks that appear with ages, here are my suggestions: Children and Teens should have the options to *attempt* certain actions that wouldn't be available until the next stage/s with varying success rates. A Child that grows up around car-heads isn't waiting until they're a teen to attempt complex repairs, they're doing it when the opportunity permits and they'll have a higher chance of success with competent supervision than without. I also think that negative/positive buffs should be relative to the life stage. A Child has a bit more resiliency about a negative interpersonal interaction than a Teen would, for instance. Or a Toddler experiences the joy of a marriage in their household to a far smaller magnitude than the adults that get married. So the Toddler might have a positive buffs that lasts the duration of the event/maybe the end of that specific day, but the Child in the house may hold that buff for the rest of the day at minimum, with progressively bigger impact/longer duration as you get to older life stages.

Anonymous

I think the most important thing for me would be that actions earlier in a Para’s life affect their life later(ex. developing a fear of snakes at a young age, breaking into hobbies as a teen that they’ll carry into adulthood, etc)

Giaduzza

it would be great if as boys grew older they started shaving and if girls had their period for their first time!

Anonymous

I don’t mind the idea of life stages at all. But as long as there is some sort of milestone still associated with growing older. For example, a toddler would start to grow up and change appearance until the next life stage. Then you could have a birthday or something and you enter the next growing up cycle. That way you get the best of both!

Anonymous
>>53971624

I love the suggestion about skills! My Sims often start to all feel samey after a while, because they all tend to max out the same core skills after a lifetime of just... doing stuff. It would be awesome if "just doing stuff" gave more varied results because of different childhoods or learned behaviors.

Anonymous

I think it'd be really adorable if elderly paras had liver spots as a sign of age progression.

MelodyLove

1. The life stages I’d like to see are: infant, toddler, child, pre-teen, teenager, young adult, adult, elder. After creating two young adults or adults, I’d like to be able to generate an infant in the paramaker too. Infants shouldn’t be objects. They should be able to move their limbs, coo, and have a personality. 2. I forgot if this was already confirmed or not, but preteens should go through puberty. Or a coming-of-age stage. 3. As for activities and interactions, I’d like to see an option for breastfeeding. It would be cool if we could see babies start to crawl and sit up when it’s almost time for them to age up into a toddler. Children should be able to hold babies as well. Carseats would be awesome too! Allowing the parents to take their babies with them on an outing. 4. Paras should grow up gradually!! That would really go hand in hand with the infants starting to crawl and sit up as they begin to age into a toddler. 😆

Anonymous
>>53970625

I really like your suggestions about "volatility" in younger life stages. Like managing friendship as a Teen Para could be a nightmare, but if two friends actually make it through, they'd have a pretty strong bond! I also like the idea of younger Paras learning faster, though it'd have to be balanced against something that bugs me in the Sims, where children that get even a bit of my focus end up way OP. I just had a generation come of age that had already maxed out any skills they needed for their careers, and it's made playing them a little dull.

Anonymous
>>53974344

I really like the idea of adding more stages. Are you thinking like shifting to decades, stages within stages or just adding a few between "adult" and "elder" and beyond? Like I could really use middle aged, freshly retired, etc. It would be neat if my sim could experience the same physical aging challenges that change my real life, like perimenopause. That's a huge life shift that kinda gets ignored and I'm currently wondering why? It's such a big deal! Anyway, this is neat.

Anonymous

'I want my Para's appearance to change slowly over time instead of all at once' I'd love to see this happen or at least have more stages of specific ages. For example new born, baby, toddler, kiddo, prepubescent, teen, young adult, adult, midlife crisis adult, retired elder, elderly elder who are ready for elderly care and so on :-)

Anonymous
>>53975576

I agree with this but I feel like it might be worth having a stage inbetween adult and elder, since there are some characters I make who I wouldn't consider young enough to be in the adult stage as well as not old enough to be an elder.

Anonymous

Gradual aging will be a mechanic to further distinguish the game from the Sims.

Anonymous

Wouldn't the game get very expensive with so many community wishes and options packed into it?

Anonymous

Will gradual aging make us wait even longer for the release of the game? With that being said and I think a lot of people would agree, I think life stages and gradual aging can go hand in hand. Having way more life stages, say new born, they need to be bathed in the sink and fed and diapers changed, and burped ect, to just baby where they are learning to sit up and maybe start to crawl, to toddler maybe they are learning to speak better, and walk, and we can start home schooling with flash cards ect. Life stages and gradual aging can go hand in hand I believe to the point where it isn’t too hard for the developers. I hope I’m making sense. More life stages and having more realistic time between each one, and having those little quirks and set things we want for each life stage to happen gradually leading up to birthdays I don’t know

Anonymous

I feel like a para's appearance changing over time is a nice way to do gradual aging. I'm also leaning towards specific ages too. I think it would be interesting to see a para's actual age (like a number). Though I do feel like most of the community wouldn't be too happy about that. Maybe in Paralives, there could be set years with the seasons changing, and the player could customize what a year is. Like they could make an entire year 4 days or 40 if they wanted, depending on how they play. So every year the para could have a birthday, but they are still gradually aging so there isn't big jumps and shifts.

Anonymous

I think it would be amazing to see them gradually grow but also get notifications, signs that they are growing, and moodlets. Like a lot of people suggest, teens should go through puberty! I think toddlers should teeth and young adults become ambitious when they finish high school toward the path you've put them on. Adults can freak out about getting old and elders groan about their aching back. Also, what would be so awesome is if females can have a day or two of menstrual. It is super realistic and could be a sign of maturing.

VV

I want to be able to change the age of my characters myself. I like it when aging is disabled in my game, but if I want someone to grow up, I want to be able to. For example, by making a birthday or by clicking on a special button or something like that. And probably when aging is enabled... gradually is better.

Anonymous

as far as gameplay, bathing new born babies, having to actually change there diaper, have car seats, feeding them, preparing food, breastfeeding, people able to carry your kids and do other tasks, strollers, car seats, riding bikes together as family, picnics with family, a complex parental system. Like grounding and discipline, curfew, teens can sneak out all night, but get caught by police, teaching your kids to swim, and ride bikes. Grandparents spoiling grandkids, being able to just pop in to grandpas house without knocking, going to lunch with grandma and grandpa or to the mall ect so many things

Anonymous
>>53980222

Moral of the story each life stage needs to be a life stage with a lot of interaction and relationship/object progression. Unique if possible so every game and family and relationship is different and a little more realistic

kesionna

I like all of the above. Actually.

Anonymous

I think gradual would be cool if at certain milestone ages there was still some form of acknowledgement with entering a new “life stage” that way I don’t miss when they hit important ages!

Anonymous

Thanks for your hard work also :) can’t wait for the game

kesionna

I also want to be able to drive my baby para around. In babies life stage, babies can crawl walk talk before aging. Also I want my teens to be able to take their siblings to school.

Megan Santucci

MY DAY HAS FINALLY COME. I have so many ideas and obviously I recognize it might be a bit extra. 😂

Megan Santucci

- newborn: equivalent of IRL birth to 6 months. Newborns can only drink breastmilk or formula. They sleep in a bassinet or crib. They can use a play mat, swing, rattle. They can be taken for walks in stroller or baby carrier. They can't sit up, crawl, or talk. - baby: equivalent of IRL 6-12 months. Babies can use bouncers and walkers and play with simple toys like blocks. They can still use strollers and baby carriers. They can still drink breastmilk or formula but can also sit in a high chair and start to eat baby food/cereal or share the family meals. (Maybe there would be an option like "Cut up food for (name)") They can sit up, crawl, babble, and do simple social games like patty-cake or peek-a-boo. - toddler: equivalent to IRL 1-3 years. They could possibly still breastfeed or drink formula but mostly they'd be eating meals with the family either in a high chair or in a booster seat at the table. They might still use their cribs or sleep in a toddler bed or a regular bed. They can use a wide variety of toys. They can ride in a stroller or backpack carrier. They can learn to walk, talk, use the potty, and do thinks like looking at picture books or scribbling. - preschooler: equivalent to IRL 3-5 years. They sit at the table and eat regular food but might still need a booster so they can reach. They sleep in a toddler bed or regular bed. They could probably still ride in a stroller or backpack carrier but can also walk/run well. They would know how to talk well but some might not be potty trained. They could start to learn to read, ride a bike, swim, etc. - child: equivalent to IRL 5-9 years. They eat meals at the table and sleep in a regular bed or bunk bed. (I don't know if it would be hard for the game to recognize a bunk/loft bed as "not for babies"? Maybe using the same mechanic as "does this bed need a ladder"?) They start school and can learn lots of things/start working on whatever skill tree exists. - preteen: equivalent to IRL 9-13 years. They can do everything a child can but can also start to stay home alone for short periods, do simple jobs like dog walking to earn pocket money, learn to cook simple meals. They can start to have crushes and might want to focus their skill-building in specific areas. - teen: equivalent to IRL 13-18 years. They can stay home alone and do basically all of the adult skills (cooking, tinkering, whatever). They can start to babysit and/or have part time jobs. They can date and do romantic activities with some adults-only exceptions. When they get to high school age they can have a lot more control over what classes they take and can start career or college prep. They can learn to drive. - young adult: equivalent to 18-30ish? They can live on their own, get married, get full time jobs, go to college, basically whatever they want. Some might choose to settle down and start a family but others might want to wait. - adult: equivalent to 30-50ish. They will probably want to get established in their careers and start families if they haven't yet. Fertility might start to decline near the end of this stage and they might get some gray hairs. 😂 (or if it's easier they could just have fertility cut off at 50; I don't have strong feelings) - older adult (?): equivalent to 50-70. They're well established in their careers and busy raising their families, or if they got started early they might be empty nesters already. They might be starting to have health problems if they haven't taken care of themselves or if they just have bad genes. - elderly: equivalent to 70+. They might want to retire. Their kids are grown up and they might be focusing on grandchildren, hobbies, travel, etc. They'd start having health problems if they didn't already and obviously eventually die.

Anonymous

I want gradual aging, but I would still like notifications on when they reach certain ages. Like when they reach teenage, I also think they should have problems related to their age, toddlers theeting, teenagers being moody, elders having unexplained pains.

Megan Santucci

I would not object to there being life stages provided they weren't HUGE jumps. Like don't go from looking like an 8 year old to looking like a 16 year old. And on the other end of things, don't go from looking 35 to being white-haired and feeble.

Megan Santucci

I'd very much like to be able to set age/age equivalent in PAM. Maybe with sliders or a combo of checkboxes and sliders. E.g. I click the "young adult" checkbox and then I can pull a slider from the beginning to the middle of the life stage to make a Para who's more like 25 than 18.

Lucy McClean
>>53966709

I know so many older people aged 50 to 80 who are in groups, pursue hobbies, find their creativity later on. It's SO worth having a break down of life stages between menopause age and on-deaths- door. Having a whole stage for "still working but can't get pregnant" 45 to 64ish and then 65 to 80ish depending on health. Then the decrepit phase. Although my granny is 84 and she's still good to go. She spends all her time reading and doing puzzles and eating jelly babies 😂😂

Anonymous

Gradual aging with birthdays into the next life stage would be totally awesome. Siblings that are in the same life stage but are different ages should look differently in terms of development. Two life stages I would like to see added are a pre-teen age and a stage between teen and young adult where they are trying to figure out life and either go to college or are learning to live on their own. It would be realistic if babies and toddlers could get hurt from their actions and then learn not to do that thing in the future. For example, they could get hurt from touching the stove. I would also like to see teens try to be rebellious. Maybe they can sneak out, skip school, or attempt to run away. I would also love if there was an option for teens to introduce their parents to their friends or romantic interests. If they're seen with their parents in public, they get embarrassed. Similarly, if children or teens see their teachers outside of school, it's awkward for them. I've always wanted the option of teenage pregnancy which would come with its own set of special interactions. Children and teens should have the option of doing chores and earning an allowance, and teens should be able to babysit their younger siblings. Children should be able to throw slumber parties or sleep over at a friend's house. For pregnant paras, it would be cool if they got special interactions, such as telling their parents, partner, and other children. It would be nice if they could have a baby shower or setting up the nursery. I would also like if they had mood swings and food cravings. In the Sims, I like that you can choose how long you want your lifespan. Being able to adjust how long each life stage is would be really nice

Anonymous

One of my biggest things is having a bigger difference in the child/teen/young adult areas. Right now in the sims 4 I feel like they jump from child (12ish) to teen (18ish) and then young adult (early 20s). The jump from child to teen is way too big, and the teen to young adult not big enough as they basically act the same but with homework. The gradual ageing would be great but I want unique things to do with each age group that makes playing them actually worthwhile. In The Sims 4 I feel like I never play with elders of kids cause there isn't much to do with them. Super excited to see how this goes and thank you guys for all the hard work.

Anonymous

I would personally like gradual aging and not actual life stages... It would be more natural and not forced... But I also understand that is a bit hard to achieve, concerning possibilities that are opening during these life stages So maybe it could be arranged like in real life... For instance, babies are in cribs for few "days", then starting to eat proper food, learning to walk, talk and poop... but that can also be done in kindergartens... so just achieving skills one by one, which can accumulate into a small trait after some time after some time they start with school, grade school, middle school, high school, with their responsibilities increasing, but without specific life state change... Just number of days for this achievement, then for next. Of course, if someone made achievement faster, there should be a reward Some "life stages" can be organised like a reward, for instance sweet 16 or 18 (21) when you are legal adult, but more with recognition than actual life stage differentiation...

Anonymous

I agree with what a lot of people are saying. I still like lifestage milestones. Baby, Toddler, Child, Teenager. But there should be more growth in between those large stages. Newborn straight to a walking toddler is strange. Just like a child straight to a late stage teenager is strange. There are newborns, infants, non-walking toddlers, walking toddlers, smaller kids, bigger kids, tween , younger teenagers, older teenagers. I would like to see growing sims go through all the stages. And that's just childhood stages. I also very much dislike going from Adult to Elder without any gradual transition. But even with adding transitions, I would still like a general marker or something labeling them with what age group they're in. And maybe small perks over the gradual time, but bigger perks when they age into a new age group.

Auntyleti

Such and interesting topic! Gradual aging seems too difficult to perform and I would totally understand it if you didn't implement it. I don't dislike life stages. Maybe there's a happy medium? For example, unlocking certain things about the next life stage at the middle point or just dividing each stage into two with different ones. Still a lot to do, but hopefully not too much.

I JONES

Were radio buttons the right sort of voting method for this poll? Some of those questions were not naturally exclusive

Megan Santucci

On another note I'd love to be able to have birthdays/birthday parties that aren't linked to jumping from one life stage to the next. Maybe there could be two different birthday cakes (one that ages you and one where you can blow out candles etc. without aging) or just move away from the Sims birthday cake thing completely.

shyra bluminberg

As much realism I want in the game, I don’t want my comment to be too unrealistic. I like life stages, however, the aging has to be realistic. Someone mentioned how S4 jumps from child (11-12) to teen (17-18) and adult (21), I just want there to be some middle ground in the aging process. That is a big jump and there are a lot of developmental highs and lows between the ages of 12-18 that I think would be interesting to play through! It doesn’t have to be yearly aging like in real life but closing the gaps between aging would be nice.

Anonymous

I'm a player who usually plays with aging off so I like it whenever they're at specific life stages so I can play with them one at a time and age them up as I like.

Megan Santucci
>>53980832

And even during the "newborn" stage when they can't do much they would still have preferences and personalities. Like some babies could be calm and only cry if they're hungry or need a change, whereas other babies could be more fussy and need you to pick them up a lot. And they should prefer their parents and other close caregivers (like a nanny or grandparent) to random strangers.

Anonymous
>>53981017

Yes! Maybe have a birthday so you know roughly where your para is in terms of a life stage. They could have milestone birthdays!

BreakingGaia

I would love gradual aging! One of my favorite mods from the sims is gradual height adjustments for kids and teens. But if they could gradually age from birth to death, that would be amazing. I'd like for it to be a gradual visual change, but on a simulation level, have things they do and encounter shape their character. It's important for every para to be their own unique individual self. Say you have a family of 5, 2 parents, 3 kids. Those kids would be similar from being raised by their parents, but as they get older and make their own friends and have their own experiences, they'll change and become their own. Maybe one will start liking and playing sports and another will get into music. Their core would be similar, but their interests different. And it would all happen gradually as they get older and become more independent.

Anonymous

I don't know where to say this but, in the Sims I disliked that if I wanted my Sims's life to be hard or bad then I would actively have to work towards that and after I got them to the bottom it meant nothing to built them up again because it wall all my choice. It would be neat if there was a trait option where a Para might be self destructive in a way and they could only prosper with my guidance.

BreakingGaia
>>53981747

To me the kids look 9 and then turn into 20 year olds. I hate it so much.

Anonymous

Maybe in aging from toddler to young adult shouldnt be age gaps, but gradual aging with more responsibilites being unlocked from day to day for instance child that started going to school can only do its homework, but few days later it has an option for extra classes or activities, extra homework it would be nice to implement hobbies interest, maybe in connection to traits or have traits gradually develop according to things that are often done (like para that helped with cleaning becomes neat, or para that played games becomes nerd... smth like that) Kid that (in para age) is close to 16-18-21 can learn to drive or order drinks or have home partys I also agree that age gap between adult and elder is too huge... The appearance should alter slowly, an also the abilities, similar like kids to young adults

Anonymous

Again, I feel it would be best if life stages would not exist at all... Gradual visual effects with paras and different interactions that unlock/lock when certain age level (in para days) is achieved Birthdays should always be an option, but just for making the date important, not for transitioning into new life stage

Synthia Hubbard

I want baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, old school adult, and an elder. I believe that all ages besides baby and toddler should be able to read to the baby and toddler. I think

Anonymous

The wording of this confused me 😔 but there could be “days old” or something in the UI part. I’d love to see a para have a certain reaction dating someone way older or younger whether it’s positive or uncomfortable

Anonymous

I think live stages are important, as of a young Child, Child and a Teen, are different in what is proprietor for them. But live shows, some are developing faster then outers. So I suggest, the border between live stages, may be not a singular day, but more in some cases several years. But the law, of example a driver licence, may be bound to a singular day, for earless access. And jet, I liked my Paras to grow naturally and to learn thinks gradually, even some have preferences to learn fast/slow or early/late, part of me is hoping, with the thoughts in mined of witches or elf's, etc. that some paras are crowing physically slower or from a sorted live stages on.

Anonymous

have you thought of adding menstrual cycle and Menopause?

Anonymous

Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? - I love the pre-teen stage and would like to see more gradual aging because in the sims, the age jumping drove me crazy and missed out on a lot of potential game play. especially between child to teen! Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? – maybe how a toddler/child/teen age if certain life events happen to them, it will alter their personality for their adult years, either negative or positive. Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage? - more gameplay for elders and maybe more doctor visits, illnesses (for toddlers too) etc. Should the Paras grow up by stages? - NO, but there should be options when creating Paras and choosing what age stage you want them to be at. Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? - YESS!!

Anonymous

I personally don't mind having life stages, as long as there are enough of them and the jums aren't too big. Separate stages make things clearer and more recognizable. I would like to have the following lifestages: Newborn (birth - 6 months) - fragile, very dependent on parents, can't turn over/sit up/crawl, breastfeed/bottle, playpen or at mat, sleep in a crib. Baby (6 months-1 year) - can play with simple toys, eat special babyfood, start being more mobile like turn over, crawl, sit up, can also babble a little Toddlers (1-2 years) - curiosity and exploration, eat babyfood and cut food like fruit or a cookie, learn to stand up and sit up, learn small words. Toddlers (2-3 years) - terrible two's, eat meals, start walking/running, start talking more and in small sentences. Preschoolers (3-5 years) - go to (pre) school, become more independent and social, learn to ride tricicle, learn to draw and craft, dress up, hid and seek, etc. Play outside under supervision, make friends, start to get more specific personality. Middle Childhood (6-8 years) - go to school, start hobbies/sports, play outside more independently, make friends, play tag. Pre-teens (9-11 years) - Start to form stronger, more complex friendships and peer relationships. It becomes more emotionally important to have friends, especially of the same sex. Experience more peer pressure. Become more aware of his or her body as puberty approaches. Young Teens(12-14 years) - distance from parents, bodily changes, making own choices, concern about image, moodiness, rebellion. Teenagers (15-17 years) - romantic interests, developing sexuality, less conflict with parents, spend less time with parents and more with friends. Young adults (18-21 years) or Students (18-22/25 years) - go to university (or other education), are allowed to drink, go out, hang out with friends, live at campus or in a student room. Adults (22- 40 years) - start career, find house, become parents, develop hobbies further. Middle-aged (40 - 64) - grow in career, become successful, kids move out, sometimes become grandparents Elderly - young-old (65-74), old-old (75-84), oldest-old (85+) Physical difficulties, move differently, retired, activities like bingo, gardening, baking, etc. Inspiration: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/toddlers.html

S&M Gonzalez
>>53985168

I’d love to see paras behave this way it’s give so much to personalities

Lane Brettschneider

I am open to either gradual aging or aging in stages. Either way, I would love for there to be noticeable stages when your Para is a: baby, toddler, child, pre-teen, teenager, young adult, adult, retirement age, and very old. Those seem to me to be the stages in life when a person looks noticeably different, and when life treats them differently and they do different things. - Babies are completely helpless - Toddlers learn a ton and start doing things on their own - Children continue to learn and start going to school, making friends, and developing real interests and relationships with people around them - Pre-teens have to deal with raging hormones, puberty, and difficulties with friends and parents (usually) - Teenagers have a ton of things they can do as they start to figure out who they really are. There could be after school activities for children, pre-teens and teens. Teens can go to parties, date, and in general prepare for adult life. They can get part-time jobs (or drop out of school and get a full time job). They can care for other Paras, younger or older. - Young adults go to university and/or get jobs and might live on their own - Adults might start to have their own family, be established in their careers, etc. - Retirement age is when the real fun begins haha and Paras can pick up new hobbies they didn't have time for when they were working and/or raising children. - Elderly is when you really see the effects of how the Para lived their life - are they really healthy and still able to live on their own? Do they have to be cared for by their children or a nurse? The main thing I like about gradual aging is that my Paras can still be friends with the same people even if they're not exactly the same age, without it looking weird or having to catch up in some way.

Anonymous

I would like to see at least 7 total states of age, although I leave it to the team in terms of technology and talent to figure out how to implement that visually. I don't expect the team to figure out how a Para grows from a tiny baby to an elderly person in a continuous fashion. I'm okay with this wheel not being reinvented. I think that the interactions available to Paras should change as they change, as should the autonomy for determining such actions. Having interactions taggable should help the team organize all of them in many ways. I don't feel strongly about perks or gameplay benefits, so I'd say that is also not a wheel that needs reinventing. I'm sure there's going to be a huge amount of requests for all kids of particular interactions, but I think it's more important now to structure interactions and ensure every one can be autonomously arrived at and seen in game and make for a meaningful experience. Finally, Paras growing up by stages makes the most technological sense, but the team will need to make 8 or 9 age states to fill the obvious gaps in growth seen in 7. Any continuous system would require the mesh and rig to go through radical changes, which is simply unreasonable to expect and difficult to make work. Above ideas that are 10 or 11 states are fine, but all inclinations towards whatever should be driven by character-specific traits and environment.

Anonymous

I would love to have some kind of gradual aging in between the life stages and then have some kind of "milestone" when they grow up to the next "fixed" life stage when they would possibly celebrate their birthday! I'm seeing so many amazing ideas in the comments!😊

Wondrous_Mickey

Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? I would like to see something based on psychology - newborn, infant, younger toddler, older toddler, preschool child, younger school child, older school child (prepuberty or preteen), teenhood (puberty), adolescence , young adult, mid adult, older adult, younger senior, older senior and longevity. Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage? Kids getting crushes, preteens having first relationships and teens realizing their gender identity (without dysphoria) and sexual identity Young toddlers would not be able to play together, older would start Imaginary friends for kids based on their personality Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? Mix of these two. You would notice your character is aging, but they would still need to grow up by stage. Lets say that you would notice that infant is starting to grow teeth, so they wouldn't get them after getting into another life stage I would definitely have more ideas, but I'll wait for the discord chat

Wondrous_Mickey

But want thing about aging though - I would like to have ability to age up all parafolks or paras of specific life stage in world at the same - I mostly play with age turned off, so I would like to age up parafolks in the entire world after I decide that my parafolks will age up

S&M Gonzalez

Newborn (1-5months), baby (5-9 months), toddler, child, preteen, teen, young adult, adult (30s-40s), middle age, seniors (would be that age from 60-75), elder (80+). I think it’d be cool if we could assign a season for paras birthday for them to age up in, so whatever season they were born in paras would age up in that season only. I’d love to see years/days old besides the paras names, and a way to slow down aging by so many days in settings. For time in how this could work it if we have a calendar system, could be something like this: Tuesday, September 2020, Autumn, day 72 or a simpler version of this. So when all of seasons (year) cycle ends a new year would start pretty much and the days a parla is born in within that year would be their birthday date. If that makes sense. I’d like and hope for gradual aging in apparences for paras, especially during the stages of young adult aging further in their life. I’ve always been frustrated in sims when sims aged from adult to middle age and elder and they immediately looked very old and had wrinkles. It’d be nice if some paras didn’t drastically change when they got older with wrinkles, maybe some paras can age slower and more gracefully, or get that rare genetic gene of still looking like they’re in their late 30s while being 50 years old. Which , could be contributed to healthy living too or just a genetic trait. For birthdays i think being able to celebrate a birthday without it aging up my paras appearance wise, like what happens in sims would be really cool. Like having a party before or after their real birthday date wouldn’t alter their current age or make them older it would just be a celebration for them. I’d like paras interests, ideals in life, their goals, and the people they want to be around to change and be influenced even, as they age and grow older. I guess some I’d like to have based on personalities. I’d love to see children take after their parents in their hobbies and likes/dislikes. So if their parents live a certain way or act a certain way it may contribute to how their children will turn out and behave as they age, and it might not show as a child but as an adult or teen or elder even. This could go for siblings too, siblings being influenced and influencing each other, by how they act and behave. But of course we’d have the ability/control to help them not be influenced either. As someone mentioned in the comments earlier I’d love to see paras self destruct their lives no matter how good of a path you set them on they will end up spiraling out of control but they can be built back up to a better life path again. I can’t think of anymore ideas at the moment but will comeback later lol.

Anonymous

I like the idea of more stages if real time progression isn't possible. I prefer to choose what stage I start in, the duration of each stage and the potential to pause in a stage. Typically in the Sims I would max out the duration of every stage.

Anonymous

Hellooooo from the Czech Republic! I'm new here and I'm incredibly excited about Paralives! I'll get straight to the point. In The Sims 4, it doesn't suit me that Sims react the same to every single interaction. To give an example: I instruct my sim to send an "air kiss" so that each sim makes the same gesture. But in real life, everyone sends a "air kiss" in a different way. I like the idea that in Paralives the characters would not make gestures the same, but differently (I realize that this is a PC game, it will be enough if there are, for example, 5 ways for the character to send an "air kiss"). Have a nice time everyone! :))

Anonymous

Personally, I'd like a kind of mixture of life stages and gradual ageing, like when they're a child they act like well, a child then near the end of their life stage they become more of a tween before entering the teen life stage

Anonymous

I’d also like to have the option to have aging off because I get too attached to my family sometimes 😅

Anonymous

I like the gradual aging as long as there's somewhere in the UI where it says what age group they are in.

Anonymous
>>53995607

exactly, like for maybe age 13-17/18 they would be a teen, but they would still gradually age

Anonymous

I do want to be able to create a para of a specific age, but I also want gradual aging

Anonymous

1. In terms of stages, I would like to see infant, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, mid-life (where adults start to get grey hair and lines), and elderly. The idea is mainly to give an idea of life progression without adding too much work for the devs. 2. For perks I don't really have a list of what each stage should have, but I do think they should have things unique to them. Things like babies learning how to crawl and basic speech, toddlers learning how to walk and perhaps a higher speech "skill" cap or whatever the equivalent is. Teens getting rebellious phases, etc. 3. I would prefer to see gradual ageing if possible but I would not be opposed to stages. As someone else mentioned, you could always have gradual ageing throughout a stage and then have them transition completely into the next stage when they reach that threshold. Gradual ageing also seems like a good compromise between those who want a ton of life stages and those concerned that a ton of life stages would be too much work.

Dizzardy

This poll feels confused to me, it doesn't seem like the answers really relate to each other all that much. Like, why is the idea of paras gaining skills/perks over time in direct competition with paras aging up gradually? Also some of the options like "To have a more varied and realistic experience with my Para" don't feel like they're really saying anything at all.

Dizzardy

Personally I don't have anything against life stages. I don't have anything against gradual aging either. I'm fine with either option. As others have said already, I'm guessing life stages will still exist even with gradual aging....since you'll still need to have some way of determining that a para is a child or a teenager.

Anonymous

I definitely want to create paras of different ages. I actually prefer life stages, but there could be a gradual shift when a para is on the road to a new life stage. So you could have a 'default' stage of a life state, which is like 'day 1' of that life state so to speak - so when you create paras you can only create those day 1 states of each life state, but then you get a gradual growth in between, and it could even be random when a para get a skill or a perk or even when they have 'growth spurts' etc.

Anonymous

I can't pick one poll option, I want life stages but also the gradual aging, where they go teen stage but towards the end when they go into the adult life stage you can see they're getting older, and same with adult to elder, they show the signs of aging but still has the life stages

Anonymous

I like the idea of gradual aging, but I would love to have some interaction/activities/skills that are different for each life stage🤗

Anonymous

For me, AI is really important. Kids could be drawn to playing with their toys or jumping around acting silly (not taking the trash out like in that other game). Playful paras of any age could be childish in their autonomy as well. As much as I try to handle everyone, it’s nice to let them go and see what they do. I would love to see age-appropriate autonomy as well as personality defined autonomy. Gradual aging would be a dream come true! But in general the age groups I’d like to see are baby, toddler, child, tween, teen, young adult, adult, middle-aged, and elder.

Anonymous
>>54001769

I agree with this. The poll is very all over the place - I assumed we were supposed to pick a few not just one given how varied they are

Anonymous

I want to vote for the first 3 options lmao

Anonymous

It would be great for skills to develop over time, and for some early life skills to affect later ones. I like having the stages of life be a little clear like young adult, adult, etc, but definitely should be more gradual aging and changing over time. I'd really love to see how a Para's life stage affects them. For example, as they grow into a teenager seeing how their changing hormones affects their mood, or based on past experiences they are prone to a mid-life crisis, like if they haven't reached certain goals they had.

Ryn

Something I think it would be cool to see would be more intense emotions in teens and more confidence as paras grow older.

Anonymous

(This ended up much, much longer than I anticipated and I think I answered things that weren't the actual intention of the questions, but here it is.) 1) Which life stages would you like to see in Paralives? Baby, toddler, child, pre-teen (tween), teen, young adult, adult, elder 2) Which perks and abilities should some life stages have that the others won't? I think that skills should be able to be built over a lifetime, but that there should be a cap at each life stage, with some ability for Paras to unlock skill caps based on traits. So, for example, while most Paras would cap out on say, artistic skill, during each life stage, if a Para is artistic, they could push the cap up a little in their life stage. Also, I think that, in particular, from baby to teen, there should be things they cannot do without permission from parents/guardians. Not unless there are traits or such that allows them to do so. OR, perhaps even allow a way to set up each home differently. So, in some homes, parents are strict and minors can't leave the property without permission, but in other homes, the parents might only have that stipulation for their childred and pre-teens, but teens get more freedom. Being able to set this differently for each house, with consequences, would be ideal. If a minor breaks a rule, it should definitely create a 'moment' in the game. When we get to adults/elders, there should also be limits on some things, based on their skills/traits. If they never built up physical skill, for example, then they shouldn't be able to engage in certain strenous activities without consequences. However, if they have high physical skill, then perhaps taking an epic workout wouldn't cause them any problems. Also, perhaps, if they don't build a skill by a certain life stage, then it's just too bad for them. 3) Which activities and interactions would you like to see for each life stage? Baby: • learn to recognize voices of family (maybe a bubble that they recognize mom/dad/grandpa/sibling etc) • cooing and gurgling • smiling and laughing • grabbing toys • shaking rattles • rolling over • being held in a standing position by someone • sitting up without support • responding to some words (no, yes, their name, simple words basically) • putting objects in their mouth to explore (this could also be things like getting into the diaper pail or other equally fun things) • drooling • teething • crawling • pulling themselves up to a standing position • pointing at things they want • walking while holding onto things ("cruising") • putting objects into containers and taking them out • copying behaviors (pretending to talk on a phone, babbling to mimic talking, etc) • learning to use objects such as spoons, combs, putting on shoes - but all very clumsily Toddler: • temper tantrums • fear of strangers • clingy in new situations • plays with toys that mimic adult behavior (feeding a baby doll, cleaning with toy broom, etc) • drinks from cups and eats with spoon • can get undressed • defiant behavior • points to things in books • plays make-believe • standing on tiptoe to get things or look out windows • climbing onto furniture • learning to navigate stairs • playing with large balls (rolling, simple tossing, etc) • can ride a tricycle • building blocks • simple puzzles (think like the wooden ones with the knobs in the middle of each piece) • sings nursery rhymes • bobs to music • simple drawing and coloring • asks for the same book to be read over and over and over and.... • can hop • can do a somersault • gets potty trained • can climb and slide Child: • losing baby teeth (tooth fairy events!!) • develops friends super fast • also develops enemies fast • loves to play board games/computer games • loves to collect things (nature items, toy lines, marbles - anything and everything) • follows around older siblings • bosses younger siblings • draw • read • learns to ride a bicycle (I'd love to see this as an interaction with older siblings/parents) • pretend play of all sorts (teaching a row of stuff animals like a school set up • making 'food' from nature items • playing 'house') • playing hopscotch • jumping rope • playing tag • can't leave property without permission (see my comments at the top!) • doing simple chores (making bed, doing dishes, taking out trash, cleaning up after a pet, etc) • joining activities (sports, drama, scouts, piano lessons - with a legit 'going to lessons' interaction) • lego type blocks • gets an allowance (which could be at any stage here and up) • can make their own food that doesn't involve the stove (can use the stove with teen or adult supervision) Pre-teen: • annoyed by younger siblings • idolizes older siblings • won't play with child toys in front of others (but perhaps does so when alone) • talks about crushes • worries about clothing • worries about being popular • friends start to get harder to make • frenemies begins • formation of cliques • embarrassed by parents • has slumber parties • can go places on their own (movies, library, mall, etc) • getting braces • needing glasses • some pre-teens starting puberty (not all!) • argues with parents more • can make their own food on the stove without supervision (but can't supervise a child doing so) • gets calls to babysit (also in teen stage) Teen: • puberty (for those who didn't start in pre-teen) • getting contacts to replace glasses • dealing with retainers after braces are removed • pimples (which is puberty, but still deserves it's own spot) • friendships get more 'real' • boyfriends/girlfriends • learning to drive • getting an after school job • some might still play with toys, but only when no one can see them • learning to skateboard • being able to go off property without permission (based on strictness of parents) • developing own personality (emo, geek, jock, loner, etc - not necessarily those names, but that idea) • can cook without supervision and can supervise child • taking AP courses at school (or College Prep) • joining sports teams • cheerleader teams • more interested in friends than family • can sneak out of the house (again, based on parent strictness levels) • arguments with parents Young Adult: • can enroll in any variety of higher education (trade school, junior college, university, apprenticeships) • thinks they have their life figured out or is a complete mess • serious relationships develop • moving out on their own • when it comes to joining a career, there is a cap level that they can attain (unless they have traits/connections/skills that allow them to get above that) - in other words, say they go into some company, they don't get to become CEO of said company until they have put in the years and worked their way up, so top dog might not come until adulthood • can develop skills much faster during this lifestage • can get married • have kids • do all the stuff with kids Adult: • can enroll in any variety of higher education (trade school, junior college, university, apprenticeships) • can be the journeyman or master craftsman in an apprenticeship • is more likely to be stable in their life (not necessarily, but more likely) • can reach to the top levels in all careers • some skills can no longer be learned if they haven't learned them yet (not all, but things like physical skills and maybe some mental ones) Elder: • can enroll in some higher education (trade school, junior college) • might consider retiring (if they have the financial means to do so) • canes and walkers • hobbies could become a huge part of their lives at this part (not that they can't do them in their younger years, but work can really get in the way of those *glowers at my own work for that reason*) • stuck in their ways and it's more difficult to develop skills they haven't already developed before • if not physically fit, they have more difficulties with mobility, but if they have a high physical skill, they struggle far less 4) Should the Paras grow up by stages? Or should they grow up gradually and slowly without you noticing the visual differences each day? I think that this is something that should be an option in the game. I know I REALLY have control issues when I play life simulation games and I use a lot of mods to make sure I'm happy with how I play. I do like the idea of them aging within their stage, though. I'm really torn on that! LOL!

Sabine B
>>54006727

If you want to make 'the other game' a bit more like this, try the Personality Please mod by PolarBearSims iirc :) It's not perfect but it works in the meantime while we wait (not so) patiently for Paralives.

Sabine B
>>53968925

I like the idea of the traits fading away as they become less relevant is a para's life!

Anonymous

While I love the idea of gradual aging if we were able to control the speed (as in aging faster or slower etc) I think life stages would be fine, but with life stages there is parts missing in the middle such as young children or pre teens (11-14 maybe) or in between 18-21. It's too simplistic to have them in such distinct 'blocks' in my opinion

Fran Smith
>>53965588

I want a much slower game than that. I'm hoping there is a time slider...

Fran Smith
>>53965756

This could be done with mile stones. We still have gradual aging, but those milestones would kind of set some level of divisibility between the the ages, too. For example: Babies kind of up until they start to crawl, toddlers up until they start to run, children up until that stage when hormones start to hit (about 10 years old), pre-teens until Middle School for the US/High School for other countries, teens until University, University years, young adult until they either get a responsible job level or have children, adult during basic child-raring years, the elder years are less definable of course, perhaps they could be more defined in how healthy a Para has been throughout their lives (eating/exercise etc) coupled with what they currently do. When they become less active, then their age subtly changes. This kind of mirrors realism.

hjs_wells

I would personally like to be able to spend a bit more time and connect with my Paras with the option to speed up or slow down time speeds. A gradual aging process in my opinion would be perfect to achieve that and it would add more value to the life sim gaming experience.

Fran Smith
>>53965776

Haha! I'd love to see kids have bad behaviours, like getting into their parents' makeup and clothes, getting caught, toddlers drawing on the wall, kids bringing home insects and small animals, toddlers sucking on rocks and playing in the mud, bringing in muddy footprints. Teens defying their parents, climbing out the window for rendezvous, university students getting drunk, having outrageous parties, etc. And LOTS more, depending upon personality. These are the funny comical things that define the lifestages. But we can still have gradual aging with various options available at various ages. A gradual change in options and behaviours.

Fran Smith
>>53966030

Yes, I really like your age stages! These are great! This coupled with gradual aging.

Fran Smith
>>53966182

Yes, this is kind of what I'm hoping for. Gradual aging but with some natural milestones, perhaps notifications or perhaps some very brief highlighting, but not intrusively so. The transitions can also be blurred with various options being made available slowly over time with respect to age. For example, a 1 year old stops crawling altogether and no longer plays peek-a-boo, a 2 year old may no longer fits in the high chair, a 3 year old can run, a 4 year old can have a conversation and feed themselves at the table, a 5 year old goes to pre-school, 6 year old goes to school, a 10 year old Middle School, a 14 year old High School, an 17 year old University, 18 year olds can drink alcohol (the equivalent) etc etc. Dating options could also occur gradually, eg a 13 year old could perhaps hold hands and kiss, but not passionately, a 16 year old could kiss passionately a 17 year old "woohoo" (whatever the Paralives word will be), and lots of other options in between. And elders gradually lose the abilities to do stuff like physical activities, gardening etc. That works with gradual aging, but also defines the ages they are. Players would get used to these milestones and know how old their Paras are with respect to them. Lots of these milestones have celebrations attached to them, like school graduations etc.

Simmons

Honestly I’m not against life stages, I think the issue was that there was too few of them in the sims so it made the jump between them seem drastic. Life stages I have in mind are Baby,Toddler, preschool/kindergartener, child, pre-teen, teen, young adult, adult, middle aged and elder.

Anonymous
>>53979775

These, to my understanding, are more like brainstorming. They cast a wide net to guage the players' general priority about things and balance it against what will be feasible. Even The Other Simulation doesn't meet every desire if its customer base, and yet it will continue to persist because it has enough appeal to enough populations/perspectives to sustain engagement. So, it likely won't be expensive compared to the market at the time of release.

Anonymous

I'd personally like to see more variety, thought, and nuance given to the older life stages (as opposed to other life simulation games [You guys at Paralives are doing so great!]). Yes, virtual babies and children are fun, but a fufilling virtual adult life should be possible too! I see many opinions on life stages like adult, middle aged, and elder, but hopefully there could be nuance there especially as an adult moves from middle aged to elder. It would be a real shame if the gameplay for these older life stages fizzled out and these once exciting paras become boring to play with because there just aren't any in game options for them. They no longer have meaningful desires/motives. They aren't capable of achieving as much because they're older. They're forced into retirement. It just becomes sad and not fun. So I'm really hoping to have some exciting options for middle aged and elderly paras. Exciting and nuanced gameplay from start to finish.

Anonymous
>>53993042

Love this - all of it. The having a birthday as a celebration not a life event that triggers aging. The idea of having different sims visually age in a variety of ways that reflect the way they lived or simply genetic luck. The life choices influenced by close friends and family values. Brilliant. I would love to have this kind of experience in the game.

Fran Smith
>>53967238

I agree. I kind of imagined the first 4 options working together, not either or.

Anonymous

I really love the idea of gradual aging. I think it could work with a system of time similar to that of rimworld (although the cycle length could be adjusted for personal preference). The year has 4 "months" which correspond to a season and there is a certain number of days in each of them(15 in rimworld but can be adjusted for fewer e.g 5 days would be my personal preference). In this way paras can have an actual birthday and therefore celebrate it every year (if they wish). The life stages could be something like newborn 0-2 ingame seasons, baby 2 seasons to 2 years, toddler 2-4, child 5-11, preteen 12-14, teen 15-18, young adult 19-30, adult 31-45, middle aged 46-59, older adult 60-70 and 70+ as elder (these are just approximate times). This I hope is a way to show how aging can work completely differently from the sims.

PinkLyon

I think gradual aging could be problematic as far as determining how long it takes a para to grow (if we're given customization options there) and I'd much prefer to be able to personally say "this many days of this life stage, this many days of that one" etc. My ideal situation for aging in the game, I think, would be for there to be life stages- but tons of them! Have newborn, infant, toddler, preschooler, little kid, big kid, preteen, young teen, older teen, young adult, adult, mature adult, elder, advanced elder. Give enough life stages for it to feel gradual, but still maintain their sections so we can decide how long each one lasts. I would love to see gradual weight change, however.

Jesslynn
>>54013984

I second this!! Playing older characters gets so boring because there isn’t anything to do. Plus family gameplay not being prioritized makes it impossible to have a cute little moment with the grandkids.

S&M Gonzalez

Okay so Im back with more ideas I voted I’d like gradual aging as far as appearances but also really liked the idea of experiencing real life simulation in paras as they age and grow older. Sims has always felt rushed and lacked real moments to play through imo. One really interesting idea I came up with that I’ve always wished and didn’t know why this was never a thing to begin with.... pertains to the elderly. I’d really love if I wanted to play as an elderly or make grandparents for my family, you know making the whole family tree haha. My elderly paras would start off with a past life and a history. Just like how our grandparents grew up in a different time than us, elderly paras would have this same background history. They wouldn’t share a modern past or life at all, like if we were to make a para from scratch and play them through the end of their lives. So for instance, if I created an elderly couple (Dean and Martha) for my adult para (Abby) who is married with children. They would (not just the elderly but the adults too) have be started off with a background rather than blank slates. Say the grandparents grew up in the 1940s, they have memories from that time, stories to tell, experiences they lived through, etc. It would most likely be random but if we could some how use a questionnaire or fill in blanks to determine what their past and childhood was like for each of them, fake paras they dated,kissed, friends, etc. Even though we as the player haven’t played them through this entire gameplay lifetime. With this being said, I think it’d be realistic if every generation that dies off, history changes slowly, in the world for paras so things will be different for them vs when they were younger and idk there’d be a memorabilia to share between paras in their neighborhoods and families in a sense. I’m really excited to play with elders and give them a life too because i feel they've been forgotten in simulation games or at least the most undesired stage to play with. Again didn't want to make this post super long but will add more ideas as they come to me haha.

Anonymous

I'd like to have the opportunity to let elders live in facility centers if they get too sick and too old to take care of themselves. I like the idea of gradual aging and would love to see that in the game.

Anonymous
>>54017847

ohhh now this is something i can get behind. I can imagine my ittle para. seeing them grow up and go through changes.

Anonymous
>>54020217

I had a similar idea for the world to change while everyone is aging (so it doesn't feel like its just stuck in time) I once played a family for a long time with many generations and I had to stop because it felt so stuck and the same? Since then I've really wanted to feel the times changing and differences between my elders childhood and the grandkids childhood but I imagine that could be quite difficult to implement lol

Anonymous

I know it doesn't belong here but I just remembered something: I would really like to play a life simulation that doesn't generate tons of new "people" for every situation and I as a player don't have to install tons of mods (I am very grateful to the modders for their fantastic work) so that the game is playable. That would be just fantastic!

Lucy McClean

I know there is an inevitability to the game representing each stage in quite stereotypical ways but here I am commenting again asking for it to please be more nuanced!!! For example, some parents will do baby led weaning and some will do spoon feeding. So having an option to give a plate of food as well as a bowl of puree gives the player that choice. It essentially doesn't do anything to the way the baby grows... Maybe the baby led helps with motor control? But it at least means people can play in a style that works for them. For toddlers, having options for parenting styles, letting children dress themselves or having adults do it. Having an option to let toddlers use the potty/toilet themselves or having an adult enforce potty training. Having toddlers rebel if they don't want to be forced into clothes/potty. Having them strip off or wee themselves on purpose to assert their will. Or having them be super fussy about being wet and going to the potty themselves, or freaking out when they have an accident. Or being very specific about what they want to wear. Kids having the option to be private schooled, comprehensive schooled or home schooled, and having options for home school that reflect reality- not just being confined to the computer or workbooks - nature study, project learning, study groups, skill classes, reading, knitting, macrame, sewing, woodworking skills, stem projects etc. Homework for school being more varied than just filling in a book - maybe they have to bring something to show and tell, or draw their family member, or do a collage, or make a castle out of recycling materials etc. Kids having special interests or focuses. Options for socialising through video games or going to play at the local park with friends. What age does the child get a phone or a games console and how that affects socialisation, relationship to parents, peer pressure, feeling like an outsider. Kids play being varied, some kids being super boisterous and some kids who are more shy or quiet. Conforming or not conforming to gender conventions/expectations etc. The preteen stage I feel needs to be more nuanced as well, not all preteens start having crushes, some will be "late bloomers" some will be gay, bi, ace, and will work that out at different times, some will be affected by puberty, become uncomfortable or clumsy or sore from growth spurts, and some won't be. I love the idea that preteens can still play like children but also want to appear grown up so there is an ambivalence of feeling. Some may play with younger siblings happily and some may resent it, depending on their personality and strength of relationship to their sibling. Lots of experimenting in this age with looks, makeup, language. Parents can be sensitive or tease them about their weird choices. Discipline in general is another grey area and for once I am glad of the sims variation of discipline - having an option to hug it out or talk about the issue is nice. But it is something I never use! Because it is such a faff. I would prefer a system of automatic reaction and discipline that is based on parenting style. Strict parents send to room and relaxed parents will have a chat etc. And part of discipline could be like being resentful for being shouted at by parent - or feeling guilty after being called out by parent. That kind of thing. Teens I think this is where there's a real questioning of identity. I love the idea that paras can identify with a kind of lifestyle at this age - like being very into music, film or celebrity culture. Being into justice, wanting to protest, starting petitions and stating theor political opinions. Being really into theatre and having socialisation that can be "performed" rather than it being a normal hello, they sing it, or make a big thing out of a greeting. Teens who are super sporty and wear sportswear all the time, obsess over tactics and game politics. Teens who are super eco, so there is a cross over with the justice fighters, but who essentially care most about the environment and animals. They could be super nit picky about their friends actions like eating meat or driving when you could cycle. And then these kinds of personalities interact in different ways, they may cross into different personalities, start off eco, get recruited by the theatre kids and have a mixture of the two. At this point peer groups are really important so peer groups will tend to gravitate to similar ways of thinking. Teens may argue with their parents - when they feel that they are not being listened to or if they have low relationships with them, but equally they could feel a sense of belonging and trust. The personalities may feel or clash. Teens should still be allowed mood swings and lean towards recklessness but it doesn't mean they automatically hate their parents. In the same way, they could talk about hating their parents, unfairness etc but when it comes down to it they love them and want their approval/validation. Then this leads into young adulthood which for some paras can be very much about relaxing, partying, friends, doing crappy work for little pay. Or it could be a 10 year action plan - start a career, get married, buy a house etc. Or it could be a wandering stage where they are unsure of their purpose. Maybe having kids young can bring out wanting to change their life around. Maybe they were eco warriors in HS and loved it so much that they want to start an eco business or a community garden or run an eco club for kids... Maybe they spend their young adulthood with parents and no ambition. Maybe they have ambitions that are so unachievable that they feel like underachievers. Adulthood there is more surity, less working out what you're going to do. Childless paras might be starting to worry about the fertility clock. They might be super ambitious or burned out from too much working while younger. They might want a career change, they might be a lone parent bringing up children and balancing struggling to level up a career while also juggling pta, homework and extracurricular activities. They might be looking at adoption, they may never want children. They might be unhappy in their marriage and looking for something else but also worried they will lose their security. Older adults, past fertility age but it would be nice if they could still adopt of childless. Or some childless paras may be quite happy with that, some may be regretful etc. Some paras could already have grown up kids, enjoying the freedom of time, or worrying about their kids moving out, or having empty nest, and some could have toddlers/young kids and be exhausted. Work can be either a solid 9-5 with a decent wage, or all their climbing could have them high up in a career, still grinding to level up or happy where they are. They could be starting their own business with savings after gaining the right skills. They could use their savings for early retirement. Or a mid life crisis car. Older single/divorced paras could be a bit insecure about age and still look to date/woo younger paras. Or they could be totally content in a marriage. Or they could open their marriage up to swinging or polyamory, with a desire to feel young and sexy again. (Or they could already be happily in a polyamorous relationship with or without kids. They may get grand children and enjoy spending time with them, or they may resent or be insecure being a young grandparent and what that means for their identity (my dad was very weird about being a young grandparent...) Senior/OAP age they can choose to keep working or not. Some artists will be still right in the thick of it and happy to be working away. Some people may retire and find new success in creative endeavours, especially with so much life experience. Acceptance of age, rebelling against expectations/norms of age. Some OAP paras might still dress younger or try and keep up with trends, some may appreciate the time to settle into hobbies, some may not at all. Some may never want to stop working, or if they do retire it makes them feel weird and they regret it or throw themselves into something very time consuming, or become miserly. Some may love being grandparents, or possibly even great grandparents and spend all their time making things for the grandkids, popping round with fresh baked goods, making garden play equipment etc. Some may be heavily involved in childcare. Childless OAPs may enjoy being part of a community nursery, or help out their neighbours. They might volunteer in a school, playgroup, place of worship or library if they feel an affinity with children. If they dislike children then they may grumble and tell them off when they see them. Or complain about noise. They can be active or less active based on their personalities and life choices. Very old, or "second childhood". It would be nice if this is a bonus stage. Being in a home or being cared for by family. Long life feeling or desperately clinging on. Worry about death or acceptance of death. Wanting to be with deceased family/partner. Memory problems, visits from grand and great-grand children. Photos up in their room, beakers of tea, food on laps. Being wheeled to the park or the beach. Random talents coming out - playing old songs on the piano, singing in the night etc. Reminiscing about good times. Not every para will experience very old age or "second childhood".

Anonymous

I don't know much about coding so I do just want to input that gradual aging sounds like it'd be a really difficult thing to program, so I am 100% okay with just having life stages if that's easier for the team to do!! >D</)

KittyPara

May the appearance of my Para slowly change over time rather than all at once

Anonymous
>>54032838

I was thinking about this last night too. I would be okay with life stages if they added like...a middle aged staged between adult and elder and maybe another childhood stage between child and teenager.

Anonymous

The life stages I'd like to see are newborn, toddler, child, preteen/teen, adult, senior - Toddler perks could be seeing ghosts of relatives/imaginary characters when they play/riding the family dog/toddler "quests" contained within the home such as sneaking sweets or some other sneaky nonsense. Child perks could be the ability to climb trees or explore more nature, join different school clubs/groups to further their skills, child sport leagues etc Preteens and teens should be all about self discovery and it would be cool if at this stage they could learn what their Talent is, they should be able to attend school dances and sport rallies, teen social clubs, entry level jobs, discovering romance etc Adult perks would be a career, marriage, owning real estate, more influence or engagement w their town council, host events etc Senior paras could hold reunions (family/peers/club members etc), go into retirement, get Senior discounts, join social clubs, fixed habits based on their habits throughout their life, and maybe more unique medical needs etc - I'd love if the paras gradually grew and changed rather than all at once, it would make it feel so organic and alive. Itd be fun to look at their photos and compare their subtle changes over time.

Anonymous

If we do gradual aging how would that work with character creation? Would we be giving paras a specific age at creation or relying on starting maybe at the beginning of specific "mile marker" stages?

Anonymous
>>54045685

Also how would birthdays work? Or would we see an end to birthdays...?

Giaduzza

I would really appreciate it if the longer living para could look very old, not like in the Sims where elders never seem to be more than 50 y.o. . I would gradually like their backs to sag, maybe some men lose their hair and need support to walk at some point. like reeaally old :)

Anonymous

Life stages : Baby, toddler, child, tween, teen, young adult, adult, Elder Babies should mostly be dependent on there parents/siblings Toddlers are more or less dependent on family helping them teaching how to walk,talk and read etc basics but also how to communicate with others through daycare or play dates and after a while should be able to do the basics on there own Children can play and defiate as they see fit and different toys should be available to different kid stages (baby, toddler,children) and can start going to school Tweens have entered there puberty stage and should gradually begin to leave there kiddie toys behind and gain other hobbies and get pimples and begin with light mood swings and moderate defiance and is still in the late stages of primary school or early high school Teens... well mostly self explanatory... A LOT of defiance like throwing parties ditching school looking for fights and a lot of mood swings and problematic or...there can even be a slight amount of chance that your teen para is a well behaved teen that would mean still a moderate amount of defiance but still a lot to moderate mood swings depending how well they have been taught over years Young adult...just entered adulthood and have the opportunity to go to university, if the para did very good they can even go for scholarships etc Adult's... work work work...oh and family time Elder...well its time to settle down and maybe even babysit for your grandkids and sneak them candy when the parents aren't looking

Anonymous

The poll's options don't make sense to me. I imagine Paralives as a combination of gradual aging within life stages.

Anonymous

There should definitely be skills & interactions specific to a life stage! One thing I would love to play with is kids & teens having an unrequited crush on an older Para, and the older Para finding this attention adorable/mortifying/hilarious.

Alvar Rayne

i like the idea of an almost separate set of traits that you can gain in gameplay based on how your para is raised or the choices their family makes, almost like a random achievement. for example, say a para’s parents work a lot and they have to take care of their siblings or be on their own a lot, it can help them gain the “independent” trait or something like that. or maybe a “cultural” trait for paras that are raised very in a very specific way with traditions based on their culture

Marina

I think it would be kind of cool to have gradual aging *within* life stages if thats possible? like in PAM, maybe we could start our para at one life stage and from there they would gradually age in-game and when we reach a new stage (preteen, adult, elder etc) it could be like woohoo congrats you made it idk idk

Anonymous

For activities at different life stages: I think I'd be cute if toddlers/children could invite their friends (and maybe classmates) to birthday parties. Maybe their parents could plan some activities instead of just cake eating. Maybe a water fight, treasure hunt/photo scavenger hunt, beat the barrel/piñata, mummy wrap, box fort building ect. Small kids could also have a candy day. For example get a candy bag every Friday or something. For teens/ young adult it could be fun to go through the process of moving out. Maybe live in collective housing or in an apartment with roomies or a dorm (even if school is a black hole). And if they live at home maybe make an option to get them some chores (that some of them can then complain about), like having to prepare dinner one day a week or such.

Anonymous

Not perfect just some ideas. Toddlers: Learning to walk, run jump and climb stairs. Brush teeth and hair, get into mom's/grandma's makeup. -Follow two-step directions -remember thing and talk about past. -Repeat words and sounds they hear(good or bad) mimic adults Curious, always asking why and whats that's and start being independent.

Anonymous

Teens:More/ Less conflict with parents__spend less time with parents and more with friends, concern for future and work, getting license/permit, buting first car, hand me downs, getting their first job, allowance,chores,have ,more interest in in romantic relationships. Go through stages, stress, peer pressure, depression which can lead to poor choices. hanging out with friends, going or sneaking out to parties, going to movies , also options for parents or guardian to support teen(if relationships are in good standing) to have deep and heartfelt conversations. This comes back to the toddlers and child stage , I thought it would be cool to start the kids off young into sports and hobbies like music, theater, art, gymnastics, etc of course based off what they enjoy and learn growing up to see if they like it.

CeeWilliams
>>54050814

Yes, I would rather have this. I, too, am confused by the options in the poll and I think gradual aging should be a part of the life stages. A baby changes quite a bit before they become a toddler, toddlers change before they are school age, and etc.

Layla Atkinson

for height, I was thinking when they are born the game genetically chooses the height and the para grows into it so there are varying heights.

PixelPerfect
>>54058962

Yes exactly this ! Gradual aging is cool but I want to know the actual life stage.

Bethy Grace

I have so many thoughts on families, aging and development I have no idea how I can summarize in one post, but here we go: Every lifestage should have milestones of some kind. + Babies have all kinds of milestones - sitting, rolling over, crawling, standing, first words, smiling, etc. + Toddlers can learn to walk / run, learn more words, start learning skills, learn to potty, learn to self-soothe. They can have temper tantrums over nothing, have a favourite sippy cup, go to pre-school or child care for the first time, make a friend, play in mud, you name it. The more trouble, the better. + Children: learning! - Starting school, making a friend, growing taller, discovering their hobbies and passions like a sport, music, art, etc. Sleepovers. + Teens: learning to drive, first real crush / love, first kiss, first date, first party attended, first party thrown, first acne, voice changing / body changing, discovering more about their sexuality... + Young adults: graduation from school, going to college, moving out, having a first serious relationship, first job, possibility for marriage and children, buying a house... + Adults: I'd love to see this age-stage in particular have gradual appearance changes, even if the others are fairly rigid. Losing hair, needing glasses, first serious medical issues (lol), having a midlife crisis, first wrinkles... Big birthdays! - 30, 40, 50. + Elders: Retirement, Grandkids, friend circles, social events? Big birthdays, anniversarys, family reunions! - 60, 70, 80, etc. In general, the more interconnectivity between the life-stages, the better. How I raise my child should affect how the child behaves as an adult and the traits, mannerisms and quirks they get. I liked the Sims 4 Parenthood Character Values system, this was good - but if it could go deeper, it would be better. On the subject of life-stages vs gradual aging... I mean... if it's possible to have gradual aging, this would be incredible. However I think life-stages is a good system, and maybe it would be possible to have a combination of the two wherein your "baby" changes a bit, but there's still a distinct change to "toddler", and again to "child", etc etc. I mentioned above that adults in particular, it would be cool to see a gradual appearance change - especially if it were tied to genetics and lifestyle! Okay, I tried to heep it short...ish... Hopefully this helps.

Anonymous

I would love to see live stages and being able to create paras in those live staging. Gradual ageing between these life stages would be nice. They then could age without us players noticing much until they reach the next life stage.

LightDeficient

Gradual aging would be super cool to see, but it’s not by any means necessary to have a good experience playing the game, and therefore I don’t see it as very useful. I don’t think we should have realistic ages like “42 years old” etc because how common wouldn’t the birthdays be? And for storytelling purposes it would he kind of tricky if they slowly look different, and so here’s an idea I propose. I personally think life stages are the better option for a game like Paralives, but done differently than the sims. It allows for a more exciting and rewarding progression, as not noticing differences in your para takes away the fun from seeing them grow up in a game. Anyway, I think life stages could be deeper and have “sub-categories” like the adult life stage having “young adult, middle adult and senior adult” which can all have changes in appearance like maybe senior adults start going grey in the roots and having some wrinkles for example. I also think we should have preteens, for sure! It’s such an important part of real life because it’s when you start to enter puberty, and I think that could reflect very well as a transition into becoming a teen. Baby Toddler Child Preteen Teen (Young & Mature) Adult (Young, Median, Senior) Elder (Elder & Senior) I think having these points of a para’s life would be more exciting to the player than a gradual shift. There could be gradual factors within the life stage like growing taller during the Preteen and Young teen stage. During the baby stage, the para can’t really do much for themselves and need a parenting role to change their diaper and feed them, and the same goes for the toddler phase which is where the para might start to roam around a little by themselves and eat solid food. When the para becomes a child that’s when they will start gradually growing taller into the height determined by their genes and environment. They might start forming their own friendships at school and getting interest in certain hobbies. They can also loose teeth which will show up on their appearance. When the para enters the preteen stage they will sooner or later enter puberty, where they have a large growth spurt and their voices start changing and they develop sexually. Girls generally enter this stage a little earlier. This is a time of a lot of hormones and possible attitude problems! During the young teen stage, the para might have more of an interest in dating, and forming relationships with others, they might also become more rebellious. When they become a mature teen, they are entering the age of prom, graduation and major life decisions. During this stage they won’t grow that much taller, but their voices will continue to mature and body hair will start showing up. Then later, they officially reach adulthood by becoming young adults. They will now be allowed to enter bars, and have drinks with friends as well as going to college/uni and working. After that they will become median adults, which is a large life stage where many start a family, get married and move into their dream family home. Then senior adults start going a little gray in their roots while also potentially encountering some health issues depending on how they have taken care of themselves in their younger days. Wrinkles gradually appear during this stage. Then your para has reached being an elder, which is a time of connecting with loved ones, possibly grandchildren, and also making sure that their health is in check. Elders can still be quite active depending on their health and other factors, but can also choose to retire from their job if they feel done with it. Wrinkles progressively show up and their backs might hunch over gradually as well as voice changes. Senior elders are very old and in the final stage of life, where similar changes that occur in elders happen as well.

Cookielllama :p

As many have written by now gradual aging within life stages seems like the perfect compromise. The player would still have the joy of seeing their Para slowly growing bigger while still knowing which age group the Para is currently in. It could look like this: Baby: birth- 12 months Toddler: 13 months-3 years Child: 4-9 years Preteens: 10-14 years Teens: 15-17 years Young adults: 18-29 years Adults: 30-59 years Elders: 60-69 years Seniors: 70 - death This way having multiple kids would be even more fun. Don't know about others but it always bothered me when I had 3 teens at exactly the same heigh and with the same appearance and had to pretend that one was older than the other

Anonymous

I'm loving all the gradual ageing plus life stages ideas, which would give the player the feeling of paras having actual ages. I'm just not sure how this would work when you want your paras to have a longer lifespan. I usually prefer playing with more time then for ex. 20 in-game days to spend as a young adult. Would longer lifespans mean crazy age numbers? Ex. 100 year old adult?

Layla Atkinson

but we still get to see what age group there in right?

Anonymous

I think Paras aging slowly would be a lot of technical work for very little added gameplay. Maybe more life stages, especially under 20? Mainly I just want teenagers to dress differently than adults and my life would be complete!

Anonymous

Yah I agree that day by day aging might be a little bit more difficult than having various multiple life stages. Like instead of just baby to toddler to teenager, there can be newborn to baby (learn to walk and talk), toddler (potty train) early child (go to preschool) child (gradeschool), pre-teen, teen, college, young adult, adult, etc..

Bethy Grace
>>54096850

I like your thoughts, but I do feel that preteen should be a shorter stage than teenage... What about pre-teen as 10-12, and then onto teenager for 13-18?

Anonymous

instead of just baby to toddler to teenager, there can be newborn to baby (learn to walk and talk), toddler (potty train) early child (go to preschool) child (gradeschool), pre-teen, teen, college, young adult, adult, etc..

Anonymous

Gradual aging within life stages would be a dream come true for me, especially to see babies, toddlers and children grow up within their stage. There should be a possibility to adjust how fast or slow they age within their stage, for example, that they age one month, six months or a year per para-day.

Anne-tione

I don't know how it would be done, especially when creating new paras but it would be really neat to see. Perhaps we could have gradual aging within certain life stages (and perhaps more life stages).

ranine hay

there should be gradual aging into life stages, we all can remember the day we reached a certain age or milestone in our life, the day we became teenagers, young adults, and so forth. although paras won’t age up to their new life stage in a single moment triggered by blowing a candle, like a small kid turning into a tall teenager, they grow little by little into these life stages, they celebrate these milestones, and every life stage has something necessary they need to be taught or go through, whether it’s talking and walking as a toddler, manners and respect as a child, responsibility and balance as a teenager, etc. these “stages” are necessary to gradual aging and adding that touch a realism and be immersive, rather than paras aging day by day and you aren’t sure which stage of life they are in. showing their age, vs how many days they have left to age, is a better option so you don’t feel like you have to rush to gain skills or play certain gameplay before your para ages to the next life stage. these are the life stages in mind: newborn/infant (0-1 years) baby (1-2 years) toddler (2-4 years) younger child (4-6 years) older child (7-10 years) pre-teen (10-13 years) younger teen (13-15 years) older teen (15-18 years) young adult (18-25 years) adult (25-39 years) middle age (40-65 years) senior(65-79 years) old age (80-90+ years) infants need multiple things like tummy mats with accessories to help their attention and build strength in their neck, also accessories like rockers, car seat, cribs, portable bassinets for around the house, changing tables, strollers, baby bottles, etc. caring for their needs and a sleeping schedule is the beginning stages of infancy, and then you have to teach your baby how to crawl or take it’s first steps, say it’s first word like mama or dada, this website details details of infants as they grow and their development (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/infants.html) (they also have life stages from ages 1-17) toddlers need high chairs to learn eating solid foods, walkers to help them learn to walk, they also need car seat/booster seat, stroller, potty, sippy cups, also entertainment that will help their development. toddlers as young as 3 or 4 can start activities like piano or ballet younger children are more impressionable, and absorb everything they learn around them. children as young as 5 or 6 can be enrolled in pre-school before being enrolled in elementary school, and will benefit their learning and growing. older children have a wide variety of things they learn from how para’s raise them, everything from manners, responsibility, and time management can be taught to an older child (7-12 years) and have an effect later on in their life, whether it be making their own beds, setting/clearing the table, helping with the dishes, and doing other chores around the house. older children can deal with things like balancing schoolwork/projects/tests with extra curricular activities, and building many friendships in school that may or may not last a lifetime. pre-teens may deal with the transition from elementary school to middle school, changing bodies, and managing new crushes or dealing with bullies. at this stage, they might want to grow up faster then they are, so they’ll want things like cell phones, going to the mall with friends, or attending the concert of their favourite artist. at this stage you can set a curfew for the child. younger teens deal with the transition of going from middle school to high school, and while older teens deal with starting their first job, getting their driver’s license, going to proms/formals/dances, and graduating high school. birthdays should be celebrated in gradual adding, and not just when you’re moving on to the next life stage. I think birthdays should be celebrated once a year in between the life stages, like if the time between a baby and toddler is 56 days (2 para years), then there should be a birthday celebrated on the 28th day, the halfway point, and on the 56th day, when they reach the toddler stage. another example is if the time between a teen and a young adult is 112 days (4 para years), there should be a birthday on the 28th day, the 56th day, the 84th day, and then the 112th day, when they reach the young adult stage. there can be an option to change the days between each life stage in settings so each player can decide how long or short the in-between stages should be. birthdays should also be celebrated on the same day and season the para was born on, like if your para was born on a Tuesday in the Summer, or the second Friday in Winter, then their birthdays will be celebrated on that exact date, and we should be able to set birth dates in Paramaker to para’s we’ve already made or are making. I think that having the birthday on the same day and season they are born on adds that realism and immersion in the game. aging/growing should also depend on previous generations, whether previous immediate family members in the family tree have lived longer or shorter due to health, genetics, or habits. genetics should also affect how a para grows, some grow earlier than others, some are late bloomers, others grow tall like their grandfather or short like their aunt, some age faster while others look younger than their age. pregnancy should be a gradual animation while also growing into the 3 trimesters, how the belly slowly gets bigger every day, and they show what stage of pregnancy your para is in schools should have ages/life stages for each phase of school. pre-school (1 year, 5-6 year olds) elementary (5-6 years, 6-12 year olds) middle school (3 years, 12-15 year olds) high school (3-4 years, 15-18 year olds) college/university (2-4 years, 18 year olds and older) the US school systems has: elementary schools only being grades 1-5 middle school being grades 6-8 high school being grades 9-12 while Canada school systems has: elementary schools being grades 1-6 middle school being grades 7-9 high school being grades 10-12 so it will depend which school system will be implemented that will determine which age group will go to which school.

Anonymous

I really hope this sticks out to them this was well said and organized, I’d like to add with baby’s and toddlers that parents can take them with them, while running errands or doing tasks, have grandparents babysit or teenagers, or other family/friends.. to be able to bathe the babies and actually change their diapers and rock them to sleep in chairs, toddlers be put in car seats and played with outside, and taught to swim ect

S&M Gonzalez

Interactions Newborns, Babies, and toddlers - parents creating a bond with their children and children taking to a bond with their mom or dad or both. Maybe the baby can be more calm with one parent vs the other. Like it’s easier for the dad to rock the baby and calm them down vs when the mom does it. Same going for being obedient, they’ll listen to one parent more than the other, this can later affect relationships between parents as far as who they’ll be closer to or maybe they’ll be close to both, and who they’ll come to first with problems. - Learn to crawl, walk, babble first words, and talk - Being social with other babies and toddlers and developing emotions and empathy towards others. Say like if they see their family members crying they can come up to them and hug them. - Adoption I think if they’re newborns they won’t remember their previous parent(s) but if they’re a baby/toddler they would remember their real parent(s) for a time but it’d be distance memory, which could or not cause them to forget about them altogether as they age into a child, or make them wonder and question ‘who was that person, and why do I keep thinking about them?’. - Learn to recognize objects and shapes in the world around them - Motor skills,sensory tactical skills (blocks, throwing balls,etc.) - Building up food palate of what they like vs what they don’t like eating, including developing likes and dislikes (favorite color, book, movie, activity,etc.) - Learn to write names and recognize letters - If learning more than one languages is a thing they could learn different languages - Potty train, moving from bottle to sippy cups to drinking out of cups and using dinnerware - Playing with play sets and having play dates with other babies and toddlers - Going to preschool or not I wanna retract what I mentioned yesterday for children ages I think there should be two age groups for children, younger children (4-6 years) and older children (7-10). With this I also wanted to include parenting styles because this could be a growing moment for them too in how their kids behave and how they respond. I think the parenting styles should be based on personality but also maybe we can choose from a list of 4 different parenting styles as it’s foundation if that makes sense, from strict to very lenient I’ll list this below. Children— both younger and older children - developing friends would be hit and misses but also developing best friends would be a great milestone as they age. - Personality growing more and getting more hobbies and interests - Playing more outside with other kids - Forming secret clubs with friends - Interests and hobbies changing more frequently as they age into older children - They can start to become influenced and take after behavior of others - More social events to go to both outside and inside of school - Being able to invite and be invited to parties, trips, summer camps,etc. - Walk to town with friends or meet up with friends - Parents being more cautious about letting their children go places, which they need to ask permission to go places and which would allow the parent to accompany them wherever, unless they’re the more mature type and trust them to go alone but idk how this could work. - Allow for more independent children paras to do things themselves,like cook, go ride their bike around the neighborhood, walk to friends house, walk to library,etc. - Run a business like lemonade stands, make cookies,jewelry,other crafts they can sell inside of school or outside of school. Pre-teens (this list can go for some teen aged paras too) - personality still changes and could turn for the worst, more moody and make withdraw from spending time with family or not - Highly influential to others and can be influenced by others depending on personality, whether it’s good or bad. - Having more mature preteens who aren’t pressured nor can be pressured - Be able to form cliques outside of school - Dating could happen but it could either, be hidden or not depending if their parents allows them to date - Preteens could still play with toys but that doesn’t mean it will be accepted by all preteens as cool you could be made fun of for it if you’re around someone who thinks it’s not cool to be playing with toys still - Trying to sneak into teenager parties/high school parties, developing crushes on teen paras would be possible, befriending teen paras in high school would make you look cooler if they’re popular and increase reputation - Complaining about family traditions and routines and not wanting to do them, even for something simple as them not liking what is for dinner and refusing to eat it - Talking back/mouthing off to parents/being a brat. Maybe if they have younger siblings they used to be close with they don’t wanna hang out with them anymore because they feel ‘older’ or ‘can’t be bothered’. Same can go for older siblings the preteen can just not talk to them as much anymore and become isolated in their own world with their own friends. - Preteens having reputations around town that can follow them into teen years - Preteens maybe having life lessons they struggle through and can either ruin them or make them stronger and change for the better - Getting a job would be possible with parent approval Teens (14-18) - the list for preteen could also apply for them - I was thinking it would be cool if their were two groups for teen paras young vs old : young= 14-15 older= 16-18 which could contribute to more social and life changes one being college and being able to move out and move in with a friend - If they’re rebellious they could sneak and date a college aged para but getting caught would have serious consequences. Friends may or not be accepting of it, parents won’t be. If we had real ages listed like say a para is 17 but their boyfriend or girlfriend is 19 it wouldn’t be frowned on as much say a younger aged para 16 years dating an 19 yr old. - Sneaking into college aged parties and nightclubs - Fake IDs to get into adult night clubs and to drink if we have something equivalent to alcohol, but I know I’m UK you can drink at teen age but it’d be cool if we could have fake IDs for them Middle aged and Elders - have hobbies they enjoy from earlier in life still be a part of their life - I know this is the age of no fertility but maybe some of the women could become pregnant but in very rare cases I’d say that 55-60 year old age but not beyond that age. - Find romance still and get married. - Ride motorcycles, Vespa,and regular bikes Go hiking, kayaking, mountain climbing, camping, biking, surfing, well extreme sports too, if they’re really fit they could train others - Maybe some can sleep more than others depending if they’re active or not - Photography - Owning businesses - Can or cannot become more sickly - Falls could happen more frequently if they’re not active - Some could start eating less and not result in them starving, while others would have hearty appetites - Being able to work still and also retire - Possibility to become more forgetful and repeat questions - Able to move into a retirement facility if they want but it wouldn’t be a rabbit hole, because I feel that’d be like tossing them in a way into hiding. So I guess it’d be more like how sims 3 had college campuses but they can go and visit others if they want. - Can marry paras younger than them only adult paras (30 years old+) - If they live to be over like 100 years old they’d get an honorable award that would be plaqued at town hall as tribute to longest living paras - If a paras has lived a long and successful life in the public eye or donated to many charities or did charity work they would be listed in the worlds town history where other paras can read about them after they die. - Writing last living wills and deciding which paras they know gets what of their estate. Being able to have funerals and memorials. If we can have and see closed caskets only it’d be cool to pick a color for them.

S&M Gonzalez

Parenting styles for adults. Like I mentioned before on having 4-5 different styles of parenting that’d be a foundation complimenting their personalities or maybe even being opposite of their real personalities. https://smartmamasmartkids.com/the-4-parenting-styles-and-how-understanding-them-can-help-you-improve-your-parenting/

Anonymous

Honestly if gradual aging is too complex to incorporate, more life stages would do the trick almost as well. For example: baby>toddler>child>tween>teen>late teen>young adult>adult>middle-aged>elderly, or something like that.

Bethany

I don’t really have a context for how gradual aging would work, but I am intrigued and would love to see it executed. My main question is how would I know what life stage my Para is in? Would there still be distinct life stages, but a smooth visual transition for from one stage to another? If so, I’m in!! The life stages that I would like to see are: Baby – I would like Para’s to be able to interact with their babies such as rocking them in a rocking chair, feeding, changing diapers on a changing table, playing, comforting, falling asleep holding the baby in a chair or on a sofa, bathing the baby in baby bathtub/chair or the sink, singing baby to sleep. I would also like multiple pieces of functional furniture for babies and toddlers: changing table, crib, bassinet, baby bathtub/chair, stroller, walker, playpen, baby swing. Toddler – I would like toddlers to learn to talk, walk, potty train. I also would love to see toddlers learn to share, say thank you/be kind, not throw a temper tantrum. Basically, I would love for toddlers to have some type of emotional skill they could learn. Unique abilities: throw a temper tantrum, babble at someone/something, potty training, learn to walk/talk. Functional furniture: Playhouse, play kitchen, rideable toy car, rocking horse. Child – Unique abilities: play make believe alone or with other kids, create kid’s crafts, have an imaginary friend, make a best friend (this would be the life stage when you could make a best friend it would continue through all other stages). Functional furniture: lemonade/baked goods stand, piggy bank that stores money. Pre-teen / Tween – Unique abilities: have a crush/reveal crush, use parent’s make up, have first boyfriend/girlfriend with “innocent/less adult” interactions (hold hand, kiss cheek, exchange love notes, etc.). Teenager – Unique abilities: get part-time job, learn to drive, have mood swings/emotional meltdown, go to prom, sneak out of the house, save money for the future. Young Adult – This would be a life stage where the Para is trying to figure out what they want to do with their life such as building skills to find the right job, saving money to move out, or going to college (I’m not sure if College game play is being considered or not). Adult – This would be a life stage where a Para starts to find stability in their life such as being somewhat established in their career, raising a family, owning their own home, etc. Unique abilities: Create family traditions. Senior – This would be a life stage where a Para would start to consider retiring or continue to work, get to be a grandparent. Basically, they’re past their adult traditional child rearing years, but still have plenty of energy to enjoy their life whether it’s with family, pursuing hobbies, travel, etc. Unique abilities: retire, create family traditions. Elder – This could be a life stage where the Para is starting to slow-down and death is near. Perhaps not every Para would make it to this life stage due to how they lived their life (i.e. poor diet, no exercise, etc.). Basically, I consider this life stage to be “bonus days” if you lived a healthy life. Unique abilities: share wisdom, pass down traditions/family history,

Ludivine

Bonjour, Merci à vous de nous inclure dans la construction du jeu :) ! Pour ma part, je souhaiterais que le vieillissement des Paras soit progressif, et ne change pas d'un coup de "baguette magique". Ce serait, à mon sens, assez novateur ! Je trouve que ça serait sympa que l'on démarre du stade de nouveau-né, avec une fête pour l'heureux événement. Le bébé dont les parents s'occuperont (change à l'aide de la table à langer, qu'ils gazouillent, chansons et histoires par les parents, allaitement et biberon, prendre le bébé sur les genoux et dans les bras...). Puis progressivement petit enfant (bambin), avec "marche" à quatre pattes, puis envie de "toucher à tout", découverte de ce qui l'entoure, l'heure du bain, maladies infantiles avec appel du docteur. Apprentissage de la parole (les "premiers mots"), jeux d'éveil, accompagnement et surveillance des parents. Puis au stade enfant un peu plus âgé : courir partout, se salir pendant le repas, l'essuyer avec une serviette, les (nombreuses) lessives des vêtements souvent tâchés :) Puis au stade pré-adolescent : l'école, les bus scolaires, les copains, les disputes avec les parents et les frères et sœurs, les fêtes d'anniversaire, les devoirs scolaires, apprentissage et activités avec les parents, la danse, activités artistiques et créatives (cuisine avec les parents et autres activités). Puis adolescent : la fameuse "crise d'adolescence", l'acné juvénile, prendre discrètement le maquillage de maman pour les filles et leurs cheveux qui poussent (longs), la première barbe pour les garçons et la raser, des découvertes de métiers et orientations professionnelles selon le caractère du Para, les premiers amours, les sorties (balade, camping, vélo entre copains...). Bêtises et punitions qui vont avec ;) Puis jeune adulte, avec le premier job avec l'entretien d'embauche qui pourrait être réussi ou échoué. Premier logement, crémaillère, rencards amoureux qui peuvent réussir ou pas :) Soirées pizza, film ou cinéma. Le facteur qui dépose le journal le matin devant la maison en plus du courrier. Puis fiançailles, mariage. Puis stade adulte : expérience professionnelle approfondie / experte, la fatigue, le stress, problèmes de dos. Cotisation pour la retraite avec le salaire :) Le début de quelques rides / âge mûr :) Besoin de plus dormir. Puis progressivement au stade senior (personne âgée) : la retraite, la canne, la marche plus lente, les cheveux blancs, une grande expérience de la vie qu'ils pourraient transmettre à leurs petits-enfants, un système de souvenir des étapes passées de la vie, la sagesse, donner des bonbons / gourmandises aux petits-enfants :) Jusqu'à la mort où les souvenirs de la personne disparue resteraient dans les esprits de la famille. Interactions en général : des bisous, des câlins, se prendre par la main (parents avec enfants pour traverser la rue, par exemple, ou un couple amoureux). Présence marquée des sentiments, émotions... Réactions / sensibilité à l'environnement extérieur en bien ou en mal (bien : fleurs, nature, air pur... - mauvais : pollution, bruits de la ville, voisins désagréables, ambiance agressive, etc.) Merci beaucoup à toute l'Équipe pour votre super travail, c'est génial !!!

Anonymous

I would like the ability to create my para at a specific age and watch that para's appearance slowly change over time.

Ewaka Flaka

Would love to have something special with parties and birthdays, as well as bonuses to maybe aging in a positive way and downgrades to aging in a negative way. Would want aging to have a more memorable aspect on the para so that it can be subtle, but also important in the stages. Maybe with the idea of subtle aging up, and then once they reach a certain age it’s considered a “life-stage” and they can unlock special interactions for that age group? Just a thought

S&M Gonzalez

Also another ideas I think as paras age and get older they would have the option to change their personalities traits (if we have traits or sliders). If we have traits to pick for paras I think it’d be nice if they had individual sliders to make them more or less extreme say 3 levels to each personality trait, I think this could work for sliders to not as in setting them during PAM but it’d be shown for how a para acts during gameplay. For example a para who likes reading it would have a slider varying from a casual reader, niche reader, and then bookworm which would be the max on the scale. Because some personalities traits that are the same and present in many paras aren’t all as extreme as others. Another example, Funny paras, you’d have the one who’s casually funny in conversations, those who are more prone to cause pranks, and then those who live life and never take anything serious everything is turned into a joke.

Anonymous

I love the idea of paras aging over time, but I would also like maybe a little notification in case it's something subtle? Like maybe my para looks in the mirror and then becomes self conscious because they notice a new wrinkle? Or that they've put on some weight/lost weight etc. I love the idea of it being something our para's also are affected by.

Jo Landers

I really like the idea of traits being something your para develops, rather than suddenly acquires

Kyll

The idea of gradual aging would we something incredible. It would be so damn realistic, and we would be able to connect with that. You know like, not noticing it, aging day by day, and than all of a sudden - tens of hours later, looking at photographs in-game or something like that, and noticing the differences, remembering how the para looked like, remembering all the traits it had and didn't have. And I definitely agree with Bree. A little something, once in a while, like an event or a reaction proper to each para and their traits. Like noticing a new wrinkle, and a para with a diva personnality being freaked out; or noticing stretch marks after giving birth, but on a para who loves having a big family and who thinks positive of it, like "these stretches tell the story of a new life joining our big family". Or a pregnant para noticing they put on weight after a few days/weeks - or on the contrary, a para on a diet, being happy about themselve for losing weight.

Kyll

Also, not every body ages the same. Let's say, not every 35 years old person ages the same. Some will look like they are in their 40s, and some will be closer to their 20s/30s. For example, I'm in my mid-twenties. My buddies look like they're going towards their 30s, and I still look so f*ing young that I'm still being asked for my ID when I buy ciggies. What I mean is, if we could separate the looks from the age, without going through too much trouble, it'd be nice. Lets say, a slider, to choose the age-appearance (for example, i'd put something teenage/young-adult), and a slider or a simple box where you'd chose the actual age (where i'd put 26). Y'know what I mean ? Like, when two paras are going to end-up in a relation-ship, it's gonna be boring, always having them looking exactly like eachother. We want realism, possibilities, and sometimes we wanna recreate the outside world. And some cougars are going to want a male adult, with a young face. Some other are going to want somebody not to old and who still has 30 more happy years to live, but with a mature looking face. And the same for kids. Some are 12 years old, but with a freaking deep voice and measuring 6'11". So yeah... I think it should be worth looking into seperating the looks and the age... Or, if too complicated, a trait "aging faster" or "aging slower". And again, I definitely think gradual aging is going to be an awesome thing, if possible.

Kyll

Talking about activities, I think paras should be kinda free to do any activities, regardless of the age. The only change, being if they need supervision from an grown-up, or not. Like, an adult should be able to use play-dough; and a toddler should be able to golf, with a little help - and maybe, if they become a prodigy, then they won't need as much supervision. Concerning the perks and abilities, i think it'd be more like "interests". Kids (3 to 6) tends to be super curious about basic stuff, like watching ants in the dirt, trying to bake a cake with their parents, sprinting to see if they're fast and being proud for not falling. They are like sponges, and they want to learn all the simple things in life. Older kids or pre-teens (7 to 12) would start seeing differences in the genders male/female, a lot of teasing - again, it's curiosity. They're discovering, testing the limits, arguying. It's not just about everyday stuff, their curiosity gets deeper - they discover hobbies. They find out what they like, what they don't like. One will like hiking, the other one prefers sitting in cinemas, a third one will like baking pastries. They also learn the social rules - they start making friends, or being afraid of social contacts. They know if they dream of being the highschool star, or if they'd rather not bother with crowds and become lab geniuses. And then teens and yound-adults (13 to 20), curious about discovering the basic stuff of the adult life. Some interested in the other gender (flirting, testing things, experiencing relationships, coupling, etc...). Some interested in their professionnal futur (extra job, secret chemistry experiences in the garden, coding on the computer all night long, etc...). Anxiety also starts about stuff like social problems, or fear about the future. Some will skip school to look cool, some will party; some will like fishing peacefully on week-ends, others will manage the journalist club and know all the gossip; some will even become computer geniuses, away from all the fuss, and hack government agencies on their free time. And then 20s / 30s . Less curiosity about basic life stuff, but curiosity about deeper stuff. Like, how to maintain an good relation ship, how to improve it, maybe even start a family. Or how to get a raise, a promotion, etc... Buying a house, becoming independant, achieving their childhood dreams and goals. And then 40s / 50s, would be more about, putting their life back into question. Finding new purposes in life, new hobbies. Some even thinking about being grand-parents. Creating new projects in life, for themselves, for their family, for others, for the community - trying to feel complete and to feel good about the meaning of their life. And then the elders. Depending on their traits, their families, their relationships. Whether it's to be close to their grand-kids, to have been ambitious and achieved everything they wanted, as they look back. Or, to simply be in love still, with their long-term marriage partner, living like two teenage kids, happy to be alive and to have made it there. Maybe some 60 year old guy will even still want to manage his biker gang and be at the top of the food chain.

Annamaris

Just curiousily thinking of gradual aging hypothetically... If it is included in the game, how will it affect the creating of paras in PAM? Will there be "an age slider" or something else if the player desires creating the paras with the different ages? Besides, can it still be up to the player to set them the wrinkles, posture and height genetics in order to make paras of the same age look different? These are my main concerns about the gradual aging, beside the complicaty of coding it. Please don't get me wrong, I love the idea itself. In addition, I know there are talented modders who have created aging and growing sliders to TS3, and I have my trust on the talented Parateam which can take these into the account and create the stable game engine. If the gradual aging turns out to be too complicated to Paralives, I'd like to suggest following life stages and something else. Please mind you, these are just suggestions, not the demanding wish list. C: Some basic features: Traits(/temperaments) - dynamical/gradual traits would be so neat. There would be binaries for everything like lonely wolf - social butterfly, and the player could adjust the slider between them. ♡ - have the influence on the socialicing: paras with the same trait(s) become friends and even partners more likely and vice versa. (If the para is not the lonely wolf, of course). - optional setting: developing traits in the childhood (= the baby inherits the base from their parents but gaining the influence from the environment like socialicing, raising and mimicing shapes them) Intelligences (and weaknesses) - natural (understanting living things and reading nature), existential ("philosofical": tackling the questions about the existence, life and death), spatial (visualising the world in 3D), intrapersonal (understanting yourself; what you feel and want, your strengths and weaknesses), interpersonal (empathy; sensing people's senses and motives), linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, musical - could be dynamic/gradual (like a slider) - paras with the intelligence can learn the skills related to them faster and get better results - optional settings: heritable, weaknesses (= the intelligence but vice-versa. Gaining skills related to the intelligence is slower and the results are worse) Briefly about the skills: - every skill can be trained since the specific life stages. The learning is a life-long process :D - ...however, there could some skills which were much more harder to learn when growing up like learning empathy or to speak - about the social skill: it may be a bit complicated. It refers both to the knowledge of socialicing with the other paras like the conventional ways to bei ng polite and interact in the specific culture, and also, having good "friend" and emotional "skills" Interests (-> hobbies) (and pet haves) - something TS2-like: the player could either set points in PAM or gain them by interacting - have the influence on the socialicing: paras with the same interests become friends and even partners more likely - can be influenced* - optional: pet haves (Interest but vice-versa.) Habits - examples: taking care of themselves, animals, household chores and the other paras, food preferences and diets - have the influence on the socialicing: the paras with the same habits and manners become friends/partners more likely (Expection: paras with the rude manners and interest in making enemies) - can be influenced* - learning "stongly recommended" and "optional" can be started since the specific life stage. Because learning is life-long progress, it is not necessary to learn everything during the one. However, there could be some emotional - some could affect the life span of the paras *A few words about the influencing - There could be two ways to influence: 1) raising behaviourally + encouraging the children to "put-name-here": to teach what kind of manners are desireable and not. Seeing the behaviour of the parent(s) could affect, too. (I think TS3 has this kind of system for training pets so it's possible to code. Also, TS2 has the encouraging system.) 2) learning by mimicing (affects the interests and habits): for example, seeing the parents hobbies, eating the specific food, hearing the music, socialicing with the other children - some teenagers could doubt everything they've learnt so far and rebel. The influence of the friends could have greater effect on if they differ from the parents and if the teenager had pressure in belonging in the group. And then, the life stages: Baby (TS3-like) - learning skills (optional but I strongly recommend): emotional training and social interaction (social skill), - functional furniture and toys (since this age): different strollers (also for twins, please :3) and bassinets, pacifier, baby toys, blanket to put the baby on, diapers, breast pump, baby bathtub, baby monitor, baby sling and rucksack, sleeping bag, sleeping nest for the couch, floor etc., changing table and "soft layer" for tables and floors, sitter, playrug... Little toddler (TS3-like) - learning skills (stongly recommended since this life stage): moving (crawl -> walk), potty traning, speaking (the skill can be learnt faster when reading and speaking with the toddler as much as possible) - learning skills (optional since this life stage): drawing, playing in the water and diving (maintain this skill), singing (nursery rhytmes and playing them), dancing, playing the instuments, interact gently with the other living beings - learning habits (stongly recommended since this life stage): eating manners and preferences, behavioural learning, obeying the rules and authorities - learning habits (optional since this life stage): brushing teeth - functional furniture and toys (since this age): playpen, walker and rideable car/bug, blocks, plushes, cars, boats, balls, swings, sibling add-on to the strollers, highchair, sled, sleigh, sandpit, ball pit, toy box, books, TV, tabloid... Big toddler / little child (TS4-like) - unique to this stage: negative age, asking age (gaining knowledge) - learning skills (stongly recommended since this life stage): interact with the other living beings; being polite and friendly + behaving well (social skill) - learning skills (optional since this life stage): cooking, swimming, playing the games (sport activities, board, card and video games), the other athletics, fishing, gardening, telling stories and using the imagination (by listening to the reading), reading, writing, calculating, riding the bicycle, acrobatics - learning habits (strongly recommended): cultural knowledge and conventions, not eating everything like little toys, mud, dirt and snow - learning habits (optional since this life stage): doing household chores - functional furniture and toys (since this age): jigsaw puzzles, dollhouses, modeling clay, modular railway, bricks, mattresses and pillows to build play nests and houses, tents, modular treehouses (DIY by the players), different playground, swimpool objects and activity tables, rocking horse, cardboard boxes (material to do crafts, hiding places)... Child - since this age: gaining weekly or monthly allowance and saving money, joining hobby clubs and other social groups - learning skills (stongly recommended since this life stage): reading, writing, calculating (and going to buy in the shops) and other skills learnt in the school - learning skills (optional since this life stage): sewing, knitting, woodwork etc. handcrafts, coding, blogging and social media, geology and astronomy exploring, hiking, (casting spells, alchemy and cauldron thingies, riding the broom in future ♡) - learning habits (optional since this life stage): taking care of pets and siblings, taking care of the own hygiene (like going to the shower and washing hands independently) - functional furniture and toys: collectibles (like buttons, stamps, trading cards etc.), school and hobby projects... Pre-teen - since this age: learning about own romantic and sexual orientation - learning habits (optional): taking care of the pets and siblings, cleaning themselves like going to the shower and washing hands independently Teen - unique to this age: mood swings and emotional breakdowns, rebeling against the authorities - since this age: part-time jobs, taking responsibility of "insert name" - learning skills (optional since this life stage): critical and existential thinking, thinking of the own identity Older teen - since this age: studying in order to get the baccalaureate or profession, building up the career, (settling down the family if the pregnancies are allowed for this life stage) - learning skills (optional since this life stage): driving the car, paying the bills and taxes, living by their own Young adult - since this age: get the academic degree to the professions which require it, settling down for the family, going out, partying, finding the identity or something like that Adult - unique to this stage: middle age crisis - nothing else to add to Bethany's suggestions :D Senior - nothing else to add to Bethany's suggestions :D Elder - nothing to add to Bethany's suggestions :D *** Most of anything else mentioned above, I really wish for the following: 1) No YA (female) -centrism and age discrimination, please. Every stage, even seniors and elders, should have meaningful and fun gameplay to offer. 2) it would be nice if there were as many interactions between children with different life stages as possible. It's quite weird if children can't do anything with the babies, for example.

Anonymous

If the aging is gradual - which would be awesome - how would birthdays work? Maybe we could have them when approaching a new "life stage" when new interactions are possible? It all depends though on how long the day in the game is, and how many days equal a year of a para's life. They can't have a birthday every day or every two days :) But a birthday commemorating a "life stage" would be a great solution there, I believe! So many creative ideas from both you folks and from the community - it's amazing! And I really do hope that everything will work out with procedural animations - it would open up so many possibilities :)

Anonymous

An idea about skills from reading the other comments (and just a suggestion I don't know about coding so feel free to ignore me) However paras age, they could gain the same skills at any age, but have a limit of how much they can learn depending on age. For example, they could get a speaking/charisma skill, as a toddler they can only get to maybe level two, and as they get older the max they could gain on that skill goes up. Same with cooking. They can learn to a low level as a toddler/child but that same skill has a higher max as they age.

Lucas

The stages I would like to see in the game are Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Middle aged and elder, I thought elders should have the option to walk with walking sticks

Anonymous
>>54450724

Wow this is so well put... I love the ideas! I hope Alex sees them and makes note of (some of) them. If some of these suggestions would make it into the game, I'll play the crap out of it!! 😇

Anonymous

I don't know that I have a strong preference either way regarding life stages/gradual change, but I would like to see some differentiation between pre-teens and older teens. It's odd to me that in *cough cough* other life sims, 13-year olds and 19-year olds look identical.

Anonymous

I like the idea of a blend of the two - appearance changing slowly over time, eg spots increasing as you go through puberty, decreasing as you go into young adulthood, but actual things that change on a birthday each Para year - eg when you hit 13 you enter puberty, when your toddler is 2 they enter the terrible twos etc. Babies especially could benefit from several distinct stages as they mature. Mid life crisis would be fun, again, somthing that could happen randomly on any birthday in the appropriate age range maybe? Or something triggered by certain events, or boredom, or lack of promotion/romantic changes for some time? Elderly could have a lot - at the beginning excitement about retiring, bucket list type goals etc, then as they get older they could get illnesses more frequently, start to get a little world weary, and either content with their life or displeased and wanting to make amends/make something of themselves - some awareness they are going to die would be interesting. I think clock ticking could be another good one to have for Paras in the later stages of adulthood. It would be amazing to have this gradual physical appearance change, so one day you look at your paras and you are like, wow when did you get so big, but then also have kind of discreet stages that are passed, like newborn, baby, toddler, preschool, child, preteen, teen, young adult, adult, elder - possibly a chance for a "super elder" life stage if paras have had a very good life?

Anonymous

I think it'd be cute if children could have a sort of child version of adult skills. Like mixology for example. I remember when I was a kid my dad would mix food color with water and say they had different effects depending on color, like blue makes you faster or something. Kids could do that themselves or do it with parents. Another skill is cooking where kids could make dirt/sand cakes or play at a children stove. Whether or not these things should boost that skill later I don't know, but I think it'd be cute. Then kids could copy the stuff they see the adults are doing.

Mary Breyer

I think it would be good to have many life stages like having babies that learn to roll over, older babies learn to crawl, young toddlers learn to walk and basic words, older toddlers learn to form sentences and learn to run, starting school as a young child, middle child starts sports and clubs, pre-teens go through puberty and have first "boyfriends" and stuff, teens start high school and do teen stuff, older teens prep for college and start thinking about the future, young adults in college and adults want kids, middle age adults, old people, and really old people

S&M Gonzalez

I think it’d be really cool if some paras could begin developing pet peeves once they become of age as children. These wouldn’t be likes and dislikes but just behaviors of other paras that are annoying to them. These pet peeves could be complimentary towards their overall personality. Each para would have 5 pet peeves for a lifetime. So once you choose from the list of pet peeves it’s locked, until they reach a certain age maybe teenager or young adult. Which would affect paras personality,relationships,and dating over time as they age and grow older. Some pet peeves can dwindle away or some could stick for their entire lifetime. I guess you could have the chance to pick these pet peeves two times in their lives, but they could always be changed with cheats. But to start with, once a para is a child you pick one pet peeve, over that time growing up, you’d be presented with notification of pet peeves that paras develop on their own, based on their lives and others paras behaviors, but you’d have the option to keep them or not. But as a teen you’d have the choice to change all of them if you want. These pet peeves could effect relationships slightly or they could just become annoyed. Like say para A has a best friend (para B) who they’ve been friends with since elementary, but their para B grew the habit of blabbering through movies or to mention she’s always 2 hours late and never on time when they’re supposed to hangout. Another idea I had was being able to have paras build good and bad habits as they age would be a really cool feature to see. We could pick bad and good habits in PAM too, but some habits could also be inherited from relatives or even friends! I listed a few examples below Good habits examples: Always tipping a waiter, manners Finding Gratitude in the little things Never taking sides of arguments;avoids drama as much as possible Helpful Empathetic Remains calm when under stressed or bad news Willing to learn new things Bad habits examples: smacking gum, stealing food off other paras plates, never on time for gatherings or hanging out or even work, walking on the left side of the escalators or taking up the stairs and not moving over Starting arguments for no reason Talking over paras or interrupting a para when they’re talking These are just to name a few

S&M Gonzalez

As paras age I think it’d be interesting see them compare themselves to others, be it family members, friends, romantic relationships, coworkers, neighbors. They’d have those compare and contrast moments in life from time to time regardless of personalities or maybe it would be based on their personalities. For example paras aging from young adult (graduating college) 20-25) aging to an older young adult (25-29 years) , it’d be interesting if they could have their own milestone. Whether it be in getting their lives together and having a career, a home, starting a family, getting married, etc. And if they don’t reach these milestones and they see other paras around them getting these thing. They may feel a certain way about themselves and how life is going for them, try to reevaluate and act accordingly so they are on the right path,or they could not care at all, or be so busy on dumb things and let life pass them by. So I’d really like to see paras compare themselves to others at times in their lives. Same going for teen paras who are in high school and when they’re about to graduate high school. They could compare themselves to others in what type of school they’re going to or if they’re able to go at all, or want to. And compare themselves and their own lives to other teen paras lives. Whether it be what they have or don’t have, or want to have.

Annamaris
>>54736280

Your both ideas, pet peeves and comparison, sound very innovative and cool! Little details which give a lot of the personality to the paras and are meaningful to the gameplay itself. "Smacking gum (and possibly chewing it mouth open)" - my inner misophonic is already screaming so loudly. :'D

Jade Mulick

I've always liked the idea of a combination of gradual and staged aging. So, for example, you could have a child "stage", within which the child grows from being a very small, young child (around 4-5 years old) to almost a pre-teen. Then, once they hit the end of the stage, they could be reclassified as a pre-teen or teen, depending on what lifestages are available.

Jade Mulick
>>54911997

I've always felt that was the major issue with previous sim games I've played. Having lifestages is fine, but when you're covering such huge parts of person's life (child to teen is a great example), it's very jarring to suddenly see them change so suddenly. There needs to be growth and development within the stage itself, rather than it just being a static state.

Anonymous

i think a system where they have actual ages like a 24 year old and a 28 year old living in the same house with 2 and 6 year old kids

Anonymous

I think they should grow up slowly, but still have birthday with actual ages, that would be so awesome ! As for different activities, I they would be unlocked with a certain age Maybe ? Like, I don't know, you're 8, congratulations, you're now allowed to help your mother fix the sink ! Or, very important, children should be able to cook with adults, and after a certain point, all alone ! Wouldn't it be cute to see children bringing breakfast in bed to their parents ?

Sherri Small

I think they should age gradually, but have specific life stages also. Like newborn 0-6mos., baby 6mos-1yr toddler1-3 yrs, preschooler 3-5yrs, child 5-10yrs, preteen 10-13 yrs, teen 13-19. adult 20-40, middle age 40-60 and then aged after 60. The birthdays can happen at the different life stages, but the physical and mental changes happen gradually within those stages. I hope this makes sense. I think this would make everyone equally happy and programming is doable. I cant wait for this game. I'm So Happy your making it for us 🥰

Anonymous

I’d like them to have a birthday every year lol.... cause that’s realistic and good for story telling people (I’m not one of them)

Anonymous

Grow up slowly, so we can see the changes in appearance and the ability to improve on learned skills.

AdeliaCreates

Pausing aging would be nice but overall gradual aging would be awesome.

Luther Duncan

I loooove the idea of like 2-3 phases within each age bracket that definitely adds more depth to the gameplay also depth to the Parafolk.

Charmen Young

I wouldn't mind having a gradual change as long as I can age up my Parafolk as I please (example: if I'm tired of an infant, I can just throw them a birthday party to age them up to toddler real quick).

ResembleMedia_UK

DNA genetics , if your paras have a baby the baby takes the eyes , ears , nose , skin color ( including mixed racial ) , hair, moles , markings of both parents