Town Design Vision + New Team Member! (Patreon)

Hi there,

I hope you're doing well. We have a few updates regarding the development of the game for you today!

New Team Member

This week, we were happy to welcome a new team member, Étienne! He will be with us for 10 weeks as part of an internship. Here's what he had to say to introduce himself.

Hello people!

I'm Étienne and I am so excited to join the Paralives team as an intern programmer! I’ve been playing video games since I was super young and started programming not a while after. I have been tinkering with all sorts of programming softwares until I picked up Unity and immediately fell in love. I’m graduating in Computer Science with a handful of game jams around my belt. For those interested, Unity is the game engine used to create Paralives and Game Jams are small events where game devs must create a game in a few days based on a theme. They are great opportunities to learn and test your skills.

I have my fair share of experience with life sims, like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, but I enjoy all kinds of indies like Factorio, Sayonara Wild Hearts and Noita. I’m always on the lookout for games that defy the tropes and create amazing experiences that stick with you. Outside of gaming, I love playing Dungeon and Dragons and listening to music all day.

I've been dreaming on working in an indie studio since forever! There’s this magical feeling inside indie teams that I’ve been seeking for. I can’t wait to work on the game and imbue it with the logic that makes life sims fun to play. I also have a weird love with optimization and making the game run as smooth as possible regardless of the gaming setup you have. Do you need 144fps when playing a life sim? I do, don’t @ me. Anyway, this is going to be a great adventure and I’m overjoyed to be part of it!

What We're Working On

Here's an overview of what we'll be doing this month, taken from the Development page of our website. We are continuing our work on the Paramaker and build mode while brainstorming and designing more live mode features.

Town Design Vision  (For Patrons only. Please don't share)

I wanted to tell you about our vision for the first town that will be available in Paralives when the game releases. We've established a list of important elements to keep in mind while we will be creating this town.

• Encourage players to explore the town: Since Paralives has an open world town, it should be full of activities, events and interesting places. The goal is to convince players to go out of their house and explore. We want to avoid making a huge town that feels empty. Instead, we aim for a medium sized town packed with great things to do.
• Encourage player progression: Some people like to cheat and buy the biggest house right from the start but for the rest of us, the town should contain different sizes of lots and premade houses at different price points so your Paras can move into bigger and bigger houses as you gain money, if you wish to.
• Encourage player customization: In addition to premade houses, there should be empty lots so players can build their own house from scratch, if that's what they like. Also, players should be able to easily bulldoze and edit the size of a lot to make it fit their needs.
• Something for everyone: For our first town to appear in the game, we'd like a good mix of urban and rural, a mix of different architecture styles, cultures and lot types. The goal is to make it so every player can find a cozy spot they like and want to live in.

We've also been thinking about lot types that will be in the game. In addition to residential lots, there will be parks, shops, a public library, etc. We also made a huge list of potential lots that could be added in Paralives for the initial release or later. We really can't confirm them yet but some of the ideas we had included a pet shelter, a daycare, a hotel, a museum and many many more. Is there a specific lot type you would like to see in Paralives? If so, tell us in the comment section of this post!

Here's a few quick mock ups we did to brainstorm about the aerial view of our first town. These are just ideas for now and nothing is set in stone since we are in the early design phase of our town. After the launch of the game, the plan is to add more and more towns, each with their own characteristics, weather, events, etc.

Please note that for each of these 3 town mock ups, there are no loading screens when you travel between the districts (the colored zones).

Town FAQ

Are there loading screens between the different part of a same town?
No, the town is open world and you can travel as you wish inside it.

Will there be a way to create new towns in the game?
Yes, we plan to release a tool to create your own towns in an update after the initial release of the game. You will be able to place roads, public lots and buildings, lakes, mountains and choose the weather.

When there will be multiple towns in the game, will my Paras be able to travel between them?
We still need to test this before we are able to confirm. Our goal is to make it so you can travel between towns but the game will have to load this town so there will be a loading screen when you travel to a different town.

Will I be able to build town houses (no space between two neighbor houses)?
Yes, we allow players to place walls on the edge of a lot so you will be able to build houses next to each others.

Will I be able to edit the lots?
Yes, you will be able to edit the size and shapes of existing lots. You can make them pretty big but we have not decided the limits yet. See this video we made a while back to show the lot editing feature.

Is there a way to create sub zones inside a lot to make buildings with a shop at street level and apartments on top?
Not right now but we would really like to add a feature like that eventually.

Are workplaces and schools rabbit holes or can I follow my Paras there?
For the initial release, workplaces and schools will not be playable because it would be a lot of work to add these features. Adding them in updates after launch is a possibility though.

What will be the name of the first town in Paralives?
We haven't decided yet but we will keep you updated about that and we might also do a Patreon poll to name it!

Thank you and have a good weekend!

Alex