New Community Brainstorming: Personalities + Aging Recap (Patreon)

Community Brainstorming Recap: Aging  (For Patrons only. Please don't share)

Hey everyone, Christine here for a little recap of our latest community brainstorming session, which was about aging!

Now, this past month definitely flew by! Tons of interesting ideas were suggested and it’s always really heartwarming to see everyone coming together around a same topic. As a team, we usually have a pretty good general idea of

what the community wants, but these brainstorming sessions allow us to really dig further and consider aspects we never had thought about before. As they say, ✨teamwork makes the dream work ✨so thank you to everyone who participated in the brainstorming, whether it was by sharing an idea here on Patreon or by posting on our dedicated Discord channel or Reddit post.

After spending quite some time reading through the ideas and feedback, I’m excited to share with you some of the community highlights regarding aging (and these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ideas)! As always, we will need to see how these ideas could integrate with the rest of the gameplay before we can confirm anything. However, this list is definitely a good starting point for features to look into.

• Mix of gradual aging and lifestages: having small, gradual changes throughout a same lifestage with a more pronounced visual change when entering a new lifestage
• A good array of lifestage options, which could lead to more in-between lifestages or “substages” (good try, but I can’t name the lifestages we have in mind 😉)
• Adapting the length of the lifestage to the size of it: longer lifestages (such as senior for example) could last two or more years, meaning that your Para wouldn’t necessarily always move up to another lifestage when its their birthday. More birthday parties and less stress about aging, the best of both worlds!
• Ability to set auto-aging off and decide when your Para gets to the next lifestage
• Ability to set a custom length for a lifestage
• Younger Parafolks could learn skills and make friends more easily
• Lots of stimulation for very young Parafolks: imaginary friends, favorite items, creating games, drawing (everywhere), learning (everything)
• Introduction to basic skills for younger Parafolks when they’re accompanied by adults such as learning how to cook easy recipes
• Going through puberty: acne could randomly appear on some Parafolks
• Gaining independence in the teenage years: chores, experimental phases to discover identity, rebellion, driver’s license, part-time jobs and babysitting
• Adults could focus more on long-term goals or short-term goals
• As Parafolks get older, some body aches could start appearing, eyesight could deteriorate and the flu or other small illnesses could become easier to catch
• Older Parafolks could have an easier time sharing their knowledge and in return, this could allow other Paras to learn faster
• Fun activities for seniors: volunteering, crafting little gifts for the family, passing down heirlooms, traveling, senior homes
• Making “healthy” choices such as eating your greens, meditating or exercising could improve the longevity of your Para

That’s it for me! I hope this list has inspired you and that you have found something in it that particularly resonates with you.

New Community Brainstorming: Identity and Personality  (For Patrons only. Please don't share)

Next week, we are going to announce our new community brainstorming theme but as usual, we wanted to share it with you first. It's about the identity and personality of the Parafolks.

• How should the identity and personality of your Para affect the gameplay?
• Should the identity and personality be represented by traits and sliders in the Paramaker? Are there other ways to represent these?
• What are some of the elements you would like to define for the the identity and personality of your Parafolks?

Please share your ideas in the comment section below or on Reddit and Discord when we announce the brainstorming theme to the public next week!

Poll: Your Para's Identity  (For Patrons only. Please don't share)

In relation to the new community brainstorming, we'd like to know: what are the most important things you would like to define for the identity of your characters in Paralives? In other words: what makes your Parafolks who they are? You can select multiple choices in the poll below and tell us in the comments about other aspects that are important to you.

Thank you!

Alex