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Heterochromia + Postcard + Skills & Hobbies Brainstorming Recap + New Theme (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-26 17:26:03
Imported:
2022-01

Content

Hello everyone!

Sandrine here, writing my first Patreon post! Lots of information this week! We’ll start with news concerning the upcoming postcard for Hero and Legend tiers and then I’ll share a summary of the latest community brainstorming session as well as the new theme!

For those who might have missed it, we shared a quick look yesterday at how you can edit eye colors so that Parafolks can have heterochromia. See it in action here!


Get a Signed Paralives Postcard!

It's time! Next month, we’ll be sending a brand new official Paralives postcard signed by the dev team to everyone pledging to the Hero tier ($20 USD) or Legend tier ($50 USD) next Wednesday, December 1st! If you are already a Hero or Legend Patron, make sure your address is up to date on your Patreon profile. We always feature an exclusive artwork or image on our postcards. The details are still a secret for now until people discover it when they get the postcard in the mail!

Here are some postcards we’ve sent previously:

To see what other rewards are unlocked with the Hero and Legend tiers, please refer to the Patreon rewards details on our website.

Quick note regarding the postcard reward. Our initial goal was to send a postcard every 3 months, but throughout the development of the game so far, we could only afford the time to send one every 6 months or so. We realized that sending hundreds of postcards, creating an exclusive image, printing and signing everything requires a lot of planning and organization. A 6 months interval makes it more comfortable for us and allows us to focus more on making Paralives. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this or other rewards.


Skills & Hobbies Brainstorming Recap (For Patrons Only! Please don’t share)

Thank you all for participating in the Skills & Hobbies brainstorming session, we gathered many ideas from the comment section as well as from Discord and Reddit. I tried to do a proper recap of the main ideas we gathered. We’ve noted more than what’s written here and we’ll be reviewing our full notes when working on this aspect of the game. Please enjoy your ideas below!

  • 🗂️ Skill Categories: Broad category of skills that would allow you to unlock a title if you gain enough experience in said category. Skill categories could include: Logic, Creative, Motor, Handiness, Social, Nature, etc.
  • 🎸 Specific Skills: Specific skills would be any hobby or activity a Parafolk would do (e.g.: painting, playing the piano, playing the guitar, doing yoga). For example: a Parafolk that would be good at playing the piano would not automatically be good at playing the guitar.
  • 🎵 Primary Skills: As Parafolks gain experience in a specific skill, they would also gain a certain experience in a broader skill: the primary skill (e.g.: visual art, music, sports). 🗣️ Have life skills that are applicable in many situations or hobbies. Life skills could include: communication, organization, responsibility, sportsmanship, negotiation, etc.
  • 🧒 Skills for Toddlers and Children: Basic skills such as walking, talking, logic, creativity and music that could transfer to regular skills once the child grows up.
  • 🐕 Skills for Pets: Pets would have their own skills that could be improved through training such as jumping, racing, dressage, obedience, agility, etc.
  • 🌟 Talents and Ineptitudes: Parafolks could be born/created with bonuses and/or maluses in one or more skill categories.
  • 📺 Having different learning methods for a skill such as learning by doing, watching others, reading, watching videos or TV, talking about it, being taught, or learning in a skill course or at school.
  • ➕ Doing a certain activity could improve more than one skill. For example, writing a comic book would improve both writing skills and drawing skills.
  • 📉 Out of Practice: After ignoring a skill for some time, it could either decrease somewhat or make related interactions harder or impossible until you get into said skill again.
  • 🏅 Mastering a skill would take time and effort. A Parafolk could fail at doing something before getting better or could need to improve other related skills in order to truly master a given skill.
  • 😃 Hobbies and skills could impact the life of the Parafolk. It could influence their mood, conversations, their behavior, their highest possible professional promotion, their execution speed and the final product’s quality.
  • 🏆 Having optional challenges such as “Garden 50 unique plants”, “Visit all community lots in the town”, “Live in 5 different houses”, etc.
  • 🤩 Being interested or passionate about a specific or primary skill. Parafolks performing these activities would gain experience more easily and it would improve their mood.
  • 💰 Being able to turn a skill/hobby into a business such as offering workshops or accepting commissions.
  • 🤓 Having the ability to choose or generate skills for Parafolks created in the Paramaker (not start at zero skills).
  • 📖 Skill journal detailing your progress
  • ⛸️ Some Hobbies & Skills Related Activities Ideas: Skating, ballet, skateboarding, tabletop RPG , bodybuilding, beekeeping, knitting, cheerleading, carpenting, smithing, collecting, bird watching, astrology, fortune telling, mushroom hunting, poetry writing, digital art, robotics, miniature painting, PC/console gaming, photography, judo, jewelry making, programming, philosophy, makeup art, food decorating, dog/cat training, gardening, and way more other original and amazing ideas that we could list here but we’d still be here tomorrow!

Special thanks to Axart again, a Patron and Discord user who made a summary of his own during this month. As always, it’s been very helpful to us, especially the listing of different activities ideas.


Next Monthly Brainstorming: Food & Cooking  (For Patrons only! Please don’t share)

As we have just entered holiday season, and therefore family dinner and special recipes too, we wanted to pick your brain with a Food & Cooking theme for this month’s brainstorming session. To get started, you can ask yourselves the following questions:

  • 🍎 What kind of food would you like to see in-game?
  • 🎂 What would be the different ways to learn new recipes?
  • 📁 What kind of classification could there be for food and meals?
  • ☕ How could food and cooking impact the daily lives of Parafolks?
  • 🍴 What kind of activities related to food and cooking would you like to do?
  • 🍓 What would be different ways to get new ingredients?

We’d love to read all your ideas regarding food and cooking in the comment section of this post. As usual, we will open this brainstorming to the public next week, on Discord in the #food-and-cooking channel and on Reddit. Happy brainstorming and looking forward to reading your ideas!


Poll: Food & Cooking  (For Patrons only! Please don’t share)

Following the announcement of the new theme, we wanted to ask you a question: Which of these features related to food and cooking would you be the most interested in playing with in a life simulation game? You can answer in the poll below. If you can think of something that is not in the options, don’t hesitate to share it in the comments.

Hope you have a delicious weekend!

Sandrine

Comments

Anonymous

I chose all the options because they'd all be so amazing if they were implemented in game; kinda hard for me to just choose a few!

Anonymous

So excited to see the new postcard art! They’re always so cool!

Leo Munck

I would love to have the option between cooking something quickly such as breakfast before work vs cooking leisurely for fun. Or be able to have something cooking on the stove/in the oven while the para is doing something else. Ex. A pot of soup on the stove while the para is in another room.

Anonymous

I would love for it to be a necessity to have ingredients to cook something! ingredients would have to be ordered, bought in a grocery store/farmers market or grown? and for those with lower to no cooking skill or wanting a quick meal, there could be ready meals like instant noodles!

Silivreniel

I would love to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs which can be used in the kitchen. It would also be interesting to have bees in the garden where you can gather honey. It could also be cool if Paras have food preference or if they have food allergies/intolerance and where they could possibly become ill or even die from it. If a Para can't eat Gluten or/and Lactose, they might have to go to special places if they want to eat outside. Like a Glutenfree or lactosefree restaurant or bakery. In the real world its quite the challenge living with gluten intolerance.

Ace of Hearts

Very simple idea, but food preferences/dislikes go a long way in making Paras feel unique.

Daniel Asraf

I also want to enjoy seeing parafolks cooking!! Feel free to look up "aesthetic anime cooking" in youtube to understand what i'm saying. No need to add knives juggling like the... other game...😖

Anonymous
>>72547829

Also the ability to choose vegetarianism and veganism as a lifestyle choice (rather than a trait).

Anonymous

What kind of food would you like to see in-game? - I love the idea of cooking big family meals for holidays! Potluck style meals would be fun too. An option to learn traditional recipes and ethnic foods too. 🎂 What would be the different ways to learn new recipes? -a big one that’s missing from that other game is having someone teach you a recipe. Someone who has a recipe mastered should be able to teach others. Like grandparents showing kids how to make cookies. ☕ How could food and cooking impact the daily lives of Parafolks? It should depend on if they are passionate about food. Microwave meals and take out vs spending all day grocery shopping and at the farmers market and then cooking. 🍴 What kind of activities related to food and cooking would you like to do? Grocery shopping. Gardening. Farmers markets. 🍓 What would be different ways to get new ingredients? I’d love to get new ingredients from a friend! “Hey you HAVE to try this thing”

Ace of Hearts

Also: maybe a rare, random chance for a Para to get very good at one special food once their cooking skill is high enough. We all love that feeling of "no one makes this dish like them!"

Em Cottone

Imo, going to market and buying ingredients for The recipe you would like to prepare would be a super cool feature! 😍

Anonymous

For cooking, I did enjoy the way the Sims 2 did cooking on consoles. You could cook a regular meal via commands or if you take direct control of your sim, you could add ingredients that you had in the fridge (vegetables, meat, oils, etc.). The regular meal only fulfilled hunger but putting the ingredients together yourself had added benefits (or drawbacks) such as the hunger need being fulfilled more, bladder being lowered more significantly or even just making your character sick.

Justice

Kinda off topic but will it be possible to perhaps start a game as a toddler or kid? Like start from their young life then age with them? And if so, how would that work? 🤔

Justice

All the options for cooking 👀

Anonymous

I would love it if Paras could have special family recipies that would get passed to younger generations! Also maybe creating custom dishes out of available ingredients that could get saved so that other Paras can make the same dish later?

Court12413

🍎 What kind of food would you like to see in-game? I prefer to see real foods of all kinds instead of made up foods. 🎂 What would be the different ways to learn new recipes? Passed down from families for sure, books, online, etc 📁 What kind of classification could there be for food and meals? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, appetizers ☕ How could food and cooking impact the daily lives of Parafolks? I think if you can cook good meals the Paras would be more happy but Paras with lesser quality foods it would effect them more physically and mentally 🍴 What kind of activities related to food and cooking would you like to do? Shopping for food, restaurants, food parties, festivals or events with certain foods you can only get there, baking days for families 🍓 What would be different ways to get new ingredients? Regular shopping stores, farmers markets, growing your own food, ordering it online

ramaru

That para is absolutely adorable! And I do spy the same shirt as Maggie wore in her Halloween outfit but without the dress... hmmm lol.

Stewby

sorry guys... all of the above and then some. :D

Anonymous

I would love replacement options. Like making rice, pizza dough etc. with cauliflower, adding meat or sugar substitutes. Special dishes that only existing or created elderly Paras can make who could then pass on or teach the recipe to a grand/child/younger Para in a cooking session. I love the idea someone else had of being able to master that one special recipe that no one can cook like you and then elderly Paras can tell younger ones their secret ingredient. General variation maybe with base recipes. And if you add another ingredient you get blueberry pancakes or plain risotto that you can turn into mushroom or zucchini risotto. If you add an ingredient that doesn't pair well with the dish you can ruin it by adding a savoury ingredient to a sweet dish for example. Nuts. For some reason no game does anything with nuts and there are soo many things to make with them. Which also makes me think of maybe allergies?

S&M Gonzalez

I don’t understand the question ‘what kind of classification could there be for food and meals’ does this mean additional categories besides breakfast lunch and dinner?

tey711

I completely understand about the postcards and bi-annual is fine with me. They are just so beautiful and the fact you guys create and sign the postcards makes receiving them all the more special.. makes me feel special! Thank you! 💖 In regard to food! I gather recipes IRL from friends, family, magazines and cooking shows. It's great to make a recipe a friend's parent or family member has made for generations. I also collect recipes from pot-luck get togethers where we not only eat a delicious dish but also take home the recipe for it! Yummy fun!! I also love finding recipes in cookbooks... I love cookbooks, especially ones with pictures. I can spend hours pouring over recipes and looking at all the pictures showing the gorgeous plating of foods, it's so inspiring! I even collect cookbooks! I also enjoy going on road trips to pick fruits & vegetables at local farms, produce markets, & stands, as well as eat at places I've heard of or seen when driving down the road. Foraging for food is also a great skill to have and another source for recipes, crafts, and brews! Food is a major part of societies and cultures which would be great to have translated in numerous ways in our Para's lives!! I so look forward to see what your awesome team comes up with for us!! So exciting and thank you in advance!! 💖

Sarah

I would love to be able to only buy certain foods in season, or perhaps having a weekly farmer's market come by with higher quality produce, or special ingredients. I also think it would be cool to have multiple ways to learn recipes--search for blogs on the computer, word of mouth, buy a recipe book, attend a class that unlocks a certain group of recipes (maybe by categories, like, learning 3 Indian dishes, or brunch dishes). I loved how Sims 2 you have to order groceries, you couldn't just click on the fridge and make something.

Megan Santucci

I think there should be lots of different ways to learn new recipes. For example, maybe there are basic recipes your para can learn just by practicing or by reading about cooking on the internet or watching TV. More specialized recipes might require investing in cook books. And a few recipes would require special side quests, like befriending Granny Evelyn to get the recipe for her famous cookies, lol.

S&M Gonzalez

What kind of food would you like to see in-game? I’d like to see something like buildable meals where you have the main dish and can cook side dishes along with it to be served (this would be optional to pick) Different cuisines inspired by different countries, popular snacks and drink recipes you could make at home. It’d be interesting if you could select random ingredients and it would generate a new recipe you could name or even unlock recipes hidden within the game. I’d like to see more family style meals paras can make. Snacks and candy I’d like to see: fudge in different flavors, nachos, being able to make cake pops, cookies, popsicles, Drinks: boba tea, smoothies, apple cider, eggnog, hot toddy’s, milkshakes, protein shakes for working out. What would be the different ways to learn new recipes? ways to learn recipes by books, neighbors, family members who’ve learned recipes can share them they can’t share what they’ve not learned, newspaper/magazine, visiting other countries and learning from locals, paras watching others cook or helping them cook can help a para learn a recipe. What kind of classification could there be for food and meals? Brunch, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Appetizers, Soups, high tea, snacks, party food, candy How could food and cooking impact the daily lives of Parafolks? It could be a bonding experience for some paras looking forward to family dinners, maybe some paras can be come tired of cooking some day and want to just eat out, maybe takeout food can become boring to paras if they eat it a lot, paras getting tired of some of the same foods being made repeatedly. What would be different ways to get new ingredients? Being given ingredients or borrowing ingredients from neighbors, gardening, visiting other countries, going to the grocery store or farmers market, picking ingredients out in the wild.

S&M Gonzalez

Also to add to how food can impact paras it can improve relationship if you fix food to take to friends or fix a romantic dinner for your spouse or dating partner

Anonymous
>>72548628

I love that idea of more meal options. It would be great if you could make a several course meal, out of normal dish options, that is just the right amount of food for each dish so your Paras don't wind up eating three full-sized meals if you want them to have a dinner party with salad/ soup, main course and dessert.

Lucy McClean

Shopping, growing, sharing and FORAGING! Also would love to have an option for kids to cook with family, or do the chopping, and gain skills/recipes. Also paras being able to alter recipes to their tastes and pass them on to their kids 😍

Holly

Being able to buy ingredients at a farmer’s market would be fun!

NoNayNever

One thing I really liked from Sims3 was that you didn't automagically became able to cook all the dishes perfectly just because you hit max level - you would actually have to cook dishes multiple times to get them to perfect. I would be very happy if you could implement something similiar. I like the idea of having to get actual ingredients for cooking, and a number of ways to provide ingredients would be great. Home delivery, going to a store, harvesting etc. I would also like it if there was different kinds of pre-cooked food that you could just throw in the microwave or oven, for all the paras out there who can't or won't cook.

kesionna

I actually like the idea of cooking with the whole family. Shopping with the whole family, and maybe growing some vegetables in your garden. I think that could also be a way to learn the skill of cooking by doing it together. Then sitting down to eat as a family.

Anonymous

I'd love to be able to make my Para cook with their friends and children. Maybe even teach them in their cooking skill and new recipes

Lucy McClean

Also cultural and age related food traditions like having a midnight feast, or participating in veganuary would be fun. Also having different ways to cook the same thing like - posh cake/box cake/microwave mug cake and so on which require different ingredients at different price points

Maxayn Henderson

I would love if a parent or grandparent could teach a child to cook. Have the option to go to the grocery store or order delivery. Instead of having a recipe based on skill, maybe a Para can research the recipe to learn it. A chance of failure when making it anytime it is made. For example...I can make a cake every day and there is always a chance it will come out wrong lol. Pass down recipes would be great (mentioned by Avery). I would love all sorts of cultural recipes as well. I would also like paras that cannot cook as well. Burning water would be good. It could be a trait so that that para can never learn to cook so they have to figure out other ways to survive. Cooking classes and a cooking school is other ways to learn new recipes. Aspiring chefs can go to cooking school before getting a job instead of going to college.

Naomi Vincent

I think food should be gathered/farmed, shopped for at a store or ordered for grocery/prepared meal delivery. Cookbooks and tv shows to lean recipes, or talking to a para with a higher cooking skill. It would be sweet if your mom para called you on the phone and taught you a new recipe because she feels like you aren't eating enough. We haven't discussed before how parafolk will "feel" things or have moods. I still vote for a sliding scale as I did with personality traits. All attributes are set to 0 for neutral and eating good food adds +10 to happiness. So if your para is unhappy, eating their favorite food will make them happy, and they learn skills faster, have happy idle animations and have happy interactions. If the food is bad, -10 and they become more sad. However, paras who have +50 to "foodie" personality trait only gain -5 unhappiness from bad food. If they keep the foodie trait for x amount of days it becomes a permanent trait and you can have up to 5 permanent traits or something. However, I have no idea if any of that makes sense with the way the team will implement status effects.

Naomi Vincent

For activities, there could be giving and receiving homemade food as a gift, serving food like tea and other drinks to guests, cooking competitions and eating competitions.

Naomi Vincent

If my child para is sick, I would like to be able to cook homemade soup and serve them so that they eat it and feel better. But food could also make you sick or have an allergic reaction with a status effect that you must visit the doctor for.

Anonymous
>>72549239

Or a different kind. Like meats, side dishes, soups, desserts, pastries etc... Or by flavour, like sweets and sours. Or by origin like, traditional, new wave, vegetarian, vegan. Even by culture if there will be different para cultures. There are way more option to categorize than a classic breakfast-lunch-dinner.

Lyyo_

I was wondering about ways to learn recipes and at least in real life, we don't learn right away, but we do pick up simple recipes when, as kids, we watch our parents cook like how to make toasted bread or chocolate milk! So I think it would be adorable for a child to sit on the countertop and watch the parent cook, then after a couple of times (maybe two or three times, depending on the recipe), they would understand the recipe and become able to perform it :)

Anonymous
>>72550799

The mom calling you is cute. Maybe instead if they only have a minimum of a level 4(for example) before doing so. That and or whichever parent has a higher and or relationship with the para. It would even be cute to be apart of a tutorial in starting the game.

Tini

I chose all the options because it would be awesome to have them implemented in the game.

Enes

Pls make the game complex with depth! I would love to buy every ingredient etc.

Domon0310

Since it's food discussion, I feel a need to mention diets. Apart from omnivore, vegetarian and vegan, they could also be pescatarian, freegan, kosher diet, lactose free and gluten free

Anonymous

For me, cooking in game feels like an optional minigame. Sometimes I want to get really intense with it, and sometimes I'm busy with other stuff and want to minimize my time cooking. My interest in cooking depends on my focus for that Para. When I want to focus on cooking: Freshness of ingredients should matter -- homegrown or farmer's markets should be the highest quality. Markets should charge more for fresher items and less for poorer quality items, so you can make mediocre food with about-to-expire meat if you're on a budget. I want my Paras to learn new recipes by: lessons from a class or relative, cookbooks, and tinkering in the kitchen (throwing ingredients together to see what they come up with). Lessons from relatives could include something that's only passed down in the family, maybe. I'd really love to be able to make my own recipes: choose how it looks from the available food meshes, give it a name, and add required ingredients. This way I could make a Para who makes my own personal secret family recipes. The more effort a recipe takes, the more skill is gained. When I don't want to focus on cooking: Canned food, box mixes, etc. Easy stuff that add minimal skill to cooking but get folks fed. Other: Nutritional value. Food with plenty of nutritional value should give a positive buff, and food with low nutritional value should not. Taste doesn't matter in this case -- it can taste bad but be good for your Para. Taste. High quality should give a buff for tasting great. Bad taste should have a mild debuff. Spoiled food should make Paras sick. Preferences/Favorites. I'd recommend favorite ingredients rather than favorite meals. I find that I gravitate toward meals with ingredients I know I like, even when they're prepared with different spices and methods. Tired of Eating ____. It should get annoying to eat the same thing too much. Paras should get tired of foods or crave something different.

Wondrous_Mickey

So from the poll, the most important for me are "getting ingredients" - I really want to have grocery store (and some others like farm markets or butcher) and option to grow my own ingredients (like spices) and variety of ingredients. The second are restaurants; I really want to see an open restaurants, different types, like luxury one that offers expensive dishes. For other related activities, I really need in game canning and DIY; create own oils for cooking, pestos, flavored butters etc. The second is charcuterie. Also I would like to point out possibility of nutrition system; each dish would have different nutrition values and you would have to balance them if you don't want to suffer from consequences (like illness). And diet system and allergies

RysingSun

I'd love to see multiple categories of food. American, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, etc. I mostly eat american but I know people all over the world will be playing and I'd love to see some foods from all over! Not only wraps, burgers, spaghetti, tacos, and salad, but ube cakes, ramen (i'm talking genuine too), boba tea (idk that it could be made but you could go buy some), pad thai, macarons, and curry. Maybe for american food some regional dishes too-- I'd love for my paras to be able to make snicker salad and tater tot hotdish. I saw someone else mention diets-- not the fad, but like legitimately. Vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal, gluten free etc. Would love to be able to set that for paras.

Maiden Minnesota

LOVE the heterochromia as one of my grandsons has that. He has one brownish-orangish eye, and one blue eye. As for food, I know I learn new recipes by reading them, either online or in a cookbook. I do watch some videos, but I don't think I've actually learned a recipe that way, rather that's how I've learned cooking techniques. Kids learn to cook initially by watching, then by being allowed to do simple things, like dump a spoon or cup into a bowl with supervision, then moving on to things like measuring by themselves, then cracking eggs, and finally moving on to actual appliances. I like the idea of progressive learning, and maybe if the parent Para didn't teach their children how to cook, they end up being adults that live on cereal or put together completely disgusting meals that only they can tolerate.

Serasmiu

6 month intervals sound absolutely lovely if they don't interfere with the timeline of the game. As for the poll I wanted to explain: it'd be cool to take a class and learn between 2-4 recipes at once at whatever the Cooking skill level of the Para is at the time of the class, while earning skill points that are achieved after it ends, like a significant amount more than learning alone. And being taught by an older Para with whom you have a positive/negative relationship with can affect you either a whole skill lvl or not at all. In fact, working with a Para you have a negative relationship with could even cause a dislike of the skill/activity i.e. Para child learning science with a parent they are distant with/abused by (emotionally or not) can after maybe 5 learning interactions turn into a dislike/hatred of science and it can affect their school perf and they have to work harder to gain that mastery.

Mariana Castiglione

I think we should have a separate trait for food preferences (vegan, vegetarian, halal, and so on), that can also change overtime (a vegetarian can become vegan, for example). It shouldn't be a trait occupying a slot in in the defining para traits...

Anonymous

🎂Looking up new recipes online 😃 this is like the only way i can cook anything irl haha

Anonymous

I definitely want to see food preferences and the ability to learn new recipes from watching cooking shows on TV or looking them up online. And a wide variety of cuisines is essential.

Anonymous

If I look at my life, what I often do is "cook a recipe from the internet". Also I went to my friends' place and cooked for them countless times 😂 they offer kitchen and washing dishes, I bring the cooking skills

Anonymous

It would be really cool for Paras to “create and name their own recipes” if they have high cooking skill and later be able to teach it to others and pass it down generations!

Makayla Boyko

Taking from my own personal experience and I'm not sure if it would be able to be added to the game, but I have sensory input disorder especially when it comes to food. I'm super picky about what foods I eat that even certain textures will make me gag. It would be interesting to see that in game, like having a para that loves fried/crunchy foods, but hates soups and anything mushy. Also the idea of if their food touches, they refuse to eat. Another idea that I thought would be a nice touch is being able to cook in a group, but also having a date option where 2 (or more, if polygamy is allowed) paras cook together and it raises their romantic relationship if the meal is being cooked well, or decreases if the meal was made poorly. It could also be a way for paras to learn recipes if one is making a meal they've never heard of before.

Makayla Boyko
>>72548558

Have the "Mowgli challenge" where you have a wild child who was raised by wolves. Can't talk, can't walk, so it becomes 10x harder to teach them those skills, but they're great at finding food out in the wild as well as great with all animals.

aza

Learning new recipes for sure! It would be amazing if Paras were born knowing no recipes, then learned the recipes that their parents know, and would have to read cook books or get recipes from others in order to try something new! It would make having cultural dishes so cute

JessIsMore

I would love it if there were a function where I could type in how many serves of the meal I wanted my para to make, rather than having to choose a pre-selected number. The cost and resource use of the cooking could be scaled up as needed, but that way if I'm throwing a giant dinner party, I can just cook one or two dishes instead of mucking around with making several to serve everyone.

JessIsMore
>>72547958

That would be beautiful! I love anime cooking 😅 and it just adds so much for something so everyday.

Bre Indigo

Love all of this!!! Tysm for all y'all's hard work. Off topic , but you'd mentioned walking skill and it made me wonder about folks who can't walk. Are there going to be options to make Paras that are disabled?

Anonymous

I think it would be cool to have ingredients “unlock” or give access to new recipes but not be required. So, Parafolk with gardens would have slightly different option due to having ingredients. Or maybe having fresh ingredients (eggs, herbs, vegetables, and such) could give a special bonus trait. Along the line of “Eating Fresh” eating fresh food always puts a pep in a Para’s step. for the group cooking it could be cool to have parents or grandparents teach their kids/grandkids how to cook. They could get like a little “Grandma’s Recipe” kinda thing from cooking with them several times. Also having less experienced cooks get tips and pointers could be nice to boosted they’re learning. Also having kids/teens/others set the table would be cute if you do a family dinner kinda option where everyone would be sitting down. And having an “ask to be excused” option if you want a specific Para to leave the table early. Other food related things that might be interesting could be having kids be picky about their food. Or allergies with options to “ask about ingredients”. I definitely agree with the having multicultural dishes and being able to get cookbooks (or look recipes up online: with a higher chance of failure since your dish never ends up looking like the picture lol). I think having loopholes for restaurants would be better to start with since it’s not a super important main thing to add in but ordering from the restaurants that do exist in your Para’s town would be really fun. (Maybe randomly generated names to let Para’s have favorite restaurants or an “order from McRondles” option.

Anonymous

If two parafolks would cook dinner together that would be epic, like one is chopping and other is doing something at the stove and it would decrease time for cooking.

Dizzardy

I think it could be interesting if Parafolk could eventually tweak a recipe if they get skilled enough, or if they love spicy food they might be able to alter recipes to make them spicier. Also I was thinking it would be neat if a para could write their own recipes down and maybe pass them down/teach them to their children.

Rini_Sama

I want my paras to be able to read different cook books to get recipes. I also want home style and baking to be the basic skill while gourmet and pastry to be like the the expert skills. Like you wouldn't see a para who starts at level 1 cooking to make a level 10 gourmet meal. I also want my paras to go grocery shopping to get ingredients, or have them own a garden. I would like paras to do group cooking as well for holidays. Spices and herbs should also be brought or grown at home. We could have an electric mill to turn them into ingredients for cooking. I would also like to see healthy food like Vegetarian and Vegan dishes as well as Meaty dishes too. Eating to much junk food like chips and drinking too much soda... Should effect paras. It would be nice if paras could have a recipe box or cook book tab as an interface. So we players can see there cooking stats. Would be nice to alter certain recipes for paras who might have certain diets.

Anonymous

I think food preferences should be a separate thing from other personality traits. I never understood why that other game makes being vegetarian a trait lol

Brandie Haynes

Cake decorating and food art

Anonymous

Wish I could vote for all of the above lol

AdeliaCreates

Refusal to eat certain foods like if vegan or kosher etc.

Fran Smith

I think the key in the cooking skill and recipe thing is variety. So many good ideas here! I'd like to see shopping for food - not just having food as a vague generic thing to order online. I want to go into a shop and pick groceries, even if it's shelved in categories and 'click on a shelf to choose items'. At least let us go shopping for food (and, of course, quick online shopping and quick meals for Paras who don't want to do this - perhaps online quick shopping could also be in the style of 'configurable stock up to x number of each item, set per household, so that households with expert chefs could have very different 'stock-up' settings to those who cook little - think Rimworld/Going Medieval workbenches). I'd also love to see food and farmer's markets - perhaps food bought from a farmer's market could be higher quality or have a healthier outcome. And perhaps food grown in your own garden should have the highest quality of all. Which brings me to the next thing - I'd like to see Paras have health meters attached to food in some way. If they eat rubbish food, it should affect their health - perhaps they get sick more often, exercise is less effective, they are less capable of playing sport, are less agile, have less energy. And this should be a long meter that changes slowly over time (not just a few days) because health is a long term thing. And, of course, spoilt food should make Paras sick. I'd also love to see the recipe collecting thing have some challenge. That could be in the variety of ways to get recipes, particularly if there are a LOT of recipes in game: perhaps cooking shows that air at particular times each day that teach a specific recipe, so Paras have to tune in to get them, perhaps the local college could advertise in the newspaper that they are teaching a particular recipe, perhaps recipes can be learned from various friends who also know recipes. Recipes could be learned in books that come on sale from time to time. If all this had some sort of random nature that made collecting them all a bit of a challenge, so that Paras who really want to perfect the skill have to work diligently over a long time to collect them all, but it's also easy to get recipes for most Paras to cook some meals. Getting recipes should be easy, but perfecting and getting them all should have some difficulty. I'd also like to see some recipes to be more difficult than others to collect, not necessarily based on skill, but have skill as a factor in the chances perhaps. And some recipes are simply rarer than others - some obtained only from lessons, others only from cooking shows, others only from other Paras, others from various combinations of these things. Plus I love the idea of "finding" recipes through kitchen experimentation - I've played several games like this and it's FUN! (particularly when the recipes have some relationship to real life, so are 'guessable'. All these things combined would make a great cooking function in the game. I play rotationally, from household to household. I'd like to have some Paras work towards absolute expertise, some Paras hopeless (lol!), and many Paras variously proficient, and I'd love to see them all with different recipes in their collections, so that also adds to their individualism when I play different households. I also like someone's idea that special recipes could be passed down through generations to family only - special family recipes. And I LOVE the idea that kids can learn a recipe through watching or helping an adult! That's the perfect way for family recipes to be passed down. That way kids could even learn difficult recipes which inspire and increase their skills as adults. I'd also like to see likes and dislikes/allergies as ingredient based! Not just recipe based. That would add challenge when feeding a family and having parties. It would make buffs an debuffs more challenging to get, individually and as a family. Cooking for families would then require considerably more thought and parties would require variety to ensure that everyone has dishes they like/can eat. Lastly, I'd like to see VARIETY in cooking animations! Not just every recipes requires mixing in a bowl, pouring into a bigger bowl/pan and cooking in a oven while Paras stupidly wait for 5 minutes before dumping it on the table. Recipes require different actions and equipment, and in different orders - some require mixers, some pans, some chopping boards, some in ovens, some on cooktops etc, etc. Could we have recipes that require various appliances? That adds another variety/difficulty dimension. And, of course, ready-made and microwave meals (unhealthy with consequences for too much consumption) and lazy appliances for those who don't want to spend cooking time, like air-fryers etc (quality not as good, of course).

Alice Taylor

Something I’m interested in is how time will work with cooking. Obviously time will be faster but will some dishes take longer than others? Might cooking with others make it faster? How long will it take them to eat the food and will we be able to tell other paras ‘dinners ready’? If so what is the time balance between walking to the table and eating. In real time it may take 2 minutes to get to the table and 20 to eat so what’s the balance of walking speed vs time doing a thing? Apologies if my overthinking stresses anyone out. ❤️ sending best wishes and hope everyone is healthy and happy

Sabine B

I've never seen the poll results so close before! Family dinners are super important to me, we have sit-down dinners every night in my household. I'd really like to see my paras wait until everyone is sitting before eating and staying at the table until everyone is finished. About cooking and the skills attached to it: it's always annoyed me in sims that the recipes are locked behind skill levels. I'd love to see it work something like every recipe being available to be learned (from books, tv, other paras) and cooked but the more complex the recipe, the more likely the para is to fail. Maybe have a recommended skill level for each recipe? I like the idea that I could have an ambitious para with a low skill level attempt to cook a fancy meal that they'd almost certainly fail but with a small chance they'd succeed. Talent bonuses could increase the chances of success. Maybe give extra skill gain for cooking something above the skill level? I'd like to be able to make a shopping list for my paras. So often in Sims 3 I get to the grocery store and forget what I need and end up buying things I already had at home. I've been using the To-Dew mod in Stardew Valley, something like that would be fantastic. Maybe in the cooking menu there could be an option to add missing ingredients to the list? Could also work for clothes and other shopping too. I'm super excited to recieve my first postcard! Unfortunately, it'll probably be the only one I get because I'm going to have lower my contribution soon. Damn real life costs :(

Joanna Hinds

This might be far fetched but I have a question, and don’t fight me cause I know how you girls like to tussle 😂 hear me out: custom meals. Just like the modular couches…what if meals were “modular”, I know it wouldn’t work the same but the concept is the same. It could also save the team from having to make a bunch of different “meal” options. It could be like special serving tray item that allows you to put multiple items on it and your para has the ability to “make a plate” from the tray. So you could maybe put a main item, and 2 sides on the tray. Eg. A roasted chicken, a side of rice and a side of salad, and a para would be able to make a plate of chicken, rice and salad. Another thing I think would allow us to be more creative and less work for the team is if you have different seasonings like, curry, barbecue, jerk, rotisserie, you can make that flavor of something instead of having to add a whole other meal option of that thing. Or the ability to make ingredients from scratch like bread. So if someone wanted to make French toast, with the right skill level and if they have flour and eggs they could make bread which could be used as an ingredient, which would be cheaper than buying bread from the store and it would be nice if you could bring neighbors fresh baked bread Also, more than one ways to increase cooking skill. For eg, watching a cooking show or going to a class or learning a recipe from a cook book. Also, GROUP COOKING?!? Yeah, I hope more people vote for that because that is a huge part of family life is cooking as a family and I haven’t seen it done in any game. But imagine how amazing that could be with “modular” meals? One person cooking a portion and everyone being able to “make a plate” from what’s served on the table? A good event idea would be a Pot Luck or Friendsgiving where you invite guests and they decide what food to bring and you don’t know what they’re bringing until they call or text and tell you. As you can tell I am very much so a foodie and i wish life sim games had better cooking mechanisms and gameplay. Thanks for the update and looking forward to seeing what you guys decide to do with cooking for paralives! Happy weekend 💕

Anonymous

I'd really like for recipes to say which culture they come from. I know the really obvious stuff like spaghetti and wontons, but one of the things that threw me in Sims 4 is that they don't actually tell us anything about the dish. I wanted to make an Indian restaurant, had the aesthetics down, but had no clue which dishes to add. Had to Google the available items one-by-one, which was tedious. (Same with clothes -- I couldn't figure out which shoes went with the sari and which shoes went with the cheongsam. And I *hate* getting it wrong.) Knowing what belongs to what culture is not intuitive. You either have to *already* know or be taught, and having cultural tags on culturally specific recipes (and clothes and objects) is a way to teach players (a little) about cultures we're not familiar with, and that is something I would really appreciate.

Anonymous

It'd be cool if you could learn a recipe by cooking it with someone/a group.

Christine Harvey

I'd really like to be able to buy new groceries by either going to a shop or ordering food online. I think it would be fun to have the food delivery truck arrive with your groceries. It could just be that the car/truck shows up, drops off the groceries in a box at the front door, then when you "collect" it, it disappears and goes into the fridge or whatever. I'd really like to be able to host dinner parties. You should be able to plan a menu and cook a meal. The guests should be able to talk about it; either they had a lot of fun or the food was really bad, etc. Maybe they didn't take into account someone's dietary requirements and then that has social implications. I'd like it to be separate from holidays like American Thanksgiving where the whole "event" is also like a dinner party though. I'd like options to make vegetarian meals, even if a para isn't vegetarian. I'd like to be able to do special cooking classes, either to be better at cooking or fun classes with other paras as a social event (like where you go and cook something specific like bao to have fun with friends and try a fun recipe, like paint night but with food). I think that a para should be able to get better at cooking by just practicing with different ingredients at home, reading about cooking, watching instructions on the computer, or going to a specific class to learn cooking (as an aside, depending on what education looks like I'd like professional cooks to have the option to have cooking school where they get a degree, that isn't just classes a regular para would go to). I love the comments from others on "modular cooking" and cultural associations.

Christina Ozeki

Thank you Paralives team for all your continued hard work on the game, everytime I read your weekly posts I get more and more excited and filled with anticipation. But in answer to your questions, I have clicked all the suggestions above because I would like to see all those features in the game, if possible. Also I would like to see the opportunity to go to restaurants with different cultural dishes, but also have the Para make their own food via learning as a child or teen from their parents or even as a grown up Para learning from family or friends. Plus trying recipes from cookbooks, watching them on tv or by computer, and going to cooking classes to learn how to make a specific type of food. For instance, food from different cultures, such as Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai but also meals like Irish stew, 'bubble and squeak',roast dinner, shepherd's pie, chicken pie, traditional Christmas dinner (or Thanksgiving), as well the option to make snacks, cakes, biscuits/cookies,brew their own beer, cider, wine or other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks like ginger beer etc. Plus the option to make or buy fast food or having bbqs or cook on a fire in the woods whilst foraging because they have camped over night? To get new ingredients it would be good to have the option to go shopping at farmer's markets, local green grocers, corner shops, combini, as well as going to supermarkets. But it would also be nice to be able to grow the veggies, fruit and keep things like chickens, as well as be able to go foraging in the meadows or woods for various fungi, berries, herbs, wild plants (flowers and greenery to add a special taste or quality, perhaps like finding truffles or other rare ingredients, which could add a special bonus mood or health advantage to the Para and any other Para also cooking and/or eating the food. Also, I think other ways that Paras lives could be enhanced could be through learning and cooking together with another or other Paras (family activity, friends or romantic partner activity), improving and gaining skills; enhancing their social activity; having the option to make and sell food and beverages; being able to improve their skill to run a bakery, cafe or restaurant, or run their own market stall or grocery shop selling their cooked/ created items and also home grown veg and fruit. Classifying food could be done via ratings like a type of Yelp app. , for eating in restaurants, or buying take aways, it could even cover people rating your shops, market stall and cafe goods. Perhaps having the chance to improve the ratings over time as your skills improve or/and you get more positive reviews. ALso, maybe in a group home cooking scenario the Paras might comment on the meal or cooking etc in a positive or negative way. Lastly if the food/drink they make doesn't go to plan then maybe having a negative mood for a short time or if they are group cooking even if the food doesn't go well still having fun because of the socialising. oops, sorry for the long post.

Christina Ozeki
>>72579152

Also, I like the shopping list idea , using different equipment for different recipes and teaching/ handing down of family recipes (I meant to add that as well when I mentioned family cooking together and parents showing children/teens or young adults how to cook). all mentioned by previously be other people. Great ideas!

S&M Gonzalez

What kind of activities related to food and cooking would you like to do? Competitions (like bake offs, cake decorating, etc.), be able to host bbq for neighborhood, hosting brunches, this could also be another way to learn recipes but cooking in groups in a classroom setting or for fun as a couple, sell your produce or food at farmers market, be able to open up a restaurant and set the menu, being able to cure meats and can vegetables, kids being able to cook and learn recipes from adults by watching them or helping, kids making snacks for their friends, hosting dinner parties, take cooking classes for learning different cuisines and finesse skills, double date dinners, cooking for others and taking it to their homes just because and also other paras dropping off food just because, going to different cuisine restaurants to eat, being able to ask other paras to make something for them then your para can go pick it up or have them drop it off. For ordering food it’d be nice to pick more than one item from each menu like chinese takeout having more options than noodles and rice. Paras sharing their over harvest with each other they farmed/gardened. I’d like to be able to go to a grocery store and pick out food for paras for those who don’t want it wouldn’t have to play with it but for those of us that do and being able to take your paras kids with you and they help you shop and randomly pick up stuff they want lol. Also to add to that it’d be nice if some recipes have a two or three step process like when baking some goods for example or even cooking like you braise a meat then put it in the oven for x amount of time. I think it’d be cute if there was like that one para in the neighborhood who is a really good baker and everyone would brag on them and hope to taste their food haha. Also I’d really like if paras eating one serving of food didn’t automatically fill up their entire hunger meter, i’d like them to be able to enjoy more than one course of a meal especially if we can throw dinner parties or holiday family dinners with many dishes. Maybe food can be coded to have a certain point factor in filling up paras hunger, we as players wont be able to see these numbers for they’d be coded in the program. Snacks wouldn’t be as filling unless eating in excessive amounts same with candy or appetizers and drinks and some desserts. I don’t know if this is possible but when paras have family meals could they pass the food around the table to each other? Your para can accept or decline to take a serving depending on their food preferences. Also asking a para to pass a dish over to yours or they refill each others water glasses at the table would be so nice. Babies/toddlers being able to sit at the table in a high chair with older paras and not be left out.

ramaru

I'd like to see grocery stores and shopping make a return. Going to the shops and buying individual ingredients, precooked foods, etc. It would be nice to also be able to put a meal together from various foods. For example, usually mac and cheese is a side dish not a main dish. A single meal could consist of a meat, vegetable, and starch for example. Three different dishes that a para pulls from to fill their plate. Tied to this also, it would be interesting to see paras be affected from not enough of their starches, vegetables, etc. Also too much dessert too. This would make it important to have a variety of food types in each meal. Eating healthy could have long term benefits to mood and health while eating unhealthy could give short term mood benefits but long term negative consequences. I also don't want eating to be so overcomplicated it becomes a headache but I think there's room to make it a bit more interesting than clicking a random option on the fridge.

Anonymous

I think it would be cool for us to be able to work toward perfecting specific recipes; for example, the more you cook spaghetti the better you get at it. And each recipe builds toward an overall cooking skill, but there's a cap on how much a recipe will contribute unless you switch to something else. So you can make spaghetti 5 times in a row, but after that it stops contributing to your cooking skill until you cook something else. And maybe the Parafolk get a negative moodlet or something for having to eat the same thing over and over.

Maxx

I would love the idea of cookbooks - You buy one and it not only increases the speed of cooking skill improvement if you choose to "cook with cookbook" but you also learn several new recipes along the way, naturally. If you have learned and cooked all the recipes from a certain book, it would show as an achievement and maybe boost your mood

Anonymous

It would be really fun to be able to go inside a grocery store and pick out food and ingredients. However, this would be a lot of extra development so maybe too unrealistic to achieve

Bob Fox

It could be nice, if the paras could swap and teach each other recipes. Certain recipes will be handed down from one generation to another. After two generations this qualifies as a „(secret) family recipe“, that tastes better than the „normal“ version.

Estelle

I want to be able to do ALL of the options for food & cooking. Food is something I love and want my paras to love just as much as me :) Eating out, cooking togther, shopping food, testing new recepies is a huge part of life.

Alexi

I had to click all the options. I like them all. Also for the parafolks who aren't good cooks I hope we get a ubereats like system. Oh and I'll repeat this when the brainstorm is open but I think it would be cool to have family recipes that get passed down generations

Anonymous

I think it would be really cool to be able to set our Para's skill level while making the Para and also what type of food they're "fluent" in. For example, my grandmother was Italian and I know much more about Italian food than Chinese food. Or maybe the Para has literally only made mac and cheese their whole life and knows no recipes. That would be cool to be able to set when making them and just help round out their personality. Also, it would be cool to be able to somehow pass down recipes so if a child is cooking with a grandparent, they could learn more recipes or have higher skill gain in that particular food/type of food. Thanks for listening to our feedback! :)

Michael

I am strongly in favor of a combined (1) ingredients-based meal system and (2) a food inventory level-based meal system. (1) is that every meal deducts certain ingredients from the fridge to make the meal and (2) is single meter for how full your refrigerator. They can be tied together together This requires explanation. When you go to the grocery store, you can choose to generally restock your refrigerator (think Sims 2 style) but behind the hood you’re really adding multiples of the various ingredients that make many meals in your cart , and filling the meter might be the equivalent of a week’s worth of groceries. However, as you cook meals, you might run out of specific ingredients to make certain recipes. **This causes those recipes to be grayed out - you can’t constantly cook the same meal or that option is going to quickly get grayed out** so what do you do? At the grocery story, you ALSO can tweak the specific ingredients that you order that’s “under the hood” of the general refrigerator meter. So if you want to make extra salmon meals, you can order more salmon ingredients by increasing the quantity of that ingredient. You can also shop only for specific ingredients at the store in the case you don’t want to do a generalized “increase the refrigerator meter” action. Let me know if that makes sense

Anonymous
>>72550791

Yes, I would love for some Paras to just never get better at certain things! I know lots of people who just can not cook. They do actually cook, they just can't master it and never have excellent quality meals. It would just help make each Para unique. :)

Anonymous

What would be the different ways to learn new recipes? Cookbooks / School/ Cooking Channels/ Watching another para or asking a para for a recipe/ creating your own recipe/ ☕ How could food and cooking impact the daily lives of Parafolks? Bad cooking can upset a foodie para or make them sad/ if one is learning a recipe or has to learn a recipe for a project for school or recipe for work depending on how in depth school & jobs are in Paralives. Cooking skill can impact grades or performance,etc / Food can spoil / make para sick / allergies / Can make a Para go Vegan or Change their mind about being vegan / vegetarian etc 🍴 What kind of activities related to food and cooking would you like to do? Fix plates / set the table w/ food for everyone in the household then everyone can come eat simultaneously… maybe a para can get scolded for not eating all of their food/ paras can tell other Para whether or not the food was good / or have the option to ask if food was good etc. Eating contest / Cooking contest at festivals / Catering / Baking/ Grilling etc Fine Dining Maybe have an option to store leftovers or recreate a dish with leftovers before spoils 🍓 What would be different ways to get new ingredients? Exchange ingredients at the store / Asking neighbors example : asking neighbor for sugar etc / grow it yourself for farming/ gardening Para’s /. Experimenting with gardening to create new ingredients/trading ingredients at shops or food/ if we’re able to travel in between towns or take vacations eventually and there’s a scavenger skill / explore skill we can explore and pick up items or flowers etc make them in to ingredients etc.

Anonymous
>>72555862

I'd love this! I know I learned mostly Italian food as a kid so I know way more about those kinds of spices and that's how I cook. And my Nona passed recipes down that my friends don't have and my best friend definitely cooks in a completely different way than me. And someone who only grew up ordering in or getting fast food doesn't know a lot of basics. I just love the thought of all the Paras being very unique, especially when it comes to food. :)

Anonymous
>>72567334

Exactly!! Being allergic to nuts isn't a personality trait!! lol

BlaneKaBoom

I think it would be best if after you mastered the cooking skill, you could design your own dishes and name them.

M13Vulpecula XIII, ruler of Vulpeculand

I remember something from a life simulation game I played on the Playstation 2: You could pick/harvest certain ingredients, and then choose how to prepare them. Certain ingredient combinations made certain recipes, but it's also possible to experiment a bit. Certain ingredient combinations would also have a specific effect on your character, like, give them an energy boost, give them a skill boost, make romantic socials much easier with the next person they talk to, etc. I'd like to see a system like that, which allows players to experiment, explore, and be creative :3

Anonymous

i think parafolk should learn new recipes on a computer or just by maybe interacting qith a fridge or stove and selecting "practice cooking" or "learn new recipes"

Anonymous

I think an intuitive chain ingredient system would be cool. For example, start with the protein(s) then choose the vegetable(s)/fruits(s), then the starch(s), sauce(s) and garnish. Then have a list of recipes from a variety of cultures to choose from at the end based on the ingredients. It could even be as simple as bread + butter = toast. It would be fun for people who already know lots of recipes to see their dishes in game and then it would somewhat teach people who dont know much.

Fishout

Skills are great and all, but I wonder if it would be better to have a limit on how skillful a single Para can be. What I am trying to say is it would be good if the goal of all Para was not to be the best at what they do.

Diamond Nicole

Regarding family meals, if paras are having a celebration or regular family meal and the main courses are on the table, I think it would be nice if there was an option for paras to have "a little bit of everything", "vegetarian plate" , "vegan plate" or something along those lines so paras dont just get one type of food (ex: if there is turkey, mash potatoes, and cornbread they dont just get one of those items; they are able to get all items or some of them depending on their diet."

Anonymous

Potlucks! (Either hosting or being invited to one!) 🍲🥣🥧 Packing lunch for both adult and younger paras 🥪🍲🍱 Being able to hire cooking staff, either as a permanent position or as an one-time catering service. 🧑‍🍳👩‍🍳 🎁The ability to present food as a gift: -Bought or self-made 🥡🍱 -To give or to receive it 📤📥 -Could be a friendly, caring, or romantic gesture 😆😊🥰 -To be able to give it as a secret admirer 🤫 -Different reactions depending on the food's quality and maybe on the receiver's tastes! 😍🤩🤨😰🤢 Buffet & self service restaurants! 🍽 Being able to set a food table or serve dinner (or have it served by hired staff) alongside other events, for instance: Club gatherings 📚🧶🎮 Board game nights 🎲♟🧩 Funerals ⚱ Balls 💃 Party games 🎉🙆‍♀️🙋 Poker nights ♣️♦️ Play dates 👩‍👧‍👧👨‍👧👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Conferences 📈💻🎤 Outdoors activities 🏈🤸‍♀️🏑 Mixers 💁‍♂️💁‍♀️💁 Live-entertainment restaurants (Meaning, you get a table, order your meal and enjoy a show in the meantime!) There are various types of entertainment and restaurants that could work for this: 🎙Stand-up/Comedy club 🎤Karaoke bar 💫Magic clubs 👠Elegant nightclubs (with singing entertainment and/or dancing) 🎷Jazz clubs 🎹Indie coffee shops with live music 🕺Retro diners with old music and dancing (P.S. I'd love it if my paras could participate either as patrons or as the entertainers if they have the required skills 😍😍😍) Careers related to food: 👨‍🍳Restaurant chef 🧑‍🍳Personal chef 👩‍🍳TV chef 🍽Catering chef 🏍Delivery person 🚌Foodtruck owner/chef 🍞Baker (Could work on a bakery🥐🥖🎂 or work from home and sell their goods🍪🥧🧁) ✍Food critic 📷Food photographer 📗Cookbook writer 🍴Restaurant owner (Could be the chef too!) 👩‍⚕️Nutritionist (could be a branch of the Doctor career) 🧑‍🏫Cooking teacher ☕Barista 🍹Mixologist 🐟Fisher 👨‍🌾Farmers for different types of produce: -Meat🥩🍖🥓 -Poultry🍗🥚 -Dairy🧈🥛🧀 -Vegetables🥦🥬🌽 -Fruits🍊🍌🥭 -Wine🍷🍇

Mary Breyer

Idk if anyone has commented on the para shown in the eye video, but IDK if this is just me, but the art style of that para seems so different from Maggie from Halloween... I love the way Maggie looks, but the new para seems like the graphics have taken a step backwards from the Halloween Maggie. Maybe I just love Maggie because I also love the way that she looked last Christmas too

Mary Breyer

Also for food it would be awesome to be a caterer as like a self-employed job so that you could work only on the days that you want, or have it be like a side gig, so that you could do it in conjunction with a normal job.

Brandie Haynes

It would be cool if some recipes could only be unlocked by completing certain quests. It would also be cool if some recipes were found while exploring the town.

sofst

I'd love for receipes to have required ingredients that you can get in the store, you can get a bunch at once too. It'd be fun to have in game stores (later we could even get specified stores like a bio vegetable store in the country side) that would basically be rabbit holes and screens. But you could also order food from the internet. I can't explain how satisfying and fun it is to order food to cook in a sim game. It would also be a good motivation to go explore the small town :)

BonaparteBardithion .
>>72677541

"a bunch at once" I can't stress how important it is that the player be able to type in a number. No more rapid clicking when we want to stock up on 50 apples.

Anonymous

Regarding recipes, there should be certain recipes (maybe a collection like a recipe book) that you could get from a store (book/kitchen/grocery), a person (like your grandma's traditional cookbook with the family recipes or a chef's new cookbook), or career/event (restaurant's recipes or a cooking class). Speaking for people who love to cook, I doubt you would ever be able to create all the dishes we would like to see in the game, so I also think that it would be nice to be able to create our own recipes. We input dish name, ingredients (req'd and opt.), description, and select what the product would look like in a general form (select dish, shape, color, etc. similar to creating a piece of clothing or furniture). I know that would take some work, but it would allow us as the player and our para to cook things that have special meanings to us as individuals and as communities and cultures.

Anonymous

a cooking minigame would be really cool, where you chop carrots or stir a pot

Anonymous

please having hoop flow art as a hobby/activity would literally be a dream 🥺

S&M Gonzalez

parents restricting their kids from having certain food items if it’s unhealthy or they see then eating too much of something, or even if the parent has their own special diet their kids won’t be introduced to certain foods because of that, but if they go to someone else’s home they’ll sneak and eat it or try it like at their grandparents

S&M Gonzalez
>>72741398

For example if a parent is a vegan their kids might not grow up eating meat but that doesn’t restrict them or couldn’t from wanting to eat meat and dairy or trying it

IdrilPuck

Having to track down and discover recipes from books, magazines, other paras, the internet, and travel would be really fun. In the new animal crossing update I have to slowly find the recipes like that and it’s really fun to try and find them. It would also be nice if there was an option to make a “display” version of food and baked goods, so that you can decorate with food without having to worry about it spoiling?

IdrilPuck

Also for categories, there should be a baking category, and then breakfast, lunch and dinner categories, with different ethnicities. Italian, American, Japanese, etc. maybe also another option is savory, spicy, comfort, vegetarian, seafood?

Anonymous

Like many I really want my Para to need ingredients before the can cook. As mentioned previously they grow or buy their ingredients at stores and/or markets. It's also handy to do things like grocery shopping or buying special ingredients online so that if your Para doesn't have time to go to the store they can have these items delivered. However, when ordered online I really want to see a delay before the items arrive, like in real life. No instant appearing in the Para's inventory, please. I want ordered items to arrive by mail or by delivery to my Para's front door. That also makes shopping in real stores a more valuable experience because it takes time out of your Para's day but they get their items immediately.

Anonymous

I think it would be cool if there was a pot luck social event where you can invite para friends over for a BBQ or picnic and everyone brings a dish. It would also be helpful if different food items filled up the hunger meter differently so paras could enjoy a main dish, sides, and dessert.

Charlotte Stevens

I don’t want increasing cooking skill to unlock recipes, meaning para on a low skill should be able to look up a high skill recipe to cook to impress a first date for example, but the high skill recipe cooked by a low skill para should be burnt/flavourless ect. I feel all paras should be able to prepare low skill basic meals but a high skill para would be able to make ‘best grilled cheese ever’ for example.

Anonymous

Family recipes. Like a para could call their grandma and then get a chunky old recipe book in the mail that unlocks new dishes.

Alex Agustin

I am not very concerned about the type of foods in the game. I think for representation's sake, staples from a wide variety of cultures should be available at first. Vegetarian and vegan options/substitutions will likely be appreciated. Paras could learn recipes from TV, books, other Paras, online, maybe magazines they subscribe to? I think it would be helpful to separate recipes by meal time, like breakfast, lunch, dinner, but not lock meals by the time of day.

Vicarious Human

To add to appliances list: beer keg, wine barrel, fermenter (for kombucha, cider, yogurt, cheese).

Vicarious Human

1. Types of food I would like to see. French pastries or any type of pastries for that matter. Japanese Food: sushi, onigiri, Ramen, soba, udon, yakitori, nikuman, sukiyaki, taiyaki,  mochi, omuraisu, teriyaki, himono, temaki, anpan. Ethnic Foods from all over the world. Smoothies and milkshakes. Baked goods. As someone in the comments already mentioned, being able to alter a dish like adding banana to pancakes making it banana pancake. 2. Learn recipes by trial and error to see what works. Some recipes turn out tasting bad while another could have a good combo of ingredients that make for a delicious meal. I would like to be able to give and receive recipes as gifts from friends and family. Trying a recipe that was found online, cooking channel or in cooking books. Having someone mentor my para in cooking or take a class. 3. There should be a main classification and then secondary class of food. From there we can have the specified food or name of dish listed. Main class: Beverages, candy, snacks, simple meal, whole meal , grand meal, desserts . Secondary class: Non-alcoholic, alcoholic, hot, cold or frozen (Beverages). Chocolate, sugar, other (Candy). Healthy nuts, fruits, veggies, beans; low-fat oats, yogurt, popcorn, pickles, hummus, apple sauce; cheese ; high sugar or salt and other (Snacks). Proteins, fruit salad,  grain products, salads, soup, pasta or sandwich; pre-packaged or frozen meals; leftovers; other (Simple meal). Larger meals consisting of main and side dish; other (Whole meal).  Any dish large enough to feed a single para for a week or large group of paras for 2 days. (Grand meal). Endless possibilities (Desserts). Additives that are bottled, canned, jarred, boxed or bagged. Coffee Beans, Tea Leaves, Cocoa, Sugar, Salt, herbs, Spices, Dairy, Oil, Vinegar, Sauce, Syrup, Jam, Honey, Flour, Baking soda, Baking powder, ETC! 4. How does food impact daily lives of parafolk? I would love it if each food contained hydration, calorie, nutrition and mood boost from the foods they eat. Equillibrium of hydration is ideal. Hydration highs and lows will cause any of the following symptoms: Silliness&Giggles, Irritation, Dizziness, Upset Stomach, Headache, Overheating, Fainting. Example of consumable: (Too high) Affected by drinking Water, Herbal Tea, Smoothies, freshly squeezed Juice. (Too low) Affected by Alcohol, Excessive Caffeine or soda, Candy, Salty or Sweet dry foods. Calories affect weight gain/ loss. Nutrition affect energy for body (muscle) and mind (foccus). Mood boost/ loss for liked and disliked foods. Paras could cut cost by using ingredients from the garden or foraged. 5. Activities I would like my para to do related to food and cooking. a. To be able to run a soup kitchen. I tried doing this in the Sims but I don't have the option of selling for $0. b. To be able to run an ice-cream parlor. c. To be able to have seasonally baked goods available certain periods of the year. d. I would like my para to feel gratification from being able to feed others. e. Being able to make foods using many different kitchen appliances.  Cook top,  griddle,  oven, toaster, toaster oven,food dehydrator, blender, food processor,  slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, vegetable steamer, deep fryer, outdoor charcoal or propane grill, refrigerator and freezer, mini fridge, cooler, stand mixer, ice cream maker machine, meat smoker, microwave,  coffee machine,  espresso pod machine, French press, Italian press, ceramic teapot, electric kettle, waffle iron, panini press, fondue pot. Some simple appliances as well like, cutting board,  pots, pans, baking dish, Dutch oven, cookie baking tray,  colander and mixing bowl. 6. Different ways to get new ingredients could include going shopping at the big box stores, shopping at local grocery, farmers market, growing own food, foraging, fishing or hunting.

Anonymous

I really wanna be able to forage and eat the food I forage!!!

Dawn Star

I often get new recipes from friends or co-workers as well as at parties or work functions. If someone serves something I really like I ask for the recipe. That would be fun to have in a game like this one!

Amata

would love the ability to ask a secondary para to come help in the kitchen while cooking. I was always helping peel potatoes or cut up vegetables or stir some thing on the stove while my parents did the big stuff. don't forget about adjacent activities too - parents tell their kiddos to go "set the table" before a meal, someone was always "assigned" to help wash up afterwards - leftovers should be put away, scraps should be composted or recycled, dishes washed, and counters cleaned. I was always stuck with sweeping the kitchen floor after a meal, which really sucked because my sister (4 years younger) could get super messy during dinner. Ahh, good times.

Amata

as for recipes... aside from getting things from google or from magazines/cookbooks.... I would really love if there was some system for handing down special family recipes, both learning them from older family members and "earning" access to them by having a life-long friend that shares their family recipe(s) with you. generally, I think a family recipe could be a basic recipe with a different or a special extra ingredient, or a "rare" completely new recipe that can only be discovered by meeting the requirement(s) for inheriting a recipe. My family's recipes tend to include various shortcuts or substitutions that make the recipe faster or cheaper to prepare. The recipes could include an ingredient that gives a buff or increases a skill. Other recipes reflect personal preferences, allergies, or lifestyle choices (fish instead of red meats) - e.g. this is basically a macaroon, but Tia Rosa doesn't like coconut so we make them without; I like the foldovers with apricot instead of apple filling, Dad is allergic to dairy, so we make this with almond milk, etc. They also typically have extra notes about people, places, or events that are connected to the recipe; for example, "Aunt Dorothy's coffee cake" with the note that my great grandma's sister, Dorothy, would prepare this poor-man's version of coffee cake every Sunday and the family would visit Dorothy after mass to bring them holy communion (the fam was really religious back then) and to eat this coffee cake together. Dorothy's husband was bedridden after an accident in the steel mills, that's why they didn't go to mass, and thus Dorothy could stay home and make brunch. bc the fam was super religious back then, nobody could break their fast on Sunday until after church - so brunch together was a big deal, especially for the kids who were newly old-enough to fast like everyone else (infants and the ill were excluded from fasting, ofc). So that's the history of Aunt Dorothy's coffee cake. I definitely get a warm, happy feeling when I eat Aunt Dorothy's coffee cake and remember all the little details about life "back then" that are baked inside this small, plain, dense carb. Tradition in the family is that a boy's first taste of alcohol should be a shot of Crown Royal while standing in Aunt Dorothy's kitchen (S nami Bog!). She was still alive when my brother was deemed "old enough," and I ended up being the first girl in the family who decided it was time to be inclusive, and demanded my own shot, too. But that's a story for another time...

Stermatical

Little late comment but oh well. I’ve always found it weird that heterochromia was only available for pets in The Sims series. Good to see it available on Parafolks. And for food and cooking, all the aspects above are equally interesting.

Anonymous

Heyho I thought i share my idea here too. Maybe the paras can have two options on recipes just like in real life: They can learn the recipe to cook it without help or they cook with the recipe (written down on paper or something) as help what would take much longer.

Lumyria

When it comes to cooking I like a variety of recipes and ingredients to make them. Hopefully have the ability to make all baked goods in the oven!

Vicarious Human
>>73033954

Thanks for the family story tied into the topic's discussion, it really gave off feelings of togetherness and warmth.

Bleeb90

What I would love to see is a Para starting a stew in the morning, and working home doing all kinds of other tasks interrupted by the occasional stirring. Maybe other Paras interfering and also stirring or fiddling with the heat. Having moodlets about enjoying the smell, or them talking about the stew. Moreover, almost every culture has got some version of a stew. Japanese hotpot, Stroganoff, Bolognese, Rendang, Dagingsmoor, Carbonade flamande, Coq au vin, Domoda, etc. The possibilities would be endless. Edit: If you guys would simply add a shitton of ingredients and spices to the game, and ways to customise a plate of food you could in theory, let gamers add their own recipes and cooking time/difficulty level to the game.

Bleeb90
>>73030670

That would be so awesome, have an adult Para cut all the veggies etc, and let a little kid on a footstool stir, while slowly gaining basic cooking skills. <3

Megan Santucci

I think I've said this before, but a couple of things I'd like: 1. Recipes that are detailed but flexible. The game Don't Starve is a pretty good example of what I mean. If a recipe calls for "meat" you can use almost any meat, etc. And if your ingredients don't make anything you get "goop" lol. This would go really well for custom diets because for example our Paras could use tofu in a "meat" slot or oat milk in a "dairy" slot or whatever they prefer. Maybe there could even be a mechanic to save customized recipes, like I can create "spaghetti with portabella mushrooms and zoodles" as a separate file from default "spaghetti with meatballs," which leads me to my next point. 2. When we go shopping we should be able to automate it by selecting premade "staple packs" (with variations like "microwave only" "pescatarian" etc.) and/or by clicking a list of recipes we want to make and having those ingredients automatically added. You'd only need a few different lists of staples or recipes or whatever to get started because then players could share recipes and shopping lists and things on Steam!

Megan Santucci
>>73269029

a system like this would also let a player who DOESN'T want to fuss with cooking just click a button and have cereal and cups of noodles delivered to their Para's door 😂

Pepper Dee

Thinking ahead to when diet restrictions/(potentially) allergies/likes and dislikes are implemented, what if the foods are tagged in relation to how much (conceptually) the ingredients show up? Like, if someone has an allergy to tomatoes, then they wouldn't be able to eat any pizza made with tomato sauce. However, if someone dislikes tomato, they still might like pizza because they don't taste the tomato. So the ingredients could be like "Tomato - Major" and "Tomato - Minor." If someone was allergic to tomatoes, they'd avoid all foods with tomato. If someone dislikes tomato, they wouldn't eat "Tomato - Major" foods (like tomato soup, BLTs, etc.) Idk if all the different tags would take up too much space, but this was my way of working it out.

chameleonwren

i would absolutely love if cooking skill also had a sort of individual skill progression for particular types of dish. so your para could be a very good cook, but if they prepare a dish they've never made before it will reflect in their lack of experience. hopefully that makes sense!

Celeste

I would love to see chicken curry, fried rice, ghormeh sabzi (persian stew) these are all my favorite dishes 😍

Kt S

Please allow the family to actually sit together and eat!

Desirée Eriksson

I would like vegetarian options that doesn't completely suck ^^' What I mean is, please don't just substitute meat with tofu, it's such a lazy understanding of vegetarian food xD

Leaf

I know it's been a while since this has been posted, but I think if the feature is added to the game it would make sense if elderly and adult paras had more 'points' avaliable to put into skills and hobbies, since they've lived longer.