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Fresh Life-Sim. Ideas
Hi, everyone!
As a patreon supporter I got to see the sneak peek of the character model today and after reading some of the comments there I realized I wanted to be more active in the community.
I worry that a lot of discussions here in the forum (as well as the feedback on Patreon and Twitter) regularly refer back to EA’s game, even if it isn’t mentioned by name. I have been playing the Sims games on and off since it was first released, and I have my own personal gripes about how EA has handled that franchise, but I think it’s really important to try to view this game with a fresh eye. I want to be totally free of expectations and see what the Paralives team can do with the genre. Paralives has the potential to be a true game-changer, and I think it’s limiting to simply imagine how Paralives could improve upon the -other- life sim.
On the one hand, I think it is amazing that the Paralives team is allowing us to be part of the process and taking our input at this early of a stage in development, but on the other, I worry that collectively we could influence the creative process too much, and steer the team away from creating what could be a truly unique thing. Ideally as a community we give them interesting ideas that they can brainstorm off of, but we should avoid making demands.
So, as an exercise, I thought it might be fun to come up with or post new ideas in this thread. Think things that maybe haven’t been seen or thought of before in simulation games. Tell me your most bold or interesting idea! It doesn’t need to be something easy to implement in the game, the sky is the limit!
Here’s mine:
Parafolk deciding that they’d like to renovate part of the home/apartment and having to go to a store to pick out the item(s) or materials, such as new tiles for their shower/bath. Maybe parafolk have their own preferences for certain colors or patterns or design styles. Maybe their tastes change over time (mine sure do!) Upon beginning a home project, the areas of renovation could be under construction for days/weeks while the parafolk either perform their own DIY installation or hire someone to do the labor. This could force some creative thinking for parafolk for how to go about their business if their bathroom or kitchen is under construction.
Imaging a parafolk couple building a nursery together while they are expecting, and watching it slowly come together before the delivery date, piece by piece. Or imagine a middle-aged Para whose kids just moved out, and they are excited to reclaim the old bedroom and turn it into something new. Maybe a young para is moving into their first place and can only afford a home with really dated wallpaper or shag carpeting, and redoing the walls or flooring is their first home project after they raise the funds.
Watching a parafolk personally pick out a paint color at the hardware store, and painting their own wall or hiring someone to paint their home. I think watching something develop over time or in stages would allow homes to feel more lived-in, and would also make it feel like the paras themselves are personalizing their environment.
Maybe when preparing for a move into a new home, the Paras should need to do some moving/packing preparation, or risk some of their items being damaged in the move. They may want to re-paint the walls or do some minor renovations to help sell their house quicker or to sell it for a higher price.
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8 Replies
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I don’t think comparing Paralives to the only real competitor on the market is bad practice. Many of the suggestions we have for the game are direct requests for what that *other franchise* lacks. Many others are ideas that we haven’t seen before and are not really related to other games. Sure, some new ideas are framed as “never seen before” and you can’t say that without referring to what you’ve “seen before” – but I think that’s natural. Nothing is created in a vacuum, and sometimes it may feel like that game is hanging over our heads, but that can inform us on what directions we don’t want to go, and some that we do (e.g. open world). It can seem distasteful to reference another franchise all the time, but I think it’s unavoidable. If Paralives was being created in a genre that already had a ton of other games, we might not even consider this problem, but the fact is we’re standing on the shoulders of one lonely giant, and that’s just how it is. Do I think Paralives will be it’s own thing? Absolutely. In part by consciously differentiating itself from that existing franchise.
As for bold or interesting ideas? If I have any, I’ll make a thread for each one. Right this second, the inspiration fails to take me
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I don’t think we need to worry. I’m sure the devs already have their plans to make Paralives a completely unique experience for any other game.
Now as for my idea (also related to houses); house hunting/moving. I would LOVE it if we could have our Parafolk decide that they need to move (or maybe this could be their own desire) and go around the town looking at vacant houses to move to. Once they showed up, a real estate agent could be called over to tell them about the house. Then once they found a new fitting home, a moving crew could come to their old home and take the furniture they want to keep to the new home.
Parafolk could respond to the move differently based on their personality. Kids might miss their old friends and not like the new house at first. Or maybe they’ll be happier if, as a result of the move, they end up with a bigger room. Adults who don’t like change may find it harder to adjust. Even animals may react in certain ways.
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Here are some of my ideas so far:
1. A movie theather with at least one short animated movie in play. We, as players, can watch them together with our Parafolk. This can be made better if those who decide to pursue stardom make the movie themselves and earn everytime someone watches. Imagine how many creative minds are out there!
2. Attending concerts of favorite musicians. Maybe in the future, the game can feature singers or bands (with their permission, of course) to have a Parafolk version of themselves sing on a concert stage (and we can get to watch too!)
3. Customizable attires. I got inspired from this game I used to play, where I can design clothing then sell it to make profit (or in the game, I csn wear it myself!) We can have this online market accessible via a gadget where Parafolks post their masterpiece.
4. Conventions. Maybe it be books or slimes, parafolks can attend a week long event where they can purchase stuff at a cheaper price.
5. Hoarders, OCD, etc. I like to see these as a trait for storyline purposes. Also, I like to look at it as an opportunity to increase awareness on some mental disorders that exist. Who knows, maybe as players of the game, we can raise funds for charitable orgs for these disorders.
I’d like to go back to this thread if I have random ideas that pop in the shower or in a dream ????
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i always feel like people are scared of mental health being implemented into life sim games but, as someone with mental health issues myself, it helps me to feel like i’m normal. i think it’s a really important part of the game (and i think the same for things like abortion, menstruation, etc). these things need to be normalised, and a key to doing that is allowing them to be put into games
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Id love to see more representation of taboo things mostly periods/menstruation with different products such as pads, tampons, cups and reusable products too with pros and con of each and also pregnancy loss/miscarriage/stillbirth etc. I have had 2 miscariages and although it’s sad… It would be nice to see it destigmatised and show this in a simulation of life because it happens (and a lot more frequently than you’d think) I also suffer from endometriosis so maybe a chance of periods being abnormal in length of heaviness and pain levels etc. Obviously I always promote the idea of having a customisation menu so people can turn these things off if they don’t want to deal with that level of realism especially if it’s triggering
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This is super minor and may not even be anything we need to worry about, but seeing this thread revived, I thought I might post about it. I thought of something recently while thinking back to the time when I used to play “that game that shall not be named”. Specifically the pets pack. I went back and did research and it seems across all of that game’s iterations, there were no personality traits to be able to have negative feelings towards pets, or animals in general. In all of the packs you could be a “dog/cat/horse lover”, but not a person who isn’t fond of those animals.
I remembered my own experiences playing, and I truly can’t think of a time any of my characters across any age groups acted fearful of dogs or had a dislike of cats. And thinking even further, I couldn’t think of any life sim where you could have this type of personality. Though I will admit I haven’t played all too many life sims, so there could be some out there I just am not aware of. Still, I hope Paralives will be able to deliver in that experience. I am glad that the team wants to be able to represent a lot of people through culture, sexuality, disabilities, and so on. But even more than that, I hope they can represent a wide range of personalities.
And this is one of the big reasons I hope they can introduce personality sliders, which would be another fresh idea. That would make it easier for us to give our Parafolk negative feelings toward things.
