Height Sliders Confirmed as Paralives Team Reveals Character Design

Meet Maggie, the first Parafolk of Paralives

Ever since Paralives was first announced back in the Summer of 2019, fans could only speculate what the game’s virtual people (Parafolk) might look like. In perhaps the most anticipated event in the game’s development history, the character design has today been revealed to the public.

Click the image to get a closer look
A Parafolk’s hair can be customised with a colour wheel. Hair also subtly animates when the character is turned.

 

Creative tools, such as height sliders, will allow characters to have varied sizes and appearances

As previously discussed in some of our articles, we know that Paralives will feature colour wheels, sliders, and push/pull tools that will allow players to create diverse characters. But until today, height sliders were just speculation. As seen in the latest footage, height sliders are now confirmed to be a part of the Paramaker.

A Parafolk’s height can be altered simply by clicking and dragging

 

Handsome kitty spotted in the game’s UI

While Maggie may be the star of the show in today’s announcement, we would like to give a special mention to her feline friend, confirmed to be named Youri. Cats have been confirmed since the game was first announced, but until now their appearance was a mystery. According to this screenshot, it appears that pets will be directly selectable from the UI, just like Parafolks.

Maggie’s cat, Youri, can be seen in the game’s user interface

 

Paralives graphics: a change in direction?

Another point to note is that the art direction of Paralives appears to have taken a subtle shift into a more cartoon-like aesthetic. Perhaps, due to the outlined style of the Parafolks, the environment has been altered to match the inhabitants. You can see some comparisons in the screenshots below. Please note that the lighting and time of day seem to be different, which could impact the overall mood of the images, and let’s not forget that the game is still in development, but which style do you prefer?

 
The Paralives art style has been slightly altered.
The difference can be better observed on the roller skates and the small table plants

Update – The team have recently indicated there may be an option to turn off the black outlines.

So, what do you think? Please share your thoughts with us!

The Paralives Team have reached out to publishers to gather feedback and ideas in order to make the best game possible, so we invite you to join The Paralives Hub forums. What do you think of the Parafolk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or share a post on our forums.

Paralives Game Description

Paralives is an upcoming doll house life simulation indie game for PC and Mac. In Paralives, you are free to build homes, create Parafolks and manage their lives inside their homes and all around an open world town. The game features innovative build tools that are easy to use but powerful for advanced builders. The simulation mode allows players to explore a city full of events, people to meet and ways to make their characters evolve and live a happy life (or not, if they choose to)!

Building a dream house requires a lot of flexible tools. In Paralives, builders are not limited to a grid. Players can build walls of any length and at any angles. Your perfect house contains curved or slanted walls? Paralives has the tools for that. You want to recreate your real life home? Use the in-game measuring tape to recreate the exact dimensions! You can also fully customize object colors and textures as well as the size of windows and furniture. Just select an object, pull the corner anchors and make that window larger or upgrade that single bed to a king bed!

Creating the best life for your Parafolks couldn’t be possible without enjoying what the town has to offer beyond the walls of their houses. That’s why Paralives let’s you explore a cozy open world neighborhood filled with shops, parks, workplaces and other interesting spots to discover and meet people.

The name Paralives is a reference to parallel lives, allowing players to live different virtual lives and build homes to stage them.

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  1. I don’t mind the cartoonish style as the Sims and other games have done the realistic looking one for years. These styles are only slightly different from game to game. I love the height adjusting gauge and the hair customization! I missed being able to color things the way I wanted them. But back to the style, do what makes the game look best. It already has things the Sims 4 lacks. I can’t wait to be able to play this in the future! ^_^

    1. The design will likely continue to evolve over time as we’ve seen happen a couple of times already. It’s important that the devs are happy with the design work they put out, too! 🙂

  2. I’m really curious as to how they’d handle the animations if the height is as flexible as shown in the video.

  3. I was disappointed when I saw graphics changes yesterday. Now everything looks blurry and low quality. I really hope that in the end the game will look like the first video about the loft.

  4. I like the more real looking room better, I was disappointed when the sims 4 was more cartoonish looking then the Sims 3, but I know many didn’t feel the same!
    I love the height gage and can not wait to see more of the pets!
    Also, I hope they add “highlights” as a hair option as I have never had one flat hair color! Lol
    I’m also hoping Paralives lets you pick outfits like in the console version of the sims 2! It was so much more customizable being able to cut/crop clothing items and layer as you like!
    Also hoping we have some kind of traits or wants system!

    I’m really excited for this game! So hyped to have some competition for the Sims because Sims 4 has bored me to death!!!!

  5. Maggie looks really good so far. Can’t wait to see the the improvements made to the parafolk as the development process continues. Great job para team!

  6. Oh my gosh, I am in love, it gets better and better all the time, Hair is great, love the height slider, makes my day. can’t wait to order. Hope it is soon. Maggie is so cute, want her in my game,

  7. Absolutely not a fan of the new, cartoony art style, with or without the black outlines, sadly. Too many games have adopted it in the last few years and it’s a huge downgrade in look, as far as I’m concerned. Eh, I am not happy, not gonna lie.

    Maggie is gorgeous, though. I love her face and overall physique. Partial physics for the hair looks amazing, too. The customization options, even just the few we have been shown, will be absolutely mind-blowing for any long-time Sims player. Great work on that.

  8. Maggie looks so beautiful! The team really have blown it out of the park. The customisation is insane and I’m living for it! Only 4 people?! To achieve this is absolutely mind blowing. So excited to see more! Lots of love to the team ❤️

  9. The parafold design does not disappoint ?? looking forward to playing the game already…. Though ???I really hope there is an option as I prefer it without the black outline

    “Update – The team have recently indicated there may be an option to turn off the black outlines”

  10. I think it looks amazing. Also I am sure they will keep on working on it so next time we see a para it’ll be even better. Just having the height slider is amazing, it’s something the life simulation community have wanted for a very long time. I can’t wait for the game to be released, I just want to play with it.

  11. As a long time Sims fan, I cannot believe I’m finally seeing HEIGHT SLIDERS!! Maggie looks absolutely amazing. I was super impressed by the physics of her dress swaying as well as her hair! This will be an amazing game!!!

  12. Maggie looks awesome. And I’m speechless with the Paramaker. We only saw a few things, but I’m still blown away. I personally prefer the toon shader looking graphics myself. It makes it more unique to me.

  13. Having the option to switch between these 2 modes of styles is the best option in my opinion. I could definitely use the first style (the one with shadows) if I wanna showcase my creations! The other is a better option if I want a faster gameplay.

    1. I agree completely! the impact of the previous style was huge in the community, especially since it was the first big reveal we’ve had for the game graphics. But many also prefer the uniqueness the new style gives to the game. I just hope we’d be able to switch between styles.