🔊 Ambient Sounds + A Small Neighborhood Built by the Team 🏡

Looking back at this, and the ambient birds make me wonder... is there any chance a birding/birdwatching skill will be added to the game (or similar naturalist skills)? Asking as a birder myself! :]

Hi Andrei., What audio interface and software / hardware gear do you use to record and mix?

Sidewalks?

So comfortable

For some reason this makes me so excited!

How many times you watch it ? Me:yess!

Spectacular sound design. Now I wonder if we can design the appearance and shape of the road. This straight tarmac road seems more appropriate for a main thoroughfare than a leafy residential street.

Oh the sounds are so crisp and beautiful 😍😍😍 not to mention the game runs beautifully also

I am absolutely in LOOOOVE with that! It sounds so relaxing and smooth.❤️🏡🌄

oh i love this so much yall are doing fantastic

These sounds are so calming and atmospheric, also it was weirdly pleasing to hear the refrigerator, really brings the game to life

It sounds so calming and beautiful, and I love the little neighbourhood!

Unrelated note, but one of the houses looks like the house from Up

Hey question, how long does a demo or early access usually last before a release, just generally speaking?

Wonderful work!!

No sidewalks, huh?

I was so surprised to hear the refrigerator. I love it! The sounds will add a layer of immersion to game play.

Wow, the sounds really fuel immersion! I don't know if we'll get more than one neighborhood when the game launches, but I would be fine with that, if there were plans to introduce new neighborhoods as DLC. Each neighborhood type could then also have new soundscapes—a city/urban neighborhood, for example, without the rooster and with more sirens, construction, and traffic noises and maybe even idle chatter of pedestrians. Or there could be a neighborhood nestled in a forest, sounding overall more hushed, wind rustling through leaves, with scattered animal calls (like toads, owls, wolves, and coyotes). Perhaps you could also add some lawn care noises to this suburban soundscape? At least in the suburbs I'm familiar with, there's always a lawn mower or weed whacker running during the day. Annoying? Yes. But having a hedge trimmer revving up could add in another fun dose of realism and nostalgia.

i love that lawn with all the grass and i really like the bird noises

I love it, It's so cosy and immersive. ^^

Looks good, but I have to agree with people that said the bird sounds were too frequent and could get annoying easily. There needs to be more variety if they are going to be that frequent (and maybe a bit quieter too).

Very impressive.

The sound design is criminally good ✨

I love the sound design I can't wait to see more weather and local varieties when it will come to that. I do think the bird sound is to frequent and might become annoying. Also maybe the birds could be nosier in the morning/evening ? I don't know if it's the case everywhere but where I live that's definitely true. Maybe add some distinctive but rare birds sound like duck. We love ducks. Passez une bonne semaine !

Wow that video got me so exciteeeed :'D

Really great soundscape! I'm getting such immersive vibes from the video! I also can't wait to see the town, I'm hoping the neighborhoods are just as dense and detailed as this one!

Unrelated note if possible Please make the sidewalks bigger!

I love ambient sounds. 😀

Love it!! Ugh I am so excited for the release of the game. I will probably be unhealthy addicted

I love this feature! Some outdoor sounds are around specific times of the year like cicadas in summer or specific frogs throughout the year. Birds migrating, etc. I love how the sounds are based on the level of perspective. AND THE REFRIGERATOR NOISE! Please tell me there will be some rattling on some utilities that are old

Les cônes oranges 👌🏻

Woah, this is really impressive!! It's really immersive, I love the sounds!!

I just keep falling deeper in love with this game! I remember getting hype over the fridge humming in a sneak-peak vid of Maggie's home...now this!! And to know there's a control panel on what noises you want to hear, I love this for us 🥹💕 And that zoom in/zoom out sound change is everything! Thanks for sharing Andrei!

i love a most

Cool post! Will we be able to customize these sounds, like "turn off" certain specific sounds? (example: I want to set my story in the past, can I choose to "never play" the cars' sounds?)

Les maisons de là haut et les simpsons :)

The ambient sounds are great, they add such a nice, cozy sense of place that I can't recall feeling in any other game.

Looks sooo beautiful 🌟 and cozy!! I was wondering: will you be able to build directly on the property line? I would love to have the option to build townhouses!

A big warm hug is the perfect way to describe the sounds! Stunning!! ✨️

This is so cozyyy I love it

I love this :)

This is incredible, Andrei! So well done! 😄👍🏻

Haven't even read the post yet or finished watching the video, but I want to comment and say that my cat loves the bird sounds! They are apparently more interesting than a lot of bird videos online. She doesn't react to a lot of bird noises, but this one did the trick! :D

I grew up in country Australia and this cacophony of wonderful sounds bring back memories, with the only thing missing being fewer bird sounds and less variety of bird sounds, namely Australian parrots and magpies, which of course, I can't expect to be in a Canadian game. Perhaps I can add them later? A couple points. Highways in the distance are actually LOUDER at night, not softer, because other daytime noises are fewer and lesser. My house was a distance from the highway, and I couldn't actually hear highway sounds during the day, only at night. In Australia, the birds are noticeably noisiest at sunrise and sunset. Perhaps this is particular to Australia, but I thought I'd mention it. Some people above mentioned the repetitivity of the one bird sound. I think you just need a much wider variety of bird sounds played randomly, rather than just one repeated. I'm sure you'll probably add more bird sound variety, right? You could look at Australian birds - we have amazing bird sounds in Australia - probably more than any other country, in fact. Also, I'm going to assume that sounds will also be adapted to seasons when seasons are added to the game? Even in Australia (where are we arguably don't have seasons at all) the seasons have different sounds and sounds happen at different times, eg the rooster is dependent upon sunrise times, spring has more nature noises - more birds and bees and the cicadas are almost deafening, winter is just...quieter. And in my adopted country, Korea, which does have seasons, that all seems amplified - winds seem louder in Autumn for some reason, and winter is definitely much quieter, particularly when it snows. I LOVED the video!! This all sounds simply wonderful!! It will add a beautiful ambience to the game!

Gosh, this game is absolutely delightful. I can't wait!

This is AMAZING!

Love the concept but why is there a random rooster in suburbia?

Amazing! I love how thoughtful this was, even different sound when zooming in and out. The only take away is it seems you need a dead of night, quieter sound. Other than that! I'm so excited. Have you been working on radio stations too or is there no radio in game? I am super excited if there is 😊

The sounds are charming, I really enjoyed them. I live in the Columbia Gorge (in between Oregon and Washington in the US) and we sometimes get extremely strong winds in the middle of the night. Very unnerving!

This is amazing! Far exceeded my expectations! Feels so immersive and love the different vibes from different times of day ☺️

The lighting is so cozy and pretty!!

The houses are so close together ❤️ 😃😃

It sounds wonderful! Incredibly immersive. My one nitpick would be the bird at the very beginning. It's a little repetitive - and very noticeable because the sound is so piercing! But other than that, it sounds brilliant. I'm really curious how this will work with the music. Will it be layered over the music? Or is the music just for build mode/PAM?

I love the ambient sounds! Very cozy ^^ (Though the loud bird in the beginning was a bit too noisy and chirped a liiiittle too frequently.) I also like the variation in volume of the sounds depending where you are with the camera (same with the Paramaker sounds). Feels very alive and realistic :)

Was that the fridge I heard? Also now I desperately wanna see neighbourhoods in different styles!

That feels very natural, well done! Please lower the frequency of that "click-click" bird noise though - I feel like that would get way too repetitive in-game.

I adore ambient sounds 🥺 The rooster is an amazing idea, especially if you're not looking at the time and you hear it and know it's time for the Paras to get up! Will there be different bird sounds throughout the day? I imagine hearing the same bird calls the entire time could get repetitive after a while. I adore the neighborhood, all those houses are so cute and give us a glimpse of what Paratown could eventually look like 🥹 I wonder what the zoomed out neighborhood would look like populated with paras, as we need to spot them from far away while playing - I do think the different art style on the paras will probably make that quite easy? Perhaps we could even have a sort of para indicator toggle though, for the town map view, that would be a nice QOL feature. That one house with the big porch and the little tower is giving me major Sims 3 vibes, too! I wonder if that was intentional hehe. Btw, I think the palm trees are moving a bit too heavily for that light a breeze, you guys might wanna adjust the physics on those eventually 😅

Absolutely fantastic!

Hey, I love those sounds! But let's say I want my world to be more "nature." Can you take out these car sounds?

Im sooo ready for this game 🥹🥹

Oh my goodness something about the brrrrrr of the fridge is so atmospheric and wonderful! Weirdly cozy, spooky, lonely, and alive at once ahaha. All of these sounds are wonderfully integrated!!

Love the ambient sounds! One thing, that one bird sound might be too repetitive. I feel its sound can be more spaced out or sporadic. Also, I noticed the tree move all at once. Would it be possible to make the sway in waves like in real life?

SYMPLY AMAZING!!!

What a nice little detail! I really love the attention and care you're putting into every facet of the game

It's such fun to be part of this journey and I cannot wait for Early Access and then watching the game get better and better as you add onto it! I love the cozy feel to it. Keep going!

It's really been such a joy to get a peek at the process and see the game come together. Every little detail just makes this game that much cozier! Great work and thank you for sharing!

i love the amount of detail here! it's such a fun touch to have the sound differ based on the camera position, it makes it a lot more immersive! i'm wondering how much say the player will have in the sounds? in my particular case, because i'm scared of dogs, the barking could be a bit anxiety inducing, so i'd hope i could turn that feature off somehow

This might be one of my favorite things you've added!!♥️ It’s so cozy, I can't wait to play!♥️

I love the change in sounds depending on where the camera is - feels very immersive. The neighborhood is also so cute! I really like that the house placement feels natural and the lots don't feel so separated from each other.

c'est tellement parfait ce jeu c'est mon rêve. L'ambiance me fait sentir bien et en sécurité *-*

*-*

My cat next to me startled awake when some of these noises began playing. These are so wonderful and really do add to the experience!!! Well done!! Très bien!!

GAHHHH this just makes me so so hyped for the game its UNREAL I think I started to tear up when i listened to the audio and saw the neighborhood...the attention to detail is so beautiful and astounding. I wish I could support you guys 10x over 🥹💖💖💖

The ambient sounds are great and I love the cosy town. Fantastic work, I really can't wait to play Paralives!

Ahhh the town is so cute

Sound design can make or break a game, and this will absolutely MAKE the game for me! I always loved to just take a break and listen to some soft music with ambient sounds, winds, bird chirping, crickets, the sound of leaves... I'll be surely one of the first people to buy this game in early access, this game is just making me feel so amazing, and I can feel the passion and love put into it!

Oh I love this! No more blasting Metallica out when I'm playing games then! Thank you everyone for all your hard work ❤

I love the sounds! It feels so cozy. Especially the bird sounds. A small detail though, where’s the pavements/sidewalks? Will those be added slightly later on? Also will there be a beta test of any of the game? :D I’m so excited for this game!

I really love the ambient sound! It is calming and you can't wait to hear the story of the neighbourhood. A suggestion for the music: I played Tchia and the ambient sound carried the game. The music was used as a highlight, something you are waiting for to listen to it. This saved the music from just being a byproduct. I really enjoy this kind of use for the music. Maybe I am the only one but I would welcome the specific use of music instead of getting tired of it. Thank you, Andrei ❤️

Amazing! I really love the attention to detail that Paralives always strives for. The music and ambient sounds help create a truly immersive experience. I love it!

Where are the sidewalks?

What is the background rumble because I cant hear anything? Im not sure what its supposed to be

I hope to hear the stream/river if there’s one nearby 😍

Really nice! Brings a lot of life to even a static scene. My only potential gripe with ambient sounds are when it’s something I expect to actually see in the scene. The only real example here would be the bike sound because it sounds really close, like it’s passing right by, but it obviously isn’t, breaking the illusion. My only nitpick. Keep up the good work!

And me thinking this game couldn't get cozier! I'm so glad you mentioned "sounds varying depending on the map area", because the rooster, for example, wouldn't really work in a city environment. I LOVED the dogs in the background and how the sounds varied throughout the day. Good job, everyone!

I really appreciate you sharing all the times of day, and interior vs exterior. These are really important elements that make a game pop, and they sound fantastic. It'd be interesting in expansion to see neighborhoods in different regions (I'm from the south where cicadas go crazy in the summer) or weather. The rush hour sounds in particular I was happy to hear! It shows attention to detail in time of day, area, and makes it feel more alive. Thank you for sharing!

Amazing 😍

This is so wonderful!! Ambiance really adds to any game, making it so much more immersive and layered :D

I love the small details. TBH, besides the overall rework of the standard systems compared to that of TS. The one thing other than the standard art style is the attention to detail. The fact that there are sounds in time slots or specific indoor sounds. * I assume that that means there will be sounds for a heater, Parafolk writing, etc.? So a more focused question would be how do you define the scope of what sounds to include and what not? This seems like a line of thinking that can easily result in project/scope creeping. * Secondly, you mentioned interaction. Does that mean as players we will be able to select/deselect sounds, move them around, etc. or would you need mods to do this? * With seasons planned down the line, does that mean we can look forward to rain sounds, thunderstorms, and maybe even just severe wind sounds? * I noticed that the sound stopped when you sped up time. Does that mean music, ambient and similar sounds mute during the speed up or will they speed up with the passing time? (Side note, will there be a sound planned for speeding up time, pause, play and so on?)

Hi Andrei, thanks for your hard work ! This is some fantastic ambient sound if I've ever heard any. It does feel cozy and familiar and welcoming ! Hearing the crickets faintly from inside the house actually brought tears to my eyes (no judgement please ^_^; ) because of how much it felt like "home"... despite the fact that I've never lived in the kind of place where you routinely hear crickets at night ! Speaking of which, I was wondering if players had some power over what kind of ambiance plays in their town, especially considering the high customization of neighborhoods/worlds in Paralives. Let's say I create a busy suburb, a rooster would not exactly be heard in the area but I'd probably want to have more bikes and cars at all times. But if I create a small village that's mostly fields, on the other hand, roosters are a given (plural !) while rush hour won't really be a thing. Would we eventually be able to select "Countryside"/"Urban"/"Seaside"/etc. as large themes for our towns ? The dynamic aspect of the ambient sounds is really fantastic. I can only imagine what objects we will place in our towns and/or houses that will have a direct impact on changing the sound in a given area ! The slight "ding" of the traffic lights ? The buzzing generator of that off-the-grid mobile home ? The pond in the back of that old lady's garden where frogs gather ? Maybe even the sound of steps if we place a pedestrian crossing...? So. Many. Possibilities. It's also a very interesting choice that the sound doesn't sound very different when playing at high speed. (PS : whoever built this teal/green house during the playtest, come on don't be shy, let's see some more screenshots of your work of art !!!)

Oh my, this is amazing guys 🤩 I love all of the ambient noises, they sound so perfect and I'm so glad that you intend to put them in the game - it will make it even more cosy and wholesome than I thought it would be already 🥰 great to see a little neighbourhood too - so glad that we're half way through 2024 now, 2025 can't come early enough!

Even better than I expected. You guys blow me away every time with these updates! Great work!

I love everything about this. Sound does make a huge difference and it makes everything feel so alive and intriguing. Great games to take inspiration from too! I can see the love for this game through all these little details. Nonetheless, they are extremely appreciated ☺️

How much money do you want from my savings? 🤣 TAKE MY MONEY NOW!

I love the sounds. Especially the rooster and the nighttime ones. I also love that blue run down house, the details are so cool.

I love the objects that make the town/neighborhood look a little run down, yet realistic. Like the cones and debris in the street; and the vines and plants growing over the house. It'll be fun to make rundown neighborhoods and play a more rags to riches style with the realistic objects and placements available. Love this!!

I didn't know Paralives Studio is in Montréal! Salut à toute l'équipe et continuez l'incroyable travail! 🤩

I looks so amazing! I neeeeed it 😭❤️

Fantastic! Sounds good to me! 🔊

This is such an amazing sound design! I can't wait!

So cute and so good I'm in love

This is so relaxing to listen to 😌

Seeing you guys be excited makes me more excited! I love that you mentioned Night in the Woods as an inspiration, it is such a wonderful and immersion game. Also, the sounds in the video sound great!

I really like the little ambient noises. It makes the world feel alive. Would indoor noises change depending on what items you have in the house? Oh imagine having a power outage and then everything in the house just goes silent.

I love the timed noises! It really sounds like a living neighbourhood🤩 Would it be easy for modders to add more noises or change existing noises?

Boy I'm gonna feel bad for my Parafolks as I can envision myself getting lost in the ambient noises, especially at night time. RIP my future Paras. Really love the ambient sounds!

The houses looks great 😃 Do I spy the house from UP? ☺️❤️

Love the sounds! Also, are larger neighbourhood maps planned (to create cities)? This one is not related but, if there are more neighbourhoods, can paras travel between them?

I love how you put sounds of Cars specifically in the morning and evening as it’s the time when most people commute. ❤️