Gameplay Systems Around our Younger Parafolks
Heya everyone! Jérémie here for this week’s Patreon post, where I go into more details about gameplay mechanics around babies, toddlers and children. In this previous post, Richard showcased the animations, interactions and visual flourishes that are in the game, but I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty of the systems and how things will work when the game releases in early access. As usual, this post is for our Patreon subscribers only, so keep it to yourself! Thank you!
Progression
As we’ve talked about in the past, in Paralives, your personality levels up as you complete Wants, allowing you to unlock more personality traits, upgrade them and improve your character’s stats. When you create an adult in the Paramaker, they’ll start with the basics (7 stat points to allocate, one vibe, one talent, one social trait). When you create a younger Parafolk, or if you give birth, the new characters won’t have all of that and will need to unlock different parts of their personality as they age up.
It will more or less line up with the moments where gameplay content starts making sense for that lifestage; for instance, when children can start leveling up their skills, they’ll be able to unlock their talent.
Eli is still growing up, so he has less stats to spend than older Parafolks, and he has no Vibe or Social Skill yet. He’ll get there eventually!
Needs
No matter your age, everyone still has the same basic needs. Eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom and being clean are all fundamental parts of life. Things are different for the younger life stages in the finer details:
Babies and toddlers have a lower need capacity than older life stages (you can see that in the screenshot below), this means they’ll get hungry and tired faster, among other things.
Some needs act a bit differently for babies/toddler than older lifestages. Going into critical bathroom need for an adult might be an emergency, but for a baby it’s just a normal part of life (going into their diapers is their only option after all!)
While toddlers get a bit of autonomy and can start working on their needs by themselves, babies need a responsible older Parafolk (teen and up) to feed them, clean them up and change their diapers.
The difference between the need levels of babies, toddlers and children.
Daycare
Because babies and toddlers need another Parafolk, that is a teen or older, to take care of all their needs, they’ll be sent to the daycare if you ever leave them alone on a lot for a certain amount of time. If you’re a single parent and need to go to work (or if you just forget your young one at the park! That would never happen though... wouldn’t it?), they’ll automatically be taken there, their needs will be met, and they’ll have a chill time. When your character returns from work, they’ll be brought back home.
Things are slightly different if you leave them somewhere that isn’t your house (like the park in my previous example), they’ll still be taken to daycare, but they’ll only come back when you get back home, AND you’ll have a hefty transport fee tacked on to your daycare bill.
Social Services
For game rating reasons (and on moral grounds, on some levels), you cannot neglect the hunger need of your babies, toddlers and children indefinitely. They cannot die from any cause, of course, but if you leave the hunger need in the red too long, they’ll be taken away by social services for their own safety, removing them from your household.
They will also be taken away if your household doesn’t have any teen-or-older Parafolk present, so if a fire decimates the family, any babies, toddlers and children will also be taken away (it’s probably game over at that point).
Lastly, children with too many (3 or more) failing grades at school will also have to go with the social services. While this might sound a bit excessive on first read, it’s something that won’t happen by mistake; you would have to be ignoring their needs, letting them go to school with a bunch of negative emotions and neglecting homework for a while before they get to that critical state. You’ll get a warning at 2 failing grades, so it really won’t be a surprise. We feel that this is an okay balance between realism and gameplay considerations at the moment!
Skills
Because babies and toddlers cannot do most interactions older Parafolks can, them having all the same skills wouldn’t make much sense, so they are limited in that capacity.
We also didn’t want to have baby/toddler-specific skills if we couldn’t strongly feel that we could add enough content to make them meaningful before Early Access. We do understand that babies and toddlers improve in many different ways, but for now, we didn’t want to go down the road of making skills that you can improve, but don’t do anything, just for the sake of having them in the game. If we find this part to be lacking later on, we’ll be able to add more. That’s the beauty of game development!
The big thing we have at the moment for babies and toddlers is a language skill that they can improve in many ways. Using Together Cards, being in a group discussion with older Parafolks chatting amongst themselves, or reading books (for toddlers). Improving your language skill will give you access to more complex, different conversation options, and your baby will be able to say their first word or first sentence when they level it up enough!
Hope this gives you a better idea of the direction we’re going with the younger Parafolks, and I very much hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen here! Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you again!
Jérémie
Comments (138)
I kinda like the idea of your kid being shipped home if left at the park and you being charged for it :D , but I would love the option to have a babysitting service or hire another para as a babysitter.
Wow this definitely will make me think twice lol very creative though!
What happens to children who been taken by social Service? Can you call them on the phone or invite them? Will they age up at some point and you Could Meet them as an NPC by chance?
I’m pretty sure they just poof away into the void at this moment :(
Finding another way to make the Para’s thumbnail stand out when their needs aren’t being met would be helpful because the black doesn’t stand out to me at all 😅
The music for the different stores/activities is the bomb. I also wondered, that when they leave the store can they take stroll around the streets
Will we be able to get babysitters eventually? I've always liked the idea for i.e grandpa to stop by every Tuesday or so to take over child care, especially if we're able to take control of the carer temporarily! Balancing daycare with babysitters and part time work would be a lot of fun, I think, and really add some realism.
Oh my gosh I *adore* the together cards for babies and toddlers! I never would have expected that, but they're so cute and fun and will add so much life and interactivity to having younger Parafolks in the family! Amazing!
This is amazing! And I for one love the consequences with social services when kids are doing terribly at school - please do not remove those! I know it’s not exactly like that in real life but the fun of games is that there’s a consequence! I am also wondering: what happens to the babies that are taken away? Can they be an adopted or fostered by other households? And what happens to their siblings (perhaps social services takes away all your kids even if you only neglect one of them)?
Catching up on the latest post and I am loving where this is going! I love the daycare system! So essential! Some “prestigious” daycare options would be cool too for our boujie Paras 🤭 For the different needs based on age, will this also apply to pregnant Paras? So when they’re pregnant their needs decrease quicker, maybe even in their last trimester walking a bit slower because if the affects. Excited to see how this develops! Amazing work as always!
Thank you! I always look forward to seeing the developments of Paralives. It is unclear precisely what the future of this game will hold. I am hopeful it sells well!
Since there are preteens, how many points do preteens have in their personality?
i just love how focused your game design is! there's such a good sense of progression, especially when it comes to interactions! i.e. the together cards
This all looks great! Thank you for including warnings to let players know if their kids are in danger of being taken away. I remember my first time playing Sims 1, it just happened and they were gone forever! If there's an option to still keep the kids in the game somehow, that would be good too.
Love the post! I am so excited to test the mechanic as is. I understand not wanting to add skills for infants and toddlers that don't lead to anything else. I have some suggestions on how to expand this system in the future. Besides language, I think motor skill is also something essential that could apply later in life. Motor skills could be increased by engaging babies and toddlers with different toys/objects or just getting them to move around or "mimic" the actions of the older paras. The immediate benefit of increasing toddler motor skill is unlocking access to skills reserved for older paras. Base skills to start with music, art, writing, exercise/sports, and cooking as a toddler. Mashing on piano keys could turn into playing a scale or "hot crossed buns" lol. Certain skills could be limited based on a toddler's language skill and vice versa, like writing. Imagine para toddler wrote an older para a card, and the older para could have different reactions based on how legible and/or intelligible it is. Combined motor and language skills increase could create: 1. Chance to gain additional stat points to apply later in life (child or teen) 2. Chance to choose a skill to automatically increase a reserved skill by X amount as a toddler (at a lower chance) or child (possible to create a child prodigy/genius this way). The skill increase could apply to specific skills or an umbrella skill. For example, I learned how to write at 3/4 years old and wrote little plays that I put on for my family (a simple and yet cute version of this in-game now could be a "babble" made-up story together card). The enrichment I got as a toddler translated to an overall increase in my writing skills rather than playwriting skills as a child. I am now writing novels as an adult. I can see players choosing either option or neither based on the story they want. 3. Greater chance to develop a higher-than-standard skill comprehension rate/bonus, which can make it easier/faster to get to a certain level of any new skill they are introduced to throughout life. The consequence of not engaging in enough enrichment activities with babies and toddlers would be 1. Missing out on some extra stat points 2. Missing out on early skill progression 2. Greater chance of developing a lower than standard skill comprehension rate, which will make it harder/slower for paras to get to certain level of any new skills throughout life. Of course, this can alway be improved, by challenging paras to learn new things (i.e. increasing skill level/learning new skill, etc.). For realism, skill comprehension rate decreases gradually for any para not continuing to learn new things throughout life and gets harder to improve at every lifestage (I know skill comprhension rate isn't even a thing but it would be neat feature to add). Also, bonuses and positive/negative buffs could be somewhat up to chance so no matter how hard you try there is still a chance a child could develop lower than standard skill comprehension rate or not get additional stat/skill points. Sorry for the long comment. I am just so excited for what is possible with the system you've created!
Will babies be able to express their love for Four Seasons Orlando? (The mango puree chat option at the end lmao)
ALSO. Considering "R" is one of the hardest sounds for young children to learn to say (I know from experience ahaaa) wouldn't it make more sense for the toddlers to say "Pawapawa" instead of "Parapara"? might be a cute detail to include
Yeah some members of the team also said that, I'm not an expert on babies so when I wrote these together cards I might've not taken everything into account :') We'll tweak em!
"if a fire decimates the family, any babies, toddlers and children will also be taken away (it’s probably game over at that point)." It would be nice if the game first checked if your kid paras had any living adult relatives, and allow you to move them into their household to continue playing, in instances like this, instead of forcing a full gameover.
or even allowing you to move them to a close family friend's place or an existing household that wants to foster, or create a completely new foster family that can eventually adopt, or something.
"Hi developers! This is an insanely cool idea with the toddlers — I really loved your concepts. I’d also love to see more content or gameplay in the character editor! I also wish I could have kids who get bad grades or remarks at school because of their personality or because they're too energetic. It would also be a fun idea if, after school, there was an improvised school diary with grades or notes — that would make school life and so-called school norms feel much more alive! Thank you!
if babies/toddlers/children get taken in by social services, i would love the option to "move with them" instead of staying with the rest of the family. like, if an adult moves out, i assume we have the option to actively play that character, move into a new place, kind of leave the original family behind as npc characters in a way. (of course we can go back and forth playing different households anyway.) i would love to get the same option for young paras, by moving them in with a different family (maybe existing relatives, or we could create a family in the PAM that act as foster or adoptive parents). i love that there are gameplay consequences for neglecting the care of young ones - but for storytelling purposes i hope we still get to play with those characters after
probably too much for early access and just my two cents, but still putting it out there: i would love if next to the grades, there would be another 'wellbeing' aspect at school. representing stuff like, is the kid socialising with others, do they seem well adjusted, are they healthy/their needs are met, do they skip school a lot etc etc. for a child to be taken in by social services, this general wellbeing should be more important than the grades. because - if all their grades are terrible bc they never study or do homework, but they are clearly doing well in general and are happy, being taken away from the family doesn't make much sense. academic success isn't/doesn't have to be an indicator for wellbeing. and the other way around - if the child has great skills and talents, studies and does homework and extra credit stuff, they should have good grades. but if they *also* come in hungry and unwashed and unhappy every day, that should still mean they eventually get taken in by social services. i'm just thinking this would allow for more nuanced, interesting storytelling <3 thank you for your hard work!
well said! I agree!
i love this! for the babies and toddlers going to daycare then coming back home when our parafolk returns instead of them just reappearing it would be cool if a daycare worker knocked on the door to drop them off in a car seat. and speaking of that as well, will there be car seats and strollers in game?
The toddler conversation cards are so cute 🥹
This is great. I’d like to join those who mentioned the idea of an orphanage and the possibility of adopting children who have been taken away from their parents, whether by close or distant family members, close family friends, etc. Since this kind of experience can be quite traumatic for a child, I’d love to see the loss or neglect of their parents reflected occasionally in a few interactions and Together Cards throughout their life, as a kid, teen, or adult. Just a touch of specific storytelling here and there, enough for us players to think, ‘Oh! The game remembers this!’ would really add a lot of realism and emotional depth. (I’m thinking about this as something for much later in development, not something that needs to be in early access.)
I have a few questions: 1. How many members will be playable in a household at the same time? 2. Is it possible to create a baby and a teenager and play a household with them (without an adult in the family/household)? I would also like friends or other family members like grandma and grandpa (who don't live in the same household) to be able to babysit for babies or toddlers. And that they could also adopt the little ones if the children were taken away for their own safety. Otherwise, I love the new information as always. I think this post is actually my favorite yet. 🥰 I'm so excited to try this game myself and discover everything, and I love what you're thinking of and what's already included in Early Access. I didn't even consider that the children should also be removed if they're in danger or that I would need a toddler speech ability. I'm so used to Sims that it's sad. Thanks for doing things differently❣️❣️❣️❣️
Heya and thank you for the kind words! There is a limit of 8 characters per household, set in the mod system, and you must have a teen-or-older character for the household to be valid. Thank you!
A good way for kids to inherit their parents’ strengths and weaknesses could be that their physique, mind, creativity, charisma stats are capped by their parents’ levels. So if you have a mom and dad who both have 1 mind stat, their kids’ mind stat would be capped at 1. On the other hand, if the mom has a 3, the cap would be 3, allowing their kid to“inherit” the mother’s smarts. When they grow up and all 7 base points are allocated, the caps could disappear, letting the player put the last 2 upgrade points wherever. This system would still leave a lot of flexibility for the player to build their character, but make the genetics have some gameplay consequence. Kids actually inheriting aspects of their parents’ personalities is something I really miss from earlier Sims games!
“Say no for no reason” facts lololol. I love it. If the kids get taken away by social workers will there be a system for them to get adopted into other families or will they disappear into the ether?
I hope "why" is there too for toddlers
I really like that there’s a consequence not only for not taking care of the children’s needs but also their grades. That feels very realistic to me.
Are there plans for players to be able to turn aging off and manually age-up paras? or to turn aging off and on?
There are settings to disable aging, yes. Manually aging up characters might be done via cheats.
Someone said something similar, but an orphanage & adoption/ foster system would be great to have eventually! It would keep the kids in the game but also have room for gameplay too! Being able to get new parents or your parents being able to get their kid back.
Perhaps we could also have the option to send the kids to a close relative/friend instead of daycare (granted we maintain a good relationship and/or it's always a "hey, can you...?" yes or no RNG) and it would be free/cheaper than daycare? Still just a rabbithole. I feel like this would add a bit more community/culturally realistic feel.
Love this post! A few thoughts: it would be nice to have two daycare options-one that teaches toddlers the language skill and one that doesn’t. The one that teaches the language skill would be more expensive (it would be more like a school/Montessori) vs the daycare that doesn’t teach them anything (it would be more like babysitting). Also, I saw that babies can declare their unending love for smooth mango purée, I hope this means parents/caretakers can make different kinds of purees/baby foods for babies and toddlers! One last suggestion: having sensory bins and finger painting for toddlers would be fun. Small details such as them making a mess afterwards so the caretakers would have to clean up and bathe them would add a touch of realism!
I really love the idea of having access to daycare in Paralives! I’d like to suggest that even when our Parafolks aren’t going to work, we should still have the option to drop off babies or toddlers at daycare. Sometimes they just need a break to take care of themselves, work on skills, or handle other responsibilities. It would be great if daycare worked on a flexible system — maybe we could pay per visit, or even have a subscription-based option where we pay weekly or monthly for unlimited access during the day. I’m planning to do a 100 Baby Challenge, and having the ability to send little ones to daycare whenever needed (not just for work reasons) would make the gameplay smoother and more fun!
I like this idea!
Definitely gonna make a family with some little ones so I can test this out
I dislike that paras don’t get a vibe until they’re much older. There’s already limits to how unique a para can be personality-wise with only a small section of pick-one “vibes” and practically no mix-and-match personality traits, and now kids don’t get to have a personality? I don’t feel like it would be very fun for every child para to act exactly the same—even if they’re failing and succeeding at slightly different things due to points and skills, the vibe is most important, and I would expect a kid to have a vibe before anything else, honestly. I can understand babies not having it, even toddlers, (even if in real life a lot of people show their personalities even from infancy), but I really feel like children deserve to have a vibe so they can stand out!
Did they say that kids can't have vibes at all? I thought it just was that the kid didn't have one yet. I do agree that in real life people have general vibes even from infancy but I also think that vibe is subject to change before things more or less solidify in early adulthood. What I would probably want to see for realism would be more erratic or shifting vibes in childhood and then a narrowing down to 1 or 2 in adulthood to mimic synaptic pruning. Ultimately it's just a game so realism isn't the top priority. I hope they go with whatever is fun and works with the gameplay.
Will we be able to choose between breastfeeding or bottlefeeding the babies? I hope so.
i think so! i’m pretty sure they showcased it in a video somewhere a while back 😅
I like it, but it looks like some patrons aren't 100% all in on the failing grades thing. I wonder if it could be a feature you can toggle on/off under settings? With a heavy disclaimer for legalities and such? 🤔
Heavy disagreement. Games should have consequences. The biggest problem with life simulations right now is there is no challenge or effect from making a poor choice.
this is a very nice gameplay for babys and toddlers, for know i can have an idea of the gameplay we are going to see, i hope the daycare will be in the town and we can go with our toddlers and bring them to the daycare by ourselves, also i would be nice if we could work and the daycare, and also in some works the mood must be more important than other, for example in daycares the mood maybe can be super important because you havo to take care of younger, and you have to be very patiently
Love this post just some comments... I want to drop my baby paras off at daycare. It can be a rabbit hole but I want to have to pack a diaper bag and drop them off before going to work then pick them up after work. Also get charged a late fee for being late to pick them up. I would like some of my para kids to struggle in school be it not doing homework or hate school so much their mood drops when they have to go. I will jump on the no deleting the kids when taken bandwagon. I would love an orphanage and maybe have a job there as well. Also please give us a social worker career!!!! Finding homes for kids and doing home visits. Are we getting genetics? I thought it was discussed. I would love baby paras to inherit a skill from parent or grandparent. I love all you are creating and cannot wait to play the game. Thank you for creating something special that will bring joy to many!
Thank you for your comments and suggestions! We indeed have a genetics system, but I don't think skills will be something passed on that way :)
This stuff with separate gameplay for children always felt kind if weird to me. I mean yes, of course it makes sense that kids wouldn't have the same skills as an adult and need to work up to them...but if adults start with them automatically, doesn't that mean the kids would get them no matter what when they age up? In that case having them work for it seems pointless... I really think there should be some type of extra benefit from building up skills from childhood that paras who spawn in as adults don't get, or some type of drawback from neglecting them. Take the language skill for babies, for example. It's not like they'll just grow up never learning how to speak, so why have it as a skill? It would make sense if neglecting the language skill meant the that the para would have trouble communicating when they get older, which would make it harder to form connections or get out of tricky social situations. In that case, the language skill would have to extend to all life stages, constantly impacting the para's social life until they get better at it. I also think it's weird that kids don't start out with a vibe, which means toddlers don't have one, either. Infants may be blank slates, but toddlers and kids definitely have at least a little bit of personality, even if it's not as complex as teens or adults.
Howdy! Children have the same skills as adults, but they can use them differently, for instance a kid will not be able to cook by themselves, or they won't be able to do really tough exercises as older parafolkes could do. An adult that was born in-game as a child will have a higher skill level as an adult you create in the PAM. You are right that it would be neat if the way your childhood goes impacts more the rest of your life and this is something we can still improve. We have a few ideas to do just that with the language skill, but we'll have to see how that shakes out! Ultimately this is something we'll be able to add on. We're still polishing and tweaking the personality traits on adults and at some point maybe we'll go back and have another pass on younger parafolks and try different things :) Thank you for the suggestions!
I'm really excited about the the language system in Paralived and how the language skill affects what the toddler's are able to say adds something to it in my opinion. About the social services and the grades I don't really mind it since as you already mentioned it requires more work to get to the point to get your child taken away. It would be great if the taken child would be able to be adopted by their parents or other paras to add some gameplay for storytelling. I completely understand why skills won't be a priority especially in early acces but would be great if it was added later since those who enjoy family gameplay will definitely be up for it (if it's well implemented of course) Also I love how the personality will be created/ developed hope we will see a sneak peak into the personality system and how it affects gameplay before the release of early access:)
Thank you for the kind words! You've indeed spotted a few places where we'll be able to improve/add more to the game later on :)
For future version of the game, it would be cool if you consider adding a social service home for orphans (whose parents died in the game) and ones that are neglected. They can get special traits growing up and can be sent out to live with other families. For player games where the parents died in an accident (aka game over), it would be super awesome if the player get the option to continue playing as the orphan in the social care home, receiving prompts and different options to determine their life trajectory (such as accepting foster home and new families etc or choosing to grow up in the social care home). This would make a great story and really adds depth to the game play (might as well be a dlc type of content).
I love this so much! I think the idea of unlocking things over time and the needs progression is fantastic. It would be cool if they could get unique vibes or treats that could not be assigned in the PAM, and these traits should not be optional to choose.So we have actual consequences for negatively raising our children. Also please consider adding an NPC social worker and/or daycare worker that picks them up when they're taken. That adds soon much immersion and realism. Even if it's only planned for the full release 🙏
Both good suggestions! Thank you!
I'm having mixed emotions on the gameplay aspect for the young Paras. Teaching discipline to children failing in class is something all parents and kids go through. It's a natural occurrence and part of growth for children to mature in their responsibilities. I don't believe they should be kicked to the curb, so to speak, when lacking in learning this responsibility. I know it was mentioned it would be due to extreme neglect, but removing a child based on failed grades alone, if their daily needs and care are being met, seems unrealistic. So, I think a baby, toddler, or child being removed from a family should be based on just that, extreme neglect, which would entail all aspects of a parent's care. One other thing I believe should be considered is the vibe for young paras, if vibe also translates to personality. There are babies who exude personality at their young age... personalities that seem to be apart of their over all disposition from happy, ill-tempered, greedy/posessive, quiet/shy, to curiosity and into everything. As example. my son at age five dismantled my back door doorknob and when I caught him doing this I asked why and he said he wanted to see how it worked. I said ok, now put it back together and he did. This was in his nature, which still is in adulthood. I know this would be too soon to consider for early access, and not sure how it could be added to Para youth gameplay, but I believe a great part of our personalities and traits are things that are a part of who we are from at birth from generations back, like inherited. However. I do agree with drawing the line at death for young paras and also teens. I know the trend is to bring all things real to video games, but in my opinion, there are life events that are too real and painful that should be respected and not added to a 'game'. Where is the fun in that when real life people endure such heartaches everday. I love the game development of Paralives in that players are asked for their input and I respect all who share, especially the Devs for giving us the opportunity. Keep up the awesome work! ✨️
Thank you for your kind words and suggestions! As for the grades thing, you have to keep in mind that a child would need to go to school with low needs / negative emotions AND skip homework repeatedly in order to get to a point where they would be taken away, we consider that at this point the player is neglecting the child on purpose, so the game has sto step in. It might be something we tweak along the way! This is just a first version of this system.
I really love what you've shown so far! I saw another comment about "born-in game paras" ending up with more stat points and it got me thinking. I think it could be really cool if your toddler could unlock a bonus stat point (that you can freely allocate) once they've increased their language skills to a high enough level. I think this would have two benefits: 1) You would continue to feel the benefits of levelling up the language skills even after the para has aged up. And 2) lots of players have expressed interest in parenting having an impact on a child's personality. I think this could be a nice compromise between that and ensuring the player has full agency. In this scenario, a toddler that has been "parented poorly" is not penalised - they get the same number of stat points as everyone else. Instead, the toddlers that have been "parented well" gain an advantage - they get something extra. Which in many ways is quite true to life!
I love that!
It would be really cool if you guys could implement a system where a child taken by social services isn't deleted from the save, and you can have the chance to adopt them back! That way it doesn't discourage players who have their kids taken, and it also adds some new gameplay opportunities for getting kids back!
Yeah that's something I've seen a lot today! I'm keeping that in mind!
on the topic of younger para folk, are preteens still planned to be in the game during early access?
Yes, they are still in our list of lifestages :)
"Declare unending love for smooth mango puree" 😂 I love this so much
That baby knows what's up! 💯
This looks great so far. The rules for children being taken away by social services seem very fair here (in that needs and grades would have to be intentionally neglected for a while + warnings) and honestly, I'm absolutely loving the daycare fees. 😂 Even though babies, toddlers and children have less personality/skill to develop, I hope they have a wealth of age appropriate objects, games, toys, etc to interact with solo or with other para since that would play a large part in their development. Looking forward to this game so much!
I don't like the thing with the grades. I think eventually your child should be taken away but (please PLEASE don't do what the sims does and remove the child from the save! Please!! It's like a massive slap in the face when the game just decides to delete your creation because you didn't play by its rules. I really hope you consider a place to put the taken away paras, so if it was an accident you can get them back). I don't dislike the social services feature, but I think making them delete your characters is too far - I hope in the future you can add gameplay around struggling grades for storytelling purposes. Like, I grew up struggling in education and I think giving the kids a chance through various means to improve their failing grades before they are taken away should be considered!! Two more ideas related to this that I think gives more choices to those paras who struggle in education: retaking school as an adult if you failed some but not all your grades, or getting adopted by a relative instead of social services immediately just deleting them I love the black you used to show something serious is happening. It gives the same vibes of the dark purple and the scary violin music in the sims lol Thank you for sharing! :D I love the new bar UI showing needs! I didn't want to complain a bunch, it's just...in the sims, as someone who greatly struggles learning in a school environment, it felt like the game was telling me "do it this way, and succeed this way, or you're neglecting ur child", which isn't very realistic
I totally get what you mean! Keep in mind that this is just a first version of the system and it will change/evolve as we playtest and refine our design. Thank you for the comments!
I really love today's patreon post . Also an idea to consider, maybe Paras could ask their family or close friends if they can babysit?
If they are played characters you can just leave someone at home to take care of the kids, if they are NPCs that could be a fun thing to add later on, yes!
Ngl i love the cost of daycare as is lol, but i also like to make my simulated dolls suffer
love all of this! since you mentioned 3 failing grades, does this mean children will have separate classes like english, math, and history? or is it like a semester system?
There are multiple subjects at school, yes. Maybe we'll do a post on school someday!
I think I'd like some other kind of penalty (or at least the option) for abandoning your baby/toddler on a public lot. Like if it happens at home I could imagine that your para maybe calls the daycare to collect them or they've signed up for a service that comes to collect the baby when you leave the lot. I feel like it doesn't make as much sense when your para abandons their baby on a public lot though, I feel like there should be some kind of strike system with social services if you do it too many times. (or maybe too many times in a short span of time)
I get what you mean! But right now it's just a hefty transport fee that's added to your daycare bill. We might tweak that in the future tho!
I kinda appreciate that you guys aren't delving into skills for babies and toddlers yet if it doesn't add any meaningful gameplay, as I also would want it to have purpose! I also feel the secondhand PTSD from all the real parents reading the segment about the daycare fees 😭 Hang in there, folks. Thanks for sharing! 💞
This looks really fun, and it's exciting to hear about the development! I do wish children and toddlers had a vibe trait slot however, I feel like kids are quite distinct personality wise once they reach that age range.
I'm not a fan of the child being taken away for bad grades. I feel there should be consequences, but them being just gone makes little sense (I know this is how it went in the Sims 1, it was funny and brutal the way the game is). I would prefer if the bad grades influenced family dynamics and stress levels of parents who care about their offspring. But military school is just weird. Also, I'm not a fan of children unable to die of any cause, that's not great for storytelling, but I understand if you have to do it for rating reasons.
I totally get what you mean, but we really don't want to depict anything that might be construed as child abuse or neglect, we gotta err on that side of things. Thank you for the comments!
I have a question related to the language/ sound in general: will there be voices (including babys and toddlers) in early access? Or will it be mute soundwise and only written on the together cards during the early access phase?
We'll have voices in the game yes, we've revealed our voice system in this patreon post in 2023: https://www.patreon.com/posts/81509663
I might be one of the few who don’t mind the babies and toddlers not having skills if they don’t develop into anything; it does seem wasteful, but would it be too much trouble to have a “hidden” skill? Like, for example: they have a toy that raises their social skill or maybe talking to other para raise it, so when they do get older, they can get an extra point(s) to use?
This is a pretty good idea. Maybe if the baby/toddler played with a ball a lot it gives a point in Physique to them as a child, or it contributes towards the odds of getting certain talents. This would encourage players to try different toys with different toddlers.
Would be amazing if another household could adopt the children if they get taken away!
Same! I loved that mechanic in Sims 2 and was always very sad when Sims 3 and 4 just deleted the kid when they got taken away
First of all lovely read. All nice and clear. Now my favorite takes: "We didn’t want to go down the road of making skills that you can improve, but don’t do anything, just for the sake of having them in the game" PERIOD that's how it's done. and "If we find this part to be lacking later on, we’ll be able to add more. That’s the beauty of game development!" its MWAH chefs kiss! Game will fo faaar with this mentality! finale: "and he has no Vibe or Social Skill yet. He’ll get there eventually!" naah i stayed like that and still no vibe or social skill LOL i feel you young parafolk!
I agree!! And I love your Patreon name 😭😭
I love the ideas explained. I would add something like the walking ability for toddlers or potty, so parents can teach them those
The one downside I see to a walking and potty skill based on similar experiences in the genre is that it's hard to make consequences for not building those skills. You'd have to make something like bedwetting a feature for Child Paras and a related skill to work on. I can't think what you could do if you don't actively teach children to walk because most able-bodied toddlers figure that out on their own anyway.
Are there any plans in the future for a babysitter to come to the house lot when a parent para leaves for work that is cheaper than daycare for a para that cannot afford it?
Having a babysitter could be neat, yes! We'll see when we tackle "service" NPCs :)
If a kid is taken by social services, are they completely gone from the game or could, for example, another family adopt them? Or, another example, could you eventually find them in the world as an adult?
Right now they are just gone, we'll revisit that in the future tho! Thank you for the question!
Would be rad if, in the event of total family death, a little popup could allow you to designate a next of kin for the baby to be sent to, as long as you have them in the world already.
Love that idea! Would also be neat if paras could ask a family member if they were willing to be their child(ren)'s guardian in case the parents pass away.
It's so good seeing how this game is developing so well! But I was surprised for kids not having vibes or social perks, this could fit them just fine even if it's a less variety pool of traits, like having a toddler with a peaceful vibe, an energetic child that are good at making friends and a serious one good at managing things by themselves. Of course the actual direction is already great, but it's something I'd really love to see being improved during the early access or later on
We'll probably work more on that in the future, but at the moments things are as-is because of younger parafolks could have traits from these categories they would need a lot of custom content to match this (so the traits -do- something), and that's not something we have the brainpower to work on at the moment.
Is there a way to adopt the child into another family after social services takes them i know this is a big thing others wanted in another "game" not sure if that was ever added as I stopped playing at that point.
We do not have adoption systems in the game right now, no. Maybe that'll come in the future! Thank you!
I LOVE the cost of daycare addition, daycare is such a big expense for parents and it adds realism to the game without punishing you every day you go to work
Is there any specific gameplay considered for twins? Could a para be pregnant and give birth to twins or could you create twins in the paramaker (with this title other than just sibling)? And if so, any specific gameplay and dynamic thought for them? Thank you!
We currently do not have twin gameplay no, that might come later on as we tweak and work more on pregnancy stuff! Thank you for the question!
I feel like when I make people I make them too perfect. Could there be a setting to make it so my para's traits will be randomly decided and out of my control?
There isn't a setting specifically for that, but you can always pick a random personality if you want to leave things to luck!
Honestly I love both the idea of daycare and it being expensive. It's true to life 😭
For babies they do have an extra need which is attention. That being said. Can there be a chance that a baby or toddler para can get taken away because the parent decided to leave them home alone and didn't have them go to a day care? Or would their other needs just continue to go down and the neglect of their needs would be what takes them away. I'm happy with either options, mostly curious. I can't wait to see how this will develop during early access.
At the moment we currently feel that having to manually send your babies/toddlers to daycare would be a lot of busiwork, it's just done automatically, so having them taken away because you didn't send them to daycare isn't an option. This might change in the future of course! Thank you for the suggestion!
I love that younger parafolk have to unlock their personalities as they grow, but that it’s more than just skills. Vibe and talents too?! That so cool. I am so very excited for this amazing game to come out. 😍 Love the updates.
I think toddler-specific skills could be quite meaningful with the way your skill system works, as toddler specific actions like playing with a musical toy could increase the base music skill, helping them learn real instruments when they age up.
That could be an avenue we take in the future, yes!
Looks great! Are you thinking about adding a mechanic that would determine how children’s personalities and interests would change depending on how they were raised/what they play with. E.g. a loving household making them well rounded or something more simple like having playing with a toy rocket ship might make them more interested in science as a teen.
We do not have systems to add/change personality traits automatically, you pick them as you age up or as you level your personality. Thank you for the question!
Love learning more about this. Would be neat if paras born in-game would have more personality stat points than paras who are created - it would stimulate players to populate the world by playing several households and such.
That's something we're considering, yes!
This looks awesome. I'm so excited for this to release. I have a question; do you guys plan at all to flesh out custody a bit more, perhaps when the game releases? At the moment it's a system of just social services, where I assume the kids are deleted once they're taken away, but I'd really like to see kids placed in different households, maybe with close family friends, aunts/uncles, any exes/coparents, ect. It could work both ways, so if perhaps an out-of-household Para dies that you knew well, there's a chance to take in the kids. I understand that this is wayyy too much to expect for early access, haha, which is why I wanted to ask if it's been considered at all as a concept 😊 Great work, though!!
This is something we'll be able to look into, yes!
If a child gets taken away with social services will they still exist in the world? Or will they be permanently gone forever?
They currently are gone forever, but that might change in the future :)
It would be cool if parents that have children taken away by social services could get them back after some time and maybe an interview process. Maybe a social worker can come to the home, talk to the Para and inspect the home. Afterwards they can grant the Para custody back of all of their children! I remember playing the Sims as a kid and accidentally getting my child taken away and being so sad. It would be more realistic if a Para was given one more chance. After that, the kids would be gone for good and maybe placed in a pool where if another family adopts a kid, they would get that kid! It could really ramp on storytelling opportunities!
These are neat mechanics we'll be able to think about and add in the future, yes! :)
so excited!! ❤️ thank you guys for all that you do
The timer on the social services, yes!!! That's always my big irk in the bg-green-game, you don't know how long you got. Looks great!!!
Will children have enough autonomy to be able to neglect their grades themselves, for example because of bad behaviour, that would prompt social services to take them away? Love the babies speech especially the 'no' for no reason.
The grades are a combination of needs, emotions and doing homework or not so autonomy isn't a huuuge part of it, we'll improve that system in the future!
Love the language skill! Do y'all plan on doing physical skills too? Like learning to crawl/walk? Also, the idea of their first word being something like "parapara" is Soo cute
We might add different skills to babies and toddlers at some point, but right now we feel like the language skill is a good base. We'll revisit those in the future tho! Thank you for the kind words!
I love this so much !!! I like that babies aren’t gonna be objects in Paralives. And the idea of a daycare fee is just genius, I would never have thought of that.
Do you get warnings from social services first or do they just randomly roll up to your house and take your kids? I mean, in addition to hunger UI etc. Like an official letter from SS as a final warning.
For children with low grades you get a warning, but for low needs you won't get a warning. The child will stay in a precarious state for a while, and then they will be gone if you haven't met their needs in that timeframe. Thank you for the question!
"Say no for no reason" I am that baby, that baby is me
Love the gameplay mechanics on the younger paras! Questions: 1. when social services take away children, do they take away all of the kids or just the neglected one? 2. Also, when kids are taken away, does it leave like a memory or record that prevents the household from adopting ever again? 3. Would paras have a sort of appeal process that has a chance of success or failure (depending on both chance and relationship) if a child is being taken away or has been taken long ago? 4. can other households adopt the kids that were taken away? Thank you, sorry if this is long.
I'm also curious about this!❤️
i absolutely love that the babies have language skills!
Can we get confirmation that teens will be in the game?
Yes, teens are in the game, thank you for the question!
Awesome