Activities in Town: Shop, Contribute to the Museum and Collect Stuff!
Heya everybody! Jérémie here for this Friday’s post! In Paralives, you’re going to have a whole open-world town to explore, and this means having things to do while exploring, of course!
Some of these things are gonna be related to collecting items around the map and using them in various ways. You might remember that we started such a system back in 2024, and now that we have had some more time to finalize things, I’m ready to show you what it’ll look and play like in the game! As usual, this post is for patrons only, so please don’t share it!
By wandering around the forest, mountainside and in other areas of the map, you’ll sometimes find mushrooms, gems and chests containing various artefacts of old. They won’t be in the same places every day, and you won’t always find the same things at the same spots. You can use these items to decorate your house if you feel like it (and mushrooms might be edible... perhaps?), but the main purpose of these items will be to donate them to the Museum and the Community Center.
My Para collecting mushrooms in the wild (the mushroom picking animation is still placeholder)
The museum, now an actual location in town (you’ll remember what we had to do during our hackweek prototype) looks really spiffy, but perhaps a bit empty when you start a new game. You’ll need to donate things that are missing from their various collections to fill it up, and you’ll gain rewards as you progress! The museum will remember who gave what, so there might be a recognition aspect to this as well!
A sneak peek at a part of the museum. I bet you’ll want to fill these display cases up! The museum looks much better with everything turned in.
There is also the Community Center, where players will be able to donate various bundles of items (or sometimes money), in order to pursue rewards and... perhaps something more? This might take a bit of time and effort, but something good might happen if you complete certain bundles!
My Para is contributing to the community effort! We’re looking forward to showing the Community Center later on!
Certain shops in town will have special items on sale that you can grab with a nice rebate, or even for free; if you’re trying to spend as little money as possible to furnish your house, you should check them out from time to time!
First, we have the Bloom flower shop, where they have a program giving away one free plant each day:
My Para is trying to save money, so I’ll be sure to come back each day to fill out my house with greenery without spending a Paradime!
Chloé did a great job making the interior of that shop bright and lively!
Then there’s the Market Antiques store, where you might have to shell out a bit more money, but the daily deals are still pretty interesting, and you might find the next centerpiece for your house! If nothing catches your eye, you can come back tomorrow, maybe the stock will have changed?
Daily deals at this shop are 75% off!
More camera angles of the interior of the antiques shop! The exterior was previously showcased by Chloé here. This is one floor of two the shop has!
That’s it for me this week! It’s pretty amazing the kind of glowup this system has had since our hackweek last year! I’m really excited for people to find out all the cool items and surprises our artists have cooked up to show up in the world, and I hope you have a great weekend!
Jérémie
Comments (98)
This game has me dreaming and daydreaming about playing. Wow, you guys are sooooo awesome. My hat goes off to you. I am so proud to be a part of this.
You guys just continue to amaze me. I'd have never thought of the museum idea
Museum has always been one of my favorite parts of Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing! I’m really happy to see that Paralives will have it too! I’m curious whether the variety of exhibits will actually change the museum’s interior design over time. Like, maybe the museum starts as an empty building, and as more types and quantities of items are donated, the space gradually becomes more detailed and lively. For example, if my Para donates a lot of mushrooms, the exhibition room could feature tree stumps covered in fungi, little insects that feed on them, or even a tiny self-contained ecosystem. Small touches like that would make the atmosphere feel so much more alive! In the long run, it might also be fun to include other living things in the museum’s collection—flowers, insects, fish, and other items that change with the seasons… if you know what I mean. 😉 I know you’re planning to add seasons, which makes me imagine how interesting it would be for Paras to live in a dynamic ecosystem, with unique things to do in every season. I used GPT to help me translate this, so I’m sorry if there are any mistakes—I’m not a native English speaker.
Did you think about adding record store?
I love all of this. The one downside to a museum/community center is for generational play. Maybe there might be some resetting mechanic, maybe something that grants a small incremental bonus to the world for completing collections but the items themselves can be recollected by future generations and further bonuses gained.
I'm curious. Are you thinking about creating a retail system in the future, so we can manage our own retail store or perhaps a restaurant/cafeteria?
i love it!
The stock changes!! I love that you're including the community center and museum. That's a level of interactivity that's exciting to play with! Every post on here brings me more excitement about the early access release. I can tell you're focused on things that add value and are engaging to the player. Very excited to see some game in this game!
Everything looks so cozy
the cluttered rooms looks cool. if they’re able to pathfind around that, that’s amazing from a ‘able to build things that aren’t built as if it’s for a broken old roomba’ perspective, coming from the other lifesim franchise that exists
it'd be really neat if one of the mushrooms you find could kill or poison your sim. and another mushroom heals or cures. like in dos2 where some food items have unknown effects until you try eating them.
I absolutely love the idea of changing stock in an antique shop! Gives strong incentive to revisit often and explore, great idea! I am wishing part of the world will be wilderness where you can hike, explore or maybe camp. Maybe the wilderness could have a higher frequency of certain collectibles spawning?
I love that you guys are making sure that the open world actually gives me a reason to explore it. That is an issue in a lot of games. I wonder if the items that we can buy in the shops are separate from those in the games catalogue? Tha would be way more fun in my opinion. And it again gives me the incentive to wander around town and check the shops for new deals. This will also be amazing for modders who can add new exclusive items to the shops.
yesss I hope this is an feature planned
I'm so inlove with this gameeee!!! THANKK YOUU
The more that is shown, the more I get excited! Don't want to rush the year away or anything, but... December can't come soon enough! Great job to everyone working on Paralives, it's amazing how far everything has come, since the beginning <3
♥
As someone who enjoys the collecting/museum gameplay in Animal Crossing I am already so excited to play this game.
I hope NPCs can donate too, i feel like it would be a lot for one family to fill out the whole museum...
I feel like that would be nice to toggle on and off, because maybe it would be cool for challenges
Thank you for the post. I think its cool that you can dobate collectibles to the museum so they have a use in the game . In interesting how it actually works in the game when something is already donated and or decorated your paras home with it. I hope there will be another gameplay trailer before the early access release and wish you the best for the next month while preparing for it.
I LOVE THIS!!
In another comment it was mentioned that you can only donate each item to the museum once. Will there be other ways we can pass on collectables once the museum is full like donating to a school or selling to a private collector online? Assuming a good chunk of collectables can potentially be found in a single Para's lifespan, I'm hoping there will be ways to keep collectables relevant in generational gameplay. It'll be cool visiting the museum and saying "My grandfather donated this!". Not so cool having an inventory full of collectables that you can't do anything with but decorate or sell to the Build UI.
The shops look so cute and fun! Also, I love the museum and community center idea! It’ll make the town feel like it’s progressing as you play!
It is so cool to watch this from the ground up. I had no idea how much time and hard work went into each layer of a game. Thank you for your transparency the last several years. Its been super educational.
Particularly excited about a functional antique shop🥰🥰
Thank you for giving me a reason to go to the shops on a regular basis! 😃 Excited about free plants! I don't normally decorate with plants in other games because I don't think about them too much. Now I will. 😊
Yes! I love the concept of the museum and community center! The way the shops are functional is making me want to play this game now 🤭😭
Wow that shops looks amazing 😍 would rlly like if we could buy furniture or flowers in the shops that are not available in the build mode. For the museum will there also be paintings? So you could sell your paintings to them, if they are good enough of course 😄 an other comment talked bout collecting bones until you have a skeleton, that would be awesome. Im not a collector but that would make me one 😅
Dinosaur skeletons 🦕🦖🥰
Is it possible to buy the clocks or wall decor in Market Antiques?
So far only certain items are for sale, but we're thinking about other things we could do with the stores!
Just seeing this post makes me even more excited for Paralives!!!!!!
Awesome!! Was wondering what we could do in the museum and whatnot, so this is great to see! :)
I love what you've shown here, especially the museum! It's also great to see the interiors of some of the shops - I hadn't realised we could go into them, let alone buy things! Will we also be able go into the clothes shop and buy things?
It's only possible to buy build mode items at the moment, thank you for the kind words!
I'm sooo excited for the community center ♥️♥️ also LOVE the antique shop interior, is so cozy!
As a plant mama, the free plant a day thing is so cute 🥹
oh! I didn't know inventory would be up as soon as early access was released!! This is so nice, and a hoarder like myself will certainly be filling the inventory quite nicely pfft
Loving the Community spirit!
I'm excited 🔥 can't wait to explore the world!
I love this idea, very stardew valley! I cant wait, I just hope there are enough hours in a para day to do everything!
I love this bit of gameplay! As someone who played Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, these are right up my alley. I like having this extra gameplay in the background that feels like I’m contributing to the world. I also love that we have some open shops. Even if we get more rabbit holes, having a few open shops really adds to the neighborhood and gives us a reason to send our paras out. I only briefly played Sims 4, but i never felt the desire to take my sims out like I do in Sims 2 and 3, but knowing there are things my para can do out in the world already has me itching to go around town. I can’t wait to see what else we can do around town, like festivals, fairs, or contests, if that’s even a plan; I can’t remember.
I love the ideas of contributing to the museum and community center, and the daily deals/free plants at some shops! The museum and inside of the flower shop look really good too!
More shop ideas that would be cool to implement at some point: Grocery store - Animal shelter - Carwash/Mechanic - Arcade(this one! pls!! lol) - Somesort of Hotel/Motel mechanic when there are more towns would be cool - Craft Classes (whatever you call those places😅) - Love interactive stores! very fun feature :)
Oh man I would LOVEEEE having an animal shelter
I’m loving these gameplay elements! I never messed around with collections in Sims games cause it never felt like I was contributing to something, but definitely did in Animal Crossing/Stardeww. Having other paras/generations seeing the work you’ve put in is great! I’m wondering for the shops (love the interiors!), is it planned that going to the shop and interacting with the owner will bring up the relevant buy category to purchase furniture for the family’s inventory to then place when you get home? It seems like an easy way for some people to have more immersive gameplay while leaving the regular method there for convenience/QoL!
That's a neat idea! We're always thinking about more things to add to the game and that could be a fun mechanic, but it's not planned right now. Thank you!
I love that the shops wil be real shops, not only an UI! It will make the experience much more fun!
Glad these features are making a comeback from hackweek, (though free and 75% off seems a little much, to me ¯\_('M')_/¯) i was wondering if the inventory is per Para or shared with the whole household?
Inventory (like money) is per household! Thank you!
I love the museum setup. What happens if a Para tries to donate something that has already been donated either by them or another Para in the household? The shops are also so full and lovely. Will the furniture available just be the style options available in the buy mode catalogue or will it generate furniture with random color and texture combinations? Like how the table is a natural brown color with a wood grain texture, can I walk in and see the same table in bright blue with a more cloth texture?
Once an item is donated to the museum, you can't donate it again, they already have it in their collection! As for shops, they're taking items directly from the build mode catalogue, yes. Your idea is pretty interesting tho! Thank you!
These look so awesome! Kind of a random question — during early access before you guys implement cars, is there going to be a fast way for the paras to get between the different areas on the map (like a train or subway for instance, and they just pop up in the new place)?? If my para is in the country side, is it going to take them a long time to get to any of the shops??
We're thinking about simple methods of fast travel right now, but we'll see if that pans out! We're trying to make the world very walkable, so we'll see!
Omg a museum!!!
Great post! One question, what happens if one player fills in the museum in a para lifetime? How do you keep it interesting for other paras to keep collecting and donating through different generations? In the picture above it looks like if a para donates 3 different cakes for example, it will unlock a reward, like a new unique cake recipe, perhaps. I find that exciting for foodie paras and perhaps someone on the food industry! 😍 Also, is the second floor of the florist also a shop or…? 😏
If you fill up the museum, that's it, there's not much else to do, you completed it, good job! The community center might have more bundles that unlock over time; Furthermore we have some other mechanics around collecting/donating that we haven't talked about yet, stay tuned for these!
is it always 75% off or not only the items but also the sale % changes everyday?
I think it's always 75% off!
I love the museum idea!
Omg I remember the og post about collecting and shops! I'm so happy you guys decided to add them! 💖
THERE'S A MUSEUM AND YOU CAN DONATE TO IT? December can't come any sooner.
Another fantastic post. I'm so excited to discover everything for myself and am really looking forward to December. 🤩 I do have questions, though: Can NPCs also enter the shops, the museum, etc.? And can NPCs also buy items, for example, from the antique shop? I think this could be perfect for a Rags to Riches challenge. I'm curious to see what's possible in terms of challenges and early access, and what else will be added in the future. I would also like to see a weekly market in the future, where you could buy fruit, vegetables, eggs, etc., and a flea market.❤️
NPCs will walk around town, so you might see them in stores and the museum, however I don't think they'll make any purchases themselves aha, thank you for the question!
"Iconomi" was also the name of a fridge, no? so is it rather a line of products, not a single item?
Exactly! It's the name of a collection!
Question: will it be possible if free plant from shop will be picked by someone else, if I come too late? That would be cool, more lively, cause not the whole world is spinning around the player, and I'll need to come early to pick the plant before other npc para did it. 🤔🥰
That won't be possible, no! NPCs aren't gonna be that proactive (at least at first? we'll see!)
Awesome! Great ways to get players out of their house and doing stuff out in the world. Hope we need to shop for new outfits as well!
Donating to the museum is one of my favorite parts of Animal Crossing, I’m so excited for this! Should make generational gameplay especially interesting; now my paras can visit the museum and see items their great grandparents donated.
Oh I hope we can also buy bouquets. I want my para to be able to stop by after work to surprise a loved one with a bouquet. :) Even better if you could see the para carrying the bouquet home before gifting it. And how about a part-time job as a bouquet delivery person? :) And a florist career. I'm so looking forward to seeing what we can mod into the game! I'm wondering if my booking 2 days off of work for Early Access will be enough or if I should book the whole week. heh.
I’d like to see a grocery store if possible, it would be interesting to see seasonal produce rotate through the stores or even artisanal products
Absolutely love! Can't wait to start exploring with my Para and checking out the museum, community center and shops around town! I adore the modern look of the display cases in the museum, it's a small detail but much appreciated by me.
I love the idea of collecting and donating to the museum! It's a fun little goal and adds more flavor to the game. I can see myself making a para that wants to become a museum curator or something similar. Not sure if this will be a job in game but could easily role play lots of different things!
The buildings look incredible! When gardening comes around, I hope we'll be able to collect wild plants and plant them in our garden!
Thank you for another great post Jérémie!! It's so nice to see more of what's planned for Paralives. Having a museum we can contribute to will be amazing! Will NPC Paras be able to donate to the museum as well or will it just be the Paras we play? The shop interiors are looking so good! The flower shop looks exactly like the few I've been in and the antique shop has so many great furniture choices. The shape of the antique shop is also 10/10 for me.
It'll be just our characters! Otherwise you might blink and NPCs have donated some items that you were ready to turn in and might get frustrated aha!
I love it!! I’m so glad that many places are not rabbit holes. Thanks for sharing 🫶🏽
I love all of it! There are also buquets in BLOOM.... I really hope we will be able to purchase them!
This is amazing! So excited for December. 💛
I love everything included. It'll definitely make the town worth exploring and regularly go out of your Paras house. I wonder, is the donation system replayable? I imagine maybe not so much for the museum, because it'll visibly fill out, but for community centre? Or maybe they'd be a button to "reset the collection"?
More bundles might be added over time, but I don't think the progress will be resettable!
The shops look so pretty inside! I love that we are able to go inside as I think it wasn't certain whether this would be possible right away. Will they have opening times and staff? And will we be able to purchase everything in the store or just the items on sale / for free as shown in the post?
Opening hours and staff are still things we're figuring out, and for now only some items are purchaseable, but that might expand in the future!
This is awesome! I'm so glad you guys could put this in for EA release! It'll all feel so much more lively with all this :) I do feel a little confused why you can collect cake bundles though at a museum, like that's kind of strange, why would the museum want that? Will you add lore to all this, maybe a reason why this town has an empty museum? I always loved how stardew valley gave reasons for why you have bundles of items from all over the world Maybe the cakes could be specific delicacies to this para island
Well, the screenshot with the cake bundle is for the community center, so maybe they're collecting cakes for a party? We'll flesh that out more in the future :D
I love that some shopping is more involved than just earning enough to get what we want from a list. It feels grounded, but not mechanically tedious. Lots of roleplay opportunities with potential time management. Does our 9 to 5 working para want to cancel a dinner date to grab that antique bookcase, or lose out when the shop closes?
Omg this is great. I love collecting things but often in other games you just have nowhere to put them. They don’t always fit the vibe. Now you can slowly fill it out over the generations. Will the museum say which para has donated it?
That's the goal, yes!
omg the shops are SO beautiful inside! I can't wait to play this game!
This looks so cool! I am glad there will be cool things you can do with your Para to have certain goals other than just normal life sim stuff. I love exploring and filling museums and my Paras will totally also be crazy plant people
Being able to donate artifacts to a museum is AMAZING!! I can’t wait!!
I'm still obsessed with the currency being called Paradime, what a perfect name
I cannot express how excited I am for this game <3
I love the mix of Sims/Stardew Valley/Animal Crossing in here!! I can't wait to see what happens with the Community Center donations.
Oh this is bloody amazing!!! I love the community center thing in StarDew and have always been sad that in the big green game the collectibles are meh in how they work etc. Also those shops! The ideas!! Ugh I'm so excited is it December 8th yet???
Love it