Discover the Lots for Sale + A Look at New Icons + Q&A Livestream!
Hello everyone! Chloe here, back today for a little Patreon post! Today, I will be showing you the current player lots that you can own and build on, as well as showing you a sneak peek at the new icons I’ve been cooking up. This post is for patrons only, so please do not share it!
Q&A Livestream for Patrons
Next Tuesday, December 16, at 11am EST, join us on Discord for a live Q&A session, where we will answer the most asked questions from the public, as well as some questions from the chat! We will also be testing your Paralives knowledge with a little quiz 👀 See you there!
Lots for Sale
For the lots showcase, I will go by neighbourhood, and we will focus on vacant lots that are for sale. Of course, you will also be able to play with existing households occupying the other lots. More adventurous builders will also be able to use a cheat to edit public lots such as shops and parks. For you folks creating fan-made maps to try and place the different builds around town, this is for you!
To note, pre-built homes come furnished; we would like to offer the possibility to buy them empty sometime down the line, but this might come after the Early Access release. We will show you the interiors some other time!
Beach-Side Lots
Beach-Side Lot 1: This lot has access to a small private beach and has some lovely neighbours! If you want a view of the sea, this is probably the lot for you.
Beach-Side Lot 2: While not exactly beach-side, houses on the tunnel have a great view of the sea and beach below! With proximity to the town centre, the green-roofed house will be a player favourite, I’m sure!
Industrial Neighbourhood Lots
Industrial Neighbourhood Lot 1: This one is arguably beach-side, but it has a park in the back; therefore, I’ll consider it an industrial lot. Neighbour to Chez Maurice and a park that hosts yoga meetups, this little apartment is great for people looking for affordability.
Industrial Neighbourhood Lot 2: This apartment is on the edge of the industrial area, and is closer to the town centre. While it’s not the prettiest, and I hope you don’t mind the train tracks and ghosties from the cemetery nearby, its proximity to the town centre and different companies makes it perfect for anyone wanting to be close to work (yes, Paras will be walking to work, not teleporting anymore!).
Transitional Residential-Industrial Lots
Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 1: This empty lot borders an old factory turned studio, and a dilapidated house. You do get a nice view of the lighthouse, and you are close to the beach, though!
Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 2: This house is neighbours with Marvin. If you wanted to get to know the family man, this is your best bet! This simple bungalow has all the space you need to get started in town.
Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 3: If you are more of a builder and want to start from scratch, the lot next door might be your pick!
Town Center
Town Center Lot 1: You’ve seen this lot in Rina’s streams; you cannot be closer to the shop plaza than with this lot! To note that the access to the apartment is on the other side, and not on the plaza itself (that’s the shop entrance! It is empty for the time being, though)
Town Center Lot 2:This house is so central that it gives direct access to a public terrace! Hope you don’t mind the crowds.
Town Center Lot 3:This little cottage is centre, AND it has a view of the sea and lighthouse! It is also next to a park. This cozy spot is great for a family due to its proximity to the elementary school.
Town Center Lot 4: If you want the challenge of building a narrow townhouse, this lot is calling for you. It is next to some of your favorite shops, facing Bloom, Headlines and The Story Nook.
Town Center Lot 5: This last lot of the town center is quite large, and is next to some older staples of the town (wink wink). After some landscaping, you will have a gorgeous view of the gorge below.
Countryside Lots
Countryside Lot 1: Moo! Wait, are these plastic cows? This large lot borders the end of the world, and legally, by law, you have to keep some plastic cows when you build your house there. Your building permits will be revoked otherwise. (I am joking, of course!)
Countryside Lot 2: This is one of the larger lots available to players. It towers over the town, but is far enough to offer some of the tranquillity of the countryside. I have a feeling this one will be popular with builders!
Mountain Lots
Mountain Lot 1: This is the empty lot you can get your hands on if you want to stay further away from society, although you do have a wealthy neighbour next door.
Mountain Lot 2: This inconspicuous lot has changed, but I'm sure you're all familiar with it. We will showcase it at a later time, in more detail. I hope you look forward to it!
Sneak Peek at New Icons
Please note that we are still working on improving the game’s UI, and even these icons are not final. We see your suggestions that are sent to us, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to tweak things further. Thank you!
When I was tasked to redo all the placeholder icons in the game, I thought: ‘’Well, I’ve done it before for the Build Mode and PAM, how hard can it be?’’ I didn’t realise the sheer volume of icons that needed to be made. Each interaction needed a unique icon, wants, occupations, personalities, emotions… some in varied styles, which made it that I couldn’t reuse most of my work for other categories. Here’s a look at some of them!
Emotions: Alex liked the little faces we had previously. We didn’t want to change them too much, so it wasn’t too hard to work, but I redid them all anyway: making some of them more symmetrical, unifying the face features and proportions, etc.
Interactions: We went with a sticker style similar to the Build Mode and PAM, since we wanted these to stand out a bit more from the background. Some actions are difficult to illustrate with a simplified drawing, so some may still change in the future, as I’d like to refine them for clarity. We have 125 at the moment.
Wants: People have pointed out that they are subtle compared to the rest, and that was our intention. We will see if we embolden the lines to make them pop out a bit more! These will still be tweaked and new ones added. We have about 100 for now.
That’s all for today! I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Which player lot is your favorite? Are you excited to start building on them? Let us know and vote in the poll below!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Chloé (´ ω `♡)
Comments (86)
Beach-side lot is great. Maybe one day the paras will swim in the lake.
Wow all the plots are super pretty and refined, even the empty ones ! It's gonna break my heart to destroy them to rebuild on top of them 😭🤣
Oh, so will we able to live in an apartment from the jump? It's always a fantasy of mine to live with neighbors stacked on each other, being a detached neighborhood province girl myself. 😅
I really love the icons, they all look so cute and fit the overall style of the game!
I know this is a bit of an older post but if anyone sees this comment: will there be multiple saves available so that we can continue building after the lots are filled up? Or a way to save builds for when they aren't in game in the lots?
These lots are too cute!! I am partial to Beach-Side Lot 1, I have always wanted to live near the water like that!
Same.
I love that there's so many options. Im stuck between Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 2 (for homewrecking purposes) and Town Center Lot 4 😂
Wow, I love the variation of different lot types and locations! The dilapidated houses, landscaping quirks, and different areas make it all feel so realistic! I love Town Center Lot 3 :)
I picked Industrial Neighbourhood Lot 1, though I would check out Lot 2 as well, I kinda like the idea of having a flat over a business or something or in an old factory or something similar. But I might also be interested in one of the empty lots too, but to start out I would just go with something premade, to get the hang of the game more first, before I try building something myself.
Yes, yes ! Love them industrial lots ! Even the 2, by that bridge. Quintessential "protagonist of the story is talented but lives on the wrong side of tracks"
The cow bit was a joke, but I was intrigued by the idea that certain lots might have "requirements" that need to be fulfilled, otherwise you might be docked by the town! Like having an HOA where there are neighborhood rules that need to be followed. If there was a way to "gamify" build mode a bit more, this could be a fun way to implement some different difficulties into the game.
Ooh, another challenge lot could be one where you cannot remove trees or change terrain. A sort of historical or nature preservation challenge for builders.
Wow, truly m
I like all of the options but I'm most excited about building a narrow townhouse! love that you already created a perfect slot! I hope the "Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 1" will be connected to the curb in a straight line, though? Just wondering, bc right now it looks like there's a sliver we can't build on
Hi! Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 1 is indeed not connected to the street, and this is due to grid-related reasons. If the lot lines followed the street, the grid would be at an angle (that follows the street), and so you would be stuck building at an angle, which we found to be awkward, especially if you want your build to be in the same orientation as the two neighbors. If people have too many gripes with it, we can always change it, but for now it will stay this way to facilitate building on the grid!
I am honestly loving all these very diverse homes/apartments/shop lots. You all did and spectacular job. I am however heartbroken that it needed to be pushed back, but fully understand how Alex feels in his latest post on steam. I hope you all know that I am willing to stay on as a patreon supporter if Alex needs to reset for payment allowance, last thing I and most supporter's want, is for you guys to end up working for free. May is a long way off, so please tell Alex to open it up again if need be. Big squishy hugs to you all and the Happiest of the Holiday season to all! <3
Thank you for your support! The game is pushed back to May, but it will released then for sure! 💪
I love the diversity! The town houses look so pretty. I almost exclusively play big families with lots of children in TS3, so I need big lots to build a proper home for them! The country lots will be great for that. I cannot wait to finally play Paralives!
I love the variety of lots. Personally, I love countryside lot #2. Removed, but can still see a nice view of town.
I'm maybe having a Mandela's Effect but why are the lots here. Weren't there boundless space building in game? hmm
There was an early early prototype where you could section out the lots yourself iirc, but that was quite a long time ago. I have been following this game for ages and I have no recollection of there being promised "boundless" space for building. Quick edit: at least not for early access release. I think they have discussed a feature to edit the town coming later down the line iirc, but could be wrong.
I honestly love them all; so much so that I kept changing my mind about which one was my favorite!
There's such a great variety it is hard to choose one. I love to build and there were several lots, all in different locations, that I could see starting with - Town Center #5, Countryside #2, and Beach #1.
Thank you for the update! Love looking at all of the lots. I like Town Center Lot 3 for Family Game Play.
Thank you for the update, they're all gorgeous! Going forward will you be making more apartments in the town centrr available to live in?
At the moment, these are the only lots in the town centre, since all the other ones are currently occupied by shops or Townies! More apartments may come when we *officially* introduce apartments (allowing more than one tenant/household per lot, and shops and apartments sharing a lot)
I love them all I see many different story ideas, but my favorite is the beach I have always been a sucker for a beach view.
I love mountain I really do Probably the best view and good aesthetic
industrial lot 3 will be my home! it’s perfect for what i want to make! close to neighbors too
Yo, off topic but the trees look so good
Town Center Lot 4 slaps I've been looking forward forever to be able to fill a space between two existing townhouses and make it either futuristic, traditional or both.
Thank you for the post chloe. There are so many lots to choose from and all lovely. :o I have picked town centre lot 3 cause it spoke to me the first time i saw it. i love the grey stone work and the purple flowers. Absolutely love that the paras will now walk to work!! Will be honest, I prefer the look of the wants to the interactions. i prefer the more minimalist style. Thanks again.
the town looks so cosy! i love how there's already apartment lots too 😉
I'm so in love with the town... I noticed the roof tiles appear really large on some of these roofs though, which looks a bit odd. I assume it's something to do with the texture tiling for certain roof shapes?
Hi! No, not exactly. You see, roofs will look perfectly fine on your lots!! The roof tiling being off is only present in our ''impostors''. Imposters are lots that are ''fake lots'' that are less impactful on performance, that get switched for the real lots when you visit said lot. The imposter system has a hard time with matching the tiling of the roofs, so it is off compared to what the roofs look like in the *real* lot. Hope that makes sense! Basically, we may improve the look of impostors by release, but regardless, your lots will remain unaffected as they are always loaded by the game. Only town lots and Townies houses will be affected!
Can we evict families in other lots?
Hi! "Town Center Lot 5: This last lot of the town center is quite large, and is next to some older staples of the town (wink wink)" Is that a church on the right? :)
Wouldn't that be the bottom of the castle's walls ?
Hello. Can im create and edit new lots in city? How was it shown in video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Bsg7zrxmw
Hello! Lot editing tools will come with the Town Editing tools, which we plan on releasing after Early Access.
You had me at "lots for sale"!! ☺️ Yes! Chloe, I love all the lot possibilities but I did choose Countryside Lot 2 since it is said to tower over the town and appears to be the farthest from a road. To be honest, that lot set on a mountain side with a hiking trail to get to it and no near proximity to neighbors would be ideal. Not that I'm reclusive or anything, just an explorer who values wonderful views of all landscapes and the quietness of nature. And on that note, in the early build mode to intoduce the game to the public, it showed players would be able to place lots wherever they like. Will that still be possible, if not in the EA, in the Paralives game release? Keep up the amazing work!! ✨️
Hi Tey! So for the lot tools, these will be available to players at a later time, along with town editing tools. Us devs use these tools and they exist, but they are not ready to be player facing just yet :)
Hi Chloé, thank you for this post ! I'm a bit late to the party this Friday, but happy to find out we get more previews of districts we had not seen much up until now !!! I'm also very interested in how varied your tasks are. Building the town is so different from making icons, afterall ! How did you become the person who does both graphic design and level design ? (and probably other things I can't think of right now) It'd actually be super interesting, especially now that we have an extra 6 months worth of weekly Patreon posts, to learn about this kind of things. As for the lots themselves, uhhhh... all the industrial ones ? XD Industrial Neighbourhood Lot 2 looks like it'd be perfect for Anisa's loft, and I like the idea of having the train tracks nearby (although in real life, I HATED living next to a train station) for flavor. But certainly my rags-to-rags challenges will lean towards Transitional Residential-Industrial Lot 1 : I love how it feels abandoned but promising at the same time, you can tell the previous owners had the cutest cottage in mind there.... I also like Town Center Lot 2, the color scheme is very appealing and that terrace is nothing to sneeze at ; but I think in my world I'll turn it into a quaint city hall or community center given the location (modding rabbit holes is still planned, yes ?). I'll admit I expected very modern buildings in the forest, though in hindsight I'm not sure why, maybe just for variety's sake to display the more contemporary styles available within the game (like flat roofs, glass panes everywhere, etc.). But I'm very curious about the elevation of Mountain Lot 1, it's so unique ! These people live in the highest district of Town, but they still wanted to get even higher ! I love the Emotion icons, they're really "readable"... and I'm making a mental note that I'm counting 11 different Emotions at the moment. Innnnnteresting. I don't think I ever asked : are there plans (not necessarily before Early Access, but at some point) to let us mod additional Emotions ? It's probably quite complex, but since you folks usually make so many systems moddable for your own sake... What if I want a "Generous" Emotion, for instance ? On a related topic, I wanted to provide a link to some feedback I had about the Emotions/Wants system as we saw it during the public stream last month, and it seemed to get some positive feedback on reddit. It's basically about diversifying their tone. I'd be thankful if it were taken into consideration : https://www.reddit.com/r/Paralives/comments/1pasoqr/emotions_wants/ Have a nice week, Paradevs !
Hi LadyTeruki! I'd say all of us on the team have varied tasks. With such a small team, if you can do other things, it's a plus! So while I am an environment artist (focus on creating the town, and all the furniture items, buildings, food), I also do illustrations, concept art, UI, VFX, lighting, proofreading, etc. Everything in your skillset is useful on an indie team, ahah! The mountain lots are not suuuuper high compared to the city center, but they are quite high up compared to the sea level. The whole town is built in a slope! Having a very drastic slope makes building quite tricky so we limited it, but brave players will be able to raise their terrain to the sky if they so want! I only showed 11 emotions, but there are other things like ''statuses'' that I didn't showcase today, like when your Para catches the flu, they can get this new ''emotion''. Emotions will be mod-able, so I'm sure you'd be able to add your own! But that also includes having to add all that comes with an emotion; bonuses to different stats, new wants, etc!
omg they are all so pretty and unique! I can't wait to make a pretty beach house :)
I really appreciate that paras will go to work instead of just disappearing. The houses look really great to and I love that there is quite a variety.
I wonder how that will work for the lots far away from the town center though. Given we don't have vehicles yet, wouldn't it take the Para ages to walk all the way?
Will there eventually be terrain tools and the possibility to construct houses partly into slopes/hills? Flat lots are in irl rarity where I'm from.
Unless things have changed since, I believe terrain tools have been confirmed a while ago : https://www.patreon.com/posts/sculpt-paint-and-107944256 (it's basements and pools that won't be available right away)
I love the different lots. I hope the centre lot 2 makes me socialize a bit more, cause I’m as introverted in videogames as I am irl
"Good at staying home and playing dead when there's someone at the door" is definitely my IRL Social perk.
I can't pick, I'm so overwhelmed. So many choices. Nice to see different parts of the map!! And that it's so diverse. I would love some ability to just download lots from like a bin or something.
you'll be able to download people's builds on the Steam workshop!
This is THE best post! Love that we’re getting to see all our possible future homes. They’re all so different and versatile, fantastic job!! My favorite built, ever since it was shown, is the yellow house on the tunnel. I’m just obsessed with it, it reminds me of some houses in my coastal hometown, and I love it so much already. I would love to see more of it, like the interior or get to know it’s residents, cause I might need to take the house from them (or infiltrate the family, whatever works for my para 😂) From the available lots, I love the most both beach-side lots, town center 2 and 4. They’re such exciting spaces! Other than being such a fangirl over all the different things we saw from the town today, I also have some questions / curiosities: 1. When you say that on the next Q&A you’ll answer the most asked questions from the public, where can people ask their questions prior to the live? How will these questions be selected? 2. Could you share which lots (if any) showcased won’t be able to be purchased on the start of the game (due to being more expensive than our money at the start). 3. Who is considered your neighbor in the relationship tab, anyone living immediately to your sides only, or also other houses on close proximity, like behind or in the town square for example. 4. Is this a shop underneath the industrial lot 1? 👀 if you can’t share what it is, could you just confirm if it’s in use currently? 5. I saw it mentioned in another comment that we will be able to see paras walking to work and at work (I’m sure this means any workplace we can access, like the shops). Will NPCs have a routine, like being replaced outside of their working hours or days off. How will this work if our own workplace is accessible, like Anisa at the cafe. Will another household para be able to see her at work, but we lose control of her cause she’s in working hours? This is just so interesting, really want to know more about your plans around this system! I’m sorry for the super long comment. Thank you so much for the outstanding work!
"3. Who is considered your neighbor in the relationship tab, anyone living immediately to your sides only, or also other houses on close proximity, like behind or in the town square for example. " DAMN that's a good question.
TRI lot no. 1 is my favourite, it'll be good for rags-to-riches gameplay <3
question: in the future will we be able to freely build community lots without cheats?
Hi! Eventually we will add Town modifying tools, in which case community lots will be more easily buildable.
I love all of these lots they have so much character. I particularly like Town Center lot 4 because it looks like a good challenge and I love terraced buildings in life sims :)
My favorite is the Moo lot. It's almost perfect just need to add more cows.
Moo! Correct answer!!
Not done reading the post but I'm so excited that paras will walk to work! I feel like seeing them going places will really make the world feel more alive. And the fact that they'll be going somewhere relevant to them, instead of basically being set dressing/programmed to do a walkthrough
these are SO gorgeous I am screaming crying throwing up etc
Countryside Lot 1 is beautiful! It would be even better with chickens and a farmstand 😉to sell the eggs, homemade goods and garden produce 🤞
I love how the lots look!! And the icons are super cute!!! I am so excited to build on these lots. Great job ψ(｀∇´)ψ
I love how the empty lots are not a big green square!! I also love the electricity poles, the town has so much character. Amazing post!! 👏🏽
YES the lot with the remnants of the last house like be still my heart
This is amazing! I love the countryside lot 2 very much! I can't wait to build in this game! 😍
This is probably the same lot that Rina used in her last livestream to build her box house. And if you watch the video, you can see that at the entrance to the lot on the right, it curves along with the street (which is what I loved 😍🥰 and it's no longer one of those boring "just square" lots🙄). So we can create buildings that run parallel to the street on its right side.
walking to work is interesting🤔 so every job will have a physical location tied to it? hopefully it won't take a para so long to walk that they end up late for work? And does this apply to all paras? or just the played ones, tbh i can't remember if i saw any non-played paras teleporting to work in the livestreams, i wasn't really looking ¯\_('M')_/¯ (All the lots look amazing btw! it was very difficult picking *just* one, lol)
every job has a physical location in town, and you will not be penalised for being late to work (we do not have cars at the moment, and so it can take a little while to get to work by walking, depending on your location!) NPC paras will also be going to work by walking, some you will be able to see if they are work at certain shops
i love how much detail is in the worlds, it literally looks real
Good post, glad to see the different lots and as an introvert the mountain and the country side lot overlooking the town call to me! I'm also loving the icons and am pleased paras will be walking to work now! Keep up the good work!
Will we be able to move lot around and change the size of them? I love building and look forward to making the town my own 😊
not for early access no! town editing tools will come at a later time!
I really love how the "empty" lots are not completely empty but look like building sites. Looking forward to the stream ♥️
I love cemeteries so I know exactly where I'll be living, ahem I mean my Para. Will townies move into empty lots? Or out?
would be a cool idea! but not for the time being!
I‘m in love with that little well on the monutain lot 💖. I think I might move there ☺️.
Town lot 4 made me do happy autism feet movements lol I am so looking forward to building a tiny and narrow townhouse, it's honestly what I look forward to most :D I'm so excited
Ahhh i love the run down lots, especially the one between the two tall houses. Perfect for rags to riches cause it feels like living in an alley 😁
*ghosties*!
yeah, interesting choice... but i pretty much already thought that if they were going to add Supernaturals ghost would be involved, sounds like a bit of confirmation tho so thats nice :)
Oh I'm especially loving those last set of icons, easy on the eyes and easy to understand. <3
Awesome