Playtesting Stats and Recap + A New Team Member!
Hello! Today’s update is brought to you by Denis, brand new producer here at Paralives and general regular guy. I’ll be talking about our latest external playtests, the feedback we’ve received and how we’ve tackled this whole thing afterwards. I’ll also be giving everyone a quick TLDR on the latest member of the Paralives team.
As is tradition, this is a Patrons only post, so do keep things under wraps. Thank you so much!
↗️ Feedback and Solutions
Making sure that Paralives is something we’ll be proud to show off at the end of May has been our number one priority. As such, we have been relying on a playtesting firm to study the current state of the game and tell us what is and isn’t working beyond what we’re already aware of. This ranges from simple issues to general impressions about Paralives as a whole, helping us redirect some of our attention towards situations that we had overlooked.
We considerably upgraded our playtesters’ feelings towards the game between the November 2025 playtest (50% positive reviews) and the January 2026 playtest (83% positive reviews)!
Here are a few examples of the issues that have been highlighted by their hard work:
🤝A bit more handholding
While the Paralives town is vast and beautiful, it can be a daring adventure for someone who has freshly moved in to find the museum or anything else really. To remedy this, we’ve added a simple way to automatically scroll towards townies and any building that is mentioned in your Townie requests.
🕔Travelling can be a time sink
Our town being wide open means that sometimes getting from point A to point B has the potential to take out a chunk of your day. So as you’ve seen in the above video, we have decided to add in a bus stop system to fast travel to certain points in the map. This is both a flavorful solution and something that had been considered in the past as a simple fix to this particular issue.
People on their cellphones waiting for the bus, Paralives has never been this true to real life. (I did this in Photo Mode (Townies are not queuing to wait for the bus right now!)
🌇Filling the town with life
Something else that has been highlighted is that in general, the town lacked movement, buildings would sometimes be empty with people walking around in a daze, not really interacting with the world around them. To adjust this, a few things have been implemented. Empty buildings will grab a few townies here and there while loading to make sure that they always look busy. The folk around you will also be more prone to interacting with the world and each other. On top of that, we have added a few items to keep our townies busy while you are out on a stroll in town.
⛔Paras are refusing to cooperate (Not good)
We have also received some feedback about our Parafolks being a bit difficult when it comes to following directions from our players. And by that I do mean that they can get stuck in place and become impossible to interact with from time to time. But fear not, we have fixed a good amount of these cases and will continue to work on them whenever they pop up in the following months.
Townie is absolutely stuck and just refusing to work with us.
💬A few quotes from our playtesters to conclude this portion
This is obviously not all of the feedback that we’ve received, but I figured this would be an efficient way to showcase the kind of work we have been doing behind the scenes. As to conclude this part of the post, I’d like to share some of my favorite quotes from our latest playtests, both good and not so good, but definitely entertaining.
This version is definitely a lot better than the previous one, as the gameplay felt more immersive and the town more alive, with plenty of things to do. - UK, 31
One strange thing happened once I bought my first house. I found two NPCs there sitting in the living room. - Argentina, 26
Tending to the needs when you don't have a job was OK I guess, but it still takes an awful lot of time. But when you're working full time it's basically all you do. - Sweden, 45
Overall, Paralives feels very solid for its current development stage. The issues I encountered feel solvable and iterative rather than fundamental. - Netherlands, 41
Let’s finish this with a final quote that will have you theorizing (hopefully) for a while.
Another thing I liked a lot was when I realized that the character was [THIS IS A SPOILER]. At first, I wasn't sure, then I zoomed in and realized it's really there. - Serbia, 53
📆 Who Is This Man and What Is He Producing?
The title of producer is somewhat of a melting pot of ideas, changing its meaning from one company to the other. In this case, I’m here to make sure that we get to the finish line in one piece, follow our established calendar and provide support to the team in whichever way I possibly can. TLDR; I’m here to help ✨.
Otherwise, I have a cat, her name is (Princess) Daisy, she has 4 teeth left, she drools and naps a lot. I have spent 6 years as an independent game dev wearing many hats such as Game Designer, Art Director, QA Lead and Producer. Finally, I have spent an uncomfortable amount of hours playing The Sims in my life but my current comfort game is Slay the Spire.
That is all I had to write about for now. If you’ve made it to this point, thank you for lending me some of your time, it’s sincerely appreciated!
~ Denis
Comments (72)
It would be cute if there is a loading screen with para art, that could be drawn by fans
I wonder if we will be able to creat our own world in the future >_< ...
This is already confirmed! Just not for EA i dont think
i want to see the bus driving me paras:( i hope you will ad the animation later❤️
I was hoping for a fast travel option. There will be plenty of time for scenic rides once we get vehicles, but an open world game needs fast travel and I love how immersive this makes it while still being fast travel. You still have to find a stop to port between, but you don't have to waste time if you don't have a lot of time in the day to play and you simply want to get from say your house to the museum quickly. BTW, is time lost at all for riding the bus? Like if you get on a bus at 10:00, is there any amount of time eaten up between bus stops (like it took you 15 minutes to get there even tho it was actually instant on screen?).
Wait you mean laying under a picnic table and refusing to cooperate isn’t normal 🤨
I like the idea of bus stops in the game. I would definitely add some cutscenes or bus animations later, those are the details that make the atmosphere. Maybe even the option to travel without a ticket with a chance of getting a fine! Or a bad mood when there is a smell in the bus, which would motivate players to use other types of transport :)
genuinely cannot wait for May! Looks amazing, would it be automatic like the sims 3 taxi or do you have to press them manually only?
The Bus Idea is dope!
Welcome Denis !
Could we maybe have an option to skip travel or sit through it
Yeah I love it in sims 3 when I have one sim at home or, otherwise, you can see another sim traveling by car, taxi, etc.
I love the bus stops so much, and the zoomed out map looks really satisfying! One thing I do worry about is that they might deincentivize players to want to work toward vehicles once they’re added. I think buses shouldn’t be instant, Parafolk should have to wait 10-20 minutes for one, and potentially have less stops around town as right now it seems like theres a stop for every landmark, which means getting a bike or a car is useless. (I realise how anti-pedestrian infrastructure I sound right now typing this. lol)
While I get what you’re saying, if play testers are saying it takes a while to get places and do things, adding more time to do things, like travel, seems like it wouldn’t make the game better, but just more tedious.
Welcome to the team Denis!
As a game artist I love all these behind the scenes game dev type posts ❤️
Welcome to the team Denis 💖. I really love bus stop travel option 🚌🚏🚍. I can't wait for a car travel option too in the future 🚗🚕👀.
welcome to team denis
Big welcome Denis!! 🙌🏻✨
Oh I can't wait.
I remember suggesting exactly this (just with train stations instead of bus stations). Thank you for listening to your community! <3
I think without that whitecircle under para the whole game will look even better
Well the current character has to be obvious to the player at a glance. How would you accomplish this then? The circle is better, less invasive than the Sims "blumbbob". Disliking a feature is...a thing...but how would you actually change a feature to serve the purpose? That might help the devs more than a bland "I don't like this". I'm also guessing that there might be a toggle for turning it on and off anyway - there is for so many things.
A cute illustration of the bus traveling along a beautiful road would look great in the transition during travel!
Yes, I agree. It doesn't have to be intricate or complicated. Just a quick cutscene with the bus pulling away from the bus stop and arriving at a different bus stop would keep immersion.
I love more practical problem solving posts!
Thank you for today's post. I really like posts about the behind the scenes in general but it's also really interesting to know a bit about the playtesting and how the review's have changed within this few months. Even though I'm looking forwards to the game I really appreciate that you rely on playtesting firm instead of letting the game be tested by patreon members. Looking forward to the next posts until EA release. Also thanks for the nice little introduction 👍 Have a lovely weekend ☀️
I'm really happy with the reactions to the post ❤ Showing off November's result VS our current situation made sense if we were to talk about behind the scenes and the progress we've made. (Weekend was spent sick but it was still lovely!)
Welcome, Denis! Also, I love the bus idea. It's really cool
seeing the difference in positive reviews just made me smile i cant wait to get home after work and read the rest of this!
Welcome to the team, Denis! ☺️ Glad to have you here
That Para isn't "stuck and just refusing to work with us", he is clearly counting the disgusting chewed gum stuck to the bottom of that table. A Para can't have a hobby anymore? /s
Hello Denis! Welcome the team! Thank you for giving us insight into the play testing. I put my trust in the team when they said Paralives needed more time too cook but seeing the numbers really put into perspective. It is really encouraging to see where it was and where it is now and I have full faith that the game will be wonderful 💛
Now I need to see Princess Daisy...🥰
I'll make sure to include a picture of her on my next post, otherwise I dropped a picture in the discord patrons channel!
Welcome Denis 🤗 And thanks a lot for the behind the scenes on playtesting, that's really interesting!
Hi Denis, welcome to the Parateam ! You've met Paralives at a very interesting time in its life, but you already sound like a perfect fit ! I remember seeing the job ad for producer last year, and wondering what took so long for an announcement. Will your name be added to the official Press Kit soon ? "I have spent an uncomfortable amount of hours playing The Sims in my life" Rest easy, I can confidently say that's something everyone here has been guilty of XD (my current comfort game is Project Zomboid ; I like it when Paradevs mention non-life simulation games as things that passionate/inspire you, it tends to show in how rich and innovative some features are !) "If you’ve made it to this point" You say that like it was a long post, but I would have been game for longer ^_^ "November 2025 playtest (50% positive reviews)" Holy sh*t. The delay announcement mentioned the playtesting, so I took its word for it, but seeing the number I now TOTALLY get it. Dayum. That must have hurt, but I'm glad you folks were able to correct course. And it really cements my opinion that the delay was a good decision. (btw I'm glad the playtests are conducted with an international audience, nothing frustrates me more than a game with an unquestioned North American bias, not just in terms of culture but also narrative preferences) "we’ve added a simple way to automatically scroll towards townies and any building that is mentioned in your Townie requests." Wait, scroll or teleport ? I'm confused. Or do you mean scroll the map to locate them ? "Townies are not queuing to wait for the bus right now!" That's fine, although I appreciate the "right now" part and will keep it in the back of my mind for the future. But yeah that's typically something that matches the Feb 6 post's request for suggestions about adding life to town. For now, is it possible to sit on the bench and pretend to wait for the bus there before clicking ? I notice none of the Paras here are actually interecting with the bench even in Photo Mode. "Townie is absolutely stuck and just refusing to work with us." Townie is on their day off. Please reiterate your attempt in two to three business days. "Another thing I liked a lot was when I realized that the character was [THIS IS A SPOILER]. At first, I wasn't sure, then I zoomed in and realized it's really there. - Serbia, 53" 👀 What could it be ? Some disability device ? Nah that wouldn't be a spoiler, we've seen these in Paramaker showcases. Hm. Probably not something supernatural, since (thankfully imho) there's no paranormal gameplay planned at the moment. Wait, this might not be something ON the Para, but rather around the Para... that makes things even harder to guess. Ok, I'm all out of theories. PS : can someone confirm that Townie Requests have not once been mentioned in public posts/videos ? Asking for Paralives Wiki reasons before I start working on a page for it.
Hello! While I have just now joined the team, I've been quietly following the project since Alex first posted that window gif on reddit some 6 years ago, I have profound love for Paralives and what we're trying to accomplish here. As for the Press kit, perhaps? It's been very low on my list of priorities since I got here ahahah. Otherwise, yes 50/50 was definitely a wake up call. While the game didn't have fundamental issues, the quantity of technical issues was overwhelming. We've been hard at work hammering these and other pain points that have been highlighted during playtests! Scrolling; the camera pans straight to whatever location you were inquiring about. I should've written pan, not scroll, my bad. Bus stop; as of now it's only here for fast travel, no other functionalities have been added. [SPOILER]; no supernatural, not a disability device, you'll see in due time ;) Townie Requests; no clue if it's been mentioned in the past, haven't been around long enough I'm afraid. Hope that answers most of your questions, and thank you for your passion for the game, it's heartwarming!
Welcome and thank you for helping making this game happen! It's really cool seeing how much the play testers' feedback has helped the team and I'm happy to see that the testers seem to be pretty diverse in age and country of origin! the different perspectives surely help
Thank you! I also share that feeling, different perspectives are always appreciated!
Welcome to the team, Denis, and thank you for the update!! :))
Welcome 🤗
Awesome! I love this 👏🏻
Welcome Denis! Super glad to have ya! ☺️ P.s.- I'm very interested in what the secret thing is on the para character! Lol
Welcome, Denis, and thanks for the update!! Give Princess Daisy a few pets for us!! 😸
Already done, thank you!
Hi Denis, welcome to the team! Only 87 days until lift off!
Welcome Denis!🩵 On the other hand, I’m sooo intrigued, the character was WHATTTT AAAAH !!! hahah And, ¿two npcs sitting in their living room? that sounds like squatters
Paralives should be squatter free on release. Should. Hi!
Welcome to the team Denis! Seeing the stuff about playtesting is pretty cool
Welcome Denis :) I'm so glad you jumped on the Paralives train! I think a producer is so important to the team and to the game :)
It always depends on the needs of the teams and projects, but yes I am very glad to be of help!
Welcome Denis!!! This all sounds amazing. And honestly I'm even excited about some of that more negative feedback "Tending to the needs when you don't have a job was OK I guess, but it still takes an awful lot of time. But when you're working full time it's basically all you do. " - I get the frustration but please don't make the need management aspect to easy! Love that lifesim games are an actual time management challenge too!
We might fine tune needs here and there but as of now this quote hasn't had impact on our game balance. We have player profiles for each tester so it helps give proper weight to comments depending on the tester.
Welcome Denis! Thanks for a fantastic post this week. I find it really exciting how much progress has been made between the two playtest reviews. Love the tease for a character we'll find in the game. I'm so so eager to get the chance to explore. Can't wait to see where everything goes from here. Love the photo mode too. You had me going for a minute thinking people queuing at the bus stop might have been added lol. It would be such a nice detail if that could eventually be added.
Hallo Denis :3
... Can we see a photo of Princess Daisy? The cat tax.
She's showcased in the discord patrons channel!
Oh this was such a good post! I'm so excited about all of the new improvements and the overall progress that's being done. Welcome, Denis! Glad to have you aboard
Thank you so much! There's a lot more than what I've shown here for the feedback but the general idea is out there. We fix issues and make the game better along the way!
Welcome Denis! Can't wait to finally understand what's the spoiler thing!!
All will be revealed in due time. (Hii!)
Welcome! Thank you for sharing the progress you have made, going from a 50-50 to mostly positive now, is amazing! I cannot wait to play this game! Great work! 💜
It is a great thing to see, 50-50 was a bit unnerving but we've made it out okay I'd say! Thank you for the warm welcome!
And welcome to the family, Denis! Every new addition is one more reason to celebrate. Thank you for accepting the challenge. The future is bright! 🤜🏻🤛🏻
Awesome 👌
Welcome Dennis, I’m glad to hear you have played the sims. What is your favourite iteration of the series. Keep up the good work.
I'm a big fan of Sims 3 (i know i know), open world was everything i wanted and more
How are you guys picking the playtesters? It would have been awesome if the higher rank Patreon supporters (or all Patreon supporters) could have received the opportunity to be considered for those playtests… That’s kind of sad, to be honest, not have been part of any playtest.
We have considered a lot of different options for playtests but ultimately using an outside playtesting firm was what made the most sense since we needed to streamline the whole process. Other options would have taken a lot of our time away from the game and sadly that's not something we were willing to go for.
Welcome to the team Denis! Also love the progress that has been made!
Perfect. 👍