Animation Showcase: Walk Styles!
Helloooo, Lina here for a new Animation Showcase! 🤸♀️
In today’s post, we are thrilled to show you something Alice and I have been working on lately: Walks🚶
⬆🎥 You can watch a little showcase at the top of this post.
🎥 Animations Shown in the Video
All the walk animations shown today are still a work in progress and might change and evolve with time!
Child (Life stage)
Pregnant
Elder (Life stage)
Energetic (Vibe personality trait)
Gloomy (Vibe personality trait)
Overjoyed (Vibe personality trait)
Serious (Vibe personality trait)
Jester (Vibe personality trait)
Happy (Emotion)
Stressed (Emotion)
Sad (Emotion)
Angry (Emotion)
Embarrassed (Emotion)
Disgusted (Emotion)
Bored (Emotion)
The music in today's video is a piano version of Andrei's song, called Inner Child! 🎵
👢🎵 These Paras Are Made For Walking 🎵👢
As a part of our focus to help liven up our city, we thought that new walk styles should be next. We created new animations based on the Paras’s vibes, emotions and even life stages. This really helped to give them a lot more personality!
We needed to find the most efficient way to incorporate these new walk cycles, without having to rework the whole locomotion system. We decided that the best solution was to use the existing walk cycle as a base, and rework it for each situation, while keeping the same speed and step length.
Now you are probably wondering,” What if my Para is serious, but also sad?” or “What if my Jester Para is pregnant?”. Good question!! We had to decide a priority order for each of these new walks! For now, the life stage walks have the highest priority, followed by the emotions (when very strong) and finally the Vibes!
🔜 What’s Next?
We still have a lot to do before our Early Access! But the last couple weeks were very fun as we worked on adding more animations for toddlers and babies that we felt were missing. For example, toddlers can now fall asleep in the high chair as well as play and eat sand in the sandbox. Babies now have proper start and stop animations for their crawl locomotion, etc.We also got to be a little “chaotic” and are working on some very fun little additions to the game, but that's all I can say. 🤐
And that’s all for today, I really hope you enjoyed these new animations as much as we enjoyed making them! We always love to hear your feedback and answer any questions you might have in the comment section below!
Have a nice weekend!~~🌞💌
Lina 🤸♀️
Edit: This post is now public, feel free to share it!
Comments (112)
I find it so refreshing that the walk styles are all distinguishable and expressive without being over-exaggerated! They're a great balance of subtle enough to feel believable but obvious enough to notice
Someone else probably said this and this post is older now, but the pregnant sim should have a hand on her back for support!
Está tudo tão lindo e encantador! Dá vontade de ficar horas repetindo o video comparando os detalhes.
Adoro o. Comprometimento da equipe,e os detalhes,paralives tá incrível,mal posso esperar para o lançamento antecipado e o que vira durante o lançamento antecipado.🩷🩷😍😍
What I like the most about the animations this game has is how natural they look. Like, they really represent de emotion or vibe, but not like a cartoon
Love the variety and creativity of the different walk styles! I do feel like some could/should be a bit more slower, but I see you mentioned that would be a little difficult.
While I appreciate the subtlety of the walks (regarding the upper half of the body, at least), it is a shame that the speed and step length of each one couldn't be adjusted, as that would add so much more personality to each individual emotion. But I ain't gonna be too harsh. Y'all are doing what you can with what you've got, which I understand. A lot of emotion can still be imbued in a character via a simple head shake or glance alone, which is certainly on display here, and the kind of quick step works well with things like the Embarrassed emotion.
As long as everything goes to plan *fingers crossed* this comes out one day after my birthday, 24th May! It will literally be the best birthday present <3
omg!!! so cute!!
Really cool
I hope we get different variants during the official (not early access) release! Especially if their default walk aligns with their personality when neutral. It’d also be cool if it affected their walk speed (a sad Para walks slowly, but an embarrassed Para walks quickly to avoid being seen), but I could see it getting annoying after a while.
Yay, they won't be walking the same all their lives
We can add an animation where two Para know each other and greet each other in the street with a wave, according to their degree of friendship.
I'm no graphic artist (My drawing skill never improved from pre-school). But I agree that the disgusted one doesn't really look disgusted. It looks more like "worried" to me. When I'm disgusted, I probably have little shakes of the head looking down if I'm disgusted with something internally. And if I'm disgusted at something I'm looking at, I'd say that my face would be a little incredulous, contained in a healthy dose of cringe look. This is walking so I'd guess the internal thoughts reaction, subtle shakes of the head while looking down might look more disgusted. The others all look really good to a graphic Noob, though. :-)
Love the walk animations, especially the pregnant one!! <3
Eu amei todos 😍 os detalhes são tudo. Só uma sugestão, não sei se tem no jogo o traço de "metida", sabe gente que se acha a última bolacha do pacote, elas também tem um jeito metido de andar, cabeça empinada, com nojo das coisas e pessoas, seria interessante adicionar :) haha
I can't wait to see crowd scenes where each para is walking along with their own gait, covering a range of influences.
The subtleties in these adds such a human element. I'm so used to exaggeration with the limbs in the Sims that I hadn't noticed the change in the first two vibes at first. Once I saw the detail in the facial expression and hands I got so excited!
Love how subtle these are.
Yay, can't wait to play! Also, I would love to see variation of elderly walk for fit and youthful paras in the future :)
I love how they are unique but not over the top!!!
These are amazing and really captures that realism charm! Can’t wait to see the babies animation in game!
I LOVE how realistic these are. So nice and subtle, not too overdone. This is so incredible 😭❤️
wow, you all nailed this. I love the subtlety of it all as well. Amazing showcase of walking styles! And 15 of them!!? Incorporated into their emotions/lifestyle? So gracious, lol, thank you 💞
So glad to see this beautiful and smooth animations! Just one thing, i don't know if i'm the only but i feel that overjoyd and happy Walk styles looks too similar
I am glad to see that children will also get walk styles, since in TS4 they didn't do that, and so the kids look wooden, compared to teens on up. But I do wish there was a way to control how elderly Paras are, instead of them all being the same, like not all elderly people are hutched over or have back problems, and I think we should be able to adjust how our Paras age, I frankly think it should go more by whether our Paras were athletic in their younger days through to adults, meaning before becoming elderly. Its like with the idea to have elderly Paras be less tech savvy, like in that video with the elderly Para and the teen, where the elder preferred to ordering things by calling, rather then from say an app or online, as someone who is older, I found that a bit insulting. Its agism really. But I also found the idea that teens couldn't order anything other then flowers a bit weird too, with them not being able to order food or something, which again isn't realistic. I mean I'm plenty tech savvy, and even if I make it to my 80s, I don't see me becoming nearly a technophobe. I know some ( younger people ) said that maybe as an older person they may have a harder time seeing the buttons on their phones, but that's what glasses are for. One problem I have always had with The Sims since TS2, when they added more life stages, was how those who were elderly are all the same, having trouble walking, back problems, and making weird noises too. I was happy that TS4 didn't make their voices change the way the other two did, but the way they have them walking and the sounds they made, I didn't like. Not all older people are the same, just like not all teens or young adults are either!
I agree. Elders are always the most mistreated lifestage, and it IS ageism (as well as, in the case of certain other franchises, a deliberate intention to target very young people and make them treat the game as a wish fulfillment fantasy for themselves, and not so much a LIFE simulation). It creates this vicious cycle where people don't play with Elders much, so not much content is made for Elders, which means that people don't play with Elders much. It saddens me that we perpetuate only one representation of old age (and sometimes even just being an adult) in the media, because then it's hard for people to picture themselves becoming anything but that frail/sickly/handing out hard candy stereotype, and it creates a culture of people being afraid of old age, and dismissing people who are old. It's not a Paralives-specific issue but it's definitely an issue Paralives hasn't tackled much so far ; hopefully during Early Access, once the core game systems are in place and more content updates start rolling, we'll see an improvement there. In the meantime I intend on making mod content for Elder Paras as much as my lousy skills will let me, and hope others will do the same. All that to say : huge co-sign. I think there should be room for the retired management executive Para who still dresses like she's attending a board meeting ; a dynamic Para who religiously attends yoga classes and maybe got some work done on his face ; a Para who never had children let alone grandchildren, and has tons of artistic projects ; a Para who found love a second time very late in their life and is spending all their time planning a wedding ; a Para who is in fact disabled and spends their time organizing meetings with Major Gloomberg to improve the accessibility in town... Like, that's what life simulations are for : telling tons of stories. Not the same story again and again for an entire lifestage. But then again, that's a lot to expect from just walk styles before Early Access has even dropped. "the idea that teens couldn't order anything other then flowers a bit weird too" I seem to remember it was clarified later that it was not supposed to happen and had been fixed since ? My memories are blurries so take it with a grain of salt, but I could swear I had read that somewhere.
They look amazing! Like others said, they're subtle, but still capture the emotion the para is feeling.
I love these animations! Especially the eyes! Does the regular walk still exist? I feel like if the Paras always walk based on their vibe or emotion it would be a bit over the top, so I'm hoping these walks only become active when the emotions are strong / occasionally for the vibe.
I like that they're subtle, not cartoony. You're doing fantastic.
Lina, I literally love the way you animate!
The animations are so neat ! You did a fantastic work, I found them to be very natural and even the facial expressions are properly done 🙌
Is it only me or does it feel like the steps are to small in a lot of them?
There's literally no way this game could be any better. You're creating such nuances, such exquisite details that no one really expected, that it's incredible. Ignore the further "demands" of pseudo-fans. You've outdone yourselves. In my opinion, you should focus solely on what's already there, to minimize bugs and other errors. If someone's asking for more walking styles for older people, it's ridiculous. The number of walking styles for the main age group, which no one really expected, is INSANE! You're the best. You're amazing!
I would love to see different styles for old people , maybe they can walk a little slower than the rest of paras. Also, is there possible to have twins or triplets? 👀🩷
Yyy, maybe not?
The animations are SOOOO GOOODD!!!! AAHH idk why but this post really hyped me up! xD also the emotions on the face look rly rly good ^.^ I like how they don't look overly cartoonish but you can still tell what emotion they're feeling or what type of personality they have! :D
Same here I’m so hypeeeed
I love these animations and options! I can imagine typical bored teenagers :D
i love the little details that toddlers can choose to either play or eat the sand 😂 i feel like that's so accurate to real life toddlers 🥲❤️
These are so fun to see! If you're taking feedback I think the stressed walk could be toned down and the disgusted one tuned up a bit!
Just because the stressed one reads more like.. nervous or apprehensive which i think is a different emotion. Maybe less wide eyes, maybe a grimace and side eye, more squinty eyes at time? These are amazing though, again :)
Love it - The added expressions and gestures are awesome!
Amazing update as always!! Maybe there could be something like a snobby walkstyle, as well as a very polished and elegant one, as well as something really goofy It’d be fun if we could choose the base walkstyle of the para That being said, the animation quality is unbelievable!!
Not sure about snobby or goofy, not if talking about something similar to what The Sims 4 has, that would give them too much of a cartoonie look and all, I don't want Paralives to be silly like The Sims is, not unless you choose for your Para to be silly. In TS4 even if you are trying to create a serious Sim, you can't, because all Sims act silly at some point. Its fine to be funny, and do funny things, but not to the point where every character you create is silly, not matter what traits you give them.
looking good. the facial expression is very good.
These are lovely! Expressive, but not excessive 😊
These all are so great! So many little details that feel so full of life 🩷 Is she stepping faster with the stressed walk? It looks like she is, which is such a neat detail! And immediately with the disgusted walk I was like, "She definitely saw something she wishes she hadn't and can't get it out of her head"
I'm very ecxited to see how the diffrent walk styles will look while playing in the live mode. 😍
Very impressive how the facial expressions convey the emotions. You guys did incredible work on this!
The walk styles look so good!!! I think my favorite is the angry one, the expression and little gestures look so realistic! Thank you again for all your hard work ❤️ Also I can’t wait to see the results of your secret chaos lol
Looks good, thank for yur hard work, genuinely can’t wait to give yu my money.
Yesss especially that last part!!
As a former toddler who ate sand in the sandbox, I appreciate the representation! 😄
these look so good! i especially liked the balled fists in the stressed and angry walks. i genuinely often only realise i'm having such emotions once i'm unclenching my fists, like, Wait, Have I Been Tense This Whole Time? also really liked the bit in the angry walk where the para kinda, idk, wipes their face? it looks really natural
Very cool animation's I'm very curious how it actually will work out when an lifestage, vibe and emotion result in a walking style like when an elder para has an energetic vibe or something like that.... (But since you're already having that in mind I'm just expressing my curiosity that's not a question) About emotions per say how much does it affect the game? And how do different emotions play a role on the game (like when a para is sad and also angry or another combination of emotions) how fast can a emotion change? How do they work together? How long do they last? How do they affect gameplay? Another unrelated question (maybe you've mentioned it once but I don't remember so sorry of thats the case) how does aging work in the game (can you decide wether other households age or not and how long a lifestafe lasts?)
I wish they would allow us to choose who ages, like being able to choose to cheat to stop one Para from aging, while others still do. I do that in TS4 with one of my Sims, I use MCCC and shut off aging and also make her immortal, lol! But it only effects her, and not everyone else. So I would like to be able to select a Para and then choose to turn off aging on them only and even death if possible.
Echoing everyone else’s thoughts that most of these look great so far, and they clearly add a nice extra touch of personality and individuality without being too over the top. My only constructive feedback is specifically for the “disgusted” emotion walk. The facial expression really doesn’t fit “disgust” very well, it just looks like another variation of “sadness”, I could even maybe see it covering “disappointment”, but it doesn’t look anything like disgust. The rest of the body language is pretty decent though, fwiw! Just need to get the facial expression to actually match it :) *Loved* the piano music in the background btw, I know it’s just a snippet, but I think this is actually one of my favorites so far! Thanks for sharing, and I continue to look forward to further updates! :)
Thank you for the feedback!!💌 I'm taking notes so we can discuss it with Alice!!🌞📝 I know I love it toooo!! 💖
Omg the animations are so smooth and fluid!! They are amazing, I feel like the jester walk is me!! 😅🤗 also beautiful song from Andrei! 👏🏻
i love the bored walk!! these have so much character!!
i love these!! i'm happy that the walk styles aren't too cartoony while still being easy to read and i really like that they can change instead of us choosing one that would always be applied. it's gonna be really cool seeing a para walk by and getting some information on them just by how they're moving!
🤩💖
Are we restricted to the vibe walks or is it something we can choose at the beginning of the game?
HI!! 💌 Yes! When selecting a Vibe for your Para in the Paramaker, you will get the corresponding walk! 🌞
I am happy to see the differences in walk styles are very subtle! In a certain other game it felt like a gimmick back when it was released because who really chooses different overexaggerated walks for their characters, but these just show a slight nod to how a Para is feeling or what their personality is like. Lovely :)
We are very glad you like it!! 🥹💌
I'm going to be totally honest; "Toddlers can now eat sand." is giving me flashbacks to ConcernedApes "You can now drink mayonnaise." The different ways of walking are so interesting. It will certainly make people-watching while my Paras are at work / school more fun. "That man seems grumpy! Hmm, Carina's Para must have been flirting with his spouse again."
Carina's Para is wreaking havoc in town 😂
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😍😍😍😍😍
This is so cool! it really shows as well how much of a walk is in the small details. I love the firmness of the Serious walk in comparison to all the rest; the stiff shoulders do a LOT to convey the "business first" vibe. Also loving the gestures and facial expressions, those really set apart cycles like sad + gloomy, and embarassed + disgusted.
Thank you so much! We are so glad you like it!! 🥹
The crawl animation and toddler info makes me SO happy. I can't wait for the game!
Can't wait either!! 🔥🤩
These are so great! You can really tell the emotional state of the Para. My favorite was the stress walk, the clenched fist! That poor Para needs a hug!
Thank you!!! I love the stressed walk too! 🤩
Wow!!! Love the array of personality within each walk. Fantastic work, as ALWAYS!
Thank you SO MUCH!! 🥹💖
Hi Lina, thanks for this new post ! I love how the Jester walk looks like the Para thought of a joke mid-step XD Now that's a Para I want to start a conversation with ! It's great because the walk styles end up being as much about giving the player an indication about what is going on, as it is about simulating a Para's inner life. It's not just turned outward. Overall most of them feel unique (maybe with the exception of Happy, which I'd need to see next to Overjoyed to really be able to tell ?), without being too cartoony. "while keeping the same speed and step length" That's a great decision. Especially because it also means that when you make Paras walk in a group, animations won't create delays that force you to wait for one of them to catch up. Are more Lifestage-specific walk styles planned, for instance once in Early Access ? I feel like for Child and Elder, some variations would be nice in the long run. "play and eat sand in the sandbox" Oh no XD
Hi ladyteruki!! Thank you so much for all the feedback!! We are very glad you like it! 🥹💖 There is no other walk planned for the early access release, but we would love to add more variations later! And we just HAD to have the toddlers eat sand 🤩
THE CLENCHED FISTS! and the subtle differences between clenched fists for the stressed walk vs angry walk. Also, I absolutely love the Montreal vibes of this street corner. Great job team
Thank you!! 💌🤩
I don't know if it can be made, but the pregnant and old para walking at the same place as everyone else is kinda weird. At the same time that I understand that not everyone wants "realism", maybe y'all could make tem a liiiittle bit slower? Again, don't know if possible. Also, I love the details of the jester's teeth flashing and the little "jitter" in the stressed walk hands
Hiii!! Thank you for the feedback! 💖🤩 It is possible to change the speed of each walk! I'm taking notes! 📝
All the emotional walks kind of look the same to me. There's not much difference unless you're looking at the face, which you won't really see while zoomed out.
I can see a big difference in body language, clenched fists, posture etc. I actually like this approach because it’s noticeable but not overly cartoony and goofy like other games…
Love that they aren’t completely over the top while still adding some character. I was a bit worried when I read that there will be a “jester”-walk. My immediate though was “will there be a way to turn that off?”, fearing that it would be too much, but it looks cute!
Thank you!! We're glad you like it! 🥹💖 You would be able to remove any walk via the mod system if you want!
Gloomy seems more mad to me and disgusted just doesn't feel very disgusted. Maybe tense? But I don't get that she's disgusted by anything
Thank you for the feedback!! It really helps us!! I'm taking notes!! 📝💌💖
Very beautifully done, great job!
This game has a perfect vibe:)🙇🏻
I can't wait for May...
Can't wait either!!! 💖🤩
The little waddle on the pregnant walk 🥰
🥹💖
Bravo:)
🥹💌
a little “chaotic” you say? that’s what i like to hear! toddlers being to eat sand? oh 😂 i hope as parents we can tell them they shouldn’t be doing that! love this
Yes so fun right!?
Looks so good so far! Really enjoy the personality it gives without being too over the top :)
Thank you!! 💖🥹
I love how you’re handling walk styles, I like how they’ll visually show differences in a para just by how they move
Thank you!! We are so glad you like it!! 💌💕
So excited
🥹💖
So cool ! I love it !
Thank you so much!!💕🤩
So much love has been put into this game. Can’t wait to spend hours playing 😍🔥🔥
Thank you!!!! We can't wait either!!!🔥💖
I LOVE ANGRY WALK OMGG
That Para has been FUMING for hours.