🛍️Susan's General Store + New Townies
Hello everyone, Léa here for a new Patreon post! I will showcase one of my favorite builds I've ever done for the game: Susan’s General Store, and introduce you to the family that owns it: The Vargas! If you’ve been watching the recent Live Stream, you’ve already seen Rina explore this store, but I'll talk about it in more detail here.
This Patreon post is for patrons only. Please do not share it, thank you!🔒
The Exterior
This build is a little special since it’s nested inside the ruins of a medieval tower. We wanted it to be a mash-up of different buildings, adding them one by one as extensions to the tower.
Susan is no longer the owner of the building, but it’s a city landmark, and the Vargas decided to keep the original name.
Primary concepts for the exterior of the store, with various color combinations.
In-game result for the front side of the build.
This store is located between the Old Town, the Mountain, and the Countryside on a busy road. They use their location to their advantage by running ads on their wall.
At the back, you have a public picnic area for the store's customers and a private patio for the shop's family. This area has a scenic view of the castle, the mountain, and the gorge, where you can find many collectibles.
The Store
Susan’s General Store, like its exterior, is multifaceted. Currently still in progress, a few features will unfortunately not be available when the game launches, but don’t worry, it will be updated later on! To be clear, we blocked out the areas that are not yet accessible: the convenience store on the left, the farmer’s market (where you can buy and sell fresh produce), and the food corner (where you can buy and sell homemade meals).
On the left of the front desk of the General Store, you can find a daily recipe available for 100 Paradimes.
In the extension to the right, you can buy everything you need to save energy in your Parafolks home! Solar panels, water filters, and wind turbines.⚡ You will also be able to buy a new discounted appliance every day, and on the right, you can see a pet and animal corner that is currently closed off!
At the top, you can see the Green Energy corner; in the middle, the daily appliance to buy; and on the right, the pet/animal area, currently unavailable.
The mushroom greenhouse is sold only at this store and is available in various colors. After buying the greenhouse, you will be able to harvest mushrooms from it every day for the museum or to sell. All the mushrooms will be able to spawn in it, even rare ones!
Meet the Vargas Household
The Vargas are a married couple with one daughter. Paloma Vargas just inherited the store from her mother and decided to renovate it with her husband, Dario.
The mother-daughter duo recently started painting as a hobby, and Dario is very supportive of their passion: he loves hanging their paintings around the house, even the bad ones! He’s very devoted and absolutely adores his family. You will see around the house the many flowers he keeps giving to his wife and daughter. Dario is an excellent pianist and loves to sing for his ladies.
Their teenage daughter, Nayla, has decided to take over the old tower. As an only child, she’s the little princess of the family, and she wanted a bedroom that fit her status. She’s a theater kid and would love to become an actress one day.
The Vagas family posing in front of their home.
Their living room is a mix of Paloma’s mother's old furniture and their own. As decor, Dario displays the many flower bouquets gifted to his wife and daughter, along with their paintings on the walls.
The old tower is part of the house; you will find it on every floor!
The kitchen was added to the house behind the store extension. The appliances are a little old, but it’s a great place to cook!
There is a family room on the 2nd-floor landing, with space to read and lounge while Dario plays the piano. The store inventory slowly takes over the house; you can find many articles piling up in the corners.
Paloma and Dario’s bedroom. It’s simple and cozy.
On the left is the ensuite bathroom, which also houses the washer-dryer combo (won’t be functional at release but present as decor). On the right is the home office that also serves as a small art studio for Paloma.
Nayla’s bathroom in the tower part of the house is fun and colorful, like her!
Nayla’s bedroom is on the top floor of the old tower. She spends a lot of her time in here, reading and painting!
Like many teenagers, Nayla is a big fan of Miki and collects goodies from her favorite singer.
On the roof of the tower, there is a small spot to stargaze, but the way is shut. Paloma doesn’t like her little princess taking risks; it’s too dangerous for a kid (we plan to add ladders sometimes after release)!
That’s it for today’s post. I hope you liked it. 🙂
Have a nice weekend!
Léa 🐶
Comments (55)
I just wanted you to know that you have sparked my imagination❤️ Now a Patreon member, following you on all my platforms, waiting in anticipation for the release🤗On my wishlist, hoping that all that is shown will be implemented in the game (sorry, past experiences😊). So until the 25th, my friends❤️❤️❤️
i am making this a house for my family
I really like this family and am looking forward to playing them., and the house & store were done very well. Can't wait for my late birthday gift to come out! Great job team Para! Hugz to all of you <3
One question: in the game, when we click on an existing family, will it show their story, as shown here? That would be really cool to add more immersion to the game. Everything is so beautiful and cozy, I'm looking forward to May 25th.🇧🇷🤎
Adorei ter seu negócio em casa,no futuro nossos paras também poderam ter seus negócios em casa? O jogo tá lindo e muito aconchegante.🩷🤎
I dont like that the diary or the newspaper some words are blured. 😑 write sometuing interesting or change the design.
that's a bit rude
OMGosh this is so adorable, no way! I already like Nayla. I would also skimp for that tower bedroom, ngl.
soo cute!
Amazing! I love all the ways the town is asking players to explore it. This is what we need in an open world. Lots of good reasons to explore it. Can't wait!
Wow the game looks so beautiful, great work!!!
Such a cute and detailed build! I love how much love you guys put into these designs and the Paras' stories. :)
I love how alive you made them feel 💜
so cute, i have so many ideas for playing with the Vargas!!
This is remarkable. So real, so beautiful, so fun. The Vargas family seems really wholesome!!! Lovely work and update. Love the mushroom container!
the best thing a life sim can do is leave room/areas for MORE!! I love there being a section for pet stuff in the story even if they arent there yet.. this is great :D
Amazing! I love it! The whole story too!
I like that you can see the different sections of the building are different ages. It shows the house, and by extension the town, have been around long enough for architecture trends to change several times. I also like that there are areas set aside for future store sections. I have a question regarding accessibility though. Does that back door by appliances lead to a ramp or is there a step off the porch there? I know accessibility gameplay is still a while off, but it's a bit of a bummer that most of the shops so far don't seem to have areas set aside to add those features later. If that is a ramp (or intended to become one) on that side door it's encouraging since those stairs at the front door make it tricky enough to access the store.
Hello, there is no ramp here, but the newest extension of the store is at floor level, meaning there is no stairs to access it!
I really love the concept of the mashup. It look awesome. Could we maybe keep animal selling/buying out of the game, even if just as an option? I hate the idea of exchanging money instead of just adopting.
I think the corner is to buy items for the pet rather than buying a pet
Just the princess of the house with her bedroom in a tower 👸🏾💕
That wallpaper in Nayla's bedroom is super nice.
The house looks great and looking forward to the gameplay that comes with the shop ( I note some come after launch). Good to know the issues with playing the Vargas will be addressed once the shop/apartment system is added in early access. I was wondering if we can expect another live stream in April.
How fun, I visited an old general store just yesterday, in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue! They had a little corner with old cash registers and relics from the early 1900s, when the store first open. They still had the original floors (you could feel the age when walking on them) and an old overhead rail that used to carry cash from one room to another. Something like this would be very cool! I know there's already a museum, but a little section with vintage stuff from when the store opened would be very nice and fun for the world building! Like an old box of shoes, old accounting books, vintage drinks machine, etc...
Will we be able to edit the general store lot using a cheat? I absolutely love the building and how it integrates the tower ruins and would love to renovate it some time and turn it into a home for my Parafolks. I understand if it's locked from build mode though if it's interfering with how the game works (as it's a public lot that serves a unique function). I could always recreate my own version of it of course 😁 On that note, how is the partly collapsed top portion of the tower achieved with the build tools? Are those walls of different heights joined together or is it like some platform thing? I'm intrigued!
Hello Max! I did the top part in Blender to match the tower perfectly! Our system has limitations and I wouldnt be able to have the exact result I wanted for it without adding a custom mesh You will be able to edit the lot and destroy everything if you want to, but we strongly advice not to since we have gameplay features installed here, it would be at your own risk. This lot is not intended to be renovated by players, but you could renovate the house without causing any major issues
How many premade households are you planning on, closer to 10 or 30?
Hi Lea 👋 I've been loving all your builds in the game, and I especially love this General Store build. The blending of the ancient tower with the old store to the new store depicts time transitions. The family living on-site speaks of generational ties to the land. To me these touches add a richness to family history and town lore. Oh, the challenges, hardships, and victories one can only imagine the family endured and survived. I'm so looking forward to shopping at the store and meeting this wonderful family. Thank you, Lea for all you've done in helping to bring the town and community of Paralives to life! ✨️
If you play the household, will the store still work?
Yes, it will, but you won't get any money out of it. The parents are working at the store, but it won't be an active job, you will just see them there and won't be able to interact with them or play them during work hours
The builds have been so well done! This one is probably my favorite you guys have shown off so far! Great job! 💜
The world building and attention to detail in this game is amazing, thank you for sharing this build!!
What a beautifully intricate built! Well done Lea 😍 Love how the house and family story has so much personality. And honestly can’t wait for all the updates that the store has already been built towards. The fresh produce, the FOOD CORNER! The ANIMAL sectioooon! 👀👀 honestly, this is all so exciting!! Your post left me just with a question. Before I was under the impression that you couldn’t have a shop and a house on the same building even tho the town was already built in that direction with apartments. However, the gameplay was still not ready for that, hence why the closed shops in the plaza, or empty houses where there’s shops. But how will the gameplay be like in the general store when there’s a playable house and store in the same built? Thank you for the outstanding job as always ❤️
Hello! I'm so happy you like it ❤️ We wanted this build in the game, so we decided to proceed as is, without the fully functional/playable store. Paras will come and go, but the store won't bring you any money. Owning the store means you can live in the building but Paras will not make a difference between both and some will venture inside your home. The store/appartement system will be added during early access and fix thoses issues
I know this isn’t related to the post but I wanna re-introduce a mermaid themed world I pitched back when there was a suggestion box on Patreon. I envision a Hawaiian esc world with palm trees and a quaint, cozy open air neighborhood with a bar and a beach nearby, with some possible seagulls flying around, picking up any stray food on the ground. But my idea also has a secret tunnel that can only be accessed by merfolk through a bush near the town. Merfolk could walk into the bush and emerge from it into a cavern world with a shallow pool and merfolk living in small underwater homes and also some fancy, royalty esc homes at the far end of the pool. Regular Parafolk could also come into the grotto if they were invited and if they also got some magical seaweed that would allow them to breathe underwater. And maybe the sea could also have some hidden homes near the bottom that normal Parafolk couldn’t reach because they would drown. If you like my idea, let me know!
I love this idea! Unfortunately, we don't plan to add magic in Paralives anytime soon. We want to have a more realistic approach for now. I do love the idea, the fact that normal Paras could still visit is really fun too!
I noticed how you guys showed that Dario loved giving flowers to his wife to display his love (which I think is super cute). But it made me wonder does he buy the flowers from flower shop downtown (very loyal costumer if that was the case lol). Is there or would thier be a botanical career in the long run, would we be able to grow our own flowers in our para’s back yard and could thier be some kind off community garden or garden competition thing as like a town event?
Oooh, I could see a "Nature" Domain being added to careers with appropriate jobs, complete with the town events you describe and an Outdoorsiness Knowledge, to make for a perfect, rounded update !
It's beautiful!! You are so good at world building through decor!🤩❤️✨
Hi Léa ! Thank you for this new post, I'm really loving this place. I remember seeing the curved interior and thinking of how great it is that it's built in a tower... but looking at the outside, the general store is actually built in ruins ? That's even better in my book. I like how the world is not in pristine condition and some of it has decayed a bit, but is still loved and lived in. I also love all the clutter around the Vargas' house, with boxes and jars and all kinds of products they probably swear they'll sort out next week once the big sale is over (but then there's another big sale and here we go again). Nayla's bathroom is also strangely adorable, it's like her bathroom and her bedroom are of different Lifestages, truly depicting how much of a transition the past year or two might have been for her. The environmental storytelling is on point. I almost regret seeing in posts rather than by myself while playing in May. "we blocked out the areas that are not yet accessible: the convenience store on the left, the farmer’s market (where you can buy and sell fresh produce)" Obligatory eye eye emoji. "The mushroom greenhouse is sold only at this store and is available in various colors. After buying the greenhouse, you will be able to harvest mushrooms from it every day for the museum or to sell. All the mushrooms will be able to spawn in it, even rare ones!" See now I love that, because I don't always want to go across town for these things (or don't have the time to if the household is already busy with work, children, etc.), so the ability to grow them at home is a great option that suits my gameplay style while still involving me in the town activities you folks have added to the game. Plus it's a nice preview of a future gardening system ! Lastly I have a question, but it's more for Rina, Gab and Andrei : are there any plans to have a "launch concert" livestream in May, with Andrei playing a few of the songs from the soundtrack ? (especially if the game launch is also the soundtrack launch...) No big production. Maybe just one camera in his studio, a nice ring light, an a couple of instruments that Andrei feels comfortable switching between, for I don't know, half an hour or something ? Of course I seem to remember Andrei also has a band, but that would require more rehearsal and space. I'm really talking about something cozy, simple and genuine... the way this game has always been. (this question was inspired by the end of last year's video, in which Andrei recorded Parli voice acting)
I'm really happy that you liked the build, we thought for a long time of keeping it a surprise! I sent your idea to the rest of the team, it would be lovely, I hope we will be able to do it! Have a nice day :D
LOVE this! So excited for Early Release!
Are we gonna be able to kick families out of their houses? 👀 cause this build is super cute!
You will, but the store will not be playable as one, you will just own the place and live in the house part! :)
The 🍄!! 😂😊so cute
I love how the back yard is separated for customers and people who live there!
The biggest bedroom being in the tower part of the house is THE DREAM 😍
I always love how the houses tell stories on Paralives ❤️❤️ you guys did great here
wait so cool before i didn’t see you all put furniture against curved walls but now you did! i just want to get my hands on the build mode 😭
Yoooo I'm obsessed with this build ✨✨
Oh my word im in love with this amazing build 😍 ✨️ 💖 so amazing detail
I love how you add incentives to visit the town!
The general store looks so COSY!! And I’m loving the sneak peak of the cow hehe 🤗 also I’m needing Paloma and Dario’s bed 🤣 amazing job as always guys!
Is the time yet?!! I am so excited! Yay! These look AMAZING. The house has this lived in feeling and I love it so much already!