Exclusive Look at the Exterior of our House
Hello everyone! Chloé here bringing you today’s Patreon post.
For the past year, we have been working on the art style of our furniture items, as well as vegetation and other world-related elements. We have been developing all this through a house that is a testing dummy with the sole purpose of validating the art style we aim to have in-game. We have recently showcased its interior, but today, Léa and I are happy to showcase the exterior of the house, as well as a snippet of other exterior elements.
Original concept art I drew when I joined Paralives, which was shared in a previous Patreon post. So much has changed since then, it is quite exciting!
Other concept that I drew as we progressed on the house and solidified our vision on the art direction we were taking. It also better represents the more vibrant and unique feel we wanted to achieve with this house.
The house as it currently is! Its architecture has changed slightly over time as I got more familiar with the Quebec vernacular style I originally was inspired by. We also made the yard smaller than originally planned, to better fit the confined but cozy interior.
Closeup of the house’s garden. We’ve worked really hard on the style for the vegetation, but we think it really paid off! We hope players will enjoy creating gardens with our assets just as much as we’ve enjoyed creating said assets.
Closeup of the terrace area. I’m so jealous of this pleasant picnic area…
The house’s patio. Another cozy spot for a Para to enjoy some fresh air!
Closeup of the spot in the sunshade. This rock was briefly featured in the Maggie’s Summer showcase, but was originally created as part of this scene in order to test how we wanted rocks to look like.
Closeup of the disposal bins and bike. Please note that the bins, which are very Canadian-inspired, will not be the only options available, and the bicycle is not currently functional as a means of transportation!
The sky. I did a bit of work on our skies and atmosphere. Everything is hand painted!
Closeup of our gable and roof. Speaking of which, some team members weren’t familiar with rooster weathervanes until I decided to add one to the project! Is it really farm/cottage-core without at least one chicken/duck/flying friend item, though?
Is that…a road?! Or a morsel of it, at least?! 👀
Overall shot of the house and its yard.
Alternate color version of the house, which takes a bit more after the original sketch. Which of the two color palettes is your personal favorite?
It took a lot of work, but the team is really proud of how far we’ve come with this little house, which documents a bit our progress on developing the styles of our environments, our furniture items, etc!
We hope you enjoyed this little showcase. With that said, we wish you a lovely weekend!
Chloé and Léa ٩(＾◡＾)۶
Edit - February 9, 2023: This post is now public, feel free to share it!
Comments (107)
some of the flowers could use details, like the tulips :')
Looking good
So pretty! Yellow is definitely the best color!
Oh, I love the first one, the yellow colour, it looks bright and fun. :) Also, the garden, patio and additional items and landscaping are looking great! :)
everything looks so beautiful 🥹 I love seeing how refined and polished the game gets over time with yalls hard work n dedication 💜 It's like a dream come true 🫶
As much as i like the vibrancy of the first one i kind of like the second color variation
I'm so amazed by how beautiful this is all coming along, I know I have to be patient but I can't wait to be able to play this and immerse myself <3
the sky looks absolutely amazing
Love getting a summary of everything from this year with little hints at future features thrown in! As always, great work!
I'm so proud of this team! 😍 can't wait to starting the actual game! The beige house is more of my personal style but the yellow house is my favorite. It matches the style of the whole house.
I love the aesthetic of this game so much
i cant ecpress how excited i am for this game its crazy
This is absolutely incredible! Personally, I prefer the yellow exterior because it's just so bright! Keep up the great work as always! Hugs🤗
I just love this house and the wonderful art style you've decided on! Can't wait to start building myself 😍
this is looking incredible! im a big fan of colourful houses, but the muted variation definitely makes me wish/hope that the plants will be recolourable; a darker vine colour would compliment both house paints better i think
I'm in love with the yellow version ! 🥰💛
I'm OBSESSED with the Ghibli-esque sky and the screen door on the second story! <3 You're all doing an amazing job, Paralives is looking beautiful!!
Can’t wait for the release of this game 😍😍
so sweet and cute! all of the plants are looking so good, and the house itself looks fantastic :) the clouds add so much to the whole scene as well
Love the muted colour and the yellow as the latter gives some character. However I love soft/muted colours as opposed to being yellows etc. looks super beautiful it’s coming along so well !!
The yellow house looks super cheery to me! And I also really like the tiny flowers in the garden.
To me the muted coloring has a realistic look to it while the bright yellow feels more like a cartoon or video game. As I know there are folks in this community looking forward to styling their game on both ends of the spectrum, it's really cool to know that both are possible to achieve!
This looks great! Personally, if I'd ONLY seen the in-game house with the more muted color, I would have said it was fabulous, but having seen the vibrant yellow version, the muted one just doesn't compare! I love how sunny the yellow one is.
i hope this house will be included in the game
Can't believe all of the progress, the whole team should be so proud. I prefer the yellow house and I'm not usually one for bright colors, especially yellow, but it reminds me of how cozy the cottage is in Stardew Valley! Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
This is so stunning! I like both color schemes, but I have to say I slightly prefer more muted colors so the alternate colored house would be my favorite. Also, that sky may be my favorite thing about this. It really looks straight out of a ghibli movie.
I’m really proud with you! This is amazing!!
C'est magnifique! j'espère avoir beaucoup de fleurs pour créer des jardins avec des chemins réalistes. Beau travail!
I like the yellow palette more cause i like briget colors. I can't wait for this game! 😁
I like the more muted house tone better just because the surroundings are also very bright. The contrast is more pleasing to my eye. But of course, a bright yellow house may fit the personality of a certain Para. Very nice job.
Absolutely beautiful! I love the whole vibe of this game 😍
LOVE! so cozy and stirs up a lot of excitement.
The sidewalk and road levels are just grabbing me. I love them
I love the country cottage art style. It's similar in some ways to our Australian Queenslander houses - except that they have wide wrapping verandahs. I'm sure I'll be able to make our Queenslanders from your game, providing there are enough decorative skirtings and trims to choose from. My favourite one between the two is the more yellowish one, but I like them both. I'm also wandering if a pale sky blue colour would also work. It's a popular colour for similar houses in Australia. I'm watch you guys with intense jealousy of your wonderful artistic ability. I have no visual art ability (my artistic skill lives in music and acting), but watching the wonderful things that you guys come up with make me wish I had. I love your rooster weather vane - georgous! Also your bins are similar to our bins in Australia too: different colours and slightly different shapes, but similar. I suspect that most of the western world probably has bins similar to this. The symbols are pretty universal. We can just change the colours. We have black and deep mission green bins with varied lid colours, depending upon the contents. :-) And your vegetation is wonderful. My personal favourite is the potted yellow daffodils on the table on the verandah.
I like the second image's colour palette, because the first one feels almost cartoony with how bright the palette is. Though I'm sure someone else would love the brightness. :)
I love everything about the home, and both exterior colors!! 😄
I absolutely LOVE it! Especially in love with the little upstairs balcony thats raised slightly above the roof! One thing im wondering though is if we will be able to remove the wall on the sides of a sloped roof like the one above the front door? I sometimes want to make perhaps a gazebo or something similar with only columns supporting a roof, and it always looks so strange if theres suddenly a wall coming out of nowhere haha i hope i managed to explain that properly. Anyway, keep up the amazing work you do! Always so excited to see more of what youre working on!
Hello Pernille! I understand what you mean for the roofs, it would be cool! I cannot offer any definite answer on whether you will be able to have a roof only by columns though, since the roof system is still being developed currently. We will take a look at the possibility!
So happy to see this come to life! That you care about the exterior and plants! And I agree about previous person mentioning the green bushes that has a single colour in them :) addind 1 or 2 more might add more depth to them :) And I love that we will get more options for garbage disposal. Could it be added to have a food dispensal bin? In sweden we use food leftovers for fuel! That Could be a cool environmental friendly part. Maybe make your own fuel for a machine or something. And all the detailing of the roof and the awning is so WOW😍. Amazing amazing work here! Truly. Can't wait to start building in this game. A dream come true! And btw. Have you guys thought about ground textures or "flooring" for outside? AND will there be a hidden way of making your para walk in a certain angle or something. Like with a path that is not straight, can we make them walk on that none straight path? 😊 Again, beautiful work
Hello Kiiiwiii! I am pretty sure we will have options for food disposal and compost bins! I had initially made one for the scene, but it was simply cut out from the final images in the end. As for the ground textures and paths, I have done a few tests already to that effect. We haven't really thought about the pathfinding relying on the floor paths to choose a path where the Para will walk, so I cannot say for certain it will be in the game! We have to give it a bit more thought, but it's a really cool idea :)
je suis tellement excitée de construire mes propres maisons dans ce jeu !
Absolument fantastique! J'aime la façon dont il est dynamique, mais toujours réaliste.
i am struggling with what to write as... oh my goodness. so much amazing stuff. i think it depends on who the house belongs to, etc as to whether it suits being brighter or duller. i am in love with the details. it is just crazy the attention to detail you guys have. i mean... the gutter in the road for crying out loud. i think i have mentioned on the patron section of discord almost everything i have loved from this patreon post. thank you lea and chloe for this amazing post.
Absolutely fantastic! The main reason I will play this game is to build and and I really appreciate all the thought put in to all of the small details that will take building in the game so much fun and better than anything I can do in other games right now!
Looking wonderful!
Everything looks wonderful. The bike looks fab, hoping it'll look similar once they're made functional. Or perhaps even different styles of bikes, like for commuting versus sports? And bicycle paths? Would love it if in the future it'd be possible for things like exterior paint/materials to deteriorate, like fading colors or if walls are made of wood the wood needing replacing. And depending on the price tag of the material (cheap, medium, expensive) it could take x, y or z game years for it to occur.
Oh my god, I am so excited to build my own houses in this game! It looks absolutely incredible. It's cool to see the progression of the concept art to the in-game build. I'd definitely love to see this house in the final game if possible! For the colour scheme I'd probably pick the safe neutral second one, but the yellow looks great, reminds me of Ponyo (the hand-painted clouds also gave me immediate Ghibli vibes). One thing, some of the bushes look quite flat to me, particularly the two potted ones by the front door. They're kind of just a green blob with some leaves on the edge. In previous posts I wasn't confident in my opinion but seeing them in context with a house, I definitely feel they could use more detail. I'm no artist, but comparing to the other plants I'd guess shadows to define the leaves more? I glad to hear that there'll be more bin options that are less Canadian, it's the little things like that can make a huge difference for specific house styles. Also I'd love to see the bicycle as a decor object even if it's not functional (yet!).
i agree about the potted plants by the door, they somehow look more flat than the rest of the vegetation. and absolutely agree on the Ponyo vibes! now i want to see some houses by the coast..
I really like the orginal color of the house
I love how colorful everything is!
I love how it's vibrant, but still realistic looking. Like the colors don't overwhelm me in a too cartoonish way. Also I like the muted tone of the alternate house that was based off the original sketch. Both are nice though.
Incredible!!! I can’t wait to play – the more I see the more excited I get!
I love the house (yellow one is my favorite) and the new items, the chairs on the patio! etc, even if the screenshots, in my opinion, doesn't do justice to the actual game due to medium quality of the pictures. I know it's still work in progress but I hope to see some improvements on lighting/ shading. Other than that it's beautiful, mainly the sky ! thank you for your hard work !
Hi Virginie! Lighting and shading are still not final, as they are a big technical challenge. We are still experimenting and trying things out in order to preserve performance and have the best look possible!
This looks amazing!! Love it! 🤩🤩
This is so beautiful! I'm really impressed with how things are progressing! So excited to see more!! <3
Gorgeous and exciting 💜
Oh wow I really love this!!! The vibrant colors and the texture of the plants and the sky reminds me of Ghibli, which os always amazing of course. Can't wait to see whole neighborhoods in this style! I do have one question: are there plans, eventually, to have uneven terrain for the towns? What we've seen so far is lovely, but also very flat 😅 I just love the idea of those rows of houses on a slanted street, it's very scenic.
Hi Mauro! Comparing our work to Ghibli is such a compliment, ahah Thank you for your question! We are planning to have uneven terrain for the town; as for the slanted street, it's something we would definitely love to do. We have to test things out first to see if it can work out!
Everything about this is so beautiful!! You guys pretty much created my dream house lol. Is this going to be an available property in the game? You’re all doing such a good job, I can’t wait to see what you share with us next!
Hi Holly! We aren't sure yet if the house will make it into the game. However, you should have all the items to recreate it if you wanted to! :D
Its becoming so real omggg
These set of pictures are on the low quality side of things.
Hi V! Thank you for the feedback, it's noted.
The clouds are my favorite part. All beautiful. I like both color options for the house. I imagine the para I move in would dictate the color.
I want to live in it 😍
This is just incredible! The plants are looking amazing and work beautifully with the style of the house. And I may be a little in love with those clouds... As for the different colour palettes, I think both achieve different things. The more muted palette really emphasises the beauty of the vegetation. The brighter palette is more vibrant and eyecatching - and perhaps overall slightly more interesting. Perhaps a colour midway between the two would work best?
It looks glorious! I do like vibrant colors a lot, so it’s definitely the yellow house for me. I’m really happy where everything is going and can’t wait to play the game.
I just want to cry everytime i got an email 🥲but the yellow one 🥰
I prefer the second more subtle colors, think the more vibrant one takes away from the beautiful vegetation around, and the subtle gives a more antique connected to nature vibe?! Maybe?
Amazing as always ❤️
Is it fair to say you’re fast approaching your final art style for both Paras and the environment they live in? It definitely feels like it. I know you have some work you wanna do on water and lighting too, but it still feels like you have the bulk of the art style set in stone. And I’m absolutely thrilled with what I see, I have no notes. It’s a style that will age well, I can see you getting a lot of years of mileage out of it. I can’t comment on how it will perform because I don’t know a thing about that, but the way this project is going, I oughta start saving up now for a special computer dedicated solely to the optimal running of Paralives, lol. (That is to say, the quality is already so high that I want to make sure I’m experiencing it at its best instead of using my laggy years old hardware)
Hi Sean! We are indeed nearing the end of the development of the art style :) As for performance, it's something we keep in mind while creating the assets! We want the game to run as smoothly as possible on most computers.
This looks so cute and pleasant! I love it! Great job! :)
Beautiful!
As a European, I hope for bike paths next to the road. I wouldn't want to try biking in that street. Good thing the bike is only for show. :)
As an American, we have very few bike paths, and mostly just ride in the street. The law says you ride in the street and follow the same traffic laws as cars. I would imagine the same is true in Canada where the creators are.
I'm in love. I really try to give some advice, but I just have nothing to say
I love it, I hope this house gets an appearance/spot in the base game as an ode to the development. I cannot wait for this game!!
The team's approach to this project is exemplary. On the first go, you've done something that everyone would be happy with, given how small the team is. Then you say, ok, it's not bad, but let's work on it a bit more. And then you come up with something that already looks like it was done by a big game developer. I'd like to apply this attitude in my life :)
I am so in love with this!!!! It's absolutely gorgeous and so clear to see the love put into all the little details. As someone who loves to decorate houses with plants, that garden area is *chef's kiss*. That bike is adorable and I can only hope that maybe down the line it becomes functional. Imagine how cute it would be to see a Para taking a bike ride around the neighborhood in that thing?! The clouds, the latticework, the mailbox, the cast iron patio set, the archway...all of it looks phenomenal. I'm gonna be over the moon when this game releases and I can start designing to my heart's content!
This looks so good :D
your work and art design is amazing, but please put effort also on performance! with big houses, the sims always struggles
Hi Giuseppe! Performance is one of our big priorities when creating assets. Every asset is created with it in mind, because we know some people might put a lot of items around, and we don't want it to affect negatively their game experience :D
Do you guys get any plans to Paralives in December?
The house is gorgeous! I cannot wait to build this game! The yellow is definitely better. Way cozier. I am confused on the trash bins being "Canadian style" most places around me in the US use those so I am curioud what else is there is haha. Unless just the regular pull off lid ones. One thing I see is the purple flowers at the base of the tree. They look so flat and they also look like they are floating above the stone around the tree and like the tree goes right through them. I think more shading on the flowers and some very very slightly going up the tree rather than being uniform straight across would help.
Hello Court! The trash bins are like these in Canada, but some of our French team members mentioned that their trash bins are super different! I think in North America the bins are somewhat similar, but in Europe it's other models. Thank you for the feedback! The flower bed is separate from the tree, so if players choose to have only the flowerbed, there will be no hole in the middle of the flowers. That it why it seems like the tree goes right through the flowers; it's because it does! We will definitely have another look at it to better the rendering of it, though :)
This is so beautiful! The clouds are giving me serious studio ghibli vibes and I am here for it <3
I loveee thissss it’s so beautiful
I'm so excited to play this game!!
Hi Chloé I have a question for you has the day and night cycle been changed in the game? because the light system doesn't seem the same as it has been for a while. Can you tell me if it has been modified please? I'm also curious to know if water has been modified since we last saw it in Sebastian's Summer video? :D I loved the picnic basket and the towel underneath it and what a DREAM bike this is, I loved it beyond the vines on the walls,What a cute and fluffy cloud i want it can't i ? Congratulations on your magnificent work!!
Hello Cinderelabaiana! Indeed, keen eye! The lighting is indeed different than it was in the game. It has been modified in this external project and in-game as well! We are slowly solidifying the lighting and the lighting system of the game, so it might change a bit more in the future too! The water has also been changed! I am currently working on the water shader amongst other water-related things, so it is still going to change a bit! :)
The house came out great! Question, if you add a drive way can it connect to the road or is there a gap for the sidewalk?
Hi Scarlletta! We haven't decided the technicalities of the road system yet, so I cannot give a definitive answer to your question. I would think however that the sidewalk would remain if there is one already, but that it would be sloped down to allow vehicles to enter their driveway without a hitch.
Absolutely beautiful I love everything so far
I want to see the live mode
Wow, this is so perfect! Could you make another video building a whole house soon, since you have advanced in the tools?
Hi Julio! This house was created in an external project just to test the art style, since some tools aren't fully finalized in the game. We will, no doubt, make a little showcase when the building features will be fully functional in-game!
OH MY GODDDD THE FLOWERS! I'm so obsessed I love it so much
Obsessed, it's so cute! Also the clouds are super pretty too :)
It looks great!! I love it 🥰
Omg this is so cute!! Thank you for adding more traditional assets along with the more modern ones. These look traditional but also very versatile. I can't wait for this game
I think it looks more than amazing! Great job, the house has a great vibe, feels cozy.
woww
Absolutely gorgeous. Can't wait to play around with the tools myself :3
Absolutely beautiful ❤️❤️❤️
The house is beautiful!