Breakdown of What We’re Working On
Hey there,
Alex here. I hope you had a great week. In today’s post I will share an overview of what every single member of the team is currently up to (there’s 11 of us). This should give you a good perspective on our current goals. This is for Patrons only so please don’t share, thank you!
🔊 Andrei (Music Composer and Sound Designer)
Andrei has been working hard on the design of the spoken language of the Parafolks. Our goal is for it to sound interesting and real, despite the fact that it will be a made-up language. He tested various approaches and we’re getting close to being able to select one of them which is pretty exciting!
📝 Gabrielle (Communication Manager)
Gabrielle is handling our social media accounts, replying to messages and emails from the community. She is also taking care of publishing one social media post each week, like the one we shared yesterday. In addition to that, Gabrielle takes care of managing and publishing the dev chat on Discord (the weekly Q&A with the devs) for Patrons on the Hero tier or higher.
🙋♀️ Alice (Animator)
Alice is creating various one-on-one talking animations like neutral discussions, a funny discussion, an argument, etc. She is also researching how we should animate characters who are taking part in a group discussion.
A sneak peek at one of the talk animations. You can also see a bug on the left hand of the character which has now been fixed by Alice.
👩🎨Sonia (Artist)
Sonia is working on suits: shirt, vest, tie, bowtie and more. She is also putting up together the list of all the hairstyles we would like to include in the game at launch. To help with that, this week, she asked each member of the team to brainstorm about the hairstyles they would like to see in the game which was a pretty cool exercise for us.
👩🎨 Léa (Artist)
Léa recently created various new build mode objects like doors, windows, a toilet and a bathroom sink. Next, she will be working on 2 new hairstyles!
👩🎨 Chloé (Artist)
Last week, Chloé focused her efforts on creating many new wall and floor textures. This week, she worked on many new pieces of furniture: chairs, tables and beds.
One of the many new objects Chloé made. Left: the view from Blender, the 3D modelling software that we use. Right: the same chair but in the game.
👨💻 Jérémie (Programmer and Game Designer)
An important question is being tackled by Jérémie: how will the player be able to easily make multiple characters perform interactions together as a group? For instance, this includes having dinner as a family, watching TV with friends, having a chat with neighbors and so on. In other words, Jérémie is working on how exactly the player will order the characters to do group interactions.
In addition to that, Jérémie is working on the design of the relationship gameplay to determine how Parafolks will develop and make progress in their relationships.
👨💻 Richard (Programmer and Game Designer)
Richard is focusing on how Parafolks will be positioned among themselves when performing social interactions together. Read more about it in last week’s Patreon post.
👨💻 Alejandro (Programmer and Game Designer Intern)
Alejandro is currently fixing various bugs and making different improvements to existing game features. He will also be helping to develop gameplay features related to relationships.
👩💻 Anna (Programmer and Game Designer)
In order for our Parafolks to look natural while performing various interactions, they more often than not need to look at a specific object of interest. For instance, if 5 characters are standing in a circle, they need to look at the person who is currently speaking by turning their eyes, head and upper body toward them. The same thing goes when people are watching TV or when a character watches another character walk by. Anna is working on dynamically adapting what each character is looking at depending on these various situations.
Notice how the characters automatically look at their target. It can also be used while sitting, like the characters in the back.
🙂 Alex (Lead Developer)
At the moment, I’m assisting the game designers of the team with their plans for the various live mode gameplay features we are currently developing. Also, I’m often working with Gabrielle to prepare content to share on our social media accounts as well as preparing and writing Patreon posts like the one you are currently reading!
I hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for more updates regarding the features and content we’re creating for Paralives!
Cheers,
Alex
Comments (43)
This is all so cool! I totally love the attention to detail with the para's head and eyes following the person talking. The upper body also moving seems a tad awkward. It doesn't look like a comfortable way of interacting for the paras on the couch either. Maybe if they turned their whole body to face each other it would look more natural.
I'm liking how collaborative the making of Paralives sounds! I think it will make for a very cohesive game. I'm really liking the animation previews, looks very natural, not exaggerated or over the top. The chair is looking very nice too, something that I'm sure most people have had or at least seen in someone else's backyard! Seems very down to earth, which I hope comes across as a compliment. A lot of the homes I make are based on real life and there's nothing more frustrating than having a ton of objects that aren't usable because they're too flashy or eccentric. Anyway, looking forward to future posts, as always, good job team!
génial!
lol never realized there were boob bones in the paras as seen in the first gif
It would be cool if next to some interactions there would be a group symbol you could click on for ”ask to join” and you could select paras in the vicinity to perform the interaction with. Then they’d call out for them and Paras that are tired or that yours doesn’t get along with would maybe decline or something.
Just as an aside, it would be a nice addition if two characters who were chatting would occasionally look away from each other to break eye contact. I believe there are studies that show when we are talking with others, we only maintain eye contact for a couple seconds at a time. Any longer and it starts to become uncomfortable and a bit creepy. Just food for thought for an increased level of realistic social interactions.
Thanks for working so hard, Paradevs ! I'm particularly interested in what Jérémie is working on. The phrasing of this is very intriguing, or at least it got my imagination running and I started thinking of all the innovative ways this could be done (for instance by having a separate "group queue" in a household ? I don't know, I'm no developer XD ). A lot of people here are used to That Other Franchise™, but it's only one way of doing things and it doesn't have to be THE way of doing things. I'm really curious what kind of creative ideas will come out of his design process. I'd love it if, once things are decided, you could tell us what options were considered but not kept for this ? In general I'm fascinated with this part of the dev process : the discarded ideas, and why they were not right for Paralives. That's a fantastic topic for a lot of aspects of dev work, actually XD
Yes, that particularly interests me too. The thinking process behind decisions and choices.
I like how they can looking at the target automatically, this are all so exciting!
Can't wait to see how you guys manage compatibility between different parafolks.
I love it! It was always awkward for me when my sim talks but isn't facing to the person that they are talking to! I love this minor feature. Makes it more immersive for me ❤️
I'll never stop saying I'm in love with your work and dedication and can't wait to see the results. I'll be right here enjoying the process till then
Thank you so much for the kind words, it means a lot to the team!
The para following the other para with their eyes remembered me of the pause bug in The Sims 4, where some sims would slowly move their heads while the game is paused, often looking directly towards the camera. Please, make sure this bug don't occur in Paralives, that was too much nightmare fuel. 😬
Having the Paras' eyes follow along is definitely a key feature in making the gameplay more authentic!
oh I cannot wait to play this
Me too! Every time I see beautiful houses I’m like „woa I need to build this in Paralives“ 🤣
So much great work!! Can’t wait to play! I’m so eager to see more about the world, roads, etc… Is someone working on that in the near future?
Right now, we are giving the Live mode a strong focus for the near future but are definitely planning on working more on the world design and roads again in a little while!
Relationships are being developed! *screaming*
Things are getting really exciting!
This is all very exciting! 🤩 Love the insight! And also that chair makes me so nostalgic!! Reminds me of chairs we had when I was a kid!
Thank you! We're so glad you liked the chair 😊
I can't wait for this masterpiece to be released ❤ You guys are amazing and doing an absolutely fantastic job so far! I wish you all the best 😊
Thank you so much Julian!
Love these updates. it looks amazing. The red chair, just wow.
Thank you! We're so glad you're liking the red chair and the updates :)
You guys are an amazing team, creating an amazing game. We are so fortunate to be able to take part and see what you each do every step of the way to when game release will be here!! So excited, can't wait!! Thanks for always sharing!!
Thank you so much for your support, we can't wait to share more exciting updates!
Amazing job to all of you! I can't wait to see how it all turns out!
Thank you so much!
Can't wait for more details on how the relationship system is going to work.
We'll be sure to share them ;)
Every post gets me more excited! Thanks for all the hard work guys, have a lovely day :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the support :)
I would love the option to stop and listen to other Parafolk in the game. Either main family or NPC’s. This is so exciting! I am really impressed by the head turning while interacting!
Thank you for the kind words, Judi! :)
Really excited to see the language and first interactions of the characters!!
So are we!!
Amazing!! This game has come so far and the team is doing so good! You guys should all be super proud- I can’t wait for release!!!
Thank you so much Agatha!
So excited :))
😊