#game developement

i was tasked with making a sex store for Dreamscape, PG13 though, so it is only filled with phallic everyday objects, naturally there is a wall of bananas for sale

oh and this is one of the neon signs on the walls, it's a team favourite

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With the upcoming release of Paralives, i’ve had a lot on my mind given the communities response.

i’ve engaged in both incredibly positive (potentially overly so) & incredibly negative communities thus far to see the general consensus of players - my god, it is divided.

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on the one hand, i can absolutely agree with the games avid supporters. those who continuously inform the community of what we currently know, what the game will possess at the release of early access, and what’s yet to come.

the main issue i am seeing with regards to these supports is almost a state of toxic positivity and an inability to ingest any minor, albeit constructive, criticisms with regards to the games development.

i’ve seen a reoccurring statement appear recently which essentially boils down to infantilising the devs. players within this fan base continuously shutting down suggestions (no matter the kind) on behalf of the devs in an attempt to manage expectations, which is honestly rather off putting.

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this game is in early access for a reason. it is being released as is to ALLOW for criticisms to enhance the game. yes, not everything will be AVAILABLE upon early access release on december 8th, but shutting down minor fixes or potential future changes seems like a terrible idea to me.

not only this, the constant rhetoric coming from (mainly) sims players that are regurgitating the same talking points of ‘don’t buy paralives if you’re expecting the sims - it’ll suck initially!’ surely doesn’t HELP the team at all.

i understand the intention there, but god, it comes across as demeaning.

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on the other hand, those that have been critical of the Paralives development seem overly cautious, but are also raising valid concerns that seem to be shut down too much.

it is less than a month before the early access reveal and we are yet to see continuous gameplay footage. that, in and of itself, is incredibly disappointing and sadly has only has the effect of deterring players. even players like myself who are incredibly excited for the release and will 100% support the game on launch, has made me question if it’s worth it to get at all if it seems like the ‘simulation’ part of a life sim game potentially won’t be there.

and before you say it, no we haven’t seen gameplay. animation reels potentially created within the engine rather than the game DO NOT count and can not be substituted as trailer footage. all it does is raise, potentially untrue, expectations. it becomes disappointing for either party.

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all that to say, if you like what you see with regards to build mode and the paramaker (as i’m aware that a lot of simmers are happy to play solely build mode or cas mode) you should consider supporting the game upon early access! as long as you’re aware of the potential limitations of it, of course!

but at the same time, i can’t condemn anyone who is sceptical of the games progress thus far. the team, as well as the community, has done a poor job at marketing this game. (again, show us the gameplay! what the hell! & simmers PLEASE stop putting the game down for no reason)

whilst i have personal issues with the current games process (listed below if you’re curious!), i do think it has potential. for that potential to be installed, however, it does need monetary support. sadly, i think both groups alike have jeopardised that in differing ways.

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My (constructive) criticisms for Paralives are below!

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and before i begin, yes of course this game is early access. and yes of course all of these changes can’t be implemented in time for the release, nor am i expecting them to be.

personal clarification: i have no extended practise within the realm of game dev, but i do have experience with computer science and website development which is where a lot of my UI criticisms come from.

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1. PARAMAKER UI VISIBILITY ISSUES

With the recent releases of videos such as the Paramaker creation video as well as a video showcasing the build mode, i have MAJOR concerns with the UI for a variety of reasons.

Starting with the Paramaker, because i believe these changes could be most easily implemented:

The video i am going to be referencing is the video included above so id recommend watching that first!

The main, most easily addressable issue, is the background colour on the Paramaker items. The black background makes it IMPOSSIBLE to see the darker hair swatches, darker skin tones, and darker clothes/accessories.

As you can see above, the black t-shirt on the model faded into the background. whilst this might be okay with something as plain and simple as a t-shirt, items like, for example, a black woolen jumper will be lost to the background.

and there are two issues with regards to the hair category. whilst of course, the aforementioned problem resides with the hair swatches being invisible on the darker ones, there is also an issue of the black hair x black background.

for obvious reasons, this limits accessibility greatly. it is incredibly difficult to make out the shapes of the hairs HOWEVER it being on a black hair to begin with isn’t a great idea - this dark colour WILL ALWAYS somewhat mask hair texture, meaning it’ll be harder to decipher what your Para’s hair will actually be.

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Suggested Changes:

Changing the background from a darker colour to a lighter one. Potentially utilising a gradient like the Sims 4 does to allow for further inspection.

Changing the colour of the base hair model to a lighter one. Potentially an auburn or a blonde would read better overall.

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2. GENERAL PARAMAKER UI ISSUES

This, sadly, isn’t the only UI issue i have spotted - but the others are quite nitpicky so i’ll mention them here with regards to the paramaker.

As noted in the images above, there is not a level of consistency on any level with regards to the icons, both scaling and design wise.

On the top bar, there are tons of differing sizes, lineweights, complexities etc. not to mention the massive, ill fitting, checkmark and X buttons that do not fit there.

These top icons should, of course, be standardised. This same issue pertains to the ‘ages’ menu seen in the last screenshot. Also : readability. ALL of these icons are hard to decipher at first glance due to them being so thin. Making them thicker, and more simple would go A LONG way!

The aforementioned feedback pertains to the Paramaker clothing icons. Of course, they can be somewhat different given that they’re meant to be highlighted, but them having a border/‘sticker’ effect makes them stick out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the icons.

This would potentially be okay if the lineweights between iconography matched up, but they don’t. The lineweights on these icons are much thicker compared to the last ones i’ve spoken about.

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Suggested Changes:

Simplifying the UI icons so they’re all more readable at a glance.

Making the lineweights & sizes more consistent, i’d recommend matching the thicker lines of the ‘CAS’ icons we currently have.

Creating a consistent branding. The sticker effect on the ‘CAS’ items really fits well with the Paralives branding! I think extending this on to the other icons, but maybe enhancing the ‘lesser’ icons with a drop shadow rather than a full background, would do wonders for making the whole UI more consistent.

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and a smaller nitpick, because i can only hope the team intends to change this, but these placeholder blender models for changing your parafolk are an EYESORE. Replacing them with parafolk images, like the ones that are used for the hair models, would be so much nicer!

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and the last of my Paramaker UI nitpicks, as stated previously, these icons should ALL be simplified. They are too small to showcase all of this detail.

Multiple underwear items isn’t necessary to showcase what the category is: simply a bra would do.

Multiple jewellery pieces isn’t necessary to showcase what the category is: a necklace would do.

There are a few instances of this within the Paramaker and i would urge the team to reconsider this aspect for accessibility reasons - it would be much easier to decipher if the icons were simpler :)

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3. PARALIVES BUILD MODE UI ISSUES

As mentioned before, the same issue plagues the build mode in paralives with the icons being incredibly differing. The top icons do not match the ‘feature’ icons for the same reasons listed above, so i won’t go through that again.

Referencing this video for this section:

HOWEVER, what i will mention is something related to the ‘feature’ icons.

as mentioned in the video above, these are the icons we are receiving for build mode with a similar ‘sticker’ view as the paramaker ones.

of course, i think these could be thickened just like the paramaker ones, but overall i feel this style works well for the game!

now, my issue lies in two main things: icon simplicity & alignment

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SIMPLICITY: i’m essentially repeating the same points i had earlier. these icons are WAY too detailed for this size and it makes them incredibly hard to read at a glance.

Suggested Changes:

Reworking these icons to be both thicker, as well as simplifying the contents. Example: bathroom being denoted as simply a toilet icon, rather than a toilet, plant, & sink. Example 2: Bedroom being denoted as simply a bed icon, rather than a bed, side table, and lamp.

Additionally, these icons have differing perspectives which removes from the cohesion. Example: the ‘bedroom’ icon utilises an elevational drawing whilst the ‘bathroom’ icon utilities a perspective drawing. Not only that, the sub categories have NO consistency with perspective. The bed icon is isometric, the wardrobe is elevational, the rug and plants are perspective. Pick one! I’d recommend sticking to either an elevational view OR an isometric view. Both would work well!

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ALIGNMENT: Whilst i understand that the team is intentionally creating a more scrapbooky looking UI, i think the misaligned icons within the build buy actually take from it. Not only do them being tilted at different angles make it hard to read, but it also appears rather messy.

Suggested Changes:

Not entirely my idea so i’ll give credit where credit is due, but i do think that aligning them fully and maybe making it so that it’s the selected icon/category that tilts would read so much nicer!

Mockup from @/tohellwithgoodintentions on discord below:

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An additional issue i found whilst looking for this very post is a glaring one that i am HOPING gets fixed ahead of early access

the UI is literally covering itself. This just should not be happening.

There are a LOT of icons on the top of the screen as is and i feel like condensing them into sub menus would make everything feel a lot more polished, as well as removing this issue.

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apparently there’s a ten image attachment limit on tumblr so i can’t continue showcasing some more of my ideas/feedback lol. in which case, ill end this part here and publish an additional section to this review tomorrow.

i do want to leave with the added note that none of this feedback is done with hatred in mind. i am not attempting to overly criticise or harass the devs, nor do i ever intend to.

the way i’m approaching these potential changes is through the eyes of accessibility - whilst something may seem minor overall, someone with poor eyesight could struggle to play this game in its current state!

all that being said, i am incredibly excited for the release date and i am awaiting even more news from the team.

i shall return tomorrow with a whole other list haha <3

Greetings, Dan here,

For those following Cloudshore Games and Festival of Fighters in particular, Mildra the Monk will be interviewing me tonight on his stream! You may know him from his Twitch/YouTube channels or from the Final Fantasy TTRPG Legendary Edition. Either way, be sure to stop by either stream tonight for the live interview.

https://www.twitch.tv/mildrathemonk

https://youtube.com/@mildrathemonkvt

See you then!

EDIT: Forgot to leave the time. The interview will start at 8pm EST.

Hello everyone !

Sorry for the lack of news for two months, I found a small job IRL and I had to put most of my energy in it. I did manage to work on the game, just at a snail's pace. But I am glad about some of the advancements I made !

The Bloarb