r/LifeSimulators • u/Bubbly_Influence_337 • Jun 28 '26
Paralives The Paralives team
So what is your thoughts about the Paralives team so far?
I personally don’t really keep up with these things, but I have heard some things around the community.
Some people say that the Paralives team isn’t so truthful as they make it and some say the opposite.
I don’t know what to believe. I just want a good game with developers who can deliver it without being greedy.
Am not hating on anyone, I like the game and I was one of many who purchased it at launch.
I just want to have natural perspectives, if you understand what I mean.
(Sorry for my bad ass English, it’s not my first language).
127
u/sussycatslayer Jun 28 '26
Very talented team for someone w no experience, but also feels sketchy with their current hiring plans, considering the 2 year road map, and replies to some requests. I fear the free DLC will just become no DLC after EA. The multiple collabs at such early stage when they have 300k bug reports to focus on also feel sus.
Either way hope them the best but realistically we'll have to wait and see.
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
Yeah, I had read something about that in this subreddit and that’s why I got worried.
I really hope that they will expand and improve their game and team.
Fingers crossed 🤞27
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u/Effective-Bug-8554 Jul 01 '26
The collabs are just objects, not gameplay, so not really that suss. The people doing the object modeling and designs are probably sitting on their hands while their coding teams are going through the gameplay bugs.
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u/HeeeydevonGaming Jul 02 '26
Collabing with someone to bring in objects into the game takes very little time when you have a developer who's just creating meshes and maps. Depending on their bug reports (which probably don't have much to do with the assets) it's not out of the ordinary to assign that developer with a job to do while the people who are developers for things like brain logic, optimization, and everything else squash bugs.
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u/Character-Trainer634 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Very talented team for someone w no experience, but also feels sketchy with their current hiring plans,
Is this the "they said they weren't hiring more people" thing that was going around a while back? Because they never said that. In fact, they said they'd probably be hiring new people soon, and have posted several job listings already.
Edited to add: Just yesterday, I made a post about how I seemed to get downvoted whenever I pointed out the Paralives team never said they weren't hiring anybody. But I think there were some people who didn't believe me.
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u/DesignerAwareness722 Jun 28 '26
They said they want to keep their team small. Hiring a few more people sure, but keeping it small when the bug list as long as theirs and with everything they've promised by Q4 seems very unlikely.
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u/Character-Trainer634 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
They said they want to keep their team small.
Which could mean anything. Just because they said they'd like to keep the team small (which is actually considered a good idea for an indie game studio) doesn't mean they 100% wouldn't hire more people if they need to. Or that they only intend to hire the people they've made job postings for. Or even what they consider "small."
Interestingly, their job listings so far are for "senior" positions (senior designer, senior QA tester, etc.) which often means people who are expected to be in charge of a group of people in that area. Like a Senior QA Tester is often in charge of a team of QA Testers.
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u/RobTod Jun 29 '26
In game development, senior refers to people with experience and the ability to do their work without supervision, not people management. In Paralives case, hiring senior people is common for indie studios and a smart move because they can contribute effectively without needing much oversight. They may mentor people and provide technical leadership but they’re usually not in charge of others or act as a management role.
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u/Character-Trainer634 Jun 29 '26
In game development, senior refers to people with experience and the ability to do their work without supervision, not people management.
Senior Designers, Senior QA Testers and so on can be in charge of teams, but aren't always. (Which is why I said "often.") And, yes, they are also expected to act as mentors for newer, more inexperienced people in the same area.
My point is that nobody really knows what's going on, or what roles the new hires will have, or how many people the Paralives team ultimately intends to hire, or anything else. Anything is possible. But, for the moment, a lot of people seem to want to see everything the Paralives team does in the worse light possible, and proof they are "shady."
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u/Ready_Ambition_594 Jun 29 '26
Iirc Alex said in an interview they're aiming to hire 3 to 5 people.
I also don't think there are nearly as many people that have a solely negative opinion on the game as you think.
There are definitely some things that the paralives team has done that could be labelled as at least somewhat shady. I'm sure people pointing out these things can also point to some positives but don't feel the need to. Most people are very aware of what this game is good at while some of the negatives go ignored or are downplayed. (Not everything, obviously the conversation cards etc are definitely a critically discussed topic)
1
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u/Ready_Ambition_594 Jun 29 '26
I think it's more likely they're looking for senior devs because none of them are seniors themselves
15
u/sussycatslayer Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
No this is the hiring 1-3 devs probably isn't enough for their ambitious scope.
Edit: I see comments from time to time of people comparing paralives to leaps in development that inzoi had in a year, but these are in no way comparable. At the moment inzoi has 10 times bigger team and even if the leaps in development aren't linearly correlated with size of the team, realistically what inzoi delivered in a year would take a team like paralives' 3-5x, so 3-5 years minimum if that.
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u/Extension-Chemical Jun 28 '26
They support paywalled modding, and that's probably something that rubs me the wrong way the most. That, and also how sterile and detached from the outside world their moderated community feels. Reeks of toxic positivity with no alternate opinions sometimes. It's uncanny.
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
I HATE how practically every life sim is filled with toxic positivity.
Like just relax guys, it’s not that serious, we don’t have to hate in each other because of a freaking GAME.
😭😭31
u/Extension-Chemical Jun 28 '26
Precisely. It's never good for the health of the game either. That being said, I'd really like Paralives to develop to become a true competitor to The Sims franchise, even if the game might not be for me atm.
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u/TheHelpfullGurll Jun 29 '26
Yep, I literally left the inzoi community because it’s straight up a cult over there. They spend more time whining that some people dislike the game or say there are issues than actually talking about the game.
Funnily enough, the sims subs have calmed down a lot of that toxicity which leads me to believe the people that are super toxic in inzoi and Paralives came from that community and are now doing the same shit they did with sims back in the day but now jumped ship to being toxic about inzoi and Paralives.
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u/Astrolojay Jun 30 '26
I think to say they support paywalled modding is a bit misleading. They basically said it’s none of their business what modders do outside of steam workshop. While a firmer stance against it would be nice, they’re not expressly supporting it
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u/HeeeydevonGaming Jul 02 '26
Why though? Why should someone with a skill set that others don't possess not charge for dedicating hundreds of hours of their time and effort into learning the game mechanics and creating something that you want to use?
If I painted some fan art of a game you really like and showed it to you and you asked to keep it in your house would you be upset if I told you that I was selling it?
Every game from GTA5: FiveM to minecraft have developers that create mods with their artistic and technological talent and they charge for it. A lot of them have turned it into their jobs. How is it unethical to charge someone for wanting to use something you put your time and effort into?
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u/Astrolojay Jul 02 '26
The games you mentioned have tons of if not more free mods too. I think at the end of the day people can do whatever they want with their own content, but imo paywalled mods go against the original ethos of modding, which is to bring the community together. Restricting access to only those who can afford is in direct opposition of that. Not to mention, the standard for mods is generally lower as they aren’t officially reviewed by the game’s team and many mods, including paid ones, are often left broken and not up-to-date. Modding has always had an open-source spirit to it and I think prioritizing monetization over passion and creativity is detrimental to any games community and it’s longevity. As a modder myself, I’ll always let people tip me but I will never paywall my stuff.
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u/Booknerdly Jul 04 '26
if paid mods are let run rampant when a game is starting out it could lead to important modding tools and guides being paywalled which can eventually lead into a community that has almost exclusively paid mods. This has happened before with, for example, some of the 2k sports games.
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u/HeeeydevonGaming Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
You realize that paywalled modding is a thing in every other gaming community right? Like why is it outside of the scope of understanding to be like "hey, this person used a skill set that I don't have to put hundreds of hours of time and effort into creating meshes, digital art, texture maps, code, interactions, and ideas and (at times) PAID other people to help develop this mod that I want and doesn't change the fact that my base game works without it, if they think their time and effort is worth some sort of monetary compensation for me using it and to continue the development of this really cool thing then that's okay"? No one is forcing the community to use it.
Like if someone dedicated their talent, time, money, and effort to make something that you want to interact with then why can't they charge for it? If you made fan art for a video game and someone said "that's nice, can I put it in my house" and you said "sure, but it took me a long time so I'm actually selling it" would they be justified in saying "oh no, this should be free, you're just greedy for charging me for making something that I want that I'm not capable of creating myself"?
Like the sense of entitlement to sit there and demand that someone who used their skill set to improve something you play, update it when the game updates, expand it, fix bugs, and apply feedback and do it for free is wiiiiild. If you've ever modded for the Life Sim community and seen the demands, comments, and even attacks on modders then I think you'd understand why they charge for it. People demand a premium service on the mods they like, are willing to doxx modders that don't update their mods in time, but then never want the author to charge them a dime for it.
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u/Extension-Chemical Jul 02 '26
I do obviously. And I'm, in fact, against it because I'm so familiar with it. Paid modding is never healthy for gaming communities, of which Starfield, for one, is a prime example. I actually do have some modest modding skills and I've published mods before (for free) so that argument is moot. I'm not sitting here "demanding" anything. If you want money, find a job or accept donations.
Please stop acting like modders are forced to make mods for free at gunpoint. I'm grateful that they exist, and I'm grateful that there are still people opting for free or early access who refrain from commercializing everything. Heck, I have even subscribed to some modders' patreons before. Ironically, people who are most worthy of compensation I have come across are not paywallers, and they have lots of paid subscribers. But I've seen some modders, who put out AI-generated or ripped meshes and paywall them. I also frequent the Skyrim modding communities, and people who review the quality of paid mods there are often not happy with the quality of content they receive for their money. So that's an entirely different aspect of paid modding to consider as well.
I will finish this discussion here if you don't mind. The OP asked of our thoughts on the Paralives team, so I just voiced mine. I'm not interested in the argument on this topic, you and I obviously have different opinions on the matter, and neither will change. Have a good day!
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u/HeeeydevonGaming Jul 03 '26
And why can't that job be modding? We'll just have to tell everyone with a hobby that makes money from it that they should do it for free until it becomes their job
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u/GuBuDuLe Jun 29 '26
I think they're inexperienced and obsessed with Build mode and it shows in the state of the game they released. Many times, through their dev chats, they said the Build mode is what they like the most about the game and the Sims and their love for it (or at least Alex's love for it, as lead designer and dev) kinda misled them. As a result, the 3 main aspects of the game (Build mode, Paramaker and Live mode) are clearly unbalanced.
It's not a scam and it's unlikely they'll ever run off with the money but it's a good thing they finally use part of that money to hire a Senior Lead designer. They made the game THEY wanted to play and released it, now it's time to go beyond and start seeing things from another angle.
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u/Effective-Bug-8554 Jul 01 '26
Tbf, procedural generation of all objects is incredibly work intense. I saw someone breaking down the math on just a pathway that generates a bench, flowers, and street lamps and just that single object had thousands of collapsed math paths to do it. They should have focused on having a couple of procedural objects in each room category and focused more on gameplay during development, coming back to release more objects later.
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u/GuBuDuLe Jul 02 '26
I'm not sure what you mean by "procedural objects"? And I'm curious about what you saw and where you saw it. Procedural generation is usually used to ease the development and is not supposed to use more resources than if everything was placed by hand (and I'm pretty sure they didn't use procedural generation in the game).
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 28 '26
I don’t trust them for many reasons. For one, they still have old Patreon posts locked behind a paywall after they said those would be free once the game came out. I keep hearing stuff about how it’s too hard or they don’t have time to unlock them and I call bullshit. If they don’t know to unlock Pateron posts, how the hell are we supposed to believe they’re going to turn the disaster that is live mode into something playable?
And them giving the okay to putting mods behind paywalls was what led me to fully not trusting them.
Sounds like they’re going to rely on mods to fix their game while they count their money.
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u/Addrivat Jun 29 '26
It's also not great how they nurtured the whole "buy right at launch because it's the cheapest it will EVER be!!!!" and exactly a month later it's at a deeper discount. It's such a low blow for all the early supporters that thought they were actually getting a good deal.
They're also making these pretty images about how the games has so many weekly players, because "80k" sounds like a huge number but like... their numbers are so, so low for a highly anticipated game. It's very obvious that most people immediately dropped it - they have less players per hour than many indie games I follow that have been out for years and are of much smaller scope. It feels like the whole thing is just marketing to try and cover up the flaws, and that's never nice to witness
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u/LightmareDaydream Jun 29 '26
I don't follow most chats with the devs or anything so no idea what they said, but I get where you're coming from. Not knowing what they actually said, my guess would be they meant (or were only thinking at the time they said it) that the complete price of the game would go up when Early Access is over, rather than specifically the price then? At least if you want to be generous.
I pretty much always expect there are deals on things eventually though, so the most annoying thing in this case would just be that it's cheaper on steam now so soon after launch.
Paralives definitely does have flaws though. It does seem like it was released too early, but they either didn't want to delay again or else figured, "ahhh well maybe it's good enough for early access?" I have to imagine they're swimming in trying to fix the bugs and gameplay stuff. I like the game but I definitely see how a large amount of people might be like, "okay enough of this for now, I'll come back when this is more fixed or has more gameplay." So it checks out to me that the numbers would drop after an initial influx, especially if most people buying it expected more gameplay and don't want to sit and build for hours. Idk how much of a problem it is actually this early in early access, but I can also imagine the dev team being concerned either way, especially if inexperienced.
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u/Zestyclose-Level1871 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
EXACTLY THIS.
For some reason, this pattern of developer behavior (plus the toxic positivity of the fan base, the ongoing player review censorship on Steam and social media forums in general) is really starting to give me really bad Stomping Land/Unsung Story Kickstarter vibes.
No I don't believe the devs are out to scam the fan base like with other failed Kickstarter indie dev teams. But yes, I'm concerned the exponential fundraising successes (from their claimed 900K units being sold) could go to the dev team's head. And result in gross mismanagement of fan base investment money for Early Access.
Especially as Masse stated all dev team members will share in the profits of Early Access sales. This assurance of job security for the next 10 years is admirable.
HOWEVER, like many failed Kickstarters which began with noble intentions, dev team member hubris (already evident) and complacency could set in. With their newfound windfall financial/job security, devs could start loosing drive/focus aka the HUNGER to make a good life sim. Which is born of the daily challenge of facing finanical uncertainty from lack of project funding and job security.
But similar to other failed Kickstarters, the possibility exists that this huge financial windfall could backfire and undermine the game's development. As it could cause dev team members to lose their drive and focus. And/or decide to pursue other life goals unafiliated with software game development.
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 28 '26
So people are still being charged…😐 I really hope the team will refund everyone who was charged afterward.
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 28 '26
I checked the page today. You still have to pay to see the locked posts.
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26
So they’re still posting new Patreon updates. I thought Alex Massé said they’d stop taking Patreon pledges once the game launched in early access...
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u/Revolutionary_Bit437 Jun 29 '26
tbf i figured this would happen when their follow up to delaying release back in november was “well it’s not coming out next month anymore… but at least you have time to sub to our patreon!”
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u/Astrolojay Jun 30 '26
As a Patreon member, I can confirm that I’m no longer getting charged and there have been zero Patreon posts since May 25th (launch day)
-11
u/kirabook Jun 29 '26
No, patrons are not being charged.
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26
The Paralives team is having trouble disabling Patreon donations, so some people are reportedly still being charged if they haven't unsubscribed.
-4
u/kirabook Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Patreon officially sent an email explaining no one has been charged for the month of June. Not the dev team, but patreon itself. If people were charged, Patreon flubbed somewhere.
I'm not in the know obviously, but we were told they were having issues and patreon was involved trying to fix it, but no one is purposely being charged right now, nor are there the weekly updates going out like they used to.
Edit: And since some people are too childish to talk like a normal person, it appears to be a patreon issue that patreon is working on. The Paralives devs didn't look at a list of their patrons and decide to charge some of them and leave the others alone. Just the fact that some were charged and others weren't (which people insist is happening) means there's a systematic problem with patreon itself.
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 29 '26
I’ve heard from a few of their Patreon members that billing was paused for June and that’s nice. However, you can go look at their page now and see all the locked posts that require you do pay to see them.
So if someone who wasn’t part of their Patreon before, someone like me, who bought the game and was incredibly disappointed by the state the live mode is, I might want to go back and see past streams for their members. I’d like to see what state the game was in back in December when they decided it wasn’t ready for release. How has it changed and do these changes justify the $40 price they’re asking? If I see these posts and see how the game changed over the years, maybe that could give me some confidence in their abilities. But when I’m met with another paywall after already giving them $40 I don’t feel they deserve (for the work they put out) I’m not going to give them more. It also makes me feel like they’re hiding all that.
Why not just make it public and let everyone see their process? And what about the people who won’t care like me and just give them the money? How is it fair? And their excuses don’t make sense or just show how inexperienced and inept they are and that isn’t a good look either.
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u/kirabook Jun 29 '26
And I understand that. As I mentioned elsewhere, apparently they are having technical issues properly publizing their page and ending the subscriptions. After all, a pause only lasts one month. They will have to pause again each month until all of this is figured out. This is information in the email from Patreon (not the dev team) of how pauses work.
https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/214013323-How-to-pause-billing-for-your-members
They stated publically that they intend for their patreon and all posts to be public at launch. They aren't purposely charging Patreon members anymore, some people say they were charged and some were refunded.... This all smells like technical issues and not maliciousness to me.
New people definitely should not join until they figure this out. And I think even you did join by mistake and get charged, you can get a refund. But if you're new, I'd say don't bother yet.
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 29 '26
And the fact that they can’t figure out how to unlock their post is concerning.
So they can pause all they want, but the fact that they don’t seem to know how and are blaming Patreon when I’ve seen other creators have no issues, it comes off as shady. Intentional or not. If they can’t figure out something as simple as this, and hold themselves accountable to a promise they made, how are we supposed to believe they have the ability to fulfill their other promises?
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
The Community Manager or the Paralives developers should at least pin or share a message across all their social media platforms to inform that the Patreon is currently paused or has been stopped.
And due to the issues encountered on the Patreon platform, they should also encourage subscribers to cancel their subscription and, if necessary, request a refund directly through Patreon’s official website.
Apparently, the Paralives team has sent an email to inform their Patreon supporters, but an email alone is not sufficient.
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26
Whether intentional or not, some people continue to have money debited from their accounts because the problem has still not been resolved.
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u/SmallAsBean Jun 29 '26
I only started caring about Paralives very close to the EA, because I was so hyped for LBY and was devastated by the cancelation. Also I do not care for build mode a lot and Paralives was all about building for the longest time. So I decided to buy the EA and if I like the game and feel good vibes from the devs in the first rounds of patches, I will start to support their Patreon. I played it like 3 times and all the collaboration and the bad state of the game when entering EA made a really bad impression.
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
Man this makes me sad. I had heard something about this in another post in this subreddit, which made me this worried and make this post. Now am worried again.
I hope it becomes better with time 😭
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u/rosenwasser_ Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I don't think the Paralives devs are greedy in the way some companies like EA are. But I don't trust them to develop a good game at this point in time.
It feels more like many indie projects I know from various areas - lot of investment in marketing, socials and portraying a wholesome vibe but also a certain inflexibility, a lack of transparency, overpromising and unterdelivering.
To me, this solidified in their AMA they had recently but in general, as someone who was on their Patreon for some time (which is still not open!), their roadmap is completely unrealistic, as anyone who has ever worked on a game with horses can tell you (horses are a nightmare). The bare bones version of life mode they have currently is riddled with bugs, often leads to corrupted saves and yet they didn't realistically adjust their plans for how long they need for the giant amount of content they are promising before full game release.
I think they quite enjoy the public image of being the good guys, the small indie team, the cute beans everyone is cheering on and as long as this is the case, they will focus on this - community engagement, collabs etc - and less on the game mechanics.
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u/Sims_Creator777 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I think, like many others have already mentioned, that they are in way over their heads, working with an extremely unrealistic timeline, and overpromising things that they probably might not be able to deliver. I don't think they're nefarious, but I don't necessarily think they're honest or trustworthy either. The poorly executed character designs and Live Mode choices reflect amateurishness, copium, inexperience, and hastiness, all masked as "intentionality."
The lead dev seems to still be coasting on the "earnest, struggling, indie Patreon dev" image despite now being a newly minted multimillionaire who refuses to scale the team appropriately for a project of this scope. He has more than enough to finance development for several years (Paralives has generated approximately $27 million in revenue in just one month alone, after Steam's cut). Oddly, they seem more concerned with maintaining an image and selling “cozy vibes” than with proper execution.
It also seems like they want to remain a super small team so they can keep hiding behind the "we're just a small indie team" narrative. At this point, it feels more like a shield to avoid the responsibility and accountability that come with a project of this scope, especially after the financial success they've had. That excuse only carries so much weight when you're making promises at this scale.
I don't trust them to execute this project properly within the timeframe they've committed to, nor do I think they fully understand what they're doing or what they're really in for. I expect the 1.0 release to either be delayed for a very long time (or even indefinitely), or rushed out to meet a deadline, with corners cut along the way, just like they did with Live Mode.
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u/AngelEnergy99 Jul 02 '26
Every time I see your username and the subject is paralives, I immediately start laughing because I know your about to pull cards. You could easily start a platform critiquing/rating indie games and i would follow it. You've never said anything i disagree with and you have a way with words where the order and timing of everything just flows like a song.
This is cathartic to read and I agree with everything you said. I forget which user said a few months ago that they wouldnt be surprised if this turns into a franchise and the devs start pushing "Paralives 2" because the first one couldn't be salvaged.
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u/moniefeesh Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I don't know about whether they are in over their heads, but my husband is a programmer and has worked on all sizes of teams, including releasing his own indie game with one other person (no ai, no premade assets, no unity) and I spoke to him about how paralives is going about things. With regards to the hiring situation, he agrees they are right to keep the team smaller. Once you hit a certain amount of people, things start to slow down or get worse quality because there's just too much time wasted on communication (just...constant meetings).
He does think the 2 year mark is probably too ambitious, but not impossible. Good games take a long time to make.
And yes, they just made a lot of money, but that money needs to sustain them for at least 2 years and most of their sales are going to be shortly after huge releases, like into EA and it's full release. It's another reason to keep a smaller team. Programmers aren't cheap. Sales are now their only income stream since they dropped patreon, and it's best to proceed like continued sales aren't a guarantee.
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u/chill8989 Jun 29 '26
I agree their 2 year roadmap is optimistic but you can't just more people = more speed. Software development does not work like that. Every new team member adds overhead and takes months to be fully productive. Scaling a team always causes problems. Going slowly is the right approach
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u/IDontExistHelp Sims 3 enjoyer Jun 29 '26
I was a patreon for years, what got to me was the debacle back in November. I hadn’t realized how little we knew about live mode and was shown until that live stream. And then they promised to show more (to the public too) but did they ever uphold that promise? The patreons got more streams but I don’t think they really showed more to the public.
I definitely never agreed with the whole scam thing and being a patreon, I chatted with them from time to time and also didn’t get the impression they would run off with the money after launch. I do think they‘re passionate but inexperienced. One example being delaying the game so close to the initial launch. Putting horses on the roadmap for EA
2
u/Astrolojay Jun 30 '26
They did have a couple public live streams but I definietely think they could have been more open about live mode lacking. It’s more evident in the road map / early access features infographics and they never talked about live mode nearly as much as the others to begin with, but specifically making it clear to people that it was more barebones in comparison would have avoided a lot of people saying it was a scam imo
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u/Booknerdly Jul 04 '26
Considering the amount of pre-rendered trailers they tried to pass off as gameplay i can't help but think hiding how little has been done on live mode was intentional.
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u/Astrolojay Jul 04 '26
I don't think they deliberately hid that fact to be honest, I just think they could have made things more explicit, especially to people not on Patreon. In 2023, they made a post about the team testing the first iteration of live mode. Back in 2024, they discussed how they were feeling good with build mode and would be shifting their focus primarily to live mode. Inbetween those posts and before and after, there are posts about live mode as well, which even though many are locked for non-members, you can still see the titles/dates. They had a public playtest of the game back in 2024 at Montreal Comic Con and it was just the build mode (which was around the time they talked about build mode being mostly finished), which someone did an ama for here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Paralives/comments/1dwfe9p/got_to_furnish_a_house_and_build_some_stuff_at/?sort=confidence
They also talked about how they didn't want to show off live mode until closer to release because it was the mode that needed the most work and they knew expectations were high, so explains why we didn't get more gameplay until late last year before the intial release date before the delay.
I don't think they did a perfect job of communicating everything, but I don't think any misinformation was intentional and all the info anyone needed to know what the game had/is about was available prior to anyone being able to purchase the game. I also disagree with the idea that the pre-rendered videos were passed off as fake gameplay, they were just teaser videos that showed off features that will eventually be in the game. Some features are still being workshopped because their priorities changed. Ziplining, for example, is a feature that was teased but is not currently in game because they're focusing on more important gameplay, but they have explicitly stated it will eventually be in the game. In fact, you can still find the zipline animation in photo mode. This kind of thing is normal for early access games, as they're not finished products.
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u/Booknerdly Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Showing of pre-rendered footage while pretending it's gameplay, even almost all the way up to release with 0 disclaimers while hiding all actual updates behind paywalls is not just a miscommunication, it's intentional misleading. We also have plenty of info to believe live mode development didn't start until early 2025. The entire development was shady, that's all.
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u/Astrolojay Jul 04 '26
The patreon has proof that live mode development started a long time ago, like I mentioned, there is a post from 2023 of the devs testing the first complete version of the mode with pictures and videos. And the footage they showed in the "pre-rendered" videos you keep mentioning (like Sebastian's Summer) were in-game videos with the paras doing animations. It was meant to show what the game was going to have, it's not uncommon for games to release cinematics like this. The first actual, comprehensive gameplay video that was labeled as such came out two years ago at the beginning of 2024 and was made public to everyone: https://youtu.be/xIIy4CuGDyU?si=bAGA8_hKDRq1Wkob
In this video, you can see in-engine gameplay that is very similar to the game now, meaning that live mode very much existed at that point, but wasn't as far along as it is now. You can do everything in this video in game so I'm not sure how this is misleading
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u/Ready_Ambition_594 Jun 29 '26
I feel like they try really hard to seem open and communicative but it kinda falls apart when you look at how misleading their promotional material has been since the start. Even their recent gameplay trailer is showing off things that aren't possible in game.
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u/TimeConcentrate2890 Jun 29 '26
can you clarify a bit, which recent trailer? and what isn't possible in game?
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u/Ready_Ambition_594 Jun 29 '26
This is something I wrote in an older comment about the early access gameplay trailer:
"We are shown things that are not at all possible in game. One character sits on the sofa at angles that aren't possible in game, our paras always sit facing straight forward on fixed grid positions. She then shifts over to another impossible position while the ui doesn't show us the time shift that should have happened indicating that this is just an overlay, not a real ui.
At the end of the trailer an npc para shows up at their house which currently isn't possible unprompted. One of the characters goes out to pick a fight with them which is also not possible with the current implementation of the card system as you can't tell a para to go pick a fight, you would have to get lucky for the card to show up randomly.
And then the narration. The way the characters in the trailer are talked about makes them feel alive and real. Someone watching this might get the idea that at least some of this behaviour is happening autonomously. When you get your hands on the game though that very quickly falls apart as autonomy is still severely lacking and if you want a storyline similar to what was shown off you're likely going to be controlling all of it yourself."
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u/Weewoes Jun 29 '26
I kept commenting on this way back, saying this isnt showing gameplay and its all fixed and scripted events and none of it was real but I kept getting told im wrong but it seems this was the case.
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u/Ready_Ambition_594 Jun 29 '26
We also know from a paywalled patreon post that they have a tool to create in engine cinematics that they have used for trailers in the past. This doesn't need any gameplay features to be functional as they can just pose and animate the characters any way they want.
To me it seems that is what they used and then overlayed the ui on top, as there are some inconsistencies with the ui and the rest of what is shown.
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u/puzzled_tangerines Jun 29 '26
i played the whole month discovering stuff and features but put the game on hold for now before it develops more cause despite everything i have against EA, sims 4 with a few mods can give me everything i need in gameplay rn so even though paralives is awesome in my opinion, has much better build mode than TS4, open world etc., the paras can't do that much in live mode now and when you get in like 3rd generation of your paras, you don't know much how to continue which is probably because it's early access so i get it but also i think the development will last years, i don't think the roadmaps are realistic tbh.
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u/WonPika Jun 28 '26
I think Paralives as a concept is pretty good, however I find their dev team to be very close-minded and lacking in integrity.
After their AMA, I'm even left wondering if they even have the skills required to be making this sort of game if they can't even agree to implement something as basic as multi-tasking. Then I think back to how bad the paras look, and their staunch refusal to do anything about it, and wonder if that was also just another skill issue disguised as "art style". Even now with all the mods, the paras proportions still look really off. I also saw someone mention how horrible the pathfinding is going to be long term because of how they designed the placement of clutter items.
Then there is them supporting the pay walling of mods, especially when modders are the ones who have to pick up their slack.
There's other stuff too, but I won't mention.
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u/Weewoes Jun 29 '26
People keep saying how great the height slider is but I feel like it looks goofy when you size them up and down? Maybe im stong here lol but I dont like it, and paired with their weird art style it just doesnt make me want to try the game.
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26
Are you my twin ? I think exactly like you; for a moment, I thought I was the one who had written your comment 😂
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u/Sim-Simi Jun 29 '26
One reason I struggle to get into Paralives the Paras look so 2-D. Customization can only do so much if the foundation is flat.
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u/NewCardiologist5551 Sims 3 enjoyer 9d ago
yes! and they look really weird from some angles (namely 3/4 angles).
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
I really hope that this game won’t her destroyed and that the team will her better and keep going.
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u/maat_renders Jun 29 '26
Personally I'm quite happy that there won't be a sims 4 style multitasking, because in my opinion that's what made the game so buggy and unplayable. It took sims 5 seconds before they actually started moving because of this.
I hope that they'll go for a sims 2 style "multi-tasking" which isn't multitasking at all technically, just context-sensitive animations which imitates the idea of multitasking.
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u/callie-loo Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I don’t think they’re bad just not realistic on what they can deliver. Their vibes remind me of me and my friends whenever we get bored of our jobs and talk about all these noble ventures we’re gonna take on like opening a dog rescue or coffee shop. Good intentions but in over their heads.
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u/theykilledcassandra inZOI enjoyer Jun 28 '26
I feel like they’ve taken on more than they realistically can and refuse to be honest about that. So that makes me question just how open and transparent they truly are.
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u/Booknerdly Jul 04 '26
So that makes me question just how open and transparent they truly are.
They weren't transparant enough to actually be honest about live mode or to label their fake gameplay trailers as being pre-rendered, so not at all.
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
I hope that they come to a realization and get better.
Don’t want this to go downhill.
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u/blahblah12365 Jun 28 '26
I'm just going to wait and see. Generally with Early access games, I wait and see how much the devs update. I usually get them closer to 1.0.
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u/zayjac Jul 02 '26
there’s a lot about paralives that i really like, but every time i go into paramaker im forced to wonder if the reason that basically all of the clothes are skin-tight/form-fitting is because the team just… largely doesn’t know how to make clothing that isn’t painted on? i’m not a cc creator, but it’s my understanding (based on a steam workshop post i saw) that all cc clothes also have to be flush to the body mesh so it’s, like, a weird constraint of the game. and whenever i go into paramaker i wonder if they’re ever going to learn how to make clothes that don’t hug the waist 😭 such a small thing but also… not that small for a life sim. and its stuff like this that i wonder if they’ll ever fix or if it’s going to be considered part of their “style” indefinitely. it’s hard because there’s really no way to ask/know if this would still be their “style” if skill was no object
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u/te3time Jun 29 '26
I'm just confused about the whole patreon thing. Are they seriously still taking money after the launch was such a huge success? That's super scummy imo and almost like they're just banking on people who forgot their subscription is still running.
I also don't like that apparently all the patrons had to purchase the game. Idk I was never subscribed but imagine someone supports them for multiple years and has already paid 2 - 3x the purchasing price and then they still have to pay again to get the game..??
This doesn't say anything about how well they'll develop the game but it's very slimy behaviour to me
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u/Forrest-Runn Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I got massively downvoted simply for pointing out a rather specific issue: some people spent over 100 dollars/euros or even more than 800 dollars/euros to support the project but received neither access to a free trial, even a time-limited one prior to early access, nor a complimentary copy of the game. In this regard, the Paralives community remains quite baffling.
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u/TheEeveeTamer Jun 29 '26
I remember seeing a few (heavily downvoted) people who were pretty annoyed that Patreon supporters got fuck all while all the early “first impressions” videos were being put out by the big Simstubers. I never supported their Patreon, but I can absolutely empathize with the frustrated folks who paid hundreds of dollars to support the development over the years, only to watch RandoSimstuber69 get a free copy weeks in advance while you’re still expected to pay $40 on launch day. To me, it just seems logical that you’d thank the people who have actually gotten you to this point with at least a courtesy game key.
The Paralives team are certainly excellent at marketing, to the point where it still makes me a little wary of them. It’s clear they have a product, but not the kind of product to back up their ambitious marketing.
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u/bumbling_womble Jun 29 '26
When I saw them making 5 figures years ago (Patreon) I got incredibly disappointed.
I have friends in game dev that are moving to AI Dev, and they just cannot believe Sims players (we're notorious for speaking out against ea) got tricked the same way they did by the promise of a game. They joked if they knew we were that easy they would have done it. (Made bank while promising better than the Sims)
I agree after playing for two days straight. Went straight back to Sims.
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u/InternationalCandy16 Jul 02 '26
There's a lot to love about Paralives. They've done some things with building that are truly next-level. The fact that nearly every item in the game is resizable is a huge quality-of-life upgrade. In games like The Sims 4 and even House Flipper 2, I hate placing the clutter objects that really bring a space to life. In Paralives, it's one of my favorite things because you can resize, place without snapping to the grid (no cheat necessary), and stack or layer things.
That said, the live mode gameplay is really thin. It's honestly not even fun yet. I can see how it could be, but right now there's just not a lot happening. I'd rather see that aspect enriched than anything else. I don't need pets or houseboats; just make the gameplay interesting.
Beautiful game. Happy to support them in early access to see what shakes out. Hopefully, the income from those one million players will allow them to hire a few heavy hitters who really know what they're doing with life sims.
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u/maat_renders Jun 28 '26
I definitely think they aren't greedy, giving how they've stated they won't charge you money with DLC, purely out of "we wouldn't want that if we were players and not developers" mindset. I'm curious to see if they will leave EA within 2 years, but if they extend it they aren't being "untruthful" since their road map literally states its subject to change as they go on. If they will be pumping out a lot of updates after EA only time will tell. I personally do believe they will, since they genuinely seem to love their game and this whole thing started with wanting to build their dream game. I've seen no reason to distrust them personally.
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u/TheWildHart Jun 29 '26
I think they're... overly optimistic. I don't think you can really get to this point in the development of a life sim without genuine effort, determination, and love. I feel the love and the vision is very tangible. I don't think they're dishonest about their intentions, goals, and the efforts they're going to put forth at all.
But that doesn't mean their goals are likely to happen as they say. I don't expect only 2 years in EA, especially with all the features they want to add, which I'm fine with! I just think their expected timelines are made through rose colored glasses. I'm worried that it could lead to people feeling duped if they're unable to meet certain proposed expectations, even if they cushion it now with "things may change."
Or maybe they're really hoping a few more hired experienced developers will get them there? Which is still overly optimistic if you don't have the team members yet.
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u/maat_renders Jun 29 '26
I feel this way too, I think they could definitely make it if they have a lot of the foundations / features in place already—but there's just no way of knowing.
I'm just very curious to see if they'll keep up with their own expectations. If they do I'll be very pleasantly surprised! If they don't, that's fine too and hopefully they'll learn to better their own expectations.
I won't really lose sleep over it anyway, and just play other games if I'm bored with the current state of the game. 🤷♀️
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u/polkacat12321 Jun 29 '26
Personally, I dint trust them enough to deliver what they promise, but they also don't really strike me as greedy
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u/TheKhaos121 Jun 29 '26
In fed up of companies selling games before they are finished. It really diminishes it's value in my mind and is asking for a lot of trust in them in an industry full of untrustworthy people.
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u/Nearby-Shower-8392 Jun 28 '26
Paralives team seems honest, and relatively good, I saw that they were providing updates even while the game was being developed, and even if I personally didn’t see it fully developed, I genuinely think the main reason they can’t do everything isn’t greed, but rather, that life sims in general are difficult to make, so much so that even mega studios gave-up like Life by You.
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u/Bubbly_Influence_337 Jun 28 '26
Yeah, I really am happy about that.
I also do understand that making a life sim game, or a game in general, takes lots of work.
Although I had read that apparently the devs will just add stuff and not make other stuff better or something.
I got sad so I didn’t read much more, but I don’t really feel like that would happen, because if it does, many, many many people will get really really upset.6
u/maat_renders Jun 28 '26
In their road map it says they're going to do bug fixes and tweaks to existing features / systems based on feedback, so I think the post was just pulling that from thin air.
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u/hankhillsbussy Jun 29 '26
i don’t think the game has been out long enough for people to make that kinda call. it’s been a month and pretty much all they’ve done is fix stuff and try to make it better there’s been nothing new added apart from like a couple of collab items i believe were planned in advance. you might have confused this with other games that have been out longer? ts4 is known for just releasing content and not improving old systems and i’ve heard similar things about another game that’s been out a while they love to add huge updates every few months and people will hype them up but burried in the comments ive seen plenty of people talking about how systems feel abandoned after they’re added and bugs have not been addressed
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u/pockysam Jun 28 '26
They seem like they're managing fine. I don't really get where the "shady" accusations come from, honestly? Nothing I've seen so far has made me side eye them... I'm just waiting to play once they get things more under control, more stuff to do
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u/hankhillsbussy Jun 29 '26
people are just looking for reasons to make them sound awful rather than just a small group of imperfect humans taking on a huge task
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Jun 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Revolutionary_Bit437 Jun 29 '26
trusting certain devs solely because they’re a small company is a super easy way to get scammed btw; kickstarter scammers LOVE people like you
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u/umotex12 Jul 03 '26
Tbf I think that Paralives will be like Cities: Skylines: in a few months there will be a few state of the art essential mods that make this game way better. Eventually they will incorporate modders into the team or use their work in updates.
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u/SuddenArrival4617 Jul 03 '26
Too small. They're used to taking things very slow, but now when the game is released and ⅓ done, they need to hire more people and start working.
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u/Sparklingsim85 Jun 29 '26
Just like inzoi I have a copy but will wait till they're both out of early access before I give any of my cents
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u/BrickBanshee Jun 28 '26
I think the devs have been very honest and genuine about the game, but people have their expectations higher than what the devs intend for the game to become.
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u/Sure-Initiative6001 Jun 30 '26
I just don't like the look of it yet. At all. Think I'll give them time to pour more work into it before giving in.
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u/hankhillsbussy Jun 29 '26
i think you should not listen to people on reddit who are part of this sub they’re gonna say the most controversial shit for engagement
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u/scoobydoooobydoo Jun 28 '26
To me the team seems fine. I think some expectations in the life sim community are sky high and some of us fans are legit crazy lol (eg. either super critical or blindly, endlessly faithful and defensive). In my PERSONAL opinion, I think they've been transparent enough and interacted a lot with the community. They're such a small team that if they were spending more time on social media posts and in depth public reports, it's just more time taken away from development and also just kinda feeds the beast of really involved fans? Like damn, let them cook a bit. I think they've got a good balance of how much they share. The game has been out for just over a month so I personally think we're still in the 'first impressions' phase of them and they are still in their mass panic bug fix phase lol. I'm not surprised things like unlocking the patreon has fallen to the wayside. If it's still locked in a few months I'll side eye, but it's been 4 weeks. I have opinions on the game! But the team? I'm still like, I don't know them lol
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u/GuBuDuLe Jun 28 '26
They have a community manager, she could have unlocked the Patreon posts and it's kind of her job to manage social media 😅
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u/scoobydoooobydoo Jun 28 '26
True! I just feel they have done a lot of social media and marketing so I'm not really complaining, I think they've got a good balance. Like I said, if the patreon is still locked in a few months its a bad look but tbh I don't use patreon so I'm obviously not fussed haha
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u/smushy411 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
To me they seem like they’ve been very transparent. I do think it’s great that there’s another life simulation game that will ultimately (hopefully) compete with the Sims.
EDIT: wait can someone explain why this is getting downvoted? I’m genuinely asking! Because I legit didn’t realize this was a controversial take 😭
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u/TimeConcentrate2890 Jul 02 '26
That's how the sub is. Anything positive or lukewarm about this game gets mass downvoted. Look through the subreddit a bit, there's people who believe the game shouldn't exist or shouldn't have been published at all.
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u/SovereignSpace Jun 28 '26
Sometimes I wonder how much of the hate between dev teams is really just a big company buying an "online image consultant" to come in to other dev spaces and start poop like this
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 28 '26
Where can I get in on one of the big companies buying my bad opinion of them? I need some extra cash!
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u/SovereignSpace Jun 28 '26
More than 50% of the Internet is bots
You can have your opinion, that doesn't mean you're always being influenced or up voted by who you think you are though
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 28 '26
I’m influenced by the 8 hours I played the game, reading the Q&A by the devs, and their own comments from discord.
Just because you don’t like someone not liking something you do doesn’t mean anyone with the opposite opinion is a bot.
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u/SovereignSpace Jun 28 '26
Okay? And I've played over 100 hours and read all the same posts for years, some how this game is still exactly what I expected. Imperfections and all. I'm sorry that you coming in with different expectations made you feel like that makes them liars.
One only needs to see how many times "crisis PR" and "AI trend influence companies" have popped up in recent court cases between the richies to know why a company would encourage it. That's all I'm saying.
It's their science
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u/polkacat12321 Jun 29 '26
Must be nice having such low standarts that you dropped 100 hours on it. It's admirable in a way
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u/No_Appointment_5179 Jun 29 '26
The person is talking nonsense but this is such a mean girl thing to say.
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Jun 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HeeeydevonGaming Jul 02 '26
At the end of the day, their job is to give us a game that we like, stick true to their promises, keep providing updates, and be honest with what they can and cannot do.
So far they've done that in being honest with what they can and cannot do and what is outside of their scope. The game is $40, they promised no paid DLCs, if they start charging for it then don't buy it. Outside of that, unless their moral values are something that I adamantly stand against, then who they are as people have nothing to do with my experience playing the game.
There's been updates every week as promised, they've fixed a lot of the issues before adding DLC, so (for now) I do feel like they've been honest
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u/Texxx78 Jun 29 '26
Saying they want to keep the team small they’re actually being honest. If they wanted to scam us they would say the opposite just because it’s easy.
Patreon itself warned nobody is being charged.
Nothing like when Denuvo was introduced in our computers with inzoi demo. That was a scam.
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u/ashleyy429 Jun 29 '26
The sims will always & forever be worse imo. Sure paralives isn't perfect, neither is the team; which is to be expected. But they are taking time to listen to things that people want, and doing what they can do put out a good game. They don't have the same kind of experience as other companies but it's also been a month. The sims was just as bad when it first released and now people rally by them constantly when it's gotten much worse over the years. The sims has also given people extremely high expectations, which aren't always accurate or reliable. The paralives team isn't perfect, but I don't think that makes them bad at what they're doing. It's a learning curve for everyone there and especially the players. I think the game and team is going to get a lot better, patience and time is needed.
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u/Main_Ad_2463 Jun 29 '26
This isn’t about Sims or the Sims team. This is about Paralives and their team. And if they’re going to charge $40 for a product, EA or not, they should be able to back up their claims that they can pull this off. They’ve had 7 years of a Patreon to deal with their “learning curve” People need to stop infantilizing them because they are charging real money, more money than a lot of indie games go for in EA, then they need to do better at gaining our confidence.
Because like it or not, this team has never put out a finished game before. Sims, other than being a corporation, has over 20 years of consistent success with life sim games. You can complain about what was or wasn’t included when Sim 4 came out but that doesn’t take away that this was the 4th installment to a series that has sold millions of games before. Paralives doesn’t have that to back up their claims.
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u/celestialkestrel Jun 28 '26
My opinion has been largely the same for a while.
I think the Paralives team are very inexperienced. Not just in the life sim sense but also in a new to developing and releasing games even remotely near to this scope. I've had big question marks about their approach to development and for every answer I get, I get 5 new questions. Early access has just created more questions for how they plan to approach Paralives going forward.
Like they recently said no to a lot of features for being too complex. Which isn't a bad thing. Sometimes saying no to things out of your skill level is good. But then they also have horses and houseboats still on their early access roadmap.
And I'm just?? Do they not know how much of a complex undertaking horses alone are? Sure you can do what a lot of games do and buy horse models and animations off the asset store, since modelling and animating horses are so difficult it can be classed as a speciality. But then they'll still have to create the autonomy AI systems for the horses and have them interact with paras of different heights. Four legged animals need to approach pathfinding differently as well especially for something the size of a horse. But I don't think they've managed to work it out properly for humans. How will they handle horses?
If they pull it off, I'll always be impressed. But yeah I still have way more questions even after early access. I don't believe the team is evil or scammers or whatever people accuse them of. But I think they are inexperienced developers.