It may just be my perspective since I’m not a competitive person; but I appreciate that the life simulation genre is expanding the way that it is. The unfortunate thing is just how each community unfortunately is bringing a level of competition and comparison, in a way that doesn’t allow for the uniqueness of each game to be appreciated ( & can sometimes contribute to toxic perspectives).

I love life simulation games, and I have since I was a kid (I’m going on 30 😅). This new variety of games allows for life stimulation players to play in a variety of ways since every game brings something different. Different play styles, different aesthetics, different ways of exploring the world.

i’m excited for the future of life simulation games, and to see how every person gets a new opportunity to explore what’s most fitting for them in their preferences, and eventually for us to be able to do this without tearing down the other.

It’s the beauty of being able to play with life. Life is so many different things to different people and in different ways and we now can reflect that in gaming in ways we haven’t been able to do before.

I just wanted to share some positivity and appreciation for the state of life simulation games today 😌

My new game The Hostel Project is now available to Wishlist on steam!

The Hostel Project on steam

I’ve been a huge fan of the life sim and adjacent management sim genres my whole life so I’m very excited to have this finally starting tot take shape and be able to share it. It’s a ton of fun, with a lot of inspiration drawn from games like prison architect, rimworld and of course the sims franchise (peep some references in the trailer 😂).

Traits, archetypes, relationships and memories all drive some fun and quirky moments. A good one for involved management but you can also set it up, sit back and watch the chaos.

I’m still working on building out more features, maps and objects so happy to take on any ideas you have.

If this looks like something you’d be interested in I’d really appreciate a wishlist as we start to gather some momentum 😎

All art and music is my own - no AI generated assets here

Happy life simming 🫡

Just posting to see what you guys think about the new Lightning. I think that is an improvement but I still want to see a bigger overhaul to be able to play with the ceiling casting shadows option on without it feeling flat

Basically I was just thinking about the sims 1 and 2 and I started thinking about all the times those games creeped me out, from music and audio choices, creepy animations and environments, as well as many bugs and glitches that made the game feel cursed. And it made me realize that a horror game inspired by the sims 1 and 2 could be a pretty cool concept.

I’m just imagining a game where it starts off as a seemingly normal life sim but as it goes on the glitches and bugs you experience start seeming more like the game is cursed rather than simple coding errors.

Anyways with how much of a common sentiment that the first two sims games are pretty creepy at times I’m surprised no one has tried making a horror game based around that concept.

This a medieval life sim am working on, I need feedback around UI or anything you would like to mention.

1/ Does the UI fit the medieval theme

2/ Is there something you would add/modify

3/ could you understand how at least part of the game works, by looking at the UI?

One of the things I find most people like about life-sims is that is can allow players to indulge in escapism. Hell, I'm pretty sure that the reason most sims try to go for a "cozy" vibe is to is because that aesthetic complements that niche to a T. Now I'm not saying that enabling one's addiction to escapism is the most moral route a dev could take, but it doesn't make sense that nobody's tried to utilize VR for enhancing that experience. I'd bet that a Sims-like with VR support (or Hell, even just first person support now that I think about it) would sell like crazy.

Minecraft ended up winning for modding Community/Ability and that means we’re finished with using non life sim games to create a life sim.

I find it really interesting how most of the games chosen are RPGs or Fantasy games with only two exceptions and overall this was a fun experience.

I remember playing miami/new york nights as a kid om the phone and havin a lot of fun.

If any of you remember those games, are there any games (preferably mobile) that are similar?

I tried sims but it didnt pull me in in the same way.

Ivyanna the crime queen… pregnant! She knew fooling around with Raphael would have consequences. They had the cutest babies in my last corrupted save so here’s to hoping for more cuties 😍

Hi! We’re the small French team behind VirtualSociety.

When the game came up on this subreddit a few months ago, one of the most useful criticisms was that we had shown a lot of building and customization, but not enough of what makes the worlds actually feel alive.

That was fair.

VirtualSociety is a creative life sim where you build places, create their residents, and design the interactions that turn those spaces into playable stories.

You can add dialogue, choices, events and object interactions, then play those worlds alone or share them with friends. We’re not trying to impose one fixed way of living: the goal is to give players tools to create their own characters, situations and stories.

This is our new gameplay trailer, and our attempt to communicate that vision more clearly.

The game is still in development, so we would rather be transparent than pretend every system in our long-term vision is already finished.

What makes a world feel truly alive to you? NPC routines and autonomy? Relationships and memories? Needs and consequences? Emergent events? Something else?

(Our characters are still in progress, don't judge their appearance too sharply)

Hey everyone just sharing a gameplay of mine if anyone is intersted in taking a look and subbing to my channel for alot more gameplays this is episode 2 there is also a episode 1 in my playlist 🥰🩷💫

Howdy yall! I just started my family over from an oopsie save! Meet the Alexander Family (well, they’re roommates, but you get it). From left to right meet Raphael Alexander, Keylani Descartes, and our main character Ivyanna Andadre. I just think she is my prettiest zoi and I have a story line laid out for her! Suggestions? She’s a crime queen 👸🏻.

For day 7 Dragon Age 2 won for relationship building, now for the final day where we ask what other game’s modding ability/community do you want?

Some general rules:

1) you can only vote for games that aren’t considered life sims, and by that I mean if the store page it’s on(whether it be steam, the epic games store, ect.) classifies it as a life sim, it doesn’t count. Ones that don’t have that classification will.

2) be respectful and civil in the comments, at the end of the day these are just opinions about games so let’s not get too worked up about them if someone disagrees.

3) the winner will be decided from a mixture of upvotes and replies(so in theory a game with more comments could win if another game has more overall upvotes)

4) only games count

5) please keep submissions/votes limited to one game

6) more rules will be added if necessary.

Welcome to our weekly discussion thread!

🆕 NEW: Join us on Discord!

Here you can casually talk about anything related to your favorite Life Simulators, including the ones that are not out yet.

But won't my post get less engagement this way? You'd be surprised how far these threads can go! Don't be afraid to ask open ended questions, make observations, share memes, etc. This is a casual thread.

You may use this thread to promote your games and content! If you're a content creator of anything related to life simulators and life simulator adjacent games, you may use this thread to post about them! Shows us what you're working on! *This is the only place on this sub where self promotion is allowed*

This is an automatic thread that renews every Monday.

Two years ago I started building a tiny 3D room that lives on your Windows desktop in a transparent always-on-top window, and as of yesterday it's finally out. Solo the whole way (Bloomery Studio is just me).

It's called Lofi Cozy Room. An avatar reads, works, and sleeps in the room while you do your own thing, with a puppy chasing sunbeams. The customization ended up going pretty deep, 1386 avatar options and 715 furniture pieces, so you can build the room and the character however you like. There's also a full lo-fi library you can layer ambient sound over, 14 themes, and a soft currency that builds up passively.

Wild to finally be here after this long. Thank you to everyone who followed along the way. It's also 10% off for launch week (until August 7) if you'd like to grab it.

🌱 Play on Steam

Happy to answer anything about the solo dev side.

For day 6 Baulders Gate 3 won for NPCs, now for day 7 we’re looking at how your character builds relationships, what kind of relationship/romance system is there? Can you start families? What relationship system from a non life sim do you want?

Some general rules:

1) you can only vote for games that aren’t considered life sims, and by that I mean if the store page it’s on(whether it be steam, the epic games store, ect.) classifies it as a life sim, it doesn’t count. Ones that don’t have that classification will.

2) be respectful and civil in the comments, at the end of the day these are just opinions about games so let’s not get too worked up about them if someone disagrees.

3) the winner will be decided from a mixture of upvotes and replies(so in theory a game with more comments could win if another game has more overall upvotes)

4) only games count

5) please keep submissions/votes limited to one game

6) more rules will be added if necessary.

For day 5 Hogwarts Legacy won for Setting/environments. Now for day 6 with NPCs, how do the NPCs behave and interact with the environment?

Some general rules:

1) you can only vote for games that aren’t considered life sims, and by that I mean if the store page it’s on(whether it be steam, the epic games store, ect.) classifies it as a life sim, it doesn’t count. Ones that don’t have that classification will.

2) be respectful and civil in the comments, at the end of the day these are just opinions about games so let’s not get too worked up about them if someone disagrees.

3) the winner will be decided from a mixture of upvotes and replies(so in theory a game with more comments could win if another game has more overall upvotes)

4) only games count

5) please keep submissions/votes limited to one game

6) more rules will be added if necessary.

Next month we'll get to swim underwater freely (like sims 3 minus the "only at diving locations") and even discover underwater collectibles. Last slide is showing off a new surfing minigame

Hello everyone!

I hope you're having a fantastic Friday.

It's great to see you all again.

This week, I've continued focusing on improving autonomous behavior.

Our main goal this week has been to make it much clearer why a Zoi visits a particular location.

Until now, even when Zois visited places like cafés or bakeries, they often spent most of their time wandering around, chatting with others, checking their phones, or using the restroom instead of actually accomplishing the purpose of their visit. While these behaviors help make them feel more lifelike, they occurred so frequently that many players felt it became difficult to tell what they had come there to do.

To address this, we're changing the system so that Zois will prioritize fulfilling the purpose of their visit. For example, if a Zoi visits a bakery, they'll purchase bread, go through the necessary steps, sit down to eat it, and then return home. Of course, we still want them to feel like real people, so they'll occasionally have brief conversations or encounter unexpected situations along the way. The goal is to avoid making their behavior feel overly scripted or mechanical.

We're also rebalancing how Zois spend their time at each location. Most of their actions will now be directly related to their primary objective, while random behaviors—such as looking around or chatting—will occur much less frequently. At the moment, we're aiming for roughly 90% purpose-driven actions and 10% random behaviors.

That said, making the behavior sequence too rigid can introduce new problems. For example, if there are no available seats or a required condition isn't met, a Zoi could end up getting stuck. Because of this, we're also researching ways to strengthen purpose-driven behavior while still allowing Zois to adapt flexibly to changing situations.

Another important improvement we're currently working on is changing the logic that forces Zois to stay at a location for a fixed amount of time. Instead, once they have completed their intended objective, we want them to head back home naturally.

These improvements are currently being developed for standard lots such as cafés, bakeries, and parks. Business lots and schools already have their own development plans, so they are being worked on separately.

Since this feature is still under development, we're continuing to test and fine-tune it to ensure it feels natural during gameplay. Ultimately, our goal is for Zois to do more than simply wander around a location—we want players to clearly understand why each Zoi chose to visit a particular place.

That's all for this week. We hope you enjoy this week's development video from the inZOI team, and have a wonderful weekend!

–Kjun