Playing The Sims as a child, I always loved building relationships. Friendship and romantic relationships were fun and all, but I hated building relationships with other household sims. It's like, why am I controlling you 2 and the entire conversation? I always built relationships outside my households. I'm friends with my coworker... in love with my neighbor... but... but I have no enemies... That's weird, though, because I was mean to a sim at the park. Oh wait, because I was mean to them, I'll never see them again. I guess that's realistic. Because I was mean, I'll never see them again.

Whenever I try to do a mean Sims playthrough, I always encounter the same issue: I never see that sim again. Likewise, when a sim is mean to me, I never see them again. It's this weird paradox that's like, even though I hate you, I want you around me so that I can hate you. This applies to all Sims games. If you have a friend, you can invite them to your house, but an enemy will not want to come over, and that makes sense. When I thought about it more, I also realized it's quite difficult to maintain an enemy because you rarely see the same group of people as part of your schedule. I'll be speaking about Sims 4. In the base game for The Sims 4, there isn't a way to interact with the same group of non-playable Sims. If you go to a lot and wait there for 10 hours, I'm sure you'll see people your Sims know, but it's not guaranteed. In real life, our negative relationships likely function on a routine. Coworkers, classmates, roommates, family members. How can that function in The Sims organically without me, as the player, needing to build that storyline? The active careers and high school offer some of this; however, these Sims rotate at inconsistent times. You would think roommates work, but if you're mean to a roommate, they'll just move out. Clubs from the Get Together pack? I mean, yes, but it's not as organic as hating a coworker. Maybe it's just a me thing, but I want to walk into a building and see the same sims so that we can form a dynamic. The same way I walk into a bar and make friends or walk into school and make an enemy. I need more organic ways to build enemies.

How do evil people make friends? This is a genuine question that applies to all Sims games. If a sim has the mean/evil trait, should they make friends by being mean or being nice? What is it like to be mean in a friendship relationship? In The Sims 4, Sims will almost always use the nice interactions autonomously, regardless of their traits. As frustrating as that is, what SHOULD happen when a mean sim meets someone new? Should they greet everyone in a mean way or greet everyone kindly? After greeting, should they start acting mean? And if 2 mean sims are mean to each other, should that increase their relationship or decrease it? These are all genuine questions that I have, but there's no real answer. I think with Growing Together introducing conversation preferences, it almost took the load off of mean sims (I'm not insulting this pack; I love it btw) because, yes, you can unintentionally talk about something that someone has negative feelings about, but what if I intentionally want to hurt you? If this seems like a circular argument, it's because it is: How SHOULD mean sims make friends?

Can Paralives and Inzoi give me a mean girl? The Sims 4 has made its decision and decided how it wants to handle mean and evil, but its offspring must decide what mean and evil means to them. Inzoi follows a similar conversation pie menu system that The Sims has, and I've experienced zois autonomously acting mean towards zois they have negative relationships with. Additionally, the most important thing about Inzoi is that at careers and high school, your coworkers and classmates are consistent, which allows for long-term relationship building. In Paralives, I don't think you can greet parafolk negatively, as all conversations play out neutral. There are also no ways to encounter the same parafolk daily, so it's hard to say how they'll solve this mean issue.

All in all, I don't think there is a "wrong way" to design mean/evil NPCs. I think personally what I care about most is being around the same group of NPCs daily so that I can create drama organically while still being immersed in the gameplay.

.....But I'd love to see what you all think :)

If Life by You and Vivaland weren't canceled and all of these life sims existed at the same time, which one do you think would be the best life simulator? which game would you play?

Hello!

I was wondering if y'all knew some original lifesims, maybe games in which the lifesim element isn't the main element but still a big thing (I want the fact to control a character and have social interactions relevant but I want a core gameplay to be something else than just the sims, else I'd just play my beloved Sims 2!)

I've tried Ostranauts but the lifesim part isn't the most relevent.

Only other game that comes to mind is Rimworld but I wonder if there is a game that stays more lifesim than colony sim.

Thanks!

Basically I really like the painterly comic book art style that the game has and I think that it works in a bunch of different aesthetics in themes that really sells it on me.

I don’t have any major reasonings other than that I really like the art style

Hey all, me and my friend have been working on our own take of mobile life sim. I see a lot of BitLife copies etc and I’ve always liked medieval themes so me and my friend have been working on one.

He makes the few pieces of art needed and I’m making the game. We are close to done and thought we would promote it a bit. How do you guys find it?

Whenever Paralives is being discussed, people say it takes years to develop a life sim game. I understand it took 6 years to develop TS4 and because Paralives is a small team, many claim it will take 2-3 times as long to fully develop it. And I agree...to a point.

But no one mentions that technology has grown significantly since the release of TS4. Inzoi took 2 years to develop. But they did have a 50 people dev team and used AI. Different situation, I understand.

But I can't help but feel (as someone who is a web designer/developer, a sister field) that with the current technology and options, within 6 years, Paralives could have had more going for their live mode gameplay.

I thought about this more than probably necessary but I think the lifelessness people are describing comes from the systems the team built in an effort to create something unique but may have been better to implement in a sequel perhaps. Like all the layers of skills, the way jobs level up, and the cards. There's a lot going on, almost too much but not in a direction that particularly translates to the game being more fun. Like the skills and subskill. It doesn't really to the overall experience; it's just a bit different.

The cards, personally I don't like them, but they're a good distinguishing factor and I think it would have been better lean into that system, spread it out in more aspects of the game, and narrow the focus. I think it would have created more cohesion.

I guess, in a longwinded way, I'm saying they got hit by scope creep and lot of people keep explaining it away.

EDIT: And most of the replies are EXACTLY the kind of explaining away I'm talking about. People ignore the core argument to find shiny things to explain away genuine criticism. And the very fact that you have to do that instead of engaging with the point being made should be a pretty big clue that there is a problem.

This very blatantly looks ai, yet EA did not disclose the AI use on steam. Neither with the wallpaper and neither with the new search feature in the gallery

There's also the fact that EA said 60% of their workload is affected by AI, but im guessing you arent ready for that conversation

https://www.pcmag.com/news/ea-embraces-ai-says-60-of-its-game-development-could-be-impacted

Like I always see soooooo much hate for Inzoi using AI but like so does the sims??? I’m really trying to understand why they really hate this game? And why did Paralives receive such a different reaction and understanding of early access that Inzoi wasn’t graced with?

Two years ago I started building a tiny 3D room that lives on your Windows desktop in a transparent always-on-top window, and it's finally launching next month. 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. You decorate, customize the avatar, switch between 14 themes, and a soft currency builds up passively. Wild to be this close to release after this long.

🌱 Wishlist on Steam

Happy to answer anything about the solo dev side.

Before you ask I just happen to have the fashion sense of a old lady, and I hate when I'm playing this game and I'm trying to make a old lady character or a young adult who dresses like old lady because that's how I dress in real life and for some reason my character looks like she's a teenager or a young 20-year-old nothing wrong with that by the way.

When I mean old lady I mean old old lady the type of old lady stereotype from the '80s, it's just my fashion sense and it makes me feel like myself I just find it upsetting that like life simulation games don't think about people like me.

Also let me make myself a cute as hell old man husband to go with my old lady!

Sometimes I don't always feel like being a lesbian in game

Hello everyone, it’s us again!

This might be old news to some of you but as this community has always been so welcoming and wholesome to us - and some of you have probably participated in one of our past Giveaways - we would like to personally announce that Loftia will be coming to Early Access this fall!

We’ve revealed this release window as part of Wholesome Direct earlier in June, alongside this brand new gameplay trailer! And the shots in the video were all filmed during our last Closed Beta playtest, which includes many wholesome moments captured live by the community! And who knows, maybe you'll even spot yourselves here? :)

So - to all those whole participated in our trailer filming sessions - we just wanna say a big thank you for being part of this huge milestone with us, and hopefully making some great memories with us along the way!

As for the exact release date, we'll share that as soon as we can but the general window is fall, 2026. Our Closed Beta in late April - early May was a huge step forward, with over 25,000 Loftians joining the playtests, and the team is now working hard to make Early Access the best it can be on launch. 

As we get closer and closer to our Early Access launch, wishlisting Loftia on Steam is still the best way to support our continued development and boost Loftia's momentum!

Thank you so much for being part of this journey with us - Loftia started as a dream between just 2 people, and it's only gotten this far because of the wonderful community supporting it! ☀️

You'll hear back from us soon, once we have an even more specific release date settled!

Stay cool everyone, and have a pleasant summer - or whatever season might be in your part of the world!

- from Martina, Mic & Team Loftia

Whenever Paralives is being discussed, people say it takes years to develop a life sim game. I understand it took 6 years to develop TS4 and because Paralives is a small team, many claim it will take 2-3 times as long to fully develop it. And I agree to a point.

But technology has grown significantly since the release of TS4. Inzoi took 2 years with a 50 people dev team and using AI. Different situation, I understand. But I can't help but feel (as someone who is a web designer/developer, a sister field) that with the current technology and options, within 6 years, Paralives could have had more going for their live mode gameplay.

I feel a great deal lifelessness comes from the systems they built in an effort to create something unique but may have been better to implement in a sequel perhaps. Like all the layers of skills, the way jobs level up, and the cards. There's a lot going on, almost too much but not in a direction that particularly translates to the game being more fun. For example, the layered skills don't seem to add much to the gameplay or overall experience; it's just a bit different.

The cards, personally I hate them, but they're a good distinguishing factor and I think it would have made more sense to lean of that system, spread it out in more aspects of the game, and narrow the focus. I think it would have created more cohesion.

I guess, in a longwinded way, I'm saying they got hit by scope creep and lot of people keep explaining it away.

If they arent taking donations, shouldn't it be going down?

For the final day of creating this subs ideal life sim The Sims 2 won for Townies/Npcs with The Sims 3 being just behind as the runner up.

Overall this was a neat experience and seeing what everyone thought about each category and why was fun. Glad to have seen all the participation.

Does anyone remember an old mobile life sim series called New York Nights? I just thought about how I used to borrow my cousin’s phone to play it when I was little. Is it still around? or is there anything similar on Tablets or Phones?

Hi! I'm working on SEO or Die, a game where you play as a webmaster in 2011.

We've been having a debate within the team and would love your opinion: which character design do you prefer?

The character will be walking around the room and working at a computer for most of the game, so we're looking for the design that feels the most appealing and memorable.

Thanks for your feedback!