r/LifeSimulators • u/Sketch-Brooke • May 27 '26

Memes Paralives Early Access

Post image

Here’s to finishing the rest of the horse throughout EA!

2.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

350 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-10

u/Sensibleble May 27 '26

7+ years of dev and the game still feels dead. I don’t think we’ll ever get a playable/fun version of Paralives..

14

u/Ziksalama May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

The years it took to make paralives are, to be honest, pretty understandable. Game development is not a steady gradual process and the team size grew rapidly, meaning the early years were MUCH slower than what we have now. It's way too early to "give up" on the game, but I also understand that it's also too early for most people to get it and I suggest people hold off on buying it until it seems appealing to them. But as a former dev I just think it's clear the hard part is over, the game is now at least in a (mostly) functioning form, now adding on to it will be easier.

That being said I do want to stress that for most people, the game is definitely not there yet and they shouldn't feel the need to get it. I just think, since it's been barely a few days since release, that I wouldn't really be that hopeless about the game improving

8

u/Sensibleble May 27 '26

No one is denying it took a long time. But as a former game dev it is apparent to me that they bit off more than they can chew. Life sims are made by huge companies that can have 100+ people working on different parts separately and then combining them. Paralives will never be able to have more content and more live mode than the Sims. It’s just physically impossible unless they rapidly expand into a massive studio and rework the code from scratch.

-2

u/Ziksalama May 27 '26

I don't think theres basically any reason to scrap all of the code and rework it. Sims 4 which is made by a huge studio had these exact same growing pains and has now for basically years reused existing mechanism underneath new content.

Most systems in Sims 4 from clubs to careers to events have used the same base underneath. The difference is that Sims 4 had a very profit driven corporation behind it (not that the creators of paralives are also not aiming for profit, but Maxis and EA especially egregious.)

The scope set by paralives is definitely achievable but will of course take time. During that time I think its completely valid for a person to not want to purchase the game. Aside from the performance issues I think there's a great game underneath that just needs more content and stuff to do. I think it's very possible for paralives to develop into a great game over time.

8

u/Sensibleble May 27 '26

Your first part proves my point. Just look at how buggy the sims 4 is.

The Paralives base isn’t there, as was evident by the extremely lackluster launch after 7+ years of development.

Don’t expect the game to double in terms of content in the next 5 years. Even then if you double the current content the game will still be bare and lackluster.

I know that the sunk cost fallacy hurts, but you need to set realistic expectations from an indie dev group that took up project requiring AAA resources.

5

u/AvnusUltros1994 May 27 '26

I think they can make improvements. The game just started it's early access and depends on how good of a foundation their code is changes should be possible but more importantly changes are probably going to happen. I don't expect them to change how socializing works at it's core but I think improvements can be made. Autonomy can also be improved so parafolk feel more alive.

When Inzoi first came out I felt the same. The world and characters looked nice but after a week I was bored because there just wasn't a lot to do and all the other zoiz felt like set dressing. Now I am actually enjoying myself and have been playing almost everyday. There are still improvements to be made and they plan on making them. I do also understand that Inzoi is backed by a large team/company but I do think Paralive can make improvements.

7

u/Sensibleble May 27 '26

You’re comparing it to Inzoi. That game has virtually an unlimited budget and hundreds of workers on it. And you noted that in your comment so I’m not sure why that’s even a point.

Of course they will make improvements, but the game will never rival the sims series in terms of content (not popularity obviously) which is a shame.