EA needs competition that's for sure. And since I don't play TS4 I need some good simulation games soon. Imo Paralives seem to be the only "real competitor" at the moment. I like the look of People of the Newbery, the future will tell if it's a scam or not. Not a fan of TS4 cartoony style. And if Sims5 is online I'm not interested.
That’s from 2015. At that point Paradox Interactive hadn’t even opened Paradox Tectonic. One would imagine that in the four years of people asking about a Sims game between then and 2019 (since people see City Skylines as the salvation of the city sim and have wanted a similar treatment for the life sim), they might see there is a market
Paradox has also just been doing a LOT of expansion and acquisition recently. They’ve been really open about having a strategy of deciding where they think there’s an opportunity in the market and then either finding someone already making that and buying them, or opening a new studio to make it themselves. 2015 business strategy and statements don’t really apply to their new model.
The biggest suggestion that it is a sims-like being made is this:
But also just the fact that they hired Rod Humble in the first place, and that it’s clear the new Berkeley studio has been hiring a bunch of other Sims alumni.
As to having not heard anything specific about the project and silence from the studio: I actually take that as a good sign. That’s how development works in a AAA setting. You keep things under wraps until you have something to share. They don’t have the same obligation to transparency, and in fact have an obligation to non disclosure.
I have more hope for this project than the others. I think they’re waiting until they have something real to share.
Yes I hope they are working on a life sim game! Just don’t want to get hyped before I see that that’s the case.
I don't get why they don't continue on in the same vain but are going to redo most of the game. They didn't actually do anything wrong, right? And how the beta only changed with a couple of months, even though most of the game has to be redone.
Neither do I. With supernatural beings it's not for me. I hope he at least makes them optional.
If you go to the games Discord, people have been asking about supernatural and now he's giving it more serious consideration!
I saw that. I may belong to a minority who do not want them in my game.
Maybe there will be a toggle? But how will he know this unless you tell him that if supernaturals are in the game that there needs to be a toggle as not everyone is on board with that.
I’m pretty sure he keeps an eye on your thread here
40% of the game was done in 7 months? With just one person? And now they want to make assets from scratch, but it'll only delay the game by a few months? I changed my mind: I don't find it credible. It's totally unrealistic to have a planned release date for something that's barely finished. The game is going to be very simple, broken, or delayed. If this is an earnest attempt, the dev has seriously underestimated the effort needed to make something as complex as a simulation game. It's possible he might make the same mistakes that Molyneux did: overpromising and underdelivering.
This is exactly what I'm thinking too, I'm not sure he fully understood the complexity of what would be involved in making a life sim and what would be expected by the community for this type of game.
The dev has shown us a different game he has worked on, but that was a shooter game, that is not any where near a life sim. A life sim is all about the personalities, emotions, and individuality of the sim, it is not just about the mechanics of missions and fighting. While I don't play those type of games myself, I would just imagine the characters aren't as fully fleshed out with personalities like a sim game would be.
Are you going to continue to be a Patreon supporter though for the game?
I don't get why they don't continue on in the same vain but are going to redo most of the game. They didn't actually do anything wrong, right? And how the beta only changed with a couple of months, even though most of the game has to be redone.
Neither do I. With supernatural beings it's not for me. I hope he at least makes them optional.
If you go to the games Discord, people have been asking about supernatural and now he's giving it more serious consideration!
I saw that. I may belong to a minority who do not want them in my game.
Maybe there will be a toggle? But how will he know this unless you tell him that if supernaturals are in the game that there needs to be a toggle as not everyone is on board with that.
I’m pretty sure he keeps an eye on your thread here
Yes, I will continue to support the dev for now. The amount I'm supporting is less than a half of tank of gas over a 4-5 month period, that's nothing. But I am hoping "some support" no matter how small or insignificant keeps his motivation to continue developing the game he envisioned.
40% of the game was done in 7 months? With just one person? And now they want to make assets from scratch, but it'll only delay the game by a few months? I changed my mind: I don't find it credible. It's totally unrealistic to have a planned release date for something that's barely finished. The game is going to be very simple, broken, or delayed. If this is an earnest attempt, the dev has seriously underestimated the effort needed to make something as complex as a simulation game. It's possible he might make the same mistakes that Molyneux did: overpromising and underdelivering.
I agree that this seems extremely ambitious. I supervise short term creative projects and I would always advice against artists or devs working on material that in reality needs 2-5 years to complete (with a full, professional team!). 😶
This guy will have to be super determined, passionate and be surrounded by the right kind of folks to help him out in order to pull off whatever it is he thinks he’s developing. Every single aspect in his life and business has to be in his favor, otherwise this is going abso-bloody-lutely nowhere.
Then again, I prefer to stay positive and I hope he can prove us sceptics wrong! As for right now there’s a big BUT and it’s not the one I’m sitting on.
Maybe he could make it a community effort and creators could donate assets for him to use with credit of course, then he could concentrate more on the programming/coding/scripting side of things.
Yes, I will continue to support the dev for now. The amount I'm supporting is less than a half of tank of gas over a 4-5 month period, that's nothing. But I am hoping "some support" no matter how small or insignificant keeps his motivation to continue developing the game he envisioned.
Yeah, he needs to be encouraged to keep going, even when he realizes that development will take longer. Right now it may appear easy to him, because he is just working on all the physical stuff. It's the AI that will be the true hard work of the game.
I think the world looks beautiful. I do not like the looks of the people, as I prefer the clayified cartoony looks. I do think the movements and animations look very natural. None of this is imporrtant at this moment if he's going to be redoing MOST of the game at this point anyways. I'll wait and see how it looks in the end. I also would prefer no supernaturals or a toggle. But I have no intention of contacting him. I don't want to put pressure or try to influence this guy to make the game I want, I want him to just create his own game, the one he wants to exist. If it ends up being one I'll like then buy it (providing the price isn't too much) and if it's not one then I won't. It's no big deal. I have my Sims 4, my Animal Crossing, and my board games haha! I don't really need anything else.
I do wonder how the game is 40% done if he has to redo almost all of it.
I'm kinda skeptical of this new simulation game but at the same time, I'm more than excited. I love my sims but it would be nice to see simulation games in a different light. I'm here for it. Patiently waiting for Paralives and this People of the Newbery! *fingers crossed*
I think the world looks beautiful. I do not like the looks of the people, as I prefer the clayified cartoony looks. I do think the movements and animations look very natural. None of this is imporrtant at this moment if he's going to be redoing MOST of the game at this point anyways. I'll wait and see how it looks in the end. I also would prefer no supernaturals or a toggle. But I have no intention of contacting him. I don't want to put pressure or try to influence this guy to make the game I want, I want him to just create his own game, the one he wants to exist. If it ends up being one I'll like then buy it (providing the price isn't too much) and if it's not one then I won't. It's no big deal. I have my Sims 4, my Animal Crossing, and my board games haha! I don't really need anything else.
I do wonder how the game is 40% done if he has to redo almost all of it.
Exactly I wish people would just let this guy make his game. He’s not a full-fledged gaming studio—he went from “zero to hero” in like 3 days. He was just a guy making a game and now all the Game Changers are making videos about him and he’s getting lots of press and attention. I’m sure it’s stressful to manage all of the newfound expectations ex: sounds like supernatural fans are rushing the discord now demanding occults. I hope he doesn’t muck up whatever his original vision was just to please the squeaky wheels.
I think the world looks beautiful. I do not like the looks of the people, as I prefer the clayified cartoony looks. I do think the movements and animations look very natural. None of this is imporrtant at this moment if he's going to be redoing MOST of the game at this point anyways. I'll wait and see how it looks in the end. I also would prefer no supernaturals or a toggle. But I have no intention of contacting him. I don't want to put pressure or try to influence this guy to make the game I want, I want him to just create his own game, the one he wants to exist. If it ends up being one I'll like then buy it (providing the price isn't too much) and if it's not one then I won't. It's no big deal. I have my Sims 4, my Animal Crossing, and my board games haha! I don't really need anything else.
I do wonder how the game is 40% done if he has to redo almost all of it.
Exactly I wish people would just let this guy make his game. He’s not a full-fledged gaming studio—he went from “zero to hero” in like 3 days. He was just a guy making a game and now all the Game Changers are making videos about him and he’s getting lots of press and attention. I’m sure it’s stressful to manage all of the newfound expectations ex: sounds like supernatural fans are rushing the discord now demanding occults. I hope he doesn’t muck up whatever his original vision was just to please the squeaky wheels.
True, but anyone who decides to advertise an upcoming ‘Life Simulator’ should expect an overwhelming interest and the consequences thereof.
I mean it’s not a secret that a lot of folks want The Sims to have competition...an indie dev should expect at least some pressure and not be surprised to see this wave of requests coming at him.
He should have been aware that people want every life simulator in development to be better than the Sims.
Whether he deserves this kind of pressure is a different matter, but in all fairness, he pretty much asked for it.
Yeah I still think we have another "Vie" situation here. It's just my opinion and I'd love to be wrong but it really doesn't seem legit to me, right now. I'm excited for Paralives and Little Sim World. We still have some competitors to the sims even if this one turns out to be fake, so that's nice
@ClarionOfJoy did you hear the testing has been moved to 2021? because they had to redo most of the game after they had problems.
Quoting exactly he said
Due to some situations with our community, we need to redo most of the game. The test of the game has been moved to the beginning of 2021
Another review by by a game changer, this time from Spain!
Reaccionando a People of the Newbery 🤔 NUEVO juego de simulación de vida SÚPER REALISTA!!
(Reacting to People of the Newbery 🤔 NEW SUPER REALISTIC life simulation game!!)
by Mprin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rWtFJSuQ68
I am not so sure should I post here, as (only based by OP's signature), I very much dislike the looks of Sebastian and Maggie, and absolutely am in the minority who does not like Paralives a one bit.
But for this game, IF it is true, I would very much like to see the finished product. If not true, well, one more Vie.
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
If the assets are just placeholders while the gameplay is developed (and apparently 40% done), great. Show some of that gameplay.
All we've got are some videos and pictures of assets from the Unreal engine, and when people noticed they weren't original, we were told they were purchased as placeholders so the developer could work on coding rather than learning how to design assets ....
But literally all we have seen so far on this are those store-bought assets, which might not be the way the actual game looks. The "test of the game," which I guess means alpha testing, since there's no footage of even primitive gameplay, has already been moved back, and the game is apparently 40% finished and needing a major reworking due to community demands ....
I mean, I'm not that excited about Paralives yet because the character style hasn't grown on me and we haven't seen any gameplay, but I can at least look at the videos and say that they have developed some neat design tools.
Here, no gameplay, no design tools we've seen other than, apparently, just assets being manipulated in Unity, and all of the assets we've seen were just purchased from the store. I don't see anything that looks like an actual game.
I am not so sure should I post here, as (only based by OP's signature), I very much dislike the looks of Sebastian and Maggie, and absolutely am in the minority who does not like Paralives a one bit.
But for this game, IF it is true, I would very much like to see the finished product. If not true, well, one more Vie.
I'm going to buy all the games that are coming out. I just haven't updated my signature yet!
Yes, wait for this game!
The developer is quite young (22 years old) and this game is his first commercial indie game and his first time using Patreon. He had created a game before, which was quite good enough to be sold to a game company. With the proceeds from that, he purchased the right to use the Unreal Engine 4, plus initial graphical assets for the game. He didn't know how to market the game, but he opened a channel on YouTube and a few accounts in the usual social media. But once his game was discovered, word of it caught on like wildfire. I first subscribed to his channel a few days ago and it had something like 67 subscribers, lol! Now at this moment, it is 5.9k!
Being that he jumped right in, there were a lot of things he didn't realize, but from what I can see, he's learning pretty quickly.
First of all, he's at the point where he's putting together the physical aspects of the game. Given that his funds are limited, he couldn't hire artists to create a unique art style and objects for him. Buying these assets at the Unreal store made it affordable for him to continue developing the game.
But he hadn't anticipated any trouble over that. Because these assets are also used in other Unreal and Unity games, some people jumped to the conclusion that this game was fake and that he's scamming Patreon funding. Word of that spread like wildfire too. One such person was some guy from Twitter named Jeremy and he was quite energetic about bringing the dev down. To the point where the dev was being threatened, with attempts on blackmailing the dev, and hacking of a VKontakte account (Russian version of Facebook). So all these messages from Jeremy were forwarded to the police. And the police contacted Twitter and Vkontakte about the matter so that they can investigate.
This is why Jeremy's Twitter account is blocked now:
In the meantime, people were spreading the word that this game is a fake because he used assets from the store, not understanding that this is perfectly legal, especially if a dev can't afford his own artists. So, it had to be explained, and it helped a lot of people who took the time to hear the dev's side about this, because most people don't even know about the process of making a game and juggling the resources and how they are funded.
Before he got blocked, I think Jeremy knew he was getting into trouble and tried to wiggle out of it:
He said that a third party paid him to be allowed to use his account, to be able to wreak havoc on the developer..... Yeah, right!... Who the heck would allow such a thing?!?? Lol, such a lame excuse! I remember when New York Congressman Anthony Weiner accidentally sent out a risque picture meant to be private to one person that ended up being public. He said that a hacker did that but investigation showed that not to be true!
So I don't believe there was a third party at all who paid him for the use of his account. Even if there was, he would still be complicit in allowing threats and blackmailing on his account.
Since then, the dev has learned that if you're going to be crowd funded through Patreon, that he needs to be transparent about his work and process of the game. And he's adjusted accordingly!
He realized for example that he overestimated how quickly he can complete the game and still have it well made. At the time that he slated the game for Q3 of 2021, he was working on the physical aspects of the game, which honestly is the easiest part of the game. He hadn't realize that the more difficult parts up ahead would take more time such as the AI and town dynamics. But it's great that he isn't stubborn or prideful and adjusted the games release tentatively to 2022. Beta testing was moved from December of this year to early 2021.
I think it is awesome too that he has a very supportive fanbase that is gently and patiently guiding him through his first endeavors of an indie game in the life simulation genre, knowing that life simulation gamers can be quite demanding.
I will keep reporting on the progress of the game as well as any new features he will add!
If the assets are just placeholders while the gameplay is developed (and apparently 40% done), great. Show some of that gameplay.
All we've got are some videos and pictures of assets from the Unreal engine, and when people noticed they weren't original, we were told they were purchased as placeholders so the developer could work on coding rather than learning how to design assets ....
But literally all we have seen so far on this are those store-bought assets, which might not be the way the actual game looks. The "test of the game," which I guess means alpha testing, since there's no footage of even primitive gameplay, has already been moved back, and the game is apparently 40% finished and needing a major reworking due to community demands ....
I mean, I'm not that excited about Paralives yet because the character style hasn't grown on me and we haven't seen any gameplay, but I can at least look at the videos and say that they have developed some neat design tools.
Here, no gameplay, no design tools we've seen other than, apparently, just assets being manipulated in Unity, and all of the assets we've seen were just purchased from the store. I don't see anything that looks like an actual game.
Paralives doesn't have gameplay either at this time.
I'm not really concerned with looks at this point. I'm sure there'll be mod support for that. I really love the realistic looks of the Newbery people.
The dev said that the game won't be moddable though. But if he continues the game into a series and he builds up more experience developing life simulation games, then maybe he'll add mod support in the future. I don't really mind it so much. I didn't use mods for TS1 or TS2 and sometimes I play TS3 totally unmodded because the vanilla game is just as fun as the modded version.
He did however say that there will be free updates every 2 to 3 months, so I think it would be wise to ask him for the stuff you want before each update so he can include them.
I'm personally a fan of more realistic looks and I really like how they look in Newbery so I'd want this game to actually be real, but atm it doesn't really look sustainable. I'm still throwing my money behind Paralives because their timeline is more realistic, and they've already expanded to 6 people. Looks don't matter to me as much as gameplay does. As long as the simulation is vibrant and robust, and the people are fairly customizable, I'd be interested.
I might keep an eye out for this one from time to time, but I'll only seriously consider it if they prove that they're making progress towards a realistic goal
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Comments
Yes I hope they are working on a life sim game! Just don’t want to get hyped before I see that that’s the case.
I’m pretty sure he keeps an eye on your thread here
Are you going to continue to be a Patreon supporter though for the game?
Ah, okay!
I agree that this seems extremely ambitious. I supervise short term creative projects and I would always advice against artists or devs working on material that in reality needs 2-5 years to complete (with a full, professional team!). 😶
This guy will have to be super determined, passionate and be surrounded by the right kind of folks to help him out in order to pull off whatever it is he thinks he’s developing. Every single aspect in his life and business has to be in his favor, otherwise this is going abso-bloody-lutely nowhere.
Then again, I prefer to stay positive and I hope he can prove us sceptics wrong! As for right now there’s a big BUT and it’s not the one I’m sitting on.
Yeah, he needs to be encouraged to keep going, even when he realizes that development will take longer. Right now it may appear easy to him, because he is just working on all the physical stuff. It's the AI that will be the true hard work of the game.
I do wonder how the game is 40% done if he has to redo almost all of it.
Exactly I wish people would just let this guy make his game. He’s not a full-fledged gaming studio—he went from “zero to hero” in like 3 days. He was just a guy making a game and now all the Game Changers are making videos about him and he’s getting lots of press and attention. I’m sure it’s stressful to manage all of the newfound expectations ex: sounds like supernatural fans are rushing the discord now demanding occults. I hope he doesn’t muck up whatever his original vision was just to please the squeaky wheels.
True, but anyone who decides to advertise an upcoming ‘Life Simulator’ should expect an overwhelming interest and the consequences thereof.
I mean it’s not a secret that a lot of folks want The Sims to have competition...an indie dev should expect at least some pressure and not be surprised to see this wave of requests coming at him.
He should have been aware that people want every life simulator in development to be better than the Sims.
Whether he deserves this kind of pressure is a different matter, but in all fairness, he pretty much asked for it.
Quoting exactly he said
Due to some situations with our community, we need to redo most of the game. The test of the game has been moved to the beginning of 2021
(Reacting to People of the Newbery 🤔 NEW SUPER REALISTIC life simulation game!!)
by Mprin
But for this game, IF it is true, I would very much like to see the finished product. If not true, well, one more Vie.
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
I'm not really concerned with looks at this point. I'm sure there'll be mod support for that. I really love the realistic looks of the Newbery people.
haha mine have been disabled since I joined I guess, I didn't even know signatures were a thing peoplle could have on these forums.
All we've got are some videos and pictures of assets from the Unreal engine, and when people noticed they weren't original, we were told they were purchased as placeholders so the developer could work on coding rather than learning how to design assets ....
But literally all we have seen so far on this are those store-bought assets, which might not be the way the actual game looks. The "test of the game," which I guess means alpha testing, since there's no footage of even primitive gameplay, has already been moved back, and the game is apparently 40% finished and needing a major reworking due to community demands ....
I mean, I'm not that excited about Paralives yet because the character style hasn't grown on me and we haven't seen any gameplay, but I can at least look at the videos and say that they have developed some neat design tools.
Here, no gameplay, no design tools we've seen other than, apparently, just assets being manipulated in Unity, and all of the assets we've seen were just purchased from the store. I don't see anything that looks like an actual game.
I'm going to buy all the games that are coming out. I just haven't updated my signature yet!
Yes, wait for this game!
The developer is quite young (22 years old) and this game is his first commercial indie game and his first time using Patreon. He had created a game before, which was quite good enough to be sold to a game company. With the proceeds from that, he purchased the right to use the Unreal Engine 4, plus initial graphical assets for the game. He didn't know how to market the game, but he opened a channel on YouTube and a few accounts in the usual social media. But once his game was discovered, word of it caught on like wildfire. I first subscribed to his channel a few days ago and it had something like 67 subscribers, lol! Now at this moment, it is 5.9k!
Being that he jumped right in, there were a lot of things he didn't realize, but from what I can see, he's learning pretty quickly.
First of all, he's at the point where he's putting together the physical aspects of the game. Given that his funds are limited, he couldn't hire artists to create a unique art style and objects for him. Buying these assets at the Unreal store made it affordable for him to continue developing the game.
But he hadn't anticipated any trouble over that. Because these assets are also used in other Unreal and Unity games, some people jumped to the conclusion that this game was fake and that he's scamming Patreon funding. Word of that spread like wildfire too. One such person was some guy from Twitter named Jeremy and he was quite energetic about bringing the dev down. To the point where the dev was being threatened, with attempts on blackmailing the dev, and hacking of a VKontakte account (Russian version of Facebook). So all these messages from Jeremy were forwarded to the police. And the police contacted Twitter and Vkontakte about the matter so that they can investigate.
This is why Jeremy's Twitter account is blocked now:
In the meantime, people were spreading the word that this game is a fake because he used assets from the store, not understanding that this is perfectly legal, especially if a dev can't afford his own artists. So, it had to be explained, and it helped a lot of people who took the time to hear the dev's side about this, because most people don't even know about the process of making a game and juggling the resources and how they are funded.
Before he got blocked, I think Jeremy knew he was getting into trouble and tried to wiggle out of it:
He said that a third party paid him to be allowed to use his account, to be able to wreak havoc on the developer..... Yeah, right!... Who the heck would allow such a thing?!?? Lol, such a lame excuse! I remember when New York Congressman Anthony Weiner accidentally sent out a risque picture meant to be private to one person that ended up being public. He said that a hacker did that but investigation showed that not to be true!
So I don't believe there was a third party at all who paid him for the use of his account. Even if there was, he would still be complicit in allowing threats and blackmailing on his account.
Since then, the dev has learned that if you're going to be crowd funded through Patreon, that he needs to be transparent about his work and process of the game. And he's adjusted accordingly!
He realized for example that he overestimated how quickly he can complete the game and still have it well made. At the time that he slated the game for Q3 of 2021, he was working on the physical aspects of the game, which honestly is the easiest part of the game. He hadn't realize that the more difficult parts up ahead would take more time such as the AI and town dynamics. But it's great that he isn't stubborn or prideful and adjusted the games release tentatively to 2022. Beta testing was moved from December of this year to early 2021.
I think it is awesome too that he has a very supportive fanbase that is gently and patiently guiding him through his first endeavors of an indie game in the life simulation genre, knowing that life simulation gamers can be quite demanding.
I will keep reporting on the progress of the game as well as any new features he will add!
Paralives doesn't have gameplay either at this time.
The dev said that the game won't be moddable though. But if he continues the game into a series and he builds up more experience developing life simulation games, then maybe he'll add mod support in the future. I don't really mind it so much. I didn't use mods for TS1 or TS2 and sometimes I play TS3 totally unmodded because the vanilla game is just as fun as the modded version.
He did however say that there will be free updates every 2 to 3 months, so I think it would be wise to ask him for the stuff you want before each update so he can include them.
I might keep an eye out for this one from time to time, but I'll only seriously consider it if they prove that they're making progress towards a realistic goal
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?