u/idkwat

Hey all. I'm in my mid 30s and have been gaming all my life. I've had a dream project idea in mind for a few years now and for the past six months I have been extensively outlining it. I have a 55 page design document covering every aspect of the game from game play loop, to art direction, to basic programming theory. I've made a 6 minute video on Youtube showing the game play structure and what specifically will go into building a prototype. I've even outlined many of the major systems, the entirety of the plot, and many extended elements that will make the game.

The problem is, like many on here, I'm not a programmer, so while the game is in a state where it could viably be a board game or card game, translating these elements into code is a roadblock. By day I sell project management software, and I've written a handful of books and published one so my core competencies in relation to this project are writing, outlining and project management/execution.

A little about the game, as the title suggests, it is a hospital management game. However, the hook here is that you are managing a hospital through a war and as the game progresses day by day things get significantly harder with more patients, more difficult moral choices, and higher stress. You could consider the closest influence being Papers Please, with the game having elements of This War Of Mine and game play elements from the game play portion of Dispatch. For general vibe look at a TV show like The Pitt.

The game itself would be 2D and sprite based (think something ordinary for indies like 16 bit graphics) so my gut tells me something like Godot or Unity would do the job. While I'm not a programmer I used to program a bit as a kid doing some basic stuff, so worst comes to worst my plan would be to wade into that myself, but I think the quality of the game would improve immensely with someone who has extensive experience programming.

My dream scenario would be finding someone who is proficient in the right tool for this project (which I'm totally open to if it's not one of the above engines) and working alongside them on creating the a prototype. While my programming is next to non-existent, I think I could greatly assist on code that is already written by editing parameters to experiment with things, and I'm quite confident I could learn some basics to assist. Besides that I am actively working on writing the full story and dialogue, continuing to do A LOT of research for the game, and outlining the systems in the game.

I think a lot of these new projects looking for programmers fail because the person requesting assistance hasn't done any research, outlining, or building of basic systems. In this case, I have an extremely clear view of what the prototype would entail and while I am 100% open to suggestions or alterations by a programmer building this, I think the foundation for success is there.

If you have experiencing with Sim games or RTS games, or are a programmer just interested in the project let me know. The dream is to make a prototype, and if it's solid, outline the time, scope, and money that would go onto actually making this a game. I've outlined the road to get there from a personel/monetary sense as well and would be happy to share my private high level concept video with anyone who is interested and seems to fit the right qualifications.

Also just to prove I'm real here's my YT channel. Hopefully I don't get dinged on self promotion but this is me so you can get a vibe for who I am: https://www.youtube.com/@pancakesean6888

If you have any questions or concerns let me know!

In the 26 years since The Sims released I have poured thousands of hours into the series. I've watched as it has declined from something innovative, challenging, and difficult to a slow drip of DLC onto an inferior base game. In that time there have been some challengers to the series, but for the first time in nearly three decades, we actually have a game that could potentially surpass The Sims.

However, Paralives is a bit of a frustrating experience in its current state. Now, this is totally fine because it's in early access, but I feel as though there are a few things the Paralives team needs to really lock in on to make this game the best it can be.

Now right now build mode and the Para maker are perfect. Sure, there's some tweaks they can do to make it a bit better, there's some things they can add like pools and other elements, but by and large, these modes are far better than what we've ever seen in The Sims. Additionally, the pathing for Paras is INSANELY good. I was shocked to see how well they navigated my first build. I'm used to Sims getting stuck on everything and the experience being terrible.

All that being said, Live mode is terrible right now, and that is going to be crucial to success. Now this is early access, and I think the developer can optimize it, but this is the time to address concerns. I consider build mode and create a para mode the buns, but the meat of the game is the live mode experience. That is what will keep the core player base engaged and coming back, and they need to do a lot of work there. As someone who has spent a lot of time in The Sims, here's where they need to do work.

1. Gameplay loop optimization: So live mode is all about starting small, making money, using that money to do more things and get more things. The fun factor for older Sims games are the setbacks along the way, and right now Paralives doesn't really have any of these. Your path to success is quite easy, and it's not difficult to make friends, get a huge mansion, and optimize everything. In the full game I would love to see a system like the daily cards that has modifiers that make life more difficult. Setbacks to your plans extend the gameplay loop and make your path to success take generations of work, instead of a few in game weeks.

2. Less Stardew Valley, more The Sims: Stardew Valley is one of my favorite games, but Paralives seems to be taking elements from it that I feel are not consistent with the gameplay most Sims players are looking for. The Sims basically offered a virtual sandbox where you could build whatever houses, families, and scenarios you could think of. Seeing these people interact and grow in fun and unexpected ways was where the fun came from. Stardew Valley, on the other hand, sets you in a premade town, with premade people, and you can choose certain paths to go down. Both gameplay loops are great, but my fear is Paralives is going more towards the Stardew Valley route. You have daily quests to help other para's, an established museum and community center you can donate to, and a mostly prebuilt world. I would much rather have a really open ended world where you can make museums, schools, and businesses yourself rather than being stuck with prefabs and dozens of premade households.

3. More everything: This is a quality of early access so I'm not worried here, but skills, jobs, and more seem very limited. One thing I think Paralives really has a unique opportunity to do is to play with these systems in ways The Sims doesn't. In The Sims upgrading your skills is a pretty binary thing. Higher skill, better at an activity, better job performance. It works, but it's bland. What if as you raised your painting skill your Para unlocked the ability to paint their walls a specific way, or make graffiti in town, or make better sandcastles at the beach? I think experimenting with skill specialization that opens new activities across the entire game for your Para would be big. Do this with jobs as well and the world would really come alive.

4. Late game is bland: This is a problem The Sims has as well. When you amass money and property you have nothing left to do unless you invent your own challenges. For harder storytellers, make it so unexpected and silly things can happen that derail you in the late game. In the first Sims game a fire could spread to like, your whole lot and ruin everything, or the sad clown could make things hard for a long period of time. Having some fun late game troubles for the harder storyteller would be welcome.

Not trying to get in trouble with self promotion here, but I think it's relevant to Paralives. I made a video a few years ago on why modern Sims is not fun, and my hope is that Paralives avoids some of these pitfalls that The Sims has fallen into.

https://youtu.be/qw-wdlkw0Os

Any long time simmers have similar thoughts? Build mode and create a Para are immaculate, but there is a long road to making this game a Sims killer, and I truly believe it can eclipse The Sims in live mode as well. I just really hope the dev team is able to drastically improve live mode.

Hey all,

I'm working with some footage of me in front of a green screen and because I shot in 1080p if I ultrakey or colorkey it out there's a lot of issues. In an attempt to salvage it I used the smart mask on myself and it actually worked really well, but you can see the reflection from the green screen producing a halo around me.

https://i.imgur.com/Osa8BmY.jpeg

I was curious if anyone had a way to negate this. I tried choking the mask a bit but it looked pretty unnatural. If anyone has any tips I'd appreciate it!