A Peek Behind The Curtain At The Paralives Town Development

Developers have shown off some new Paralives town content and given us a look behind-the-scenes at their processes on their most recent Patreon post.

A Glimpse At The New Town

These images are from the recent trailer, which shows off different areas of the town. From this, we can see a woodland area with picnic benches and what looks like a clothesline, a downtown area with lots of shops, and the entrance to town.

And here you can see where they sit in relation to the full town map.

Looking at this map, you can see just how big the Paralives town is compared to the areas we’ve seen in their promotions.

Areas outlined in red are parts of the map which haven’t changed much since the trailer was released, and areas in blue are where more edits have been made – although these changes haven’t been revealed yet.

How The Paralives Town Has Taken Shape

The developers have taken a lot of time to give the development of the Paralives town the care and attention it deserves, and we got to see some of this process.

One of the standout features of the town design is its varied elevation, with houses nestled along hillsides and an elevated tunnel heading into town, adding depth to the environment.

While the in-game terrain tools are quite comprehensive and will be available to players, in this most recent Patreon post, the team revealed that the approach to crafting the town’s topography is far more precise.

Our terrain tools are quite extensive, and it is what you, as a player, will have access to. I, however, do not use these tools myself when I create the town, as I need to have a lot more control and precision.

Chloe, Paralives developer

Thanks to a custom tool made by team member Richard, the entire map has been sculpted in popular 3D modelling software Blender, meticulously adjusting a total of 172,864 individual points to perfect the landscape. This level of control allows developers to shape mountains and hills with pinpoint accuracy.

The 3D model is then imported into the game, ensuring the in-game terrain matches the carefully crafted design.

Being able to select each point individually allows me to be super precise, and to shape the mountains and hills to be EXACTLY as I need them to be. Richard’s tool allows me to import my 3D model into the game, and his code will shape the terrain in the game to match the 3D model.

This is what it looks like if I use Richard’s tool to transfer the data from my 3D model to the game’s terrain. Now, it looks a bit rough! But with some hard work and love, we are shaping it to be a beautiful landscape.

Chloe, Paralives developer

The post also shows examples of how their internal notes look when they are making edits to the town during the ongoing design. Here we can see notes made on the terrain around the antique shop as it is being built.

A Spotlight On The Antique Shop

The antique shop caught many people’s eyes in the trailer, and the team talked more about this shop in the latest Patreon post.

Positioned next to a neighbouring shop called L’Armoire, Market Antiques features a darker colour palette to create a pleasing contrast.

The Patreon post also showed off the side view from the shop – something we didn’t see in the trailer.

The interior for the antique shop is still a work in progress, but the exterior showcases wares both in the window displays and out on the plaza, hinting at a bustling shop that’s so popular it’s run out of room inside for its wares.

The back of the shop is looking a bit sparse at the moment, but this was addressed in the most recent post by the team, who reassured members that they would be revisiting this before the early access release of the game in December.

Our Thoughts

This latest update from the team is a fascinating look at the very intricate work that goes into bringing a rich and immersive setting to life. Casual gamers and people who aren’t engaged in game development might not know how complex making a game like Paralives can be – especially for a small team – so these images which give us a small insight into the team’s creative process and the meticulous attention to detail needed, make us appreciate the skill and love for the game which is going into its development.

Lots of the community are really looking forward to the release of this indie game, and these updates from the team bringing us in on the creation process are a great way of making us all feel connected to this game before it has even come out.

Has this latest insight into the creation of the Paralives town made you more excited for the release? Let us know below!