A lot of emotions going around about GOS and S2A. Rightfully so. Glad to see those stepping up and taking charge.
My two-cents are quite simple from a creator's standpoint. I started cross-posting my CC to HHS around 2022(ish) when GOS was down for a stint. I continued thereafter and republished predated content.
The lesson for me is that I can't control GOS or any other forum. The only decision I have is to make it available somewhere else that I do control. For me, this is HHS or here on Tumblr.
Though as a poorly-timed announcement...
I will close HHS...eventually. Partially because I'm really the only one that goes on there. Well, except the bots. But I plan to make a spreadsheet with direct links to not only my content, but everyone's and any tutorials on there. @13pumpkin31 and @michelleabstuff are no longer in the community. It doesn't seem @jeweloftheworld is either? @deatherella, of course, is and is appreciated.
Don't panic! This closing is nowhere near in the future. It's not even on my calendar. I'll get froggy one day and make the sheet, but I'll more than likely not revisit it for a few months XD When the time comes, I'll let everyone know. My plan is for nothing to truly be lost but the URL. HHS will still have a tumblr with a link to its content.
Along with the HHS spreadsheet, I'm going to make one for all my content in general so it's somewhere safe. This will have links to Box, SFS, and MF directly instead of redirecting to other places. Links to meshes, morphs, and alike will also be there and with any special directions for the CC.
I decided a long time ago that I'm not making CC anymore. Honestly, don't remember how to do most of it anyway. I'll still upload buildings for my baby Lushland, but I don't really see myself going back to full-time CC making, and if I do make anything it'll be for completing S2BO. AU is suspended. I don't know if I'll return to it since I'm writing the books.
This doesn't mean I'm retired. I'm still around, still playing sims, still oohing and awing at everyone's posts, still willing to answer questions and converse about the games we love. I'm not the creator I once was, but I'm still a simmer.
Okay think of it like this. Cats are an alien species. Nothing like we have here on earth. They don't understand our language but understand high/fast/soft tones are usually good and low/slow/hard tones are bad. They can fend for themselves but have formed a symbiotic relationship with humans. So we gotta learn to coexist. They slowly learn our language, or at least the words and tones that pertain to them; and we learn to read their body language. The first people to interact with cats make a lot of mistakes but after time we learn and share.
So we know hissing and a low gravely meow, if not their normal meow, means they're upset and on the defense, you shouldn't approach.
We know it's best to, when faced with a scared cat, sit away from it and be as calm and approachable as possible. If it approaches you, continue to not reach out, let it investigate you. And if it rubs against you, then you pet. If it walks away, you try again later.
If a cat is being pet and suddenly gets overstimulated, it'll probably do a soft bite where they kinda just place their teeth on you without biting down. It's kinda like how a dog grits it's teeth. Cats don't have lips so they can't. You immediately stop all contact. If they want to keep rubbing on you, let them. Maybe do less frequent pets. Maybe none at all. You can tell if they like it by their tail.
Ears back means upset (unless you're scratching head, then it means good)
Fast flippy tail means upset or playful (pair with ears, ears perked up is play) slow tail means content. Butt up front down means good scratch.
Never pet tail or tummy or paws. They're all very sensitive. Tummy maybe, only way to find out is try, so if you don't want to get scratched, never try.
Other body language is eyes. Very narrow, barely visible means angry or agitated. Big means either scared or excited. Normal is normal. Squinting is content and affection. If a cat slowly blinks at you, it's a kiss.
They also rarely lick like dogs (unless you have a cat that does it often) that usually means they like you or are thirsty.
Combined all together, it's fairly easy to read a cat and to get a cat to like you. But you gotta remember, not all cats are equal. My mom's cat loves playing rough, my cat only plays rough with toys. No touching her while she's playful if you don't wanna get scratched or bit. Also, girl cats tend to be less playful and more just chill and do nothing than boy cats. Boy cats are like your extrovert friend who is always wants to hang out and is physically affectionate. They also always wanna play video games. Girl cats are the introvert that is good being with you for a while, but frequently need to leave to nap/recharge. They occasionally want a hug or cuddle session. Play time is when everyone else is asleep.
Lastly, if you're adopting a cat, find out it's history. Spend some time with it before buying it. 2-4 visits. If you find a cat on the street, unless it's a kitten, it's gonna be more defensive and hard to understand, but it'll be worth it to learn cause a lot of the time, they're the biggest softies.
Last lastly, if your cat starts behaving abnormally, take them to the vet if you're worried and the behavior persists.
Note: this isn't everything, just everything off the top of my head. Feel free to do more cat research
Let's go ahead and put a PSA that I'm a fan of the game and am greatly aware that the dev team went from one person to a small team. I've been following since the very first teaser by Alex.
Making games is difficult--really, really difficult--and I compliment the team on their readiness to deal with all the bugs and the transparency of which fixes they are focusing on first.
This won't be optimization stuff because that's different for everyone based on technology. I had stuttering, but that was mostly because first time game played and needed to load everything. Every time I visit a new venue, it slows a little to load items.
There are a lot of bugs and even in their early access video they made that apparent with the "Do it with Bugs!"
We have small bugs from animation clipping to mirror reflection in another mirror showing the outside, instead of the inside.
Laptop only showing a black screen, holding things not lining up properly, etc. These, I imagine, are low on the list to fix.
For me, a bigger, but still small issue, is upon continuing the game after it's been shut down for the night, part of my roof was missing. I didn't notice anything else missing, but, damn, do I hate roofs. It's why TS2's auto-roof tool is so dear to me.
Missing items, from my brief understanding of game dev'ing, is something that can be worked in code. It's specific to store items between scenes, like a command to keep this in the take-with-you box. For example, your inventory in a 2D RPG continues to be there going from outside to inside a house.
I've noticed from not only on a sound standpoint, but an effects one that stuff on the upper floor shows downstairs. My para visited the gym and I could hear everything going on upstairs, instead of just downstairs. I'll admit, it was quite annoying all the sounds.
If you zoom out and all the way back in, you can totally break the spring arm/camera rig to see the underside of the world.
Parafolk tend to choose to stand at the edges of rooms and/or where they clash with other parafolk and items. I noticed it more with group selections.
Now complete opinions that may change for me in the future. This isn't criticism said with harshness. I have a lot of respect for this team and what they've accomplished.
Firstly, I didn't expect lots of gameplay, but it barely scratches social interaction. There's not much to do right now besides get a job, level up skills, and create a family.
Needs stay too high too long. Multi-tasking is pretty much nonexistent. I didn't like the storytellers when they were introduced. It feels more like an RPG element, which is good for players who appreciate doing challenges rather than simulation. I'm in the air about them after playing a few daily cycles.
I can tell they need more people to work on animations. The walk and run animations are...missing some rather basic concepts, like the way arms and legs swing, especially running. With their huge success opening day, I'm sure the staff and resources will only grow.
I feel like a lot of the clothes were designed for feminine chests and shoulders that they look odd on a masculine frame. There's definitely a lack of traditionally masculine hair, but I'm sure more will be added as this is Early Access.
I find the Paramaker somewhat cluttered and unfocused. Not sure why brows are with eyes and not hair? There is so much to look at, I totally missed where the swatches were and how to change them because of the sliders attracting the most attention. I feel like that may be because the para is in the middle so the menus are scattered and can't be absorbed properly. Of course, after repeated use, I should adapt.
While I haven't truly explored the color wheel and all the textures, by what I have been exposed to is huge leaps from TS3's CASt. I haven't figured out what makes items able to have texture and others not. I do know how to layer things now. Also, if you don't know, in the top right where there's a drop-down arrow by the color wheel icon, you can change it, including to only swatches.
Control-wise, I hate that rotate camera is right click and pivot is middle mouse button, and I hate it even more that for some reason these are the only key-binds that cannot be changed. I am glad they decided to do WASD instead of click and drag to move around. Imagine how cumbersome that would have been.
I have tried to like the line art on the para, but I remember early in production they said outlines would be toggle-able. I'm not sure if that decision was overridden or not. In the Workshop, someone already made a mod to remove the lines (by adjusting a shader), but I'm playing a vanilla game for now. Perhaps the lines will grow on me.
I know for 2D games, one of the first lessons is to develop your characters to stand out from the background, but Paralives is 3D and it's much easier to differentiate people from buildings.
In addition to the above, I find that the world shading is ignored on the para, and it makes the parafolk look somewhat flat compared to the background, especially the body. Perhaps that's just the shader specifically made for them.
It took some understanding that clicking on item/area to change it, only works to the specific category selected. At the top left of the Paramaker is appearance, clothes, and personality. If you click the chest and are in clothes category, it won't let you adjust the size of the chest. And if you are in appearance, it won't let you change the shirt, etc. Oh TS4 CAS brain, you are so confused.
I didn't really have any issues with Build/Buy, beyond some small recoloring/texturing bugs and touchiness navigating in and out of menus (the menace that is my double-clicking mouse), except stairs don't like snapping to a "foundation." Roofs can be annoying, but even though the Early Access notation says that building without a grid is hard...I haven't been able to build with grids besides the walls as the only one accessible in options:
The last observation I'll add is autonomy (AKA freewill) right now is rather lacking in parafolk making any decisions on their own. I'm sure that'll be adjusted in the future.
And now for final commentary.
As it is an Early Access game from a small team, not some AAA, it's not bad and has good bones. I had a lot of fun creating my one guy and his house. I think after people bought Subnautica 2, they thought Paralives should meet their standards. And that's not fair.
As it grows closer to full release, the team already said the price will grow as a full product and not just a slither of one. Steam is good at putting things on sale throughout the year. Who knows, this price might not appeal to you, but one in the future might?
It's a beautiful game. I can't wait for the tools to build my own world. They do give you the option of a flat plain with one lot, which I'm sure is some test area for mods, building, and akin.
Though sticking to playing a vanilla game, I did pop over to mods and look at it. It's over my head at the moment, but people are figuring it out and have posted stuff on the Workshop.
OH! And Photo Mode. Total game changer. I see great things in its future! Especially when custom poses and animations drop.
Paralives has shown there's great success with taking a chance. Hopefully, this inspires other devs and artists to tackle this difficult gaming genre. There's a huge supporting community wishing for more.
Here's a fun thing about weed people don't tell you: it's entirely possible for a high to absolutely suck and feel awful. Everyone's body reacts differently to it and it can feel bad.
