alexmasse
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💼 How Jobs and Careers *Work* in Paralives
🕑 Added 2023-11-03 16:13:26 +0000 UTCHi, It’s Alex!
Today, I’m gonna tell you all about how Parafolks will be able to find a job and progress in their career. This post is for Patrons only so please don’t share it, thanks! 🔒
👨🏫 The Basics
- 📃 Find a job by seeing job ads in front of workplaces in the town or by looking online
- ✨ After each day of work, upgrade your job with interesting perks
- 🏦 Apply to work elsewhere for career progression opportunities
💼 Upgrading a Job
My Para just got enrolled as a Game Designer at Paralives Studio Inc! (It’s just an example, it probably won’t be an actual job in the game! Also, the salaries seen in this post are still to be tweaked so don’t make much of these numbers yet.)
In our game, a job can be upgraded every single day after a work shift. This allows players to evolve their job and career in the direction they want.
Here’s the same job but after many days of work and upgrades.
After each day of work, you can select one of three job upgrades for your Para (the right panel).
1 - [Green] Upgrade the rank of the job: This will increase your salary.
2 - [Blue] Unlock an expertise or upgrade an existing one: This will increase your salary and these can be seen as bullet points on your resume so they are transferable when switching to another job.
3 - [Red] Unlock a new extra: Extras don’t give more money but they give various perks that allow your Para to have other reasons than just money to go to work. For instance, if you are in the party planning committee, your Para will socialize while working and if your Para is tasked with watering the plant at the office, they will slowly increase their gardening skill while working!
Some expertise and extras can combo with the personality of your Para to offer boosted bonuses. Here, the money gain is displayed in purple to indicate that it combos with the fact that my Para has a lot of points in the Mind stat. See this Patreon post about personalities for more info about it.
👋 Changing Job to Progress in Your Career
Just like in real life, you might start your career at a workplace that is great for new workers but has limited growing opportunities. That’s why you will be able to find and apply to jobs in different workplaces and this will be a great way to progress in your career, get a big salary increase and unlock greater perks.
Some interesting opportunities for my Para, one at the same company she’s currently at and three at another company in the same field of work. (The thumbnail images are just placeholders. They will be showing the actual workplace buildings)
To get a given job, a Para must be qualified for it. Each job will check various things to determine if you are qualified. This can include previously gained expertises, skills, relationships with people that work at the company you’re applying to, etc.
➕ More Details on Jobs and Careers
- Rabbit holes: You don’t control your characters while they are at work. The reason is that it would be a ton of work for us to implement each job in an active way and it’s hard to make jobs not feel like doing boring tasks over and over. It’s possible that we reconsider this later though, after the release of the game.
- Non-linear progression: Job progression won’t be linear in a given field of work. For instance, the upgrade to being a nurse won’t be being a doctor. Our system allows for more flexible and realistic career paths.
- Multiple jobs: You can have multiple jobs at the same time if their schedules are not conflicting. A student will also be able to have part-time jobs.
That's all for today. Tell us what you think about jobs and careers in Paralives so far!
Bye,
Alex
Edit - February 7, 2024: This post is now public, feel free to share it!
Comments
Jordan Whitaker
Hello! I really love the ideas for this project so far! I can tell that there’s a lot of thought going into this game. I had an idea of a dlc expansion pack that you can do for the work/career aspect. What if you could make a Para run their own business? For example, I would like my Para to have a floral shop. They’ll have to save up money for down payment plus rent every month. Also, they’ll have to pay for external resources to maintain their business. For example of a floral shop, they’ll need soil, seeds, fertilizer, and more. We can decorate the shop’s interior and exterior to make it a comfortable space to our liken. And as for the rental properties, maybe you can have a row of available properties in a separate town. This about the Sims Get to Work pack where they introduced the retail store in another town, but you can make it more detailed. And you guys can make it as detailed as possible by making sure to include a lot of variety when it comes to having local shops. Ideas of local shops are barber/beauty shops (includes Paras having specialized hairstyles), grocery stores, restaurants/diners (Paras are skilled at cooking many things), clothing shops (for Paras who can make personalized clothes), and many more! But of course, you don’t have to take this idea seriously right now. I’m sure you guys have a lot of ideas that you’re already working on. But it was fun to think about this, and I really appreciate having the platform to share ideas with you guys. Please take your time with creating this project. I look forward to playing this game when it comes out! 😊 Have a great day!
Lautel Okhio
I'd really like it if we could own businesses in addition to working in the rabbit hole jobs (like in Sims 2) I think that's a great way to deepen the work system post-launch if that's a possibility! And like others have mentioned, it would be nice if certain skill boosts (the ones that offer the biggest salary increases) have to be unlocked and fought for so to speak!
Mia
Nothing wrong with upgrading in your job but everyday seems a bit too fast for my taste. I’m not sure about this one.
Elen Pink
I feel like this system is wayyyy too simple. It doesn't make sense that all you have to do is press a button to upgrade your job. Applying and working jobs, especially trying to move up on the job ladder, is actually stressful and way more than just deciding to increase your rank.
Nathan Carpenter
I love this idea. However I feel like the qualifications upgrade is a bit over powered giving you a salary increase everyday and qualifications makes increasing your current job rank less important in my opinion
BooDotBoo .
Honestly, I’m fine with jobs being rabbit holes. I rarely ever followed Sims to work, except in Sims 2, where they could own businesses, so it would be nice to see that, eventually. I like jobs having these point requirements and being able to upgrade your job; that’s more interesting than following, but that’s just me.
Adamah Meir
So excited to see more realistic aspects of the game, especially the qualification system for a job!
Felicia Bailey
Could there be job interviews? Even if not in person some pop ups? Applying to a job comes with much stress! I do love the lack of qualification for some jobs though! That’s amazing!
Thaaeroprincess87
Hmm... I really like this concept. Having a resume and being able to jump from one career path to another to either advance in your career or to just have a change in pace is a GREAT idea.
Ariel O'gwin
I think a daily upgrade will have them progressing to fast maybe??? I'm not sure how long the days are so I'm a bit skeptical of if a daily upgrade is needed???
