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Visual Improvements We Made Thanks to your Feedback
🕑 Added 2022-02-18 15:39:05 +0000 UTCHello everyone, Léa and Sonia here!
First, we wanna thank you for all the feedback you gave us on the Paramaker video and the various Patreon posts! Following this previous Patreon post by Anna, we wanted to show you some of the many visual changes we made to the Parafolks based on your advice. Note that this Patreon post is for Patrons only so please don’t share it, thank you!
Visual Changes Made in the Paramaker After the Video
We chose some of the feedback you shared in the Patreon post, Youtube comments and during our Developer Chat (1 hour weekly chat session with the dev team only for the Hero and Legend tiers).
1. The lower part of the legs and feet skin texture is darker than the rest of the body
With the goal to match with the Parafolks concept art, we are painting blush zones on the skin textures. You told us that you would like the feet blush softer. Indeed, the Parafolks’ feet were considerably darker than the rest of the body.
Left, an anonymous Para from our latest video. Right, that same Para with the modified texture with a lighter shadow on the legs. You might notice that the shadows are less crisp in the second image but don’t worry, this is just because of a shadow quality setting that everyone will be able to tweak in the option menu of the game.
Left, Marvin during the Paramaker video. Right, Marvin with a modified texture that has a lighter shadow on the legs. We also reworked his lips texture to be more defined.
2. The nostrils of the Parafolks look too flat
It may be a small detail, but our Parafolks’ nostrils needed some reshaping. The Parafolks body has 3D nostrils, but the texture was too wide and didn’t compliment their volume. We changed the texture to increase the 3D effect. A real breath of fresh air for our Paras!
Left, a Parafolk shown during the Paramaker video. Right, the same Parafolk now with the modified nose texture. Keep in mind that you will rarely be able to zoom that close in the game so that’s why the texture might seem a bit pixelated in both of these close-up images.
3. The torso seems low on the body
We modified our Chest Slider to improve its range and allow us to have higher pectoral muscles. This change is going to affect both pectorals and breasts since they will use the same slider!
Sebastian’s torso shown during the Paramaker video.
Sebastian’s torso modified with the new and improved chest slider set at the minimum (left) and maximum height (right).
4. The Adam’s apple seems a little sharp
During the Paramaker video, we introduced our new slider for the Adam’s apple, available for every Parafolks (except of course for the kids). The geometry in the area didn’t allow us to have a smooth deformation so we needed to find a solution and made it happen! How did we do it, you may ask? We simply added a small patch of additional mesh when the slider is activated. Now you can still choose the size but it looks rounder and more realistic!
Left, Marvin Adam’s apple in our last video. Right, Marvin now with his new rounded Adam’s apple
5. Sebastian’s jeans are not contrasted enough and look flat
In the video Sebastian’s pants were not contrasted enough so we improved the texture and added a lot of details to make them stand out
Left, Sebastian’s pants during the Paramaker video. Right, the same pants with a more contrasted texture.
6. Bonus: We added a new skin texture to help the transition when adding weight to our Parafolks
No one really mentioned it, but we decided to add a new skin texture for the body to improve the transition between different weights!
From left to right, three textures that represent increasing values for our fat slider. The middle body skin texture is the one that we recently added.
We hope you like the changes we made and thank you all again for giving us such helpful and precious feedback! Have a lovely Friday 💖
Léa and Sonia (ﾉ´ з `)ノ ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡
Comments
Natan Peixoto
the artstyle is growing on me! <3
Shelby
Interestingly enough, the leg and feet texture look like mine because of my raynaud's phenomenon haha
loulouH
y'all are doing great! i'm so excited for when it's released. :)
Chris
I think the feet and hands should be more detailed and customizable. I always thought the feet look so unrealistic in the Sims. Different foot shapes and sizes would add more customizability
sagebye
it would mean a lot of the picture for the sliders was a bit moree gender neutral. bc it really seems like a guy now to me, it could even be a simple picture that easily shows the body parts lol
Joanie Boissonneault
Wow ! Amazing work.
Jesslynn
A suggestion for the paramaker: it would be so much more realistic if we could customize the shape of bellies on bigger paras! An issue I have with so many games is that bellies often just look very round and act like gravity doesn't exist. The more fat is there, the more likely it's going to sag. Of course, bellies come in all shapes and sizes, but it would be nice to see different shapes!
Grouch
Just a thought while looking at the after pictures, I'd love to see a slider for finger and toe nails. And maybe even a fingernail shape slider (round>square>pointed). Everything looks great though. :-)
Sehrys
I believe they plan to make it editable. If you look at the latest paramaker video, at around 2:50 you can see the skin tone editing options (nothing is set in stone yet). The version shown there enables manually editing the base, highlights, shadows and blush of a para's skin tone individually on a colour wheel. In a post from Nov. 12th they also talk extensively about skin tone options.
Laura Cardea
I love the art style so much!
Sherri Small
Yeah, The face blush looks like they either have a sunburn or frostbite.
Bree
Does the blushing on the face have a slider? It seems a bit intense.
Marta Čisáriková
Love the improvements, especially for the different weights!
ramaru
These are some good improvements! One of my biggest issues was the lower leg/feet/toenail strangeness. It looks like the overall skin shading might have changed ever so slightly as well? I'm noticing highlights and shadows on the body that give it a bit more depth. I like that quite a lot! It may be an effect of how the screenshots were taken, but I'm also seeing a "grainy" look to the skin in the newer ones when I zoom in? (and not present in the old ones at the same zoom level) Not sure if its intentional, but its a nice trick to replicate the look of actual skin. And personally, I didn't have a problem with the "low" torso as it is a body shape that is accurate to so many people but regardless I'm glad for the additional representation of body shapes. So exciting to see the art style growing more and more towards its final look!
Aaron J Levesque
I really like the new details!! I’m so excited to see more gameplay updates! Happy to see the para lives slowly come to life!!
S&M Gonzalez
will we get different cleavage designs to choose from for female paras? and would it be affected if we make them bigger/ or they gain weight how will breasts be effected in fat distribution in live mode?
Akasha O'Connell
I'm so in love with the texture for larger paras! It actually looks like fat and not just expanded skin. Well done guys. 🖤🖤🖤
Newgasse
Ah, thank you! That makes much more sense. I have never been a make-up person so I am happy to hear it is an optional visual. It concerned me after seeing it on every pale-skinned Para haha.
Sehrys
The updates are looking truly fantastic, thank you for sharing! The one thing I'm confused about is the very last picture of the unnamed Para - their wrists and hips look to be smushed together? There is no outline or shadow that separates the two body parts, I suppose it's clipping based on the weight slider. Thank you for your efforts to represent people of all sizes and body shapes in your game. As a fat, trans, nonbinary person this is particularly important to me 💚
Haley
The art style is really starting to grow on me :) the improvements are going great guys, it’s really coming together. I think the only thing left that is a little out of place, as others have said, is the harshness of their knees. It almost looks like they are wearing knee pads or something. It’s a picky detail because honestly we will probably never be playing close enough to notice, but figured I would put my two cents in. Keep up the great work para team! ❤️
Kayne
I wish you'd kinda revert back to the Maggie Christmas look. It looked really nice and smooth and not as harsh as the new art direction. Kinda disappointed that this is the art style this game is going for. I think the lines aren't really doing any favor. It would be nice for the paras to fit the environment a little better, which looks absolutely amazing and beautiful. They look like a 2d cardboard in a real world, which contrasts too strong. I really hope we can just toggle off the outlines and just put on some shaders, because they can be really off throwing.
Naomi Vincent
The only issues I notice here are that the sketch lines around the paras' knees are a bit harsh, and the arms look like strange on Melvin. Otherwise, everything is really coming together! Just like the nose, the lips need highlighting as well. It may be good to play with making different kinds of noses and lips.
KittyPara
I really like the details on the new jeans ;)
Angela
Not associated with Paralives But that's blush. It's removable If I had to guess why they have it, it's to add a splash of contrast on what would otherwise be a mono-colored plane
S&M Gonzalez
Love the weigh distribution for the paras! I did notice however the hips look a lil sharper on the edges vs the older version where it appeared much softer/rounded natural
Mia K
Love it. You guys work so hard. 💖
ResembleMedia_UK
Great.. love the new textures going back to the original concept. Which got Me interested in this project in the first place
Anatasia
Thank you so much for the improvements. I did not notice most of them during the showcase vid except the dark legs.
Tecolata
But the knees! I have old arthritic knees and mine don't look that bad. The style is growing on me, not quite loving it yet. The faces are really cute though.
Christina Ozeki
This is great :) I was happy with the original but the improvements are even better. Fantastic!
LightDeficient
I love all the changes! I especially love the improved texture on the jeans, and it really fits the art style much better! Also love the little improved facial details that are subtle but make the world of a difference since the face will be what we players empathize with!
Angela
Thank you so much, I must have missed that lol.
Angela
Thank you for letting me know!
Star Zoë
Amazing updates as always 👏
Lonerette
Just keeps looking better and better! Nice job!
Alex Massé
True, the blush color can be changed or removed entirely :)
Alex Massé
Dior is right, you will be able to turn off the blush or change its color :)
Maxx
Love the jeans!! If all clothes in the game will have such a rich texture with lots of details (folds, color patches, reflective spots) I think it will make our Paras super fashionable
Rachel Hayes
Appreciate you all so much ❤️
Mads Perk
love love love how everything is turning out! is it just me tho, or does the hair almost look like a sticker placed over the anonymous para? their hair doesn’t exactly look attached to the head. either that or maybe the hair line is too far up?
Bethy Grace
The legs and and feet look MUCH better. I'd love to see Marvin's lips texture rework up close too but in general these improvements all look so good, thank you team!!
nemo
Seeing the weight stuff continue to approve is really important to me (o: I love how it looks so far
aza
Omg okay tbh I didn't notice ANY of these issues but the updates are so cute especially the body skin slider and their cute lil noses 😭
Emily Rose
yes!
Keosha 6
It was actually in the paramaker video they also said in a commentary post that people can customize skin, blush, and highlights too! Your welcome 💗
RysingSun
Oh, was that confirmed? Development is spread out over so long (understandably) I can never remember everything. Well, that's one concern alleviated then. Thank you for the reminder!
Keosha 6
Do forget you can control the blush color and opacity
RysingSun
I love the improvements! I still think the leg shadows and face blush are a bit too intense, but I understand if that's a part of your art style you don't want to bend further on. I'll just have to use mods when the game comes out lol
Dior K
From the video I saw it’s an option.
jaaama
All this looks fantastic but especially the jeans! Can't wait to see all of this in motion I'm also really loving the fatness slider. Good job you guys!!
Angela
I love the changes, but I am not fond of the "Blushing" on the face. I am a people creator by nature and I feel that would really mess with makeup and whatnot on the face. We don't see that on people very often, maybe make it an option.
Alice Taylor
Damnnnn. Beautiful 👏👏 you guys should be proud ❤️
Simmons
Wow the character style is really starting to come together. The new jeans look amazing and fit the overall aesthetic of the parafolk better! The team did great on modifying the skin texture. The parafolks features look more defined now and less blurry.
Fullykana
I’m fond of those improvements ! But, I think there should be some tweaks with the knee lol they looked very old and hurt, I don’t know, maybe It’s just me 😅
Ayla SB
Loooove the changes!! You guys just are doing an amazing job, I am truly amazed!! Keep going 😘😘😘
Leopoldine
I love all of these improvements, especially the jeans ! I can't wait to design clothes for the game, as the art style is very unique :) !
ladyteruki
Yes, it doesn't look like a skinny body stretched or inflated to look like it's fat, it has actual weight to it. The fat distribution looks relatively accurate, and the folds are all in the right places. Someone clearly did their research and as a fat person, I really appreciate that fat characters are taken that seriously, instead of being an afterthought.
IAmALeaf
I don't think I've ever seen human body fat depicted so accurately in a game before. That's really awesome, fantastic update :D
Ludivine
Bonjour et merci pour ces améliorations, certains détails sont petits mais vous vous approchez de la perfection c'est excellent! hâte de voir la suite.
Newgasse
I love all these! I just have one question, and forgive me if it has been asked and answered (I try to scour the comments frequently but this is such an active community). What is with the red on the caucasion face? It doesn't necessarily look bad, it just calls to my mind a "butterfly rash", something we (I use "we" because I am in this category) get when our blood pressure has risen unhealthily high. I have to watch my diet and take medication to avoid this rash. I personally have not seen it outside of said rash or when someone is embarressed. So just wondering what lead to that artistic style? I am by no means critiquing that it should be changed if those in charge of design like it. This is a question purely born of curiosity :)
Alex Massé
We are currently testing the maximum and minimum range we can allow. There are technical issues like clothing deformation and clipping that happens if the sliders go too far so we are testing that and seeing what we can do!
Anna Wendel
It’s awesome to see the changes you make and your thoughts around them! I also really appreciate that you actually take the feedback to heart and listen to us in everything you guys do! And I admire that you still, on top of that, stick to your own visions and wants ☺️ Keep up the great work! This all looks very nice
Aww
thank you so much!
Alex Massé
Hi there! The plan is to release the game worldwide on Steam so we won't ban it in any country and it will be available in Russia
Nolria
It's amazing how the team really listen to our feedback and applies it to the game, love the new textures on the jeans and body. Every time i get a Patreon notification i get super excited, a very warm hug to everyone in the team ❤️❤️ ^-^">
Vera Ohlsen
The jeans went from "wrinkly formal wear" to "heck yes JEANS". Good job! I really appreciate the new middle skin for the weight gain - it definitely helps with the navel area. Also, the toe nails aren't all white anymore, thank you! It might just be the the shadows, but the new skin texture for the legs appears to be a bit... bluish? (On the unnamed female Para) Again, might just be the in-game shadows. It just stands out in comparison to the rest of the body, as nothing else has a greyish/bluish shadow. ^_^
Cinderelabaiana
que lindo cara!!!!!!
Bespectacled_Beans
Great changes--especially the fat slider, though I think more fat could be added around the face and under the chin for the higher range of the slider. How extreme are the ranges going to be? I'd really like to be able to create super slim and obese Parafolks.
tey711
Great work and it just keeps getting better and better!! Thanks Para team for caring and listening which makes this whole experience feel like a true collaboration!!
Heaven Moore
The JEANS give me life!! Everything looks so amazing! I can’t wait to see how genetics work ❤️
Vicarious Human
The skin textures are great, but the only tweak that could be made to the one with the most weight (on right) would be the area right under the breasts. Looks odd as if the ribs are showing. I am loving the visual Improvements, you guys. Nice Job!
Lane Brettschneider
I look forward to these every Friday and I get so excited when I see a new email from Patreon in my inbox haha! Thank you so much for sharing!! <3
Anna
Sorry, it was a mistake on our part! It wasn't a Before / After pic, it was the minimum and maximum value for a slider. We just edited it!
Emily Gardner
Love the skin texture differences related to weight!
Anna
Sorry, it was a mistake on our part! It wasn't a Before / After pic, it was the minimum and maximum value for a slider. We just edited it!
Sir Buvex
Thank you for the amazing work you are doing! I'm looking forward to the release of the game. However, I have the impression that the improved texture of the lower leg looks a little bit grey... I'm not sure I'm wrong... But it looks a little strange
Sarah Maver
I think they're on a scale and they were showing the minimum and max height but yeah, the after image was different. I wonder how it combines with heavier paras
Charlotte Neill
Love the extra skin details on the weight slider!! The lower legs look a little bit grey to me now though.
Kate mate
Love this! I would love if the fat slider could go higher. I'm sure it does but there are many levels of chub/fatness that I'd love my paras to represent
Matthew Geller
It’s not super clear in the post, but it’s not really a before/after. It’s showing the min and max of the chest slider, not a fixed position for the chest.
Kieran Wade
Amazing work!!!
NoNayNever
It's a slider, it can be set to other heights.
Luther Duncan
I’m not sure they should of changed the chest shape for men, it would have been better midway between what they have now. No one’s nipples are adjacent to their elbow … unless you are a woman. I think this should be revised, I respect the pecks were too high before, but now they are way too low.
BreakingGaia
I love the chubby skin! Looks natural and actually like extra weight. Great improvements!
Savvaaaaaassss
That is amazing
Beth Anne
Amazing as always. :)
Kasia
the jeans! wow! ✨
I JONES
I think they just need to switch the pictures then all the words are correct
MrPinguv
yes, but they used the before/after text on the other examples meaning before=old version and after=new version. In this example I think its a bit confusing because both pictures are the new version but the before/after text makes you think otherwise
Nick Rowan
Big improvement! Nice work y'all.
Victoria Simoes
Great attention to detail on this one! Love the improvements you guys did great. Way better!
Laurence Mercier
Love the retexture of the jeans !
Jennifer Huber
I love the new changes! But what I love even more is the way you take suggestions that we all give and actually listen! Your team wants to make the game something that people can enjoy and you can all be proud of. And that makes you amazing!! Thank you!
Stewby
Thank you Lea and Sonia. Absolutely love the changes in the jeans. The attention to detail is just so amazing.
Aww
hi! in light of the recent sims pack in russia ban, can you please say whether or not you will be releasing your game in russia? technically, what the sims has done is ridiculous since the game is already 18+ so nothing would have changed. they simply made the decision to follow the law they have no legal obligation to follow. do you have the intention to release the game world-wide?
MrPinguv
The new jeans look so so noticeable better, congrats on finding the perfect amount of wrinkles. Btw, I think there is a mistake in the picture of the chest slider, it says "Sebastian’s torso modified with the new and improved chest slider set at the minimum (left) and maximum height (right)." but the picture says before/after, I think it should say "maximum/minimum"?
Nocher
So beautiful!!
Kevin
Looks so amazing 😻
