New Team Member + Career Brainstorm Recap + New Brainstorm! (Patreon)

Hi there! How is it going today?

This week, I'm pretty excited to introduce our newest addition to the Paralives Team! Christine also prepared a recap of our latest community brainstorming about careers and jobs. Finally, We're kicking off our new monthly community brainstorming with a Patreon poll. Let's get started!

💪 New Team Member: A Producer

Hello everyone! I’m Camille, the newest member of the Paralives team! It’s so nice to meet you all!

I always liked video games, especially simulation games. Animal Crossing in particular, helped me go through difficult time in my life by providing me a very welcome piece of heaven and tranquility. Despite my passion for it, I never thought that I could one day join the industry.

Fortunately, I did!

I moved to Montreal and started studying game design. During my studies I did an internship (as a QA tester) and got lucky enough to keep that first job after graduation. However. *dramatic pause* People started to notice my OCD and love for organization. So, one day, my superior suggested I took another position that was "fairly similar but with a bit more responsibilities". I was now a project coordinator… -and yes, those two jobs have nothing in common, in case you were wondering- At that point I was officially part of the "dark side": management. *gasp*. I loved it very much and kept progressing to finally become a producer. Fast-forward to today, that’s the position I will occupy, here at Paralives Studio!

The role and responsibilities of a producer vary a bit from a studio to another, so let me explain what it entails. There are two important aspects in this job; the purely "analytical" side and the "human oriented" one.

The analytic side includes any organization tasks such as: (Non-exhaustive list)

• Setting and maintaining the project direction and priorities
• Balancing the workload based on objectives/deadlines
• Adapting any process or meeting to enhance communication/structure,… within the team
• Creating/keeping production documents/software updated (project tracking app, roadmap,…)
• Removing impediments out of the team’s way

And the human side: (Non-exhaustive list)

• Meeting everyone individually, on a regular basis to keep track of their personal goals and well-being within the company
• Performance review
• Personalized coaching plan (if wanted/needed)
• …Hope it helps clarify things a bit!

To conclude, I’m very honored to be a part of the team. You guys are an AMAZING community and I hope that my contribution will be helpful.

🤝 Recruitment Update  

We are now 9 people on the team! We have grown so much because of the support of all of you Patrons! As you may know, we were originally looking for a user interface designer. However, as the team grew, we felt the need to hire a producer instead to help us with many things mentioned in the above section of this post. Some people on our team will be able to cover for the work needed regarding the game menus and user interface design. Also, we have contacts that we might end up working with for some short contracts to help us with user interface design and the user experience in general.

We are now very close to having a full team! We are looking for another experienced 3D artist and a music composer (we'll have some news regarding that position very soon!)

💼 Career Community Brainstorming Recap  (For Patrons only! Please don't share)

Christine here for a recap of the latest community brainstorming session about careers and everything work-related! As always, a big thank you to everyone who shared ideas, feedback, even concept images (there were some really great ones ✨) on our Discord and Reddit as well as here on Patreon.

Now, careers are pretty much self-explanatory and, for some, they aren’t necessarily fun, whether it is in real life or in a game. However, with everything that has been suggested by the community, there are definitely a lot of great gameplay opportunities and I can tell you that, in Paralives, Work = Fun for players™️.

We have multiple ideas on our list to look into, thanks to all of you! At the moment, these are not confirmed but they are an excellent starting point to establish our vision for careers and jobs.

• Having multiple workplaces for the same type of job (each with distinctive elements)
• Having multiple jobs at the same time
• Ability of working certain jobs as a freelance or from home
• Part-time jobs and side gigs for teenagers and adults (think babysitting, repairs, coaching)
• Branching careers: bouncing around similar-ish positions instead of moving linearly up. For example purposes: a teacher could end up working for the government in the education department or even writing books
• Finding new job listings everyday (newspapers, web, bulletin boards, going directly to workplaces) or posting job-seeking advertisements
• Distinctive elements to each job: requirements, tasks, schedule options, salary, benefits, dress code, commute options, travelling, etc
• Having to apply, go to interviews, do qualification tests if needed, negotiate hours and salary
• Being able to stall progression (refuse a promotion, request fewer hours or a demotion)
• “Active” tasks / errands: being able to do certain things at home to further improve your career. For example purposes: let’s say you are a lawyer and bring home some research work, this could be the thing that makes or breaks your case!
• Events in a Para’s personal life having an effect on work (less sleep could lead to poor performance, bringing food to coworkers could improve work relationships, etc.)
• Regular jobs in different fields (healthcare, education, social, blue and white collar, hospitality, business, transport, technical, art, science and many more!)
• Some cool hidden careers (think spy, criminal, secret investor, street artist). Maybe you would need to be approached to get those
• Not being obligated to have a job and being able to get by on gigs and sheer luck
• Ability to mod / create careers

Ok, that’s enough for today! Did you spot something in that list that you would particularly like to see in Paralives? Let us know in the comments!

🏫 New Community Brainstorming : Schools and Education  (For Patrons only! Please don't share)

Education is a big part of the lives of children and young adults so schools are very important in a life simulation game. That's why we picked schools and education as the topic for the next monthly brainstorming session! Even though you won't be able to follow your Parafolks to school in Paralives at launch, we have plenty of cool features in mind for education and schools.

Please tell us any ideas or suggestions you might have regarding this topic in the comments down below. We are eager to read you! Next week, we will announce this monthly brainstorming to the public. Some questions you might ask yourself as part of this brainstorming:

• What kind of schools should there be in Paralives?
• How will education impact a Para's life and their future?
• Which activities and skills should Paras be able to do and learn at school?

📊 Poll: Gameplay Elements Related to School  (For Patrons only! Please don't share)

Which of the following important gameplay features related to education would you like to see in Paralives? Please vote in the poll below and tell us if you have more ideas in the comments!

Thank you!

Alex