alexmasse
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A Look Behind the Scenes of the Town’s Creation + A Closer Look at the Antiques Shop
🕑 Added 2025-06-20 13:05:01 +0000 UTCHello everyone! Chloe here for today’s Patreon post! Today, I will show you a bit of the behind-the-scenes of the creation of the town as a whole, and we will look more closely at the Antiques Shop, which you may have spotted in our latest trailer. I recommend watching it if you haven’t already!
A Look Behind the Scenes of the Town
The final shot of our trailer showcases a part of the town. It’s not showing as much of the town as you may think! Only a part of it… It’s quite big when you zoom out and see the whole picture. 🤫
Now, wouldn’t you like to see how much of the map you’ve actually seen so far? 🤭 Well, I’ll show you a little sneak peek!
The areas that were shown in the trailer, versus the size of the actual map. In red, areas that have not changed much or at all since the trailer; in blue, the areas that have been modified heavily (but that’s because we made them so much more interesting!!). The changes and new areas are secret for now 🤫
How do we go about creating such a big map? Well, glad you asked!
How We Create the Town
You may have noticed that there’s a lot of variation in elevation in the town. We have the tunnel, which is elevated, and you can see that some houses are located down a hill, heading towards the water. All these things are possible to do with our terrain tools, but this is not quite how I do it! 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.
Let me spill my secrets.
Richard developed a tool for me to use that works hand in hand with our terrain system. To have more extensive control over the town’s topography, I have recreated the map in Blender (my 3D software), sculpting and shaping it by controlling 172,864 individual points. 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.
The map of the town as I have it in Blender, and on the top right, a close-up of the density of points I work with! I can select each point and move them up and down as needed. It also makes iterating much easier!
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.
Isn’t it strange to see how the map looks, all bare, after seeing the trailer? But that’s what it starts as! As I work on the topography, I also create the lots and add placeholder buildings, simply to help us have an idea of what the area will feel like. Until we are 100% satisfied with the feel of an area, we keep things rough and ugly, and once we are happy with it, we move on to finishing up the buildings! It’s a very iterative process with a lot of back-and-forth.
An example of what our notes during the iteration process can look like. Alex and I will have a meeting every few days to review my progress, and we will draw over screenshots to clarify what we want changed for our next meeting. It allows us to share ideas and test some things before committing to anything!
A Closer Look at the Antiques Shop
We saw the shop quickly during the trailer, so I hope I can show you a little bit more today. Let’s take a look!
Market Antiques neighbors L’Armoire, and so I made sure to pick a darker color palette so the two of them would contrast nicely.
A view from the side, which you couldn’t see in the trailer!
We have some wares on display in the windows, but also on the plaza. We haven’t done the interior of the shop yet, but I want to make it chock-full of furniture items and clutter. And so, they also put some inventory outside because they are running out of room inside.
A little view of the shop, from the well. The two match quite nicely.
The back side of the building. It is a bit bare, but we will come back to it as we polish the area further.
Well then, that is all for today! Hope you enjoyed seeing how I go about making the town, and the little look at Market Antiques! What neighborhood are you looking forward to seeing more of? Let us know!
Have a great weekend,
Chloe (ΦωΦ)
October 2nd, 2025: This post is now public, feel free to share it!
Comments
Emily
Oh wow! I have just started the journey of learning blender and I can only imagine the hours and hours it took to do this! I am so impressed! Richard, you are clever developing a way to import Cloe's creation into the game! I'm so impressed with everything I am seeing, I can't tell you just how much.
Mishell Baker
Thank you for this update! I am so excited about this game.
mia
lovely
desischsarah
Looks great! :D
Lauren R
I love antique stores and I’m so excited to see one in the game
Maya
This town is so pretty and freaking adorable AND realistic, I'm so happy we will get to play in it !! I might be afraid to demolish it to modify it to my taste though, but we'll see, and I could always construct new buildings on new lots to expand the town...
Nathalie Carluccio
I love the vibe of this town ❤️❤️❤️ Can't wait to explore all of the places 👏👏👏 The excitement is big big big ☺️☺️☺️
Tauras Giedraitis
That was my concern as well, but then I learned that this is likely not going to be the only town and this first town is walk-able because there won't be cars at early-access launch. What I expect is that there is going to be another, much bigger town for the 1.0 launch of the game to make owning newly implemented cars and other transportation methods more reasonable.
JazzyJay
Frankly, I don’t care if it’s walkable. A lot of the larger towns in The Sims 3—especially the ones with islands—weren’t exactly walkable either. I’m from Canada, where we’ve got plenty of open space, so I’m used to that scale. And since Paralives is including cars and reportedly 50–70 lots in the first town, I wouldn’t expect it to be fully walkable anyway. If the trade-off is between walkability and a larger map with more to explore, I’ll happily wait for vehicles and spend days discovering everything. Thanks to the devs for an awesome showcase! Ps: I ❤️ what I'm seeing in build mode so far.
Leaf
I'm looking forward to seeing more of the rural area and the forest moutain area! I really liked getting a look at where everything was situated on the town map as well.
Kri 100
wait so the shops wont be just rabit holes? thats AMAZING
ZLoves
oh wow, what a treat to see a sneak peak of the town! And the way it's coming togetherrrrr. That map looks prefect, too. I love the hills and valleys and mountainous ranges, a balanced blend of everything! Thank you 🥹💞
Al8302
Ik, soo much more realistic!
I kinda forGoT
I love the buildings are right next to each other. Always wanted that on Sims 3.
Derek Warren
I look forward to seeing the entire town, but especially the rural part. https://www.patreon.com/posts/121188950?collection=144977
Aline T.
I can't wait to see the full city!! Amazing :D
Francis McDonald
What amazing progress you're making. I do love the town/ village and can't wait to go wander about it. Every one of you are brilliant and deserve the accolades you receive
Cassia Teixeira
All of these town showcases are honestly so exciting! It looks beautiful, can’t wait to see more of the builds and of the town design! Question, is Maggie’s loft something that you have added (or will) to the final town design? Even if changed now. It’s such a beautiful and unique build and I hope it makes the cut! Also, if so, in which of the 4 town districts would it be? The florest? Can’t wait for December!!
IateUrBagels1
So excited!!! ❤️
EvanLe24
It’s so cool to see how you all make the worlds behind the scenes like this!!
Cece
I had to come back later to comment because this post is just overwhelmingly packed to the brim with things to unpack and I don’t even know where to start! First of all, of course, I’m LOVING this! I love how all the buildings have distinct styles while still fitting together really well, I like how some of the buildings have mixed window styles and yet look totally normal, all the little details like the supports underneath jutting balconies and stuff, the leaking paint, the writing on the thingy the rain cover thingy that goes over a shop I forgot the word, but it says “family owned” and I think that’s a really cute detail that’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed in the game. I really hope we can enter and explore the antique store but even just choosing from rotating items outside would be really cool. And ofc seeing the world come together from design to final is always a treat. Thank you Chloe and keep up the good work team!
Cel Riegle
I wish I could just fall asleep for the remaining months and wake up to the game’s release
TechPlasma
Like others have said, I'd love to have the blender integration for the game. Being able to create a fully custom town/world would be fantastic.
Chloé Ouellet
the town will be open world!
Chloé Ouellet
We aim to have some of the buildings be available for players to go in, like the Creme Cafe, while others will be rabbit holes! we'd for sure like the plaza shops to be open and not rabbit holes, but we will confirm at a later date :)
Chloé Ouellet
We aren't decided on what our DLCs (reminder that these will always be free) will have, but the town is designed to allow expending it, and new towns are not out of the question :)
Lena
This is incredible! I had no idea that tools like that existed. Incredible work, as always!
Swampboot
I was so focused on the animations in the trailer that I totally missed the lake? ocean? and lighthouse! I love the level of detail in the town, it’s going to be such a wonderful place to explore.
Gill Reid
Sigh...I'm 55 years old, and I swear after reading this post I feel like a kid again. Im so excited! It looks and sounds amazing, oh and I LOVE antique shops! (Can I work there?)
mazyfly
The audacity of people to say that about Paralives when other (you know who👀) games exist and pull in millions
Thabiso Ptk❤️🖤🤍💚
The size of the town looks promising (even if it's too blurry to make out😅). Can't wait!
Jánošík
This made me realize just how much I miss going to antique stores IRL xD thanks for the awesome update!! Always nice to see how all the little detail come together!! 😍
JazzyJay
Amazing work guys =) i couldn't be more thrilled to see more of the towns topography and the terrain tools. It's looking really perfect so far.
Lucie Baha
Thanks for sharing the process Is an inventory system still planned for early access? I also have a suggestion: I hope you'll have enough time to unveil more gameplay publicly before early accès because despite all your efforts to remain as transparent as possible I still see people saying that you're going to charge too much for an unfinished game and that you want to rip people off with Patreon and this has made me angry even if it's only a minority. I've been following you for a long time and I don't want you to get a bad reputation because of some people's misinformation.
Simmer sinner
Haha meee
Daria Hammond
This is so cool! Is the town fully open world? Or will you have to go through a loading screen as you enter the different sections/neighbourhoods? Curious how you’re going to optimize such a big map!!
Simmer sinner
That would be awesome lol
Joel Jimenez
Everything is coming along very well. and to think they were some simmers thinking the town would be small-sized, and It's actually gonna be huge. Off topic I would love for you to include a reference to a popular cartoon in your world. I saw a little cabin in the woods and I immediately thought about the mystery shack of gravity falls. i Would love the idea of some references to Adventure time, gravity falls or any other you devs would like to make reference. similar to how expedicition Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 made reference to shrek.
GalacticFrost
Love the town, something that I look forward to playing in and experiencing. Now I understand that the creator tools will be released with full access; however, would it be a safe assumption that as major DLC content is added to the game, you will also add towns alongside these updates?
tey711
Hi, Chloe 👋 I love the endless potential of the Paralives world you and the team are creating! I also love exploring and the blue area on the map down by the water looks very promising. Yay! You mentioned the antique furniture pieces on the outside and my heart skipped a beat when you stated other team members running out of space to place furniture on the inside, which I hope means we will be able to go into the antique store (?), otherwise, why spend the time furnishing the inside. I may have missed if any buildings we will be able to go inside has been shared? If not, would it be possible for the dev team to share a list of the buildings in Paralives that will not be rabbit holes? I know there will be so much more to look forward to, which makes Fridays even more special! Thank you for all your hard work and your passion for Paralives, and the great team work!
Chloé Ouellet
Hi! You'll be able to edit all lots if you want, but there won't be any business management gameplay for the time being!
Chloé Ouellet
Thank you! We will have plenty more to show in my next patreon posts :D
Chloé Ouellet
Details regarding shops aren't ironed out yet, so I cannot give you a definitive answer. Sorry!
phoenix grey
Great work team! I'm looking forward to playing in this neighborhood and looking forward to seeing the industrial neighborhood.
Rosa Leonie de Haas
Who else is closely studying every pixel on that map with massive glee and anticipation aahhhh!!
María José Torres Guzmán
Will the furniture you buy in this store be exclusive to the store, or will it also be available in the build mode catalog?
Alexander Neuschl
The fact that the trailer surprised many of us with lots of things we never got to see until then AND that you still manage to keep most of the map a secret really makes me desperate to see all the kind of treats you could possibly be holding back until the Early Access release 😍
Christian QW
The town is one of the most important parts of a life simulation game for me. I was so excited to see more about your incredible work, and this has beyond surpassed my expectations. I love the different terrain levels, the community feel, the variation in building styles. I feel like it’s the perfect starting town, and it will be so unique that everyone will know what the initial main town in Paralives looked like. Keep up the amazing work, and please keep posting these town updates. They are my favourite for sure!
Stephanie Marion
It's so cool to see how you build the town from topography to the finished product 🤩 Can't wait to see all of it !
Dizzardy
I'm wondering if this will be possible as well. I hope so.
Carelle
This looks like a pretty nice sized town. I can't wait for the CAW tools are available and i can recreate my small town. The next question is will I be able to make road side coffee stands.
Ashley Sowers
Might it be possible in the future for someone to make their own terrain in Blender and import it to create their own map?
c.rose94
I love the variation to the map and that its not all plain flat land
Julio Saliba
Thank you for the closer look at that antique shop. Also I like that terrain system, could potentially be for map making in future updates! Just a question, if paras can buy businesses and lots, can they buy that antique shop (or any or all business that was spotted in the trailer)?
Becky (Tinks)
YAAAAY!! Im In love with this town already I cannot wait to explore it all and to see what more beautiful places may be added in time 😍 Thankyou Chloé!
