This evening, a new sneak peek of the life simulation game Paralives went online, introducing the features of the interaction menu in more detail. There are some really cool ideas that make control easier for the player.

The video begins immediately with a click on a para to open the menu. The name of the character and a list of possible actions pop up. Some functions offer more possibilities and can be called up as sub-items. The structure resembles a classic dropout menu and does not initially have any major special features.

But a few useful functions have been built in to make it easier to use. Search for the desired interaction by entering a term in the menu. This saves time that we would otherwise have spent searching in the submenus ourselves. If we hold down the Shift key when choosing the desired interaction, we can select an action several times in a row without closing the menu. In this way, the menu does not have to be opened several times.

In addition, the developers have added another function that allows us players to pin certain actions, which we can then trigger several times by right-clicking. This makes control much easier, as we don’t have to call up the menu again each time. Each object can have a pinned interaction!

These features are a real game changer because they let us quickly and easily choose the action, we want our Para to perform. We all are used to it: In games like The Sims there is the very fancy pie menu, which always offers us a handful of actions that might fit the situation well at the moment. Mostly, we just want that one action, which we only barely remember and spend time clicking through the menu until we finally find it. Of course, each new pack also brings new actions, and the menu becomes larger and more confusing. This is no fun and disturbs the flow of the game.

That’s why I think it’s even better that the Paralives team has taken a step and improved usability with these little features. It may seem insignificant, but it will pay off from the moment we get back into the situation where we only want our Para to perform this one particular action. But it will be interesting to see how the list is managed when more interactions are added over time and the selection continues to grow.

I’m really excited about the development and can’t wait to see more of these user-friendly features in the game. You can find more information about the life simulation Paralives on their website. Follow me on Twitter if you want to be informed about current topics from the Lifesim universe. You can watch the entire video here: