Upcoming The Sims competitor Life By You will go above and beyond by simulating every second of its characters' virtual lives. This isn't limited to the controllable Agent characters and extends to the various NPCs populating the game's open world.
Developed by Paradox Tectonic and published by Paradox Interactive, Life By You is an upcoming life-sim helmed by Sims 2 and Sims 3 developer Rod Humble. Announced early this month, the game launches in early access on September 12, 2023. Paradox promises that Life By You will be deeper and broader in scope than its predecessor, offering a detailed life-sim set in a seamless open world.
According to Humble, Life By You's comprehensive life simulation goes as far as modeling every second of every character's life. The studio head discussed this feature in a recent interview with Rock Paper Shotgun. As Humble explained, Agents in Life By You live a simulated 75+ years in the game. There are also no loading screens, and therefore no room to fudge the numbers regarding how much time passes. As a result, it was necessary to ensure that every character in Life By You exists on the same time scale, which meant simulating every second of their virtual lives.
This doesn't end with the player characters and extends to Life By You's NPCs. Humble explained that most life sims use loading screens to separate different locations. The characters inhabiting those areas thus stop existing when players load into the next one. However, every character in Life By You exists in the same world and plays by the same rules. They have their own homes and relationships, and players may encounter them around town.
Life By You players can even take control of NPCs anytime, letting them jump around and explore or tinker with their lives. All characters also exist on a level playing field, meaning players can do anything the NPCs can and vice versa. Life By You characters, including the player's, will act on their own initiative when the player isn't controlling them. This includes significant life decisions like getting married, possibly to a character the player hadn't even met.
When asked why Paradox Tectonic decided to have Life By You model every moment of the character's lives, he replied, "Because I haven't seen it done before." The concept of modeling every single character's life is something that greatly appeals to Humble. And while this proved to be quite a challenge for developers, the years of effort will hopefully pay off when Life By You releases this fall.
Life By You is in development for PC and enters Early Access on September 12.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun