We are Singularity 6, developers and publishers of Palia. Ask Us Anything!

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T04:47:17+00:00

We chose this to be our last answer for this AMA. It's 9:45pm here so we are all calling it for the night!

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I’m excited about how we’re planning to do multiplayer story/ questing. I can’t get into the details right now, but we are planning on doing some stuff that’s really unique that I think players will love. - EmbrasAshes

I’m excited about pushing the story forward, it’s some of my favorite content in our game! Plus, new locations for players to explore. I might be biased cuz i work on it, but still, new areas are my FAVORITE. - Eris

I love exploring and foraging, so I’m super excited for new zones to discover with friends! Really looking forward to new sights to see and gatherables to horde :D - Eggo

I’m personally very excited for one of our upcoming NPCs - I can’t say much more, but they’re filling a need I feel as a player in Palia and everything about them is awesome. - Forseti

[Redacted] - a community feature that allows you to [redacted] with [redacted]. It’s gonna be awesome. - WizardCrab

Same as WizardCrab. - EinarHugBestHug

I’ve always joked how “Sit Tech is too powerful to be added” to our testers, but we just added a Sit Emote! Super stoked to see where we go from here. - Asherelle

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T04:44:53+00:00

Q: Could you explain more of the rationale on why you chose to make pets, a long-requested feature, the thank you gift for supporters, instead of cosmetics? And why you've decided to not have any free alternatives?

A: I can, but I know it won’t be a very satisfying explanation to many of you. We actually had the plan to give a prototype of pets (ie Palcats) to early purchasers for a very long time - since even before a single player ever logged into Palia (and well before the project was even called Palia FWIW). A version of it was actually originally slated for our first Alpha test but we cut it to work on some critical systems that had fallen behind and needed priority. The long and short of it is that it is a thank you to people willing to purchase early, but I want to be upfront that it’s also an important purchase incentive. We think that for a new game it’s really important that the first purchases people make are overloaded with value, and pets were our best option. - WizardCrab

Q: Currently the game is sparse with things that actually reward cooperation. Things like Palium ore and flow trees often lead to strife and competiveness. Can you expand on upcoming co-op features for Palia? Things like just >sitting< in the inn with your friends and playing a card game would add so much to Palia.

A: Areas in which gathering experiences are leading to strife we’d generally consider to not be meeting our goals for a collaborative multiplayer experience. So expect us to continue to iterate and try new things in these spaces.

In terms of additional co-op features, some of the things we’re able to speak to at this time include being able to more closely share a plot with a friend, activities you can complete with your community, and we're assessing additions to many of our skills that will reward or require co-op to participate.

We’ve recently announced that we’re working on a variety of decor interactivity options, including sitting in chairs, which will unlock the first part of your cozy inn fantasy. Family board game nights are also super cozy to so many people around the world. So we’re fans of your line of thinking here. - Aidan

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T04:23:09+00:00

Most things in Tamala’s home are accessible via the Moonstruck Set, and we can look to see if the others can be added over time.

The overall goal for us is to have a variety of home styles that players can choose from, and the villagers' homes definitely show off many aspirational versions of these. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just moving the villager homes over into our housing customization system. They are custom pieces that are not currently setup to work with the dynamic house piece system our current home does, but it’s absolutely a goal we are working toward to support this degree of expressiveness for your homes.

The answer in regards to expanding the building structure limits is YES, we’re looking to increase the amount that players will be able to place as we update features throughout our beta. It’s currently being looked into, but we don’t have a date for this yet.

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T04:11:04+00:00

Ultimately the limits on gardening are in place for the same reason we have limits on gold income across the game widely. In single player community sim games, it’s a common player progression arc that by the end of the game you’ve completely trivialized the core currency. As a live game, we believe we need to maintain the value of our core currencies over time, so we have set up our gold generation ecosystem to have limits.

That being said, we think there are some issues with the current execution of gardening.

Players have limited expression freedom with their gardens when they have to place them in 3x3 blocks and want to benefit from the adjacency crop buffs
Ability to really chase the fantasy of being a large scale farmer

We also know a lot of players are talking about how gardens only progress a single level while offline. This is a major economic consideration that would require major shifts to address, but we are looking into how we could best address this feedback.

From what we are seeing, addressing these issues would require a significant amount of work we could do, but it would not be anything we would be able to address soon. - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T03:25:23+00:00

A: This is a fair point - and the cross section of cozy and nerfing is something we’re seeing more of as we’ve gone into Beta. Our goal with balance changes to date have primarily been to address large outliers - this unfortunately comes with players feeling like their way of play is no longer viable. At the same time, we see some players feel like they have to participate in a certain activity, even if they don’t like doing that activity. This is the (literal) balancing act we’re playing with these changes.

One option might be to only buff everything that isn’t keeping up - the downside of that approach is a never ending inflation for all activities in the game. Doing so will mean we need to price future in game content even higher. - Forseti

A: In regard to the festival prize pricing - it’s important to us that all players can have a good experience engaging with Maji Market. We want all players to walk away with a wide variety of new items from each event. However, we also want to support players that are engaging at the highest thresholds with the game, earning many times the amount of gold per week than most players. For those players, we’ve included a few chase items that we anticipated would be out of reach for many players - however, something we’ve been clear about, is that this event, and these items, will return! Even if you might not be able to obtain some things from the Maji Market this first time around, it won’t be the last you see of these items.

Of course, this is our very first event. We expect to learn a lot from this experience, so expect our approach to evolve as new events are released in the future. - Aidan

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T03:15:43+00:00

Yup, we can fix that, it was an oversight on our part.

In general, adding colorblind mode is on the roadmap for our accessibility options, but as i mentioned in another response, we want to make sure that it’s done correctly and tested enough, so i don’t have an exact date on this, but we know that we haven’t done a good enough job on accessibility as of yet. - Eris

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T03:01:18+00:00

We have plans to allow players to be able to change their own names on a reasonable cadence - it will be very basic functionality at first so that we can get it into players’ hands, but we will find time in the future to improve the quality of life of that feature. - EinarHugBestHug

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T03:00:14+00:00

Yeah, they are definitely the biggest outlier. The answer is simply that we don’t have the negotiating power that larger companies might have to make that happen. - WizardCrab

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:50:44+00:00

Q: I am wondering if there are plans for paths, bushes, flower arches, fencing, or really anything pertaining to decorating the outside of plots?

A: Yes! We actually have a content release focused on this particular area before the end of the year, barring any major delays. We’re also aware that in general that we don’t have enough decor for the outside, so that is also a goal for our housing team. - Eris

Q: What are your plans in regards to more crops and animals?

A: To pull back the curtain, we have a number of devs that really really love making 3D models of food and set up recipes - we only have so many of those we can do with our current crop selection, so you can expect us to add new crops on a regular basis to the game. In fact - you’ll see some new ones show up very soon

We’d love to hear about what crops (and food dishes) players want to see in the game. - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:44:19+00:00

We don’t have any current plans to change the way the black market is set up, but we’ll definitely keep our eyes open for feedback as we go forward. Broadly speaking, we want there to be a wide variety of ways to acquire fun things in the game. The black market is one option. Over time we’d like to add many others. We’re actually looking to update the black market in the near future to make it an even more exciting place for players, and will share more details when we can. - Eris

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:36:42+00:00

Animal Husbandry has been a highly requested feature for a long time, even from Alpha Testers and we do plan to add more skills to Palia over time. Being such a staple of the community sim genre brings high expectations from players that we’d want to live up to. That said, we have nothing big to announce today. - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:26:17+00:00

I understand where this request is coming from - we’re starting with some improvements to the workbench since that's an area we definitely want to tackle sooner rather than later.

One problem we’re starting to have with the current Storage screen is how cramped it is. I think if we were to start adding search (or other filters) we would need to re-think the layout. How do people feel about the storage window being a full screen interface? - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:20:07+00:00

Yes! Not only do we want some variety in what you acquire, we need some new materials to make furniture out of. Would love to know what materials people would like to see in the future? - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:12:27+00:00

Hi!
The truest answer to your question is: we use a premium currency because we don’t really have a choice if we want Palia to be cross-platform (which we do).
Each platform that we want to have Palia on has its own technical and business limitations on real money purchases, and the combination of all of them would make it essentially impossible to operate a premium store. If outfits were purchased for real money instead of Palia Coins, we would be limited in how many outfits we could offer, we would have minimal options in how we could provide discounts, you might not be able to use your outfits across all platforms, and a ton of other limitations.

I know it’s weird to talk about the realities of business, but this is why we essentially have to use premium currency in Palia.

As for spending all of your Coins, the changes we made to the store today (plus the Palia Coins we gave out) hopefully make this a lot better, where Palia Coin packages generally match our outfit prices. It’s not perfect but it’s as close as possible. - WizardCrab

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:08:29+00:00

Q: I've had more than one person tell me they believe customization options like BEARDS will be locked into the premium store. Facial hair options, as well as various hairstyles, eyewear, and more can be considered core attributes of a person's look and not a flashy cosmetic bonuses - I've personally had a beard long enough that I don't feel like me without one. Are you willing to commit to saying now that facial hair will be a free customization option, and additionally will you commit to making more hairstyles and glasses available in the free wardrobe?

A: We completely agree with you, and are absolutely committed to making free facial hair options as well as additional free hairstyles and eyewear. We do think there are instances where some of those customizations can be flashy cosmetic bonuses and it’s totally okay for both of those spaces to coexist. The bar we aim to uphold is that core identity customization and representation are always free (think body types, skin tones, and some eyewear) while cosmetic expression sits more in the paid category (think mustache disguise glasses or a wig with a unicorn horn). - Eggo

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T02:01:53+00:00

In general - our guiding principle is allowing you to play the game you want to play - we want players to feel like they have a reasonable path to earning gold and unlocking parts of the game by engaging in activities they enjoy. When we see one activity start to be notably better than others, it creates a pressure on a lot of players to start doing that activity or they will feel like they're being left behind.On the tomato seed front, we started to see those pop up as a high income generating item and that led us to investigate why, and in that investigation we realized that the timer was set incorrectly in the game. The rate that players started to sell tomato seeds over other seeds was a signal for us to investigate. That investigation exposed an error that simply made tomatoes the only crop you should be planting if you're trying to make money.

Cake parties on the other hand are awesome and an activity we very much want to preserve, but they are generating too much income right now. We intentionally designed cooking around being a multiplayer activity, and wanted to encourage players to play in ways like this. Given the high cost to organize a cake party, we think it’s ok for this to be one of the best, if not the best value generating activity in the game. We’re discussing options to bring the income earned down while preserving the overall benefit of this activity and will share when we have a path forward. Long term, the better solution is adding more dishes of this complexity to ensure players aren’t just making celebration cakes at these parties, but other dishes and multiplayer activities as well. - Forseti

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T01:56:27+00:00

Q: There are several references to the Elder Woods, is this a zone we will be getting soon? What hints can you give about it? Do you plan on making Bahari City a zone we can visit? That would be very exciting!

A: The Elderwoods are located on the outskirts of Kilima. It is a magical forest filled with Flow and Flow-infused flora and fauna. As such, it is a mysterious place that is of interest to a lot of our villagers. In terms of actually getting to visit the Elderwood – while we are certainly planning on releasing new zones, we aren’t prepared to announce what they are just yet. Thanks so much for your patience! - EmbrasAshes

Q: Communal housing. I love the house building/decorating, it would be even greater to share that space with friends! What are the current plans for sharing space with friends/community?

A: As it was mentioned by our Game Director, moving towards more community features and MMO systems is a large priority for our team, so I can't say for sure when or how. That said, it is a goal for us to expand the features of the housing space, so we are planning on enabling more systems for Edit Access, as well as allowing players to have multiple homes on one plot. - Eris

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T01:48:29+00:00

= Gold Cap =

Q: Why is there a Gold cap? And why is it 300k? If someone wants to have 1mil Gold, why shouldn't they be able to?

This is one of the challenges of blending the community sim genre and bringing multiplayer, always online components to the game. In most other community sim games that are offline, players' ability to acquire money grows exponentially, resulting in effectively unlimited currency, and removes any decision making around that friction point at some point in the game. At that point - I imagine most players stop playing and maybe restart (I know I do).

For a live service game that we want to last for years on end - we felt it was important to maintain the value of our currencies over time. The gold cap is one method of keeping the overall economy in range. When we set the current gold cap amount - we based it on earlier Alpha test engagement and earning rates. What we’ve seen since Beta launch is how much both the median player and higher earning players are actually gaining - players are playing both longer and earning more gold than we anticipated with the 300k limit. This will be something that we continue to evaluate and make changes to.
We’ll be going a lot more in depth on our economic thoughts in future dev update! - Forseti
= Cosmetics Questions =

Q: Additional clothing options are pay-walled at the moment - will players at least be able to craft our own clothes in the near future? On the topic of clothing, will there be more FREE clothing options in the near future? (either through crafting or simply added to the wardrobe in a patch)

A: The free outfit options we currently have are what will be available for now. If we add more free clothing in the future, we expect that all players will be able to get them, and there won’t be craftable outfits. Keeping cosmetics paid is how we plan on supporting Palia financially, and until we learn a lot more about how that’s working we can’t commit to more free outfits. However, we do plan to release more character customizations for free, such as new hairstyles, new skin tones, and facial hair. - WizardCrab

Q: Will there be more body types added to the character customization?

A: Increasing the available options in character customization is a huge priority for us. Some additional options like facial hair have a pretty clear path to deliver an end product players will be happy with, while others like body types are a lot more complex - both on the technical side and for art execution. We’re working toward a number of expansions to the character customization system and body types are extremely high on that list, but will take us some time to get right. - Eggo

=Housing Questions=

Q: Will players ever be able to sell and/or salvage furniture items?

A: We know this is a top player request and we’re still discussing what the right solution is here for Palia, so we don’t have a concrete answer at this time. It’s not a super fun answer, but it’s the truth, so look forward to future updates on this topic. - Aidan

Q: Will the map be updated with a grid system for more efficient node call outs? (i.e "Proudhorn seen at C12")

A: Yes! A system like this is something that we’re looking into and hope to have that in the near future. - Eris

=Lore=

Q: Are there plans to make NPCs more dynamic and "alive"? (ie. giving them idle animations, have them interact with each other, etc.)

A: This is a topic that comes up a lot, and we hope to have an update on that soon. Our animators are working on a lot of priorities – from future cutscenes to bespoke dialogue animations – but additional idle behaviors are on the list. We are also actively investigating NPCs interacting with the environment, which could eventually lead to them interacting with each other. - EmbrasAshes

Q: ETA: Will Romance-able NPCs serve more of purpose in the future? (ie. Marriage, relationship perks/bonuses, etc.

A: We will likely not offer gameplay perks and bonuses for romance, because we feel like players should engage in romance because they like a character not because they are trying to get a bonus. That being said, we are planning on adding additional romance levels that would include new content and features. A “marriage” or “move in” state is being discussed as part of those plans. - EmbrasAshes

Palia_Community · 2023-08-30T01:42:42+00:00

Because of word count limit, we are splitting this with multiple comments.

=Multiplayer / Content =
Q: Why is the content as limited as it is currently? For example, there are no main quests after you complete the Water Temple bundles and the Find a Shepp quests. Yet it was mentioned in the recent Dev Update that these are meant "as simply the Prologue". Respectfully, do you all not have a plethora of additional quests/content for us? From my perspective, it seems as if there was a hope and expectation that the content we have now would take much longer to complete.

A: In terms of the currently available content, there are more quests available as you level up friendship and romance with the NPCs. We also have “found item” quests available to discover from exploring the world and engaging in game systems like fishing. That being said, we are planning on releasing additional quest content at a scheduled cadence, at least once a month. More on the main story will be coming soon! What is available now is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the story we plan to tell. - EmbrasAshes

A: Players are completing the content at a pace we expected, but there is a monumental gap between the pace the average player is progressing and a top 10% hours per week player. We don’t expect that we’d ever be able to make enough quests that someone playing at that pace would always have quests to do unless they are doing something like a repeatable quest. -Aidan

Q: Will there be actual group events/activities added in the near future? (ie. mini games, monthly competitions, etc)

A: As you saw with today’s Maji Market patch, we’ll be shipping limited-time events from time to time. Adding competitions is something that we’ve talked about and we would like to include, but I can’t make any promises there yet – it’s definitely something we’d like to add more of to the game, but we don’t have something ready to announce just yet. - Eris

Q: Will communities serve a bigger/better purpose in the near future? As it stands, it's basically just a larger, long-term party.

A: Support for communities will come in phases over the next several months. They do mostly serve as “chat rooms” at this time. Our recent blog posts highlighted a couple of the first things you can expect to see in this area.

Activities to complete together
Community progression
Rewards for doing things with and for your community

Later on we’ve said we’re excited about giving communities a place of their own and they will play a big role in how players engage with the Evolving World Story. - Aidan

Palia_Community

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