Different Types of Inherited Traits8 Aug 2025
Happy Friday, Anna here!
Today I am going to talk about the genetics system in Paralives, something we started working on a long time ago (back in 2020… time goes by so fast!). I’ve been revisiting the whole system recently to make it work with all the updates to the Paramaker that have been implemented since, and to integrate it into the pregnancy gameplay. A perfect opportunity to show you how it holds up in action!
Different Types of Inherited TraitsIn real life, our physical appearance is influenced by the genes we get from our parents and lots of environmental factors. Don’t worry if you don’t remember your biology class about dominant and recessive genes, there won’t be a test!
Our main challenge in Paralives was to create a system that lets the player recognize certain traits passed down through their generations of Paras somewhat realistically, without diving into overly complex genetic rules. We wanted things to feel believable, with some fun details (for those of you who do remember Punnett squares
) while keeping the system lightweight and consistent with character customization.We use different inheritance rules depending on the type of trait, and we’re focusing solely on visual aspects here. Let’s go through them!
1. Facial Features: Straight From One of the Parents
Our goals with facial features inheritance are quite simple and definitely not nearly as complex as real-world genetics. We essentially want the player to be able to recognize that “They have their mother’s nose!” or “They have their dad’s jawline!”.
How it works:
For each facial feature (like the nose, chin, etc.), the child inherits all the relevant sliders from one parent, chosen randomly. For example, they might inherit their entire set of nose sliders from their mom, and the cheeks from their dad. This helps keep things coherent and avoids weird mixes of incompatible sliders, which can quickly lead to ugly or extreme results.
Here is our favourite couple from the trailer video and the two children we created from them with the genetics tools of the Paramaker. Aren’t they cute?
