PC life simulation games are no longer limited to "The Sims. In the years since the popularity of "Stardew Valley," dozens of smaller, more focused life simulations have appeared, and now "Sims" competitors such as "Paralives" and "Life by You" have become synonymous with the 24-year-old EA "Sims" series The Sims aims to simulate a wide range of homes, relationships, families, and careers, such as those in the "Life by You" series.

Life by You director Rod Humble, who was responsible for the "Sims" series for several years in the 2000s, attributes its growth to the basic inclusiveness of the life-sim genre.

"The reason I think life sims have grown so much and will grow even bigger is because it's an inclusive game genre that anyone can use to tell a story rooted in real life," Humble said in a recent interview with PC Gamer.

Humble, whose gaming background goes back to the early 90s, says he prefers sim games to games with their own stories. 'Who is the protagonist? What is the gender? What is their skin color? How old are they?""Suddenly, I cut people off.

On the other hand, the design of a simulation like "Life by You," Humble says, is "always inclusive. It's like, "How do we expand the magic circle to our colleagues who have this worldview and want to be able to play in that worldview and in that style in our game?

It's also a huge undertaking, which may be why there haven't been many "Sims" competitors. No genre name is as ambitious as "Life Sim," and while "Life by You" doesn't go as far as cellular biology, it aims to simulate quite a lot. At the higher levels, you can "drag, tear down, and rearrange entire towns," and at the most detailed level, you can decide what a particular character says to another character at a particular moment and proceed to write a live play (a soap opera, if you like).

Because all aspects of life, such as learning to knit, are fair game, Paradox Tectonic, the developer of Life by You, has a big to-do list. Everyone in the studio is an expert on life, so everyone can contribute design ideas. Also, players know (or should know) something about living, so even though Life sims are complex, they don't need a lot of guidance to figure it out.

"Those who don't play life sims understand that life sims are also the most complex RPG ever written, the most complex craft game ever written, and the most complex behavioral AI system ever written. Perhaps they don't. But I think the reason it's so popular is that even though it's complex, it's approachable and doesn't require a tutorial."

Life by You will not have all the features planned for its early access release this June, but Humble, for example, doesn't think the baby is quite cute enough for launch.

Aiming for full inclusivity comes with trade-offs. For example, Life by You's characters are intentionally styled in a tasteless manner so that modders do not have to mimic a distinct art style to add hairstyles, outfits, and accessories. Life by You's American suburban architecture is also expected to be the subject of many mods as players add more diverse styles to their architectural toolboxes. Paradox Tectonic will have to be careful that official updates do not break the work of the modding community.

Humble is not shy about what could truly become the most popular mod category, encouraging players to explore sexuality and other likes in Life by You. To ensure that players feel comfortable with their privacy, the studio decided not to include in Life by You the data collection system that many other developers use to understand player behavior and prioritize fixes and updates.

"People all over the world often use Life Sim to explore their sexuality, for example," Humble told me in an interview last year. 'So it's very important for this community in this day and age to know that this is a private experience. We don't collect data through telemetry in the game that would go to a hostile government, for example." [Life by You will be released as an early access version on June 4 and will be available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Several features on Paradox Tectonic's comprehensive approach to life simulation are available on the company's blog and YouTube channel. We also spoke with Humble a bit more about how Life by You supports modders.