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Alex Masse - Version 9 vs Version 10
May 15, 2026, 07:11 PM
Removed external commercial game names from the Education and Early Career, Starting Paralives, and Career Milestones sections, describing the prior work in generic terms instead
May 15, 2026, 07:36 PM
Replaced a stuttered phrase (developer dev diaries) with developer diaries
11Alex Masse is a French Canadian game developer from Montreal and the creator of Paralives. He is a professional software engineer, game designer, and artist who has been making games since high school, accumulating well over a decade of experience in game development. He currently leads Paralives Studio and oversees every aspect of the game's design and production. Alex speaks both English and French and is the public face of the studio across community channels.22At a Glance44DetailInformationFull nameAlex MasseNationalityCanadian (French Canadian)LocationMontreal, Quebec, CanadaEducationEcole de technologie superieureRoleFounder and Lead Developer, Paralives StudioLanguagesEnglish, FrenchDevelopment startSeptember 2018 (side project); January 2019 (full-time)Public announcementJune 2019Team sizeApproximately 17 people as of early 202666Education and Early Career77Alex studied at the Ecole de technologie superieure in Montreal. Throughout his career he has worked on a diverse range of projects spanning mobile games, educational titles, and experimental technology demos. His prior professional work includes contributions to a commercially successful mobile game, where he gained firsthand experience shipping a polished product to a large audience.99Alex also contributed to demo projects for a Unity engine initiative focused on building lightweight, high-performance Unity experiences for web and mobile platforms. In addition, he developed educational games for children and participated in numerous game jams. The mix of commercial mobile work, low-footprint Unity engineering, and rapid-iteration game-jam experience gave him an unusually broad foundation when he began working on what would become Paralives.1111Starting Paralives1313Alex began working on Paralives in September 2018 as a personal side project. By January 2019 he had committed to full-time development and left his prior job to focus entirely on the game. As a lifelong fan of simulation and city-building games, he saw Paralives as the opportunity to create the powerful, freeform building tools and simulation systems he had always wished existed in the genre.1515He publicly announced the project in June 2019 through a new social media presence, sharing early clips of the Build Mode tools he had been developing. One of his most-cited design inspirations was the road-drawing tool from a popular city-builder game. He adapted a similar spline-based approach to wall placement in Paralives, which gives players the freedom to draw curved walls, angled segments, and non-rectangular floor plans without being locked to a rigid grid. That choice would become a defining feature of Build Mode.1717Career Milestones1919YearEventPre-2018Education and prior professional work, including mobile games, educational games for children, and demo projects for a Unity engine initiativeSeptember 2018Began work on Paralives as a personal side projectJanuary 2019Quit prior job and pivoted to full-time on ParalivesJune 2019Public announcement of Paralives; community supporter program launchedOctober 2019First team member hired (Lea Sorribes, 3D Game Artist); Paralives Studio formally founded2020Continued hiring; first premade Parafolk (Maggie, Sebastian) revealed publiclyNovember 2023supporter base passed 15,000 contributors earning over $35,000 per monthJune 2025First Early Access date announced (originally December 8, 2025)November 14, 2025Announced Early Access delay to May 25, 2026 after expanded playtest feedbackEarly 2026Team grew to approximately 17 people; Build Mode, Paramaker, Live Mode, modding tools all entered final pre-launch stateMay 25, 2026Scheduled Early Access launch on Steam2121supporter program and Community Funding2222Shortly after the public announcement of Paralives in 2019, Alex launched a community supporter program to fund development. He chose this model over a one-time crowdfunding round because Paralives was envisioned as a long-term, evolving project that would benefit from sustained monthly support rather than a single campaign. He was partly inspired by the success that other indie life-sim and creative-game projects had found on the same platform.2424By November 2023 the community supporter program had grown to over 15,000 supporters contributing more than $35,000 per month, making it one of the most successful game-related community-funded campaigns. That income paid for the studio's payroll, kept the project independent, and allowed Alex to maintain a no-paid-DLC commitment for the eventual launch. supporter pledges are scheduled to sunset on the May 25, 2026 launch day, with funding shifting to Steam sales; see Community.2626Growing the Team2828Paralives was a solo project for its first several months. The success of the community supporter program allowed Alex to begin hiring in late 2019. The first team member, Lea Sorribes (3D Game Artist), joined in October 2019. Additional hires followed across art, programming, design, and marketing roles, forming the core of Paralives Studio.3030Over the following years the team continued to expand. As of early 2026, the studio has grown to approximately 17 people, working remotely or from Montreal. The team's composition includes 3D artists, programmers, designers, marketing staff, and community managers. The relatively small team size has been a deliberate choice; Alex has stated multiple times that staying small protects both the studio's independence and the no-paid-DLC commitment that distinguishes Paralives from larger competitors.3232Vision for Paralives3434Alex's vision for Paralives centers on giving players genuine creative freedom. The game's grid-free Build Mode, deep Customization System, and open-world neighborhood all reflect his belief that life-simulation games should empower players rather than constrain them. He has committed to a no-paid-DLC model, stating that as a small independent team without shareholders to please, the revenue from base-game sales will be sufficient to fund free content updates for years to come.3636Alex regularly engages with the Paralives community through developer dev diaries, community Q&A sessions, social-media updates, and the official news feed on the studio's website. He has emphasized that community feedback directly shapes the game's design through brainstorming sessions, polls, and playtesting programs. The November 2025 decision to delay Early Access from December 8, 2025 to May 25, 2026 was framed publicly as a direct response to expanded playtest feedback rather than an internal scheduling change.37+Alex regularly engages with the Paralives community through developer diaries, community Q&A sessions, social-media updates, and the official news feed on the studio's website. He has emphasized that community feedback directly shapes the game's design through brainstorming sessions, polls, and playtesting programs. The November 2025 decision to delay Early Access from December 8, 2025 to May 25, 2026 was framed publicly as a direct response to expanded playtest feedback rather than an internal scheduling change.3838Public Voice4040Among indie founders in the life-sim space, Alex has cultivated an unusually public voice. He typically authors major studio announcements personally, signs them under his name, and surfaces in dev streams and Q&A sessions. The studio's posts about the May 25, 2026 launch date, the EA feature recap, and the explicit Day 1 vs post-launch carveouts all came under his byline. This visible authorship has helped the community develop direct trust in the studio's public communications.4242Relationship to Other Paralives Articles4444Alex's design philosophy threads through several launch articles. The grid-free building philosophy lives in Build Mode. The freeform character creation philosophy lives in Paramaker. The no-paid-DLC commitment is documented in Modding and Steam Workshop and Early Access. The community-engagement strategy is documented in Community. Together these articles describe the working environment Alex has built around the launch.4646Out of Scope4848Alex's personal life, family, and outside-of-Paralives projects are not covered in detail here. Specific compensation figures, contracts, or internal team-management details have not been published. This article focuses on his public role as the founder and lead developer of Paralives Studio.
