I was thinking something similar. When they said teens could now move out I thought it was strange making them more like adults when people complain that they are uninteresting. Perhaps it's a stuff pack or a university thing. I immediately thought they might be working on younger teens and making the old teens like 18-19. That would put them at university age.
I also think that teen able to move out + a lot trait for them could mean that we will get something for teen, SP/GP for them or even an university EP.
But i didn't think about preteen, and i must say it can makes sense.
A Preteen or Young teen is different because around this age they transition from being a child and into a teen hence they word 'Pre-teen' at this age is where they bodies change and puberty hits and they care more about appearance and notice the opposite sex or same sex are appealing. Their different from Teens because Teens are more mature Preteens can't drive, Preteens are more likely to get in trouble because of peer pressure because they rely and try to impress their friends most teens will find what a preteen doing to get in trouble is way to immature.
I think I'd rather see time spent on a pre-teen or Young Teen life stage. But I certainly wouldn't say no to expanded content for the teen life stage, either.
How would you make those different from the child or teen life stages though?
A Preteen or Young teen is different because around this age they transition from being a child and into a teen hence they word 'Pre-teen' at this age is where they bodies change and puberty hits and they care more about appearance and notice the opposite sex or same sex are appealing. Their different from Teens because Teens are more mature Preteens can't drive, Preteens are more likely to get in trouble because of peer pressure because they rely and try to impress their friends most teens will find what a preteen doing to get in trouble is way to immature.
But how do you translate that to gameplay without just making them a more limited version of teenagers?
If I were to give you a serious game design answer, I'd have to think about it in great detail and get back to you.
Off the cuff, I would say, the gameplay is in the experience of going through puberty and dealing with the changes related to that.
Look at it this way: Say you were to ask (not knowing how Toddlers are designed) how do you add Toddler gameplay without just making them a more limited version of Child Sims? (a similar question). You can then look at how Toddlers are differentiated from Child Sims and get an idea of how it can be done. They have unique traits, they have their own skills, they have unique interactions, including unique interactions tied to their unique traits. They also have features that no other life stage has, like the fact that they can be carried, or that they need to be potty trained.
So what kind of stuff might a pre-teen, or young teen have, that no other life stages has? Hormonal craziness is the obvious one, which is a pretty vague concept with a lot of possibilities for unique behavior lurking in it.
But Triplis, I hear you saying in my head, older teens could be given crazy hormones too. Yes, I say to the made up question that you have asked. And Child Sims, depending on how old they strictly speaking are could (when put in the frame of real life) theoretically be small enough that an adult can carry them. But it's unlikely they will ever be carryable, as they are old enough that it doesn't really fit the life stage in the stylized way that it does for toddlers. Not unlike how hormonal craziness doesn't quite fit teens who are (roughly) 16-19 (at the youngest), but would fit pretty snugly for a younger teen life stage.
That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea haha, you may have convinced me, hormonal mood swings could be fun
I feel like 3 tried to do that with its kids/teens and their "rebellious mood swings" but it really fell flat since all it did was change their wishes wish you could easily ignore. Could work out a lot better in 4 with its emotion system o-o
But how do you translate that to gameplay without just making them a more limited version of teenagers?
Preteens will began to develop crushes not be boyfriend and girlfriend like the teens but crushes because at this stage like I said they will see the opposite/same sex appealing and or a celebrity crush. They will be hormonal/moodswings and attitude (get into trouble angry moodlet slam doors and stuff around.) because that's when puberty hits it would be great for the boy sims to high a high pitch squeaky voice maybe for like two or three days. Acne will began to develop on their face, they will be more cautious about their appearance (especially girls they'll love reading magazines.) They will also try to impress their friends and their crush. Would get in trouble more often because of peer pressure especially with pranks or dares(for example I dare you to insult this person most likely a YA or an adult, they'll do it and get into trouble with their parents but they'll be liked by friends because to them just doing that dare their considered "cool" if they don't do the dare well their not cool). They will still play void critters (At this age in RL they are playing with Pokemon, Digimon, Yugioh, and Dragon Ball cards,) They'll get an embarrassing moodlet if parents or younger sibling whenever around friends. Also take their older sibling stuff like clothes or make-up etc.
At first I was skeptical about the value of adding preteens, but the idea has grown on me. Teens seem like late high school-college age to me as they are right now, and kids are about 7-12. What I'd like to see would be young teens- ages 13-16 who have crushes, acne, mood swings, and are in-between child and young adult height. As a previous poster mentioned, they should be able to play voidcritters.
I certainly hope so! Kids got some love with the KR SP. Later toddlers were added. I think teens should get some love next, so I would be glad if this was the case. Right now, teens do not stand out- not enough unique activities and interactions.
Teens seem like late high school-college age to me as they are right now, and kids are about 7-12. What I'd like to see would be young teens- ages 13-16 who have crushes, acne, mood swings, and are in-between child and young adult height. As a previous poster mentioned, they should be able to play voidcritters.
I agree with you. An early-teen/young-teen stage for ~12-15 would make a great difference.
Preteens in Sims 4 would be fun, but I think they would also be hard to program into the game. With the Toddler life stage located between Baby and Child, and with babies not being able to do anything except eat, sleep, cry and soil their diapers and Child being the first stage where a Sim gets a real Trait and Child Skills and Aspirations, I think the Toddler stage was a good transition between those two, with a Toddler Trait instead of the major Sim traits and learning Toddler skills that can give Sims a boost as they grow older. However, in order to introduce a life stage in between Child and Teen, they'd have to add an extra Trait slot in there so that Sims could choose one Trait as a child, one as a Preteen, one as a Teen and one as a Young Adult. Not that that's a bad thing; I like my Sims to feel like real characters, so I was a huge fan of having five Trait slots in TS3. But I imagine that a Preteen life stage would be harder to implement than Toddlers just because the devs would have to change the basic structure of the game more in order to accommodate them.
That said, I wouldn't mind having more things to do with teens. I could get some fun stories out of high school drama, navigating cliques, sending teens to school dances or to prom and having them gossip about who's going with who. I think it could also be interesting to have parents in different families react differently to their teen son or daughter's newfound independence; some parents might be more protective and impose earlier curfews while others might be more easygoing, although changing curfew times depending on individual families probably wouldn't be an easy thing to implement in the game. It would also be nice to have more job options available for teens, and this is a total pipe dream of mine which I don't expect to actually end up in the game, but it would be fun if a teenage Sim could get a job as a Teen Idol. (Or, if we ever end up getting a Preteen life stage, if a preteen Sim could somehow be a Tween Idol, because I know some of the additions in Kids Room Stuff mentioned Tween Pop music.)
"Good night -- even if you don't have a good knight." -- Ace Niles, Space Case
Comments
I also think that teen able to move out + a lot trait for them could mean that we will get something for teen, SP/GP for them or even an university EP.
But i didn't think about preteen, and i must say it can makes sense.
Off the cuff, I would say, the gameplay is in the experience of going through puberty and dealing with the changes related to that.
Look at it this way: Say you were to ask (not knowing how Toddlers are designed) how do you add Toddler gameplay without just making them a more limited version of Child Sims? (a similar question). You can then look at how Toddlers are differentiated from Child Sims and get an idea of how it can be done. They have unique traits, they have their own skills, they have unique interactions, including unique interactions tied to their unique traits. They also have features that no other life stage has, like the fact that they can be carried, or that they need to be potty trained.
So what kind of stuff might a pre-teen, or young teen have, that no other life stages has? Hormonal craziness is the obvious one, which is a pretty vague concept with a lot of possibilities for unique behavior lurking in it.
But Triplis, I hear you saying in my head, older teens could be given crazy hormones too. Yes, I say to the made up question that you have asked. And Child Sims, depending on how old they strictly speaking are could (when put in the frame of real life) theoretically be small enough that an adult can carry them. But it's unlikely they will ever be carryable, as they are old enough that it doesn't really fit the life stage in the stylized way that it does for toddlers. Not unlike how hormonal craziness doesn't quite fit teens who are (roughly) 16-19 (at the youngest), but would fit pretty snugly for a younger teen life stage.
I feel like 3 tried to do that with its kids/teens and their "rebellious mood swings" but it really fell flat since all it did was change their wishes wish you could easily ignore. Could work out a lot better in 4 with its emotion system o-o
Preteens will began to develop crushes not be boyfriend and girlfriend like the teens but crushes because at this stage like I said they will see the opposite/same sex appealing and or a celebrity crush. They will be hormonal/moodswings and attitude (get into trouble angry moodlet slam doors and stuff around.) because that's when puberty hits it would be great for the boy sims to high a high pitch squeaky voice maybe for like two or three days. Acne will began to develop on their face, they will be more cautious about their appearance (especially girls they'll love reading magazines.) They will also try to impress their friends and their crush. Would get in trouble more often because of peer pressure especially with pranks or dares(for example I dare you to insult this person most likely a YA or an adult, they'll do it and get into trouble with their parents but they'll be liked by friends because to them just doing that dare their considered "cool" if they don't do the dare well their not cool). They will still play void critters (At this age in RL they are playing with Pokemon, Digimon, Yugioh, and Dragon Ball cards,) They'll get an embarrassing moodlet if parents or younger sibling whenever around friends. Also take their older sibling stuff like clothes or make-up etc.
I agree with you. An early-teen/young-teen stage for ~12-15 would make a great difference.
That said, I wouldn't mind having more things to do with teens. I could get some fun stories out of high school drama, navigating cliques, sending teens to school dances or to prom and having them gossip about who's going with who. I think it could also be interesting to have parents in different families react differently to their teen son or daughter's newfound independence; some parents might be more protective and impose earlier curfews while others might be more easygoing, although changing curfew times depending on individual families probably wouldn't be an easy thing to implement in the game. It would also be nice to have more job options available for teens, and this is a total pipe dream of mine which I don't expect to actually end up in the game, but it would be fun if a teenage Sim could get a job as a Teen Idol. (Or, if we ever end up getting a Preteen life stage, if a preteen Sim could somehow be a Tween Idol, because I know some of the additions in Kids Room Stuff mentioned Tween Pop music.)