I've seen several of you mention animations being a factor in adding things to the game. And I understand that takes work at least for new animations. My question is though, can't they reuse some, not all but some of the prior Sims animations so they don't have to start from scratch? Not that I want all old stuff but there was some really cute toddler animations in prior games. Anyway, if any of you know enough of the technical stuff about game development and you could explain it that would be appreciated.
Thank you EA and thank you Maxis..we got our babies back, Yay!
I've seen several of you mention animations being a factor in adding things to the game. And I understand that takes work at least for new animations. My question is though, can't they reuse some, not all but some of the prior Sims animations so they don't have to start from scratch? Not that I want all old stuff but there was some really cute toddler animations in prior games. Anyway, if any of you know enough of the technical stuff about game development and you could explain it that would be appreciated.
I don't know anything but I doubt it. Surely this is a new 'engine' so compatibility would be an issue, as far as I'd understand it lol.
tbh, If they haven't mentioned anything, they probably don't think it's important. But remember that people was going crazy about no pools then they made a patch. Maybe they will have something better in the future. We have to give them time. They understand we want things but they can't just make this stuff easily. I honestly don't really pay attention to family tree but i do want toddlers!
I think at this point people are just nervous that toddlers will never return to sims4 after we heard about ghosts, pools and careers-the last ones months in advance.
tbh, If they haven't mentioned anything, they probably don't think it's important. But remember that people was going crazy about no pools then they made a patch. Maybe they will have something better in the future. We have to give them time. They understand we want things but they can't just make this stuff easily. I honestly don't really pay attention to family tree but i do want toddlers!
I think at this point people are just nervous that toddlers will never return to sims4 after we heard about ghosts, pools and careers-the last ones months in advance.
I really don't think they're going to tell you anything, especially at the moment.
"We're listening. We can't please everyone", is, I suspect, the only answer you're going to get on the subject, at least for the time being. They've just released a patch. I'd assume they're working on the December one. Thanksgiving is coming. I really doubt any of them are going to sit on the forums with you and discuss design decisions, which is what you appear to want them to do. I doubt any of them would even if they could. You'll make your own nerves worse by expecting that they will.
I'm no game developer, but methinks toddlers are a bit more complicated than water, see-thru people and more careers? Right??
Yes I'm sure of it. But given we were led to believe before they were cut they had been intended I would hope they had at least started them during development. We aren't impatient-we want them to be made properly. But we don't want this silence on their side to indicate that they won't ever try to implement them just because they are challenging. Challenging but rewarding would be the right way to look at it-imagine how happy they would make a lot of disheartened fans and customers!
I've seen several of you mention animations being a factor in adding things to the game. And I understand that takes work at least for new animations. My question is though, can't they reuse some, not all but some of the prior Sims animations so they don't have to start from scratch? Not that I want all old stuff but there was some really cute toddler animations in prior games. Anyway, if any of you know enough of the technical stuff about game development and you could explain it that would be appreciated.
I don't know anything but I doubt it. Surely this is a new 'engine' so compatibility would be an issue, as far as I'd understand it lol.
Thanks for trying. I was wondering just that if game engines itself made a difference.
Thank you EA and thank you Maxis..we got our babies back, Yay!
I've seen several of you mention animations being a factor in adding things to the game. And I understand that takes work at least for new animations. My question is though, can't they reuse some, not all but some of the prior Sims animations so they don't have to start from scratch? Not that I want all old stuff but there was some really cute toddler animations in prior games. Anyway, if any of you know enough of the technical stuff about game development and you could explain it that would be appreciated.
I don't know anything but I doubt it. Surely this is a new 'engine' so compatibility would be an issue, as far as I'd understand it lol.
Thanks for trying. I was wondering just that if game engines itself made a difference.
I'd guess that they would learn factors of what works well or not so well just from the process of making previous games but yeah I wish it was that easy. If it was I don't think we would be in this state!
This is the reality of game development. You can't make everything for everyone. What you can do is have a design vision and then make your decisions based on that vision. The vision for The Sims 4 was to refocus attention on the Sims. What makes them intriguing? How to make them feel more alive? How to bring the inner Sim to the surface? Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. That's a universal truth.
My question is very simple, how can the developers "vision" for a life simulation game not include some of the basic parts of life???
I have been playing TS2 a lot more lately and have been reminded what a life simulation truly is. All the interactions and actions performed by the ts2 sims are far more entertaining and "true" to life than any other game in the series. They seem to be much more "intriguing" and "alive" than either ts3 or 4 sims.
As far as "Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. ", just what players did the developers think this game would appeal to? I can not see where the majority of life simulation, family style players could have been the target????
kim
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln
I've seen several of you mention animations being a factor in adding things to the game. And I understand that takes work at least for new animations. My question is though, can't they reuse some, not all but some of the prior Sims animations so they don't have to start from scratch? Not that I want all old stuff but there was some really cute toddler animations in prior games. Anyway, if any of you know enough of the technical stuff about game development and you could explain it that would be appreciated.
I don't know anything but I doubt it. Surely this is a new 'engine' so compatibility would be an issue, as far as I'd understand it lol.
Thanks for trying. I was wondering just that if game engines itself made a difference.
If the engine cause use the same language coding as the previous game than yes it's possible. However if it can't than no you have to recode everything from scratch. Coding just pretty much triggers the animation sequence. Though animations i think can be recycled through out the series. You know it's much better to just redo animations when games start to go next gen anyway. Just because things start to get a little stale if they never offer new little tidbits.
The vision for The Sims 4 was to refocus attention on the Sims. What makes them intriguing? How to make them feel more alive? How to bring the inner Sim to the surface? Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. That's a universal truth.
For family players, raising sims from baby, to toddler, to child, to teen, to adult, to elder - all with unique and fun developmental milestones to achieve and different sorts of things to do, is what focusses the attention on the sims, and brings out the inner sim. I don't feel like I 'know' my sims that well anymore, or that they're living their full lives because of the jarring jump from a helpless baby (tied to a crib!) to a fully fledged child who is almost self sufficient. And then the jump from child to a "teenager", who is the height of an adult, who really doesn't have anything that is special to them as a teenager, upsets me again. Their clothes are the same as an adult's, their interactions are basically the same, their height is the same, and their emotions are the same. I'm pretty sure that as a teeanger, my emotions were all over the place. They were stronger, highly variable, and influenced greatly by hormones. And I definitely wasn't as tall as an adult.
For the sims to feel alive, to be intriguing, and for us to connect with them, we can't be skipping life stages.
I understand that you can't please everyone. But this is a massive issue.
And, as we have said all along is, this is just the beginning. A Sims game is a massive undertaking. The base game is the foundation for everything that follows. Look back at The Sims 3 or The Sims 2 when the base games first launched. Then look at them again after 5 years of added content. They are so different at the end of that journey from when they started.
I understand this as well. But the thing is, we ARE looking at the base games of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. And guess what - they had toddlers! Brandi Broke's family was my introduction to 'family play'. Could the Sims 4 have anything remotely similar? No. And that was the base game.
But thank you for popping in and telling us you are listening. I actually really like the foundation you have built with The Sims 4. It is just missing so much at the moment
The vision for The Sims 4 was to refocus attention on the Sims. What makes them intriguing? How to make them feel more alive? How to bring the inner Sim to the surface? Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. That's a universal truth.
For family players, raising sims from baby, to toddler, to child, to teen, to adult, to elder - all with unique and fun developmental milestones to achieve and different sorts of things to do, is what focusses the attention on the sims, and brings out the inner sim. I don't feel like I 'know' my sims that well anymore, or that they're living their full lives because of the jarring jump from a helpless baby (tied to a crib!) to a fully fledged child who is almost self sufficient. And then the jump from child to a "teenager", who is the height of an adult, who really doesn't have anything that is special to them as a teenager, upsets me again. Their clothes are the same as an adult's, their interactions are basically the same, their height is the same, and their emotions are the same. I'm pretty sure that as a teeanger, my emotions were all over the place. They were stronger, highly variable, and influenced greatly by hormones. And I definitely wasn't as tall as an adult.
For the sims to feel alive, to be intriguing, and for us to connect with them, we can't be skipping life stages.
I understand that you can't please everyone. But this is a massive issue.
And, as we have said all along is, this is just the beginning. A Sims game is a massive undertaking. The base game is the foundation for everything that follows. Look back at The Sims 3 or The Sims 2 when the base games first launched. Then look at them again after 5 years of added content. They are so different at the end of that journey from when they started.
I understand this as well. But the thing is, we ARE looking at the base games of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. And guess what - they had toddlers! Brandi Broke's family was my introduction to 'family play'. Could the Sims 4 have anything remotely similar? No. And that was the base game.
But thank you for popping in and telling us you are listening. I actually really like the foundation you have built with The Sims 4. It is just missing so much at the moment
Thank you-you summed it up so perfectly!
I feel that same way. I don't hate sims4. I hate the limitations forced on us from the missing base game content.
I am a family style player. I have played The Sims series for almost 15 years. This is my first day checking the forums since mid-September. Sims 4 was the first Sims game I've come across that I just couldn't get into. The lack of toddlers, story progression, and the constant loading screens (even if they were just 30 seconds) to go to any lot just drove me crazy. I used to play Sims at least once a week.
I haven't played Sims 4 in about 2 months and to be honest, I don't miss it. I still have hope for vast improvements over time and would love to play when that happens but for now, it's just collecting dust.
I am a family style player. I have played The Sims series for almost 15 years. This is my first day checking the forums since mid-September. Sims 4 was the first Sims game I've come across that I just couldn't get into. The lack of toddlers, story progression, and the constant loading screens (even if they were just 30 seconds) to go to any lot just drove me crazy. I used to play Sims at least once a week.
I haven't played Sims 4 in about 2 months and to be honest, I don't miss it. I still have hope for vast improvements over time and would love to play when that happens but for now, it's just collecting dust.
Nice to see you pop in :-) I'm totally in the same boat as you. I've never gone more than a couple of days not playing a new sims game. I was totally obsessed from 1 onwards! This game I just can't play much because I get increasingly frustrated when I can't do what I want to.
Sims would feel more alive if they didn't go from demon baby living a crib to a full-grown child with the click of a button. This so called depth of sims doesn't exist. Although none of you would admit it we know that you only focused on Adults because the game was going to be online. Even then the adults are poorly coded and their traits don't make them or their whims unique.
This game's character isn't even as in-depth as Mario's characters. In fact, making sims that constantly change their mood and can go from mourning and sad to Flirty in a matter of minutes doesn't make the more alive or realistic nor do their exaggerated facial expression do anything but make us wonder if EA is secretly trying to make a spin-off Eyebrow game.
Probably not my place to say anything, but I did want to recommend that if you have staff reading this thread people should try and keep it constructive - thoughts, opinions and so forth, rather than subtle insults to staff members or the game.
They're people you're talking to, and they're not personally responsible for any shortcomings.
LOL, great responses everyone, you don't know how much this makes me feel good. Thank you Sims community.
@SimGuruBChick, I really appreciate your post and I am happy that you've responded. However, the Sims team's vision is not what I envision when imagining more alive, what makes a sim who they are without the family aspect in the game. Sorry, I am not enjoying your vision right now but may revisit buying more for Sims 4 when something change in the family relationships, interactions, and goals. Thank you for reading.
Nothing to see. I don't even care about the forums.
Probably not my place to say anything, but I did want to recommend that if you have staff reading this thread people should try and keep it constructive - thoughts, opinions and so forth, rather than subtle insults to staff members or the game.
They're people you're talking to, and they're not personally responsible for any shortcomings.
I think we all understand that none of the unhappiness some people are feeling with Sims 4 are the fault of the Gurus. Their management...possibly. EA/Maxis upper management...yes.
@SpidersWeb, not exactly sure what posts you're referring to, but this thread has been one of the more constructive I've seen on the forums lately.
My post above was not intended to subtly hint insults to staff members, but to point out why we are dissatisfied with the lack of family play in a game that was, by the design statement, intended to focus on the sims. No personal attack or offense intended.
Probably not my place to say anything, but I did want to recommend that if you have staff reading this thread people should try and keep it constructive - thoughts, opinions and so forth, rather than subtle insults to staff members or the game.
They're people you're talking to, and they're not personally responsible for any shortcomings.
I think we all understand that none of the unhappiness some people are feeling with Sims 4 are the fault of the Gurus. Their management...possibly. EA/Maxis upper management...yes.
Yes like I said earlier in the thread that's my take on it. The gurus get the short end of the stick because they are the people we see and the only ones we get any sort of opportunity to interact with. I'd love EAs CEO to pop by some time to see what the players want as he said that's the direction he wants to go for EA. But I just don't see that happening anytime soon! ;-)
LOL, great responses everyone, you don't know how much this makes me feel good. Thank you Sims community.
@SimGuruBChick, I really appreciate your post and I am happy that you've responded. However, the Sims team's vision is not what I envision when imagining more alive, what makes a sim who they are without the family aspect in the game. Sorry, I am not enjoying your vision right now but may revisit buying more for Sims 4 when something change in the family relationships, interactions, and goals. Thank you for reading.
Totally understand. We all have our opinions. And sometimes it's tough to see what another person (or team) vision is, or how it is realised in a beloved game. I hope that you will revisit The Sims 4 further down the road. The game will continue to evolve over time. And, on a personal note, I didn't really like The Sims 3 until World Adventures came out. I understood the vision but I didn't appreciate it or feel that it applied to me. Gaming is such a personal journey and it can be something seemingly insignificant or something really huge that engages you.
SimGuruBChick Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations
Thanks to 06bon06 for my lovely new signature pic
@SpidersWeb, not exactly sure what posts you're referring to, but this thread has been one of the more constructive I've seen on the forums lately.
My post above was not intended to subtly hint insults to staff members, but to point out why we are dissatisfied with the lack of family play in a game that was, by the design statement, intended to focus on the sims. No personal attack or offense intended.
Yeah I think it's people wanting to understand the concept of focusing on sims but then missing fundamental ages from sims!
@SpidersWeb, not exactly sure what posts you're referring to, but this thread has been one of the more constructive I've seen on the forums lately.
My post above was not intended to subtly hint insults to staff members, but to point out why we are dissatisfied with the lack of family play in a game that was, by the design statement, intended to focus on the sims. No personal attack or offense intended.
Oh sorry, I didn't mean everyone participating in the thread - there were just a couple of posts over the last few pages and I wanted to put in a 'be nice to the gurus' post to try and discourage it. No problem with yours or most other posters
I agree with this thread has been one of the most constructive as well, actually feels like the whole forum has changed a bit these last few days.
@SimGuruBChick, I liked World Adventures too, even though it was one of the more 'you love it or you hate it' expansion packs.
Also, just wanted to add: I really liked in The Sims 2 how toddlers would run around getting into things they shouldn't - playing in puddles and with the toilet. I would like to see more of that sort of thing, if (when!) toddlers return.
And I enjoyed in The Sims 3 Generations how teenagers would have moody days. I would like to see more of that sort of thing, and think it would work really well with the new emotions system.
One issue with family that I'm having, is I can skip the younger generations and I don't feel/notice any penalties. I'd actually prefer it that if I was managing a family that my actions had more of an effect on how the children turned out.
See in TS3 I'd focus on the toddler and child stages because it was quite important towards who my Sims would become, but with TS4 I'm just aging up and picking traits. With it being like this, the addition of toddlers to me would be merely 'cute', so I would really like to see a little more challenge there too.
Like I shouldn't be able to pick the Genius trait if my child has barely done any homework, has a C grade etc. If I want a genius, I should be required to earn it
Comments
I don't know anything but I doubt it. Surely this is a new 'engine' so compatibility would be an issue, as far as I'd understand it lol.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I think at this point people are just nervous that toddlers will never return to sims4 after we heard about ghosts, pools and careers-the last ones months in advance.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I really don't think they're going to tell you anything, especially at the moment.
"We're listening. We can't please everyone", is, I suspect, the only answer you're going to get on the subject, at least for the time being. They've just released a patch. I'd assume they're working on the December one. Thanksgiving is coming. I really doubt any of them are going to sit on the forums with you and discuss design decisions, which is what you appear to want them to do. I doubt any of them would even if they could. You'll make your own nerves worse by expecting that they will.
Yes I'm sure of it. But given we were led to believe before they were cut they had been intended I would hope they had at least started them during development. We aren't impatient-we want them to be made properly. But we don't want this silence on their side to indicate that they won't ever try to implement them just because they are challenging. Challenging but rewarding would be the right way to look at it-imagine how happy they would make a lot of disheartened fans and customers!
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Thanks for trying. I was wondering just that if game engines itself made a difference.
I'd guess that they would learn factors of what works well or not so well just from the process of making previous games but yeah I wish it was that easy. If it was I don't think we would be in this state!
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
My question is very simple, how can the developers "vision" for a life simulation game not include some of the basic parts of life???
I have been playing TS2 a lot more lately and have been reminded what a life simulation truly is. All the interactions and actions performed by the ts2 sims are far more entertaining and "true" to life than any other game in the series. They seem to be much more "intriguing" and "alive" than either ts3 or 4 sims.
As far as "Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. ", just what players did the developers think this game would appeal to? I can not see where the majority of life simulation, family style players could have been the target????
kim
Abraham Lincoln
If the engine cause use the same language coding as the previous game than yes it's possible. However if it can't than no you have to recode everything from scratch. Coding just pretty much triggers the animation sequence. Though animations i think can be recycled through out the series. You know it's much better to just redo animations when games start to go next gen anyway. Just because things start to get a little stale if they never offer new little tidbits.
For family players, raising sims from baby, to toddler, to child, to teen, to adult, to elder - all with unique and fun developmental milestones to achieve and different sorts of things to do, is what focusses the attention on the sims, and brings out the inner sim. I don't feel like I 'know' my sims that well anymore, or that they're living their full lives because of the jarring jump from a helpless baby (tied to a crib!) to a fully fledged child who is almost self sufficient. And then the jump from child to a "teenager", who is the height of an adult, who really doesn't have anything that is special to them as a teenager, upsets me again. Their clothes are the same as an adult's, their interactions are basically the same, their height is the same, and their emotions are the same. I'm pretty sure that as a teeanger, my emotions were all over the place. They were stronger, highly variable, and influenced greatly by hormones. And I definitely wasn't as tall as an adult.
For the sims to feel alive, to be intriguing, and for us to connect with them, we can't be skipping life stages.
I understand that you can't please everyone. But this is a massive issue.
I understand this as well. But the thing is, we ARE looking at the base games of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. And guess what - they had toddlers! Brandi Broke's family was my introduction to 'family play'. Could the Sims 4 have anything remotely similar? No. And that was the base game.
But thank you for popping in and telling us you are listening. I actually really like the foundation you have built with The Sims 4. It is just missing so much at the moment
Thank you-you summed it up so perfectly!
I feel that same way. I don't hate sims4. I hate the limitations forced on us from the missing base game content.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I haven't played Sims 4 in about 2 months and to be honest, I don't miss it. I still have hope for vast improvements over time and would love to play when that happens but for now, it's just collecting dust.
I use Swagbucks to earn gift cards to pay for my Sims games!
swagbucks.com/refer/NicM87
Nice to see you pop in :-) I'm totally in the same boat as you. I've never gone more than a couple of days not playing a new sims game. I was totally obsessed from 1 onwards! This game I just can't play much because I get increasingly frustrated when I can't do what I want to.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
This game's character isn't even as in-depth as Mario's characters. In fact, making sims that constantly change their mood and can go from mourning and sad to Flirty in a matter of minutes doesn't make the more alive or realistic nor do their exaggerated facial expression do anything but make us wonder if EA is secretly trying to make a spin-off Eyebrow game.
complete forum tutorial
Thank you @MDianaSanders for halloween-fying Golluma
They're people you're talking to, and they're not personally responsible for any shortcomings.
@SimGuruBChick, I really appreciate your post and I am happy that you've responded. However, the Sims team's vision is not what I envision when imagining more alive, what makes a sim who they are without the family aspect in the game. Sorry, I am not enjoying your vision right now but may revisit buying more for Sims 4 when something change in the family relationships, interactions, and goals. Thank you for reading.
I think we all understand that none of the unhappiness some people are feeling with Sims 4 are the fault of the Gurus. Their management...possibly. EA/Maxis upper management...yes.
My post above was not intended to subtly hint insults to staff members, but to point out why we are dissatisfied with the lack of family play in a game that was, by the design statement, intended to focus on the sims. No personal attack or offense intended.
Yes like I said earlier in the thread that's my take on it. The gurus get the short end of the stick because they are the people we see and the only ones we get any sort of opportunity to interact with. I'd love EAs CEO to pop by some time to see what the players want as he said that's the direction he wants to go for EA. But I just don't see that happening anytime soon! ;-)
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Totally understand. We all have our opinions. And sometimes it's tough to see what another person (or team) vision is, or how it is realised in a beloved game. I hope that you will revisit The Sims 4 further down the road. The game will continue to evolve over time. And, on a personal note, I didn't really like The Sims 3 until World Adventures came out. I understood the vision but I didn't appreciate it or feel that it applied to me. Gaming is such a personal journey and it can be something seemingly insignificant or something really huge that engages you.
Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations
Thanks to 06bon06 for my lovely new signature pic
Yeah I think it's people wanting to understand the concept of focusing on sims but then missing fundamental ages from sims!
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Oh sorry, I didn't mean everyone participating in the thread - there were just a couple of posts over the last few pages and I wanted to put in a 'be nice to the gurus' post to try and discourage it. No problem with yours or most other posters
I agree with this thread has been one of the most constructive as well, actually feels like the whole forum has changed a bit these last few days.
@SimGuruBChick, I liked World Adventures too, even though it was one of the more 'you love it or you hate it' expansion packs.
Also, just wanted to add: I really liked in The Sims 2 how toddlers would run around getting into things they shouldn't - playing in puddles and with the toilet. I would like to see more of that sort of thing, if (when!) toddlers return.
And I enjoyed in The Sims 3 Generations how teenagers would have moody days. I would like to see more of that sort of thing, and think it would work really well with the new emotions system.
See in TS3 I'd focus on the toddler and child stages because it was quite important towards who my Sims would become, but with TS4 I'm just aging up and picking traits. With it being like this, the addition of toddlers to me would be merely 'cute', so I would really like to see a little more challenge there too.
Like I shouldn't be able to pick the Genius trait if my child has barely done any homework, has a C grade etc. If I want a genius, I should be required to earn it