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Suggestions for improving historical gameplay
JAL
Posts: 1,054 Member
We're not a major group of players who play historical gameplay, and I just recently started myself, but we are still fairly many, who play in a vast array of ways. So how could the experience of the game be improved? I am not a programmer, and I don't know if everything I suggest here is even possible, but some is, and some would even make EA money, so I'm hoping someone picks up a few of these things at least.
I'm sure there are many more ways to make historical gameplay better and more immersive, but these are some of the things that I've noticed and thought of when playing historical myself. What do you wish for?
- CAS and BB Kits to fit different time periods. This is the easy one, and EA has opened the door with the medieval build-kit. What we also need is a buy-kit (or stuff pack) with functional off the grid objects, things like toys, sinks, toilets, tubs and stoves that work while still looking medieval. And of course a CAS-kit to go along with it. Other suggestions would be art deco bb kit + the roaring twenties cas kit, art nouveau BB + Edwardian CAS, vintage swimsuit kit, CAS-kits for each of the decades in the 20th century along with bb-kits for some (we have plenty of mid-century modern furniture after all).
- The ability to turn off and on CAS-items for random. This would be an improvement for everyone, that with a shift-click be able to turn off and on clothes, accessories or hairstyles for random generation on NPCs. It would definitely help historical gameplay, but also just random gameplay where I could disable the CAS I hate from showing up on random NPC sims. (To be fair I'd love more options than this, like hiding and unhiding CAS, disabling it for certain age groups or genders or certain worlds.)
- Introduction of landline phones and newspapers. We are plenty of people who miss these, even among players who never play historical gameplay.
- The ability to turn off the mobile phones and laptops. This would work in combination with the above. A simple toggle on and off for the phones and laptops for everyone in game, including NPCs. This would also help with the technophobe lifestyle so that my sim isn't constantly tense about all the present technology because he or she has a phone they never use in a house with no other technology.
- The ability to turn off and on drive bys by cars. This would help with immersion.
- The ability to turn off certain functions on computers, say for instance videogames, in live mode on any computer by shift clicking it. Including computers on community lots. This would also help for other players by freeing up computers in libraries or university commons so you can actually use them for studying rather than them constantly being occupied by some random NPC playing video games.
I'm sure there are many more ways to make historical gameplay better and more immersive, but these are some of the things that I've noticed and thought of when playing historical myself. What do you wish for?
Moreover, I advise that the cart button must be destroyed!
Post edited by EA_Solaire on
17
Comments
That would be absolutely amazing.
I agree it would be absolutely fantastic if that ability was there. I do think all the different maps would take up a huge amount of resources, though, so it might not be reasonably doable, but it's a fantastic idea.
A tip for dealing with randomly spawned townies in modern clothes: I keep several generic period outfits in my sims reserve slots. They don't neccesarily have to match my sims's tastes or even social class, their purpose is to get handed over to those misfit townies. When a townie wanders into range, I spin my sim into one of the reserve outfits, copy it over onto the townie with McDresser and spin my sim back. It's not ideal (and won't help console players, unfortunately), but works in a pinch.
also turn off randomized townies would really help cause then game would not keep spawning unsuitably dressed sims
also ability to change work outfits
select npc we want so our queen is not selected as maid and king is not gardener to peasants
also we need to be able to make more food with cauldron and firepit things
and it would be nice to be able to cook with fireplace or have old style oven
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
You could register them as self-employed and put housewife as their career.
We need a spin off.
Which mod did you install, @JAL ? Mine is working without issues (except if there are new phone interactions in For Rent, cause I don't own that).
noautonomousphone
https://www.seebee.de/sims4me/index.php?list=4
I think we didn't really need a medieval castle kit. What we would have needed are medieval Versions for functional objects like sinks, stoves, bathtubs, ...
Personally I like the look of the kit from what I've seen so far. Did we need it? Probably not, but I still like the look of what I have seen so far (I look forward to improving Windenburg Cathedral).
However, I absolutely agree with you that we need more functional historical objects and I generally think that historical kits and packs would sell really well. A lot of objects could reuse animations and be simple reskins (toys made from wood with less color, a medieval stove reusing the cauldron animation, a sink filled by a pitcher reusing the pitcher animation from laundry day, a lute reusing the guitar animations, a writing "station" (piece of paper and quill/pen) resuing the homework animation that can do much of the same interactions as the computer - write book, letters, apply for university...). Some wouldn't even need any animation as all, such as an outdoor toilet for one or a cash register in the shape of a simple wooden box. Others of course would need new animations (such as a functional broom for bust the dust), but I can honestly not see the need of too many of those objects, just a few.
My dream is a set of matching kits, one BB and one CAS for the various time periods. Medieval, Tudor/Elizabethan, Georgian/regency, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco/Roaring twenties, Thirties, Forties, Fifties... and so on. They would probably not need to cover every time period, as there would be a lot of overlapping for the older eras.
And I agree with you on official updates being preferable to mods. I'm always hoping for at least some of my mods finally becoming obsolete.
I think one might even use the mop puddle animation for brooms.
I don't think the Kit is bad or ugly, I just wish they would have taken the Little Campers Kit road again with reskins of several functional objects. I'm all in for taking a live mode approach, especially given the very popular off the grid gameplay.
One of the major impediments to historically accurate gameplay, is the excess of modern world items, buildings, and animated objects. Unless a feature is added to the game to remove or substitute world objects, it will always be necessary for PC gamers to modify the game with hiders and default replacements. Frankly, Windenberg is a world with a historical design already in place. And modders have implemented a lot of targeted mods to better emphasize this, such as map replacements and re - shade tools. A feature to alter world objects freely would be most welcomed.
Expansions like Horse Ranch and Cottage Living provide a lot of rustic buildbuy items and allow interactions via the community board and interactive shells. This is a great feature, and it helps maintain the rustic appeal of those worlds. However, these types of features should be made compatible with other worlds to make them more suitable for historical gameplay. On the other hand, the movie theatre interactive shell in San Sequoia is an example of a modern version of this concept. Making interactive shells interchangeable would be nice. Then you could remove the modern ones and add more of the historical ones.
The off the grid lot challenge allows you to disable technological devices as well as computer and phone UI interactions that require electricity. But what would be even better, is a feature that would allow the world itself to be made off the grid compatible. That way you don't see NPCs walking down the street playing games on their cell phone.
I was excited when I saw the typewriter, but then I realized they still functioned exactly like computers. I mean, the trolley and steamboat aren't that bad, because they can be accurate for some eras, however, it'd been better if EA made a world with a steam engine or horse and carriage drive bys.
1. Ancient Times-Dark Ages
2. Middle Age-Medieval Times
3. Georgian-Victorian
4. 20th Century
5. Futuristic 2525 & Beyond
Basically, my historical game saves are my most favorite to play.
Thank you for the link to the mod! Will install at first opportunity. Lately sims have been spending more time looking at phone than anything else.