And the core gameplay in TS3 apparently cannot be expanded very easily either, because every time they try to add a major new system (such as the celebrity system in Late Night, or the romantic reputations in Generations) they risk unbalancing or "breaking" the game completely. So, better to include as many of those systems in the base game as possible.
:thumbup:
Either that or make the base game more "modular" ...
In fact, I think EA should consider making the base game a free download for everyone, then monetizing the game by selling an endless stream of downloadable content. The Sims is an old franchise, and I can virtually guarantee you that the biggest question EA is asking is: "How can we keep making sure this thing earns money?" And I wouldn't be surprised if we saw increasingly crazy schemes to that end...
I'm not sure if this would work for a game that big ... And not sure how to explain that opinion :?
All I really want, and they can add this to the Sims 3 for all I care, is more character traits. Generations only added 2 or 3 more. And a lot of the character traits revolve around the same thing, i want something more. I was thinking "Sweet, kind, caring, spiteful, holds grudge, bad attitude" I can't think so well because I have heat stroke, but something like that. "tough" "lethargic" "cry baby" "tattle-tell" "innocent" "naive" and such the like and they would actually have consequences like "good kisser" or "work-aholic" do, instead of being throw away like "light sleeper" or such the like that don't really give you any different Sim interactions or abilities.
In fact, I think EA should consider making the base game a free download for everyone, then monetizing the game by selling an endless stream of downloadable content. The Sims is an old franchise, and I can virtually guarantee you that the biggest question EA is asking is: "How can we keep making sure this thing earns money?" And I wouldn't be surprised if we saw increasingly crazy schemes to that end...
I'm not sure if this would work for a game that big ... And not sure how to explain that opinion :?
They probably wouldn't consider it, because it would probably take too long for them to recoup their initial development costs. But it would be a cool gimmick that might possibly draw in those few people who STILL have never played The Sims.
"We've been attributing the state of The Sims 4 to greed but I think it's time to give sheer incompetence another look."
-Honeywell
I agree that in Sims 4 we should have certain thing prebuilt into the game that have been popular to the Sims experience first off.
1. Pets
2. Wind, Weather, Seasons, Temperature
3. Apartments with roommates
4. Ability to own and run businesses such as restaurants
5. Dating
6. Gardening, greenhouses, gardening clubs
7. Memories, turn ons/offs, zodiac
8. Basements
9. Create a world
10. Wedding parties & honeymoon
11. Family trees - with age data, relationship data, Step family data
If this makes the sims 4 come in a 2 disk thing and more expensive thats fine with me. I would like to experience new things faster.
The reason I think that its a good thing to release these items is that you don't have to put in every detail at first you can introduce new elements in every subsequent pack. Don't have strawberries in this pack, bam its in the next. This breed of dog not in first pack, bam its in the next. Same goes for types of business you can run in the beginning versus with each subsequent pack.
Certain items should also make a return from day one
1. Spiral Stairs, Curved Staircases, modular, expanding, and elevators
2. Pianos
3. Pool & Snooker tables
4. Baby Items such as strollers, and bouncers
5. greenhouse & conservatory build items
6. Heating and Air conditioning vents
I doubt if they could ever get the programming hours to put all that stuff into the base game. There is a reason why Pets always come in an EP - it takes a LOT of time to program them. Ditto venues that the player can run, weather and apartments with room-mates. It just couldn't be done.
If they were all included in the base game they would have to be only half done - and, as we've seen with the rabbitholes - it gets boring and restrictive very quickly.
If they just included the stuff that was in the TS3 base game, but left out the restaurant, spa and shop rabbitholes and instead added basements, spiral staircases, pianos, pool/ snooker tables and the baby items, I would be very satisfied. Then they could add dating, restaurants and weddings in the first EP; shops that could be run by the player, with elevators, greenhouses, vents and more types of stairs in the second; honeymoons, weather and travel in the third; pets in the fourth, etc.
I know that some people would complain that they want 'new' stuff, but let's face it - past versions of The Sims covered most aspects of life already. there isn't that much new territory to be covered.
I think simply that the Sims-4 game engine should be an improvement by using less computer resources and at the same time provide more content. So that it can run on the average computer, thus more people can play it.
Wow, Thankyou gizmo86v6 for linking me to this topic. I have a few Ideas for TS4. Please read through because I do come up with some new ideas, so be patient.
*upon entry to the game, have a choice between premade towns, or a blank flat town that we can customize ourselves SC4 style, placing roads lots and decorations, and naming our town.
*place as many lots as we want, so if we want to fill the whole town with townhouses, we can.
*a calander that can be broken up in four, and can alter the lifespan of the sim by that many 'years' - opens it up for seasons later down the track.
*sims have an actual yearly birthday. If born ingame, their birthday is on the same day every 'sim year'
*More choices with sim traits, and to have as few or as many as we want.
*Choose the sims favorite song, movie, sports team ect.
*Height and hair sliders.
*toner shading for faces to give a more 3D look.
*basic options for clothing/furniture/hairstyles initially, with more to be purchased later.
*start out renting from real estate office and save up to buy/build own home.
*Ablility to create every sim in the neighbourhood and dictate their jobs, life asperations, traits, where they live. Let story progression take it from there.
*No rabbitholes. For the more interesting jobs, have them open (like TS3 fire dept or salon). For more boring jobs (office work) have them drive off the map to work in a neighbouring suburb, and arrive back when the day is finished.
*Sims may get loans from the bank to purchase houses, cars ect and pay the money back weekly with no interest. Banking can be a career.
*More shopping options. The ability to buy movies, music, clothes, better furniture options, better hairstyles, better recipes,seeds, books, ect. Plz bring back magazine subsriptions.
*Open restaurants, movie theatres, shops, cafes, ect.
*different levels of education makes available different levels of job availability. Eg, start off only getting retail, maid, babysitter jobs. Get tech college degree and open up Handyman, gardeners, nurses, chefs, ect. Get Uni degree and become doctors, scientists, astronaughts ect. Also have to pay for education through bank loans.
*Sims start out with basic landline phone, and have to purchase mobiles from a shop, along with games, consols ect.
*weeds should appear on lawns that need to be maintained. A community gardener will take care of community gardens, but sims must maintain their own. Mowing would be good.
*Babies should automatically love their parents. They should also have attachments to blankies, dummies, teddies ect.
*couples should automatically show affection for eachother by smiling as they walk past their partner, or stroking cheeks ect.
*friends should recognize eachother in the street and wave hello.
Ideas for expansions.....
*Seasons, please have a seasonal festival where things that can only be purchased at this festival but cant be received elsewhere. Things such as books, seeds, recipes, decorative items, clothing (season specific) can be purchased, along with a band playing, maybe a merry-go-round for kids and a jumping castle, small competitions such as dartboard style things where you can receive little stuffed toy prizes.
*Citylife - Large buildings become available with blank floors that can be decorated by us. Nightclubs and bars become available, Penthouses and multi-story appartments, a range of city-type clothing, Train stations (can be underground). City specific stores selling modern furniture, modern electronics, Things such as Yoga, Meditation, Natropathy become available. Vegan restaurants, Business dates (like meetings) to be held at these city restaurants.
*Countrylife - You will, at some point, have to bring in pets, so why not add the pigs, chickens, bees, cows ect. This is also where you inhance the cooking, where special recipes can be gained due to the availability of said eggs, milk, bread ect. Sewing could be a new skill. Brewing (nectar making) another. Farmer would be a new lifestyle. Fisherman another.
*Rich & Famous - Celebrity. It should be very hard to become a 5 star celebrity. Please look back at Superstar TS1 for ideas. Firstly, they must max out the skill/s they are famous for (acting, singing, intrument, art). Then they must deal with media events, do concerts/showings. With musicians, perhaps a cd can be sold in store, or a movie with the actor. It should be hard to make it big...and stops the current problem where everyones a celbrity without trying. This could open up the actors studio, and the media industry.
*Its a small world - We need proper travel destinations. I love the look of WA, just the playability was no good. France was exactly as I imagined france would look...same with china and egypt. What was
missing is different levels of hotels. Perhaps each location should provide a honeymoon hotel, a family hotel, and an explorers hotel. Also, please do not limit how long they can stay. Let us decide. New recipes, seeds, clothes and decorative items become available.
*Celebrations - I have thaught long and hard about how to get around the religious side of alot of celebrations, and what I came up with is a category in options listing all different holidays that you can select from to include in your game...and once selected, connect them to a date on the calander. That way, we can have easter, christmas, valantines day, independance day, halloween, proms, ect, as well as other days important to other religions (of which are too many to name). In this pack, also include all new wedding items, baby showers, bacholor/ette parties, new birthday celebrations. Also a new sim holiday that is generic with its own theme color/songs/decorations. Make it llama day or something.
Sports and hobbies - Lets focus on community sports and hobbies such as a basketball team that plays in other suburbs (off map) but we can see them practice on our own map. Let there be a trophy that can be won at the end of the term/season/quarter of year on calander. This goes for acting classes, music competitions, ect. Also all new collections (rocks, toys, bugs, whatever) become available. Sewing circles or pottery making for elders, lawn bowls ect. How about a computer gaming competition. The trophy can be something that is braught home, along with a photo (like the prom ones in generations).
Lastly.............
Please allow for us to change households without the previous family losing their lifetime wish, wants and needs when we left. Oh, and the ability to turn aging off for specific families, or for everyone but a specific family. That enables multiple households to be playable.
Please EA, This is my dream game, and even if you incorporate even a small portion, I will be a happy girl. Kind Regards.
Oh, and one last thing...remember in TS1 and 2 how, when the sims were distressed about something, they would look direct AT you and plead/complain. Why oh why did you remove that?
Oh, and one last thing...remember in TS1 and 2 how, when the sims were distressed about something, they would look direct AT you and plead/complain. Why oh why did you remove that?
Just my 2 cents...
It took me a while to remember :shock: Yeah, I wish they put it back ... Wrapped in sarcasm (one raised eyebrow & stuff)
OH, one last idea I forgot to add...and this one is directed at EA..
I have a way you can make extra money from your game.
Ingame advertising. (Dont get upset until I have explained myself)
I personally HATE ads on TV that scream at me "Buy A BIG MAC BLAH BLAH BLAH Only at Mcdonalds".
How about Mcdonalds pay EA to place their restaurant in our towns (like with H&M and IKEA in TS2). Not just Mcdonalds, but everything, from grocer stores, clothing stores, furniture stores, everything.
I admitt that in my TS2 neighbourhood I had a CC Mcdonalds that I could run as a business. It was excellent advertising because I would be thinking "dont feel like cooking tonight, will send bf to Maccas to get dinner." Also with Ikea later on. Bf is now my husband, we have a RL daughter who needed a new bedroom set. We discussed where to get it from and decided to sleep on it. That night I was playing TS2, came across my sims IKEA store, and the next day, we purchased a whole bedroom set in IKEA's Melbourne (Australia) store. Great advertising. EA could make alot of money on this. Here...have this idea for free, lol.
I'd stick with store stuff packs (Toyota, Renault, Ford, Dr. Pepper ...) and IKEA (TS2). But I'd avoid McD; it's too controversial. I don't think TS4 ant its expansions would be even a little cheaper because of not-so-subtle advertising.
Actually, when it comes to advertising, I'm leaning towards George Carlin's point of view :twisted:
I agree with many on those rabbit holes and want farming in this game too from all animals and crops that is in this world! as well as bigger and better ways to make neighborhoods! And lots! to be able to move roads around in edit town to fit the lots better etc.
Here's a great article about the tesselation and how it should (not) be done ... But it's a bunch of the highest rated comments that made me "shiver" ...
Comments
:thumbup:
Either that or make the base game more "modular" ...
I'm not sure if this would work for a game that big ... And not sure how to explain that opinion :?
They probably wouldn't consider it, because it would probably take too long for them to recoup their initial development costs. But it would be a cool gimmick that might possibly draw in those few people who STILL have never played The Sims.
"We've been attributing the state of The Sims 4 to greed but I think it's time to give sheer incompetence another look."
-Honeywell
I doubt if they could ever get the programming hours to put all that stuff into the base game. There is a reason why Pets always come in an EP - it takes a LOT of time to program them. Ditto venues that the player can run, weather and apartments with room-mates. It just couldn't be done.
If they were all included in the base game they would have to be only half done - and, as we've seen with the rabbitholes - it gets boring and restrictive very quickly.
If they just included the stuff that was in the TS3 base game, but left out the restaurant, spa and shop rabbitholes and instead added basements, spiral staircases, pianos, pool/ snooker tables and the baby items, I would be very satisfied. Then they could add dating, restaurants and weddings in the first EP; shops that could be run by the player, with elevators, greenhouses, vents and more types of stairs in the second; honeymoons, weather and travel in the third; pets in the fourth, etc.
I know that some people would complain that they want 'new' stuff, but let's face it - past versions of The Sims covered most aspects of life already. there isn't that much new territory to be covered.
Just my humble opinion.
Happy Independence Day, everyone.
BTW, you're welcome to comment on all ideas written so far
*upon entry to the game, have a choice between premade towns, or a blank flat town that we can customize ourselves SC4 style, placing roads lots and decorations, and naming our town.
*place as many lots as we want, so if we want to fill the whole town with townhouses, we can.
*a calander that can be broken up in four, and can alter the lifespan of the sim by that many 'years' - opens it up for seasons later down the track.
*sims have an actual yearly birthday. If born ingame, their birthday is on the same day every 'sim year'
*More choices with sim traits, and to have as few or as many as we want.
*Choose the sims favorite song, movie, sports team ect.
*Height and hair sliders.
*toner shading for faces to give a more 3D look.
*basic options for clothing/furniture/hairstyles initially, with more to be purchased later.
*start out renting from real estate office and save up to buy/build own home.
*Ablility to create every sim in the neighbourhood and dictate their jobs, life asperations, traits, where they live. Let story progression take it from there.
*No rabbitholes. For the more interesting jobs, have them open (like TS3 fire dept or salon). For more boring jobs (office work) have them drive off the map to work in a neighbouring suburb, and arrive back when the day is finished.
*Sims may get loans from the bank to purchase houses, cars ect and pay the money back weekly with no interest. Banking can be a career.
*More shopping options. The ability to buy movies, music, clothes, better furniture options, better hairstyles, better recipes,seeds, books, ect. Plz bring back magazine subsriptions.
*Open restaurants, movie theatres, shops, cafes, ect.
*different levels of education makes available different levels of job availability. Eg, start off only getting retail, maid, babysitter jobs. Get tech college degree and open up Handyman, gardeners, nurses, chefs, ect. Get Uni degree and become doctors, scientists, astronaughts ect. Also have to pay for education through bank loans.
*Sims start out with basic landline phone, and have to purchase mobiles from a shop, along with games, consols ect.
*weeds should appear on lawns that need to be maintained. A community gardener will take care of community gardens, but sims must maintain their own. Mowing would be good.
*Babies should automatically love their parents. They should also have attachments to blankies, dummies, teddies ect.
*couples should automatically show affection for eachother by smiling as they walk past their partner, or stroking cheeks ect.
*friends should recognize eachother in the street and wave hello.
Ideas for expansions.....
*Seasons, please have a seasonal festival where things that can only be purchased at this festival but cant be received elsewhere. Things such as books, seeds, recipes, decorative items, clothing (season specific) can be purchased, along with a band playing, maybe a merry-go-round for kids and a jumping castle, small competitions such as dartboard style things where you can receive little stuffed toy prizes.
*Citylife - Large buildings become available with blank floors that can be decorated by us. Nightclubs and bars become available, Penthouses and multi-story appartments, a range of city-type clothing, Train stations (can be underground). City specific stores selling modern furniture, modern electronics, Things such as Yoga, Meditation, Natropathy become available. Vegan restaurants, Business dates (like meetings) to be held at these city restaurants.
*Countrylife - You will, at some point, have to bring in pets, so why not add the pigs, chickens, bees, cows ect. This is also where you inhance the cooking, where special recipes can be gained due to the availability of said eggs, milk, bread ect. Sewing could be a new skill. Brewing (nectar making) another. Farmer would be a new lifestyle. Fisherman another.
*Rich & Famous - Celebrity. It should be very hard to become a 5 star celebrity. Please look back at Superstar TS1 for ideas. Firstly, they must max out the skill/s they are famous for (acting, singing, intrument, art). Then they must deal with media events, do concerts/showings. With musicians, perhaps a cd can be sold in store, or a movie with the actor. It should be hard to make it big...and stops the current problem where everyones a celbrity without trying. This could open up the actors studio, and the media industry.
*Its a small world - We need proper travel destinations. I love the look of WA, just the playability was no good. France was exactly as I imagined france would look...same with china and egypt. What was
missing is different levels of hotels. Perhaps each location should provide a honeymoon hotel, a family hotel, and an explorers hotel. Also, please do not limit how long they can stay. Let us decide. New recipes, seeds, clothes and decorative items become available.
*Celebrations - I have thaught long and hard about how to get around the religious side of alot of celebrations, and what I came up with is a category in options listing all different holidays that you can select from to include in your game...and once selected, connect them to a date on the calander. That way, we can have easter, christmas, valantines day, independance day, halloween, proms, ect, as well as other days important to other religions (of which are too many to name). In this pack, also include all new wedding items, baby showers, bacholor/ette parties, new birthday celebrations. Also a new sim holiday that is generic with its own theme color/songs/decorations. Make it llama day or something.
Sports and hobbies - Lets focus on community sports and hobbies such as a basketball team that plays in other suburbs (off map) but we can see them practice on our own map. Let there be a trophy that can be won at the end of the term/season/quarter of year on calander. This goes for acting classes, music competitions, ect. Also all new collections (rocks, toys, bugs, whatever) become available. Sewing circles or pottery making for elders, lawn bowls ect. How about a computer gaming competition. The trophy can be something that is braught home, along with a photo (like the prom ones in generations).
Lastly.............
Please allow for us to change households without the previous family losing their lifetime wish, wants and needs when we left. Oh, and the ability to turn aging off for specific families, or for everyone but a specific family. That enables multiple households to be playable.
Please EA, This is my dream game, and even if you incorporate even a small portion, I will be a happy girl. Kind Regards.
Just my 2 cents...
-A full 3D virtual environment so that it feels like we are in the game, but still playing the game.
-More sliders to make our characters as unique as possible. It would apply to making weird, beautiful and/or realistic.
-Smoother Skins : The type of skins you would see on Tera Online or Aion. They are better and not the clay looking appearance.
-Hair Movement: Moves when Sims do any interaction or by a weather such as windy areas or snowy areas.
Great list :thumbup:
I have a way you can make extra money from your game.
Ingame advertising. (Dont get upset until I have explained myself)
I personally HATE ads on TV that scream at me "Buy A BIG MAC BLAH BLAH BLAH Only at Mcdonalds".
How about Mcdonalds pay EA to place their restaurant in our towns (like with H&M and IKEA in TS2). Not just Mcdonalds, but everything, from grocer stores, clothing stores, furniture stores, everything.
I admitt that in my TS2 neighbourhood I had a CC Mcdonalds that I could run as a business. It was excellent advertising because I would be thinking "dont feel like cooking tonight, will send bf to Maccas to get dinner." Also with Ikea later on. Bf is now my husband, we have a RL daughter who needed a new bedroom set. We discussed where to get it from and decided to sleep on it. That night I was playing TS2, came across my sims IKEA store, and the next day, we purchased a whole bedroom set in IKEA's Melbourne (Australia) store. Great advertising. EA could make alot of money on this. Here...have this idea for free, lol.
Actually, when it comes to advertising, I'm leaning towards George Carlin's point of view :twisted:
Here's a great article about the tesselation and how it should (not) be done ... But it's a bunch of the highest rated comments that made me "shiver" ...