Write Up of Gamescom 2016 Guru Panel «123...Next Go

TheOrangeBird01

I found a summary of what went on during the Guru Meet and Greet yesterday, and surprise surprise, no new information came out of it. Here it is if anyone would like to read it.

https://julyvee94.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/the-sims-panel-and-my-experience-at-gamescom-2016/

Phantomflex

Your signature says it all.

"No new information came out of it."
"Yeah, I know."

Polyrhythm

"There was one more notable thing. He talked about EA’s program called Ronku, which handles sponsoring – and also works with celebrities to endorse products. He said that this wasn’t for The Sims yet, but he said it might be a thing in the future. Just so you know."

Sweet Treats V2 confirmed (jk lol)

Also this stood out to me
Stuff packs – Very specific sets and gameplay objects, are created with a specific situation in mind
Game packs – Think of it as a storyline, it’s still specific but there’s more than objects and it’s all about telling a story in your own playstyle. Game packs can get pretty deep too.
Expansion packs – These are more like multiple storylines, spread broadly but not necessarily deep. Again all playstyles should be covered.

Doesn't sound very good for getting more detailed EPs imo. Like they want to add a lot of stuff in them, but not really make those things in-depth.

ASDF0716

More excuses. Not even new ones, either.

luthienrising

I was surprised to see that half the staff is on EPs.

Phantomflex

Polyrhythm wrote: »

"There was one more notable thing. He talked about EA’s program called Ronku, which handles sponsoring – and also works with celebrities to endorse products. He said that this wasn’t for The Sims yet, but he said it might be a thing in the future. Just so you know."

Sweet Treats V2 confirmed (jk lol)

Also this stood out to me
Stuff packs – Very specific sets and gameplay objects, are created with a specific situation in mind
Game packs – Think of it as a storyline, it’s still specific but there’s more than objects and it’s all about telling a story in your own playstyle. Game packs can get pretty deep too.
Expansion packs – These are more like multiple storylines, spread broadly but not necessarily deep. Again all playstyles should be covered.

Doesn't sound very good for getting more detailed EPs imo. Like they want to add a lot of stuff in them, but not really make those things in-depth.

Ronku seems like something that would fit right in with The Sims. Youtubers get paid for playing games. I could definitely see Maxis reaching out to some popular LP'ers like James Turner, Deligracy, and TheEnglishSimmer for this program.

The write up confirmed what some already suspected regarding stuff packs - the stuff pack team is very productive. Also, I'm not sure if I like how game packs and and expansions were described. The lines between the two still seem blurry to me.

BabySquare

luthienrising wrote: »

I was surprised to see that half the staff is on EPs.

Due to there not being an EP in a while there might have been a temporary reshuffle. Don't read anything into this though; it's just a theory.

sparkfairy1

I'm glad the person got in despite the mess with her tickets and I'm glad she had fun

Doesn't really appear to be anything 'new' and interesting for me to learn but I don't think it was for customers like me anyway.

halimali1980

We need more in demand and meaningful EPs, Move ALL the staff to work on EPs.
There is nothing wrong if they make a blog that they are working on an EP. We don't need pics or animation at an early stage.

They should engage the players. Open a thread specific to take ideas from players about the EP theme. This way every one will be very enthusiastic.

For example if they announce that they are working on an EP and that they can use some of our ideas in a specific thread opened to that, would you imagine the amount of excitement the sims community will have, first because everybody knows what they are working on and second because they are engaged in the development too.

This is what an active feedback is. To get a feedback before the product.

All we get is a passive feedback.

rudy8292

halimali1980 wrote: »

We need more in demand and meaningful EPs, Move ALL the staff to work on EPs.
There is nothing wrong if they make a blog that they are working on an EP. We don't need pics or animation at an early stage.

They should engage the players. Open a thread specific to take ideas from players about the EP theme. This way every one will be very enthusiastic.

For example if they announce that they are working on an EP and that they can use some of our ideas in a specific thread opened to that, would you imagine the amount of excitement the sims community will have, first because everybody knows what they are working on and second because they are engaged in the development too.

This is what an active feedback is. To get a feedback before the product.

All we get is a passive feedback.

Yeah or at least open up the surveys to everyone, not just a specific selected few..

sparkfairy1

rudy8292 wrote: »

halimali1980 wrote: »

We need more in demand and meaningful EPs, Move ALL the staff to work on EPs.
There is nothing wrong if they make a blog that they are working on an EP. We don't need pics or animation at an early stage.

They should engage the players. Open a thread specific to take ideas from players about the EP theme. This way every one will be very enthusiastic.

For example if they announce that they are working on an EP and that they can use some of our ideas in a specific thread opened to that, would you imagine the amount of excitement the sims community will have, first because everybody knows what they are working on and second because they are engaged in the development too.

This is what an active feedback is. To get a feedback before the product.

All we get is a passive feedback.

Yeah or at least open up the surveys to everyone, not just a specific selected few..

See I understand that 'influencers' represent an important kind of marketing strategy for TS4 I do feel that for those outside of those positions there should be open minded approach to feedback. Also I mean personally I'd put more stock into 'influencers' if I knew that there was an attempt to get a good cross section of all sorts of opinions on the game.

sunman502

luthienrising wrote: »

I was surprised to see that half the staff is on EPs.

If they have half of the staff working on an EP. Then surely it must be grand EP. Otherwise, why put half of the team on some small EP when they could be working on something else at that time?

crinrict

I'm just going to leave this link here: http://www.simtimes.de/gamescom-2016-so-arbeiten-die-producer-an-die-sims-4-21872/

It's german but maybe someone has time to translate some things or use google translate.

EDIT: Seems some took this mistakenly as mine. This is written by @SimMicha88. I just wanted to post a link to make it visible. Sorry for the confusion.

At this point I don't know if I'm going to make a post or just comment on the threads or keep out of it entirely. I just got back from Gamescom today (Sunday, Aug 21st). I haven't slept much but I had a blast as I do each year.

Polyrhythm

crinrict wrote: »

I'm just going to leave this link here: http://www.simtimes.de/gamescom-2016-so-arbeiten-die-producer-an-die-sims-4-21872/

It's german but maybe someone has time to translate some things or use google translate.

Unceremoniously copypasta'd from Google translate (the few German classes I had won't help with this )

On Thursday a ledge Panel took place during the Gamescom held in which senior producer Lyndsay Pearson and Rachel Franklin, General Manager of The Sims, presented in a one-hour presentation, as they work on The Sims 4 and develop the content. In addition to a number of German and international community representatives also we were on site in Cologne guest.

Even before it was on the part of EA, there would be no announcement for The Sims 4 at Gamescom. This was also true for the planned Sims Panel. Nevertheless Lyndsay and Rachel shared some interesting insights into their work that we want to be happy to give you.

First, we both shared the vision for the game with. The Sims should be inspired by life, enable creativity for all and converse naturally. is also important that everyone feel the ledge belonging. No one should be excluded. This is also one of the biggest challenges of the game: The Sims has a versatile and multi-faceted player base with completely different needs. There are players from many different countries with different cultures and social backgrounds. The age range of players is huge and their experience with the Sims very different: some are already since the first part of 2000 while others are only joined with The Sims. 4 As different as the game experience is, is also the style of play. Some prefer to build, others make videos and create photo stories and others play completely crazy story with the Sims.

In it The Sims 4 differs significantly from other games. According to Rachel and Lyndsay this particular situation was in all decisions always in mind. But what considerations have the Sims hit producer before beginning the development of new content? First you have to decide what the needs of the players and the game are important per se. Also, the feedback of the players plays an important role and it always takes a look into their own history: what was it all implemented in 16 years Sims? but In addition to referring back to a winning formula you want to naturally integrate new things in the game. An important decision basis is also the technological basis of the game: what can be implemented at all meaningful? A central aspect is the release period. For example, an extension to the theme garden in summer makes simply better than in winter, because there will be thematically fits much better. The developers also look out for new trends that you can take up the game.

The Producer go about it so that will only determine whether one expansion, or gameplay Pack, or Stuff Pack will be developed. Only then you look what topics and content would fit to each. In addition to the wide variety of player base is here also another important aspect that the Sims will not be ultra-realistic as life, but be inspired by life. It is intended to refer to the real life, without being unnecessarily stuffy realistic. Here one must always find a balance between the extremes. It should not be too weird, but not too boring.

Rachel and Lyndsay gave us a rough insight into the workflow for the Sims games, the wide wrap rent steadily. Basically, there are three phases during development. First, start the pre-production, where ideas collected and concepts are developed: What can be as to when implemented? This is followed by the actual production, where the concepts are implemented in real game content. Then follow the alpha and beta phase, is seen in which whether the content function as desired and are compatible. All phases each taking it one third of the total development time.

In The Sims 3, it was so that the Producer is primarily cared for expansion pack. Was the pre-production of an expansion completed already started the next. So were always two or three extensions at once in work. In The Sims 4 is about 5 to 6 contents that are developed at the same time, including the free updates include. Nearly half of the producer cares about expansion pack, one third is dedicated to the gameplay packs. The rest is distributed among the free updates, bug fixes and stuff pack. During an Expansion Pack is in progress, to develop at the same gameplay Packs and Stuff Packs for the game.

We also get a rough idea in the team composition. Thus, the majority of employees spread over the quality assurance (testing, to find bugs), the design of the content and the technical basis. Things like animation, user interface and sound occupy only a small part of the tasks. Particularly important and difficult is the area of ​​quality assurance. Each advance new content will be added, which have to work with all existing content. The possible combinations of potential problems are so incredibly large and difficult to overlook. As you all contents new to The Sims 4 created and not recycled, even small errors can creep in there.

At the end Lyndsay and Rachel also came to the subject of announcements to speak. Although some might not believe there is actually a strategy about when what is advertised in any form. This strategy change also steadily based on player feedback. it is difficult to assess for the team, when the right time for an announcement is. The developer would like to speak as early as possible about future projects. However, could at any time change. Therefore, no one wants to speak too soon about future content. In addition, one might also directly show something when you announce something. Easy to describe in words what awaits Sims soon, will not you. You always want to show directly also, as the announced content look.

sparkfairy1

Thanks @crinrict

crinrict

Here's another one: http://sims-online.com/sims-4-panel-gamescom-2016/

EDIT: This is also NOT by me but by Sims Online. See above.

halimali1980

And nobody even asked them why this year we still did not have an expansion pack??? What is the reason??

Terra

I'm a bit confused - was there a Q&A, or did all of this information come from the talks given by the panel without participant questions?

Phantomflex

Terra wrote: »

I'm a bit confused - was there a Q&A, or did all of this information come from the talks given by the panel without participant questions?

This information appears to be delivered by Rachel Franklin and Lyndsay Pearson without fielding questions.

One attendee's report did show that they took questions about showcasing creativity in the community as well as doing more live streams. Other than that, not many attendees have put together a report or given an indication that they're writing a report about their experiences.

NZsimm3r

This is my favorite quote: Creativity Tools – Enabling simmers to make the game their own and using their creativity to make amazing things. As far as I understood, this includes not making content and tools too specific to not limit people’s creativity.

I'm so pleased that they have decided to not make content so as to not limit my creativity. *sarcasm*

halimali1980

Terra wrote: »

I'm a bit confused - was there a Q&A, or did all of this information come from the talks given by the panel without participant questions?

It seems it was just one way of information feeding only. You come, sit and listen to what we say.
But even in those kind of events the presenter by the end of his presentation will always ask "Are there any questions?"
I guess even that was not asked.

halimali1980

Phantomflex wrote: »

Terra wrote: »

I'm a bit confused - was there a Q&A, or did all of this information come from the talks given by the panel without participant questions?

This information appears to be delivered by Rachel Franklin and Lyndsay Pearson without fielding questions.

One attendee's report did show that they took questions about showcasing creativity in the community as well as doing more live streams. Other than that, not many attendees have put together a report or given an indication that they're writing a report about their experiences.

How do they expect us to be influenced by those who attended when there is no "Solid" or "Interesting" information even shared? The info does not have to be about future content but how Maxis operates and what should players expect in future in terms of game development, game engine.

Was there even any talk about how they cover the different styles of game plays? like rotational or legacy?? I bet not. Because if this was discussed those who attended at least would have talked about the problems that we players face with the game.

halimali1980

NZsimm3r wrote: »

This is my favorite quote: Creativity Tools – Enabling simmers to make the game their own and using their creativity to make amazing things. As far as I understood, this includes not making content and tools too specific to not limit people’s creativity.

I'm so pleased that they have decided to not make content so as to not limit my creativity. *sarcasm*

Simzilla_7

Can I also add this summery as well?
http://sims-online.com/sims-4-panel-gamescom-2016/

Cinderellimouse

NZsimm3r wrote: »

This is my favorite quote: Creativity Tools – Enabling simmers to make the game their own and using their creativity to make amazing things. As far as I understood, this includes not making content and tools too specific to not limit people’s creativity.

I'm so pleased that they have decided to not make content so as to not limit my creativity. *sarcasm*

I thought this meant custom content. I read it that they don't actively make it difficult for people to add their own CC and mods. They support it. Not all companies do. So when the game runs, it automatically generates a 'mods' folder with a Resource.cfg file.

As someone who has created custom content since TS1, I appreciate that the developers allow players to personalise their games.

NZsimm3r

Cinderellimouse wrote: »

NZsimm3r wrote: »

This is my favorite quote: Creativity Tools – Enabling simmers to make the game their own and using their creativity to make amazing things. As far as I understood, this includes not making content and tools too specific to not limit people’s creativity.

I'm so pleased that they have decided to not make content so as to not limit my creativity. *sarcasm*

I thought this meant custom content. I read it that they don't actively make it difficult for people to add their own CC and mods. They support it. Not all companies do. So when the game runs, it automatically generates a 'mods' folder with a Resource.cfg file.

As someone who has created custom content since TS1, I appreciate that the developers allow players to personalise their games.

I don't read this as anything to do with custom content at all. I think it has more to do with their reasoning behind not making movie theaters and other such venues as one example.