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The Sims 4 - my thoughts on its development on its 2yr anniversary.
TOLKIEN
Posts: 1,594 Member
*Warning this is a long post sharing my overall thoughts looking back at the Sims 4 and its development over the last 2 years.
I recently just watched LGR's great video "The Sims 4: Two Years of Meh" and while I don't agree with everything he said I totally understand how he feels. I started thinking about the Sims 4, not only as a game 2yrs later - but a game driven by a very active community of loyal consumers which continues to grow.
You might have also heard the supposed "leaks" of an expansion (I hope its an expansion not a game pack lol) called City Life.
Taking both into account whats really struck me at this 2yr anniversary mark (beyond lack of expansions and sheer amount of stuff packs) are the pains at which EA silences Maxis developers from discussing development.
Take the recent gamescon for example, where Maxis held a closed off limited event with little to show and presented more as a developer conference discussing what made the Sims 4 tick. Not to mention a complete lack of presence at their E3 replacement event "EA Play".
In an era of open access game development and highly responsive developer communication from small to big companies, EA is still operating like its behind some iron curtain. Stuck in the past of legal paranoia, ready to punish any team member who tweets an unapproved message.
Lets take the toddler issue for example, as some of you might recall WAY back some friends of mine shared a joke going around the EA office in Vancouver they'd heard through the grapevine about simmers whining for toddlers for toddlers or something. What was striking about this joke was a. the sure amount of anger coming from the community about toddlers and b. maxis disregard for said anger.
That topic itself saw thousands of replies/views and Maxis was clearly aware of it, its one reason why they never modded/touched it - doing so would make things very complicated very fast. Instead they warned employees with their NDA at their Vancouver studio.
Regardless Maxis did respond in kind to the issue of toddlers giving a very diplomatic answer as to why toddlers didn't exist in the Sims 4. Its was nothing less then a full rotten plum of half truths.
What they never mentioned was the facts - limited development time, release windows corresponding to investment quarter returns, poor in-house management (too many cooks in the kitchen with zero coordination between them) and overall cost of a lengthy development cycle for the Sims 4 which originally started as a web based game.
Which instead of completely scrapping its developed content, scavenged parts to make the Sims 4 (because you know EA is poor and can't afford long development cycles like Blizzard...) On that note doing such a thing isn't a bad thing - but unlike say Overwatch which was inspired by Titan's characters and general idea because they felt the world they created was worth saving. Personally I feel the Sims 4 just copy and pasted to save time and money, its not to say it didn't have good ideas, but it looked more like a cost and performance choice.
The fact is the development team didn't have enough time, budget to massively re-imagine the Sims 4 at that point and needed to make decisions as what needed to be cut as the new game was being developed and fast. They certainly didn't have the foresight implementing toddlers if that day ever came - meaning that either they'd be forced to spend resources and release them for free (with a game pack to further flesh them out) or as a content of a full blown expansion. Regardless both scenario's would cost them in some form.
Maybe they just hoped we'd forget, that 2yrs passed those of us still here wouldn't care.
The fact of the matter is despite inviting some vip simmers to play "builds" and give feedback of their game - they did not engage the community at any point of development. For games like the Witcher or Mass Effect that works but for a community driven game - to me that makes no sense. They simply announced the Sims 4 and a release date, then another, then released it too soon and spent 4 months patching in "missing content" such as a the basic business career - the very definition of getting a career.
In some ways the Sims 4 was driven too by a single vision based off the Sims 2 - a more inclusive doll house that was better optimized to run on a wider range of - lets face it crappy computers. To some degree I blame the sim community for this, unlike the majority of PC gamers the Sim's community sees a much wider range of much older computer hardware and Maxis/or and EA made the conscious decision to sell to toaster ovens rather then focusing on more up to date current gen hardware.
While the game looks good, I will never be used to the "bubble" joints of the Sims 4, that look like some unfinished cg render that in this day and age of gpu's shouldn't exist. Nor the squared boxy object feeling that everything has, a legacy of its web-game roots I'm sure.
They engaged our community not from a developer point of view but as a salesman looking for a wider audience for all the wrong reasons (rather then the community which supports it) which is ODD because I also know Maxis IS aware of how special this community is.
Think about that for a second - the Sims games are literally built on community from the base games exchanges or galleries back to mods from the Sims 1 - its the community in part that has made this game so successful. Yet oddly they continue to develop the Sims behind closed doors, occasionally sending out multiple choice emails for possible expansion ideas that literally describe every past expansion or content they've released in some form. Thats fine I get it, that statistics and companies like building products from stats.
So for a game so community driven, our engagement with developers limited via tweets answering yes or no questions (when they can) or sharing 100% pre-approved soon to be released "hints" of things to come days before release.
I think its why we see some of these leaks, I honestly feel they development team is more then likely as frustrated as we are, not only by their own companies restrictions but a hot/cold community of simmers.
I also sometimes feel EA/Maxis has become to focused showing everybody how politically correct they are and while I'm all more then happy to see further customization added to the game, having them pat themselves on the back (for it) felt a little too pretentious. More so because they are more then willing to talk about highly charged adult political topics - yet despite their hugely adult player base present the sims in the most conservative, near childish animations/interaction esp. vs previous Sims games (as some of you might recall originally when Sims kissed in S4 their lips didn't even touch!)
Finally not so long ago we saw a well known guru post a long explanation of how game development works by "educating us" - while everything he said was true from a certain point of view - there was a very strong underlying sense of anger or defensiveness which I sensed. Like he had enough and wanted to tell us all how it was and to back off. That this was the game "they wanted" so deal.
For myself, looking back on 2 years of the Sims 4, as a story teller is makes nice pictures (although I wish more then anything I could turn off that stupid notification when I take a screenshot). As a gamer it feels very "gamey" vs previous iterations and less like a doll house to be blunt.
I like that its patched often and I'm happy to see they still provide us free content, thats great! For me it will be seasons that really brings me back to this game (i need a sense of time progression). Overall Its not a bad game, its not a great game. It has true potential but I still feel they are far off from realizing it.
I feel they need to spend more time developing expansions now to really flesh out and give the base game new gameplay aspects to explore... but at this rate we'll only have a total of 4 expansions before the Sims 5 is announced lol...
Plus a cuddle animation...I still want my cuddle animation back please...
I recently just watched LGR's great video "The Sims 4: Two Years of Meh" and while I don't agree with everything he said I totally understand how he feels. I started thinking about the Sims 4, not only as a game 2yrs later - but a game driven by a very active community of loyal consumers which continues to grow.
You might have also heard the supposed "leaks" of an expansion (I hope its an expansion not a game pack lol) called City Life.
Taking both into account whats really struck me at this 2yr anniversary mark (beyond lack of expansions and sheer amount of stuff packs) are the pains at which EA silences Maxis developers from discussing development.
Take the recent gamescon for example, where Maxis held a closed off limited event with little to show and presented more as a developer conference discussing what made the Sims 4 tick. Not to mention a complete lack of presence at their E3 replacement event "EA Play".
In an era of open access game development and highly responsive developer communication from small to big companies, EA is still operating like its behind some iron curtain. Stuck in the past of legal paranoia, ready to punish any team member who tweets an unapproved message.
Lets take the toddler issue for example, as some of you might recall WAY back some friends of mine shared a joke going around the EA office in Vancouver they'd heard through the grapevine about simmers whining for toddlers for toddlers or something. What was striking about this joke was a. the sure amount of anger coming from the community about toddlers and b. maxis disregard for said anger.
That topic itself saw thousands of replies/views and Maxis was clearly aware of it, its one reason why they never modded/touched it - doing so would make things very complicated very fast. Instead they warned employees with their NDA at their Vancouver studio.
Regardless Maxis did respond in kind to the issue of toddlers giving a very diplomatic answer as to why toddlers didn't exist in the Sims 4. Its was nothing less then a full rotten plum of half truths.
What they never mentioned was the facts - limited development time, release windows corresponding to investment quarter returns, poor in-house management (too many cooks in the kitchen with zero coordination between them) and overall cost of a lengthy development cycle for the Sims 4 which originally started as a web based game.
Which instead of completely scrapping its developed content, scavenged parts to make the Sims 4 (because you know EA is poor and can't afford long development cycles like Blizzard...) On that note doing such a thing isn't a bad thing - but unlike say Overwatch which was inspired by Titan's characters and general idea because they felt the world they created was worth saving. Personally I feel the Sims 4 just copy and pasted to save time and money, its not to say it didn't have good ideas, but it looked more like a cost and performance choice.
The fact is the development team didn't have enough time, budget to massively re-imagine the Sims 4 at that point and needed to make decisions as what needed to be cut as the new game was being developed and fast. They certainly didn't have the foresight implementing toddlers if that day ever came - meaning that either they'd be forced to spend resources and release them for free (with a game pack to further flesh them out) or as a content of a full blown expansion. Regardless both scenario's would cost them in some form.
Maybe they just hoped we'd forget, that 2yrs passed those of us still here wouldn't care.
The fact of the matter is despite inviting some vip simmers to play "builds" and give feedback of their game - they did not engage the community at any point of development. For games like the Witcher or Mass Effect that works but for a community driven game - to me that makes no sense. They simply announced the Sims 4 and a release date, then another, then released it too soon and spent 4 months patching in "missing content" such as a the basic business career - the very definition of getting a career.
In some ways the Sims 4 was driven too by a single vision based off the Sims 2 - a more inclusive doll house that was better optimized to run on a wider range of - lets face it crappy computers. To some degree I blame the sim community for this, unlike the majority of PC gamers the Sim's community sees a much wider range of much older computer hardware and Maxis/or and EA made the conscious decision to sell to toaster ovens rather then focusing on more up to date current gen hardware.
While the game looks good, I will never be used to the "bubble" joints of the Sims 4, that look like some unfinished cg render that in this day and age of gpu's shouldn't exist. Nor the squared boxy object feeling that everything has, a legacy of its web-game roots I'm sure.
They engaged our community not from a developer point of view but as a salesman looking for a wider audience for all the wrong reasons (rather then the community which supports it) which is ODD because I also know Maxis IS aware of how special this community is.
Think about that for a second - the Sims games are literally built on community from the base games exchanges or galleries back to mods from the Sims 1 - its the community in part that has made this game so successful. Yet oddly they continue to develop the Sims behind closed doors, occasionally sending out multiple choice emails for possible expansion ideas that literally describe every past expansion or content they've released in some form. Thats fine I get it, that statistics and companies like building products from stats.
So for a game so community driven, our engagement with developers limited via tweets answering yes or no questions (when they can) or sharing 100% pre-approved soon to be released "hints" of things to come days before release.
I think its why we see some of these leaks, I honestly feel they development team is more then likely as frustrated as we are, not only by their own companies restrictions but a hot/cold community of simmers.
I also sometimes feel EA/Maxis has become to focused showing everybody how politically correct they are and while I'm all more then happy to see further customization added to the game, having them pat themselves on the back (for it) felt a little too pretentious. More so because they are more then willing to talk about highly charged adult political topics - yet despite their hugely adult player base present the sims in the most conservative, near childish animations/interaction esp. vs previous Sims games (as some of you might recall originally when Sims kissed in S4 their lips didn't even touch!)
Finally not so long ago we saw a well known guru post a long explanation of how game development works by "educating us" - while everything he said was true from a certain point of view - there was a very strong underlying sense of anger or defensiveness which I sensed. Like he had enough and wanted to tell us all how it was and to back off. That this was the game "they wanted" so deal.
For myself, looking back on 2 years of the Sims 4, as a story teller is makes nice pictures (although I wish more then anything I could turn off that stupid notification when I take a screenshot). As a gamer it feels very "gamey" vs previous iterations and less like a doll house to be blunt.
I like that its patched often and I'm happy to see they still provide us free content, thats great! For me it will be seasons that really brings me back to this game (i need a sense of time progression). Overall Its not a bad game, its not a great game. It has true potential but I still feel they are far off from realizing it.
I feel they need to spend more time developing expansions now to really flesh out and give the base game new gameplay aspects to explore... but at this rate we'll only have a total of 4 expansions before the Sims 5 is announced lol...
Plus a cuddle animation...I still want my cuddle animation back please...
Post edited by TOLKIEN on
14
Comments
The Sims 4 does still require a gaming computer. Maxis isn't really catering to those who are playing with integrated graphics cards - they are more catering towards those with older and midrange gaming systems.
The requirements for the game is for desktop and not laptop; you need a high-end laptop to be able to meet a midrange desktop.
While the Sims 4 is not as demanding as the Sims 3, it does now require a good CPU than the Sims 3, as the game became CPU-heavy due to a patch.
Gaming on a integrated graphics card is not recommended, as they are not meant for any gaming what do ever. Those who play on integrated graphics cards are pushing the integrated card beyond its capabilities and are risking their computer to be permanently damaged.
Non-gaming computers usually do not have the proper cooling to keep themselves cool when gaming, which leads to overheating and a possibility of frying itself.