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Interesting blog post by Ray Mazza: Designing Character Traits in The Sims 3
SuzyCue72
Posts: 526 Member
As the title says, and I would never have guessed nr 3 and 4 on the list of most popular/most-chosen traits...
Apparently Colorblind was considered for a while as one of the traits, but didn't make it to the final version of the game. Maybe it was technically too difficult or something, who knows:
"We couldn’t implement every trait we wanted, so I thought I'd share one of my favorites from that cut list. It's the Colorblind trait, which I thought would be super neat (and educational). The idea is that the player would have been able to pick a type of colorblindness for their Sim, and then when that Sim was selected, the game would use a shader to render the screen as if through colorblind eyes."
@Turjan - What do you think about this, with your firsthand experience I mean, would it have been "super neat" and "educational" if they had included Colorblind on the list of traits?
Apparently Colorblind was considered for a while as one of the traits, but didn't make it to the final version of the game. Maybe it was technically too difficult or something, who knows:
"We couldn’t implement every trait we wanted, so I thought I'd share one of my favorites from that cut list. It's the Colorblind trait, which I thought would be super neat (and educational). The idea is that the player would have been able to pick a type of colorblindness for their Sim, and then when that Sim was selected, the game would use a shader to render the screen as if through colorblind eyes."
@Turjan - What do you think about this, with your firsthand experience I mean, would it have been "super neat" and "educational" if they had included Colorblind on the list of traits?
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And the shader itself would probably not be very useful for myself. If, by chance, they pick the same flavor of color "blindness" I have, I wouldn't notice a difference with or without that shader. If they pick any of the other flavors, it just looks weird. Most people would probably switch it off quickly.
Which means I can see why that feature was axed. Then again, they have stuff like "Never Nude", which means it wouldn't be too far out of place.
I honestly love seeing the world through my sims eyes. I love when sim kids talk to their imaginary friends and only they can see them. I love how in TS4 they see special effects when playing with toys that no one else can see. So yeah, I would have loved something like this just because it would have made the sim more endearing and unique in the world.
Me neither. As I understand it, it was meant as a way to let players with normal color vision get a glimpse of what it would be like to be "colorblind". That, I guess, is the "educational" aspect he's talking about. The sims themselves probably wouldn't notice any difference anyway. But I have noticed that they love to talk about their favorite color in the Get-to-know interaction.
Yeah, I know, the NN trait is kind of funny, but the only time it has any impact on the gameplay, that I've seen, is when they take a bath or shower, and, unlike other sims, switch to bathing suit. But there are in fact 2 types of showers from the Store where everybody act the same as the sims that suffer from the Never Nude trait, Keep Me Clean Outdoor Shower and It's Not Gross Public Shower Station.
Yes, I think it's interesting to know more about how TS3 was made, the technicalities and what goes on in the game behind the scenes, why the developers chose to do it like this and not that etc.
The people at Carl's seemed to think it was worth reading too, but unlike me they found it when it was new and fresh.
@thebriamon - Your welcome
@meerkattime - Athletic I can understand since I give that trait to a lot of my sims, both males and females, but Great kisser doesn't make much difference that I have noticed. Maybe those who pick it just think it sounds nice and cool, who knows?
@Mstybl95 - Your sister is pretty unusual then, since the overwhelming majority of people with color vision deficiency are males. It's inherited via the X-chromosome, and females have 2 of those, so if one of them has the defect gene the one without it takes over and compensates for it.
I used to use the athletic trait a lot but now reserve it for hard core athletes or vampires (because of a vampire mod I use). Athletic sims almost never do any random activities on their own except workout if there is a TV, radio, stereo, or workout equipment on the lot.
It's the same with several other traits such as bookworm that seem to determine what the sims will do on their own because they override the other traits.
I think that's only for a certain type of colorblindness that it's mostly male. I don't remember her doctor ever saying she was unique or anything like that.
Anyway, I think that, in the game, it would just be some gimmick.
@cwaddell - If you really want a maximized and long lasting positive moodlet I recommend giving your sim a plate of Ambrosia, it will be +75 and last a whole week! It also returns your sim to the beginning of their current age, so if you want them to age it's out of the question of course.
Yes, the athletics love to exercise in front of the TV, they do it autonomously all the time. Another trait with mostly good effects is Brave, it's always satisfying to see the sims teach the nasty burgler a well deserved lesson.
@Mstybl95 - I've been reading up a bit on color vision deficency, aka CVD, and it seems that when you look at the total numbers of affected people it's mostly males:
"Who is at risk for color blindness?
Men are at much higher risk for being born with color blindness than women, who seldom have the problem. An estimated one in ten males has some form of color deficiency."
"What is colour blindness?
Colour (color) blindness (colour vision deficiency, or CVD) affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world."
By the way, Photobucket has ruined the little picture in your signature.
@Turjan - I assume you mean the so called tetrachromats, persons with extended and enhanced color vision, I didn't know about their existence until I read your post, thanks, it's always interesting to learn about something new. "Educational" as Ray Mazza calls it in his blog post.
On this page there is a sort of slideshow with pictures of little bowls with pigment powder that show how colours look if you have 1. normal vision, 2. Deuteranopia, 3. Protanopia or 4. Tritanopia. Now I'm curious which one of these variants 2-4 is it you have? Number 2 and 3 look very similar to me, I can hardly tell them apart.
I don't think they would have modeled that in the game. Even the most common "color blindness", deuteranomaly (6% of males), is usually not considered.
And - I used to often give my sims the Great Kisser trait just to get the extra lifetime happiness. I still do it occasionally, but I've found other ways to maximise their LTH scores without using up a trait to do it. And I wouldn't bother making Ambrosia to give them the extra +75 lifetime happiness points. It's too difficult and too expensive to make. Maximise cooking skill, learn the very expensive ambrosia recipe. Then catch a death fish and grow life fruit each time you want to give them some extra lifetime happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
But don't give it to your vampires nor mermaids!
@Turjan - They have to do that, otherwise it would be too complicated and difficult to understand if you're not formally trained and educated in that field, ophthalmology. I have to admit that I haven't given a minute of thought to this area of CVD before in life, that's why I didn't understand what you meant when you said you didn't know from what EP/SP the sims clothes and hair came from.
I guess it's the same with all other forms of disabilities, physical imperfections, or whatever you want to call it. If you don't have it yourself, and nobody in your family or among your friends, then it's almost as if it doesn't really exist. I know it sounds stupid, but I think that's how most people are.
@Karritz - I think it's impossible to imagine what it would be like to be a Tetrachromat. I wonder if it wouldn't be a bit stressful and overwhelming in the long run, to have explosions and cascades of bright and vivid colours flashing all around you, and throwing themselves at you wherever you look?
Quote from Concetta Antico's life in the BBC article linked above:
"Enhanced sensitivity is not always a blessing, though. 'The grocery store is a nightmare,' she says. 'It’s like a trash pile of colour coming in at every angle.' That enhanced sensitivity might explain why she finds solace in plain white surfaces. 'People find that extraordinary that white is my favourite colour, but it makes sense because it is so peaceful and restful for my eyes. There is still a lot of colour in it, but it’s not hurting me.'"
You only have to make Ambrosia once, after that, with the help of a few Food replicators, you have an endless supply of it forever after.
@KevinL5275 - Haha, yes, I love the Sunflower, she sooo cute and funny, plays nice music and dances, and also produces nice looking fertilizer 24/7.
Hmm... I wonder what happens if you give one of those sunlight thingies to a vampire or mermaid... ? Might have to try it someday, ha ha...