Room traits in TS4

DreamCytcher

I wonder why there are lot traits that apply to the whole lot, but not any room traits that only apply to one room, since the definition of a room in TS4 is clearer than ever.

So my idea is to add two features, that being the Room Type and Room Trait. A room type comes with 3 default room traits, but there are 3 more slots to add extra room traits.

Room Type
- These reflect the actual rooms we have in our houses, and they are almost the same as those listed in Buy Mode.
- 3 default room traits cone with each of them. Some of the room types require specific furniture.
- You can choose at most 3 room types for a room.

1. Living room
- Guest spot (guest will stay at this room by default)
- Social boost (social needs get recover faster, boost confident moodlets, charisma skills)
- Fun boost (fun needs get recover faster, boost playful moodlets, comedy skills)
2. Dining room (requires a dining table/island counter + chair/bar stool)
- Room For Meal (default room for meals/drinks)
- Guest spot (guest will stay here if there isn't any living room)
- Hunger boost (hunger needs get recover faster)
3. Kitchen (requires a fridge + any one of cooking equipments + 1 counter)
- Better chef (better food quality made, boost cooking/baking skills)
- Flammable (the room will catch fire more often)
- Filthy (counters and stoves get dirty easily, attract pests)
4. Bathroom (requires a toilet bowl + a shower/bathtub)
- Bladder boost
- Hygiene boost
- Moist (have puddles easily, attract pests)
5. Bedroom (requires a bed)
- Energy boost (boost energized moodlets, spontaneously boost flirty moodlets)
- Good night sleep (sims asleep will not get easily interrupted by noises)
- Private (guests will not autonomously entering bedrooms)
6. Study room (requires a desk + a chair)
- Focused boost (boost focused moodlets)
- Inspired boost (boost inspired moodlets)
- Skill booster (learn skills faster)
7. Kids room (requires a baby/toddler/child in the household)
- Playful boost (boost playful moodlets)
- Kids spot (children/toddler guests tend to go into kids rooms)
- Fun boost (boost fun needs for kids and sims with childish trait)
8. Blank room (no room type chosen but you can still add 3 extra room traits)
Help me to add more

Room Trait
- These are the extra traits that can be added. They're like lot traits, but limited to one room, in fact most of the lot traits (e.g. Natural Light, Great Acoustics, Haunted) could be used in this one.

Some of the extras :
1. No Shoes - Sims will get rid of their shoes while walking into this room - unless they wear bedroom slippers.
2. Comfy - Sims will change to casual outfits or pajamas in this room.
3. Soundproof - Loud radio or TV sound over the next room will not affect the sims in this room, and vice versa.
4. Greenhouse - Weathers outside will not affect the sims in this room - it's always warm here.
5. Gent's Exclusive - Only men can enter this room.
6. Lady's Exclusive - Only women can enter this room.
7. V.I.P Only - Exclusive for sims with certain level of fame/reputation. Only available with Get Famous.
8. No Pets - Only with Cats & Dogs.
9. Rentable - Only if the renting feature comes with a patch. You can earn simoleons by renting a room to other townies. Must be a bedroom.
Help me to add more too

Any ideas/suggestions?

DaWaterRat

Are the room traits changeable? What if I don't want my sims to be better cooks just because they're in a kitchen? What if I get tired of replacing the stove every other dinner? I don't mind the idea of rooms having traits, but I'm not fond of the rooms having default traits. Especially as they aren't particularly balanced (Some rooms have all good traits, some rooms have bad traits.)

Also multiple room types means that the rooms end up with more than three traits... an open plan living/dining/kitchen area would have... what, twelve? And what about when doing a rags to riches challenge, where at least for some of it you have everything all in one room? And why does an art loft or a music room get shorted by only having three traits available to them? Or a personal library that doesn't have desks - only seating - doesn't qualify for a study spot? (No, I don't know who would design such a room, but I can believe they exist. I put lots of bookshelves in my houses.)

The idea of rooms having traits does have some merit, but six traits per room - plus more if the room has multiple types - feels like too much. A better system would be to drop the room types and just have up to three room traits. And maybe some of them cost money, like Soundproof? I could see some room traits not being available if you didn't have certain furniture in the room, and getting that warning sign you get for incomplete lots if you were changing out a desk or a stove or something. But room types feels like a layer of complexity for complexity's sake.

DreamCytcher

DaWaterRat wrote: »

Are the room traits changeable? What if I don't want my sims to be better cooks just because they're in a kitchen? What if I get tired of replacing the stove every other dinner? I don't mind the idea of rooms having traits, but I'm not fond of the rooms having default traits. Especially as they aren't particularly balanced (Some rooms have all good traits, some rooms have bad traits.)

Also multiple room types means that the rooms end up with more than three traits... an open plan living/dining/kitchen area would have... what, twelve? And what about when doing a rags to riches challenge, where at least for some of it you have everything all in one room? And why does an art loft or a music room get shorted by only having three traits available to them? Or a personal library that doesn't have desks - only seating - doesn't qualify for a study spot? (No, I don't know who would design such a room, but I can believe they exist. I put lots of bookshelves in my houses.)

The idea of rooms having traits does have some merit, but six traits per room - plus more if the room has multiple types - feels like too much. A better system would be to drop the room types and just have up to three room traits. And maybe some of them cost money, like Soundproof? I could see some room traits not being available if you didn't have certain furniture in the room, and getting that warning sign you get for incomplete lots if you were changing out a desk or a stove or something. But room types feels like a layer of complexity for complexity's sake.

Those are some blind spots that I've missed, you made some good points here. Anyway I don't think my suggestion was perfect, it's just something I drafted in the matter of minutes. Thanks for your ideas

Rhiannonraven

Sounds cool! My only issue is that I don't think you should have to have a baby/toddler/child in the house to have a room for them, I like to prepare a nursery for unborn children, and sometimes I will leave a child's room after they grow out of it, waiting for the younger sibling to move in!

SimsLovinLycan

Not really down with the room type bit (I'm still annoyed at the checklists for lot types), but I do like the room trait thing. Being able to do things like neutralize on Happy buffs from furniture in a room with a "Just Fine" trait and add a sad buff with a "Gloomy Space" room trait would just be awesome for me! I've been using the Meaningful Stories mod to cut down the excessive Happy buffs, but being able to use an in-game mechanic to kill the excess happiness would just make my day!

crocobaura

Generally speaking, I am fine with room traits if they add to the gameplay and cannot be added otherwise, but I do not want to hear about room types, unless the type is rent or commercial, or office for work from home jobs like maybe GP, massage therapist, daycare, or some sort of hobby class like yoga and painting. We already have lot types and we see how restrictive they are when designing a lot so I would not like to carry that mistake into residential lots as well. Also, entrance restrictions can be set with doors, and buffs like restful, comfy, food quality can be given from the furniture used in the room.

Leahmiller2006

You could also have a room where kids aren’t allowed and the parents can discipline them if they go in and same with pets. You could also assign bedrooms to certain sims. I think it adds a lot of role play as well because if you have a couple who fell out and say the husband slept on the in the living room, he could have a worse nights sleep. Also when you move in a house unfinished, you could see which room is which. I think you could have like, guest room and master bedroom. Family bathroom, en-suite. Lounge area, gaming room, sitting room, playroom as well

Gaming room -
+video gaming skill
+fun
+logic skill

Lounge
- comfy
- +fun
- Relaxed moolet (if we had one)

Sitting room
- +social skill
- (sims talk in this room)
- (Guests sit here)

Playroom
- kids/toddlers gain all skills faster
- +fun (kids/toddlers only)
- Tense mood let (adults only)