If I'm the boss, the ep would be suspended, until the rest of the staff puts together a super patch that will be released for free, that add or change the following:
The world map will be changed into an open world reminiscent of previous sims games
Load screens will be gone except for the loading of the game itself
Toddlers will be in along with objects for them
babies will be remade to not be objects. cribs and baby objects will be added in
teens will get the models they deserve, with their own interactions and things related to teens from previous games
culling system will be gone, and family tree will be in
dishwashers, garbage compactors, and other base level objects will be added in
the world will be retextured so grass and such is a bit more detailed and not look like a solid painted on color
create-a-style will be back in
base game jobs will be back. these include law enforcement, medicine, military, politics, and science careers
An option added to disable the goals system and have a more traditional sims experience will be added in. People who want the rpg elements can keep them.
story progression will be in. neighbors and premade sims will produce their own children and keep the town alive.
foundation tool will be changed so that one can do split level homes and have attached garages to their homes
Spiral stairs, U shaped stairs and L shaped stairs will be in
The build level limitation will be lifted
ability to add new lots to the now expanded open world, with various sized plots
new venue's added, a book store, clothing store, food store, this is life simulation. Job and school venues will also be in, and will not be rabbit holes. You can finally watch your sim work or be at school
return of terrain tools, can now raise and lower terrain and add ponds to your lots
newspaper is back, along with gardener and repairman. Your sim can even get a job as those!
All previous bugs will be fixed
patch will be tested and quality assured before release
Once the base game is 100% whole, then I'd give the okay to continue the ep.
If you were the boss, your game would take at least 5 years until it got it's first EP, a lot of the stuff is listed is either completely unrealistic, or way harder to make than it looks. Not to mention bugs will always be in the game so if that's serious your game would never get an EP and would probably go out of business. There is like no game as big as the Sims 4 that has no bugs. None. Also, how are you supposed to "test patches", you mean buy every computer out there in every condition imaginable? Lol.
*facepalm* Really?
So basically you are saying that executing that list upon an already built engine is going to take approximately the same amount of time it usually takes for them to build an engine AND a game from the ground up? Well, then again we are talking about the kind folks that brought to us "Bears take years of work.", it makes sense you'd think like that.
That list would take at least a year, depending on resources and priority. At most, 2 years. I must be missing something though, because I fail to see what exactly is "unrealistic" in that list. Perhaps you forgot that the Sims has always been built upon a proprietary engine? Statements like "Our engine does not support open worlds" or "Our engine was built like this, and it cannot do that" are flat out lies, anyone who has ever had even the slightest amount of experience in game development would know those basics. Even if the engine was not proprietary, and licensed, most companies have a specific license (albeit expensive) where they grant access to the source code, allowing you to modify the engine as you wish.
And regarding bug testing, while it is true that it is extremely hard to reproduce every little bug and glitch imaginable and it is relative to the complexity of it, it barely relies on testing it on each environment. Most of the time the specs simply accelerate or slow down the rate at which something can go wrong. A game does not look at your specs and thinks "Well, you've got a pretty crappy PC and your hard drive is nearly full, I'll launch the bug fleet". A game behaves at its core the same whether it is on a toaster, a cheap laptop or a high-end $2000 rig. When a game is as unstable as Early Access titles tend to be or as The Sims tends to be, it simply comes down to when, what and how a faulty line is triggered and whether that trigger is linear, resulting in a consistent bug/glitch or spontaneous, not affecting the same parameters every time.
Hmm...
Have the Guru's posted this on their social media/facebook?....since you know, their target audience resides on those places. Then again, sending out tweets about the expansion being delayed might be a warning sign to some.
But first, imagine Sims 4 with toddlers, family trees, open world, complete base game features, and real Sims reactions (not emotions - take that feature away please)
Oh gawd Seen your choice of reopen Sims 3 store and my jaw dropped.That would be freaking fantastic.I would love new 3 stuff and have all the rest. Right now if they made a Sims 3 "Away to Africa" EP for 3 done like WA but larger I would pay 40 bucks for it.How cool would it be to have buildable huts and have missions to photograph different animals etc plus all new fish to fish for and objects like being able to rebuild a elephant skeleton from collected pieces like in WA with sarcophagus etc.And others like a Lion skeleton and etc etc to be used in your house as decor which gives you a moodlet for completed ones like the Wonderous Collection moodlet does.Ok I am rambling jeesh EA really needs to hire me to develop new Sims Expansions.
I would HOPE by delaying the EP it is because they are going to attempt a BIG FIX on TS4, using the feedback from the very disappointed fans. And while I do not believe they will be able to do much about the "open world" I would hope an open neighborhood would be possible. I sincerely hope they take a look at the "emotions" they so fondly spoke of. They make the sims schizophrenics. Also they would need to address the lack of a family tree which produces incestuous relationships, the ability for a married couple to take the same name, the excessive time for certain actions like eating, add actual reactions that fit the sims traits and so on. I would also like to see a less scripted game play. Goals should be less scripted and more optional and different.
What I DO NOT want is an EP that I have to pay a large cost to purchase items that should have been in the beta base game I purchased for a premium price! No way am I going to pay for EA'S mistake and misguided "vision"!!!
kim
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln
Uh excuse you, where did you get "indefinite" from? it's just a delay. Don't make it as dramatic for not reason.
Well, in all fairness "Sometime in FY 2016" is pretty vague. It's not 100% open ended, but it leaves a window of over 300 days, so it's not exactly definite.
No where in that post did it say anything about an "indefinite delay" . They never told us about a 100% guaranteed time line for expansions so I think we should just take this information with a grain of salt and just relax. It's not worth jumping to conclusions and getting all bent out of shape. Yes they released the base game with issues and bugs. Yes their "patches" are buggy. No game company is perfect and I am sure they are feeling the pressure enough as it is with all of our expectations from the last 15 years of Sim gameplay. We have zero control over what content they release and when they so choose to do so.
Well in response to the op i still think PR wise issuing that apology to fans might change perception around. Right now some of the cant do attitude we're experiencing needs to be changed to a can do attitude. What can you do is more the question and letting customers know it's too hard, too complicated big no no. At some point PR is going to have to do their jobs and get the customer back into believing they're wanted by this company.
Im all for discussing changes to the game that can be done with in a delayed year. I would first target better ui options. This is a simple task to implement, and it would show they're taking great care in making sure the customers needs are met.
The second is to work on the lighting problem in the game. That might be more complicated but the same amount of lighting provided outside players need to be able to provide and adjust inside.
1 year is long enough to get toddlers on the menu, I suggest we put that out with the family tree so that the game becomes more appealing to family players.
1 year is equally long enough to work an a new teenager mesh and give them they're own animations and not borrow their animations from adults. Again all of which they already have at their disposal.
Let's work on more interactions between relationships. A lot has been cut from the game that destroying player experience. So working on getting better play is key.
Create terrain tools and get those out free.
The theme is options getting more options out to the player for creativity, gameplay, cheats, etc. Getting options out for a versatile player base is key right now as well
How do *you* think Maxis could use this extended time best?
1. Should they put out a massive EP, which one?
2. Should they scrap the EP work and overhaul the base game instead? Emotions, quests, UI?
3. Should they scrap the EP work and get Sims 4 DLC subscriptions up and running?
4. Should they re-open the Sims 3 store to try to stimulate a bit of cash flow to offset underperforming Sims 4 sales?
5. Should they try to get the game going on as many devices and platforms as possible?
Other ideas?
I have numbered your suggestions for better reference.
1. Will not happen because EPs/GPs are planned years ahead and a massive EP would take one year at least to develop.
2. Not going to happen. A massive overhaul is not in the budget plan.
3. If you are willing to pay even more for less then go for it - but without me.
4. Okay why not. I'm still on Sims 3 but I wouldn't want to see my money bet on a dead horse.
5. That could increase the profit in short-terms but they would restrict the expandability even more and that would make things even worse in the long run.
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
Well in response to the op i still think PR wise issuing that apology to fans might change perception around. Right now some of the cant do attitude we're experiencing needs to be changed to a can do attitude. What can you do is more the question and letting customers know it's too hard, too complicated big no no. At some point PR is going to have to do their jobs and get the customer back into believing they're wanted by this company.
Im all for discussing changes to the game that can be done with in a delayed year. I would first target better ui options. This is a simple task to implement, and it would show they're taking great care in making sure the customers needs are met.
The second is to work on the lighting problem in the game. That might be more complicated but the same amount of lighting provided outside players need to be able to provide and adjust inside.
1 year is long enough to get toddlers on the menu, I suggest we put that out with the family tree so that the game becomes more appealing to family players.
1 year is equally long enough to work an a new teenager mesh and give them they're own animations and not borrow their animations from adults. Again all of which they already have at their disposal.
Let's work on more interactions between relationships. A lot has been cut from the game that destroying player experience. So working on getting better play is key.
Create terrain tools and get those out free.
The theme is options getting more options out to the player for creativity, gameplay, cheats, etc. Getting options out for a versatile player base is key right now as well
Would any of these things be sold in EPs/GPs or just free updates?
I think addressing family-player's concerns first might be a smart direction to go in.
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
This is my idea:
You don't think that would kill the whole franchise?
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
This is my idea:
EDIT: Added the second picture.
I surely hope S5 won't be as dull as that
You don't think stopping Sims 4 now would kill the whole franchise?
Well in response to the op i still think PR wise issuing that apology to fans might change perception around. Right now some of the cant do attitude we're experiencing needs to be changed to a can do attitude. What can you do is more the question and letting customers know it's too hard, too complicated big no no. At some point PR is going to have to do their jobs and get the customer back into believing they're wanted by this company.
Im all for discussing changes to the game that can be done with in a delayed year. I would first target better ui options. This is a simple task to implement, and it would show they're taking great care in making sure the customers needs are met.
The second is to work on the lighting problem in the game. That might be more complicated but the same amount of lighting provided outside players need to be able to provide and adjust inside.
1 year is long enough to get toddlers on the menu, I suggest we put that out with the family tree so that the game becomes more appealing to family players.
1 year is equally long enough to work an a new teenager mesh and give them they're own animations and not borrow their animations from adults. Again all of which they already have at their disposal.
Let's work on more interactions between relationships. A lot has been cut from the game that destroying player experience. So working on getting better play is key.
Create terrain tools and get those out free.
The theme is options getting more options out to the player for creativity, gameplay, cheats, etc. Getting options out for a versatile player base is key right now as well
Would any of these things be sold in EPs/GPs or just free updates?
I think addressing family-player's concerns first might be a smart direction to go in.
Well they're free updates. Again you have to create appeal for a base game right now. Expansions and GP don't do that. Again they don't fix the base game initial problems. They just add content.
I'll give example of lack of interactions. My pregnant sism though she had the whole feel tummy interaction she didn't have anything else. Talk to tummy, and what about something new. Read with tummy, rub her own tummy. Lol the weird thing is the game is based on emotions but the pregnancy didn't even flow with the game theme. LOL where are the swollen feet and mood swings, cravings where gone etc.
Get what i mean that list of 89 missing things is actually much larger than i thought. However we aren't going to get 89 thigns added to a game with in a year.
I just mentioned a small amount of stuff that i felt can change the games ambience and seemed to be the louder problems of why sales aren't picking up.
The sims 4 base game has 2 problems one not only does it not trump what the past base games can do, it doesn't actually have the support with in it's own game to bring out the new features to being great.
I have a long list of how to change that but meh even if there is an idea section dev's don't show it has any life in it. I just am resisting posting till i can start to see that whole I can't do it attitude change.
I just hate to here that, we can't do it. Try, and try till you can. If you give up then what makes you think your fans won't too. Set the atmosphere.
In response to OP, it's so hard to say what I think would be best to do because I think there is a WHOLE TON of management and political issues going on behind the scenes with Eaxis and the studio that we are not aware of.
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
This is my idea:
EDIT: Added the second picture.
I surely hope S5 won't be as dull as that
You don't think stopping Sims 4 now would kill the whole franchise?
Didn't say anything about stopping Sims 4. I said I don't hope Sims 5 will be as dull as that landscape ahead
Well in response to the op i still think PR wise issuing that apology to fans might change perception around. Right now some of the cant do attitude we're experiencing needs to be changed to a can do attitude. What can you do is more the question and letting customers know it's too hard, too complicated big no no. At some point PR is going to have to do their jobs and get the customer back into believing they're wanted by this company.
Im all for discussing changes to the game that can be done with in a delayed year. I would first target better ui options. This is a simple task to implement, and it would show they're taking great care in making sure the customers needs are met.
The second is to work on the lighting problem in the game. That might be more complicated but the same amount of lighting provided outside players need to be able to provide and adjust inside.
1 year is long enough to get toddlers on the menu, I suggest we put that out with the family tree so that the game becomes more appealing to family players.
1 year is equally long enough to work an a new teenager mesh and give them they're own animations and not borrow their animations from adults. Again all of which they already have at their disposal.
Let's work on more interactions between relationships. A lot has been cut from the game that destroying player experience. So working on getting better play is key.
Create terrain tools and get those out free.
The theme is options getting more options out to the player for creativity, gameplay, cheats, etc. Getting options out for a versatile player base is key right now as well
Would any of these things be sold in EPs/GPs or just free updates?
I think addressing family-player's concerns first might be a smart direction to go in.
Well they're free updates. Again you have to create appeal for a base game right now. Expansions and GP don't do that. Again they don't fix the base game initial problems. They just add content.
I'll give example of lack of interactions. My pregnant sism though she had the whole feel tummy interaction she didn't have anything else. Talk to tummy, and what about something new. Read with tummy, rub her own tummy. Lol the weird thing is the game is based on emotions but the pregnancy didn't even flow with the game theme. LOL where are the swollen feet and mood swings, cravings where gone etc.
Get what i mean that list of 89 missing things is actually much larger than i thought. However we aren't going to get 89 thigns added to a game with in a year.
I just mentioned a small amount of stuff that i felt can change the games ambience and seemed to be the louder problems of why sales aren't picking up.
The sims 4 base game has 2 problems one not only does it not trump what the past base games can do, it doesn't actually have the support with in it's own game to bring out the new features to being great.
I have a long list of how to change that but meh even if there is an idea section dev's don't show it has any life in it. I just am resisting posting till i can start to see that whole I can't do it attitude change.
I just hate to here that, we can't do it. Try, and try till you can. If you give up then what makes you think your fans won't too. Set the atmosphere.
Yes, I hear you, even if the developers don't.
I think fleshing out the base game would make sense since the EP market will always be just a fraction of who owns the base game. I think expanding family-oriented play would be the right direction to head first. I just fear that this stuff might take a year (or longer depending on the extent of changes). I wonder if fans are willing to wait that long and if EA is willing to take such a gamble financially. I really don't think this game isn't in the black yet.
Thinking about short-term strategies to keep the money flowing, releasing Outdoor Retreat doesn't seem to have worked, would releasing an EP work any better? I'm skeptical.
Comments
So basically you are saying that executing that list upon an already built engine is going to take approximately the same amount of time it usually takes for them to build an engine AND a game from the ground up? Well, then again we are talking about the kind folks that brought to us "Bears take years of work.", it makes sense you'd think like that.
That list would take at least a year, depending on resources and priority. At most, 2 years. I must be missing something though, because I fail to see what exactly is "unrealistic" in that list. Perhaps you forgot that the Sims has always been built upon a proprietary engine? Statements like "Our engine does not support open worlds" or "Our engine was built like this, and it cannot do that" are flat out lies, anyone who has ever had even the slightest amount of experience in game development would know those basics. Even if the engine was not proprietary, and licensed, most companies have a specific license (albeit expensive) where they grant access to the source code, allowing you to modify the engine as you wish.
And regarding bug testing, while it is true that it is extremely hard to reproduce every little bug and glitch imaginable and it is relative to the complexity of it, it barely relies on testing it on each environment. Most of the time the specs simply accelerate or slow down the rate at which something can go wrong. A game does not look at your specs and thinks "Well, you've got a pretty crappy PC and your hard drive is nearly full, I'll launch the bug fleet". A game behaves at its core the same whether it is on a toaster, a cheap laptop or a high-end $2000 rig. When a game is as unstable as Early Access titles tend to be or as The Sims tends to be, it simply comes down to when, what and how a faulty line is triggered and whether that trigger is linear, resulting in a consistent bug/glitch or spontaneous, not affecting the same parameters every time.
Have the Guru's posted this on their social media/facebook?....since you know, their target audience resides on those places. Then again, sending out tweets about the expansion being delayed might be a warning sign to some.
No emotions?!? That sounds worse
What I DO NOT want is an EP that I have to pay a large cost to purchase items that should have been in the beta base game I purchased for a premium price! No way am I going to pay for EA'S mistake and misguided "vision"!!!
kim
Abraham Lincoln
My Mood:
Well, in all fairness "Sometime in FY 2016" is pretty vague. It's not 100% open ended, but it leaves a window of over 300 days, so it's not exactly definite.
My Mood:
No where in that post did it say anything about an "indefinite delay" . They never told us about a 100% guaranteed time line for expansions so I think we should just take this information with a grain of salt and just relax. It's not worth jumping to conclusions and getting all bent out of shape. Yes they released the base game with issues and bugs. Yes their "patches" are buggy. No game company is perfect and I am sure they are feeling the pressure enough as it is with all of our expectations from the last 15 years of Sim gameplay. We have zero control over what content they release and when they so choose to do so.
Im all for discussing changes to the game that can be done with in a delayed year. I would first target better ui options. This is a simple task to implement, and it would show they're taking great care in making sure the customers needs are met.
The second is to work on the lighting problem in the game. That might be more complicated but the same amount of lighting provided outside players need to be able to provide and adjust inside.
1 year is long enough to get toddlers on the menu, I suggest we put that out with the family tree so that the game becomes more appealing to family players.
1 year is equally long enough to work an a new teenager mesh and give them they're own animations and not borrow their animations from adults. Again all of which they already have at their disposal.
Let's work on more interactions between relationships. A lot has been cut from the game that destroying player experience. So working on getting better play is key.
Create terrain tools and get those out free.
The theme is options getting more options out to the player for creativity, gameplay, cheats, etc. Getting options out for a versatile player base is key right now as well
1. Will not happen because EPs/GPs are planned years ahead and a massive EP would take one year at least to develop.
2. Not going to happen. A massive overhaul is not in the budget plan.
3. If you are willing to pay even more for less then go for it - but without me.
4. Okay why not. I'm still on Sims 3 but I wouldn't want to see my money bet on a dead horse.
5. That could increase the profit in short-terms but they would restrict the expandability even more and that would make things even worse in the long run.
I think that delay is a direct result of bad sales figures and they are uncertain how to move on atm.
Yes, me too. Got any ideas.
It's actually a pretty tough situation they seem to be in right now. Many of these ideas are interesting, and would benefit the gaming experience, I'm just wondering how profitable some of them would be for EA, since they'll need to increase and keep money flowing. Free patches are lovely, but could they really spend 3 months or even a year working on a free patch and still not only recoup their costs but profit from it?
EDIT: Added the second picture.
Would any of these things be sold in EPs/GPs or just free updates?
I think addressing family-player's concerns first might be a smart direction to go in.
You don't think that would kill the whole franchise?
You don't think stopping Sims 4 now would kill the whole franchise?
Well they're free updates. Again you have to create appeal for a base game right now. Expansions and GP don't do that. Again they don't fix the base game initial problems. They just add content.
I'll give example of lack of interactions. My pregnant sism though she had the whole feel tummy interaction she didn't have anything else. Talk to tummy, and what about something new. Read with tummy, rub her own tummy. Lol the weird thing is the game is based on emotions but the pregnancy didn't even flow with the game theme. LOL where are the swollen feet and mood swings, cravings where gone etc.
Get what i mean that list of 89 missing things is actually much larger than i thought. However we aren't going to get 89 thigns added to a game with in a year.
I just mentioned a small amount of stuff that i felt can change the games ambience and seemed to be the louder problems of why sales aren't picking up.
The sims 4 base game has 2 problems one not only does it not trump what the past base games can do, it doesn't actually have the support with in it's own game to bring out the new features to being great.
I have a long list of how to change that but meh even if there is an idea section dev's don't show it has any life in it. I just am resisting posting till i can start to see that whole I can't do it attitude change.
I just hate to here that, we can't do it. Try, and try till you can. If you give up then what makes you think your fans won't too. Set the atmosphere.
Yes, I hear you, even if the developers don't.
I think fleshing out the base game would make sense since the EP market will always be just a fraction of who owns the base game. I think expanding family-oriented play would be the right direction to head first. I just fear that this stuff might take a year (or longer depending on the extent of changes). I wonder if fans are willing to wait that long and if EA is willing to take such a gamble financially. I really don't think this game isn't in the black yet.
Thinking about short-term strategies to keep the money flowing, releasing Outdoor Retreat doesn't seem to have worked, would releasing an EP work any better? I'm skeptical.