Nice idea for a thread and made me want to log on and thank you for making it @SimGuruDrake. I do have a few questions regarding Gamescom that changed my viewpoint to no longer thinking the Sims 4 direction will never favor me as a player.
Why can't EPs be deep? Why does it seem like they omit some playstyles, when supposively all playstyles should be covered? EPs have always been my favorite so it really disappointed me that the vision and direction of GPs seemed more clearer than the EP's vision. Personally I liked having EPs more focused to flesh out a theme more. I like when they include a lifestate aka supernatural and a new world or in the Sims 4 case a new neighborhood. So far GTW and GT seem to have omitted some playstyles, so does each EP focus only on one? This is in relation to EPs as a product, not so much on future info on them. I'm just curious about further explanation on each pack type in a general sense.
So according to the pyramid, why are only sections of the pyramid represented for each iteration? Does that mean that not all the needs are met?
It shows why the Sims 1 and 2 seem to appeal to me more I've noticed, since my play styles fall under the bottom three sections. Any plans of including the needs as a whole or will it be separated? Why does it feel like transcendence wasn't included in the Sims 4 vision? Since the Sims 4 is reaching the top of the pyramid, so does that mean that the future of the Sims will use a different theory in development of future games?
Sorry I know all of my questions are quite deep and I know probably not all of them can be answered. But it was enlightening finding out with Gamescom why Sims 4 was alienating my play styles because of how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs was being applied. I personally think it is flawed unless applied fully. Like a math equation, it doesn't work the same when divided into parts. It becomes something else completely. I do think that the Sims 1 and 2 did apply a lot of the pyramid in the game which is why those iterations worked out so well.
The Sims 2 studio fire, was that true or a hoax? I've wanted to know this answer for years and even a former Sims 2 Maxoid wasn't able to answer it.
Hi Scobre - this is a lot of questions but I'll try to answer a few. Anyway, what can you elaborate on what the production team does and why they need to be a different company that handles Sims decisions?
I think LifeSimmer might have mixed up the chart we showed her (understandable, we showed A LOT of charts). There is a chunk of the entire team that is production but we have producers across all products. We are not a separate team. The producers facilitate the making of the game and there are producers on each pack. The best description of what a producer does is this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkcz2taCiw
I'm a little confused on the Expansion explanation: https://julyvee94.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/the-sims-panel-and-my-experience-at-gamescom-2016/
What I was trying to explain is that EPs are our biggest pack. This means we want them to support as many ways of playing as possible. Sometimes it means we don't to entirely deep on just ONE thing but that doesn't mean we don't make deep gameplay. I think Clubs and Retail are actually both quite "deep" in that they pretty fundamentally change the way you can play the game. I mentioned in a different response here that if we had put something like Camping in an EP, we might not have gone so far as adding an entire new camping specific collection or skill or Hermit NPC. Does that explain a little better? We strive to support as many playstyles as we can but you guys play the game in a LOT of interesting and different ways. We try to make sure there's something to do if you like building or creating; something fun to play with making Sims; something new to try and progress through (aspiration or career for example); some new system that changes the way you play with something else and more. We're trying to give a little something for everybody, but not at the expense of having meaningful experiences.
So according to the pyramid [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs], why are only sections of the pyramid represented for each iteration? Does that mean that not all the needs are met?
I wanted to talk about this because it's one way to visualize some of the thinking that went into the Sims originally and that we have referenced as we've evolved. What I was trying to illustrate was that in each iteraction we've tried to move further up the pyramid without ignoring the underlying layers. So no, it doesn't mean that TS1 and TS2 are the only ones that dealt with the bottom layers. Even though TS4 may be pushing up to the "transcendence" level and playing with emotion and accomplishment we still pay attention to the fact Sims need relationships, food, shelter, friends. It's absolutely not a rule, we don't use it that way. It's one way to illustrate the additional layers added to the Sims over the years. It's just a cool psychology tool that happens to explain some of The Sims. We have a lot of other things we take into consideration now that it's a living game, feedback from players like you, that I think give us plenty of options beyond simply this model. It is definitely not a roadmap or rule book.
I hear about the TS2 studio fire all the time. LOL. I'm pretty sure there was indeed a fire in a server room somewhere but we have backups and backups and backups of backups so no, it's not true we had to rebuild the game from scratch At least nobody ever told me that. Ha! I did however spend many months as the worldbuilder on TS2 and had nightmares about in-game fires burning down my lots ALL THE TIME.
I've always wanted to ask- As a Simmer what feature do you miss the most from previous Sims games which isn't in the Sims 4?
What was your Favourite moments playing Sims 1,2 and 3?
What's your favourite features and moments in Sims 4?
Do you like downloading builds from other simmers in your Sims 4 game?
Guru Question- Do you enjoy reading the Creativity and ideas threads? Do simmers idea's help inspire the team for Sims 4? Do you feel excited about Sims 4 future?
Questions are to all Guru's that's available to read this tread and respond. I understand if you cant answer. I just wanted to ask Simmer to Simmer Sorry for wasting your time if these have already been answered else where in the forum
@SimGuruLyndsay I see you've mentioned Outdoor Retreat a few times (which I LOVE BTW). Staying on that subject, is it technically possible to add more new vacation worlds to the game? (this isn't me asking for hints, just if its possible) Thanks!
SGLyndsay: Yes, Outdoor Retreat built the core tech we needed to be able to have other "sub-worlds" (like we did with Magnolia Promenade in Get To Work)
I know you can't discuss future content this is just a fun idea I would love. I really like the sea monster but it seems that she was put there only for the players enjoyment. I would love it if there could be an observation deck where my sims could drop in a coin and search the water and watch for her and the sim children could get excited and be able to talk about that excitement with their sim parents after they spotted the sea monster.
Is there a reason the game creates so many Sims in a short amount of time while Sims I created may get culled? I was bulldozing an entire town and wanted just my Sims in it. The game would create 20 to 40 new Sims in a couple of hours of play.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
As a black simmer with long hair I feel there isn't enough hairstyles for us to choose from when creating a black sim. So my question is, would it be possible to add long or shoulder length hairstyle to the game? Right now the the only ones that we have to choose from is Afro and dreads.
We understand the importance of having diversity in hair textures/styles and definitely consider different types of hair when we are concepting hair for CAS.
So far we have these hairs for longer African hair textures/style...
Edit: but if you mean if it's possible to have something like this, it may be possible but will need time and art exploration to make sure we get the hair texture in our art style and looking good.
Thank you @simgurukimmi I'm a black Simmer too (lol)...so what options are there for the guys and will we be able to see more diverse styles for our black Sims? I love this game and in no way am criticizing...just asking because I always make myself and he changes his looks more than me!
Keep up the good work, guys! I can't wait to see what else y'all have in store for us Simmers of all colors!
As a black simmer with long hair I feel there isn't enough hairstyles for us to choose from when creating a black sim. So my question is, would it be possible to add long or shoulder length hairstyle to the game? Right now the the only ones that we have to choose from is Afro and dreads.
We understand the importance of having diversity in hair textures/styles and definitely consider different types of hair when we are concepting hair for CAS.
So far we have these hairs for longer African hair textures/style...
Edit: but if you mean if it's possible to have something like this, it may be possible but will need time and art exploration to make sure we get the hair texture in our art style and looking good.
Thank you @simgurukimmi I'm a black Simmer too (lol)...so what options are there for the guys and will we be able to see more diverse styles for our black Sims? I love this game and in no way am criticizing...just asking because I always make myself and he changes his looks more than me!
Keep up the good work, guys! I can't wait to see what else y'all have in store for us Simmers of all colors!
The guys have a short haircut on GTW and the little "mowhak" that's not really mowhak from the BG plus there are some very short/shaved-like hairstyles that fit black men natural hair too. Plus @SimGuruKimmi forgot the big BG afro. Never the less all these are cross gender.
@simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least? - Answered
@simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?
Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.
Question: Why did you chose to have random sims generating as NPC's all the time, instead of having a set of sims pre-made for these roles like Kaylynn Langerak in TS2 for example?
We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online.
The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.
Well, isn't it true that the surveys you send out only go to a selected group of people and on top of that they have an age limit? I, for one, never received a survey and even if I had, it wouldn't allow me to take it if I would fill in my real age. So obviously you're going to get only the feedback of a much more younger fanbase while keeping out the people that have been with you for over 16 years.
And yes, the sims franchise has always had a T rating but you can't deny that the overall humor has changed greatly. The previous games were a lot "darker" and more mature while TS4 is more "happy" and has more of a frat humor (that is definitely not for everyone) with the "angry poop" and adult sims high-fiving each other before woohoo. For instances, I remember the grim reaper being scary in previous games, but in TS4 he just seems like a sim dressed up, randomly using a tablet and showing up at the gym (not sure if that's a bug). I do wish you could introduce some maturity back to the game. Like how sims could die from diseases, the weird phone calls in the middle of the night, the steamy makeout sessions on the couch, and even the sexy cake dancer.
@simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?
Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.
I would use the voodoo doll more if it had VFX on the sim you are bewitching or if they had an animation, but as far as I have experienced they only gain a moodlet and that's it. Plus I think that if the voodoo doll was a satisfaction points reward more people would get it because it would be a little less forgettable, I'm not sure how many simmers know that the doll unlocks on level 3 (or is that 5?) of Mischief or that it's even in the game for ordering through the computer.
Or perhaps if witches were to be introduced and had special interactions with it people would use it more often.
@simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?
Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.
Ha! I bet I've contributed my fair share to the cooking stats, I love cooking in this game.
I did have a question, if I may. What are some of the most difficult decisions to make in game development? From the little I know sacrifices have to be made I just wondered how you guys as a team make these decisions.
Question: do you hold back onto adding more rabbit hole careers because they have unlockable objects or is it just purely a preference of focus where careers get sidelined?
@simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?
Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.
OMG! Thanks @SimGuruLyndsay ! That is so interesting! My Sim's gonna try to buy a Voodoo Doll this week! Lol! I know I do tend to stick to the basic colors with furniture. And my Sim loves to cook especially after watching the Cooking Channel!
I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?
I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?
I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t
The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.
We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.
here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over
I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?
I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?
I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t
The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.
We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.
here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over
Hi Scobre - this is a lot of questions but I'll try to answer a few. Anyway, what can you elaborate on what the production team does and why they need to be a different company that handles Sims decisions?
I think LifeSimmer might have mixed up the chart we showed her (understandable, we showed A LOT of charts). There is a chunk of the entire team that is production but we have producers across all products. We are not a separate team. The producers facilitate the making of the game and there are producers on each pack. The best description of what a producer does is this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkcz2taCiw
I'm a little confused on the Expansion explanation: https://julyvee94.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/the-sims-panel-and-my-experience-at-gamescom-2016/
What I was trying to explain is that EPs are our biggest pack. This means we want them to support as many ways of playing as possible. Sometimes it means we don't to entirely deep on just ONE thing but that doesn't mean we don't make deep gameplay. I think Clubs and Retail are actually both quite "deep" in that they pretty fundamentally change the way you can play the game. I mentioned in a different response here that if we had put something like Camping in an EP, we might not have gone so far as adding an entire new camping specific collection or skill or Hermit NPC. Does that explain a little better? We strive to support as many playstyles as we can but you guys play the game in a LOT of interesting and different ways. We try to make sure there's something to do if you like building or creating; something fun to play with making Sims; something new to try and progress through (aspiration or career for example); some new system that changes the way you play with something else and more. We're trying to give a little something for everybody, but not at the expense of having meaningful experiences.
So according to the pyramid [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs], why are only sections of the pyramid represented for each iteration? Does that mean that not all the needs are met?
I wanted to talk about this because it's one way to visualize some of the thinking that went into the Sims originally and that we have referenced as we've evolved. What I was trying to illustrate was that in each iteraction we've tried to move further up the pyramid without ignoring the underlying layers. So no, it doesn't mean that TS1 and TS2 are the only ones that dealt with the bottom layers. Even though TS4 may be pushing up to the "transcendence" level and playing with emotion and accomplishment we still pay attention to the fact Sims need relationships, food, shelter, friends. It's absolutely not a rule, we don't use it that way. It's one way to illustrate the additional layers added to the Sims over the years. It's just a cool psychology tool that happens to explain some of The Sims. We have a lot of other things we take into consideration now that it's a living game, feedback from players like you, that I think give us plenty of options beyond simply this model. It is definitely not a roadmap or rule book.
I hear about the TS2 studio fire all the time. LOL. I'm pretty sure there was indeed a fire in a server room somewhere but we have backups and backups and backups of backups so no, it's not true we had to rebuild the game from scratch At least nobody ever told me that. Ha! I did however spend many months as the worldbuilder on TS2 and had nightmares about in-game fires burning down my lots ALL THE TIME.
Thanks for your thoughtful questions!
Thank you and yeah you answered enough. Sorry I generally type way too much. I just had a lot of questions after Gamescom.
Thank you for the video link. I forgot you are a producer yourself. I guess that means Maxis employees can be producers, so that makes sense. Sorry one more question, did you ever think you would be a producer when you were younger? So like how SimGuruDrake anchors the community, you are the anchor for the developers to bring people into reality.
I do like retail and clubs being a sandbox player. Both tools provide a lot of replay value.
Thanks for the further explanation on how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is being applied and nice to know that the bottom layers are still thought about too.
I don't know what I am other than an outlier Simmer which probably makes things more complicated I guess. I have many variations of play styles from liking to build and edit neighborhoods and terrains yet not getting the guts to build my own worlds yet, to enjoying storytelling aspects in game but not always wanting to share my stories with community, to enjoying the time spent on generation family play but not having the patience to do long legacies, to liking to problem solve aka sandbox but not being told how to play with repetitive quests, to rotational gameplay but not wanting townies to age or story progression to happen with them, and finally deviance although my limit is I don't like killing children and I love supernaturals and random events and the different types of deaths. I think it has been coming up on two years now I've been apart of the vocal community which still feels odd and biggest thing I've learned is that even within certain play styles, there are different variations of those play styles each Simmer has. I think a lot that has to do with that is just different life experiences. So I do understand how difficult that may be to cater to all our different life experiences when making and producing the Sims games.
Oh cool, finally an answer to that! Been waiting six years to hear what really happened. Thank you. That must have been scary although the pyro Simmer side of me would want to see pictures, which probably Ceres would want to see too.
I guess I'm more hesitant about the Sims 4 in general. I had to use mods to get my rotational gameplay with the Sims 3, so that was the biggest disappointment with the Sims 4 is even further alienation of play styles. I don't know what the future of the Sims 4 holds, but I admit I am tired of waiting. The Sims 2 was just a perfect game for me and it kind of worries me I'll never love a Sims game as much as I did that one again. I'm really not that much younger than SimGuruDrake, but I admit I am feeling like I'm probably too old to play the Sims 4 at times. I just wish it wasn't the case. I stick to teen rated games anyways, so rating isn't so much an issue. I just don't think I have to change myself as a person to like a game if that makes sense. I just hope that the Sims 4 appeals to more players someday. I'm really sorry my opinion towards the game has changed for the worst over time. Thank you for taking the time to explain development decisions and other questions. I hope you have a great day and weekend.
I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?
I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?
I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t
The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.
We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.
here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over
Well 15 is still a teen so it's sort of the same
games like GTA etc are rated R here and are sometimes even banned
I was wondering - what is your policy about improving already released features free or from packs, and linking already released features with new ones? For example, improving GTW retail or live careers. Either you could improve a feature with a patch, or with a new pack release that has a similar theme. For instance you could have improved retail when you released Dine out. Or you could add more live careers, or update base game careers to be live careers if we own GTW etc. This kind of immersion is vital to many simmers, so I am wondering what your policy is on this kind of linkage.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
Comments
Hi Scobre - this is a lot of questions but I'll try to answer a few.
Anyway, what can you elaborate on what the production team does and why they need to be a different company that handles Sims decisions?
I think LifeSimmer might have mixed up the chart we showed her (understandable, we showed A LOT of charts). There is a chunk of the entire team that is production but we have producers across all products. We are not a separate team. The producers facilitate the making of the game and there are producers on each pack. The best description of what a producer does is this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkcz2taCiw
I'm a little confused on the Expansion explanation:
https://julyvee94.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/the-sims-panel-and-my-experience-at-gamescom-2016/
What I was trying to explain is that EPs are our biggest pack. This means we want them to support as many ways of playing as possible. Sometimes it means we don't to entirely deep on just ONE thing but that doesn't mean we don't make deep gameplay. I think Clubs and Retail are actually both quite "deep" in that they pretty fundamentally change the way you can play the game. I mentioned in a different response here that if we had put something like Camping in an EP, we might not have gone so far as adding an entire new camping specific collection or skill or Hermit NPC. Does that explain a little better? We strive to support as many playstyles as we can but you guys play the game in a LOT of interesting and different ways. We try to make sure there's something to do if you like building or creating; something fun to play with making Sims; something new to try and progress through (aspiration or career for example); some new system that changes the way you play with something else and more. We're trying to give a little something for everybody, but not at the expense of having meaningful experiences.
So according to the pyramid [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs], why are only sections of the pyramid represented for each iteration? Does that mean that not all the needs are met?
I wanted to talk about this because it's one way to visualize some of the thinking that went into the Sims originally and that we have referenced as we've evolved. What I was trying to illustrate was that in each iteraction we've tried to move further up the pyramid without ignoring the underlying layers. So no, it doesn't mean that TS1 and TS2 are the only ones that dealt with the bottom layers. Even though TS4 may be pushing up to the "transcendence" level and playing with emotion and accomplishment we still pay attention to the fact Sims need relationships, food, shelter, friends. It's absolutely not a rule, we don't use it that way. It's one way to illustrate the additional layers added to the Sims over the years. It's just a cool psychology tool that happens to explain some of The Sims. We have a lot of other things we take into consideration now that it's a living game, feedback from players like you, that I think give us plenty of options beyond simply this model. It is definitely not a roadmap or rule book.
I hear about the TS2 studio fire all the time. LOL. I'm pretty sure there was indeed a fire in a server room somewhere but we have backups and backups and backups of backups so no, it's not true we had to rebuild the game from scratch At least nobody ever told me that. Ha! I did however spend many months as the worldbuilder on TS2 and had nightmares about in-game fires burning down my lots ALL THE TIME.
Thanks for your thoughtful questions!
As a Simmer what feature do you miss the most from previous Sims games which isn't in the Sims 4?
What was your Favourite moments playing Sims 1,2 and 3?
What's your favourite features and moments in Sims 4?
Do you like downloading builds from other simmers in your Sims 4 game?
Guru Question- Do you enjoy reading the Creativity and ideas threads? Do simmers idea's help inspire the team for Sims 4? Do you feel excited about Sims 4 future?
Questions are to all Guru's that's available to read this tread and respond. I understand if you cant answer. I just wanted to ask Simmer to Simmer Sorry for wasting your time if these have already been answered else where in the forum
Answers Here
I LOVE a tasty Mocha but the espresso makes my stomach hurt so I'm trying to start loving Green Tea.
I was wondering if it's possible in the future, will the "World Editor" will make a comeback in the Sims 4?
Will any secret lots from different worlds be free to build houses and sims can live there instead of using cheats to access the lots in the future?
Is it possible to add a color wheel or an external program to add additional colors to items in CAS?
SGLyndsay: Yes, Outdoor Retreat built the core tech we needed to be able to have other "sub-worlds" (like we did with Magnolia Promenade in Get To Work)
Thank you @simgurukimmi I'm a black Simmer too (lol)...so what options are there for the guys and will we be able to see more diverse styles for our black Sims? I love this game and in no way am criticizing...just asking because I always make myself and he changes his looks more than me!
Keep up the good work, guys! I can't wait to see what else y'all have in store for us Simmers of all colors!
The guys have a short haircut on GTW and the little "mowhak" that's not really mowhak from the BG plus there are some very short/shaved-like hairstyles that fit black men natural hair too. Plus @SimGuruKimmi forgot the big BG afro. Never the less all these are cross gender.
Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.
Well, isn't it true that the surveys you send out only go to a selected group of people and on top of that they have an age limit? I, for one, never received a survey and even if I had, it wouldn't allow me to take it if I would fill in my real age. So obviously you're going to get only the feedback of a much more younger fanbase while keeping out the people that have been with you for over 16 years.
And yes, the sims franchise has always had a T rating but you can't deny that the overall humor has changed greatly. The previous games were a lot "darker" and more mature while TS4 is more "happy" and has more of a frat humor (that is definitely not for everyone) with the "angry poop" and adult sims high-fiving each other before woohoo. For instances, I remember the grim reaper being scary in previous games, but in TS4 he just seems like a sim dressed up, randomly using a tablet and showing up at the gym (not sure if that's a bug). I do wish you could introduce some maturity back to the game. Like how sims could die from diseases, the weird phone calls in the middle of the night, the steamy makeout sessions on the couch, and even the sexy cake dancer.
Thoughts
I would use the voodoo doll more if it had VFX on the sim you are bewitching or if they had an animation, but as far as I have experienced they only gain a moodlet and that's it. Plus I think that if the voodoo doll was a satisfaction points reward more people would get it because it would be a little less forgettable, I'm not sure how many simmers know that the doll unlocks on level 3 (or is that 5?) of Mischief or that it's even in the game for ordering through the computer.
Or perhaps if witches were to be introduced and had special interactions with it people would use it more often.
This
Ha! I bet I've contributed my fair share to the cooking stats, I love cooking in this game.
I did have a question, if I may. What are some of the most difficult decisions to make in game development? From the little I know sacrifices have to be made I just wondered how you guys as a team make these decisions.
OMG! Thanks @SimGuruLyndsay ! That is so interesting! My Sim's gonna try to buy a Voodoo Doll this week! Lol! I know I do tend to stick to the basic colors with furniture. And my Sim loves to cook especially after watching the Cooking Channel!
here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over
Well 15 is still a teen so it's sort of the same
Thank you for the video link. I forgot you are a producer yourself. I guess that means Maxis employees can be producers, so that makes sense. Sorry one more question, did you ever think you would be a producer when you were younger? So like how SimGuruDrake anchors the community, you are the anchor for the developers to bring people into reality.
I do like retail and clubs being a sandbox player. Both tools provide a lot of replay value.
Thanks for the further explanation on how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is being applied and nice to know that the bottom layers are still thought about too.
I don't know what I am other than an outlier Simmer which probably makes things more complicated I guess. I have many variations of play styles from liking to build and edit neighborhoods and terrains yet not getting the guts to build my own worlds yet, to enjoying storytelling aspects in game but not always wanting to share my stories with community, to enjoying the time spent on generation family play but not having the patience to do long legacies, to liking to problem solve aka sandbox but not being told how to play with repetitive quests, to rotational gameplay but not wanting townies to age or story progression to happen with them, and finally deviance although my limit is I don't like killing children and I love supernaturals and random events and the different types of deaths. I think it has been coming up on two years now I've been apart of the vocal community which still feels odd and biggest thing I've learned is that even within certain play styles, there are different variations of those play styles each Simmer has. I think a lot that has to do with that is just different life experiences. So I do understand how difficult that may be to cater to all our different life experiences when making and producing the Sims games.
Oh cool, finally an answer to that! Been waiting six years to hear what really happened. Thank you. That must have been scary although the pyro Simmer side of me would want to see pictures, which probably Ceres would want to see too.
I guess I'm more hesitant about the Sims 4 in general. I had to use mods to get my rotational gameplay with the Sims 3, so that was the biggest disappointment with the Sims 4 is even further alienation of play styles. I don't know what the future of the Sims 4 holds, but I admit I am tired of waiting. The Sims 2 was just a perfect game for me and it kind of worries me I'll never love a Sims game as much as I did that one again. I'm really not that much younger than SimGuruDrake, but I admit I am feeling like I'm probably too old to play the Sims 4 at times. I just wish it wasn't the case. I stick to teen rated games anyways, so rating isn't so much an issue. I just don't think I have to change myself as a person to like a game if that makes sense. I just hope that the Sims 4 appeals to more players someday. I'm really sorry my opinion towards the game has changed for the worst over time. Thank you for taking the time to explain development decisions and other questions. I hope you have a great day and weekend.
Anyway since accounting is my forte, here is a video for Simmers who are curious how the revenue recognition principle works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-fiBTfSJ74&ab_channel=TheresaDuong
@SimGuruDrake I like K Dramas too. Secret Garden for example was good.
games like GTA etc are rated R here and are sometimes even banned