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Ask a Guru - Game Development Edition

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  • ArrataArrata Posts: 3 New Member
    It says plum but I meant the word with the k that I used in the sentence
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    edited August 2016
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    Bagoas77 wrote: »
    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

    What exactly is your point? Different games have different ratings? I really don't think GTA & TS (generally, not just 4) are the same type of game..? *confused*

    @SimGuruDrake, @SimGuruKimmi & @SimGuruLyndsay hey thanks for answering a couple of question yesterday, I appreciate it! Unfortunately I was asleep as it was the middle of the night where I live but I just reread everything and there surely were some interesting answers in there. :)

    However, I feel like most (or a lot of) questions were answered "live", and there are tons and tons of questions on the first 5 pages that got no response at all, while the people who were actually present did get one to newer questions. That doesn't mean the answers weren't interesting, they were, and I enjoyed reading them - it's just a little confusing to read the thread like this & I'm wondering if all the other questions will still be addressed in this format? That's all :)
  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    I remember my last question now! :lol:

    That was going to bother me for days if I didn't remember in time.

    Okay, in general, how difficult would it be to provide players with more options?

    What I mean by that is:

    Let's say the default maximum sim per household limit is 14, maximum for pets is 10, and in total the max per household overall is with both is 16. Would it be difficult to give players the option increase or decrease those statistics to their desires and not just for households but for town/city populations of beings, genders, age groups, the weather a town/city starts in, etcetera?

    If the game (not any specific game) has story progression but I don't want specific households to be affected by it, how difficult would it be to get maybe a checkbox to appear when next to the household name to check or uncheck if I don't want them to be affected?
    KqGXVAC.jpg
  • IngeJonesIngeJones Posts: 3,247 Member
    How much of the game was outsourced, either to other companies or other departments not directly connected to The Sims Studio? For instance the Build stuff? CAS? World creation? The C?* game engine?
  • WillowG145WillowG145 Posts: 351 Member
    edited August 2016
    I'm going to ask one thing that is minor, but really bother me: why are the hair colour attached to the hairstyle? I didn't see this method by the time of the sims 2. And there it was only for the unnatural hair colour. It's an ancient method, something I didn't see even in the older RPGs like Baldur's Gate.

    Usually one choose the hairstyle, and there is a colour palette that function for everything. Why this simple thing is not in the sims 4? I'm not even asking about a colour wheel (even if I should, since passing from the chance to create all the hair colour I want in the sims 3 to a limited colour palette is quite annoyng) but this method is incredibly annoyng.

    There is no way to add more colours, and many colour aren't present in all the hairstyles (unnatural colours in particular) plus, it messed up with CC hair, who many times have their own colour palette that is very different from the vanilla ones. (and usually I liked them more) and used them a lot, since I really don't like the minimalist artstyle that remind me of lego. This messed up (even more) genetics it seem, because the game randomize hair that aren't in the base game.

    Would be so hard to implement a colour palette indipendent from the hairstyles? And what was the thinking behing this choice? (beside messing up the genetics of peple who use the CC? :| )

    Sorry for my bad english, but this is something that is in my head by the first time I have played the sims 4.

    edit:typo
    Post edited by WillowG145 on
  • clover24clover24 Posts: 887 Member
    (I hope this one is OK to ask)

    Would it be possible to have an auto roof option?
    Im a terrible builder but this option would make it a little bit easier as I'm terrible at roofs.
  • catmando830catmando830 Posts: 9,117 Member
    Is this possible:
    I have a family that has a mom and dad and about 12 kids. The dads mom lives with them.
    So, can I add a husband for the dads mom and can I add a mom and dad for the mom of the kids and have it show up in the family tree?
    I'd also like to add great grandparents for the kids, aka, grand parents to the original parents of the about 12 kids?
  • chaccechacce Posts: 49 Member
    I am OBSESSED with CAS in The Sims 4 and I love TS4's art style. I especially love the hairstyles! I have a few questions about hairstyles:

    1) I was wondering, how long does it take to make hairtstyles?

    2) Where do you get your inspiration?

    3) Is there a limit for how many hairstyles there are in a pack?

    4) Is it harder to create male hairstyles, because Get Together only included 5 whereas Get To Work had 8.

    5) Is it possible for you to make hairstyles with VERY large curls? That will look so cool!
  • ElepridymalElepridymal Posts: 16 New Member
    Hello. First of all, thank you for adding TS4 on Mac. Everything cool, but you didn't add a real full screen mode in the game. For example, in Windows we have 3 modes: windowed; windowed full screen and full screen. In Mac version we have only widowed and windowed full screen, so we can back to the desctop and dock in any time, but it's not good for game performance. If you add this mode, I will be very happy, because in Windows I could play with 60 fps and high grafics, but on Mac I can only play with 30 fps and medium grafics on the same computer
  • ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,037 Member
    Hi everyone! :)
    Why everyone talks about toddlers but not babies? I want The Sims 2 style babies back! :(
    Also, is it possible that we could get a new teaser for October-December in late September? <3
  • KeyenpeydeeKeyenpeydee Posts: 9,280 Member
    Can Color Wheels possibly be back? I don't think it's hard for color wheels in case of game development...
    Queen of Rap, Nicki Minaj // minajsalad
    tumblr_nijden3ooM1qb9pa3o1_500.gifv

  • ULIBABA66ULIBABA66 Posts: 2,037 Member
    Oops, just one more question :P
    Will you guys do anything for players who loved Create a Style tool in TS3? Even an official program on Origin would be amazing! <3
  • XMachiaXXMachiaX Posts: 122 Member
    Hello ^^

    1. I would love to know what kind of Sim YOU would like to have back in TS4 (Fairies, Vampires ect.) not what will or might come back, but what you would enjoy to play again ;)

    2. Do you manage the stress well? You always have to reply to the same questions over and over again... I actually hate that, so I would like to know, if the stress hits you sometimes and how you cope with it.

  • FeyonaFeyona Posts: 145 Member
    Hello, @SimGuruDrake. I wanted to ask a few questions.

    1. Currently Sims 4 is not easy moddable despite of the help of Simgurumodsquad who shared a lot of useful information. By saying this I mean that in previous series it was much easier to create CAS objects with transparency and adding additional subsets so texture would always look good, not stretched, not pixelated and alpha-hair would work beautifully with transparent accessories (earrings, veils). Right now we need to use simglass shader which doesn't allow 2 items that overlap each other look good. My question is three a possibility to improve shader or create a new one? Or when the game is shipped with it's own style then it's shipped and nothing ever going to be or can be changed? I know that you changed the tuning of the lights by creating new one and deleting old tuning. Do developers/producers listen to modding community so we can suggest or ask for some features? If yes, can modders get a thread for suggestions? Personally I miss the ability to add new subset with it's own texture to the CAS item so I don't have to squeeze the texture into tiny space on uv map.

    Here is an example how 2 objects with simglass shader work in the game. When it looks good from the front, part of the veil is "hidden" under the hair. It can be fixed so it will look correctly from the back, but then part of the veil will overlap sims alpha-hair in the front.
    13882788.jpg

    2. If it's not a secret information, what is The Sims 4 target audience and what country buys the most?

    Thank you!
  • TerraTerra Posts: 1,353 Member
    edited August 2016
    Do you have anyone who can look at Sims 3 Mac issues or is that no longer possible because the game is no longer supported by the 3rd party development team EA used to port the game using Cider?

    This is so important - so many of us Mac players on TS3 invested a LOT of money into the game, and now it is unplayable for most new Macs. Please answer this question, SimGurus.

    A few other questions:
    Why don't step-relations get special relationship markers in the relationship panel? The step-relation shows up on the family tree but not the relationships panel.

    Why don't premade families with new packs (ie Get Together) come with a more interesting family tree, like in TS2, now that family trees are part of the base game? For example, the Villareal family mentions Luna and Hugo's mother in the description, but she does not appear on the family tree or buried anywhere on the lot. In TS2 we got to see a few generations back of most premade Sims, such as the Caliente and Goth families, with Easter Eggs hidden in (like the alien in the Caliente line). Why doesn't the team do this for new packs? Is it because those dead Sims will count towards culling limits?

    Is there any underlying attraction system in TS4? If not, why did the team decide to scrap the intricate attraction system of TS2? (not sure how it works in TS3)

    Why do many Sims have body types that look unnatural if they gain or lose weight or muscle mass? For example, Eric Lewis and Bob Pancakes both have waists that are abnormally thin when they move up or down the muscle scales. Why doesn't the team test how characters look at all points on the weight and muscles scales? Or does the team just not mind the abnormal body proportions that they pass on to their descendants?
  • CinderellimouseCinderellimouse Posts: 19,380 Member
    uzumo wrote: »
    Do sims actually have organs, besides eyes and ears? Can a sim's heartbeat be heard? Are sims almost hollow? I know they have a skeleton and muscles. Do they have a stomach, intestines, blood, liver, kidneys, esophagus, and brain? Do they have missing body parts, internally?

    I can answer that one! :D



    This is inside the head, looking down towards the feet. Glad to be of assistance in such matters [pun intended].
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    uzumo wrote: »
    Do sims actually have organs, besides eyes and ears? Can a sim's heartbeat be heard? Are sims almost hollow? I know they have a skeleton and muscles. Do they have a stomach, intestines, blood, liver, kidneys, esophagus, and brain? Do they have missing body parts, internally?

    I can answer that one! :D



    This is inside the head, looking down towards the feet. Glad to be of assistance in such matters [pun intended].

    @Cinderellimouse LOL! Creepy picture, but cool!

    @uzumo It's a fun question actually, but I don't think those things are every really "animated" (not here, but also not in Pixar/Disney movies for example), because that's a) very complex to model and b) wouldn't serve much of a purpose in-game as you'd never actually see it / need it. So even if you could hear a sim's heart beat, that would just be sound, not an actual animated beating heart (unless maybe, the sim's chest would for some reason be cracked open, but I doubt we'll ever get to see that :D).
  • ReveryRevery Posts: 166 Member
    Hello everyone!

    My question relates to something Drake mentioned earlier: I understand that playing TS4 in their free time might get tiresome for developers when the game is already such a big part of the team's working life.

    I'm wondering whether any of you were fans of the franchise before you were involved with TS4 and whether your past experiences with the game influence the development of current content.

    Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, even if you don't get around to answering mine... you sure have a lot to wade through already :smiley:
  • ASDF0716ASDF0716 Posts: 1,703 Member
    edited August 2016
    Are there longer / more detailed questions that are still being looked at by the teams (understanding they have actual jobs to do) from yesterday? I would really appreciate a conversation about things believed (by players) to be broken in TS4 and whether or not the teams see things differently. Or if our question didn't get addressed or answered are we just out of luck?
  • EmmaHallEmmaHall Posts: 34 Member
    Will be in the future, such creatures?
    vampires
    werewolves
    witch
    fairy
    mermaid
    zombie
    gins
    demons
    angels
    updated ghosts.
  • DarkAmaranth1966DarkAmaranth1966 Posts: 13,416 Member
    Maybe not for TS4 but, TS5 would it be possible to release age restricted DLC to make the game more adult for adult players? I'm not saying nudes or pron type stuff but, adult situations and rabbit holes at least.

    Sims that get divorced have to spend money and go to court to fight over custody of kids, property, etc... Collectors harass you on the phone and add late fees to unpaid bills. You can file charges against someone who kicks your trash can, Children and even infants can die of certain things. Sims can have chronic diseases that cost money to treat and, thus keep the sim alive but, limit the jobs they can get because they have "perpetually growing ear drums" or something.
    Life is what you make it so, make it good.
  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    Hello SGDrake
    I was wondering since sims can't dance together facing each other if the slow dance will even be possible later.

    Could you ask one of the gurus who work on animations?
  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    clover24 wrote: »
    (I hope this one is OK to ask)

    Would it be possible to have an auto roof option?
    Im a terrible builder but this option would make it a little bit easier as I'm terrible at roofs.

    I've mentioned this to SimGuruHouts on twitter.
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