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    Is Cats and Dogs the reason why we only have 1 expansion a year?

    «134
    Zeldaboy180Zeldaboy180 Posts: 5,997 Member
    in The Sims 4 Speculation and Rumor
    Sim Guru grant said he's been working on this expansion for years, which is how every pets expansion works. Sims 3 pets was also in production for years, and seasons started work during late night if I remember correctly.

    Could this be why we've only received 1 expansion a year lately? Could it go back to normal now, or is seasons the next big pack to be worked on?

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      littlemissgogolittlemissgogo Posts: 1,808 Member
      Hmm. It certainly is an interesting idea. I also had never considered the sheer scope of what introducing pets into the Sims required just animation-wise but it certainly seems like a lot. Maybe slightly less so with recycled animations but still quite a bit imo. Pets is/was a large undertaking so maybe with its release on the horizon, speedier production on other stuff is possible?
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      SimplyobsessedSimplyobsessed Posts: 315 Member
      edited August 2017
      They managed to consistently get more than one EP a year out when they did Pets in previous versions of The Sims so the one EP a year trend is a marketing strategy - it is nothing more or less than that. When we are told that they are 'capable' of making one EP a year, or two GP a year, or four SP a year that is a restriction imposed on them by budgeting and marketing strategy.
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      Lomelindi7Lomelindi7 Posts: 1,339 Member
      Unfortunately I do not think the speed will pick up on expansions. I expect a few more game packs next year but I think we can pretty much count on one EP a year. Seasons is going to take a lot of animations as well to integrate it into the backdrops in each world and for snow and rain to collect properly on top of objects, so that's gotta take just as long as Pets, right? But maybe after that it could speed up...
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      Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
      edited August 2017
      A pets ep takes about 3 years to make with a large ep team - They once said they have started on a pets ep even before the game is released. The devs have talked about this several times before in interviews- but claim they always have to do it as it is always the most requested pack world wide. Grant just did an interview when he explained this pretty much indepth as to why it takes so long. It makes sense.

      I understand Seasons is just as complex, as weather affects everything and every life form in the game.

      Post edited by Writin_Reg on

      "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

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      In REALITY, I simply exist.....

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      PugLove888PugLove888 Posts: 674 Member
      I agree! Don't blame "Pets" for our lack of EPs in TS4! :o Businesses have to run by rules, and budgets. Since we now not only have Expansion Packs and Stuff Packs (like in TS2 &TS3) we now have Game Packs! With GPs added to the mix, that leaves less resources for EPs. ;)
      Home is where your Pugs are! <3
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      littlemissgogolittlemissgogo Posts: 1,808 Member
      I think some people forget that the team working on TS4 is not the same size team that was working on TS3 so keep that in mind when possible. Plus if I ever feel compelled to blame folks, I always aim for whoever is at the tippy top of the food chain.
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      NeonHighwaysNeonHighways Posts: 1,508 Member
      I think it's possible. If I'm not mistaken they said that the development of toddlers slowed some things down, so I can se how cats and dogs would slow things too... We'll see next year if they are capable of releasing 2 expansions like they did in 2015.
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      ceinwynieceinwynie Posts: 162 Member
      I think the lack of expansion pack was because of the Toddlers update, they add so many things, it was almost an expansion pack but they couldn´t charge for it because it should be in the base game.
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      orkhid22orkhid22 Posts: 2,226 Member
      edited August 2017
      the sims 3 had two EP teams. ts4 has 1. i think that more than working on Pets is the reason for 1 EP a year. when seasons come will a thread be created to ask if seasons is the reason. enough already. it's 1 a year. they've said repeatedly that's how it's going to be.
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      ChristianSimFanChristianSimFan Posts: 546 Member
      I really don't want to wait a year for Season :(.
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      LenaDieters11LenaDieters11 Posts: 1,346 Member
      I believe they have been working on seasons for years as well. Once that's out of the way, maybe they will release more EPs per year.
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      ChristianSimFanChristianSimFan Posts: 546 Member
      Good! I hope so!
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      JumpingTrainsJumpingTrains Posts: 442 Member
      No.

      The EP team is smaller nowadays.
      City Living also took a year to develop.
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      LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,288 Member
      edited August 2017
      1 EP + TS4 console + Seasons Patch (or any big patch), it's enough to keep them busy.

      If we count Gender Patch and Toddler Patch as EP (in term of work), I would say we got 2 major additions each year.

      Big projects:

      2015: EP01, TS4 Mac, EP02, TS4 64-bit
      2016: Gender Patch, EP03
      2017: Toddler Patch, EP04, TS4 console
      The Sims 4 Ideas Corner The Sims 4 General Discussion
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      luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,629 Member
      I think we have one EP a year because instead of having two EP teams (and the problems that caused because they were working parallel to each other), we have an EP team and a GP team. We had 2 EPs a year; now was have 1 EP a year and a couple of GPs.
      EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
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      LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,288 Member
      edited August 2017
      ... nvm ...
      The Sims 4 Ideas Corner The Sims 4 General Discussion
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      Simsfan99111Simsfan99111 Posts: 1,260 Member
      edited August 2017
      I thought it was because the different pack teams work together more closely during development so that features get implemented correctly without breaking current features or effecting stability/performance. I could be completely wrong though and most likely probably am as that may be more to do with release schedule i dont know. Im not overly bothered about one ep a year, im not really sure why we got 2 eps the first year and only one last year and this year. Im just impatient though to be fair lol.
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      LeGardePourpreLeGardePourpre Posts: 15,288 Member
      Don't you forget they works on several EP at the same time.

      Cats & Dogs development began a long time ago and City Living was also under development.
      The Sims 4 Ideas Corner The Sims 4 General Discussion
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      marcel21marcel21 Posts: 12,341 Member
      edited August 2017
      Pretty upset we won't be getting smaller animal or horses.
      Maybe they will be making packs for them to :(


      Just cats and dogs.
      They really are going back to the sims 1 it seems..

      Did it have create a style for pets?


      Anyway Maybe this is why it took so long to make an expansion or maybe not.
      Origin ID MichaelUKingdon


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      JeanJean Posts: 1,243 Member
      edited August 2017
      In terms of complexity of a pack.. Maybe. Otherwise I'd say no. They already have a lot less people working on packs for this iteration.
      And i personally love that they focused so much on cats and dogs, which.. Lets be real here, are the animals most people would play with a sims game anyway.
      I hope they really flesh them out well, a la toddlers and the vamps, because those are easily the best in any sims game.
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      LoanetLoanet Posts: 4,079 Member
      I don't mind one EP a year, as long as we keep getting multiple Game Packs. Game Packs make up for it (even if they are a way to pump money out of our pockets and into EA's wallet).

      I also think that even though we won't get Create A Style for Sims, this does mean we'll be getting it for horses.
      Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
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      PugLove888PugLove888 Posts: 674 Member
      Loanet wrote: »
      I don't mind one EP a year, as long as we keep getting multiple Game Packs. Game Packs make up for it (even if they are a way to pump money out of our pockets and into EA's wallet).

      I also think that even though we won't get Create A Style for Sims, this does mean we'll be getting it for horses.

      @Loanet , sadly I really don't' think we will be getting horses because where would our Sims ride them to without an open world? We finally got horses in TS3 more thank likely because of its open world. I hope I'm wrong though! ;)
      Home is where your Pugs are! <3
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      LoanetLoanet Posts: 4,079 Member
      edited August 2017
      PugLove888 wrote: »
      Loanet wrote: »
      I don't mind one EP a year, as long as we keep getting multiple Game Packs. Game Packs make up for it (even if they are a way to pump money out of our pockets and into EA's wallet).

      I also think that even though we won't get Create A Style for Sims, this does mean we'll be getting it for horses.

      @Loanet , sadly I really don't' think we will be getting horses because where would our Sims ride them to without an open world? We finally got horses in TS3 more thank likely because of its open world. I hope I'm wrong though! ;)

      Most people think there's more to do with horses than just travel with them. Horse shows are a big thing, and you can still ride around the neighbourhood. We've got a vet, so they can get sick. My house is right next door to a Pirate Ship playground and there are benches - but you have to walk to them. And look at the size of Granite Falls; you do a lot of walking around there, even though you're 'logged on' to just the one house.

      They wouldn't be as directly useful as in Sims 3, but that doesn't mean you can't get a lot of fun out of owning and training them.
      Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
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      JerrelloJerrello Posts: 896 Member
      Writin_Reg wrote: »
      A pets ep takes about 3 years to make with a large ep team - They once said they have started on a pets ep even before the game is released. The devs have talked about this several times before in interviews- but claim they always have to do it as it is always the most requested pack world wide. Grant just did an interview when he explained this pretty much indepth as to why it takes so long. It makes sense.

      I understand Seasons is just as complex, as weather affects everything and every life form in the game.

      I really wish Seasons would have been the most requested expansion before Pets. Although pets are nice to have I never focused much on them. It says a lot that Seasons in Sims 3 didn't release until the end of the Sims 3 lifespan. I really do hope Seasons is next but I've heard more buzz of a University in the works. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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