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Let's Discuss "Sims 5" Project: 06 NEW GAME MODES

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  • DeKayDeKay Posts: 81,474 Member
    Metaphasic wrote: »
    DeKay wrote: »
    Look, I'm not gonna pretend I know how game developing and game engine works.
    But I think in order to have open world possible without lag on a lower end computer is rather impossible unless you want really long loading times in the beginning and also no option to build you own lots.

    I believe that The Sims game has always been a rather CPU heavy game since it is constantly loading our "custom lots" and the our "custom sims". Most other games don't have this. They have pre-made worlds that cannot be customized so the game doesn't have to render these places to a huge extent cuz it's already 'built into the engine'? If that makes sense? XD

    So, if we really want the worlds to be advanced and be open world without rabbit holes, then they have to really up the specs for the game, unfortunately.

    I think an open neighborhood would be the way to go. And then a loading screen will take place to load another district/neighborhood if our sims travel.

    I agree and what you suggest is similar to what I suggested. Keep the closed towns, just make them a tad bigger, and instead of a loading screen, simulate travel between lots/towns. We'll always need rabbit holes. I really don't feel like micromanaging a sim at work anyway.

    Suggestions for new town/world types though:
    - Ski Lodge
    - Lake sports (boats etc)
    - Beach fronts
    - Alien Homeworld (where they take you when abducted, if you choose to follow them and let the AI handle the ones still at home)

    Venue Ideas:
    - Sports arena (basketball, football, soccer, etc)

    I'll think of more later.

    Oh, with rabbit holes, I mean like the ones in TS3 where they have a real building there but you can't go inside with your sim. It's a bit awkward especially when you're playing just one sim and have to wait for them outside. Haha.
    My Top Song of the Day: Fancy Footwork by Chromeo
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  • CharliecheesenurgersCharliecheesenurgers Posts: 3,673 Member
    This is a cool thread!
    Come Join our mafia games in the off-topic chat! https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/930404/mafia-masterlist#latest
    It's a lot of fun!
  • Sim_Man17Sim_Man17 Posts: 173 Member
    edited August 2018
    I do agree with a free and open world with separate cities/districts/"worlds".
    Perhaps it could play a bit similar to The Sims 3 Island Paradise with a few tweaks and so on.
    Your Sims can travel through a Boat/Ship, Train, Plane, Hot Air Balloon, cars and other land bound vehicles, and so on.
    Even some surreal or arcane forms of transportation like Teleportation can be included.
    Plus, you get to see your Sims in the Planes, Trains, Ships, and so on.
    It may not be the most thrilling nor astonishing part of the game, but it will give most players a vivid illusion of reality/life. Get them immersed.
    You could even socialize with others or play on your phones while traveling in planes, ships, or whatever form of transportation you decide for your sims to use that isn't quick and requires one interaction like teleportation.
    It would feel like an actual world with every destination open to you!
    Want to live in Isla Paradiso? How about Champs Les Sims or Al Simhara? Maybe Shang Simla or Selvadorada? Doesn't matter.
    The world is an actual world. Free and open. There are islands and other lands across those oceans and you can go there, move there, or just visit! It is a world. Your world. Or EA's world. Unless you can create an entire world of your own!

    Yeah. I know this sounds like an absolute pipe dream.
    EA and Maxis will have to go all out on this if they were to even consider this option.
    Travel and Adventure Packs wouldn't exist because why would they?
    The world of the Sims has every created culture in the franchise!
    Well. They could push out a few stuff packs with a specific world location theme in case they haven't done enough with one or two locations.
    Though I'm not exceedingly sure on how this will effect every computer.
    I've seen regular computers hold exceedingly vast worlds.
    Most of them being in games with first person perspectives.

    What if we could experience The Sims in first person?
    Be the Sim!
    That would be pretty interesting and even open the possibility of making a VR version of the franchise.

    Though my primary concern is the realism, complexity and depth to The Sims.
    I want The Sims to be more than just a plethora of objects that cater to a specific class and animations that don't change your sim's outcome very much.
    I want EA and Maxis to look deeply into the Chaos Theories and Cause and Effect.
    Every action possesses almost countless consequences that are often dictated by the Sim's behavior, personality, situation/condition, or just by pure chance.
    Now, I don't even need cheat codes to make my Sim's life a peace of gourmet cake.
    Relationships lack extreme consequences and complexity.
    Since when do you, the player, have gotten into a fight that ended immediately with you or the person you're fighting with having a civil/friendly chat or joking about your boss?
    Yes; I want my sims to be weird and to experience surreal situations, but I don't want my simulated reality to feel so... Mechanical, Manufactured, Illogical, but predictable.
    Yes; I want to still be able to use cheats, but I want the game to challenge me before I create the valid excuse to use them.
    I want the option to have my sim go through melancholy before reaching ecstasy.
    Of course, you can do that in the current iterations, but the game seems to be a bit unrealistically easy and optimistic; Making you go out of your way to have your sims experience a bad time.

    Plus, there is the AI.
    Even with The Sims 4's highly advertised multi-tasking system, our sims still seem to be a bit... Stupid.
    Relationships is just one of the issues of the game's AI.
    You will have to take Emotions and Individuality into consideration.
    Very few of you might remember my experiment...
    Take two Sims with completely different personalities and place them in one single room filled with objects that trigger/emit a specific emotion.
    Once you do that, will your two "individual" sims experience their own set of emotions or will they experience the same set of emotions at the same time?
    Will an Evil Sim take sadness from a sad painting just like a Good Sim?

    That is another thing that sort of bothers me in The Sims 4. The fact that certain objects are able to emit emotions.
    Here is why.
    There is one piece of Modern Styled Decoration/Technology that is suppose to emit the Focused emotion.
    If your sim was truly an individual, wouldn't it be possible for your sim to find that very object far less focusing? Maybe even distracting.

    Plus, we need to really work on our Personality Traits. Give them more depth.
    What is the difference between a "Genius" sim and an intellectually regular sim?
    New question.
    What is the difference between a "Genius" sim and a Focused sim?

    What are your sim's desires? What are their Fears? How about their Quirks? Do they possess any Physical or Social Drawbacks? Do they possess any Drawbacks that are noticeable or effective in their lives?

    What is a Genius? What is Erratic? What is Good or Bad?

    That is another drawback to The Sims.
    The fact that they've implemented a solid and objective "Good" and "Evil" to our sims.
    Anyone here ever watched TheGamingLemon's Sims 4 series?
    He created a sim version of Nigel Thornberry.
    In the series, Nigel has done what many have considered to be acts of Evil, but he isn't Evil.
    What is the point of a Good and Evil trait if both sims can commit both "Good" and "Evil" acts?
    Of course, you might say that the purpose is for the evil sim to experience pleasure while among a suffering sim, but that goes back to the personality problem and the AI's issues.
    Plus, wouldn't an "Evil" sim find pleasure or apathy in the death of a sim? Even if that sim is a friend?
    Of course, that question is simply another version of the "Sad Painting" question.
    I'm simply under the belief that Morality is subjective.
    If you wish to have an evil sim? You can play as one without the redundant trait.
    Perhaps the idea/concept of "Evil" can be introduced as a reward trait similar to Stone Hearted. Perhaps we can call it the Heartless trait.

    Of course I got other suggestions and ideas. Like reintroducing CASt/The Color Wheel for both Sims and Objects, having your sims require a specific degree or skill before getting hired into a career, have all careers be similar to The Sims 4 Get to Work careers, and having EA and Maxis experiment with how mature they can make their content without straying away from the T rate.

    Hey. If they can introduce murder and religion in The Sims Medieval, why not in the base franchise?

    Hope this comment isn't too T L ; D R for this post.

    Oh! And thank you for tagging me, @Karon .
    Post edited by Sim_Man17 on
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    Shinzen wrote: »
    I've always been someone who was against open-world, and I think that closed world works well in the Sims 4.

    I think that the worlds are too far apart geographically to be on one page together; Windenburg, based on Germany, being beside San Myshuno, based on New York, or heck, even on the same page, would ruin the immersion for me. It'd just look odd. So in that sense, I don't support a map like what you were suggesting. In my own mind, they're across an ocean or body of water.

    Same with Forgotten Hollow; it's stuck in the mountains, probably close to Windenburg. I don't think there's anything wrong with how the maps work currently in the Sims 4.

    As far as being in a neighbourhood, I think that it should appear how it is now, with neighbourhoods separated. For example, when you buy a lot in Oasis springs, you can't scroll to see the whole Oasis Springs, all you see is your close neighbourhood. However, the only thing I'd support is not having a loading screen for houses right next to you. You can't see inside them as you play your current household, but if you go to visit and knock on the door, and the guests say "Come on in!" then the rest of the house loads, as it does now, but this time without a loading screen. You can visit and load the house.

    That's all I'd want to see, because I don't think it'd be a strain on anybody's computer. Anything more would turn TS4 into the slow, crashy, huge save file game that I hated so much about TS3.
    As for the bold, there isn’t when it comes to the worlds (San Myshuno, Windenburg, Willow Creek, Forgotten Hollow etc), but there is within those worlds for me. The neighborhoods within the Sims 4 worlds lack cohesion, though they have improved it over time (there’s more logic in the setup of the newer worlds, especially Selvadorada). When I zoom out or look across the bridge, I want to see the houses I can visit when I travel to a different neighborhood in the distance. I absolutely loathe the fake backdrops, that’s done so much better in Sims 2 where there are loading screens as well, but what you see in the background you can actually travel to. It’s why San Myshuno doesn’t work for me. It’s beautiful, looking out of my window, but it’s also unreachable. A useless painting in the distance. They could make a nightmarish horror movie based on that given afaic. I also think the neighborhoods are unnecessarily small (five lots). And I hate how the player can’t adjust those neighborhoods to their liking the way we can in Sims 3. By removing lot frames and adding them on a different spot for instance.
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  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    edited August 2018
    DeKay wrote: »
    Metaphasic wrote: »
    DeKay wrote: »
    Look, I'm not gonna pretend I know how game developing and game engine works.
    But I think in order to have open world possible without lag on a lower end computer is rather impossible unless you want really long loading times in the beginning and also no option to build you own lots.

    I believe that The Sims game has always been a rather CPU heavy game since it is constantly loading our "custom lots" and the our "custom sims". Most other games don't have this. They have pre-made worlds that cannot be customized so the game doesn't have to render these places to a huge extent cuz it's already 'built into the engine'? If that makes sense? XD

    So, if we really want the worlds to be advanced and be open world without rabbit holes, then they have to really up the specs for the game, unfortunately.

    I think an open neighborhood would be the way to go. And then a loading screen will take place to load another district/neighborhood if our sims travel.

    I agree and what you suggest is similar to what I suggested. Keep the closed towns, just make them a tad bigger, and instead of a loading screen, simulate travel between lots/towns. We'll always need rabbit holes. I really don't feel like micromanaging a sim at work anyway.

    Suggestions for new town/world types though:
    - Ski Lodge
    - Lake sports (boats etc)
    - Beach fronts
    - Alien Homeworld (where they take you when abducted, if you choose to follow them and let the AI handle the ones still at home)

    Venue Ideas:
    - Sports arena (basketball, football, soccer, etc)

    I'll think of more later.

    Oh, with rabbit holes, I mean like the ones in TS3 where they have a real building there but you can't go inside with your sim. It's a bit awkward especially when you're playing just one sim and have to wait for them outside. Haha.
    More awkward than sending that sim into thin air? Then you have to wait for them sitting in the living room. I prefer seeing the building they are in myself. Besides, basing the game on playing just one sim doesn’t necessarily have to be the starting point I’d say. You can play up to 8 now. Plus I love playing 1 sim households in Sims 3 and many of those households hardly enter rabbitholes ever since they finished school. Just to buy a book or a tomato occasionally but for me that beats buying a book or tomato from your shelf or fridge.
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  • KirbySkywalkerKirbySkywalker Posts: 511 Member
    edited August 2018
    Lots of good ideas on here.

    Since I was tagged and asked for my opinion I’ll share my thoughts.

    I dabbled in TS 1&2 but I really got into sims 3. I bought all DLC except the last 2 stuff packs. There was very little in TS3 that I did not enjoy, I believe those things were added by showtime, where it tried to force Facebook integration and the feature to send your sim on tour to unlock more items. Also, few things about the celebrity system was annoying. I feel like after several generations every single sim was some sort of celebrity... that’s no good...

    But, Aside from the bugs and poor optimization. I LOVED IT!! Even the best computer of today can not run TS3 with all the DLC and store content installed... sigh...

    I really wanted TS4 to be a copy of TS3 with better graphics, pristine optimization, and much better graphics.

    TBH, if TS3 actually ran correctly, I would not even play the current iteration of TS4.

    I truly feel there should be a lawful punishment against EA. We paid A LOT of money for all of the TS3 content and it DOES NOT WORK!

    That being said, (here comes more boring and lame stuff). I WOULD NOT buy TS5 unless it really came hard at us with exciting content. There would have to be A LOT more traits to give our sims different personalities. Ts3 did it good. My sims felt different. I was interested in how the sims in my town would carry out their lives based on their traits. The sims felt varied and interesting.

    In TS3 there was over 100 traits including the hidden ones. TS4 has about 50...

    TS4 sims feel all the same. The only thing different is what they look like. They all behave the same. Even where they tried to give sims personality, they failed. I have a romantic sim who gets a negative moodlet for not being romantic... 5 seconds after a date that ended with woohoo... it seems complete random.

    You know... I feel like I’m headed down a path that should be a different forum post, one called “EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE SIMS 4”. Sorry about that, I’ll get back on track.

    For me TS5 would need to work. Yes, first of all it would have to work with all of the extra content installed at once. ALL OF IT.

    Second, it would have to have better traits. Traits that give sims personality and quirks. Like “IRL” I want sims I like and sims I don’t like based on their personality.

    Third, they have to bring back the classics. All the occult (done right like TS4 Vampires). Broomhilda. Plumbots. Magic. Fame. Coworkers. Playing music in a group, not just solo. Linking speakers together. Etc...

    Fourth, it MUST launch with things we expect. CASt, terrain tools, pools, all ages, diving boards, lounge chairs (why are diving boards and lounge chairs not in TS4 yet?) 64x64 lots, etc etc etc...

    fifth, it must have some original content at launch. Something exciting. I do not know what that thing is. But I DO NOT want to wait 3 years for the game to be fun like I had to do with TS4.

    That’s my ideas. For now TS4 has miles to go and I hope they get there with it. I love the patch earlier today and I hope they patch in basic things like diving boards and lounge chairs soon. I also yearn for them to add traits that give real personality...

    That’s all I have to say. Sorry for the wall of text.
    Post edited by KirbySkywalker on
  • KirbySkywalkerKirbySkywalker Posts: 511 Member
    Also for TS5, they need to keep adding the little things and not give up on them. Like the hidden areas in TS4. They gave up on them because only 11% of players utilized them. But it’s those little things that give the game depth. The depth us true simmers deserve.

    The Sims franchise is HUGE and LEGENDARY! There SHOULD be things catering to various 10%’s of loyal players.
  • micheleimichelei Posts: 422 Member
    I love this topic. What amazing creative ideas. I hope someone on the sims team reads this thread.

    As much as I miss having a completely open world I do think large open neighborhoods would be a nice compromise. They would have to be good sized though as most areas in Sims 4 feel very tight and claustrophobic to me. I also miss the alive feeling of Sims 3. I could see my neighbors going about their day. I could see them going to work or school. I could watch their children playing with their pets in their backyards. It felt full.

    It was so frustrating when I first started playing Sims 4 I would make a beautiful park next door to my sim family. I pictured my sim parent working in their home office or cooking and watching their children next door at the park but guess what? You can not see your children at the park next door. That beautiful neighborhood park is always completely empty unless you are actually there. It feels wrong. It feels empty. I have the same issue when I built my families outdoor restaurant next door. An open neighborhood would fix this.
  • micheleimichelei Posts: 422 Member
    edited August 2018
    The biggest most important decision in my opinion for Sims 5 will be choosing the game engine. How many times have we heard that the current game engine just does not support the choices we desire. It can't handle deep snow, swimmable oceans, or on off toggles that give players options. The sims team now know what are deal breakers for many of us. Hopefully, they will choose the next game engine more wisely. The engine needs to be able to handle more than just the base game.

    They also need to keep personal beliefs and bias far away from the game. I do not want to hear that one persons so called "design decision" is dictating to me what I can and can not have in my game. We did not feel firefighters were that important so you can not have them. We decided that doghouses are cruel so you can not have them. We decided that toddlers are not important so you can not have them. We decided that killing sims is not politically correct so you can not do it. Nothing is stopping them from removing sim death in the future game because one person decides it is wrong.

    My point is my personal experience is not yours. Your personal experience is not mine. The game says "You Rule". It does not say "You Rule if you believe my way and play the game my way". That is what is going to kill the game.
  • elanorbretonelanorbreton Posts: 14,518 Member
    I am a huge fan of TS3’s open world, and I really miss not being able to control multiple sims wherever they are.

    That said, for the sake of performance, I would be fairly happy with partially open worlds. I would keep the worlds on separate loading screens as they are now, but then have more areas in each world, and each section would be open so that our sims could visit neighbours or multiple community lots without having to go through further loading screens. Just a loading screen if you wanted to visit a different section in that world or a different world entirely.

    I would also re-do the loading screens to make them less immersion breaking. I would have different travel options firstly, so when your sim wanted to travel to say, Windenburg, from Willow Creek, they would get an option to travel by train, car, bike, plane etc. Then the loading screen that appeared would reflect the mode of travelling. So, if you chose to travel by train you would see something like this:

    train_decapotable4.gif

    Obviously, it would be in the sims art style and hopefully we would be able to see images of the sims we selected to travel sat on the train. Same with a car or plane etc.

    As for rabbitholes, I much prefer them than disappearances. The rabbitholes were always nicely designed and made the worlds look more complete, and it was far less immersion breaking to watch a sim going into a rabbithole than vanishing off the face of the planet.
  • vikixcvikixc Posts: 330 Member
    Love the grid map idea, it will make it feel more fluid
    2UFyFUV.png

  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    @Metaphasic Your idea is very interesting. I would never think of doing to the worlds/towns the same thing we do with lots sticking them in the highways.
    Shinzen wrote: »
    I've always been someone who was against open-world, and I think that closed world works well in the Sims 4.

    I think that the worlds are too far apart geographically to be on one page together; Windenburg, based on Germany, being beside San Myshuno, based on New York, or heck, even on the same page, would ruin the immersion for me. It'd just look odd. So in that sense, I don't support a map like what you were suggesting. In my own mind, they're across an ocean or body of water.

    Same with Forgotten Hollow; it's stuck in the mountains, probably close to Windenburg. I don't think there's anything wrong with how the maps work currently in the Sims 4.

    As far as being in a neighbourhood, I think that it should appear how it is now, with neighbourhoods separated. For example, when you buy a lot in Oasis springs, you can't scroll to see the whole Oasis Springs, all you see is your close neighbourhood. However, the only thing I'd support is not having a loading screen for houses right next to you. You can't see inside them as you play your current household, but if you go to visit and knock on the door, and the guests say "Come on in!" then the rest of the house loads, as it does now, but this time without a loading screen. You can visit and load the house.

    That's all I'd want to see, because I don't think it'd be a strain on anybody's computer. Anything more would turn TS4 into the slow, crashy, huge save file game that I hated so much about TS3.

    Actually you misunderstood my concept. If we fit Sims 4 worlds/neigborhoods in it, Windenburg/San Myshuno/Forgotten Hollow wouldnt be in the same "world/state" map. The "world/state" maps would focus in worlds with similar geography / culture / climate... For instance, Willow Creek and Newcrest would be part of the same "world/state", and if you wanted to visit San Myshuno you would have to go on a trip to another map that would focus in a geography/culture/climate similar to what San Francisco has in real life, we would have to travel to them just like we do with Selvadorada/Granite Falls in Sims 4. The same could be aplied to Windenburg, where we would have to go on a trip to another map that had an Germany feel to it, unless you have chosen to live in Windenburg when you first created your save. Then you could always change towns in a Town Hall or something.
    Part of the concept that i made was around that. I hate how people from Windenburg is walking down the street in my Willow Creek, when they are far apart from eachother.
    But yes, i agree with you that in Sims 5 we should at least have the possibility to choose if we want the neighborhoods to be pre-loaded.

    @DeKay Thanks for showing up. And, yes, i agree. Some people don't understand what The Sims is, msot games are scripted, the characters are not as free as our sims are. Sometimes objects are even considered part of the scenerario instead of its own entity. The Sims franchise shouldnt focus on being for low-end pcs, but i also dont think they should make a game impossible to be played in a low-end pc. Sims 4, as an example, could have better graphics and options to lower it down to what we have now, they could have added open neighborhoods and the option to close them if the users computer wasnt able to run all the houses at once. Sims 5 should be a smarter game, it should try to understand its enviroment and adapt to it. I mean, i am not saying that hte game shoudl rewrite itself to be playable in a 2000s computer, but it should do whats possible to its core. But a chameleon game-core like that would probably take more than just 3/4 years to develop, and we know EA likes to rush their products.

    Sjofn wrote: »
    <cough> San Myshuno is based on San Francisco <cough>

    I do think 'world' is misleading. But I don't think watching my sims travel between them would actually do a whole lot for immersion. In Mass Effect they disguised loading with elevator rides, and all that did was make you feel like you were trapped in an elevator for eternity. :p

    I'm of two minds on the open world thing. Using TS4's terminology I think I'd prefer neighborhoods be open (it feels silly that I need to go through a loading screen to go next door) but not necessarily the entire world. In TS3, I tended to buy a house near the things I'd use most, and didn't range out further afield super often (and I'd actually accidentally make my sims get the Stir Crazy moodlet more often than you'd think), so if I'm honest, I don't need a giant open world to roam around in. I just don't like loading screens when I decide I'm tired of the bar and want to go to the nightclub next door or whatever!

    @Sjofn I would give anything to be able to hear a SimGuru explain why Sims 4 has all the houses in the neighborhoods load their objects, but we have to have loading screens to visit them. It just doesnt make sense to me.
    Metaphasic wrote: »
    Perhaps the solution then is to have a town divided into blocks. Have one block fully loaded at a time. It's not likely your sims is going to RUN completely across town right? If your destination is in another block, then loading screen it. Does that sound reasonable? It shouldn't be too hard on most PC's these days.

    Thats basically my whole idea here. hahaha
    Metaphasic wrote: »
    Guys, I just had a developer moment. You know how you can queue up actions for a sim? What if you knew you were going to go somewhere and wanted it preloaded? Click on the lot in question and instead of clicking "visit", click "prepare for visit". It'll load while you continue to do whatever with your sim. When it's ready, just go. When you leave, it'll automatically unload.

    No loading screens, no interruption of game play, and just about all computers that can handle sims 4 now, could handle that!

    Imagine:

    Your sim just got home from work and needs to pee, shower and eat, so you queue that up. You know he's going to go hang out with a friend later. So you scroll to the lot, click "prepare for visit", then scroll back home and watch him do his stuff. Soon, you get a message in the notice tray that says "lot is ready for visit", then queue it up by clicking "visit" on the lot. As soon as he's done with his other tasks, he just walks over and knocks on the door, and goes in.

    Thats also cool. Then the game would unload your house while you are at the other neighborhood, until you wanted to go back again.
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    Sjofn wrote: »
    Metaphasic wrote: »
    Perhaps the solution then is to have a town divided into blocks. Have one block fully loaded at a time. It's not likely your sims is going to RUN completely across town right? If your destination is in another block, then loading screen it. Does that sound reasonable? It shouldn't be too hard on most PC's these days.
    That's more or less what I'd like best, I think, I just don't know how feasible it actually would be.

    Shinzen wrote: »
    Actually, I read that they took inspiration from many places; New York, Vancouver, and yep, San Francisco, but they also looked towards Tokyo as well. I can see influences of all throughout the various neighbourhoods. For example, for the fashion district, they wrote " The Fashion District and Uptown are both inspired by the high-tech high rises of cities like Tokyo and Shanghai." so it's a lot of different places, I guess, but I see most people refer to it as being kinda New York-y on the forums while the arts district is more San Francisco.
    The backdrops are aggressively San Franciscan, the city is nestled in the hills, there's a Bay Bridge and you can see Sim-Oakland across the way, dang it. Plus it's named San Myshuno. I mean yes, there's a mishmosh of different cities, but the San Francisco really screams through loudest to me (and I have lived and worked around both NYC and SF, I'm pretty familiar with both. <3).

    Metaphasic wrote: »
    Guys, I just had a developer moment. You know how you can queue up actions for a sim? What if you knew you were going to go somewhere and wanted it preloaded? Click on the lot in question and instead of clicking "visit", click "prepare for visit". It'll load while you continue to do whatever with your sim. When it's ready, just go. When you leave, it'll automatically unload.

    No loading screens, no interruption of game play, and just about all computers that can handle sims 4 now, could handle that!
    Mm, if I'm in the middle of an action when the load completes, would it just carry my sims off anyway? Or would it politely wait until the queue is cleared?

    Yes, the geography of San Myshuno is all about San Francisco. But i like that they made a totally unique world by mixing other towns to it. They should do that more.
    And, i would hope that the game would wait until the sim finished what he was doing, then he would go to his car, drive all the way to the neighborhoods border, and then we got to the where we wanted to go. Would be much better, cuz CARS...
  • SailorCetiSailorCeti Posts: 807 Member
    Karon wrote: »
    Thats also cool. Then the game would unload your house while you are at the other neighborhood, until you wanted to go back again.

    And, i would hope that the game would wait until the sim finished what he was doing, then he would go to his car, drive all the way to the neighborhoods border, and then we got to the where we wanted to go. Would be much better, cuz CARS...

    Thanks. The idea in my head is to have a new setting called "Preload Lot Limit", where you can set 1-4 lots (in case you want to switch live between home and a few select other places. This way, it doesn't load the WHOLE neighborhood at once, and allows the user to customize things depending on how strong their PC is. In my example, if the wife stayed home, while the husband went to his friends house, both would remain loaded. So the "Preload Lot Limit" is to specify how many additional lots can be loaded, other than the home lot. This way, you could go out and keep tabs on your kid, playing next door, without too much overhead.

    To your second point, yes and no. If the destination is local, they just walk or jog. If it's off map, then yes, a short car hop (could even be a generic taxi if they didn't want to do full car implementations).
    This game needs more Sailor Moon!

    Hold SHIFT while using the FRIEZE tool to apply it to a single wall, and not an entire room!

    ** SailorCeti's Builds **

    If you download one of my builds, by all means, leave me a message and tell me what you did and did not like about it.
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    edited August 2018
    DeKay wrote: »
    Oh, with rabbit holes, I mean like the ones in TS3 where they have a real building there but you can't go inside with your sim. It's a bit awkward especially when you're playing just one sim and have to wait for them outside. Haha.

    @DeKay I don't see any difference between rabbit holes and sims vanishing in thin air. I would prefer that they put rabbit holes and replace them with actual lots then this. For instance, if we had rabbit holes in Sims 4, Spa Day could have brought a substitution to the Spa RH. The game would ask us if we wanted to replace manually, or if we wanted the game to do that. Dine Out could have replaced the Bistro... GTW'S Hospital could have replaced the hospital... etc

    @Charliecheesenurgers and you are a cool participant. Thanks for showing up! :D

    @Sim_Man17 I loved your vision regarding transportation, but i have to disagree with something. You said that if they added the option in base game for you to go on a trip to any world, they wouldnt have to make "travel and adventure" packs... I think that they could bring back the "World" Packs like we had in Sims 3 Store, but this time each of those world packs would focus on adding a unique a different world for us to live or to travel to... After the released Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat, many simmers thought that this was going to be the only vacation themed pack we would get, but it didnt stop them for releasing Jungle Adventure.
    And, I agree that the personality of our sims is a little weak, but what if we approach this subject in the thread of the next week? I promise i'll tag you! ;)

    @JoAnne65 Let me tell you something: the biggest reason we can't edit the neighborhoods to add our own lots is hte fake 2D map. Just simple like that.

    @KirbySkywalker if they dont release a better game when SIms 5 time comes up, EA is going to lose that money making machine just like Simcity. I am pretty sure that there is a certain developer out there planning a similar game.
    And, please guys, lets focus on this week subject: open worlds/close worlds/neighborhoods. I swear that next week we will get to talk about traits/personalities. I am preparing something cool here. :P

    Post edited by Karon on
  • Sim_Man17Sim_Man17 Posts: 173 Member
    edited August 2018
    You know what would probably be a neat idea for The Sims 5?
    A Create an Object system! Or CAO for short.

    It should suit in rather well with CASt!
    Plus, the system might work similar to MySims' carpentering system, but far better in Graphics, Detail, and Options.

    Of course, EA and Maxis will still make objects in their inevitable Expansion, Game, and Stuff Packs, but they could also implement more designs, shapes, and interactions!
    This system might be awesome to content creators who wish to share their work through The Sims' exchange system/Gallery.

    Want a Bed that looks like a Coffin for regular Sims? Create it then you got it!
    Want a Chair that looks like a Torture Device? Go crazy!
    Want a couch, sculpture, or stereo that doesn't look anything like what it is suppose to be?
    You can make that!

    The system will simply allow you to use shapes, textures, and dimensions to create whatever object you desire.
    Plus, you get to choose how Sims will interact with that object!
    Add Create A Style onto it and you can finally create that Pink Tiger dressed as a french maid holding a golden platter sculpture that also acts like a chair!
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    Also for TS5, they need to keep adding the little things and not give up on them. Like the hidden areas in TS4. They gave up on them because only 11% of players utilized them. But it’s those little things that give the game depth. The depth us true simmers deserve.

    The Sims franchise is HUGE and LEGENDARY! There SHOULD be things catering to various 10%’s of loyal players.

    Oh, you touched a point o forgot to talk about. When Sims 4 released, they implemented those secret areas. They only lasted until GTW included the Alien World. I was pretty dissapointed with that, cuz i thougth that they were going to expand our neighborhoods like Grant lied around the release date, and i thought that they were goign to expand those secret worlds with our beloved occults. Sylvan Glade for me would have been a beautiful secret Fairy/Unicorn world. :(

    @michelei thank you for commenting, honey. I also hope that they are reading what we are writing here, cuz we are just trying to help them save this beloved franchise. I really dont uderstand why they didnt include swimmabled waterbodies in the Base Game. Adding this in the future was possible in The SIms 3 because they planed very well, but in SIms 4 ?!I
    I also think that producers should think about creating a game for the community in general, doing what their personal opinions want is not good at all. Sims has always been a community game, i really hope they begin to include the "community" part more.

    @elanorbreton thanks for showing up, i appreciate your comment. I actually think that those ideas about travelling loading screens some of you guys are talking could even be implemented now in The Sims 4. But they would have to add Cars/Motorcycles/Bikes to the game.
    We buy a certain model of car, lets say we bought a Big Lemon for our sim. She would get out of her home, open the car(like in sism 2), get inside of it and then she would drive to the neighborhoods border. Then in the loading screen, by the side view, we would see her driving the Big Lemon. If she was driving a Bike, then the loading screen would change to show her driving the bike. You know?! They could do that in Sims 4's future. Lets hope they are here between us!

    @vikixc thanks, you can always share your ideas with us! ;3

    @Metaphasic hm, maybe that could also work. Sims 4 gets really weird when i try to play it in widowed mode and i change widows... IDK why, i hope that this wouldnt happen whe we change "neighborhood" screens...

    @Sim_Man17 Your CAO idea is really cool. We could even share the objects thru gallery. I think i heard someone commenting that this was possible in Second Life... But idk, i never wanted to play this game. haha i dont like the graphic style of it. Its creepy.
  • SailorCetiSailorCeti Posts: 807 Member
    edited August 2018
    @Karon. The reason things get weird in windowed mode is due to the way the game is rendered. In full screen it’s rendered right to the screen. In windowed mode it renders to a device context, which Windows then scales and displays. Technically, both use a device context, but that extra step leaves room for weirdness. As long as my idea were implemented using a threaded system, there should be no issue.

    Maybe I’ll submit my resume. Lol
    This game needs more Sailor Moon!

    Hold SHIFT while using the FRIEZE tool to apply it to a single wall, and not an entire room!

    ** SailorCeti's Builds **

    If you download one of my builds, by all means, leave me a message and tell me what you did and did not like about it.
  • Sim_Man17Sim_Man17 Posts: 173 Member
    edited August 2018
    @Karon
    Thank you for responding to my comments!
    My apologies for going off topic in this specific thread.
    I have a lot of ideas and suggestions for the future iteration.
    This thread is just truly brilliant in thinking forward. You are correct. If there is going to be a future iteration, we need to consider the iteration's potential and how we can make this work for all players as soon as we can.
    Plus, I'll look forward to you tagging me again for the next topic. :)

    @michelei
    You have brought up a good point. We first need to consider the next iteration's engine. The core of the game.
    We will need an engine that possesses little to absolutely no limitations. It is efficient and flexible.
    That way, every objective and potential to the game is possible. Thank you for pointing this out.

    Plus, I do agree with you that EA and Maxis needs to set their ideas of "controversy" aside.
    I do not want a game that is suppose to mimic life to be politically correct.
    If you're going to make a game that is suppose to mimic reality, expect the objective, as well as the concepts, to be a bit offensive, heated, and deep. Of course, I won't expect EA and Maxis to go all out on the next iteration, but they do need to consider the fact that offending someone is inevitable. You think their interpretation of French, Chinese, and Egyptian culture in The Sims 3 World Adventures didn't get a few player's jimmies rustled?
    EA and Maxis should not submit to the concept/notion that liberty should be sacrificed for security.

    I'll try and stick to the next topic's... Topic, but my mind does tend to jump from one matter to the other so I'm not promising anything.
  • DeKayDeKay Posts: 81,474 Member
    Karon wrote: »
    DeKay wrote: »
    Oh, with rabbit holes, I mean like the ones in TS3 where they have a real building there but you can't go inside with your sim. It's a bit awkward especially when you're playing just one sim and have to wait for them outside. Haha.

    DeKay I don't see any difference between rabbit holes and sims vanishing in thin air. I would prefer that they put rabbit holes and replace them with actual lots then this. For instance, if we had rabbit holes in Sims 4, Spa Day could have brought a substitution to the Spa RH. The game would ask us if we wanted to replace manually, or if we wanted the game to do that. Dine Out could have replaced the Bistro... GTW'S Hospital could have replaced the hospital... etc

    [...]

    Yes, there's no difference but back in TS1 and TS2, mostly the 'vanishing into thin air' act was when they go to school and work, which is fine. We are used to that and I don't mind if TS5 implemented that. What I didn't really like were some lots in TS3 like certain diners or community centers are rabbitholes. I'd rather we have diners that we can go in with our sims rather than just a lot that we can't enter.
    My Top Song of the Day: Fancy Footwork by Chromeo
    FwDXXd5.gif
  • VanPelt81VanPelt81 Posts: 2,990 Member
    Many of these ideas in this thread are cool. I really liked the create a neighborhood option in The Sims 2 and would be stoked if that ever was brought back in a future Sims game.
  • KaronKaron Posts: 2,332 Member
    @Metaphasic Oh, yes. THanks for explaining how it would work! You are really smart. It would be a really good way to play the game.

    @Sim_Man17 Yes, they should stop doing that. But now that you mentioned that, i was kinda offended by the way the handled Selvadorada... Like, there is no residents in the world and its seems that the local culture is only there if you are going to explore, they have no life and are just ornaments.

    @DeKay hm, i see. Maybe if they started doing what i propose, including rabbit holes but replacing them in future DLC with real community lots where you can go inside and do whatever you want...

    @VanPelt81 I agree with you. The create a neighborhood could appeal to both people who like really easy tools (which was the in-game neighborhood creator) and to those who like to be more detailed (which was the Simcity 4000 map creator tool). I hope they find a way to make it work in Sims 5, i really dont like the idea of a separate tool if they can do it inside hte game. It was really boring in SIms 3 that we had do get out of the game to create what we wanted.
  • SeanT346SeanT346 Posts: 307 Member
    @Karon , thanks for the tag! I'm honoured that you are curious about my opinion and I do have many ideas for the future of The Sims.

    Things I want:
    • When you open the game, you have the option to start a new world. The default world will be "SimNation" but you can change the name and description at will. A World is essentially a save game but the title of world is more immersive. I like the idea of having different save files acting as different unconnected worlds in the game. For example, one of my "worlds" could be something that's quite realistic and grounded while another "world" could be bizarre and quirky. I really want to feel like "I rule" in The Sims 5 and that my imagination has no limits. I want the developers to create varied and interesting assets so I can make each world feel truly unique and different.
    • When you've selected a world, you can then create Countries and Regions. Like worlds, there will be premade ones but everything will be editable from name to description and you'll be able to create your own too. A "country" is essentially a grouping system for your regions while regions will act as "neighbourhoods / worlds / towns" in the current game.
    • For countries, you can group a bunch of open world regions together. You can set a culture to a country which will quickly assign certain habits and affinities to all regions with that country. For example, do you want to create a Simified version of Japan. Assign the main eating utensil as chopsticks, select a traditional greeting for the region and decide on its frequency, choose favourite foods of the culture, fashion styles and have sliders to decide on the frequency so things don't become too stereotypical. You could even select premade Sim templates to populate the area. Using the Japan example, the game would mostly choose from the East Asian template and take variations of this when generating townies in the regions of that country. Or a more crazy idea - if you want some fictionalised nation - populated by blue people, you could adjust the culture in country / region to reflect this.
    • Of course, some countries have a lot of diversity from region to region. While you can quickly customise countries, you can jump into regions for a more in-depth customisation of that region that separate it from other regions in the country.
    • I don't just want to be able to customise the culture of countries / regions, I want to be able to customise the geography. What wildlife spawns in the area, what seasons affect it, what hemisphere is the country in so that the season order can be decided etc.
    • Regions would act as open worlds, as big as if not bigger than the regions in The Sims 3. It disappoints me to see so many people in the community restrict themselves by discounting the open world as not being able to work for performance reasons. The only people who should be telling us that is EA and we should dream as big as possible. I understand that my ideas are way out there and even a little outlandish but I'm not going to limit my ideas. I'm not a computer programmer and even the computer programmers out there aren't privy to the technology the developers have when making the game. I'm not going to be angry if the game I described as possible isn't actually possible in reality but I do want to see EA release an AAA follow-up Sims game which utilises the large budget it deserves, as the bestselling game series of all time. Not a mid-budget The Sims game like The Sims 4.
    • Which brings me onto The Sims 5 working on lower end PCs. Sorry but I disagree with this and think its naive to assume a game that will probably be released in 2022 should run on a laptop released in 2014. I don't have a lot of money but if you're invested in playing a game that will last 4 - 8 years, you should do some saving that you would for expansions, game packs and stuff packs in investing in a new computer. I don't believe The Sims 5 should only work on the most high end gaming PCs of all time but it should be built for technology that's more usual in the early 2020s.
    • I would like to see open regions that if necessary have a downtown urban area, suburban area, more industrial area, a beach or lake area, a forest or open hills, a rural farmland area, mountain areas etc. The Sims 3 gets a huge amount of flack for its performance issues. They were certainly there and were irritating but they were actually not as bad as they could have been considering the game had to run a large highly customisable hood, full of customisable characters and customisable lots where almost every texture was also customisable. I played The Sims 3, the majority of packs and most Store content on a fairly average 2011 laptop with a basic graphics card and processor. The game rarely crashed and lag was not horrendous except in Bridgeport. However, Twallan's NRAAS mods really helped reduce lag and issues in the open world. A properly implemented open world tool could work well in The Sims 5, especially 13 years after the release of The Sims 3.
    • I would be totally fine with paying for an external programme that would allow us to build our own regions. I like the idea of implementing a gallery system into the world system. So for example, you could build a road with a footpath (sidewalk) on either side of the road and each footpath contains five Build/Buy mode lots which you can go in and edit. Once you plop that thing in from the gallery, you can then pop down another section of road that connects to a bridge over a river to another road with a monument. This way you could quickly build up your region and import it into The Sims 5. This way you can have a group of developers focus on developing the Sims in The Sims 5 and another development team focusing on the assets that make that world interesting and the locations inspiring.
    • The Sims series has really embraced diversity in The Sims 4, something I'm very grateful for but I want to see them take it even further in the future. I want to see them move beyond just representing middle class, clean cut American lifestyles and create assets that can accurately match the different parts of Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica. I want to see the working class represented. I want to see crazy supernatural and sci-fi worlds embraced. The Sims should of course retain its quirky upbeat nature but it shouldn't be afraid to lean into its T rating more and give us more diversity in the stories we can tell. A little more grit (without blood and gore) in the game wouldn't hurt at all.
    • So how would regions and countries work? Sims can freely travel from region to region and country to country. However, NPC Sims will tend to stay in their own region. They make move more frequently from region to region in to one country but may be less likely to show up in a region of another country, unless prompted by the player. This will give a greater sense of spaciousness to the world and help immersion. Different regions and regions within different countries can act as vacation destinations but Sims can also move between countries, earning visa points, taking up jobs or buying residences in other regions / countries. I think this would really give adventurous Sims a sense of purpose and it would make sense as an aspiration.

    I know this is a somewhat disorganised list but if you have any questions about the above bullet points, I would be happy to elaborate more.
  • Jordan061102Jordan061102 Posts: 3,918 Member
    That's a really cool thread. But I don't except a game as big as this...
    Lu4ERme.gif
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    This is what worlds in TS5 should look like: :smile:

    39514996_10155764159146497_7949880951889199104_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=fb7e30bd0619552d5310b6c336d77802&oe=5BFDA361

    39760570_10155764160681497_3108103936163184640_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=7de225381a0e061d8ca08eb3c5fea714&oe=5BF14B3D

    39714721_10155764158401497_105832362155180032_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=e30b5415fb6b12f1be8387faa03ad881&oe=5BF83AE4
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
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