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What is Simsville? (and ideas for the Sims 5)

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SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
Hey guys,

So I have this weird thing I do lately. I found a German Sims Forum that is as old as 2001 and it still has every single post on it from that time. Old posts are very easy to access on that site so I sometimes like to go back and see what people wrote about the Sims, what they thought of expansions that were released, what they thought of the Sims 2 when it first came out etc...

While I was looking at posts from the time when Hot Date was about to come out (around 2001) I found a lot of posts saying things like: "I'm very excited for Hot Date but I'm even more excited for Simsville" or "I will definitely buy Hot Date but I'm really curious to see how Simsville will turn out".
So I thought, what the heck is Simsville?!
Turns out it is this cancelled Maxis game that was supposed to come out in 2001-2002 but Maxis cancelled it due to the success of The Sims Series.

After watching some videos I have to say, Simsville looks like a great idea and feels really fresh to me, especially after having played The Sims Series for decades.

Here are some videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDJS80dwLs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCshVvzD4QY

What about the Sims 5? :

What I particularly like about the game is that it is kind of like a hybrid between SimCity and The Sims. It even kind of looks like The Sims 3 a bit. I just find the idea of implementing SimCity elements into the Sims Series really fascinating. It's a thing I always wanted to have and now that technology has advanced I think this could kind of have a place in a future Sims game.
What I could imagine seeing is for example Customization over the neighborhood/world the Sims live in. For example having certain community lots like landmarks and national parks would make it more touristic, having more farms would make it less crowded and more in touch with nature, building skyscrapers would mean more traffic and more pollution making it more like a metropolitan.
Maybe we could be able to decide how Sims are going to get their water and electricity, either by renewable, non-renewable or natural sources (off the grid) and have a whole village live off the grid for example.
These could totally change Sims' lives and it could breathe a breath of fresh air into the franchise, which it really needs and making it worth changing to an empty base game again.

I know many of the stuff that I mentioned aren't actually featured in Simsville but by seeing how it is kind of a SimCity and Sims hybrid it gave me those ideas. I just feel like it's high time the team takes the Sims to the next level. And to me this is a great idea of how to make a game that has been repeated 4 times, feel like a new one.
Where's my Sims 5 squad at?

Comments

  • wsteffi30wsteffi30 Posts: 115 Member

    Seeing those videos, I would have liked Simsville. I like the Sims and I like SimCity but I think I would have enjoyed how Simsville played because I like the idea of building a city and controlling individual Sims too.
  • fruitsbasket101fruitsbasket101 Posts: 1,530 Member
    I never knew this was a thing. Thank you for sharing. I do like the idea of maybe trying this out for ts5. Its sounds like it could be fun. Give Simsville another chance Maxis!
    Have a super fantastic awesome splendid amazing day! -TheQxxn
  • Chicklet453681Chicklet453681 Posts: 2,431 Member
    I had never heard of it before, so thanks for the links. That would be cool if they did a game like that. Not sure how well it would be received as a "TS5" title tho but as a totally different type of game it would be great!
  • Horrorgirl6Horrorgirl6 Posts: 3,170 Member
    Hey guys,

    So I have this weird thing I do lately. I found a German Sims Forum that is as old as 2001 and it still has every single post on it from that time. Old posts are very easy to access on that site so I sometimes like to go back and see what people wrote about the Sims, what they thought of expansions that were released, what they thought of the Sims 2 when it first came out etc...

    While I was looking at posts from the time when Hot Date was about to come out (around 2001) I found a lot of posts saying things like: "I'm very excited for Hot Date but I'm even more excited for Simsville" or "I will definitely buy Hot Date but I'm really curious to see how Simsville will turn out".
    So I thought, what the heck is Simsville?!
    Turns out it is this cancelled Maxis game that was supposed to come out in 2001-2002 but Maxis cancelled it due to the success of The Sims Series.

    After watching some videos I have to say, Simsville looks like a great idea and feels really fresh to me, especially after having played The Sims Series for decades.

    Here are some videos:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDJS80dwLs

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCshVvzD4QY

    What about the Sims 5? :

    What I particularly like about the game is that it is kind of like a hybrid between SimCity and The Sims. It even kind of looks like The Sims 3 a bit. I just find the idea of implementing SimCity elements into the Sims Series really fascinating. It's a thing I always wanted to have and now that technology has advanced I think this could kind of have a place in a future Sims game.
    What I could imagine seeing is for example Customization over the neighborhood/world the Sims live in. For example having certain community lots like landmarks and national parks would make it more touristic, having more farms would make it less crowded and more in touch with nature, building skyscrapers would mean more traffic and more pollution making it more like a metropolitan.
    Maybe we could be able to decide how Sims are going to get their water and electricity, either by renewable, non-renewable or natural sources (off the grid) and have a whole village live off the grid for example.
    These could totally change Sims' lives and it could breathe a breath of fresh air into the franchise, which it really needs and making it worth changing to an empty base game again.

    I know many of the stuff that I mentioned aren't actually featured in Simsville but by seeing how it is kind of a SimCity and Sims hybrid it gave me those ideas. I just feel like it's high time the team takes the Sims to the next level. And to me this is a great idea of how to make a game that has been repeated 4 times, feel like a new one.

    It's an old idea that was scrapped.
  • PlayerSinger2010PlayerSinger2010 Posts: 3,267 Member
    I don't like the sound of that at all. I could never get the hang of SimCity and building is my least favorite aspect of the game. It just sounds frustrating and confusing.
  • popstarsleypopstarsley Posts: 1,086 Member
    If you’re old enough to have played SimTown, the world’s best game ever, SimsVille looks like it was meant to be a follow-up iteration to that awesome game. 😍😍

    I’d play SimTown right now if I could!
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    I don't like the sound of that at all. I could never get the hang of SimCity and building is my least favorite aspect of the game. It just sounds frustrating and confusing.

    @PlayerSinger2010 Well you can just take elements of it and put them in the game. It doesn't have to be exactly like SimCity. Just things that will enhance gameplay, even live mode gameplay.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • doogeriedoogerie Posts: 765 Member
    I think that became Sim City society's
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,403 Member
    I would love to micromanage the town as well as take one family and walk my sims through their daily lives seeing them interact with other sims that I'm able to put into the town as well. Nowadays, unlike when the Simsville concept came out, our computers have the processing power to handle that kind of simulation. But I'd still like to be able to alternate fully between playing my family and their interactions as well as looking at the concept of building the city up to something other than what has been preplanned. It might actually rock Paradox's Cities:Skylines back on its heels if EA/Maxis did that.
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • LatinaBunnyLatinaBunny Posts: 4,666 Member
    edited September 2020
    I like some management/city builder games, but I prefer The Sims’s more intimate and smaller scale. I don’t want to take charge of an entire world like that and micromanage everything like a city builder.

    I am not good with the builder aspect of Sims, so I would not want to build an entire world or have a constantly dynamic world.

    I just want to play with my Sims family, not build stuff.

    I have City Skylines and other games if I want to focus on city building.

    But, I don’t want to mix my relaxing Sims stuff with that.
    ~*~Occult Family Player player~*~
    (She/her)
  • CynnaCynna Posts: 2,369 Member
    I always assumed that Simsville eventually became what we now know as TS3.
    I3Ml5Om.jpg
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    Cynna wrote: »
    I always assumed that Simsville eventually became what we now know as TS3.

    It definitely has some elements from it.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    edited September 2020
    I like some management/city builder games, but I prefer The Sims’s more intimate and smaller scale. I don’t want to take charge of an entire world like that and micromanage everything like a city builder.

    I am not good with the builder aspect of Sims, so I would not want to build an entire world or have a constantly dynamic world.

    I just want to play with my Sims family, not build stuff.

    I have City Skylines and other games if I want to focus on city building.

    But, I don’t want to mix my relaxing Sims stuff with that.

    @bunny-🐸🐸🐸🐸 Well yeah but that's not exactly what I meant. I meant kind of more like taking elements from these games and being able to make changes to the world in order to change your sims' everyday lives in it and make every world feel unique.
    So like I said being able to customize things like water supplies and tourism attraction that will change your family's everyday life.
    Imagine making a farmer and actually being able to create a world around him that compliments that "farm-life" like having more wild animals aound, only off the grid options for water and power and having the world be less crowded. Imagine actually being able to modify your world to compliment your story.

    Nobody said anything about building. It's just a new fresh idea to a game that has been doing the same for 20 years now. I think the team needs to be open to creating new things, even when the community is very close-minded. It has happened before too. People said they didn't need 3D graphics in the sims 2 and look how that went :lol:
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • LatinaBunnyLatinaBunny Posts: 4,666 Member
    As long as I have the option to where I don’t have to manage everything. It sounds stressful for me.
    ~*~Occult Family Player player~*~
    (She/her)
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    As long as I have the option to where I don’t have to manage everything. It sounds stressful for me.

    @bunny-🐸🐸🐸🐸 Is there ever any time you actually have to do anything in a sims game? I'm just talking about adding those options for people who like to get more creative with the game.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,906 Member
    edited September 2020
    I loved SimCity 4 and even more when I found a little park on the Simtropolis site that when planted in the game added millions to the treasury. I could build to my heart's content when that was put in.

    We got SimCity Societies/Destinations in 2007 and that didn't do well and that was probably an extension of the Simsville ideas of 2001.

    It may be something that Sims 5 might cover though with the extra computing power nowadays.

    I might be interested in a Sims 5 if it included the world building tools SimCity 4 had.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited September 2020
    I was actually waiting on Simsville, I had seen a demostration. I actually thought it was The Sims at one time. I have the same cars in Simsville in my TS2 game. I downloaded them from a modder several years ago. They are the very same, lol. They are neighborhood decorations we can place in the neighborhoods and the cars driving around that we can see from neighborhood view. (But not owned or carpools). Replacements. I now wonder where he got them, lol. I thought he created them all himself. They replace the cars in TS2 seen in hood view. Now, I think he must have extracted them from that game but I thought he (modder) said he created them...
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    I never warmed up to the Sim City series, but nonetheless was sad when Simsville got canceled. Eco Lifestyle took some baby steps into the city management direction, but could have been soo much deeper.
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    Cinebar wrote: »
    I was actually waiting on Simsville, I had seen a demostration. I actually thought it was The Sims at one time. I have the same cars in Simsville in my TS2 game. I downloaded them from a modder several years ago. They are the very same, lol. They are neighborhood decorations we can place in the neighborhoods and the cars driving around that we can see from neighborhood view. (But not owned or carpools). Replacements. I now wonder where he got them, lol. I thought he created them all himself. They replace the cars in TS2 seen in hood view. Now, I think he must have extracted them from that game but I thought he (modder) said he created them...

    @Cinebar Wow, wish you had the link to those replacements.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • PotsaePotsae Posts: 79 Member
    Thank you for bringing it up. Simsville seemed intriguing and according to some resources was almost finished. Sadly, someone decided that it doesn't fit Maxis's high standards and the developers were send to... The Sims Online. What a "great" decision in retrospective haha. TS3 had implemented similiar ideas, but it lacks complex conections that were advertised for Simville like the lack of police station increases bulgary or a town budget. I would certainly love to get this stuff in TS5. Open, customizable world which influences sims who live there in interesting and complex ways and sims influence it back. What a dream.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited October 2020
    Cinebar wrote: »
    I was actually waiting on Simsville, I had seen a demostration. I actually thought it was The Sims at one time. I have the same cars in Simsville in my TS2 game. I downloaded them from a modder several years ago. They are the very same, lol. They are neighborhood decorations we can place in the neighborhoods and the cars driving around that we can see from neighborhood view. (But not owned or carpools). Replacements. I now wonder where he got them, lol. I thought he created them all himself. They replace the cars in TS2 seen in hood view. Now, I think he must have extracted them from that game but I thought he (modder) said he created them...

    @Cinebar Wow, wish you had the link to those replacements.

    I think they are still over on MTS. But that little truck etc. yeah, I have them parked in etc. like at trash dumps and or dirt roads I also got leading to the Maxis barns hood decorations. lol Even a tiny police car lol, I park near the Maxis factory in one of my hoods. Fun to watch them drive around (on roads) in hood view. lol ETA: By Psychosim Neighborhood Classic Car replacements.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • fruitsbasket101fruitsbasket101 Posts: 1,530 Member
    edited October 2020
    I find myself wanting to play a game like this more since learning about it. Sometimes I wish I could just sit and watch the neighborhood do it's thing as far as getting married, having kids, finding jobs, etc. without having to play at the same time. I just want to be able to step back and watch it happen and only interfere if something I don't like happens. I want to be able to step in and play a family or guide them in a certain direction at anytime but be able to just watch them if I wanted.

    Edit: Not all the time mind you but it would be fun to have the option.
    Have a super fantastic awesome splendid amazing day! -TheQxxn
  • SimsILikeSimsSimsILikeSims Posts: 1,634 Member
    Hey guys,

    So I have this weird thing I do lately. I found a German Sims Forum that is as old as 2001 and it still has every single post on it from that time. Old posts are very easy to access on that site so I sometimes like to go back and see what people wrote about the Sims, what they thought of expansions that were released, what they thought of the Sims 2 when it first came out etc...

    While I was looking at posts from the time when Hot Date was about to come out (around 2001) I found a lot of posts saying things like: "I'm very excited for Hot Date but I'm even more excited for Simsville" or "I will definitely buy Hot Date but I'm really curious to see how Simsville will turn out".
    So I thought, what the heck is Simsville?!
    Turns out it is this cancelled Maxis game that was supposed to come out in 2001-2002 but Maxis cancelled it due to the success of The Sims Series.

    After watching some videos I have to say, Simsville looks like a great idea and feels really fresh to me, especially after having played The Sims Series for decades.

    Here are some videos:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDJS80dwLs

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCshVvzD4QY

    What about the Sims 5? :

    What I particularly like about the game is that it is kind of like a hybrid between SimCity and The Sims. It even kind of looks like The Sims 3 a bit. I just find the idea of implementing SimCity elements into the Sims Series really fascinating. It's a thing I always wanted to have and now that technology has advanced I think this could kind of have a place in a future Sims game.
    What I could imagine seeing is for example Customization over the neighborhood/world the Sims live in. For example having certain community lots like landmarks and national parks would make it more touristic, having more farms would make it less crowded and more in touch with nature, building skyscrapers would mean more traffic and more pollution making it more like a metropolitan.
    Maybe we could be able to decide how Sims are going to get their water and electricity, either by renewable, non-renewable or natural sources (off the grid) and have a whole village live off the grid for example.
    These could totally change Sims' lives and it could breathe a breath of fresh air into the franchise, which it really needs and making it worth changing to an empty base game again.

    I know many of the stuff that I mentioned aren't actually featured in Simsville but by seeing how it is kind of a SimCity and Sims hybrid it gave me those ideas. I just feel like it's high time the team takes the Sims to the next level. And to me this is a great idea of how to make a game that has been repeated 4 times, feel like a new one.

    I remember when this was announced as a possible future release: I did want it, and was disappointed when they cancelled it. The reason they cancelled it was undisclosed. It was not due to the overwhelming success of the Sims (1). It would have come out long before Sims 2 release.

    If Sims 4 had been open world, it would have been what Simsville was advertised as, before it was scrapped. Except without additional "worlds" (though actually I think anything with less than 25 lots counts as a neighborhood, not a "world"). In the first version of The Sims, everything was called "Neighborhoods". There were 98 possible habitable neighborhoods to create - you could also create a 99th neighborhood to find an easter egg.

    One of the worst things, I think, about Sims 4, is that it is the FIRST version of the Sims, that does NOT allow players to create new neighborhoods. In Sims 1, you could add new neighborhoods: they would be clones of the first neighborhood, but you could add them. In Sims 2, you could import SimCity (4) layouts as new neighborhoods into your game. In Sims 3, there was the Create-A-World tool. Sims 4....has nothing, which makes builders and gallery lot collectors like me sad.
    I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    I find myself wanting to play a game like this more since learning about it. Sometimes I wish I could just sit and watch the neighborhood do it's thing as far as getting married, having kids, finding jobs, etc. without having to play at the same time. I just want to be able to step back and watch it happen and only interfere if something I don't like happens. I want to be able to step in and play a family or guide them in a certain direction at anytime but be able to just watch them if I wanted.

    Edit: Not all the time mind you but it would be fun to have the option.

    I like tycoon games, too. I build it, it fills up with characters and I watch as they do their thing. Sometimes, I want a game like Simsville, too. I had a lot of fun with tycoon games that wasn't overly scripted and allowed me to build places then just watch as little people do whatever it is they need to do and went on with whatever it is they were simulating.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • fruitsbasket101fruitsbasket101 Posts: 1,530 Member
    Cinebar wrote: »
    I find myself wanting to play a game like this more since learning about it. Sometimes I wish I could just sit and watch the neighborhood do it's thing as far as getting married, having kids, finding jobs, etc. without having to play at the same time. I just want to be able to step back and watch it happen and only interfere if something I don't like happens. I want to be able to step in and play a family or guide them in a certain direction at anytime but be able to just watch them if I wanted.

    Edit: Not all the time mind you but it would be fun to have the option.

    I like tycoon games, too. I build it, it fills up with characters and I watch as they do their thing. Sometimes, I want a game like Simsville, too. I had a lot of fun with tycoon games that wasn't overly scripted and allowed me to build places then just watch as little people do whatever it is they need to do and went on with whatever it is they were simulating.

    Have you ever played Universim? It's sort of the same concept but, for me at least, it's missing that classic sims charm. It's a good alternative for fans of that kind of play but I can't help wishing it were closer to the sims when I play it. Simsville looks like it would have been a good mashup of the two.
    Have a super fantastic awesome splendid amazing day! -TheQxxn
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