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Personality and mood in project rene
Okto84
Posts: 198 Member
A huge hope I have is for sims that are unique in their personalities, situations and moods
Starting with personality creation. I'm thinking it would be great to have a selection of base traits - the core ones everyone has - like tidy/messy, friendly/mean or introverted/outgoing that could be set on a scale. Neutral in the middle and each extreme either side, so we can select the strength of the trait. You could have a slightly mean sim, or an extremely mean sim, for example. This gives a lot more variety to personalities. Additional to this, some number of non-linear traits could be selected for things like being good with tech, loves dogs, doesn't like children, or clumsy, etc.
This kind of personality building would be great, but it could be hugely better with life traits that are aquired through gameplay. That way each sim changes as we play. Life events, good and bad, should add something with a long term effect.
In fact, some should be permanent. Berevement could give a trait that stays with a sim permanently. Its influence could be changeable through gameplay, for example it could be healed at some point, but I'd like to see it treated as a permanent influence on their personality. Even if it's healed, they'll still have gained something long term from it, for example being able to talk about it with other sims.
Some could be developed by number of events. For example they've flirted sucessfully with a certain number of sims, they could gain a trait that makes them better at it. I like the idea of gameplay outcomes giving bonuses - or negatives, if they happen enough times. A sim who often fails at romance could get a negative trait that makes them worse at it. It could be lifted in time by doing it well a certain number of times. This kind of thing means we'd have to try harder in gameplay to overcome difficulties- no more spamming actions, and gives some element of risk too. Maybe something like an 8 out of 10 rule. If there's eight unsucessful interactions in the last ten tries, you get the negative trait. I wouldn't mind if these kinds of traits stacked either. You could end up with a sim who is incredibly good at telling jokes, or one who is incredibly bad at romance interactions.
Some traits could be long term, but eventually go. A sim who graduates with a high mark could gain a condifence trait that helps with advancing at work, and it lasts for a few years of their life. A sim who gets fired from work might get a trait that makes them less confident and perform worse at work for some time.
Others should stay for as long as a situation is true. A family oriented sim could have a positive trait for as long they're married. A materialistic sim could have a positive trait for as long as their net wealth is above a certain level. A sim who hates children could be 'frazzled from baby' for as long as there's a baby in the household. A romantic sim without any romantic relationships could have an unhappy trait.
Short term moodlets are totally ok too, they're realistic to life. I just think they only go so far in representing a personality and mood.
I'd like to be able to select a sim and see in a menu what traits are contributing to what, basically how their personality and life situation makes them feel. I don't want any single trait to be overpowered, just for a selection of them to combine to make a whole picture.
Also, although it's not an attraction system, it would make for interesting gameplay because some traits would make it difficult for sims to live together and both be happy. A materialistic sim might be unhappy in a modest, eco house, while a free-spirted sim might hate living in a giant, expensive mansion. You'd get lifestlye compatibility for free with this kind of system.
Anyway, I'm super curious what kind of personality, life and mood features other people want to happen?
Starting with personality creation. I'm thinking it would be great to have a selection of base traits - the core ones everyone has - like tidy/messy, friendly/mean or introverted/outgoing that could be set on a scale. Neutral in the middle and each extreme either side, so we can select the strength of the trait. You could have a slightly mean sim, or an extremely mean sim, for example. This gives a lot more variety to personalities. Additional to this, some number of non-linear traits could be selected for things like being good with tech, loves dogs, doesn't like children, or clumsy, etc.
This kind of personality building would be great, but it could be hugely better with life traits that are aquired through gameplay. That way each sim changes as we play. Life events, good and bad, should add something with a long term effect.
In fact, some should be permanent. Berevement could give a trait that stays with a sim permanently. Its influence could be changeable through gameplay, for example it could be healed at some point, but I'd like to see it treated as a permanent influence on their personality. Even if it's healed, they'll still have gained something long term from it, for example being able to talk about it with other sims.
Some could be developed by number of events. For example they've flirted sucessfully with a certain number of sims, they could gain a trait that makes them better at it. I like the idea of gameplay outcomes giving bonuses - or negatives, if they happen enough times. A sim who often fails at romance could get a negative trait that makes them worse at it. It could be lifted in time by doing it well a certain number of times. This kind of thing means we'd have to try harder in gameplay to overcome difficulties- no more spamming actions, and gives some element of risk too. Maybe something like an 8 out of 10 rule. If there's eight unsucessful interactions in the last ten tries, you get the negative trait. I wouldn't mind if these kinds of traits stacked either. You could end up with a sim who is incredibly good at telling jokes, or one who is incredibly bad at romance interactions.
Some traits could be long term, but eventually go. A sim who graduates with a high mark could gain a condifence trait that helps with advancing at work, and it lasts for a few years of their life. A sim who gets fired from work might get a trait that makes them less confident and perform worse at work for some time.
Others should stay for as long as a situation is true. A family oriented sim could have a positive trait for as long they're married. A materialistic sim could have a positive trait for as long as their net wealth is above a certain level. A sim who hates children could be 'frazzled from baby' for as long as there's a baby in the household. A romantic sim without any romantic relationships could have an unhappy trait.
Short term moodlets are totally ok too, they're realistic to life. I just think they only go so far in representing a personality and mood.
I'd like to be able to select a sim and see in a menu what traits are contributing to what, basically how their personality and life situation makes them feel. I don't want any single trait to be overpowered, just for a selection of them to combine to make a whole picture.
Also, although it's not an attraction system, it would make for interesting gameplay because some traits would make it difficult for sims to live together and both be happy. A materialistic sim might be unhappy in a modest, eco house, while a free-spirted sim might hate living in a giant, expensive mansion. You'd get lifestlye compatibility for free with this kind of system.
Anyway, I'm super curious what kind of personality, life and mood features other people want to happen?
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Comments
But, I don't have high-hopes for the personality system or anything remotely game play related in The Sims anymore. Not with the track record of TS4. In TS4 it's all or nothing in anything they do .... we asked for wants and fears, they gave us a handful of fears that just repeat over and over and typically doesn't make sense for the sim. But hey! We asked for it and they gave it. They always go to the extreme on everything, they don't play test anything, they program it in, there done! It's shoddy and it's thoughtless and nothing is ever integrated into other gameplay packs so it would actually be more meaningful. So I don't expect them to go over and above when it comes to creating a unique trait/personality system in this new game.
Besides, I personally think TS5 will be focusing mostly on building and creating sims and "collaborating with your friends" over any type of actual meaningful and in-depth gameplay. I also feel like that they will do the absolute bare minimum when it comes to coding in the AI and the actual sim personality. It is still the same dev team working on TS5 that has been working on TS4.
But, like I always say, I'm always super happy to be proven wrong! I just find it's best for my personal mental health to expect the least and never to think about what I want otherwise I'd be disappointed 90% of the time with whatever they release. This way, I just shrug it off.
Great to hear you like the ideas and have been thinking about this stuff too! I'm hoping for those sliders as well. I think they were a simple to use way of creating distinctive sims, and leaving them out of TS4 was a missed oportunity.
I currently have to play with a mod that removes the happy moodlet from liking the environment - it's just too overpowered and makes the sims happy almost all the time. Just removing that has allowed the underlying game mechanics to work a lot better and actually do something.
I like a lot of things about TS4, but the personality/mood system could be doing so much more. It's an issue players bring up often, so I'm hoping if more people talk about it something will change. I'd be happy to go without quite a bit of other content if the sims were to have some really good personality and mood systems. And I think they could really showcase this if they wanted to with menus or ways of playing that tell you what sims are thinking and want.
one aspect = sims don't change as they age. an elder sim behaves like they did when they were a young adult. there should be age-specific expressions of traits as well as age-specific aspirations. like i have the same core personality i did when i was 18 but i don't express it the same way, and my perspective and lifestyle and habits have changed dramatically in the past decade-and-a-half. they need to evolve over time like people do.
another thing we desperately need = the fury system from ts2. sims should be able to be upset with someone in particular to varying degrees that isn't tied to a basic unfocused moodlet and doesn't wreck your relationship with that person. no more general "angry" moodlet and childish animations. like if i argue with my irl brother our relationship is still "maxed" because that's my guy, we love each other and know each other like the back of our own hands even during our worst fights. nothing would ruin that.
low level = simply annoyed/want to avoid that sim which has no relationship impact because you just need temporary space. medium = upset, small relationship impact that lasts as long as they're upset. high: actually furious, enraged etc. their furious behavior depends on their personality and what/who made them furious.