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Fixed Heights for Teens
ByondTime89
Posts: 1,505 Member
I know not everyone is fan of the way teens are, since you can never tell them apart from the adults, mostly because of the height. I was thinking about this the other day but I was wondering if instead of sliders teens could have 2 to 3 fixed heights to make them a little more unique and set them apart from the adults.
The problem with sliders is that it creates a range that the game would have to account for and when you get a Sim with a height of say 4.3 and a Sim with a height of 8.6 their interactions would be thrown off because these variables make it incredibly hard for the game to account for every interaction like Kissing.
If they were fixed heights like Petite (short), Average (normal height-but still prefer shorter than adults), and Beanstalk (tall-maybe adult height). Maybe give them a cute moodlet too. Short - "Full of energy!", Normal - No idea XD Tall - "Ate all my Veggies!" Something silly to fit the game maybe, like a positive and a negative trait?
This way the game only has to pair 2 specific heights together and choose the right animation accordingly. An "average" Sim teen might have to slightly bend down to kiss a "short" teen or a "short" Sim teen would have to stand on tip toes while the "tall" teen bends down during a kiss and so on.
I'm not entirely sure how plausible it would be, but it seems a lot more doable than a height slider. Perhaps it could even be implemented for the other life stages as well, but that's getting a little carried away. This would be ideal for teens, it would really set them apart from the adults.
I would love to see something like this implemented or at the very least teens be adjusted to not look adults. Nothing more awkward than going to the park with your Adult Sim and introducing her to a super cute.... teen?
The problem with sliders is that it creates a range that the game would have to account for and when you get a Sim with a height of say 4.3 and a Sim with a height of 8.6 their interactions would be thrown off because these variables make it incredibly hard for the game to account for every interaction like Kissing.
If they were fixed heights like Petite (short), Average (normal height-but still prefer shorter than adults), and Beanstalk (tall-maybe adult height). Maybe give them a cute moodlet too. Short - "Full of energy!", Normal - No idea XD Tall - "Ate all my Veggies!" Something silly to fit the game maybe, like a positive and a negative trait?
This way the game only has to pair 2 specific heights together and choose the right animation accordingly. An "average" Sim teen might have to slightly bend down to kiss a "short" teen or a "short" Sim teen would have to stand on tip toes while the "tall" teen bends down during a kiss and so on.
I'm not entirely sure how plausible it would be, but it seems a lot more doable than a height slider. Perhaps it could even be implemented for the other life stages as well, but that's getting a little carried away. This would be ideal for teens, it would really set them apart from the adults.
I would love to see something like this implemented or at the very least teens be adjusted to not look adults. Nothing more awkward than going to the park with your Adult Sim and introducing her to a super cute.... teen?
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TS4 teens look different to the YA, their faces are different, their bodies are different. They don't need to add other heights to make them different, you just have to use your eyes to see the difference.
And This
Do you realy want time wasted on redoing animations, when they could be creating new stuff instead? I'd rather they put the energy into couples dances, than redoing everything for shorter teens.
Not really, unless you zoom way in, which you don't do when you're just glancing around to see who's on the lot.
It wouldn't be a waste. They had no problem working on something as huge as Toddlers AND pushing out new things at the same time. So, that's not really an excuse that they or anyone else can use anymore haha
Plus, a little variation between teens and adults wouldn't be a terrible thing. I think it would be neat in a pack for teens along with a lot of things that could go in a pack like that, such as your couples dancing. This is the Idea Corner after all so I was throwing ideas out.
My Mood:
I agree, but I think teens needs the most tweaking and giving them that little differentiation would do wonders.
Yes, I know. People like to point that haha I stated before, it's more important for the teens to have this first, if at all, since they would benefit the most from a few tweaks in comparison to the other stages. And it's not even EVERY animation that would need to be redone, it's only the ones where Sims make contact with others like kissing or hugging or even taking pictures together. I don't believe there are that many, honestly. And maybe the ones where they interact with objects but that's simply a matter of adjusting the object to where ever the Sim makes contact with it. Up or Down. Not that hard.
That's a good question. Hmm, I think perhaps making their frame slightly smaller would be a good start but if we're avoiding altering the character models at all I'd definitely have to say more age appropriate clothes so a Teen pack would be awesome along with appropriate hairstyles and accessories as well. Granted, some of what they have now is alright but then some of it just makes them look way too mature. When I do play teens I always try to be mindful of what I put them in, I like them to look like teens even when some of the townies teens don't.
The braces I thought was an excellent addition for teens. Some acne would nice too, in various stages. I always liked that in Sims 3.
Giving them a little more of a moody personality, as some teens tend to have would be kinda fun too I think. Though with how crazy erratic the emotions already are I think that should probably not be touched. Haha
That's just what I can think of off the top of my head at the moment, how about you?
I don't really understand this concept. As a teen, other than my school uniform, I wore the same sort of clothes that uni students wear. In general, where I live, most teens dress the same as uni students (when they're not in school uniform).
And let's not forget, a lot of teens attend uni. An eighteen year old is still a teen.
Which is the reason why some teens dress the way they do.
Neither do I. Some teens are taller then their parents. All the life stages should be as detailed as the toddlers.
There's not a significant difference in their builds, in my option. The only way to make them smaller is to do it yourself since, when teen townies spawn, they're generally not noticeably smaller. And since I don't manually repopulate my saves this is a bit of an annoyance for me. x-x
And I was speaking strictly about the game :P I know kids irl love to look way older than they are hah, which I guess that kinda makes the game more true to life than anything. Scary! But I kinda picture, in game, teens being middle school to high school and the young adults being university/college age, but that's just me. Either way, I'd still love more clothes and especially hairstyles for the teens.
I completely agree! I love the depth that went into toddlers, I actually enjoy after not being a fan of them in 3
And again, I really don't understand the conept. Can you explain what you mean by age appropriate clothes?
Gimme some examples of what the game currently contains, that you consider to be inappropriate for teens.
If they were to ever revamp the life stage, I just hope they give them more interactions and events. The ability to sneak out, having curfews and groundings, school events, acne, days where they feel moodier, age-specific traits (like the ones we have for toddlers) that they'll grow out of, age-specific whims, etc. It's still work, but it at least wouldn't require throwing away the animations they've already created and recreating brand new ones to accommodate a height difference. I'd imagine they'd much rather work on delivering something new like curfews and traits than wasting the work they've already put into the life stage, but I could be wrong. I guess only time will tell if they plan on giving the life stage some TLC.
You definitely have some great ideas though, OP!
As for the complaints about not being able to tell teens from adults, I think they're a little overblown. You can generally tell who's a teen by their faces and the clothing they wear which is why, like others have said, it would be better to just have more teen appropriate clothing and hair in the game, as well as more teen-oriented behaviors, activities and personality traits.
It's not that I consider some clothes "inappropriate" there are just some things I think a teenager would wear over other things. Like for instance. I had a teen boy in my game who, for his daily outfit, wearing that belly shirt from Spa Day. >_> I honestly thought he was one of the adults coming from the gym, since he was a little broader too. I know that was his daily outfit because he came over with my son straight from school and there were several other times where he was in that outfit as well, just walking around.
With the girls, it's probably mostly based on opinion, but I don't feel like teenagers should be in "sexy" clothes, like the super short shorts or plunging neckline dress/shirts but I'm also not saying that they have to be frumpy or kiddie looking or can't be fashion forward either.
Fashion, in general, is all a matter of opinion really.
I googled teen fashion 2017. Here are some of the results.
Apparently this is fashion for teen guys
Maybe TS4 was an attempt to get more older teens (16 to 19 yrs old) to play the game. But EA lost most of the young teen simmers and I don't think that EA succeeded in getting more older teens to play the game anyway. So EA should learn that this way of changing the game was a doubtful idea right from the beginning.
To make two heights for teens now would be expensive and probably not worth it. But EA should reconsider all this before they start making the Sims 5.