Maxis is preparing development for The Sims 5’s Create A Sim

Just a few days ago we’ve reported on a bunch of new job opportunities that Maxis’ official Careers Page has listed, all giving significant clues that the next Sims Game (which we’ll call The Sims 5) is in development. You can find more details about all of the information we have on those job listings HERE, or find all the news we have on the next Sims Game by visiting our The Sims 5 News Category.

Today we got two new job opportunities that Maxis has posted related to The Sims 5. The first one (Senior CAS Artist) both further confirms that we are indeed talking about a whole new Sims Game and that a brand new Create A Sim is in the works.

In the job listing they’ve further explained what the role and responsibilities for the Senior CAS Artist are – including the creation of initial look of the characters and the clothing that they’ll be wearing, as well as guiding new members of the team to deliver needed work.

Before we dive deeper into the listings please note that none of this will have an impact on The Sims 4 or its current development – there are different teams within Maxis working on both games!

You can find more information in the job listing below:

Maxis is looking for a Senior CAS Artist to help establish the look and pipeline of our characters. If you are a visionary character artist who is adept at stylization, artistic interpretation and a deep experience in character pipelines, bringing the latest trends in technology to bear against your craft, and mentoring others to develop excellent experiences for new and existing IP … come join our team.

The Role

As a Senior Character Artist, you would work closely with the Art Director and Technical Leads to to define visual standards and technical specifications of characters for the project.

You would also actively participate in RnD of the asset creation methods and pipelines designed to add new design-driven features unique for the project.

In addition to creating high quality character models and materials, you would guide junior members of the team and external partners to deliver work that meets the project standards. You proactively seek opportunities to elevate the game, enjoy finding emerging technologies that improve the pipeline, embrace constructive feedback, and thrive in a highly collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Art Director and technical partners to define and refine the look and feel of characters for the project.
• Work with Technical Art, Engineering and other artists to develop the character creation and integration pipeline.
• Research emerging modeling techniques and convey them to the Technical Art team.
• Create high quality character models and materials/shaders including in-game and high-resolution assets.
• Update style and technical documents for the character art team.
• Collaborate with Technical Artists to create and improve tools and workflows.
• Actively participate in milestone planning and reviews.
• Work within deadlines and display strong time management skills.
• Provide mentorship for junior team members.
• Review work from external partners and provide feedback.

Maxis has also posted another new job listing for the game – Game Designer.

The responsibility and tasks of this job would be to help design and support the prototypes of new Creative Tools that are currently in development for the game. There are two interesting things that the job requirements have listed, including:

• Excited by and participating in new business/distribution models like Subscription services and cross platform games.
• Knowledge in popular Sims Community mods and Custom Content would be ideal.

This could mean that the next Sims Game could possibly rely on a subscription-style service, as well as the ability to play the game cross platform. They’ve also listed that it would be good if the future game designer  has knowledge in popular mods and custom content – possibly meaning that the game could also have support for Mods / CC.

You can find more technicalities of this opportunity down below:

High Level

Your role will be to support the continued iteration and development of Creative Tools prototypes. This will entail guiding cross-discipline groups toward a common defined vision as well as supporting efforts with design documents and implementation when necessary.

Working closely with XD, UXR and Production partners, you will use feedback and research insights gathered from these prototypes to prepare for our future design documentation tasks for Lotus development. You will report into a Maxis Development Director.

Responsibilities

Drive the delivery of the following:

• Helping to develop Vision Documentation and then guiding cross-discipline groups toward the vision.
• Creating design documentation to support prototyping efforts as needed.
• Partnering with DD to track tasks, identify risk, and clarify changes in work.
• Partner with UX to design, research, and implement features.
• Aiding leadership in CMR and Gate requirements.
• Playtesting, attending UXR sessions and participating in organizing feedback/insights.
• Documenting findings for future use in designing Lotus for full development.

Requirements

• Significant Creative-Game Genre design experience, especially in the area of creation tools and customization mechanics.
• Capability to lead cross-discipline prototyping and idea iteration, actively participating in the development of a feature from start to finish.
• A good understanding of how content is built/implemented for creative games. Hands on implementation or modding experience is a plus.
• Excited by and participating in new business/distribution models like Subscription services and cross platform games.
• Knowledge in popular Sims Community mods and Custom Content would be ideal.
• Bonus includes familiarity with game streaming (ex: Twitch, Mixer)