Check out the first look into The Sims 5 / Project Rene and its Visuals!

Big news! During today’s Behind The Sims Livestream we’ve gotten a first visual preview of Animations, Visuals and Lighting coming with The Sims 5.

Codenamed Project Rene, The Sims 5 is set out to bring Simmers on a whole new experience with rich gameplay and customization features. EA and Maxis are set out to make The Sims 5 experience fully playable across multiple platforms – crossing the bridge between HD (PC and Console) and Mobile.

How does Project Rene look so far and what do the developers have to say about its current development? Check out everything new we got on The Sims 5 right below!

During Behind The Sims several producers and developers for Project Rene have shared the work they’re doing on the game. Here’s what we got on the next generation Sims game from Behind The Sims, Episode 2:

Hi, I’m Gina – the Creative Director for Project Rene. I spend my time thinking about how players will interact with the game. What sort of gameplay, content or narrative we’ll need in order to bring it to life. We’re bringing many different elements of this game in parallel. Almost like prepping all of our ingredients before we can bring them together and bake a cake. We’ve got a team of people around the world working on Project Rene. We’re so excited to give you an early look on what we’ve been up to!

Art & Visual Direction of The Sims 5

Stu, Art & Visual Director: Lighting has a massive impact on the look of the game. We’re exploring some new lightning technologies that will enable us to create highly customizable spaces. And, let players tell emotional resident stories that will look great on your computer and on your phone!

Sims don’t just live at home. They also exist in a broader neighborhood full of Sims! We’ve made some simple prototypes to explore what these Sims do during the day. Where they go, what they see and the schedules and routines that they have as they mill about the neighborhood.

Project Rene Animation

Nawwaf, Animation Director: Our vision for animation is driven by the phrase “Read the room”. Which means that we want players to know how our Sims feel and what they’re thinking. Just by how they behave!

This means that we need to support a variety of attitudes, emotions and postures that need to work across objects and socialization.

Technical Direction

Manu, Technical Director: Games begin in a very basic state before all of the 3D models, Animations, Audio and Scripted behaviors can merge. Slowly but surely we are bringing our ideas to life with our first version of this simulation. This entails Sims navigating their own, and interacting with objects to satisfy our needs. We cannot wait to show you even more!

Hairstyle Customization

Azure, Producer: Hairstyles! How we contribute to our look and how we present ourselves is so important! And it’s really no different for Sims.

We’re trying to figure out how to model a wide variety of styles across the broad range of humanity. And unlock options like flexible coloring.

Socialization in The Sims 5

Jill, Producer: Socialization is fundamental for the experience in The Sims. But you gotta admit – sometimes there’s a lot to follow! Like, Sims are animating, they’re throwing thought balloons, there’s UI to follow…

Right now, we’re experimenting with how little we can get away with. We’re really leaning into just clear, playful and simple visuals that are starting to give us a feel on how much information is too much or too little and see what’s working. We can really better horn in that sweet spot to help you better understand what your Sims are actually talking about.

As you can see there are many elements that we are exploring and solving for. We’re very excited to be able to share at this early stage!

What are your thoughts on the current stage and development plans for The Sims 5 / Project Rene? Let us know in the conversations down below and stay tuned for the latest updates on this game!