..or as Maxis calls it – the future of The Sims Franchise!
Please note that this article piece is based on information written on the official Maxis Careers Page. Although EA still hasn’t announced The Sims 5 yet, there’s plenty of officially confirmed information in regards to the future development of the game that we’ll mention in this article.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a post on the subject of the next generation Sims Game. Or as we call it – The Sims 5. At least until we know the official name.
Anywho, the last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for The Sims 4 Series, considering that a massive amount of Updates, Revamps and a whole new Expansion Pack are coming to the game. In the process of all of this, EA has updated their Maxis Careers Page with new Job Opportunities.
Job Opportunities that definitely lead on and confirm some new details about the current development of The Sims 5.
We will first cover the Job Opportunities, and then seee what each one means in regards to the current, behind the scenes development of the next generation Sims Game:
Sr. User Experience Researcher (The Sims)
This Job talks about a future User Experience Researcher for The Sims Franchise, to research “its future”:
You would report to the UX Research Manager for Maxis to conduct research for the future of The Sims franchise, delivering outstanding experiences for the millions of Sims players around the world.
Responsibilities:
– Conduct user research activities across multiple platforms (including PC, console, and mobile).
– Use Mixed Methods Research to answer essential questions about the game.
– Work with game teams and studio leadership to understand franchise goals and strategies.
– Partner across organizational and regional teams with a variety of disciplines (researchers, designers, product planners, producers) to produce insights which improve the trajectory of their product work.
Mobile Simulation Engineer
This Job Position asks for a future Mobile Simulation Engineer to join the Maxis Team. With some of the descriptions depicting the future plans of the game. Plans of course, nothing is probably fully developed yet.
In the
Maxis is looking for a talented engineer that can help us bring the next wave of simulation features to life. This engineer will work with an experienced team that has collectively built almost all Maxis games in the past two decades. You will actively work with multiple designers and simulation engineers prototyping and shipping various features that expand the gameplay possibilities of Sims games. Most of the work is expected to be done in Unreal Engine, both in C++ and blueprints.
As a Simulation Engineer for a game at Maxis, you will
– Work with designers, producers, artists, and other core and backend engineers to build a framework that brings designs to life.
– Implement a data driven simulation system to author player facing behaviors in C++.
– Demonstrate excellent technical problem-solving skills under iteratively changing requirements during game development.
– Build creative aspects of real life within a simulation game (e.g. socialization, careers, weather, unique characters).
– Author technical design documents detailing software requirements.
– Build unique content for a game that supports a large demographic of simulation player patterns.
– Create mobile application features and systems that contribute to the experience of the main product.
– Collaborate with the Simulation team to break down designs into tasks and create compelling mobile user experiences.
Interestingly, in the Job Description they both stated that it’s for the “next wave of simulation features” as well as “Creating mobile application features and systems…”.
A couple of months ago we reported on the patents published by EA themselves that talk about creating revolutionary creation tools. All for the main thing, which would be a Sims Game on a bigger platform (Desktop / Console).
The patents revealed tools such as Creating Characters through Face Scanning, as well as creating Patterns, Clothing and Animations from Mobile Camera.
It could be very likely that Maxis is right now working on prototyping and developing tools for Mobile devices that lets you expand your gameplay possibilities for the next generation Sims Game.
Not to be confused with a new Social Creator Platform for The Sims, of course.
Maxis also has a job opening for a Senior Animator with skills in Unity and Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine is speculated to be the main development tool being used for the next generation Sims Game.
In case you don’t know what the role of a Senior Animator generally is:
The Senior Animator leads the development of animation assets to support the execution of the production’s creative vision. He/She develops complex animation assets for production as well as mentors a team of animators to perform animation sequences and complex animation techniques.
It could be very possible that a future new Senior Animator, developing assets and leading the animation in Unreal Engine, could be the main leader of Animation Development for The Sims 5.
Here’s what the Job Description says:
Senior Animator
Your Skills:
– Extensive experience as a seasoned gameplay animator contributing to all phases of game production on a AAA title
– Expert in creating full body keyframe animation with a primary emphasis on full body character performance in Maya
– Excellent technical comprehension in relation to designing and implementing animation state machines in a game engine such as Unity, Unreal or similar.
– Effective decision making defining and setting priorities for self or others as needed
– A keen eye in evaluating human/creature/object rigs for production
– Adaptable to new animation styles, in game animation production tools, workflows, and pipelines.
– Oral and written communication, keeping project stakeholders informed on project status and risks and collaborating with multidisciplinary groups such as: Design, Production, Engineering, Art, Modeling, VFX, and Audio
– A mindset that focuses on quality, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.
Your Key Responsibilities:
–Creating a variety of high quality keyframe animations and owning their implementation from ideation through the testing and bug fixing.
– Owning the design of complex animation trees, state machines, and driving innovative technical implementation to meet design objectives, creating documentation as necessary.
– Tracking and oversight of animation assets hook up to support great gameplay.
– Elevating our discipline, by mentoring animators, creating learning material, and spreading knowledge across the animation team.
Estimating and assisting in scoping exercises to ensure animation is able to meet production schedules.
Extras:
– Providing aesthetic feedback to a small group of Animators.
– Experience in motion capture workflows
– Proficient in project tracking software such as: Atlassian Confluence, Jira software, Shotgun or similar tools
That’s all we have so far with the behind the scenes information on the current development of the next generation Sims Game!
In case you don’t know, it’s been confirmed by Maxis that their Development Studios, which also now covers new opened Studios across the world, is working on both The Sims 4 and The Sims 5.
You can catch up on the latest The Sims 5 News Here!
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