EA has uploaded a new Behind Closed Doors article talking about eighteen years of The Sims! So take a look and feel nostalgic while you step back in The Sims history!
In 1991 Will Wright creator of SimCity, suffered an unfortunate turn of events during the Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm. Losing his home to the firestorm left him assessing both his losses and material needs. Having always been passionate about architecture, Wright began to develop an idea for a game where players could simulate daily activities and building homes from scratch.
It was this idea that went on to become The Sims. Thus, eighteen years ago, on February 4th, 2000, the game launched on PC. Appealing to all genders and ages, the game’s non-objective and open-ended gameplay gave players the freedom to set their own goals and their Sims’ destiny, while pioneering a whole new type of video game genre.
In The Sims, players create their own Sims, design their personalities, their skills, their appearance and guide them through relationships and careers – for better or for worse, in addition to building their neighborhood and sharing their stories with the world.
This style of sandbox gameplay means players can do as they please, if they take care of their Sims eight basic needs: Hunger, Energy, Comfort, Fun, Hygiene, Social, Bladder, and Environment. Failure to do so often results in depression and even death…
The Sims was one the first ever video games to introduce same-sex relationships. In this title, same sex partners could only move in to a home together, something the franchise would advance further in future games.
It even had its own fictional currency – Simoleons (§). Players receive an initial §20,000 budget to purchase a pre-made house or buy a lot and build a house from scratch in Build Mode. Once your pre-made or self-built home is ready, it’s time to furnish it in Buy Mode, choosing from over 150 in-game items.
It was an expansion pack that saw Sims put into outrageous situations, from roach infestations to alien abductions.
Also unique to the game, was its fictional language – Simlish; adding a whole new dimension to the relationship between gameplay and audio.
As the success of The Sims grew, so did the demand for more content, and six months later in August 2000, Maxis released its first expansion pack, The Sims: Livin’ Large.
It was an expansion pack that saw Sims put into outrageous situations, confronting everything from roach infestations to alien abductions, and introduced franchise favorites like Sunny The Tragic Clown and The Grim Reaper.
Further packs followed – The Sims: Hot Date, The Sims: House Party, The Sims: Unleashed, The Sims Vacation, The Sims: Makin’ Magic and The Sims Superstar expanded gameplay through new objects, features, sub-neighborhoods and things to do.
In 2004, the incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time, The Sims, was launched. In The Sims 2 players direct an entire Sims’ lifetime to try and reach their life goals. The option to develop a master plan for their social life, career and pathway to greatness, or the decision to let them live in utter chaos, added a new depth to gameplay.
Sloppy/Neat, Shy/Outgoing, Lazy/Active, Mean/Nice, Serious/Playful remained the same as The Sims for personality types, but Sims now had Fortune, Popularity, Knowledge, Romance and Creativity aspirations, alongside 200 wants that would give players the chance to achieve unlimited success or absolute failure.
14 unique locations, including Pleasantview and Strangetown, over 400 buildings and designing options, 350 new objects, and 10,000 available fashion options formed the backbone of its immersive gameplay, along with newly introduced Free Play and Story modes. (Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/)
Much like its predecessor, The Sims 2 had many expansion packs, such as The Sims 2: Apartment Life in addition to a slew of new Stuff Packs. These minor packs like The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff added fun new objects and fashion without implementing changes to core gameplay.
By June 2009, the next franchise installment hit shelves. With a large community that continues to rally around this version to this day. The Sims 3 offers more gameplay diversity, endless creative possibilities and unexpected moments of surprise and mischief than had ever been seen before.
Its in-game Wishes system, much like the Wants system of The Sims 2, had a plethora of requests to keep Sims happy, as well as work towards their short and long-term goals and rewards.
Sometimes however, Sims need a change of scenery – whether that be exotic destinations filled with adventure in The Sims 3 World Adventures, or something a little more random, like jumping through a time portal to a world hundreds of years from now, with The Sims 3 Into the Future.
Other popular add-ons for The Sims 3 bring realms ripe with fresh experiences. The popular Dragon Valley see players explore a whole new mythical world inhabited by colorful elven Sims and a place where baby dragons were kept as pets.
As Maxis thought about the next installment of the game, the Development Team carefully listened to its dedicated fans to help set the vision for The Sims 4 to allow players to create new Sims with big personalities and distinct appearances and ultimately, play with life.
Staying true to this mantra, new emotions, personality traits, behaviors, and interactions were developed alongside the games technology base having a major upgrade.
This upgrade resulted in an entirely new AI system, audio positioning tools, locomotion logic, routing intelligence and much more, provide a rich gameplay experience across the games core tenants – the tactile and intuitive Create A Sim tool, the intelligent animation system, the new emotional gameplay mechanics and the powerful and flexible Build mode.
This mode alone has added a whole new intuitive and fun way to build with features like Wall Height Adjustment, Dynamic Foundation Sizing, and Smart Windows.
For the first time ever in the franchise’s history, Maxis also removed gender boundaries. This has empowered the creation of Sims with any type of clothing, physique, walk style and tone of voice – regardless of their gender.
An all-new Gallery means players can share their creations directly from the game or browse other players’ creations directly, to see what The Sims community had to offer.
Continually listening to The Sims community and fans, Maxis have evolved some of the best experiences from previous games and currently has over 20 pieces of DLC including Vampires where Sims attain supernatural abilities in the eerie destination of Forgotten Hollow.
To date, The Sims 4 has seen a Life To Date CAS of Dogs at 5,940,100, Cats at 3,395,250, Toddlers at 5,129,700, Sims at 494,500,490. A staggering Life To Date Woohoo figure of 456,732,830, proves Sims fans have clearly been busy.
For years, Maxis have worked to make Sims games they feel players will love and that have always been about those special moments where something unexpected, sad, hilarious or intriguing just happens.
Want to see the latest new content from The Sims 4’s latest update in action! Check out our brand new video talking about new bug fixes and showcasing new Create A Sim items in The Sims 4!
The above designs not only come in a range of T-shirt styles for men, women and children but you can also get the designs in hoodie form and even on lounge pants too!
Not only that some of the designs are also avalaible on phone cases, prints, beach towels, note books, water bottles, pillows, blankets and so much more.
Be sure to checkout The Sims Threadless Store and also remember that until 12th February if you spend over $45/$80 International you can get free shipping by using FREESHIP18a03687 but make sure you check the terms and conditions!
Origin has leaked first information about The Sims 4 Jungle Adventure – the next Game Pack for The Sims 4!
Explore a unique wilderness landscape, revealing a temple, jungle obstacles, cursed relics and treasures. Experience the culture and customs of Selvadorada, from devouring local eats to learning spicy new dance moves!
KEY FEATURES
Venture to Selvadorada. Travel to Selvadorada a new destination where your Sims can befriend locals at the cantina or purchase essential survival gear. Your Sims can try traditional foods, dance to new music, practice native customs and shop for authentic décor. Dress your Sims in local fashion from outfits full of colourful patterns to durable clothing suitable for the jungle!
Explore the jungle. Sims gear up in hiking attire and prepare for danger as they trek deep into the jungle, revealing hidden pools, ancient artifact sites and ruins. Beware of natural dangers and obstacles (from deadly bees to poisonous spiders) that will surely keep your Sims on their toes!
Discover a hidden temple. Your Sims will be pleasantly surprised with what they’ll find when they stumble upon a unique temple. Venture into the mysterious rooms where Sims may find priceless relics, great treasures or doom! Have your Sims visit again to experience new challenges and uncover different treasures or traps.
Collect ancient artifacts. Uncover hidden items as Sims seek out ancient artifacts and mysterious relics. Sims can excavate and examine these precious objects closely at the archeology table, determining their quality, but watch out for fakes!
The Sims Team has released a brand new Update for The Sims 4!
To download the latest version of The Sims 4, simply open your Origin program and if the game doesn’t update automatically, right click on The Sims 4 and select ”Update”.
In case you have Mods or Custom Content, the game will automatically disable them for you after first launching The Sims 4 after the update. To re-enable all your Mods and Custom Content, select the Settings option in the Menu and select Settings. Under the”Other” section you’ll find the ”Enable Custom Content and Mods” option. Check it and restart your game in order for it to take effect!
Patch Notes
Update: 02/06/2018 – PC Version 1.39.74.1020 / Mac Version 1.39.74.1220
Happy 18th Anniversary Simmers!
18 years? We’re all adulty and mature now. Wonder if our grey is showing yet? If it is, I’m going back in to Create-a-Sim for some edits.
In the meantime, however, let’s raise our juice in a toast to you, the fans! Thank you for being here with us for these 18 years… and if you were here from the start, I’m sorry for the mass amount of death by kitchen fire! But hopefully you’ve learned it’s better to make garden salads for a couple hours before trying to make mac n’ cheese (shakes fist at that demon-firestarter mac n’ cheese).
With that, we have just a few new things for you to enjoy in your game…
What’s New?
A new female hair (yes, your males can wear the hair too). The Create-a-Sim artists went all out on this one, I’m loving it! (for specifics, the asset name is yf and ymHair_EF10MedCurl).
A new Anniversary T-shirt for men and women! You can find it in Create-a-Sim under… T-shirts.
And 10 new skin tones along the cool and warm undertones to broaden the range of Sim possibilities.
…and we’ve fixed a handful of issues.
General Issues
Night club text invites will now only occur between 8pm and 12am (Midnight).
Pregnant Sims are no longer allowed to age up.
Fountain of youth discovered!
You don’t have kids, do you?
Fountain of youth is a hoax!
Deceased Sims that have been released to the netherworld will no longer appear alive in the family tree.
Vampires Issue
Sims will no longer perform a dance routine before a vampire attempts to drink from them.
Actual issue. Yep.
City Living Issue
Vegetarians can now safely eat a serving of Eggs and Toast without receiving negative buffs for doing so.
Vegans are appalled at the prospect.
Once again, Happy Anniversary, and thank you your continued support!
-SimGuruGnome
The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs could be the first Expansion Pack to get an award for its outstanding performance!
Empik, Poland’s biggest retailer is hosting an award show tonight to celebrate best selling products including books, music, movies and video games. The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs is included in top 5 video games sold in Poland in 2017. It’s also worth mentioning the fact that it’s the only PC game in the Top 5 list, as well as that it only had 2 months to outsell other video games as it was released in November 2017.
The award show will be broadcasted on Poland’s biggest TV channels – TVN at 8:15PM CET. We’ll make sure to update this post with the information if Cats & Dogs won the award or not.
In honour of The Sims 18th birthday I asked members of The Sims Community Team what their earliest memory of The Sims was for them.
Jovan – My earliest memory of The Sims is sneaking out to my nearby arcade, which, at that time, was filled with people playing video games. They used to charge for each hour of playtime on their PS2 consoles and I remember spending all my school lunch money to play The Sims 2 on PS2. That’s how I got to play and enjoy The Sims until I finally got The Sims Life Stories, my first ever Sims game, as a present from my mom
Lady Hope – The memory I can remember most was being in HMV (A UK CD, DVD, Game store) about age 9 or 10 and begging my mum for Sims 2. I played that game for hours when we got home. My parents didnt have much money so getting this game was the best thing ever. I loved playing as the Curious Family and their alien baby the most. But I also spent so much time in Veronaville with the Capp and Monty familes, I was a sucker for the Romeo and Juliet story line.
SnarkyWitch – My first memory of The Sims was my mom renting the game for Playstation 2 when I was about 10. She played it for five minutes, said “This is boring,” and tossed it. I picked it up and started playing it. It started an 18 year obsession. I got the game and all the expansions on PC. My mom didn’t like me playing it because the WooHoo was “inappropriate” but by then it was too late. I had the Simming bug!
Krista – My earliest memory of The Sims is when I use to sneakily play my Dad’s save when he was at work. He use to come home wondering how his Sims had run out of money or had a completely rearranged house. I did however redeem myself by moving his Sims into a really fancy house that I built myself. This was after I removed the pool ladder on one of the Sims by ‘accident’. I think my parents were happy that I found a game that kept my occupied and made me happy. I don’t think they would realize that I would still be playing The Sims in 2018!
Today marks exactly 18 years since the first ever game in The Sims Franchise was released – The Sims 1!
The charming 2D graphics and captivating gameplay are what made the game so successful. With so many expansion packs and other additions to the game The Sims continues to be one of the best-selling PC games of all time!
Want to take a trip down the memory lane? Check out our Timeline page for a full, chronological overview of all games and packs released for The Sims 1, The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.
A post shared by Jessica Williams (@msjwilly) on Feb 2, 2018 at 4:16pm PST
If you look carefully you’ll notice that a few Sims are sporting a new shirt with plumbobs on it that aren’t currently present in The Sims 4. Could this mean that they could arrive with a new Anniversary Update for The Sims 4? We’ll keep you posted on our website!
To celebrate The Sims’ 18th Anniversary I’ve decided to start a fun series of throwback livestreams on our Sims Community YouTube channel. However, I never expected that things would take a fun twist in terms of discovering gameplay that I never knew was present.
As I livestreamed The Sims 2 University I received a suggestion in the comments to join the Secret society. I literally had no idea what they talked about as this was the first time I heard about secret societies in The Sims 2 and so I asked for more information about this. I received a link to the Secret Society Wiki Page from SnarkyWitch which had all the information about joining secret societies in the game. At first glance I thought that all I needed to do is befriend one Sim and be asked to join the society but no, there was much, much more work to be done.
To join a secret society in The Sims 2 University you have to befriend 3 Sims that wear a very unique outfit with a Llama brosch on the formal jacket. This doesn’t sound like a challenge but trust me – socialization in The Sims 2 is no piece of cake.
Finding these Sims is very easy. You just have to be persistent and go throughout the community lots of your college neighborhood. Since the college neighborhood that I played was Sim State University I had plenty of luck at the library and at the student union lots.
After befriending 3 Sims who appeared to be members of the secret society all I had to do was wait at home until 11PM for my Sim to be taken away by a fake officer who handcuffed my Sim and put my Sim into a limo.
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Then, I had to wait for the loading screen to load the secret lot called “Landgraab Society”. Yeah, it was all fun until the game decided to freeze randomly. I restarted the game and thanfully all of my progress was saved automatically!
I was quite surprised once my Sim arrived to her final destination. The lot that she was taken to looked quite nice with Aspiration Reward objects all over the place. All of the members of the Landgraab Secret Society came to greet my Sim and she immediately changed her outfit to match with the secret society’s attire.
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There are plenty of benefits for being a member of the secret society, including:
Society Outfit
Secret Handshake Social Interaction
Ability to hack grades
Very rare objects on the society lot
The ability to hack my Sim’s grades sounded good – until she decided to do it and got lectured & fined with 450 Simoleons by a police officer.
I was so glad that after 14 years The Sims 2 still has an element of surprise! If you want to see all of this in action you can check out our livestream replay of The Sims 2 University down below. We plan to continue with The Sims 2 Livestreams over the next few days so make sure you subscribe!
There’s no better way to celebrate The Sims’ 18th Anniversary than with awesome Sims tunes! We’ve collected a full list of albums that are currently available for streaming on both Spotify and Deezer, free music streaming services.
You’ll notice that some of the soundtrack is still missing including some of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 Expansion Packs but still the majority of original tunes that you all know and love are there!
On the first page you’ll see all soundtrack available on Spotify while on the second page you’ll see all soundtrack available on Deezer.
A lot of simmers are experiencing an issue in The Sims 4 for PS4 where the User Interface doesn’t fit perfectly with their TV / Monitor. This quick tutorial should help you get rid of this issue!
Grant Rodiek talks about romance, pregnancy and guinea pig plagues while looking back at The Sims in the latest Playstation Blog entry.
The Sims franchise turns 18 years old this month, which means it’s old enough to drive, vote, and join the military. That is a very long time for a game about getting a job, passing out in a café from sleep deprivation, catching things on fire, and getting dumped. You know, life.
I’m not going to lie: working on The Sims is bizarre. In a typical week, we may debate whether Sims have to use the restroom too frequently, the rate at which sunlight should kill a vampire, and whether tickling is something friends do. For the record, tickling was a friendly thing in The Sims 2, and not a friendly thing in The Sims 3.
I took a brief trip down memory lane to reminisce about some of the things that still make me laugh and smile after a decade of working with these little digital people.
Demonstrating Romance
The soul of The Sims is seen in its animations. Sims speak Simlish — a fake language — but they act so expressively that you know just what they’re thinking. Our animation team is truly world-class, and working with them has long been a highlight of my job.
Back on The Sims 3, I was often given the chance to act out social interactions alongside longtime co-worker and friend Nawwaf Barakat. We had to demonstrate divorce, slap fights, work promotions, planting crops, and operating complex machinery. It truly ran the gamut of life. Which includes romance.
Once, we had to act out a romantic hug. This is the kind of hug a couple is enjoying in the corner of the bar that makes everyone else think “gross.” With a smile on her face, the animator holding the camera said, “Aaaand go.” We stood there, a foot apart, staring at each other. We extended our arms slowly, stiffly, and placed them on shoulders. We then jerked to face the opposite direction and pressed our… heads against each other. You get the idea. We finished and asked how it looked. The video revealed two deeply insecure dudes “hugging,” if you can call it that, in a way no two humans ever hugged. In the end, somebody else had to shoot that reference.
The Unfortunate Guinea Pig Plague
It’s been a while since the founder has worked on The Sims, but their impact still affects our designs to this day.
One example is the guinea pig disease. In the original The Sims, you could obtain a pet guinea pig. How cute! However, if it bit you, your Sim could potentially get a disease and die. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the disease, like a violent flu, was highly contagious. None of this was really explained to players. The development team just casually introduced a world-altering plague.
Every time we release a hamster, or womrat, or any small, fluffy creature, there’s a slight panic in our community. Will this be the return of the plague? All I can say is — maybe.
The DNA of Chester the Sim
Late in the development of The Sims 3, we needed to verify that our genetics were functioning properly. Sims can get pregnant and have children, so it is a reasonable expectation that children resemble their parents. The code looked good, but we needed to manually verify this through trial and error.
So, we tasked a junior producer. Eager to work on a gameplay feature — his typical job was overseeing the text translation process — he created Chester, the Sim shown below.
If you create a typical looking Sim, it may be difficult to see if their features truly show up in their children. Therefore, our producer gave Chester flaming red hair, a mullet, a rocking mustache, a skinny frame, and a large nose. Then, he got to work. And by work, I mean he had Chester befriend all the single women in town, sweet talk them, and then stay the night.
Before long, the town was full of very goofy looking red-headed children. Not all of them, of course. Thankfully, for them, sometimes they took after their mother. But, you could see a little bit of Chester everywhere. It turned out genetics were working, and that we had a very strange job.
Everyone’s Pregnant!
Pregnancy has always been a part of The Sims. But during development of The Sims 4, there was a brief period where we forgot to check the box that said only women could get pregnant, and everyone was having babies — regardless of whether you chose those gender customization options or not (Whoops!). Below, you’ll see both a husband and wife in labor.
But, that’s not all. New to The Sims 4 is the ability for mothers to breastfeed their infants. But, just like pregnancy, we forgot to check the box that said only women could breastfeed. Mega whoops. It was quite surprising to see dad step up and feed the baby when you weren’t expecting it!
Okay, so we checked that box, too. All good now, right? Nope. We then discovered that any woman could breastfeed the baby. You see, we said men couldn’t breastfeed, but that didn’t prevent your neighbor from coming over to visit, say hello, then breastfeed your infant. Whoops, whoops, whoops.
Finally, we created a new “mom only” checkbox. And checked it.
Doing Too Much
One of the new technical innovations in The Sims 4 is something we call “multi-tasking.” In previous games, Sims would perform a single interaction at a time. For example, they might only watch TV, whereas now they can eat, talk, and watch TV.
As with everything in this sandbox game, there were many unexpected applications! We spent a very long time slowly turning off and tweaking all sorts of wacky combinations.
No, Sims probably shouldn’t eat dinner while sitting on the toilet.
No, Sims probably shouldn’t shower while reading.
No, Sims shouldn’t play guitar while using the restroom.
So hopefully we’ve addressed these issues… but I digress!
Working on The Sims has been a wonderful, weird, and hilarious joy. We love our fans, their passion, their creativity, and their amazing support. We’re so thankful you’ve let us call this our job for eighteen years, and we look forward to eighteen more. Happy Simming!
