Please note: these screens were taken from The Sims 4 Create a Sim Demo. More content will be included in the original game.
Hi Simmers!
If you’re playing the early trial experience of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo, we hope you’re having a lot of fun with it! Have questions about the demo? We hope this FAQ answers them. Any feedback about the demo you would like to share? Please post here.
Q: What is The Sims™ 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: Create smarter Sims with unique personalities and distinct appearances in The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo. Experience the powerful Create A Sim and directly manipulate your Sims with tactile precision to create the most unique and detailed Sims yet. Share your Sims on the Gallery or Facebook, then download them directly into The Sims 4 when the game launches in September 2014 and bring your Sims to life. The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo will be released worldwide later this summer.
Q: How do I get into The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: An early version of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo is available now, by invitation only for some of our fans. This is a trial experience that we are using to test our key functionality in advance of the worldwide release of The Sims 4. As a result we will be doing periodic maintenance on our servers.
Q: How much does The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo cost?
A: The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo will be available at no cost to you.
Q: Does The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo require an Origin account to play?
A: Yes, The Sims 4 Create a Sim Demo is available from Origin and you will use the Origin client to download and install the demo. Once installed, you don’t need to be online to play the demo.
Q: Does The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo feature all of the content from the base game?
A: The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo features a sampling of content from The Sims 4 base game.
Q: Is there a Mac version of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: We are currently focused on the PC version of The Sims 4. We have no additional information regarding Mac at this time.
Q: Where can I provide feedback for the early trial experience of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: We welcome your feedback! Head over to our forums and let us know what you think. Share your feedback here.
Q: Can I tell my friends about the early trial experience of The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: Yes! While this early trial experience is by invitation only, we encourage you to share your creations with your friends and family using the Facebook share functionality.
Q: How do I stay up to date with The Sims 4?
A: The latest information for The Sims 4 can be found at our website. You can also keep up to date by following @TheSimson Twitter or by Liking us on Facebook.
TheSims.com
The Sims on Twitter
The Sims Official Facebook
Q: What are the system requirements for The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo?
A: The following system requirements only apply to The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo. The system requirements for The Sims 4base game will be released at a later date.
MINIMUM: OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 (64 bit versions are preferred)
CPU: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent
Dual Core and SSE 2 required
For computers using built-in graphics chipsets the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent
RAM: At least 2 GB
HARD DRIVE: At least 1.2 GB of free space with at least 0.5 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
VIDEO: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0
SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and mouse
I didn’t save my former Sim so I had to recreate it and I did my best to do so… and I changed some things around.
There were also some upgrades to the assets like my teeth.
Source: Honeywell
SimGuruAzure confirmed that the upcoming CAS Demo for The Sims 4 is going to be completely free!
SimGuruGrant also confirmed that you will be able to upload your Sims to the Gallery.
And another thing – we were thrilled that more than 1200 people came through our E3 demo room last month to see The Sims 4 in action, but we want all of you to see it as well. We’ll be releasing over 15 minutes of in-game Live Mode footage (with complete UI) in the next two weeks. We can’t wait to hear what you think.
Rachel Franklin confirmed in her new blog post that Create a Sim Demo for The Sims 4 is coming this summer!
Take a look at what she has to say about it:
But let us show you this instead of just talking about it: The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo will be available later this summer for absolutely everyone to play. We are currently rolling out an early trial experience and invitations are going out very soon to a limited number of fans to help us test it. After that, you’ll all get your hands on it and see firsthand the depth, personality and emotion that are part of your new Sims.
@L0uisCouture You will need to load when traveling between lots or streets, but when roaming the street’s public space you can just…roam.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@LettyCRM The only age groups in The Sims 4 base game are babies, children, teens, young adults, adults, and elders. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@rafapmota It’s pretty fun! My Sim got married yesterday, but the marriage is in trouble already because her husband is eying Bella…
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@EJamonica The biggest lots are 50×50. The Sims 4 does not have 64×64 lot at this time. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@Enjoji101 Community lots have required objects. When you pick a lot type the game will tell you what objects are required for that lot type
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@sims3famoments Yes&no. There is Auto Aging that you can turn on&off. If NPC Sims die new Sims move in. But it doesn’t work exactly like TS3 — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@NickCalzado The Gallery is a new way to share Sims and Lots that is fully integrated into the game. It’s like the TS3 Exchange, but better!
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@L0uisCouture Willow Creek is inspired by new Orleans. Riverview was farmland inspired, so I think you’ll find they feel very different. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@TheSims4it You can visit any lot in Edit mode (Build Mode) so you can explore without your Sims, but you can’t see Live Mode w/o a Sim.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@TheSims4it You will need an active Sim to explore off lot. But you can zoom the camera around like Sims 3. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@aidasims13 @EJamonica The Sims 4 is shipping with a variety of gameplay cheats, including a cheat to cheat money.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@RomboSim There is a lovely chocolate cake in The Sims 4 that I like baking. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@TheSims4it Anytime you leave Live Mode (edit Town, Build Mode, etc) your game is paused and your Sims don’t continue to simulate.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@franciscohndz There are tattoos in CAS, but there is no Sim that applies a tattoo for you like in Ambitions. — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
@artsy_simmer@SimGuruCopeland We are still working on locking down the specs for The Sims 4 base game. When we know we will share them!
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 1, 2014
Public Space: Walk around anywhere that is not on a lot freely, no loading screens when going anywhere on public space [removed the word “lot” this is a neighborhood with multiple lots on it, they share the same public space]
Going from Lot to Public Space: Loading Screen [No, the public space is loaded with your current/active lot, so you can freely explore it with that lot loaded]
Public Space to Lot: Loading Screen [You will always have an active lot that you have loaded into, and you will be able to play in the public space surrounding this lot. If you want to load a new lot in the same neighborhood/public space you will encounter a load screen]
Lot to Lot: Loading Screen [Yes]
Neighborhood to Neighborhood: Loading Screen [Yes, but this is because you are moving Lot to Lot, the lots just happen to be in different neighborhoods]
World to World: Loading Screen [We have only announced one world at this time ;)]
Basically anytime you travel from lot to lot you’ll encounter a brief load screen. Obviously there are other load screens in the game (like when you exit CAS, or save and exit to the main menu) but the loads are really short compared to The Sims 3.
@DaletheSim @SimGuruGraham @SimsVIP Only the Park lots are different – they are a single lot in its own neighborhood.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@SuperSimaholic@SimGuruGraham@SimsVIP You can zoom out & move the camera around each public space/neighborhood. Doesn’t zoom as far as TS3 — Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
Anything that is a lot is a lot (example: a bar is a Bar Lot, not a part of the public space). The public space is the “stuff” around the lots. So maybe you would have 4 community lots/venues and you would need to load between them, but all 4 share the same public space, which is a commercial area. And in that public space you’ll have…public space stuff…like BBQs, picnic tables, playground equipment, etc… (You can have those objects on lots too, they are not restricted to the public space)
@Libra_Style @JoeParkinson6 There is no grocery store in The Sims 4 at this time.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@Tash1216 There are a LOT of new recipes in TS44, as well as well as classics like Grilled Cheese. I think Sim chefs will be very pleased 🙂
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@avidsimmers There is no school lot at this time in The Sims 4. Children and Teens will route off lot to go to school, like in The Sims 2.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@GabbySimzLove The Gallery is free, it is for sharing content made by the community. It’s like The Exchange on Sims 3, which is also free.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@SimnationBlog @Tash1216 Yes! There are lots of new recopies for both tracks. I like gourmet, b/c it’s fancy food I would never make IRL :p
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@uraura_ The Sims 4 has a robust gardening system with a great many tasty things to grow and harvest.
— Sarah Holding (@SimGuruSarah) July 2, 2014
@LexiDorrance @cpencerxxx Hi Lexi — we’re focused 100% on The Sims 4 base game right now.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) June 30, 2014
@SimnationBlog There are Achievements and Aspirations. There’s a lot to do! — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) June 30, 2014
@Simocity_ Yes. We have a really cool Event system!
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) June 30, 2014
@aurorasky2206 We don’t have defined areas. You can put a residential lot on any lot in the game. Or, make it a venue. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) June 30, 2014
@erin4evar It was a really long, complicated decision that I’m unable to discuss. Sorry Erin :/
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) June 30, 2014
@shawtylawliet It is a skill AND a branch in the Culinary career. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@Pinstar @TheSims4Info It’s been tweaked slightly, but it’s very similar.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@theBloomie @SimGuruGraham We still have our neighborhoods, which are huge areas to explore. And they have fun things to find. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
I want to share one of my favorite moments in The Sims 4. We call it the perpetual Emotion machine. Ingredients: 1 Good Sim + 1 Evil Sim.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
So, let’s say you have an Evil Sim and a Good Sim near each other. The Good Sim becomes Sad, because she is in the presence of Evil. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
Because the Good Sim is Sad, the Evil Sim becomes Happy. He loves being around the misery of others!
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
But, Good Sims love it when those around them are happy. So, the Good Sim is Happy that the EVIL Sim is Happy. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
This can be even more hilarious as you mix up other Traits, like Family Oriented, or Hates Children.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
The Musical instruments in our game are just awesome. Very tied to Emotional gameplay. Let’s say a Perfectionist is learning the Violin. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
When the Perfectionist first starts, she’s TERRIBLE. Because she expects the best from herself, she’s suddenly Embarrassed. Wants to hide.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
She isn’t the only one who is disappointed! Other Sims around her? They also hate her music. The screeching of the strings makes them Tense. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@bump96 Most of them do. We wanted every Trait to be special.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
Emotions matter. In some of our videos you see the goofy jokes that work in a video. Yeah. But, they make storytelling so much better. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@RossDanbruen We basically try to tune it so that death by hunger doesn’t happen by accident. And, we don’t want it to take TOO long.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@SergioSimmer I move it around to follow my Sims when they jog 🙂 — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@CeceliaLaBelle Sims will have Moodlets from multiple Emotions. But, only ONE Emotion at a time. Does that make sense?
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@CeceliaLaBelle Think of it this way. Bad things can happen to my Sim, which they’ll think about. But, if overall it was a good day? Then… — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@CeceliaLaBelle …overall they will be happy. So, a little Boredom from work won’t change the fact that your Sim is psyched about Love.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@CarlDillynson We do have a Memory feature. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@ashleighanne90 @CeceliaLaBelle @SamWitts2 Other way around. Doing things will give you, say, a Sad Moodlet. Which can make your Sim Sad.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@ashleighanne90 @CeceliaLaBelle @SamWitts2 Moodlets lead to Emotions. You get Moodlets for specific things. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@Peninaad Hahaha. Well. My Sim was putting out a fire. The fire extinguisher smoke became attached to them. It shot out of their butt. — Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@HLenzendorf We have a bunch! I don’t use them (and didn’t work on them), so I can’t help with specifics.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@ashleighanne90 @CeceliaLaBelle @SamWitts2 Individual Moodlets don’t do anything. They combine to form Emotions, which DO mean things.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@Aang741 We do not have Disease.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@SuperSimaholic Yes. There is some cool stuff in maternity and such.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@hrtarki We just have a lot of content, tiny details, special moments, surprises. Emotions is a huge feature we spent a lot of time on.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 1, 2014
@anetteauroraa @SimGuruGraham @SimGuruSarah Yes, there are Chance Cards while at work.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@Sammondoa If Sims are in the third tier of Playful, it’s possible they die of laughter. I don’t know the exact time frame. But…
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@Sammondoa …it won’t just happen by accident. Like all our deaths, it’s something you need to work towards.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@AmandaKimberlyH Height is incredibly difficult to do. It would cost so much in animation that we wouldn’t be able to do much content.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@AmandaKimberlyH That’s the explanation, but the short answer is, no, you cannot change a Sim’s height. It is based on age.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@DL4Sims It’s unique content. The tattoos are authored for specific parts of the body.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 2, 2014
@OKrasnokutskiy About as long as in The Sims 3.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@aurorasky2206 Lots of new music, all of it in Simlish.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@Studio954X Right now, The Sims 4 does not contain basements or circular stairs.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@swwSims Lots of things. The amount of money you can earn by painting. How difficult the Aspiration goals are. How often you have to pee.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@HiMyNameIsFall It’s limited to the current neighborhood, which is many houses and a large area. It’s quite a bit of space.
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@CeceliaLaBelle You have Woohoo (no baby) and Try for Baby (chance of baby).
— Grant Rodiek (@SimGuruGrant) July 3, 2014
@pete_simpson Ah – yup, those are our clouds alright. They move around, look fluffy, cloud cover can change from day to day, etc.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) June 30, 2014
@Basically_Sims @SimGuruGrant @SimGuruLyndsay There are weddings, wedding arches, cakes, etc. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@ariesdelmilagro Time moves faster in-game than IRL. I believe it’s a bit slower than Sims 3; gives you more time to do things each day.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
My biggest in-game feature was the notification system; we revamped it extensively from what previous Sims games could do. Overall though my main responsibility was organizing the Change Review process, which is where we gather all the various ideas on how to improve the game and suss out what we have time to accomplish and what to spend that time on to make the game the best it can be.
@hrtarki Anything you could do down the street could also be done in a completely different world. No restrictions on where you go!
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@nc4dm Sure, by no means is everything known about the game yet. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@sentinelah7 You don’t set it, a Sim’s emotion naturally changes over the course of game play. You can influence it by what actions they do.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@LlamaSpears You’ll definitely see more familiar faces 🙂 — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@ItsYukiMe It works just like Sims 3; you can’t have a child if you already have eight Sims.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@Basically_Sims @generalelectric You can write love letters to other Sims via the PC; there is not a specific online dating feature though. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
Sure! The icons are much more interactive now… not only can you click them to move your camera to a Sim, but you can actually lock your camera on any Sim (or even an object) with them. The icons can also open various pieces of UI, so for example… if you got a notification saying that your Sim’s skill leveled up, you could click it as a shortcut to switch to that Sim and open their skill panel. Best of all, there’s now a notification wall that stores all of your messages as they come in. You can scroll through a history of your past 200 notifications… it’s great if you missed a message as it popped up, or if you haven’t played for a week and want to figure out what you were last doing when you played; all of the messages have a timestamp on them to help with that. You can view your notification wall anywhere throughout the game and it’s unique per save file. It’s a really robust system and a big improvement over past games; I’m quite proud of it!
@DruTruBuilder Fire can pass through walls now, how about that? 🙂 Better plan those death traps a bit more carefully. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 1, 2014
@frozenhispanic I couldn’t give you a definitive answer, but I would not expect that to happen.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 2, 2014
Walking off a lot to the public space never incurs a load. The public space is always loaded and simulating. You can walk from a public space back onto your active lot as well. What you can’t do is walk from a public space onto another unloaded lot without loading. Also you don’t really travel to another world or another neighborhood – you always select a lot to travel to, and that lot may be in another world or neighborhood.
There are a variety of options for how Sims age, so if you don’t want a family you like to die off you can keep that from happening. If you want to ensure they continue over multiple generations though you’re going to have to take an active role in woohooing with them or even playing as them so that they’ll have kids. Sims 4 gives you greater control over the fates of all the families rather than just the one you’re currently playing.
You could have two Energized moodlets and one Inspired moodlet, and the sum total of the strength of those moodlets would determine your Sim’s current emotion. Let’s say each of those Energized moodlets were +5 Energized, and the Inspired moodlet was +20, your Sim would be feeling inspired because it’s their current strongest emotion. Anytime a moodlet gets added or removed it recalculates them to determine what emotion your Sim is in.
@RawrSmileLaugh Yup, you can create custom content or use custom content created by others.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 2, 2014
@crinrict If you want unplayed families to continue beyond their current generation you’ll need to try for a baby with them or play as them. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 2, 2014
@Rudy8292 @crinrict Oh no, new households will move in as others die. It pulls from the townie families first; gives them a spot to live.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 2, 2014
@renssies @crinrict Yes, there’s a built in vsync option. — Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 2, 2014
@wicked_jr89 You can set it so that only your current household ages. You have full management to add to/remove from/split households.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 3, 2014
Yes – I don’t have a list of them around me though. We use different “cheats” (debug commands) to work on the game, and I rarely play in release builds.
@L0uisCouture It’s the design tool, it lets you switch between the existing variants for any object you’ve already placed.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 4, 2014
@WatchDogAiden Your Sims won’t autonomously enter an unloaded lot – if you want them to go there you’ll need to tell them.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) July 4, 2014
Media World Italy just announced that by Pre-Ordering The Sims 4 Limited Edition from their site, you get a special iPhone 5 Case!
Click on the picture below to learn more about this offer (it’s in Italian, so you may need Google Translate). Please note that you’ll need to create an account in order to Pre-Order The Sims 4 from Media World.
Games Tribune Magazine has shown a screenshot of a Blue Sim in The Sims 4.
YouTuber and a Simmer, LosSimsdeAni, was kind enough to show the content of The Sims 4 Article including this Screen. The Video is in Spanish, but you can see some never before screens of TS4.
What have been the major developments since the game’s announcement almost a year ago?
Franklin: [The fans] have had pretty deep exposure when we ran the Sims Camp last year. We had about 40 people that were exposed to Build Mode (that wasn’t at Gamescom) and the purpose was to get them deeply into it. They loved the features, even the little enhancements like spandrels. It’s those details that they get very excited about. So really, we’ve been finding out how Build Mode felt, what it’s like to place a room down. We’ve been refining that experience and spending our time on making sure it feels great.
Pearson: In addition to that, it has been opening up that vibrant neighbourhood we’ve been talking about and all those opportunities out there. We’ve been looking at all the potential out there and we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback. Pushing that forward was definitely something we’ve spent a lot of time on since the announcement.
SimGuruGraham took some time on Mod the Sims to explain why some of the biggest features from The Sims Franchise (such as Pools and Toddlers) were not implemented in The Sims 4 (for now).
Mod the Sims Member (IfICannotLove): Graham, can you explain why there was time to add the decoration transport things (such as the tram and the boat), along with a rocket and a cupcake machine, but couldn’t manage to fit in toddlers or pools over those things? Wouldn’t a life stage or a classic element take priority over those trivial things? I understand you said you don’t have the control to add or remove things, but was the reasoning behind any of this explained to you?
Now, I know Toddlers weren’t loved a lot, but I think there was a lot of potential in the Sims 4 for Toddlers; they could’ve been improved upon, but it comes off as the team just make a quick fix and removed them because of complaints about them rather than actually making something of them.SimGuruGraham: You can’t weigh features by how much you want them in the game, you have to consider how many development resources it takes to create them. The tram? A couple of days from one of our FX guys and it’s finished… very low risk, very low complexity (using entirely existing tech), and adds a nice visual punch to the neighborhood. I can’t recall ever scoping against FX… they always have time to be adding more stuff. Our FX folks submitted their own long list of things they wanted to work on because there wasn’t enough for them to do. Now, you can’t take the FX team and ask them to add pools to the game. They don’t have the work skills to do it; neither do I. Pools, toddlers… they’re extremely complex features that require months of man hours of work across multiple disciplines and introduce significant risk. If we were to have added one of those to the game, there would have been two choices for us… cut many small features, or cut one other significantly large feature. And again, it isn’t equivalent – you can’t just cut a large feature and expect it to line up; you have to cut enough to get all the numbers for each discipline in the green, which means cutting extra to get to the point where the hardest hit discpline has enough time to do their necessary work for it. Now you’ve created free time for other disciplines who previously had work, but are left twiddling their thumbs… so you need to find work for them to do that only impacts the areas that you have time to spend in. If you look at one weird aspect of the game and wonder why it took priority over something that seemed important to you, it’s entirely possible it was something that the right people had time to work on without disrupting the busy people. Game development is a constant puzzle where you’re matching headcount and skill sets against features, schedule, and budget, and you’re trying to make everything fit just right with as few gaps as possible. Unfortunately time isn’t like money; you can’t go into debt on time and pay it back later.
