Source: Simified

During SimsCamp, I was given the opportunity to get all of the questions sent in by you, the readers, answered. I sat down with SimGuruGrant between all of the hustle and bustle and the awesome demos of The Sims 4 to get the questions answered. Below are the questions in no particular order and his responses based on how I remember him answering them. I only summarized what he said; I didn’t write his responses in full, so that I could save time. Thank you so much to SimGururGrant for sitting down with me to get all of these answered!

Simified: What are the Life Stages in The Sims 4? Are there any new ones?
SimGuruGrant: The Sims 4 will have all of the same life stages as previous games, Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. There are no new life stages coming at this time.

Simified: Will there be Seasons or any kind of weather in The Sims 4 base game?
Grant: With The Sims 4 base game we are focusing on gameplay and Sims themselves to make it a great experience. Weather is something we’d like to have in the base game, but right now, with The Sims 4, weather and seasons will not be present in the base game.

Simified: Will there be an online store, like The Sims 3 Store, in The Sims 4?
Grant: The game is still in a pre-alpha state and we have not reached this point in development so I cannot comment on this.

Simified: Will Sims be able to have and own cars? Will cars in The Sims 4 have functions similar to The Sims 2 (opening doors, etc.) or will they be like The Sims 3?
Grant: Sims will definitely be able to own and have cars! As far as how they will function, I cannot comment on that yet. I do know that opening doors, like in The Sims 2, would require a lot from our animations team, so this may or may not happen.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already September. Hard to believe that it’s already been three weeks since we were in Germany revealing The Sims 4 to the world!

My favorite reveal to date has been the unveiling of the completely rebuilt The Sims 4 Create A Sim which we showed off at gamescom. In case you missed the news, it’s now more powerful and intuitive than ever before and allows you to create Sims in any likeness you wish. I personally can’t wait to create friends and family members with more authenticity and accuracy than I’ve ever been able to achieve before. And lest I forget to mention the wonderful and amazing things I’ll make them do for my in-game Sim. I’m already imagining my in-game family and friends cooking dinner for me and abiding by the wants and demands that I will place on them. Mwahaha.

I know there are tons of questions out there about Create A Sim from fans, so I decided to ask Designer Nick Corea to sit down and give me the what’s-what on what makes Create A Sim in The Sims 4 so new and exciting.

SimGuruRaeEliz: So what’s new about this Create A Sim and why should we be excited?

Nick Corea: One sentence: You get to the fun faster!

SimGuruRaeEliz: OK, so what does that mean?

Corea: Simple. It means that Create A Sim has been completely revolutionized. Gone are the days of detached sliders. There’s no more guess work while inching a slider along to try and perfect that Grecian nose or master those big doe eyes. Now you can shape and mold your Sim just like an artist, by pushing and pulling directly on a Sim’s body and face. It is as if you are the artist and your mouse is your paint brush.

SimGuruRaeEliz: Can you walk us through the process of creating your own Sim in the new tool?

Corea: You get started in Create A Sim by selecting from a range of body shapes and faces. Once you’ve found a Sim that fits your vision, the real fun begins. Nearly every point on a Sim’s body and face can be fine-tuned. Imagine being able to look in a mirror and push and pull on your foot to create a desired foot size. It’s that easy.

SimGuruRaeEliz: Wait! Foot size?

Corea: Yes! The Sims 4 now allows you to adjust the size of your Sim’s feet. There are tons of new points on a Sim that can be directly manipulated. Some of our favorites include: chest, shoulders, thighs and, you guessed it, feet! In addition to the new manipulation points that can be adjusted on Sims, you can now select different facial structures for your Sims’ faces – allowing you to create Sims that authentically represent different ethnicities. It’s now easier than ever to sculpt the Sim of your imagination.

SimGuruRaeEliz: Or my future digital boyfriend? Eh!? TMI? Ok, but surely there’s more to it than that though. What about outfitting your Sim?

Corea: Well, we’ve been listening to your feedback and we’ve added a lot of great new ways to customize your Sim’s style and fashion. For example, in The Sims 4 you can add a hat to whatever hairstyle you like. Yep! No longer will your Sim be stuck with a hatless hair-do.

SimGuruRaeEliz: As a Simmer who has her share of bad hair days, I am beyond elated.

Corea: Simmer down there, SimGuruRaeEliz. There’s more to share! Additionally, we’ve added some really cool tech that improves the pairing of your Sim’s boots and pants. Now, skinny pants will be tucked into boots! And if you love those boots but want to dress your Sim in flared pants, those pants will automatically adjust to cover the boots to create a desirable look and style for your Sim.

SimGuruRaeEliz: If only my fashion was that easy to fix. Where’s my Create A Sim in real life?

Corea: We’re working on it!

SimGuruRaeEliz: With all this talk of new, new and more new, I’m curious if anything stayed the same. Is there is still an option to set traits and quickly create pre-made Sims?

Corea: Selecting your Sims’ traits is definitely still in The Sims 4. But there’s more than just that! In Create A Sim, you can now select a Sim’s walk style to go along with their personality, or not –you decide. Pre-made Sims still exists but have been improved. There’s a new feature called ‘Smart Randomization’ where individual parts of the Sim can be randomized. For instance, if you love everything about your Sim but are having trouble picking the right hair, you can now freeze all areas of your Sim except the hair and scroll through a series of options until you find the right one.

SimGuruRaeEliz: One last question for you. What’s your favorite part of Create A Sim?

Corea: There’s no question about it! I’m the most excited about being able to directly manipulate my Sims –it’s so easy and fun! Oh and the broad range of ethnic diversity is also something I’m very excited about as well. And I can’t wait to see what players are going to do with the facial structures.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Nick. You took the words right out of my mouth!

We know you have a ton of questions about Create A Sim so be on the lookout for when we reveal more information on a Sims’ lifecycles and their genetics. And get excited because makeup and accessories are now smarter, too! Now to find a way to create a ‘Smart Randomization’ in my real life. Anyone want to help a fellow Simmer out?

BLOG POST

Computer Bild released a new issue of their Magazine. This time, The Sims 4 is featured in it. The article is in Deutsch, but there are lots of new and interesting screens, including the Grim Reaper concept art!

Source: Sims True Life, Fraizesauxsims, Sims-Soul

Source: SimTimes

Come to life in The Sims 4, the much anticipated life simulation game that will let you play with life like never before. In The Sims 4, create new Sims with intelligence and emotion. Experience all new intuitive and fun creative tools to sculpt your Sims and build unique homes. Control the mind, body, and heart of your Sims, and bring your stories to life in The Sims 4.

It’s been three years since the last main entry in the series. How have the Sims progressed since then?
So the big thing that we’re bringing to The Sims 4 is this idea of emotional interactions with your Sims and really bringing those emotions to life in believable and intelligent ways.

What else has been carried over to The Sims 4 and what has stayed the same?
We’re bringing over all the elements that people love, but we are re-imagining them in new ways. So stuff like our creative tools, they’ve always been really powerful tools in the past, We wanted to make them very approachable whilst still retaining all that power though, now you go into Create-A-Sim and you’re just, pushing, pulling, poking and grabbing. It’s changes your Sim, it’s very tactile that direct manipulation and it’s the exact same thing with our Build Mode where you are going in and grab a room and you can drag out the sides of it. You can pick it up, drop it down and everything moves with it.

Another new feature is to mold your Sims, kind of creating them the way you want them to be which is amazing.
You can give one a long nose if you fancy… Well that’s what I’ve been doing when I demo the game. Yank out the nose and then I’ll put a little crook in it and I’ll twist it down a little so they look quite evil.

You can be quite cruel if you want to!
Yeah, and that’s one of the aspects that people have always loved about the Sims.

Can you give us an example of how emotion plays a part?
We have this new technology that we’re calling Smart Sim and a big part of it is conversations. So when I’m talking both of you guys are looking at me and that makes sense and we’ve never had that in a Sims game before. You know, when you just jump in and say something we both pivot and look at you and that’s a lot of the group dynamics that we’re trying to go for to bring these Sims to life. You know, we talk about their AI and their intelligence and all that but really it’s about simulating life in believable ways, and that’s so cool.

Source: SimsVIP

The Official Magazine of The Sims 3 Spain, has posted 10 bullet point facts for The Sims 4 in their latest magazine issue. Included in the facts posted, The Sims 3 Spain confirms that Facial and Head Hair will grow gradually over time. They also confirm that “wind” will allow hair and clothing to sway, which I believe would give it a more realistic touch.

Rincon Del Simmer, who found this new info, was kind enough to properly translate the article for us. Check out all the tid bits below!

1- There will be right-handed Sims… ¡but there will also be left-handed Sims!

2- The Sims 4 will work better in low-end machines than The Sims 3.

3- With the passage of time, hair and beard will grow.

4- The wind will make the Sims’ hair and clothing move.

5- With the Create a Sim feature, you will be able to change the feet size.

6- Pregnant Sims will have unique emotions that no one else will experience.

7- There will be three voice types for men and women.

8- There won’t be Wishes, but little goals for Sims to accomplish and gain awesome rewards.

9- Every life cycle will have a special emotion only for Sims in it.

10- Sims won’t die randomly anymore, like by a meteor strike or a lightning. They will die only by things done by the player.